ellished with just Ornaments. If _Definitions_ had been
constantly exacted from Authors there would not have appeared _one
hundreth_ Part of the present Books, and yet every Subject had been
better ascertained.--Nor will this Method, as some may imagine, be
encumbered with Stiffness; On the contrary, in _illustrating_ the
Truth of _Definitions_ there is a full Scope of the utmost Genius,
Imagination, and Spirit of a Writer; and a Work upon this _Plan_ is
adorned with the highest Charms appearing with _Propriety_,
_Clearness_, and _Conviction_, as well as Beauty.

It is true, that the Difficulties, which attend an able Execution
of this _Method_, are not open to a careless Eye; And it is some
Mortification to an _Author_ upon this _Plan_, that his greatest
_Merit_ is likely to lie concealed; A _Definition,_ or _Distinction,_
which after much Attention and Time he has happily delivered with
_Brevity_ and _Clearness_, appearing hereby quite obvious, to others,
and what they cannot imagine could require Pains to discover.

As to the _Examples_, by which I have illustrated the _Definition_ of
_Wit_, they are _common_ and _trite_; but are the best, which I could
find upon deliberate Enquiry. Many Modern instances of _Wit_, which
left very lively Impressions upon me, when I heard them, appearing
upon Re-examination to be quite strained and defective. These, which
I have given, as they are thus _trite_, are not designed in themselves
for any Entertainment to the Reader; but being various, and distant
from each other, they very properly serve to explain the Truth, and
Extent of the _Definition_.

The Character of an HUMOURIST, I expect, will be strange to most of
my Readers; and if no Gentleman is acquainted with a _Person_ of this
_Cast_, it must pass for a _Monster_ of my own Creation;--As to the
Character of Sir _John Falstaff_, it is chiefly extracted from
_Shakespear_, in his 1st Part of King _Henry_ the _IVth_; But so far
as _Sir John_ in _Shakspear's_ Description, sinks into a _Cheat_ or a
_Scoundrel_, upon any Occasion, he is different from that _Falstaff_,
who is designed in the following _Essay_, and is entirely an amiable
Character.

It is obvious, that the Appearance, which _Falstaff_ makes, in the
unfinished Play of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, is in general greatly
below his true Character. His Imprisonment and Death in the latter
Part of King _Henry_ the _IVth_, seem also to have been written by
_Shakespear