was rather that which was printed; and they made all the hafte they could; which indeed was needlefs, the author not being at all prepared. But he has been told, the bookfeller was in much pain, having given a good fum of money for the copy.

In the author's original copy there were not fo many chafms as appear in the book; and why fome of them were left, he knows not. Had the publication been trufted to him, he would have made feveral corrections of paffages against which nothing hath been ever objected. He would likewife have altered a few of those that seem with any reafon to be excepted against; but, to deal freely, the greateft number. he fhould have left untouch. ed, as never fufpecting it poffible any wrong interpretations could be made of them.

The author obferves, at the end of the book there is a difcourfe, called, A fragment; which he more wondered to fee in print, than all the reft; having been a most im. perfect sketch, with the addition of a few loose hints, which he once lent a gentleman, who had designed a dif courfe on fomewhat the fame fubject. He never thought of it afterwards; and it was a fufficient furprise to see it pieced up together, wholly out of the method and scheme he had intended; for it was the ground-work of a much larger difcourfe, and he was forry to obferve the materials fo foolishly employed.

E.

There is one farther objection made by those who have anfwered this book, as well as by fome others, That Peter is frequently made to repeat oaths and curfes very reader obferves, it was necessary to know that Peter did fwear and curfe. The oaths are not printed out, but only fuppofed; and the idea of an oath is not immoral, like the idea of a profane or immodeft fpeech. A man may laugh at the Popish folly of curfing people to hell, and imagine them fwearing, without any crime; but lewd words, or dangerous opinions, though printed by halves, fill the reader's mind with ill ideas: and of thefe the author cannot be accufed. For the judicious reader will find, that the fevereft ftrokes of fatire, in his book, are levelled against the modern cuftom of employing wit upon those topics.;, of which there is a remarkable inftance in fect. 7. parag. 7. p. 97. as well as in feveral others, though

though perhaps once or twice expreffed in too free a manner, excufable only for the reafons already alledged. Some overtures have been made, by a third hand, to the bookfeller, for the author's altering thofe paffages which he thought might require it. But it feems the bookfeller will not hear of any fuch thing, being apprehenfive it might fpoil the fale of the book.

The author cannot conclude this apology, without making this one reflection, That as wit is the nobleft and moft ufeful gift of human nature, fo humour is the most agreeable; and where these two enter far into the compofition of any work, they will render it always acceptable to the world. Now, the great part of those who have no fhare or tafte of either, but by their pride, pedantry, and ill manners, lay themfelves bare to the lafhes of both, think the blow is weak, because they are infenfible; and where wit hath any mixture of raillery, it is but calling it banter, and the work is done. This polite word of theirs was firft borrowed from the bullies in White-Friers, then fell among the footmen, and at laft retired to the pedants; by whom it is applied as properly to the productions of wit, as if I fhould apply it to Sir Ifaac Newton's mathematics. But if this: bantering, as they call it, be fo defpifable a thing, whence comes it to pafs, they have fuch a perpetual itch towards it themselves? To inftance only in the anfwerer already mentioned: It is grievous to fee him, in fome of his writings, at every turn going out of his way to be waggifh, to tell us of a cow that pricked up her tail; and in his anfwer to this difcourfe, he says, It is all a farce and a ladle; with other paffages equally fhining. One may fay of thefe impedimenta literarum, that wit owes them a fhame; and they cannot take wifer counfel, than to keep out of harm's way, or at least not to come till they are fure they are called.

To conclude: With those allowances above required, this book should be read; after which, the author conceives, few things will remain, which may not be excufed in a young writer. He wrote only to the men of wit and and taste; and he thinks he is not mistaken in bis accounts, when he says they have been all of his fide, enough to give him the vanity of telling his name;

wherein

wherein the world, with all its wife conjectures, is yet very much in the dark: which circumstance is no difagreeable amusement either to the public or himself.

The author is informed, that the bookfeller has prevailed on feveral gentlemen to write fome explanatory notes; for the goodness of which he is not to answer, having never seen any of them, nor intending it till they appear in print; when it is not unlikely he may have the pleafure to find twenty meanings, which never entered into his imagination.

June 3, 1709.

SINCE

POST SCRIP T.

INCE the writing of this, which was about a year ago, a prostitute bookfeller hath published a foolish paper, under the name of Notes on the Tale of a Tub, with Jame account of the authors and with an infolence, which I fuppofe is punishable by law, hath prefumed to affign certain names. It will be enough for the author to af fure the world, that the writer of that paper is utterly wrong in all his conjectures upon that affair. The author farther afferts, that the whole work is entirely of one hand; which every reader of judgment will eafily difcover: the gentleman who gave the copy to the bookfeller, being a friend of the author, and using no other liberties, befides that of expunging certain paffages, where now the chafms appear under the name of defiderata. But if any perfon will prove his claim to three lines in the whole book, let him step forth, and tell his name and titles; upon which, the bookfeller fhall have orders to prefix them to the next edition, and the claimant fhall from henceforward be acknowledged the undisputed author.

Treatifes

༣༣

Treatifes written by the fame author, most of them mentioned in the following difcourfes; which will be speedily published.

A

Character of the prefent fet of wits in this island.

A panegyrical effay upon the number THREE.

A differtation upon the principal productions of Grubftreet.

Lectures upon a diffection of human nature.

A panegyric upon the world.

An analytical difcourse upon zeal, histori-the-phyfi-logically confidered.

A general history of ears.

A modeft défence of the proceedings of the rabble in all ages.

A defcription of the kingdom of abfurdities.

A voyage into England, by a perfon of quality in Terra auftralis incognita, translated from the original.

A critical effay upon the art of canting, philofophi cally, phyfically, and mufically confidered.

VOL. I.

B

To

My LORD,

Although bet author he written a large dedication,

yet that being addreffed to a prince, whom I am never likely to have the honour of being known to; a perfon, befides, as far as I can observe, not at all regarded, or thought on by any of our prefent writers; and being wholly free from that flavery which book fellers ufually lie under to the caprices of authors; I think it a wife piece of prefumption, to infcribe thefe papers to your Lordship, and to implore your Lordship's protection of them. God and your Lordship know their faults, and their merits: for, as to my own particular, I am altogether a ftranger to the matter; and though every body elfe fhould be equally ignorant, I do not fear the fale of the book, at all the worfe, upon that fcore. Your Lordship's name on the front in capital letters, will at any time get off one edition: neither would I defire any other help to grow an alderman, than a patent for the fole privilege of dedicating to your Lordship.

I fhould now, in right of a dedicator, give your Lordship a lift of your own virtues, and at the fame time be very unwilling to offend your modefty; but, chiefly, I fhould celebrate your liberality towards men of great parts and fmall fortunes, and give you broad hints, that I mean myfelf. And I was juft going on, in the ufual method, to perufe a hundred or two of dedications, and tranfcribe an abstract, to be applied to your Lordship; but I was diverted by a certain accident. For, upon the covers of these papers, I cafually obferved, written in large letters, the two following words, DETUR DIGNISSIMO; which, for aught I knew, might contain fome important meaning. But it unluckily fell out, that none of the authors I employ understood Latin (though I have them often in pay, to tranflate out of that language.) I was therefore compelled to have recourse to the curate of our parish,