This is the first reprint since 1822 of a politico-literary satire that
delighted a generation of readers during and after the American War of
Independence. It has seemed to the editor, and to others who encouraged
the project, that the neglect of _Anticipation_ has been due less to its
want of interest than to the want of a properly edited reprint. The mere
presence in it of so many names with deleted letters has discouraged
later readers.[1] The present volume provides an account of the author
and of the setting and reception of _Anticipation_, an accurate text,
explanatory notes, and a bibliography of Tickell’s writings.
_Anticipation_ was written and printed hastily; and the spelling
(especially of proper names), the punctuation, and sometimes even the
grammar are erratic. But since it has proved impossible to distinguish
the carelessness of the printer from that of the author, I have followed
the first issue literally except when corrections were available in the
following later ones: “The Third Edition, Corrected,” which appeared
within a week of first publication; “The Tenth Edition, Corrected,” 1780,
which was the last published during Tickell’s life; and “A New Edition,
Corrected,” 1794, a re-issue occasioned, probably, by Tickell’s death and
set from new type. Two or three flagrant errors (e.g., the name “Bonille”
for “Bouillé” at p. 59) and a few typographical absurdities (such as
quotation marks without mates) recur in all the London issues. These I
have corrected without warrant from any text.
It should be stated that in the Introduction I have usually not cited
sources for dates and other biographical details when the sources are
correctly given in W. Fraser Rae’s article on Tickell in _The Dictionary
of National Biography_. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of
publication of all works cited is London.
A great many friends have contributed to the making of this book, and
almost as many librarians in the United States and England have aided my
researches for it. Some special debts I wish to record here. Randolph G.
Adams, Director of the William L. Clements Library at Ann Arbor, Julian
P. Boyd, Librarian of Princeton University, and Professor George Sherburn
of Harvard have read my manuscript and given me helpful advice. W. S.
Lewis, Esq., of Farmington, Connecticut, kindly allowed me to quote
from notes written by Horace Walpole in a copy of _Anticipation_ now in
Mr. Lewis’ collection of Walpoliana; Richard Eustace Tickell, Esq., of
London, sent me useful material from the Tickell family papers; Mrs.
Flora V. Livingston and Mr. William Van Lennep, curators, respectively,
of the Widener Collection and the Theatre Collection in the Harvard
College Library, allowed me to quote from manuscript letters in their
charge; the New York Public Library gave me permission to reproduce the
title-page that precedes the text. For aid in preparing the Bibliography
of Tickell’s Writings I am most indebted to Mr. John D. Gordan of the New
York Public Library, who read and ably criticized it; to Miss Anne S.
Pratt of the Yale University Library, and Mr. Frederick R. Goff of the
Library of Congress, who answered numerous bibliographical inquiries;
to the Union Catalog in the Library of Congress and its staff; and to
the admirable _Bibliotheca Americana_, begun by Joseph Sabin, continued
by Wilberforce Eames, and then completed by R. W. G. Vail, New York,
1868-1937. The services of Herbert B. Anstaett, Librarian of Franklin and
Marshall College, have been so various, constant, and indispensable that
they deserve my most sincere thanks. No thanks, however, can be adequate
for the devoted work and interest bestowed on the preparation of this
book, from beginning to end, by my wife.
* * * * *
I am grateful also to the following publishers for permission to quote
from the books named: The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for _Boswell’s Life of
Johnson_ edited by George Birkbeck Hill, revised and enlarged edition
by L. F. Powell; _The Letters of Horace Walpole_ edited by Mrs. Paget
Toynbee; and _Satirical Poems Published Anonymously by William Mason with
Notes by Horace Walpole_ edited by Paget Toynbee. Constable and Company,
Ltd., for _Sheridan: From New and Original Material_ by Walter Sichel.
Henry Holt and Company for _Sheridan: A Biography_ by W. Fraser Rae. The
Huntington Library for _The American Journal of Ambrose Serle, Secretary
to Lord Howe 1776-1778_, edited by Edward H. Tatum, Jr. Hutchinson and
Company, Ltd., for _The Farington Diary_ by Joseph Farington, R.A.,
edited by James Greig. John Lane, the Bodley Head, Ltd., for _The Last
Journals of Horace Walpole during the Reign of George III from 1771-1783_
edited by A. Francis Steuart. The Macmillan Company for _The Writings of
Benjamin Franklin_ edited by Albert Henry Smyth. John Murray for _Private
Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794)_ edited by Rowland E. Prothero.
Martin Secker and Warburg, Ltd., for _The Linleys of Bath_ by Clementina
Black. The Viking Press, Inc., for _The Private Papers of James Boswell
from Malahide Castle_ as originally published in a limited edition by
William Rudge and to be published in an unlimited edition by The Viking
Press, Inc., under the editorship of Professor Frederick A. Pottle.