TO THE RIGHT RESPECTABLE MY Ancient and well-beloved PATRON THE PUBLIC.
WHY don't you dedicate to
Mr. PIT?
Because, Sir, I would rather set forth my own Talents than the Virtues and Praises of the best Man upon Earth. I love to say Things that no One else ever thought of, extraordinary, quite out of the common way. I scorn to echo the Voice of every Fellow that goes the Road. Whether the Vessel of the Common-Wealth shall sink or swim; what is it to me? I am but a Passenger.
But, then, there is a Manner in doing Things you know.
No, Sir, it is no Business of mine. Mr.
Pit
is the Patron of my Patron; let my Patron then dedicate to him, and welcome, dedicate Statutes, Temples, Monuments as lasting as the Benefits conferred! It is nothing to me; neither will I say a Syllable more about the matter.
May it please your Respectableness,
THOUGH the Dedication is the shortest Part of a Book, and held by all Readers to be the vilest and most contemptible; yet the Writer and his Patron, the Dedicator and the Dedicatee, have a different way of thinking; the Latter, on account of the Incense that it breathes, and the Former, on account of the Profit that it brings, look upon it as the most important Part of the Performance.
Alas! how little Consideration is left, for the Race of Writers, among the Race of Readers, especially on this Chapter of Dedications.
Your Respectableness, perhaps, hath not duely perpended the Travail, the Toil, the marvellous Drudgery, the Muck that Dedicators are obliged to pass through, and the Fences of Truth over which they must break, in order to cull, select, and sublimate an Offering fit to lay upon the Altar of Adulation.
Through what a World of Weeds do they range to gather their little Nosegays; from what a Profusion of Offences do they extract their Perfumes; and, how many Nights do they watch, to concentre and realize a single Mouthful of Moonshine for the Gratification of their Partrons.
The Trades also, incumbent upon them, are manifold, such as of Painting, Patching, and Plastering; of Embroidering, Shaping, and Shaving; and of Tyring, Trimming, and Tayloring; in order to smooth and garnish the Man
whom it delighteth them to honour,
and to furnish him with a full Suit of Praises.
But your Respectableness, I humbly hope, would not wish me to be at all this Trouble; for indeed Trouble is a
