As
the invaluable present I am making to the world may not please all
tastes, from the gravity of the matter, the solidity of the
reasoning, and the deep learning contained in the ensuing sheets,
it
is necessary to make some apology for producing this work in so
trifling an age, when nothing will go down but temporary politics,
personal satire, and idle romances. The true reason then for my
surmounting all these objections was singly this: I was
apprehensive
lest the work should be lost to posterity; and though it may be
condemned at present, I can have no doubt but it will be treated
with
due reverence some hundred ages hence, when wisdom and learning
shall
have gained their proper ascendant over mankind, and when men shall
only read for instruction and improvement of their minds. As I
shall
print an hundred thousand copies, some, it may be hoped, will
escape
the havoc that is made of moral works, and then this jewel will
shine
forth in its genuine lustre. I was in the greater hurry to consign
this work to the press, as I foresee that the art of printing will
ere long be totally lost, like other useful discoveries well known
to
the ancients. Such were the art of dissolving rocks with hot
vinegar,
of teaching elephants to dance on the slack rope, of making
malleable
glass, of writing epic poems that any body would read after they
had
been published a month, and the stupendous invention of new
religions, a secret of which illiterate Mahomet was the last person
possessed.
Notwithstanding
this my zeal for good letters, and the ardour of my universal
citizenship, (for I declare I design this present for all nations)
there are some small difficulties in the way, that prevent my
conferring this my great benefaction on the world compleatly and
all
at once. I am obliged to produce it in small portions, and
therefore
beg the prayers of all good and wise men that my life may be
prolonged to me, till I shall be able to publish the whole work, no
man else being capable of executing the charge so well as myself,
for
reasons that my modesty will not permit me to specify. In the mean
time, as it is the duty of an editor to acquaint the world with
what
relates to himself as well as his author, I think it right to
mention
the causes that compel me to publish this work in numbers. The
common
reason of such proceeding is to make a book dearer for the ease of
the purchasers, it being supposed that most people had rather give
twenty shillings by sixpence a fortnight, than pay ten shillings
once
for all. Public spirited as this proceeding is, I must confess my
reasons are more and merely personal. As my circumstances are very
moderate, and barely sufficient to maintain decently a gentleman of
my abilities and learning, I cannot afford to print at once an
hundred thousand copies of two volumes in folio, for that will be
the
whole mass of Hieroglyphic Tales when the work is perfected. In the
next place, being very asthmatic, and requiring a free
communication
of air, I lodge in the uppermost story of a house in an alley not
far
from St. Mary Axe; and as a great deal of good company lodges in
the
same mansion, it was by a considerable favour that I could obtain a
single chamber to myself; which chamber is by no means large enough
to contain the whole impression, for I design to vend the copies
myself, and, according to the practice of other great men, shall
sign
the first sheet my self with my own hand.
Desirous
as I am of acquainting the world with many more circumstances
relative to myself, some private considerations prevent my
indulging
their curiosity any farther at present; but I shall take care to
leave so minute an account of myself to some public library, that
the
future commentators and editors of this work shall not be deprived
of
all necessary lights. In the mean time I beg the reader to accept
the
temporary compensation of an account of the author whose work I am
publishing.