AN ESSAY ON PREFERMENT. By the author of the Rapsody on the Army.

[ESSAY.]

Published by Dublin: printed in the year, 1736

About this Item

Small 8vo, pp. 16; slight paper loss in the blank gutters at the top, horizontal break in the middle of the title-page (an original paper flaw), otherwise a sound copy; disbound. First edition. A satire in verse on place-seekers, which ends with a long passage in praise of Swift, suggesting that the anonymous author was very young, as it begins: Wilt Thou, old man! recall what Thou hast been, And patient bear the Prattle of Eighteen? Canst Thou recal before thy Worth was crown'd, Before thy Harley smil'd, or Envy frown'd! How eager the first Paths of Fame you sought! While your young Heart all flutter'd with the Thought; Art Thou the same! And do thy Pulses beat? Yet warm with Patriot, and poetick Heat! Yes! Sev'nty Years, in vain, have spent their Rage, Still Thou art SWIFT, in spight of pain or age. A London folio reprint of 1744 dedicates the poem to Swift on the title page, and adds that these lines were 'found among the papers of a great author'. No attribution, however, has been made for this poem, or for the Rapsody on the Army, which was printed in Dublin earlier in 1736. (And it should be pointed out that 'found among the papers', even if true, does not necessarily mean that the poem was by the 'great author'.) Foxon E464; Teerink 1315. This is a rare poem: Foxon and ESTC between them list five copies in Britain and Ireland (BL, Cambridge, and three in Dublin), and just two elsewhere (Yale and Newberry).

Seller Inventory # 23282

Bibliographic Details

• Title: AN ESSAY ON PREFERMENT. By the author of the Rapsody on the Army.
• Publisher: Dublin: printed in the year
• Publication Date: 1736
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry