Part 1 (1/2)

Memoirs of Emma Courtney

by Mary Hays

PREFACE

The , and thethe progress, and tracing the consequences, of one strong, indulged, passion, or prejudice, afford materials, by which the philosopher may calculate the powers of the hus which set it innothing more, in men, than the produce of their desires, and particular situations' Of the passion of terror Mrs Radcliffe has enious romances--In the novel of Caleb Williams, curiosity in the hero, and the love of reputation in the soul- passions, are draith a masterly hand

For the subject of these Memoirs, a more universal sentiment is chosen--a sentiment hackneyed in this species of coree of originality;--yet, to accomplish this, has been the aim of the author; hat success, the public will, probably, determine

Every writer who advances principles, whether true or false, that have a tendency to set the ood Innumerable mistakes have been made, both moral and philosophical:--while covered with a sacred and mysterious veil, how are they to be detected? From various combinations and , and free speaking, are the virtue and the characteristics of a rational being:--there can be no arguainst theainst them in all; every principle must be doubted, before it will be examined and proved

It has commonly been the business of fiction to pourtray characters, not as they really exist, but, as, we are told, they ought to be--a sort of _ideal perfection_, in which nature and passion areattributes wonderfully co the character of Emma Courtney, I had not in view these fantasticvirtue while enslaved by passion, liable to the ile nature--Let those readers, who feel inclined to judge with severity the extravagance and eccentricity of her conduct, look into their own hearts; and should they there find no record, traced by an accusing spirit, to soften the asperity of their censures--yet, let them bear inof sensibility; and that the result of her hazardous experi_, rather than as an exaht and shade areabove the co root in a fertile soil, vigorous powers not unfrequently produce fatal mistakes and pernicious exertions; that character is the produce of a lively and constant affection--may, possibly, discover in these Memoirs traces of reflection, and of some attention to the phaenomena of the human mind

Whether the incidents, or the characters, are copied from life, is of little importance--The only question is, if the _circuether iht_ not have followed frorand question, applicable to all the purposes of education, islation--_and on this I rest rapes of thistles?' asked a moralist and a reformer

Every _possible_ incident, in works of this nature, ard paid to thelinks of the chain Under this impression, I chose, as the least arduous, a simple story--and, even in that, the fear of repetition, of prolixity, added, it lectful of this rule:--yet, in tracing the character of my heroine from her birth, I had it in view

For the conduct of my hero, I consider myself less responsible--it was not _his_ uine respecting the success of this little publication It is truly observed, by the writer of a late popular novel[1]--'That an author, whether good or bad, or between both, is an anih all are not able to write books, all conceive thee them A bad composition carries with it its own punishood one excites envy, and (frequently) entails upon its author a thousand mortifications'

[Footnote 21: The Monk]

To the feeling and the thinking few, this production of an active mind, in a season of impression, rather than of leisure, is presented

_Memoirs of Emma Courtney_

VOLUME 1

TO AUGUSTUS HARLEY

Rash youngnarrative, which I had hoped no cruel necessity would ever have forced e es, the remembrance of which, even at this distant period, harrows up my soul with inconceivable misery?--But your happiness is at stake, and every selfish consideration vanishes--Dear and sacred deposit of an adored and lost friend!--for whose sake I have consented to hold doith struggling, suffocating reluctance, the loathed and bitter portion of existence;--shall I expose your ardent mind to the incessant conflict between truth and error--shall I practise the disingenuousness, by which my peace has been blasted--shall I suffer you to run the wild career of passion--shall I keep back the recital, written upon my own mind in characters of blood, which may preserve the child of my affections from destruction?

Ah! why have you deceived me?--Has a six months' absence obliterated from your remembrance the precept I so earnestly and incessantly laboured to inculcate--the value and importance of unequivocal sincerity? A precept, which I now take sha more implicitly observed!