_A Pedant_,
_A Squire_,
_A Beau_,
_A Vertuoso_,
_A Poetaster_,
_A City-Critick_, &c.
In a Letter to a Lady.
Written by a Lady.
_Since each is fond of his own ugly Face;
Why shou’d you when we hold it break the Glass?_
Prol. to Sir _F. Flutter_.
_LONDON_,
Printed for _A. Roper_ and _E. Wilkinson_ at the _Black Boy_, and _R.
Clavel_ at the _Peacock_, in _Fleetstreet_, 1696.
_To Her Royal Highness the Princess_ Anne _of_ Denmark.
_MADAM_,
If in adventuring to lay this little Piece at your Highnesses Feet, and
humbly beg your Royal Protection of it, I have presum’d too far, be
pleas’d to impute it to your own, most gracious Goodness, the knowledge
of which encourag’d me. Our Sex are by Nature tender of their own
Off-spring, and may be allow’d to have more fondness for those of the
Brain, then any other; because they are so few, and meet with so many
Enemies at their first appearance in the World. I hope therefore to find
pardon, if like an indulgent Parent, I have endeavour’d to advance my
first Born, by entering it very early into your Highnesses Service.
I have not presum’d to approach your Highness out of any Confidence in
the merits of this Essay, but of the Cause which it pleads, wherein the
Honour of the whole Sex seem’d to exact of me no less a Patronage than
that of the Best, as well as Greatest among ’em, whom they are all
ambitious to see at their head. I have only endeavour’d to reduce the
Sexes to a Level, and by Arguments to raise Ours to an Equallity at most
with the Men: But your Highness by Illustrious Example daily convinces
the World of our Superiority, and we see with wonder, Vertues in you,
Madam, greater than your Birth. In this I am peculiarly happy, that I am
exempted from the common Task of other Dedicators, who lie under an
Obligation of publishing to the World those Excellencies of their
Patrons, which perhaps appear no where but in their Epistles. In me it
were as great folly, to pretend to make known the Illustrious Quallities
of your Highness, as it wou’d be to go about to demonstrate by Argument,
that the Sun shin’d, to a Crowd that are warm’d by the Influence of it.
I had attempted the Character of a consummate Woman, could I, tho’ but
faintly have shaddow’d the inimitable Graces of you Highness; but the
impossibillity of that Task forc’d me to desist. It were easy here to
lanch into those glorious particulars, which affirmed of any other than
your Royal Highness, would have been extravagance of Flattery; but to
you Injustice, and in me the highest presumption, to attempt with my
feeble Hand those Perfections, which the ablest must fall infinitely
short of. The lustre of your Royal Vertues, Madam, like the Sun, gives
us warmth and light, and while at a modest distance we admire it,
improves our sight, which too bold a view confounds, yet the meanest and
most ignorant see those Glories, which the most exquisite Artist can
never express. The World therefore will rather justify than comdemn my
conduct, if I do not wrong so bright an Original with a dark obscure
Copy.
_Madam_, Tho’ the world may condemn my performance, it must applaud my
choice in this Address, and own that had I known as well how to Argue,
as to Instance, I must infallibly have Triumph’d over all Opposition. It
may be easie to evade, or baffle the force of my Arguments, but it is
impossible without the utmost Stupidity, and Injustice to deny the
manifest Advantages of those Illustrious Graces, which raise your
Highness so far above theirs as well as your own Sex. In this I have
imitated the conduct of prudent Generals, who, when they doubt the
sufficiency of their strength, retire to some strong Fort, and rest
secure There is yet another Reason, _Madam_, which tho’ the least
justifiable, was nevertheless most prevalent with me to devote this
Essay to your Highness. My Ambition to shew the profound Respects I have
always had for your Highness, would not suffer me to let slip any
occasion of expressing it, even tho I blush for the meanes of it. Thus I
find my self reduc’d by my Zeal, to the condition of poor Tenants, who
must expose their Poverty, to shew their Affection to their Lord in a
worthless Present. I am sensible of the rashness of my Ambition in
aspiring to the Patronage of Your Highness, and the need I have of an
Apology; but were I able to make one as I ought, I should have taken
care to have had less occasion for it. Yet I doubt not from Your
Goodness that Indulgence, which I cannot expect from Your Justice, nor
but that you will (like Heaven, whose more immediate Images Princes are)
accept my unprofitable Service, for the sincerity with which it is
tender’d. If my unfeign’d Submission may procure pardon for my
Presumption, that Your Happiness may equal Your illustrious Vertues, and
Your Royal Person be as far out of the reach of Fortune, as your Fame
and Honour of Detraction, shall ever be the prayers of
Madam,
_Your Royal Highness’s
most Humble, most
Obedient, and most
Devoted Servant_