APPENDIX.
I.
PREFACE
Prefixed to the five first imperfect Editions of the DUNCIAD, in three books, printed at Dublin and London, in octavo and duodecimo, 1727.
The Publisher[1] to the Reader.
It will be found a true observation, tho' somewhat surprizing, that when any scandal is vented against a man of the highest distinction and character, either in the state or in literature, the public in general afford it a most quiet reception; and the larger part accept it as favourably as if it were some kindness done to themselves: whereas if a known scoundrel or blockhead but chance to be touch'd upon, a whole legion is up in arms, and it becomes the common cause of all scriblers, booksellers, and printers whatsoever.
- ↑ The Publisher] Who he was is uncertain; but Edward Ward tells us, in his preface to Durgen, "that most judges are of opinion this preface is not of English extraction, but Hibernian," &c. He means it was written by Dr. Swift, who, whether publisher or not, may be said in a sort to be author of the poem: For when he, together with Mr. Pope (for reasons specified in the Preface to their Miscellanies) determined to own the most trifling pieces in which they had any hand, and to destroy all that remained in their power; the first sketch of this poem was snatched from the fire by Dr. Swift, who persuaded his friend to proceed in it, and to him it was therefore in scribed. But the occasion of printing it was as follows.
There was published in those Miscellanies, a Treatise of the Bathos, or Art of Sinking
