A Tale of a Tub
Robert Hendrickson notes in his book "British Literary Anecdotes" that "Swift was always partial to his strikingly original "The Tale of a Tub" (1704). On reading the work again in later years, he exclaimed 'Good God! What a genius I had when I wrote that book!'"
Early life of Samuel Johnson
In August, Johnson was denied a position as master of the Appleby Grammar School because a master's degree from Oxford or Cambridge was required. To ensure that he would not suffer rejection again, Pope asked John Gower, a man with influence in the Appleby community, to have a degree awarded to Johnson. Gower attempted to have a degree awarded to Johnson from Oxford, but he was told that it was "too much to be asked." Gower then wrote to a friend of Jonathan Swift to persuade him to use his influence at the University of Dublin to have a masters awarded to Johnson, which could then be used to justify a masters awarded to Johnson from Oxford. However, Swift refused to act on Johnson's behalf. Regardless of Swift's motivation in not acting on Johnson's behalf, or how Johnson reacted to Swift's actions, it is known that Johnson then after refused to appreciate Swift as a poet, writer, or a satirist, with one exception: Swift's "Tale of a Tub", of which Johnson doubted Swift's authorship.