_Beloved Country-men_,
Had I not more respect to my Countries good in general, than any private
interest of mine own, I should not have introduc’d my _Friend_ upon the
common Theatre of the World, to act the part of a _Rogue_ in the Publick
view of all. _Rogue!_ did I call him? I should recal that word, since
his Actions were attended more with Witty Conceits, then Life-destroying
Stratagems. It is confest, the whole bent of his mind tended to little
else then _Exorbitancy_; and _Necessity_ frequently compelled him to
perpetrate _Villany_: And no wonder, since he lived in the infectious
Air of the worst of most _Licentious Times_. But still I blame my self
for stigmatizing him with such an _Opprobrious Title_, since in the
declination of his days, the consideration of his former _Wicked
Courses_ hath wrought (I have so much charity for him to believe it) in
him cordial contrition, and unfeigned repentance: and the truth of it
is, Man should be regarded not for what he _was_, but what he _is_.
Since his _Reformation_, I have taken very great delight in his
Conversation, and never went from him but with great satisfaction in the
_Ingenious Relation_ of the transactions of his youthful days: And
frequently revolving them in my mind, Reason suggested to me, the
_History of his Life_ could not but be as profitable as pleasant, if
made _publick_. For herein you may see Vice pourtrayed in her own proper
shape, the ugliness whereof (her _Vizard-Mask_ being remov’d) cannot but
cause in her (_quondam_) Adorers, a _loathing_ instead of _loving_.
Wherefore, with my _Friends_ free consent, and being instigated
thereunto by many _persons_ inferiour to few, either for _Birth_,
_Education_, or _Natural Parts_, I attempted this _Essay_.
If any be so curious to know what the (_Actors_ you have in the Title)
_Authors name is_, let me crave his pardon for his concealment, and
answer him with _Plutarch_ to an inquisitive Fellow, _Quum vides
velatum, quid inquiris in rem absconditam?_ It was therefore covered,
because he should not know what was in it. It is enough that the _Actor_
hath shown himself willing to declare _freely_, and without _mincing_
the _truth_ of what he hath done, without _knowing_ who writ it; if the
_Contents_ shall as well _please_ as admonish, no matter what I’m
call’d. But if you are so desirous to know what the _Writer_ is, I shall
briefly inform your _curiosity_: But I doubt I have _undertaken_ what I
_cannot perform_; for if to know a mans self be more then an _Herculean
Labour_, then without doubt it is beyond the limits of my power to tell
you what I am; neither can _any man_ truly _know another_, unless he
first _knows_ himself.
For some few years, the World and I have had a great _falling out_; and
though I have used all _probable_ and _possible_ means, we remain yet
_unreconcil’d_.
My only comfort is, I have a small treasure in _Minerva’s Tower_, by
which I subsist; and by the benefit thereof, can walk abroad, not
without taking _Observation_ both from what I _hear_ and _see_; and
returning home, _Tam Aulæ vanitatem, quam Fori ambitionem ridere mecum
soleo_. I can with _Democritus_ laugh at the _Actions_ of men,
extracting _Wisdome_ from their _Follies_, and afterwards _lash_ them
with a _Rod_ of _Experience_ made of their own _fond inconsiderateness_.
As for my part, I am onely a _Wise-acre_, (a Retort once put upon _Ben
Johnson_), for I have no _Acres of Land_. But therefore don’t be so
unadvised, (as too many are of late) to regard not so much the _worth_
of the Work, as the _dignity_ of the Person. _Qui similiter in legendos
libros atq; in salutandos homines irruunt, non cogitantes quales, sed
quibus vestibus induti sint._ They mind not so much _what_, as _who
writ_ it; not the Quality of the _Thing_, but the Quality of the
_Author_, and a _Person of Honour_ (now adays) being set in the place of
the _Writer_, makes the Book received with a general applause. Pardon as
well my Satyrical as Cynical Humour. If any dislike what I have writ,
let them let it _alone_, or publish themselves something of a better
_Composition_. I shall not value any ones Censure, for I have already
_Antidoted_ my self against it, by my own _dis-esteem_ I have hereof. I
am so far from being _Opinionative_, that you cannot speak worse then
what I judge of it.
_Nasutus sis usq; licet, sis deniq; Nasus,
Non potes in nugas dicere plura meas._
_Bark, foul-mouth’d carping _Momus_, if thou durst:
What I have writ is Bad; Now do thy worst._
Thus you see, as I will not _arrogate_, so I shall not _derogate_: for
as I am so many _Parasanges_ after such a one, yet I may be an _Ace_
above thee, if thou art too _Censorious_.
But some may say, That this is but _actum agere_, a Collection out of
_Guzman_, _Buscon_, or some others that have writ upon this subject;
_Crambem bis coctam apponere_; and that I have onely _squeez’d_ their
_Juice_, (adding some Ingredients of mine own) and afterwards
_distill’d_ it in the _Lymbeck_ of my own _Head_. _Non habes confitentem
reum_, I ne’er _extracted_ from them _one single drop of Spirit_. As if
we could not produce an _English Rogue_ of our _own_, without being
beholding to other _Nations_ for him. I will not say that he durst vye
with either an _Italian_, _Spanish_, or _French Rogue_; but having been
_steept_ for some years in an _Irish Bogg_, that hath added so much to
his _Rogue-ships_ perfection, that he out-did them all by out-doing one,
and that was a _Scot_; I need not use the Epithite _Roguish_, since the
very name proves it a _Tautologie_. If I have borrowed any thing, it was
not from what past the _Press_; but what I have taken upon the _score_
in Discourse, _&c._ I here repay with Usury, but not in the same
_Commodity_. _Etiamsi apparet unde sumptum sit, aliud tamen quam unde
sumptum fit, apparet._ I have not done as the _Romans_, who robb’d the
whole Universe to enrich their ill-sited City; _Rome_ I mean. I skimm’d
not off the Cream of other mens Wits, nor Cropt the flowers in others
gardens to garnish my own _Plots_; neither have I Larded my Lean Fancy
with the Fat of others _Ingenious Labours_; but from the dictation of my
own _Genius_, I have exprest _quicquid in buccam venerit_, what came
next, without much premeditation or study. Gramercy _Sack_, if happily I
have hit the mark.
I am no _Aquæ potor_, an implacable _Enemy to Small Beer_; all the
_Purchases_ I can boast of, lies in _Wine_, which is by _Moderns_ highly
esteemed for improving good Wits, _infusing_ Elogies and _Hyperbolical
Exornations_, forming such hard Words in the _Brain_, as shall, like
_Acesta’s arrows_, catch fire as they flie. But I have _wandered_ from
that _common rode_, respecting more the _matter_ then _words_. For my
Stile is _plain_ and _familiar_, rejecting bombast _Expressions_,
thinking them most _happy_ when most easily to be understood.
As for the _Matter_ it self, if it be faulty, or the _Method_ rude and
indigested, consider, _Quod nihil perfectum vel singulari consummatum
industria_, No man can observe all things; neither is it to be imagined
that all _Rogueries_ can be perform’d by one man. Not but that when you
have read him, you will find him _Notorious_ enough.
Some men are not content to _commit Villany_ themselves, and boast of it
too, but they will rob others of that which they should be _asham’d_ to
own. In this there is little or no _Fiction_, I’ll assure you; and there
is no _Story_ therein which doth not carry with it more then the bare
_probability_ of _truth_. Should I speak much more, it is to be fear’d
some will argue from hence, that I am conscious to my self of its
various defects; and therefore I shall desist from Apologizing for it,
or my self.
Sensible I am, that if ought be omitted or added, which the Reader likes
or dislikes, he will account me _Mancipium pancæ lectionis_, an Idiot,
an insipid Asse; _nullus sum, vel Plagiarius_, a very Thief, and that I
stole other mens Labours. Thus do I know I shall be vilified and
undervalued even by such, that are so far from being capable of judging
of _Ingenuity_, that they know not how to write Orthographically six
words of sence in their own Mother-tongue. Yet I must confess, what is
writ, is neither as I would, nor as it should, it being usher’d into the
world as it was first written; whereas I should have done with this, as
a _Physitian_ advised should be done with _Lapis Lazuli_, to be washt
fifty times before used: had not immergent Affairs hindred me, I would
have licked this _Cub_ into a more _comely Form_. But since ’tis
otherwise, I shall onely complain with _Ovid_:—
_Cum relego scripsisse pudet, quia plurimo cerno,
Me quoq; quæ fuerant Judice digna lini._
All the favour that I shall desire, is, That the _Reader_ would not
account the _Printers_ literal or verbal Escapes _mine_; and withal pass
a candid interpretation on each Line; and I shall endeavour in a short
time to become more satisfactory, and study how I may be always
serviceable to my Country.
_When I read o’er what I have writ, then shame
O’erspreads my face, because it stabs my Name._
[Illustration]
ON
THE ENGLISH ROGUE.
_What others writ, was ta’en upon the Score;
Thou art in _Re_, what they but _feign’d_ before.
They did but _lisp, or worse_, speak through the Nose:
Thou hast pronounc’t, and liv’st in _Verse_ and _Prose_.
_Guzman_, _Lazaro_, _Buscon_, and _Francion_,
Till thou appear’dst did shine as at high Noon.
Thy Book’s now extant; those that Judge of Wit,
Say, They and _Rablais_ too fall short of it.
How could’t be otherwise, since ’twas thy fate,
To _practise_ what they did but _imitate_.
We stand amaz’d at thy _Ephesian Fire_;
Such _purchas’d Infamy_ all must admire._