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Philofophical, Hiftorical, and Moral

E SS A Y

ON

OLD MAIDS.

VOL. I.

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Philofophical, Hiftorical, and Moral

E S S A Y

Περί τώνδε κορών εν τοις θαλάμοις γηράσκεσων ανιώμαι
ARISTOPHANES.

Nemo apud nos, qui idem tentaverit; nemo apud Græcos, qui
unus omnia ea tractaverit.-Res ardua, vetuftis novitatem dare,
novis autoritatem, obfoletis nitorem, obfcuris lucem, faftiditis gra-
tiam, dubiis fidem, omnibus vero naturam, et naturæ fuæ omnia.
Itaque, etiam non affecutis, voluiffe, abundè pulchrum, atque mag-
nificum eft.
PLINII Hift. Nat. Præfatio.

THE SECOND EDITION.

LONDON

PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND.
M.DCC.LXXXVI.

TO

Mrs. ELIZABETH CARTER.

DEAR MADAM,

ERMIT me to pay my devo

PERM

tions to you, as the ancients did to their threefold Diana; and to reverence you in three diftinct characters; as a Poet, as a Philofopher, and as an Old Maid.

Although the latter name may, in vulgar estimation, be held inferior to the two preceding, allow me to say,

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