DEFORMITY: A N ESSA Y. By WILLIAM HAY, Esq. Te confule; dic tibi quis fis Juv. Sat. xi. ADVERTISEMENT. O promote the Sale of this Piece, Mr. DODSLEY was for dedicating it to fome reigning Toaft; but it was thought more for his Intereft to fend it into the World, with the Motto inscribed on the Golden Apple adjudged to Venus; for then a Thousand Goddeffes might feize it as their own. DEFORMITY; I A. N ESS A Y. T is offenfive for a Man to fpeak much of himfelf; and few can do it with fo good a Grace as Montaigne. I wish I could; or that I could be half fo [a] entertaining or instructive. My Subject, however, will be my Apology; and I am fure it will draw no Envy upon me. Bodily Deformity is vifible to every Eye; but the Effects of it are known to very few; intimately known to none, but those who feel them; and they generally are not inclined to reveal them. As therefore I am furnished with the neceffary Materials, I will treat this uncommon Subject at large; and to view it in a philofophical Light is a Speculation which may be useful to Perfons fo oddly (I will not fay unhappily) diftinguished; and perhaps not unentertaining to others. [a] The Marquis of Halifax, in a Letter to Charles Cotton, Efq. who tranflated Montaigne's Effays, fays, it is the Book in the World, with which he is beft entertained; and that Montaigne did not write for Praise, but to give the World a true Picture of himself and of Mankind. |