In the last _Tatler_ I promised some explanation of passages and persons
mentioned in this work, as well as some account of the assistances I
have had in the performance. I shall do this in very few words; for when
a man has no design but to speak plain truth, he may say a great deal in
a very narrow compass. I have in the dedication of the first volume made
my acknowledgments to Dr. Swift, whose pleasant writings, in the name of
Bickerstaff, created an inclination in the town towards anything that
could appear in the same disguise. I must acknowledge also, that at my
first entering upon this work, a certain uncommon way of thinking, and a
turn in conversation peculiar to that agreeable gentleman, rendered his
company very advantageous to one whose imagination was to be continually
employed upon obvious and common subjects, though at the same time
obliged to treat of them in a new and unbeaten method. His verses on the
Shower in Town,[44] and the Description of the Morning,[45] are
instances of the happiness of that genius, which could raise such
pleasing ideas upon occasions so barren to an ordinary invention.
When I am upon the house of Bickerstaff, I must not forget that
genealogy of the family sent to me by the post, and written, as I since
understand, by Mr. Twysden,[46] who died at the battle of Mons, and has
a monument in Westminster Abbey, suitable to the respect which is due to
his wit and his valour. There are through the course of the work very
many incidents which were written by unknown correspondents. Of this
kind is the tale in the second _Tatler_, and the epistle from Mr. Downes
the prompter,[47] with others which were very well received by the
public. But I have only one gentleman,[48] who will be nameless, to
thank for any frequent assistance to me, which indeed it would have been
barbarous in him to have denied to one with whom he has lived in an
intimacy from childhood, considering the great ease with which he is
able to dispatch the most entertaining pieces of this nature. This good
office he performed with such force of genius, humour, wit and learning,
that I fared like a distressed prince who calls in a powerful neighbour
to his aid; I was undone by my auxiliary; when I had once called him in,
I could not subsist without dependence on him.
The same hand writ the distinguishing characters of men and women under
the names of Musical Instruments, the Distress of the News-writers, the
Inventory of the Playhouse, and the Description of the Thermometer,[49]
which I cannot but look upon as the greatest embellishments of this
work.
Thus far I thought necessary to say relating to the great hands which
have been concerned in these volumes, with relation to the spirit and
genius of the work; and am far from pretending to modesty in making this
acknowledgment. What a man obtains from the good opinion and friendship
of worthy men, is a much greater honour than he can possibly reap from
any accomplishments of his own. But all the credit of wit which was
given me by the gentlemen above mentioned (with whom I have now
accounted) has not been able to atone for the exceptions made against me
for some raillery in behalf of that learned advocate for the episcopacy
of the Church, and the liberty of the people, Mr. Hoadly. I mention this
only to defend myself against the imputation of being moved rather by
party than opinion;[50] and I think it is apparent, I have with the
utmost frankness allowed merit wherever I found it, though joined in
interests different from those for which I have declared myself. When my
Favonius[51] is acknowledged to be Dr. Smalridge, and the amiable
character of the dean in the sixty-sixth _Tatler_ drawn for Dr.
Atterbury, I hope I need say no more as to my impartiality.
I really have acted in these cases with honesty, and am concerned it
should be thought otherwise: for wit, if a man had it, unless it be
directed to some useful end, is but a wanton frivolous quality; all that
one should value himself upon in this kind is, that he had some
honourable intention in it.
As for this point, never hero in romance was carried away with a more
furious ambition to conquer giants and tyrants, than I have been in
extirpating gamesters and duellists. And indeed, like one of those
knights too, though I was calm before, I am apt to fly out again, when
the thing that first disturbed me is presented to my imagination. I
shall therefore leave off when I am well, and fight with windmills no
more: only shall be so arrogant as to say of myself, that in spite of
all the force of fashion and prejudice, in the face of all the world, I
alone bewailed the condition of an English gentleman, whose fortune and
life are at this day precarious; while his estate is liable to the
demands of gamesters, through a false sense of justice; and to the
demands of duellists, through a false sense of honour. As to the first
of these orders of men, I have not one word more to say of them: as to
the latter, I shall conclude all I have more to offer against them (with
respect to their being prompted by the fear of shame) by applying to the
duellist what I think Dr. South says somewhere of the liar, "He is a
coward to man, and a brave to God."
_To_ Mr. Maynwaring.[52]