Prefaces to Fiction by Various
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Various >> Prefaces to Fiction
_Hence those, whose Genius led them to cultivate this Sort of
writing, have been induc'd to examine amongst such Scenes as are
daily found to move beneath their Inspection. On this Plan are
founded the Writings of the celebrated Mons._ MARIVAUX, _and the
Performances of the ingenious Mr_. FIELDING; _each of whom are
allow'd to be excellent in their different Nations._
_The Marquis_ D'ARGENS, _sensible of the Advantages accruing from
Works of this Kind, was not satisfied with barely copying the_
Accidents, _but has also united with them the real Names of_
Persons, _who have been remarkable in Life; conscious that we pay a
more strict Attention to the Occurrences that have befallen those
who enter within the Compass of our Acquaintance, or Knowledge, and
if a Moral ensues from the Relation, it is more firmly rooted in the
Mind, than when it is to be deduced from either Manners or Men, with
whom we are entirely unacquainted._
_The Marquis is easy in his Stile, delicate in his Sentiments, and
not at all tedious in his Narration. In the following Piece we find
Nothing heavy or insipid, he dwells not too long upon any Adventure,
nor does he burthen the Memory, or clog the Attention with
Reflections intended, too often more for the Bookseller's Emolument,
in swelling the Bulk of the Performance, than the Service of the
Reader, on whom he knew it to be otherwise an Imposition; since, by
long-winded wearisome Comments upon every Passage (a Fault too
frequent in many Writers) he takes from him an Opportunity of
exercising his reflective Abilities, seeming thereby to doubt
them_.
[Illustration]
PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
FIRST YEAR (1946-47)
Numbers 1-4 out of print.
5. Samuel Wesley's _Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry_ (1700)
and _Essay on Heroic Poetry_ (1693).
6. _Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the Stage_
(1704) and _Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage_ (1704).
SECOND YEAR (1947-1948)
7. John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on
Wit from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702).
8. Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684).
9. T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736).
10. Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit,
etc._ (1744).
11. Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717).
12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph
Wood Krutch.
THIRD YEAR (1948-1949)
13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720).
14. Edward Moore's _The Gamester_ (1753).
15. John Oldmixon's _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley_
(1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's _The British Academy_ (1712).
16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673).
17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William
Shakespeare_ (1709).
18. "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719);
and Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_ (1720).
FOURTH YEAR (1949-1950)
19. Susanna Centlivre's _The Busie Body_ (1709).
20. Lewis Theobold's _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ (1734).
21. _Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and
Pamela_ (1754).
22. Samuel Johnson's _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749) and Two
_Rambler_ papers (1750).
23. John Dryden's _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681).
24. Pierre Nicole's _An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which
from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and
Rejecting Epigrams_, translated by J.V. Cunningham.
FIFTH YEAR (1950-51)
25. Thomas Baker's _The Fine Lady's Airs_ (1709).
26. Charles Macklin's _The Man of the World_ (1792).
27. Frances Reynolds' _An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of
Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, etc._ (1785).
28. John Evelyn's _An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); and _A
Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661).
29. Daniel Defoe's _A Vindication of the Press_ (1718).
30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper's _Letters Concerning
Taste_, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong's _Miscellanies_
(1770).
31. Thomas Gray's _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751);
and _The Eton College Manuscript_.