And, by her magic powers dispense,
To meanest objects, thought and sense.
LONDON.
Printed and Sold by John Marshall, No. 17, Queen Street, Cheapside; and No. 4, Aldermary Church Yard, in Bow-Lane.
[Price Six-Pence, Bound.]
PREFACE.
The Author of the following sheets is well aware of the objections which may be made to the performance but hopes the candour of the public will excuse those defects, which the nature of the undertaking rendered it almost impossible to avoid. The pointed satire of ridicule, which would perhaps have given a zest to those scenes in which the subject of these pages was engaged, was not, in the opinion of the writer, at all proper for those readers for whom it was solely designed: to exhibit their superiors in a ridiculous view, is not the proper method to engage the youthful mind to respect: to represent their equals as the objects of contemptuous mirth, is by no means favourable to the interest of good-nature: and to treat the characters of their inferiors with levity, the Author thought was inconsistent with the sacred rights of humanity. Circumscribed therefore to the narrow boundaries of simple narrative, it has been the design of the following pages, carefully to avoid exciting any wrong impression, and, by sometimes blending instruction and amusement, to make it the more easily retained.