s
farther into the recesses of the Human Mind, than the colder and
more general reflections suited to a continued and more contracted
Narrative.

This is the nature and purport of his Attempt. Which, perhaps, may
not be so well or generally understood. For if the Reader seeks here
for Strange Tales, Love Stories, Heroical Adventures, or, in short,
for anything but a _Faithful Picture of Nature_ in _Private Life_,
he had better be told beforehand the likelihood of his being
disappointed. But if he can find Use or Entertainment; either
_Directions for his Conduct_, or _Employment for his Pity_, in a
HISTORY _of_ LIFE _and_ MANNERS, where, as in the World itself, we
find Vice, for a time, triumphant, and Virtue in distress, an idle
hour or two, we hope, may not be unprofitably lost.

[Illustration]

MEMOIRS

OF THE

_Count_ Du BEAUVAL,

INCLUDING

Some curious PARTICULARS

Relating to the DUKES of

Wharton _and_ Ormond,

During their Exiles.

WITH

ANECDOTES of several other Illustrious
and Unfortunate Noblemen of the present Age.

_Translated from the_ French _of the Marquis_ D'ARGENS,
_Author of_ The Jewish Letters.

_By Mr._ DERRICK.

_LONDON:_

Printed for M. COOPER, at the _Globe_ in _PaterNoster-Row_.

M.DCC.LIV.

PREFACE.

_The Ground-work of Romances, till of late Years, has been a Series
of Actions, few of which, ever existed but in the Mind of the
Author; to support which, with proper Spirit, a strong picturesque
Fancy, and a nervous poetical Diction, were necessary. When these
great Essentials were wanting, the Narration became cold, insipid,
and disagreeable._

_The principal Hero was generally one who fac'd every Danger, without
any Reflection, for it was always beneath him to think; it was a
sufficient Motive of persisting, if there seem'd Peril; conquering
Giants, and dissolving Enchantments, were as easy to him as riding.
He commonly sets out deeply in Love; his Mistress is a Virgin, he
loses her in the Beginning of the Book, thro' the Spite or Craft of
some malicious Necromancer, pursues her thro' a large Folio Volume
of Incredibility, and finds her, indisputably, at the End of it,
like try'd Gold, still more charming, from having pass'd the Fire
Ordeal of Temptation._

_Amusement and Instruction were the Intent of these Sort of Writings;
the former they always fulfill'd, and if they sometimes fail'd in
the latter, it was because the Objects they conjur'd up