Proposal for a collection of fables : fragment of an autograph manuscript.

Being a proposal for the creation of a collection of fables; describing it as "a compleat collection of all known Fables - not of all the prose or verse compositions, in which Fables have been delivered or dressed up; but every known distinct Fable, arranged as far as can be, chronologically - in the age of it's invention. Exceptions - When a Fable, which had been given before in it's simple Dress, under the age in which it first appeared, has been dressed up by any future writer with singular Genius - & has become a Trial of Genius, & a means to display the character - has of different Great mens' Geniuses & styles - all Fontaine's Fables to be inserted - as far as good morals will be met, & the severest Decency / so that the Collection may without the least hazard be placed in the Hands of Boys & Girls. All Lessings' inimitable Fables - & his admirable Essay on the Nature of the Fable, translated for the purpose by Mr. Coleridge, with a Review of both the Fables & the Essay - The Danish, Swedish, German, French, & Italian Fables that are adopted into the Collection, will be translated - and likewise the Greek & the Latin - Sum of the Plan - Every known Fable, arranged according to its known antiquity, with short biography of the author - The same fable repeated only under the [illegible] of Great Genius - In size = Elegant Extracts."