The opening of Prologue
For us, and our Miscellany,
Here stooping to your clemency,
We beg your hearing patiently.
SHAKSPEARE, with a difference."Doctor," said a young gentleman to Dean Swift, "I intend to set up for a wit."
"Then," said the Doctor, "I advise you to sit down again."
The anecdote is unratified by a name, for the young gentleman continues to the present day to be anonymous, as he will, in all probability, continue to future time; and as for Dean Swift, his name, being merely that of a wit by profession, goes for nothing. We apprehend that the tale is not much better than what is to be read in the pages of Joe Miller.
But, supposing it true,--and the joke is quite bad enough to be authentic,--we must put in our plea that it is not to apply to us. The fact is absolutely undeniable that we originally advertised ourselves or rather our work as, the "Wits' Miscellany,"--thereby indicating, beyond all doubt, that we of the Miscellany were WITS.