[20]

The "Advertisement" to the volume was as follows: "These Fables were finished by Mr. Gay, and intended for the Press, a short time before his death, when they were left, with his other papers, to the care of his noble friend and patron, the Duke of Queensberry. His Grace has accordingly permitted them to the Press, and they are here printed from the originals in the author's handwriting. We hope they will please equally with his former Fables, though mostly on subjects of a graver and more political turn. They will certainly show him to have been (what he esteemed the best character) a man of true honest heart, and a sincere lover of his country."

[21]

Swift: Works (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 82.

[22]

Swift: Works (ed. Scott), XVIII, p. 95.