MARIA &c.
Part I.
O think you are a father: ſoft indulgence
Becomes that name; tho’ nature give you pow’r
To bind her duty, ’tis with ſilken cords:
Command her, then, as you command yourſelf;
She is as much a part of you, as are
Your appetite and will: and theſe you force not,
But gently bend, and make them pliant to your reaſon.
Dryden.
UNSKILLED in the ways of writing, I am unable to poliſh what I pen; nothing but the artleſſneſs of my tale, and my ſincere wiſh to warn, and to profit my unhappy ſiſters in ſorrow and ſhame, can apologize for me. I have often heard and read of light houſes and beacons erected for the uſe of ſailors, to direct them in their voyages, and to preſerve them from ſands and ſhelves, and rocks. And as I have fatally ſhipwrecked myſelf, my hearty deſire is to hold up a ilght to warn and direct others from thoſe
rocks and ſands to which I owe my ruin.
