(LAUDER, William) An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns, in his Paradise Lost. J. Payne and J. Bouguet. 1750
[24], 164, [4]pp. Later half calf, marbled boards. A good-plus copy.
¶ESTC T222357, the first issue. Fleeman 49.12LEM/1a. Lauder fraudulently argued that Milton had plagiarised an old Latin poet, one of his 'proofs' being, in fact, a translation from Milton into Latin. With Samuel Johnson's four page preface written for Lauder, and his postscript soliciting donations for the relief of Milton's granddaughter, Elizabeth Foster. When the fraud was exposed, the deceived Johnson extracted a public confession from Lauder. The second issue of the book added a new preface discrediting the author as 'a curiosity of fraud and interpolation'.