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Excerpt from A Legend of the Puritans, or the Influence of Poetry and Religion on the Female Character; With Other Poems
To amuse sleepless nights, by recalling past impressions, she composed The Legend. Her maternal ancestors, in common with the other inhabitants of Worcester, had suffered much during the Civil War, especially at the battle of Worcester: and from the traditionarynarratives which had impressed her imagina tion in early youth, she endeavoured to delineate a character that should exhibit her views of the sentiments which animated the Puritans, and, at the same time, impress upon the hearts of her children the power of religion, in union with literature and the domestic affections, to give support under the severest sufferings to which human nature is exposed.
It may be permitted to one well acquainted with the habits and Opinions of the Puritans, to assert that they did not think the Poet's art a crime. Though regarded as fanatics by the rest of the world, yet, under a stem and perhaps repulsive exterior, they cherished, in the bosoms of their own families, that love of literature for which their descendants were distinguished: and it may not be too much to say, that deep and habitual piety will always contribute to a poetical taste; since Christianity has given the sanction of truth to our highest aspirations after future happiness, and has therefore lent to Poetry a charm and im portance which it never had before.
If the author should be considered as pre sumptuous in supposing that what was intended for her own children might benefit others, she can only say that the humblest and most secluded individual may feel an interest in the welfare of her fellow-creatures. And, in this reading age, she hopes that what she has written may be useful to females in her own rank, especially to young mothers, to whom so great a trust is committed, and who are so often unprepared for their important duties.
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