the unhappy, is the sincere prayer of_

_Your Ladyship's most obliged humble servant, MATILDA BETHAM_.

_Stonham, Nov. 20, 1797._




TO THE READER.


If, in the following pages, there may be found any unacknowledged
imitations, I hope I shall not be censured as an intentional plagiarist;
for it has been my wish, however I may be esteemed presumptuous, not
to be unjust; and I sometimes fear lest an imperfect recollection of
another's idea should have appeared to me as a dawning thought of my
own. Wherever I could recollect a similar passage, although unnoticed
at the time I wrote, it has been either altered or acknowledged.

I commit these trifles to the press with the anxiety necessarily
resulting from a desire that they may not be deemed altogether
worthless. Though the natural partiality of the writer may be somewhat
strengthened by the commendations of friends and parents, I am well
aware that no apology can give currency to imperfection.

I have not vainly attempted to ascend to the steeps of Parnassus. If,
wandering at its foot, I have mistaken perishable shrubs for never-dying
flowers, the errors of a youthful mind, first viewing the fascinating
regions of fancy, will not be rigidly condemned; for wherever there