he 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]

SIR,

The state of conversation and business in this town having been long
perplexed with pretenders in both kinds, in order to open men's eyes
against such abuses, it appeared no unprofitable undertaking to publish
a paper which should observe upon the manners of the pleasureable, as
well as the busy part of mankind. To make this generally read, it seemed
the most proper method to form it by way of a letter of intelligence,
consisting of such parts as might gratify the curiosity of persons of
all conditions, and of each sex. But a work of this nature requiring
time to grow into the notice of the world, it happened very luckily,
that a little before I had resolved upon this design, a gentleman[53]
had written Predictions, and two or three other pieces in my name, which
had rendered it famous through all parts of Europe; and by an inimitable
spirit and humour, raised it to as high a pitch of reputation as it
could possibly arrive at.

By this good fortune, the name of Isaac Bickerstaff gained an audience
of all who had any taste of wit, and the addition of the ordinary
occurrences of common journals of news brought in a multitude of other
readers. I could not, I confess, long keep up the opinion of the town,
that these lucubrations were written by the same hand with the first
works which were published under my name; but before I lost the
participation of that author's fame, I had already found the advantage
of his authority, to which I owe the sudden acceptance which my labours
met with in the world.

The general purpose of th