translation, and not expect more than the Matter will well bear. As
for our Author's +Jests+ and +Repartees+, for what we know of 'em,
I took a particular care in preserving their Force; and for the most
part, I presume, I have done it in a great measure, sometimes by a
lucky hit; or a peculiar happiness of our Tongue, other times by a
little Liberty taken, and when all have fail'd, the +Remarks+ have
generally supply'd the Defect, a way I was forc'd to content my self
withal in many places; the worse they were, they were frequently
more difficult to preserve, therefore I thought it as well to slur
over some few of the meaner sort. Several of his +Jests+ and bits of
+Satyr+ are undoubtedly lost to us, not only in respect of our
Language, but also our Knowledge, and this sometimes makes his
+Sence+ a little obscure. And as the +Sence+ of an Author ought to
be his Translator's chiefest Care, so it has been mine; and tho'
I cannot affirm, that I have kept to it in every passage, yet I
believe I have often done it where a common Reader will think I have
not; and I think it no commendation to my self to say I have hit it
on many places where the Common Interpreters have missed.

After all, I dare not pretend to say, that this Translation equals
the Original, for there is such a peculiar Air in this Author as
well as +Terence+, that our Tongue seems uncapable of, or at least
it does so to me. Yet still if 'twere always read with the Original,
it wou'd make far more for me than otherwise. In short, the Reader
ought to look upon this as a Translation of an Author who had
several Faults, and such places, as the +English+ must of necessity
appear mean, being little better in the Original; and likewise as an
Author of Antiquity, some of whose Customs and Manners will appear a
little uncouth and unsightly, in spight of all a Translator's Care.
I endeavour'd to be as like my Author as I cou'd, especially in that
which I reckon his distinguishing Character, to wit, the natural and
unaffected easiness of his Stile, and as this seems the most capable
of imitation, so I believe I have been more successful in this
Particular than in any other: and that is the main Reason I have had
so many Abbreviations, to make it appear still more like common
Discourse, and the usual way of speaking. Perhaps I may be thought
to have been too bold in that point, because I have had some that
are not usual in Prose; therefore I don't set this way as a Cop