PREFACE.
THE public is here presented with a translation of a pamphlet, of which, it is believed, there are very few copies in this island, and these not to be found in the booksellers shops, but in the possession of some curious persons. Nor is it commonly to be met with even in France, where it was first published, most of the copies being in the hands of Madamoiselle Le Blanc, the extraordinary personage whose history it contains, who makes a small profit by the sale of them.
This narrative was drawn up under the immediate inspection of M. de la Condamine, whose curiosity and accuracy, in matters of this sort, is universally known; and the commencement of whose acquaintance and connection with Madamoiselle Le Blanc will be found in page 22. It not only bears in its bosom the plainest marks of truth and authenticity; but if any doubt on this head remained, the facts it relates could be still attested by many living witnesses. The woman herself is yet alive, at least she was so in the year 1765,[1] when the translator had an opportunity of
- ↑ For the satisfaction of any of the readers of this pamphlet who may happen to be at Paris, and have the curiosity of paying a visit to Madamoiselle Le Blanc, I here give her address in the year 1765; but whether she has since changed her lodgings, I do not know. It was thus: "Rue St. Antoine presque vis a vis la vieille rue du Temple aut troisième etage, sur le Devant."
