A NOVEL,

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

BY

SARAH ANN HOOK,

AUTHOR OF THE WIDOWED BRIDE; OR, CELINA.

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.
In ev'ry work, regard the writer's end,

Since none can compass more than they intend :
And if the means be just, the conduct true,
Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due.

Pope's Essay on Criticism.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PAINTED FOR R. DUTTON, GRACECHURCH-STREET;

AND C. CHAPPLE, PALL-MALL;

By J. D. Dewick, Aldersgate-street.

1804.

249. S. 563.

PREFACE.

ON earth there is not (or my feelings are not just) a greater pleasure than pleasing. The still, serene, but exquisite delight which pervades my mind, on knowing I have been the cause of pleasure to any one being, is not to be described.

The little circle over which I hold, I trust, a mild sway, conveys to my heart the sweetest feelings, when I see marks of pleasure in their countenances. What enviable sensations, when instructing and enlarging their minds, and forming their morals, I behold the eye of pleasure attending to my lessons! When I relax from the strict, but

necessary