Volume 1

A letter from the facetious Dr. Andrew Tripe [i.e. W. Wagstaffe] at Bath, to his loving brother the profound Greshamite, shewing that the scribendi cacoethes is a distemper arising from a redundancy of biliose salts / [William Wagstaffe].

  • Wagstaffe, William, 1685-1725
Date:
1719
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter from the facetious Dr. Andrew Tripe [i.e. W. Wagstaffe] at Bath, to his loving brother the profound Greshamite, shewing that the scribendi cacoethes is a distemper arising from a redundancy of biliose salts / [William Wagstaffe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/48 (page 9)
    Heaver have produced his Medicine for the Gouty had he been entirely unacquaint¬ ed with the Dignity of thofe Foffils: Nor, after all, would the Incomprehenfible Dr. W——d7s Language have exceeded the Criticifm of the Firft, or his PraCtice the Noftrum of the Latter, even in the fame Diftemper, had not his under-ground Ob- fcurity, in the Firft of Life, exalted his Cogitation and his Pharmacy to fuch a Pitch. ’Tis Univerfally agreed* Sir, that your late Performance is unanfwerable ; but your Dexterity, in the Art of Writing Prefacesy is fuch, that, as Ariflotle drew the Laws of Epic Poetry from the Model of the Sublime Homery fo never any Preface for the Future will be look’d upon as a Perfect Piece that borrows not its SanCtion from your Standard. For, without en- tring into a detail of the feveral Allufions and Conjeftures that have been hitherto advanced, there is this ufe undoubtedly in thofe forerunners of large Volumes, that a Man may commend himfelf in them, with¬ out being guilty of the leaf Grain of Vanityy' which if he once Attempts in the Body of a Performance, his Character is loft to all Intents and Purpofes. How, far, Sir, You have been happy in doing B this