LETTER SECOND.
The Real History of a MAGDALEN.
Man, the lawless libertine may rove
Free and unquestion'd, thro' the wilds of love:
While woman, sense and nature's easy fool,
If poor weak woman swerve from virtue's rule,
Ruin ensues, reproach and endless shame;
And one false step entirly damns her fame.
In vain with tears the loss she may deplore;
In vain look back to what she was before;
She sets, like stars that fall, to rise no more.
SIR,
I AM much obliged to you for giving my poor performance a place in your paper; and upon that encouragement, I take the liberty once more to trouble you. I have a plain and artless tale to deliver; and I deliver it only to shew, that pity and relief may not improperly be extended to unhappy objects like myself. Parents too, perhaps, may learn some instruction from my story.
I am the daughter of a tradesman in this city: my father, though engaged in a reputable and advantageous business, had yet no right to the privileges of a gentleman; but
