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_IF to Divert and Entertain, and at the same time to Instruct, and Improve the Minds of the YOUTH of both Sexes:
IF to inculcate Religion and Mora|lity in so easy and agreeable a manner, as shall render them equally delightful and profitable to the younger Class of Readers, as well as worthy of the Attention of Persons of maturer Years and Under|standings:
IF to set forth in the most exemplary Lights, the Parental, the Filial, and the Social Duties, and that from low to high Life:
IF to paint VICE in its proper Co|lours, to make it deservedly Odious; and to set VIRTUE in its own amiable Light, to make it truly Lovely:
IF to draw Characters justly, and to support them equally:
IF to raise a Distress from natural Causes, and to excite Compassion from proper Motives:
IF to teach the Man of Fortune how to use it; the Man of Passion how to subdue it; and the Man of Intrigue, how, gracefully, and with Honour to him|self, to reclaim:
IF to give practical Examples, worthy to be followed in the most critical and affecting Cases, by the modest Virgin, the chaste Bride, and the obliging Wife:
IF to-effect all these good Ends, in so probable, so natural, so lively a man|ner, as shall engage the Passions of every sensible Reader, and strongly interest them in the edifying Story:
AND all without raising a single Idea throughout the Whole, that shall shock the exactest Purity, even in those tender Instances where the exactest Purity would be most apprehensive:
IF these, (embellished with a great Variety of entertaining Incidents) be laudable or worthy Recommendations of any Work, the Editor of the following Letters, which have their Foundation in Truth and Nature, ventures to assert,
that all these desirable Ends are obtained in these Sheets: And as he is therefore confident of the favourable Reception which he boldly bespeaks for this little Work; he thinks any further Preface or Apology for it, unnecessary: And the rather for two Reasons, 1st. Because he can Appeal from his own Passions, (which have been uncommonly moved in perusing these engaging Scenes) to the Passions of Every one who shall read them with the least Attention: And, in the next place, because an Editor may reasonably be supposed to judge with an Impartiality which is rarely to be met with in an Author towards his own Works.
The Editor.