The Preface to the Fables (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Preface to the Fables These qualities, so admirably described by Dr Johnson, shine with undiminished lustre in the preface to the Fables. Though he had come within twenty years of the old gentleman who desired the ladies to count fourscore and eight before they judged him for mounting his horse somewhat heavily, his judgment was not impaired, nor the natural force of his mind abated. Ln memorable words he declares that thoughts, such as they are, come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject; to run them into verse, or to give them the other harmony of prose. His critical faculty is as keen, his taste as judicious, as when he wrote the Essay on Dramatic Poesy. He still wins the reader by his engaging frankness and unaffected modesty. His style has 'lost none of its ease, lucidity, and vigour, suffused with genial humour, and lighted up by occasional flashes of vivid satire. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.