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["Digitized in ECCO (Gale Collection)\n\nconcerning paratext:\n{Name of translator on title page}\n\n{Dedication present} \ni-iv Dedication to her Royal Highness the Duchess of York\nMadam, \nFlattered and encouraged by the patronage with which you have condescended to honour me, I venture to present my work to/\nii\nyour acceptance [..]\njustness of my choice, in selecting for a patroness ne whose exalted merit shields me from every suspicion of mean adulation, and on whom the highest praises would fall very short of truth. /\niii\nTo whom could the following sheets with so much propriety be addressed (containing, as they do, the history of an amiable female, who, regardless of the adventitiious distinctions of rank, practised the christian virtues, in their whole extent, with the most scrupulous observance) as to her who derives her glory not merely from gracing a court, or supporting with dignity the illustrious rank in which birth has placed her, but in fulfilling the various duties of a christian, a wife, a friend, and benefactress. [...]\niv\n[signed:] S.N.\n\n{Preface present} [by the translator visibly]\nv-xi Preface\nv\nIn committing my labours to the world, and subjecting them to the awful eye of public scrutiny, I cannot help experiencing alternately the various sensations of hope, fear, dismay, and uncertainty; and were it not for the happy privipege of inscribing them to the illustrious and amiable personage, /\nvi\nwhose name graces my work [etc....] I could never have surmounted my dread of appearing before such a tribunal.\nBut, trusting to their good nature, and relying on the intrinsic merit of the book, a translation of which is now offered to their perusal, I am less fearful of incurring censure for the imperfections of stile that will be but too obvious in my attempts to clothe its beautiful sentiments in my native language./\nvii\n[...]\nThe votaries of the world, should such bestow a reading on this book, will perhaps exclaim against the doctrine of piety and devotion it so strongly inculcates; to them I offer no arguments to recommend it; but, leaving them to the full enjoyment of all the satisfaction their continual chase of pleasure can afford, I appeal to the parent, who is anxious to secure her /\nviii\nchild's felicity in the present and future world, whether, if moral rectitude be thought essential to the well-being of society in general, the practice of it in individuals must not be founded on the firm basis of true religion? [.../..]\nix\nBut it is not my design to aim at vindicating a subject I from principle have made choice of. The name of Madame le Prince de Beaumont is too well known, and her attainments in the paths of literature too well attested to require it, or to need a panegyric from my pen.\nThe following genuine letters which appear in the world through her means,/\nx\nare a sufficient encomium on her judgment and discrimination, and an additional proof of her talents for conveying instruction to that season of youth when it enters upon the wide and oftentimes dangerous theatre of life in the married state; and though my fairt countrywomen may laugh at my assertion of their needing instruction at a time when they fancy themselves emancipated from all restraint, yet they will find that , to [...] be a character as perfectly amiable as is the Marchioness, the /\nxi\nheroine of these letters, circumspection and salutary counsel will be found as requisite as they could possibly be at an earlier period.\n[n.s.]\n\nxiii-xx List of subscribers [apparently more F than M]\n\n1-4 Argument [in or. French version also present? check]\nInc.:\nMademoiselle du Montier, the eldest of twelve children, was of a very ancient family [...]\n\nsvdjun10chawton"]
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