the Preface, by which means he has left the reader wholly in the dark,
and exposed me to censure. When it was first printed I had reason to
complain, but not so much as now: Then the Dedication was left entire as
I had written it, but the Preface so mangled, altered, and considerably
shortened, that I hardly knew it to be my own; but being then published
without a name, I was the less concerned, but since, notwithstanding the
great care I took to conceal it, it is known to be mine; I think myself
obliged, in my own defence, to take some notice of it[1].' The omission
of this Preface, which contained an answer to part of the sermon, and
gave her reasons for writing the poem, had occasioned some people to
make ill-natured reflexions on it: this put her ladyship on justifying
herself, and assuring her readers, that there are no reflexions in it
levelled at any particular persons, besides the author of the Sermon;
him (says she) I only blame for being too angry, for his not telling us
our duty in a softer more engaging way: address, and good manners render
reproofs a kindness; but where they are wanting, admonitions are always
taken ill: as truths of this sort ought never to be concealed from us,
so they ought never to be told us with an indecent warmth; a respectful
tenderness would be more becoming a messenger of peace, the disciple of
an humble, patient, meek, commiserating Saviour.'

Besides this lady's poems, of which we shall give some account when we
quote a specimen; she wrote Essays upon several subjects, in prose and
verse, printed in 8vo. 1710. These Essays are upon Knowledge, Pride,
Humility, Life, Death, Fear, Grief, Riches, Self-love, Justice, Anger,
Calumny, Friendship, Love, Avarice, Solitude, and are much admired for
the delicacy of the stile, there being not the least appearance of false
wit, or affected expression, the too common blemishes of this sort of
writing: they are not so much the excursions of a lively imagination,
which can often expatiate on the passions, and actions of men, with
small experience of either, as the deliberate result of observations on
the world, improved with reading, regulated with judgment, softened by
good manners, and heightened with sublime thoughts, and elevated piety.
This treatise is dedicated to her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia,
Electress, and Duchess Dowager of Brunswick, on which occasion that
Princess, then in her 80th year, honoured her with the following
epi