The adventures of a black coat

CONTAINING A Series of Remarkable Occurrences and entertaining Incidents, That it was a Witness to in its Peregrinations through the Cities of London and Westminster, in Company with Variety of Characters. As related by ITSELF.
Qui mores hominum multorum vidit. Hor.
he necessity which custom has intailed upon authors, of prefixing an apology to their performances, makes it requisite for me to say something on introducing the following sheets to the public; and as long prefaces are in general of little estimation amongst the readers of books of entertainment, I will trespass as little upon their patience as possible.
To excite virtue, depress vice, and ridicule folly, is as much the business of the Novelist, as it is the design of the Drama; and though the former cannot, like the dramatic-writer, represent his scenes to the Senses , yet it is in his power to set his characters in such a light, as to strike the Minds of his readers, in a very forcible manner, with the virtues he would have them imitate, or the errors he would wish them to amend.—But our present novel-writers seem to have little else in view than to amuse their readers; or, if they have any design to instruct them, they gild the pill so very thick, that all its latent good qualities are destroyed, or its effects prevented. To mix pleasure with instruction, is certainly the most efficacious method a writer can take, to render his labours agreeable to his readers. All I shall say of the following petit performance is, that I have endeavoured to make the Author less conspicuous than the moral .
If a blush should arise on the cheek of conscious vice, or a sense of shame be awakened in the bosom of folly, on perusing any of the characters exhibited in this performance, my intentions will be answered, and there are hopes that such are not incurable. In this age of Magazines and Chronicles , the Cacoethes Scribendi hath infected the town so much, that almost every shop , or work-room , harbours an author; and gentlemen of the file , now leave their more useful labour at the vice , and toil to polish periods . When such gentlemen assume the pen, I hope it will not be deemed vanity, if I decline standing as candidate for literary fame, and declare myself not desirous of sharing with them the honours that may be bestowed on their labours: but though I profess myself careless of fame, I am not callous to contempt; and should be pleased to hear critics say, that though the performance claims no panegyric, yet the design of it merits some praise.