Page:The Female Advocate.djvu/51

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is to be feared, double the sum already raised by the inhabitants will be found inefficacious. But such is the link of progression, arising from this dreadful usurpation; which shews the necessity of entering into the origin of these melancholy truths, that so the chain of connection may be found whole; otherways, far be it from me to entertain a wish to offer to the generous part of my readers a work fraught with so many tragic representations: but, least the want of a full narrative should leave the subject dark to comprehend, I still pursue my plan; and even should my zeal in the cause of happiness lead into an eccentric mode of writing, be it remembered it is an eccentric cause, but with a most sanguine wish to see all the inhabitants of this favoured isle become useful and happy members of society, instead of being the harpies of destruction.

That political and private happiness are invariably connected, is beyond a doubt; and that the morals of this nation are very corrupt, is but too visible, from the vast numbers of disgraceful women who infest the face of the country. As for the number of these mi