VOL. III, 12 35 51 seftors 74 AN E S S A Y ON OLD MAID S. BOOK V. ON MONASTIC AND OTHER MODERN OLD MAIDS. CHA P. I. Introductory Chapter. 1 OURAGE! my dear courteous reader! who haft had the patience to wander with me through many ages of darkness; we shall foon be able to exclaim together, Hail to the light of modern, modifh life! And we shall return to the living world, VOL. III. B not not the worse, I truft, for our adventurous flight across the long defert of monkish fuperftition; which we may both, perhaps, confider as little better than the dreary realm Of Chaos old, and fable-vested Night. Yet before we attempt to regain the enlightened sphere of refined fociety, and fashionable manners, let us not difdain to bestow a little attention on those remarkable maidens of the cloister, whofe hallowed purity was fuppofed to inveft them with miraculous power: and those still more interesting nuns, who had fufficient energy of mind to illuminate the gloom, that environed them, by a chearful cultivation of fuch talents, as are more apt to be extinguished, than kindled, in the obfcurity of a convent. If thou art truly a candid reader, thou will not refuse to attend me, while I pay, in a few pages, the respect that we justly owe to fome monaftic Old Maids :-yet as we proceed, allow me, gentle reader! to fay, on |