GEORGE the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all to whom thefe Prefents fhall come, Greeting: WHEREAS Our trufty and well-beloved William Warburton, Doctor in Divinity, Dean of our Cathedral Church of Bristol, hath, by his Petition, humbly reprefented unto Us, that the late Alexander Pope, Efq; having by his Will bequeathed unto him, the Petitioner, the Property of all fuch of his Works already printed, as he the faid Petitioner hath written, or fhall write, Commentaries, or Notes, upon; and all the Profits which should arise, after his Death, from fuch Editions as he, the faid Petitioner, fhould publifh, without future Alterations; and that being defirous of reaping the Fruits of his Labour, which he cannot enjoy without Our Royal Licence and Protection, he hath therefore most humbly befought Us to grant him Our Royal Privilege and Licence for the fole Printing, Publishing and Vending the faid Works, for the Term of Fourteen Years; We being gracioufly pleafed to gratify him in his said Requeft, do, by thefe Prefents, agreeable to the Statute in that Behalf made and provided, for Us, Our Heirs and Succeffors, give and grant unto the faid Doctor William Warburton, Dean of Briftol, his Executors, Adminiftrators, and Affigns, Our Royal Privilege and Licence for the fole Printing and Publifhing the faid Works, for and during the Term of Fourteen Years; to be computed from the Day of the Date hereof; ftrictly forbidding and prohibiting all Our Subjects within Our Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and other Our Dominions, to reprint or abridge the fame, either in the like, or any other Volume or Volumes whatfoever, or to import, buy, vend, utter or diftribute any Copies of the fame, or any Part thereof, reprinted, beyond the Seas, within the faid Term of Fourteen Years, without the Confent or Approbation of the faid Doctor William Warburton, Dean of Bristol, his Heirs, Executors, and Affigns, by Writing under his or their Hands and Seals first had and obtained, as they and every of them, offending herein, will anfwer the contrary at their Perils; whereof the Master, Wardens, and Company of Stationers of Our City of London, the Commiffioners and other Officers of Our Cuftoms, and all other Our Officers and Minifters whom it may concern, are to take Notice that due Obedience be given to Our Pleasure herein fignified. Given at Our Court at Kensington, the Twenty-fourth Day of July 1759, in the Thirty-third Year of Our Reign. By His Majesty's Command, HOLDERNESSE. ADVERTISEMENT. MR. POPE, in his laft illness, amused himself, amidst the care of his higher concerns, in preparing a corrected and complete Edition of his Writings *; and, with his usual delicacy, was even folicitous to prevent any share of the offence they might occafion, from falling on the Friend whom he had engaged to give. them to the public *. b "I own, the late encroachments upon my conftitution "make me willing to fee the end of all further care about me "or my works. I would reft for the one, in a full refigna"tion of my Being to be difpofed of by the Father of all << mercy; and for the other (though indeed a trifle, yet a "trifle may be fome example) I would commit them to the "candour of a fenfible or reflecting judge, rather than to "the malice of every fhort-fighted and malevolent critic, or "inadvertent and cenforious reader. And no hand can fet "them in fo good a light," etc. Lett. xxiv. to Mr. W.. b 1 "I also give and bequeath to the faid Mr. Warburton, "the property of all fuch of my Works already printed as " he hath written or fhall write Commentaries or Notes up-on, and which I have not otherwife difpofed of or alienat"ed; and as he fhall publifh WITHOUT FUTURE ALTE"RATIONS."-His laft Will and Teftament. VOL. I. B In |