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Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces
Contents:
The Preface of the Author.
SATIRE is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. But, if it should happen otherwise, the danger is not great; and I have learned from long experience never to apprehend mischief from those understandings I have been able to provoke: for anger and fury, though they add strength to the sinews of the body, yet are found to relax those of the mind, and to render all its efforts feeble and impotent.
There is a brain that will endure but one scumming; let the owner gather it with discretion, and manage his little stock with husbandry; but, of all things, let him beware of bringing it under the lash of his betters, because that will make it all bubble up into impertinence, and he will find no new supply. Wit without knowledge being a sort of cream, which gathers in a night to the top, and by a skilful hand may be soon whipped into froth; but once scummed away, what appears underneath will be fit for nothing but to be thrown to the hogs.
Contents:
Chicago: Jonathan Swift, "The Preface of the Author.," Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces, ed. Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell), 1852-1915 and trans. Curtin, Jeremiah, 1835-1906 in Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces Original Sources, accessed November 23, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WT5MSF62A2XCW7E.
MLA: Swift, Jonathan. "The Preface of the Author." Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces, edited by Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell), 1852-1915, and translated by Curtin, Jeremiah, 1835-1906, in Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces, Original Sources. 23 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WT5MSF62A2XCW7E.
Harvard: Swift, J, 'The Preface of the Author.' in Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces, ed. and trans. . cited in 1911, Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces. Original Sources, retrieved 23 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WT5MSF62A2XCW7E.
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