nd most humble servant,
Tristram Shandy.'

Chapter 1.IX.

I solemnly declare to all mankind, that the above dedication was made
for no one Prince, Prelate, Pope, or Potentate,--Duke, Marquis, Earl,
Viscount, or Baron, of this, or any other Realm in Christendom;--nor has
it yet been hawked about, or offered publicly or privately, directly
or indirectly, to any one person or personage, great or small; but is
honestly a true Virgin-Dedication untried on, upon any soul living.

I labour this point so particularly, merely to remove any offence
or objection which might arise against it from the manner in which I
propose to make the most of it;--which is the putting it up fairly to
public sale; which I now do.

--Every author has a way of his own in bringing his points to bear;--for
my own part, as I hate chaffering and higgling for a few guineas in a
dark entry;--I resolved within myself, from the very beginning, to
deal squarely and openly with your Great Folks in this affair, and try
whether I should not come off the better by it.

If therefore there is any one Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, or Baron,
in these his Majesty's dominions, who stands in need of a tight, genteel
dedication, and whom the above will suit, (for by the bye, unless
it suits in some degree, I will not part with it)--it is much at his
service for fifty guineas;--which I am positive is twenty guineas less
than it ought to be afforded for, by any man of genius.

My Lord, if you examine it over again, it is far from being a gross
piece of daubing, as some dedications are. The design, your Lordship
sees, is good,--the colouring transparent,--the drawing not amiss;--or
to speak more like a man of science,--and measure my piece in the
painter's scale, divided into 20,--I believe, my Lord, the outlines
will turn out as 12,--the composition as 9,--the colouring as 6,--the
expression 13 and a half,--and the design,--if I may be allowed, my
Lord, to understand my own design, and supposing absolute perfection
in designing, to be as 20,--I think it cannot well fall short of 19.
Besides all this,--there is keeping in it, and the dark strokes in the
Hobby-Horse, (which is a secondary figure, and a kind of back-ground to
the whole) give great force to the principal lights in your own figure,
and make it come off wonderfully;--and besides, there is an air of
originality in the tout ensemble.

Be pleased, my good Lord, to order the su