I have one Word to say upon the Subject of Profound Writers, who are grown very numerous of late; And I know very well, the judicious World is resolved to list me in that Number. I conceive, therefore, as to the Business of being Profound that it is with Writers, as with Wells; A Person with good Eyes may see to the Bottom of the deepest, provided any Water be there; and that often, when there is nothing in the World at the Bottom, besides Dryness and Dirt, tho’ it be but a Yard and a half under Ground, it shall pass, however, for a wondrous Deep, upon no wiser a Reason than because it is wondrous Dark.
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I have one concluding Favour to request of my Reader; that he will not expect to be equally diverted and informed by every Line, or every Page of this Discourse; but give some allowance to the Author’s Spleen, and short Fits or Intervals of Dullness, as well as his own; And lay it seriously to the Conscience, whether, if he were walking the Streets, in dirty Weather, or a rainy Day; he would allow it fair in Dealing in Folks at their Ease from a Window, to Critick his Gate, and ridicule his dress at such a Juncture.
Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub
