The Beauties of Swift:
or, the Favourite Offspring of Wit and Genius.

No writer can easily be found that has borrowed so little, or that in all his excellencies and all his defects has so well maintained his claim to be considered as original.
Dr Johnson

D U B L I N
Printed by J. and R. Byrn, (18,) Sycamore-Alley,
For Messrs. Walker, Wilson, Burton, Cash, and J.Byrn
M.DCC.LXXXIII

The volume bears the following dedication:

To Samuel Johnson, L.L.D.
Sir,
The republic of letters has more obligations to you than any character now living: every polished member of society is anxious at this hour to pay that homage to your genius the Parisians paid to Voltaire's, in the last stage of his immortal career, when the myrtle honours of gratitude and affection were placed upon his brows in a crowded and exulting theatre!
Your Life of Swift challenges the applause of all his admirers; the opinion you have given of his admirable writings is as just as it is elegant, and will be read with pleasure while the charms of English literature continue to captivate.
While I exult in this merited eulogium to extraordinary abilities, the man of humanity claims the warmest plaudit of my heart likewise: this combination, with a Patriarch's length of blameless life, will give that air of consequence to my address that calumny cannot injure, and justify my choice to the lettered world.
I am, dear Sir,
(With every good wish for your felicity)
Your ardent admirer,
and obliged humble servant,
W.H.
London, Aug. 15, 1782.

The signatory, W.H., is not named.

Leather-bound; 17.2cm x 9.9cm; 228 pages + xxxvi+iv + 2+2 blank endpages.
The dedication (p.iii) is followed by a Preface (p.iv), then The Life of Jonathan Swift, D.D.D.S.P.D. (pp.v-xxxii), then the Contents (freshly paginated i-iv).

The first item in the anthology that follows is Swift's Letter to a very young lady on her marriage.

(p.82:)
W I T
The greatest advantage I know of being thought a wit by the world, is, that it gives one the greater freedom of playing the fool.

Copies of this edition are held in (at least) the British Library, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center University of Texas at Austin, and the University of South Carolina.