In the first paragraph the narrator says that a novelist should be like a host instead of a 'gentlemen who gives a private or eleemosynary treat', because an ordinary's costumers will express freely his/her opinion about the meal and likewise will do the reader about the novel.

The narrator conitues the paragon between a novelist and an host in the second and third paragraphs: to prevent costumer's disappointment, the host should provide a 'bill of fare which all persons may persue'. The same should do the narrator at the beginning of his novel.

In the fourth paragraph the narrator unveils the topic of the novel, that is human nature. To prove the 'prodigious variety' of the matter, he makes a paragon between human nature and a tortoise: even if the tortoise is a single animal, it conteins several kinds of foo, likewise it happens for human nature.

In the fifth paragraph, the narrator objects what some people may think, that is that the topic is too common and vulgar: even if many authors dealt with human nature, it doesn't mean that they have written about the true human nature (that is, by the way, as difficult to met as 'the Bayonne ham or the Bologna sausage').

In the sixth paragraph, the narrator explains that what metters is the way the provision is cooked/ the novel is written. In order to prove that, the narrator uses two devices: a quotation by Mr Pope and a metaphor. Considering the metaphor, the narrator says that a nobelman and a porter may eat the same ox or calf, but the dressing, seasoning, ecc will make the difference between the two meals.  

In the seventh paragraph the narrator tries to convince the reader that the excellence of a novel doens't lays on the subject developed but on the novelist's skills in 'weel dressing it'; indeed, the narrator state that he has 'adhered closely' to the highest priciples and like the best cook, at the first time he will present ' plain things before his hungry guests' (the matter in the way it is found in the country) and then 'the very quintessence of sauce and spieces' (the menners afford by courts and cities), in order to create curiosity and hold the reader's attention.

In the last paragraph, the narrator anticipates that he will proceed to start the novel.