PNEUMANEE; OR, THE FAIRY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. John Will Cunningini BY THE AUTHOR OF THE WORLD WITHOUT SOULS." PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY EDWARD EARLE; AND EASTBURN, KIRK AND CO., NEW YORK. 1815. ADDRESS TO THE READER. THE Reader owes the publication of this Volume to the following circumstance:-Waiting in a fine summer's morning in the library of a friend, who was not quite ready to pursue a journey, concerted but the previous evening; I glanced my eye over a quarto volume, that said nothing for itself, not a single letter to gratify curiosity: this but the more excited mine: after brushing off some dust, that, from its secluded corner, had escaped observation, I was eager to see its contents; and in a neat and legible female hand, I found it an interesting family-history, and anxiously obtained my friend's consent to add it to the volumes already packed in the carriage. I protested I could not go without it; and I was rewarded for my obstinacy, by the great amusement it gave to many of our reading hours. The character of the writer was well know to my friend, as a relation of his own; but whether Pneumanee was only an interesting female, whose beauty, virtues, and talents, endeared her to the Parsonage, or what other claims she might have to supernatural endowments, can only be revealed at her own time and place. I obtained permission to publish the first half of the volume, which is quite distinct from the latter, upon condition that I omitted names and dates, for fear of giving pain, and as many of the nursery scenes and anecdotes as I chose, but with an express promise not to add one single syllable of m own: at the same time my friend assured me, that vo lumes without "hair-breadth 'scapes and dire chimeras would never suit the public taste. But, as nothing is said to contribute more to propriety than remarks upon those who have excelled, I have no hesitation in recommending this family-history to every breakfast and tea table in Great Britain; confident that the unadorned simplicity of the style, the truth and nature of the village-life it unfolds, will give unaffected pleasure to my readers, who will sympathise with the anxiety of parents to train their families to the love of truth, order, and propriety. I have to apologise for sudden interruptions in the style, occasioned by leaving out local circumstances that might be tedious to the reader, who, if he feels but a small proportion of my attachment to the family at the Parsonage, will earnestly wish to see the remaining part of the volume, written chiefly by Lucy in different scenes of life. I am the Reader's obliged and obedient, THE TRANSCRIBER. |