Tale of a Tub Author:Jonathan Swift Subtitle: Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind. to Which Are Added, an Account of a Battle Between the Ancient and Modern Books. in St. James's Library. and a Discourse, Concerning the Mechanical Operations of the Spirit. With the Author's Apology, and Explanatory Notes, by W. Wotton, B.d. and Others. Cooke's Edition. Embellished Wit... more »h Superb Engravings General Books publication date: 2009 Original Publisher: printed for C. Cooke, and sold by all the booksellers in Great-Britain Subjects: Fiction / Literary Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: AH APOLOGY ton. The AUTHOR. L. F good and ill-nature equally operated upod mankind, I might have faved myfelf the trouble of this apology: for it is manifeft, by the reception the following difcourfe hath met with, that thofe who approve it are a great majority among the men of tafte. Yet there] have been two or three Treatifes written exprefsly againft it, befides many others that have flirted at it oc- cafionally, without one fyllable having been ever publiftied in its defence, or even quotation to its advantage, that I can remember; except by the polite author of a late Difcourfe between a Deift and a Socinian. Therefore, fince the book feems calculated to live at leaft as long as our language and our tafte, admits no great alterations, I am content to convey fome apology along with it. Tke greateft part of that book was finilhed above thirteen years fince, i696 which is eight A 3 years years before it was publifhed. The author was then young, his invention at the height, and his reading refh in his head. By the affiftance of fome thinking, and much converfation, he had endeavoured to ftrip himfelf of as many real prejudices as he could : 1 fay, ...« less