Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	esq_n	john_n	robert_n	2,522	5	10.5015	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31537	The history of the renown'd Don Quixote de la Mancha written in Spanish by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ; translated from the original by several hands ; and publish'd by Peter Motteux ... ; adorn'd with sculptures.; Don Quixote. English	Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 1547-1616.; Motteux, Peter Anthony, 1660-1718.	1712 (1712)	Wing C1775; ESTC R21655	804,786	1,366

in a trifle I shou'd make a Complement to those Honorable Gentlemen whose Liberality has prov'd so substantial an Incouragement to me in this Vndertaking but I must change my note to an Apology for the smallness of the Edition and the best I can make is humbly to beg their Pardon I design'd it a handsom Folio with a fair Letter but there was a necessity of publishing this first Part of the Work immediately being inform'd that while it was supervising with all leisurely Care the Booksellers concerned in the old Translation had got it alter'd with all speed and resolv'd at any Rate to have it come out first I hope my generous Patrons will forgive a Delay which was the effect of my good Fortune I mean the Employment for which with all Thankfulness I am proud to own my self oblig'd to the great Mr. Mountague's Recommendation and the Favor of those noble Patriots Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Frankland This made the Bookseller think of casting this into four little portable Duodecimos and indeed there is this Reason for 't that the Book being more for Diversion than Study is therefore more proper for the Pocket than the Closet I have nothing more to add but the Names of those noble Encouragers of this Translation which I presume to insert in the Order they subscrib'd for my particular Benefit The Right Honorable Charles Mountague Esq The Honorable Colonel Codrington the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorset the Right Honorable Henry Lord Colerane the Honorable Hugh Hare Esq the Honorable Edward Coke Esq Richard Norton Esq Anthony Henly Esq Mr. John Freeman William Bridgman Esq his Grace the Duke of Devonshire the Right Honorable the Lady Vicountess of Weymouth the Honorable Henry Thynne Esq Sir Robert Worsely Bar. the Honorable H. Heveningham and J. Manners Esquires Sir John Smith Bar. the Right Hon. the Earl of Darwentwater the Hon. Charles Boyle Esq Sir Rich. Blackmore Charles Caesar Esq and Sir Godfrey Kneller THE Author's PREFACE TO THE READER YOU may depend on my bare Word Reader without any farther security that I cou'd wish this Offspring of my Brain were as ingenious sprightly and accomplish'd as your self cou'd desire but the mischief on 't is Nature will have its course Every Production must resemble its Author and my barren and unpolish'd Understanding can produce nothing but what is very dull very impertinent and extravagant beyond imagination You may suppose it the Child of Disturbance ingendred in some dismal Prison in the very seat of Wretchedness and amidst all manner of Inconveniences Rest and Ease a convenient Place pleasant Fields and Groves murmuring Springs and a sweet Repose of Mind are helps that raise the Fancy and impregnat even the most barren Muses with Conceptions that fill the World with Admiration and Delight Some Parents are so blinded by a Fatherl Fondness that they mistake the very Imperfections of their Children for so many Beauties and the Folly and Impertinence of the brave Boy must pass upon their Friends and Acquaintance for Wit and Sense But I who am only a Step-Father disavow the Authority of this modern and prevalent Custom nor will I earnestly beseech you with Tears in my Eyes which is many a poor Author's Case dear Reader to pardon or dissemble my Child's Faults For what Favour can I expect from you who are neither his Friend nor Relation You have a Soul of your own and the privilege of Free-will whoever you be as well as the proudest He that struts in a gaudy Outside You are a King by your own Fire-side as much as any Monarch in his Throne You have Liberty and Property which set you above Favor or Affection and may therefore freely like or dislike this History according to your humor I had a great mind to have expos'd it as naked as it was born without the addition of a Preface or the numberless Trumpery of commendatory Sonnets Epigrams and other Poems that usually usher in the Conceptions of Authors For I dare boldly say that tho I bestow'd some time in writing the Book yet it cost me not half so much labour as this very Preface I very often took up my Pen and as often laid it down and cou'd not for my life think of any thing to the purpose Sitting once in a very studious Posture with my Paper before me my Pen in my Ear my Elbow on the Table and my Cheek on my Hand considering how I should begin a certain Friend of mine an ingenious Gentleman and of a merry Disposition came in and surpriz'd me He ask'd me what I was so very intent and thoughtful upon I was so free with him as not to mince the matter but told him plainly that I had been puzling my Brain for a Preface to Don Quixote and that I had made my self so uneasy about it that I was now resolv'd to trouble my head no further either with Preface or Book but rather not to let the Atchievements of that noble Knight be publish'd For continu'd I why should I expose my self to the Lash of the old Legislator the Vulgar They will say that I have spent my youthful Days very finely to have nothing to recommend my Gray Hairs to the World but a dry insipid Legend not worth a rush wanting good Language as well as Invention barren of Conceits or pointed Wit and without either Quotations on the Margin or Annotations at the end which other Books tho never so fabulous and profane have to set 'em off Other Authors can pass upon the Public by stuffing their Books from Aristotle Plato and the whole Company of antient Philosophers thus amusing their Readers into a great opinion of their prodigious Reading Plutarch and Cicero are slur'd on the Publick for as Orthodox Doctors as St. Thomas or any of the Fathers And then the Method of these Moderns is so wounderfully agreeable and full of variety that they cannot fail to please In one Line they will describe you a whining amorous Coxcomb and the next shall be some dry Scrap of a Homily with such ingenious Turns as cannot chuse but ravish the Reader Now I want all these Embelishments and Graces I have neither marginal Notes nor critical Remarks I do not so much as know what Authors I follow and consequently can have no formal Index as 't is the fashion now methodically strung on the Letters of the Alphabet beginning with Aristotle and ending with Xenophon or Zo●lus or Zeuxis which two are commonly cram'd into the same Piece tho one of them was a famous Painter and t'other a saucy Critic I shall want also the pompous Preliminaries of commendatory Verses sent to me by the Right Honourable my Lord such a one by the Honourable the Lady such a one or the most ingenious Mr. such a one tho I know that I might have them at an easy rate from two or three Brothers of the Quill of my acquaintance and better I 'm sure than the best Quality