Part 4

I freely confess, Sir, that, if the following Piece had been written by One, that I were fond of Censuring, I could my self find enough in it to Criticize upon; and should object against it, besides the want of Uniformity throughout, That if judg’d of by the strict Rules of Art, it ought to pass for an Irregular Piece. And therefore I shall not wonder, if Nicer Criticks, and more vers’d in Exquisite Composures than I pretend to be, shall find fault with this Artless one of mine. But the reception that the following Papers met with, from the Persons for whom they were chiefly written, affords me the Consolation derivable from the ingenious saying of that excellent Wit, who declar’d, _He had rather the Dishes serv’d up at his Treat, should please the Guests, than the Cooks_. And I might say too, that some of the Passages that may meet with Censure, would perhaps escape it; if in writing this Book many years agoe, I had not had some Aims, that I then thought more fit to be Pursu’d, than I now do to be Declar’d. Yet I will not here dissemble, that I know it may be thought by some, that this Paper should have consisted less of Conversations, and more of Narratives. But I chose the way of Writing I have employ’d, _partly_ because the Authors I met with furnish’d me with so very few matters of Fact, that if I would have confin’d my self to Relations; I must have compriz’d this piece in a very few Pages, and have finish’d it presently after I had begun it: And _partly_ too, (and indeed much more) because (as I lately began to intimate) my chief design was not so much, to perform the Office of a meer Historian, as to take Rises from the several Circumstances I should relate, to convey unperceivedly, into the minds of those young Persons of Quality for whom I wrote, Sentiments of true Piety and Vertue. And these I thought would not so happily gain admittance and entertainment, it they were presented in a Scholar like Discourse, or a profess’d Book of devotion, as when they were taken, not from common places but from the Nature of the Things and Persons Introduc’d; and without formality Instill’d by the occasional discourses of a young Gentleman and fair Lady, for whom the Beauty and the Merit ascrib’d to the Speakers, had given the Hearers a great Esteem and Kindness. And I shall not scruple to own, that I, who value time above most other things, did not think it worth the expence of mine, to give my self the trouble of Writing a Book, only to give others a Divertisement in Reading it. And whilst I was Conversing with such Excellent Company, as our noble Martyrs, and Meditating on such Serious Subjects, as are Death, and the Worth of that Heavenly Religion for whose sake They despis’d It; I found my self Incited, and thought my self Oblig’d, to aim less at the Pleasing of some few Nice Exactors of Regularity, than to Possess many Readers with high and noble Sentiments of the Christian Religion, and the sublime Dictates of it; and thereby both Elevate their minds to a generous Contempt of all they can lose and suffer for it, and Fill them with bright _Idea_’s of Heroick Vertue, and of the much brighter Glories that will Crown it. By such Reflections, I was induc’d not to omit some Passages that seem’d likely to further the main Ends I pursu’d, though I forsaw, that perhaps some rigid Judges would say, that they might have been spar’d. For _as_ I writ not a Romance, wherein Authors are wont to aim no higher, than to Delight the Delicate Readers, and Escape the Critical ones, by making their Composures Diverting and Regular; _so_ I presum’d that to employ a more Useful, though less Fashionamble way of Writing, was allowable for Me, who ought _to_ endeavour in such a piece as This, rather to propose Patterns of Vertue, than Models of Skill or Eloquence; and _to_ think it more Successful, if the Readers shall upon perusing it, Imitate our excellent Martyrs Piety, than if they should only Applaud their History. Which both as to Stile and Reasonings, is freely submitted to your Judgment, by

_Sir, your most_ &c.

ERRATA.

_Preface Page 3. line 19. read =Jonathan Cæsar=, &c._ p. 5. l. 11. r. _feign Contents_ Ch. 1. r. _Chamber_. Ch. 3. r. _thinking_. P. 80. l. 16. r. _manifest Danger_, &c. p. 89. l. 14. r. _and let her see_, &c. p. 152. l. 14. r. _enough_. p. 222. l. 17. r. _her Kindness_, &c. p. 227. l. 1. for _having_, r. _did_. ibid. l. 4. for _assum’d_, r. _assume_. p. 238, l. 15. r. _of all other_, &c.

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California

The Augustan Reprint Society

_General Editors_

H. RICHARD ARCHER Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library

R. C. BOYS University of Michigan

RALPH COHEN University of California, Los Angeles

VINTON A. DEARING University of California, Los Angeles

_Corresponding Secretary_: MRS. EDNA C. DAVIS, Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. The editorial policy of the Society remains unchanged. As in the past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications. All income of the Society is devoted to defraying cost of publication and mailing.

All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors. The membership fee is $3.00 a year for subscribers in the United States and Canada and 15/- for subscribers in Great Britain and Europe. British and European subscribers should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.

Publications for the seventh year [1952-1953]

(At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be reprinted.)

_Selections from the Tatler, the Spectator, the Guardian._ Introduction by Donald F. Bond.

BERNARD MANDEVILLE: _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). Introduction by Jacob Viner.

M. C. SARBIEWSKI: _The Odes of Casimire_ (1646). Introduction by Maren-Sofie Rœstvig.

_An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding_ (1751). Introduction by James A. Work.

[THOMAS MORRISON]: _A Pindarick Ode on Painting_ (1767). Introduction by Frederick W. Hilles.

[JOHN PHILLIPS]: _Satyr Against Hypocrits_ (1655). Introduction by Leon Howard.

_Prefaces to Fiction._ Second series. Selected with an introduction by Charles Davies.

THOMAS WARTON: _A History of English Poetry: An Unpublished Continuation._ Introduction by Rodney M. Baine.

Publications for the first six years (with the exception of nos. 1-6, which are out of print) are available at the rate of $3.00 a year. Prices for individual numbers may be obtained by writing to the Society.

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY _WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY_ 2205 WEST ADAMS BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES 18, CALIFORNIA

Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

FIRST YEAR (1946-47)

Numbers 1-6 out of print.

SECOND YEAR (1947-1948)

7. John Gay’s _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on Wit from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702).

8. Rapin’s _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684).

9. T. Hanmer’s (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736).

10. Corbyn Morris’ _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, etc._ (1744).

11. Thomas Purney’s _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717).

12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.

THIRD YEAR (1948-1949)

13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720).

14. Edward Moore’s _The Gamester_ (1753).

15. John Oldmixon’s _Reflections on Dr. Swift’s Letter to Harley_ (1712); and Arthur Mainwaring’s _The British Academy_ (1712).

16. Nevil Payne’s _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673).

17. Nicholas Rowe’s _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespeare_ (1709).

18. “Of Genius,” in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and Aaron Hill’s Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).

FOURTH YEAR (1949-1950)

19. Susanna Centlivre’s _The Busie Body_ (1709).

20. Lewis Theobold’s _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ (1734).

21. _Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela_ (1754).

22. Samuel Johnson’s _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749) and _Two Rambler_ papers (1750).

23. John Dryden’s _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).

24. Pierre Nicole’s _An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams_, translated by J. V. Cunningham.

FIFTH YEAR (1950-51)

25. Thomas Baker’s _The Fine Lady’s Airs_ (1709).

26. Charles Macklin’s _The Man of the World_ (1792).

27. Frances Reynolds’ _An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, etc._ (1785).

28. John Evelyn’s _An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); and _A Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661).

29. Daniel Defoe’s _A Vindication of the Press_ (1718).

30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper’s _Letters Concerning Taste_, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong’s _Miscellanies_ (1770).

SIXTH YEAR (1951-1952)

31. _Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751); and _The Eton College Manuscript_.

32. Prefaces to Fiction; Georges de Scudéry’s Preface to _Ibrahim_ (1674), etc.

33. Henry Gally’s _A Critical Essay_ on Characteristic-Writings (1725).

34. Thomas Tyers’ A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1785).

35. James Boswell, Andrew Erskine, and George Dempster. _Critical Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira, Written by Mr. David Malloch_ (1763).

36. Joseph Harris’s _The City Bride_ (1696).

37. Thomas Morrison’s _A Pindarick Ode on Painting_ (1767).

38. John Phillips’ _A Satyr Against Hypocrites_.

39. Thomas Warton’s _A History of English Poetry_.

40. Edward Bysshe’s _The Art of English Poetry_.

41. Bernard Mandeville’s “_A Letter to Dion_” (1732).

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Within long italic sections, words in upright font are indicated by =upright=.