Page:The genuine remains in verse and prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (1759), volume 1.djvu/37

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THE

PREFACE.

It would be very unjust to the memory of a Writer so much and so justly esteemed as Butler to suppose it necessary to make any formal apology for the publication of these Remains. Whatever is the genuine performance of a Genius of his class cannot fail of recommending itself to every reader of taste; and all that can be required from the Publisher is to satisfy the World, that it is not imposed upon by false and spurious pretensions.

This has already been attempted in the printed Proposal for the subscription; but as the perishing form of a loose paper seems too frail a monument to preserve a testimony of so much importance, it cannot, I hope, be judged im-per-