During the passage of the present work through the press, Mr. York
Powell was fortunate enough to acquire by purchase in Oxford a book
not mentioned in any bibliographical dictionary, nor possessed by any
of the chief English libraries, containing a translation into verse
of the five Letters of the Portuguese Nun. On account of the rarity
of the book, of which this is probably a unique copy, as well as of
the curious rendering of the famous Letters, it seemed advisable to
transcribe here all that concerned the love-lorn Marianna, which has
therefore been done. It should perhaps be mentioned that every inquiry
as to the author of this translation and the date of its first edition
has proved fruitless.