exifting in the Mind. Thirdly, That they are never fet forth as the Objects of Ridicule but Deteftation. Fourthly, That they are never the principal Figure at that Time on the Scene; and lastly, They never produce the intended Evil.

Having thus diftinguished Joseph Andrews from the Productions of Romance Writers on the one Hand, and Burlesque Writers on the other, and given fome few very fhort Hints (for I intended no more) of this Species of Writing, which I have affirmed to be hitherto unattempted in our Language; I fhall leave to my good-natur'd Reader to apply my Piece to my Obfervations, and will detain him no longer than with a Word concerning the Characters in this Work.

And here I folemnly proteft, I have no Ixtention to vilify or afperfe any one: for tho' every thing is copied from the Book of Nature, and scarce a Character or Action produced which I have not taken from my own Obfervations and Experience; yet I have used the utmost Care to obfcure the Perfons by fuch different Circumftances, Degrees, and Colours, that it will be impoffible to guess at them with any Degree of Certainty; and if it ever happens otherwife, it is only where the Failure characterized is fo minute, that it is a Foible only which the Party himself may laugh at as well as any other.

As

As to the Character of Adams, as it is the most glaring in the whole, fo I conceive it is not to be found in any Book now extant. It is defigned a Character of perfect Simplicity; and as the Goodnefs of his Heart will recommend him to the Goodnatured; fo I hope it will excufe me to the Gentlemen of his Cloth; for whom, while they are worthy of their facred Order, no Man can poffibly have a greater Refpect. They will therefore excufe me, notwithstanding the low Adventures in which he is engaged, that I have made him a Clergyman; fince no other Office could have given him So many Opportunities of displaying his worthy Inclinations.

THE

THE

HISTORY

OF THE

ADVENTURES

O F

Jofeph Andrews, and his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams.

Of writing Lives in general, and particularly of Pamela; with a Word by the bye of Colley Cibber and others.

T is a trite but true Obfervation, that Examples work more forcibly on the Mind than Precepts: And if this be just in what is odi

I'

ous and blameable, it is more strongly so in what is amiable and praise-worthy. Here Emulation moft effectually operates upon us, and infpires our Imitation in an irresistible manner. good Man therefore is a standing Leffon to all his VOL. I. Acquain

B

A

Acquaintance, and of far greater Use in that nar→ row Circle than a good Book.

But as it often happens that the best Men are but little known, and confequently cannot extend the Usefulness of their Examples a great way; the Writer may be called in aid to fpread their Hiftory farther, and to prefent the amiable Pictures to those who have not the Happiness of knowing the Originals; and fo, by communicating fuch valuable Patterns to the World, he may perhaps do a more extenfive Service to Mankind than the Perfon whofe Life originally afforded the Pattern.

In this Light I have always regarded thofe Biographers who have recorded the Actions of great and worthy Perfons of both Sexes. Not to mention those antient Writers which of late days are little read, being written in obfolete, and as they are generally thought, unintelligible Languages, fuch as Plutarch, Nepos, and others which I heard of in my Youth; our own Language affords many of excellent Ufe and Inftruction, finely calculated to fow the Seeds of Virtue in Youth, and very easy to be comprehended by Persons of moderate Capacity. Such are the Hiftory of John the Great, who, by his brave and heroic Actions against Men of large and athletic Bodies, obtained the glorious Appellation of the Giant-killer ; that of an Earl of Warwick, whofe Chriftian Name was Guy; the Lives of Argalus and Parthenia,and above all, the History of those feven worthy Perfonages, the Champions of Chriftendom. In all these, Delight is mixed with Inftruction, and the Reader is almost as much improved as entertained.

But I pafs by thefe and many others, to mention two Books lately publifhed, which reprefent an admirable Pattern of the Amiable in either Sex. The

The former of thefe which deals in Male-virtue, was written by the great Perfon himself, who lived the Life he hath recorded, and is by many thought to have lived fuch a Life only in order to write it. The other is communicated to us by an Historian who borrows his Lights, as the common Method is, from authentic Papers and Records. The

Reader, I believe, already conjectures, I mean the Lives of Mr. Colley Cibber, and of Mrs. Pamela Andrews. How artfully doth the former, by infinuating that he escaped being promoted to the highest Stations in Church and State, teach us a Contempt of worldly Grandeur! how strongly doth he inculcate an abfolute Submiffion to our Superiors! Laftly, how completely doth he arm us against so uneafy, fo wretched a Paffion as the Fear of Shame! how clearly doth he expofe the Emptiness and Vanity of that Fantom, Reputation!

What the Female Readers are taught by the Memoirs of Mrs. Andrews, is fo well fet forth in the excellent Effays or Letters prefixed to the fecond and fubfequent Editions of that Work, that it would be here a needlefs Repetition. The authentic Hiftory with which I now prefent the Public, is an Inftance of the great Good that Book is likely to do, and of the Prevalence of Example which I have juft obferved: Since it will appear that it was by keeping the excellent Pattern of his Sifter's Virtues before his Eyes, that Mr. Jofeph Andrews was chiefly enabled to preserve his Purity in the midst of fuch great Temptations. I shall only add, that this Character of Male-chaftity, tho' doubtlefs as defirable and becoming in one Part of the human Species, as in the other, is almoft the only Virtue which the great Apolo

B 2

gift