"The late Earl of Lauderdale sent me over his new translation of the Æneis, which he had ended before I ingag'd in the same design. Neither did I then intend it; but, some proposals being afterwards made me by my bookseller, I desir'd his Lordship's leave that I might accept them, which he freely granted; and I have his letter to shew for that permission. He resolv'd to have printed his work; which he might have done two years before I could publish mine; and had perform'd it, if death had not prevented him. But having his manuscript in my hands, I consulted it as often as I doubted of my author's sense; for no man understood Virgil better than that learned nobleman. His friends, I hear, have yet another and more correct copy of that translation by them, which had they pleas'd to have given the public, the judges must have been convic'd that I have not flatter'd him. Besides this help, which was not inconsiderable, ..."
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John Dryden, Dedication of the Aeneis (1697)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Maitland%2C_4th_Earl_of_Lauderdale
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Richard Maitland, 4th Earl of Lauderdale
Richard Maitland, 4th Earl of Lauderdale (20 June 1653 – 1695) was a Scottish politician.
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