Editorial note — REFLECTIONS
Reading edition
The word “tho’” appears both with and without final apostrophe.
In this section, the Italic (body text) and Roman (emphatic) types are garbled. As printed:
... that the Ed’s went away with the For to’s. and the Until’s in that general Rout that fell on the whole Body of ...
Corrected in e-text to:
... that the Ed’s went away with the For to’s, and the Until’s in that general Rout ...
B. Horace, who tells us in his Epistle de arte Poetica, that Present Use is the final Judge of Language, (the Verse is too well known to need quoting)
C. what he says, of Words going off and perishing like Leaves, and new ones coming in their Places
et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem si Graeco fonte cadent, parce detorta. quid autem Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus ademptum Vergilio Varioque? ego cur, acquirere pauca [55] si possum, invideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni sermonem patrium ditaverit et nova rerum signatum praesente nota producere nomen. ut silvae foliis privos mutantur in annos, prima cadunt ita verborum vetus interit aetas [60] et iuvenum ritu florent modo nata vigentque.
Except for clear typographical errors, the French text was left unchanged because it is impossible to know where the errors originated. All accents are as printed.
les Comites: Modern form is Comtes.
les Chevalier Windham : Error for le Chevalier ...
Fils du Garde des Seaux: Possible error for Sceaux. In modern French, seau is a coal scuttle while sceau is a seal (here, Lord Keeper of the Seal).
Swif: Error for Swift.
Prior Arbuthnott: Missing punctuation such as , or ; between names.
Medicin du Duc: Spelling Medicin unchanged.
les Deux autre: Error for autres.