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The Preface.
ness, and Ill-Nature. It is no longer a dry, sour, verbal Study, but claimeth a Place among the politest Parts of Learning; A Critic should lift up his Head with an easy, chearful Air, and not be distinguished, as the Tribe hath generally been, by the Wrinkles of his Brows, but as Men of Candor and Ingenuity ought to be, by the Good Nature, Freedom, and Openness of his Countenance. Critics are apt to talk in a supercilious, magisterial Way, to obtrude their Sentiments on the World, and maintain every singular Opinion with Stiffness and Ill Manners. But if they would soften the Rigor of their Pen, and offer their Notions in a modest affa-
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