to judge him by a law
he knew nothing of."--Is it unnecessary to point out that there are no
"rules" in Aristotle? The term "Aristotle's rules" was commonly used to
denote the "rules of the classical drama," which, though based on the
_Poetics_, were formulated by Italian and French critics of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.

51. _The Dates of his plays._ Pope here controverts Rowe's statement, p.
4.

_blotted a line._ See note, p. 43. Though Pope here controverts the
traditional opinion, he found it to his purpose to accept it in the
_Epistle to Augustus_, ll. 279-281:


    And fluent Shakespear scarce effac'd a line.
    Ev'n copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,
    The last and greatest art, the art to blot.


52. Pope's references to the early editions of thethe _pot_,' says Meres, 'so George
Peele by the _pox_,' _Wit's Treasury_, 1598, p. 286" (Farmer).

_Constable in Midsummer Night's Dream._ Apparently a mistake for _Much
Ado_.

207. _two children._ Susannah, Judith, and Hamnet were all born at
Stratford. Judith and Hamnet were twins. Cf. p. 21 and note.

"_cheers up himself with ends of verse._" Butler, _Hudibras_, i. 3. 1011.

_Wits, Fits, and Fancies._ "By one Anthony Copley, 4to, black letter; it
seems to have had many editions: perhaps the last was in 1614.--The first
piece of this sort that I have met with was printed by T. Berthelet, tho'
not mentioned by Ames, called 'Tales, and quicke answeres very mery and
pleasant to rede.' 4to, no date." (Farmer).

208. _Master Page, sit._ _2 Henry IV._, v. 3. 30.

_Heywood._ In the "To the Reader" prefixed to his _Sixt Hundred