81 TO THE RIGHT RESPECTABLE MY ANCIENT AND WELL-BELOVED PATRON, THE PUBLIC. "WHY don't you dedicate to Mr. PITT?" Because, Sir, I would rather set forth my own talents than the virtues and the praises of the best man upon earth. I love to say things that no one else ever thought of, extraordinary, quite out of the common way. I scorn to echo the voice of every fellow that goes the road. Whether the vessel of the commonwealth shall sink or swim; what is it to me? I am but a passenger. "But, then, there is a manner in doing things, you know." No, Sir, it is no business of mine. Mr. Pitt is the patron of my patron, let my patron then dedicate to him, and welcome, dedicate statues, temples, monuments as lasting as the benefits conferred! It is nothing to me; neither will I say a syllable more about the matter. May it please your Respectableness, THOUGH the Dedication is the shortest part of a Book, and held by all readers to be the vilest and most contemptible; yet the writer and his patron, the Dedicator and the Dedicatee, have a different way of thinking; the latter, on account of the incense that it breathes, and the former, on account of the profit that it brings, look upon it as the most important part of the performance. Alas! how little consideration is left, for the race of VOL. 1. A |
