l ne gagnera rien sur ce juge irrite,
Qui lui fait son proces de pleine autorite.

Low in a humble preface authors kneel;
In vain, the wearied reader's heart is steel.
Callous, that irritated judge with awe,
Inflicts the penalties and arms the law.

The most entertaining prefaces in our language are those of Dryden; and
though it is ill-naturedly said, by Swift, that they were merely formed

To raise the volume's price a shilling,

yet these were the earliest commencements of English criticism, and the
first attempt to restrain the capriciousness of readers, and to form a
national taste. Dryden has had the candour to acquaint us with his secret
of prefatory composition; for in that one to his Tales he says, "the
nature of preface-writing is rambling; never wholly out of the way, nor in
it. This I have learnt from the practice of honest Montaigne." There is no
great risk in establishing this observation as an axiom in literature; for
should a prefacer loiter, it is never difficult to get rid of lame
persons, by escaping from them; and the reader may make a preface as
concise as he chooses.

It is possible for an author to paint himself in amiable colours, in this
useful page, without incurring the contempt of egotism. After a writer has
rendered himself conspicuous by his industry or his genius, his admirers
are not displeased to hear something relative to him from himself. Hayley,
in the preface to his poems, has conveyed an amiable feature in his
personal character, by giving the cause of his devotion to literature as
the only mode by which he could render himself of some utility to his
country. There is a modesty in the prefaces of Pope, even when this great
poet collected his immortal works; and in several other writers of the
most elevated genius, in a Hume and a Robertson, which becomes their happy
successors to imitate, and inferior writers to contemplate with awe.

There is in prefaces a due respect to be shown to the public
and to ourselves. He that has no sense of self-dignity, will
not inspire any reverence in others; and the ebriety of vanity
will he sobered by the alacrity we all feel in disturbing the
dreams of self-love. If we dare not attempt the rambling
prefaces of a Dryden, we may still entertain the reader, and
soothe him into good-humour, for our own interest. This,
perhaps, will be best obtained by making the preface (like the
symphony to an opera) to contain something analogous t