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Notwithſtanding, however, all that I have now ſtated, you know there are ſome men in the world, who will not relinquiſh their old mumpſimus; who when once they have taken up a particular notion, adhere to it with unconquerable pertinacity, and cannot be argued out of it: With ſuch men, neither the deciſive circumſtance I have juſt now mentioned, (the death of our poet's friends, Heminge and Condell, before the end of 1630,) nor the unanſwerable proofs which I have accumulated of the ignorance and temerity of the editor of the ſecond folio, will have the ſmalleſt weight, or at all depreciate its credit: and if they ſhould ever be allowed to ſcribble in the margin of Shakſpeare, notwithſtanding theſe accumulated proofs we ſhould without doubt be reminded, whenever occaſion offered, that "Such is the reading of that moſt excellent and invaluable book the ſecond folio edition of our author's plays; a reading which Mr. M. has not been aſhamed to own that he has adopted, though he has expreſsly denied the authenticity of the book".
And now let me add a word or two on the ſubject of inconſiſtency. Though I proved this book of no authority whatſoever, does it therefore follow that I was precluded from
