TO ---
MADAM,
Far be from the author the presumption
of affixing to this trifle any thing so respectable
as Your Name. What impudence
to have ventured to place it, where he has a
scruple to suffer one of so little importance
as his own to make its appearance! But
the character of Writer, which the late extreme
abuse of that talent has not at all contributed
to illustrate, does not invite powerfully
enough to the producing one's self professedly
in that light to the Public.
The sole view of the author in the liberty
he is now risking, is only by way of appeal
to You, Madam, whether the character of
complete domestic virtue, attempted in that
of Philodamus, has been faithfully copied
from nature. Of this, Madam, it is impossible,
any one can be so good a judge as
Yourself, who have constantly before Your
eyes the most perfect example of it, that,
perhaps, ever actually existed: an example,
whose lustre still to increase,
You are contented,
Madam, to suffer
Your own great
and amiable qualities, which in any other
part of the world would have burst out unrivalled,
to rank, in this, but in the second
place. The loss is compensated in the great
share it is allowed,
Madam, You have in
the very virtues to which
You yield the pre-eminence.
They are such, that had they
been exercised only within the walls of a private
family, they could not have failed of
winning their way abroad into the general
esteem of mankind. What universal adoration
must they then command, when it is nothing
less than the most extended dominion
upon the globe, which, in reality, proves to
be this vast family, under the most vigilant
and indulgent of parents; and receives to
its utmost boundary the effects of that fatherly
tenderness and benevolence, which
seem to have been first put in practice in their
more immediate connections, in order to learn
from experience how they might afterwards
be best applied, and diffused, to the most distant!
If, in return, Madam, our prayers to
Heaven are but short, it proceeds from no
deficiency in our gratitude; we think we
have fulfilled every dictate of duty and love,
when we have ardently petitioned, that You,
Madam, may long continue to share, adorn,
and reward, all the virtues that can render
human nature amiable and respectable.
The author of Philodamus has the honour
to be, with the most profound respect and
veneration,
MADAM,
---
Your ---
most devoted,
most obedient,
and most humble servant.
