Publisher's Synopsis
published in 1746, not only delighted contemporary critics- amongst whom Warton pronounced it a better work than the original- but deservedly ranks as a minor English classic. Apart from its literary excellence, it has the supreme merit of reflecting the spirit of the original, and that to a degree now unattainable. For it was produced when the lost ai-t of letterwriting was in its heyday, and to compose just such letters as Pliny's the universal accomplishment of well-bred persons. His highflown compliments, his neatly-turned platitudes, his nice blending of sense and sensibility, were stock ingredients of eighteenth century correspondence; and Melmoth - himself author of a vastly admired series of imaginary letters- had the ideal style for translating him at his fingers' ends. No modern rendering can i-ecapture the ease and felicity of Melmoth's; for they came of his living in a world so like Pliny's own that he was perfectly at home with his author's mode of thought...
