The opening of this book makes reference to the novel
Pamela by Samuel Richardson, which likely would have been familiar to many early readers of
Joseph Andrews, since it was very popular and published just two years earlier. It also references Colley Cibber, a real person whom Alexander Pope famously made fun of in a long poem called the
Dunciad. It’s humorous that the narrator recommends both of these together, because
Pamela is a flattering portrayal of its subject, while the
Dunciad is a more critical portrayal. This establishes early how the narrator uses sarcasm and irony to tell the story.