An EXTRACT of LETTERS. By Mrs. L****.
To the READER.
THE person who published these letters about twelve years ago, observes, the writer of them, “never supposed they would be made public, but put down the sentiments of her heart, in the confidence of friendship. This may excuse the inaccuracies some may find: besides they are not recommended as patterns of polite, epistolary correspondence. Their merit is of another kind. It consists neither in the fineness of the language, nor in the elegance of the manner.”――I really think it does, as well as “in the goodness of the sentiment.” I am not ashamed to recommend them, as “patterns of truly polite, epistolary correspondence:” expressing the noblest sentiments in the most elegant manner, in the purest, yea, and finest language. Yet undoubtedly even the beauty of the language is nothing compared to the spirit which breathes throughout. Happy they who both _taste_ her spirit and are partakers of it: who _walk in the light as he is the light_, and know that _the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin_.