LADY MACLAIRN, THE _VICTIM OF VILLANY_. A NOVEL. IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY MRS. HUNTER, OF NORWICH, AUTHOR OF LETITIA; THE UNEXPECTED LEGACY; THE HISTORY OF THE GRUETHORPE FAMILY; PALMERSTONE’S LETTERS, &c., &c. VOL. I. _LONDON_: PRINTED FOR W. EARLE AND J. W. HUCKLEBRIDGE; AND SOLD BY W. EARLE, NO. 47, ALBEMARLE STREET; GEORGE ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER ROW; B. CROSBY AND CO. STATIONER’S COURT; THO. OSTELL, AVE MARIA LANE; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 1806. [_Barnard & Sultzer, Water Lane, Fleet Street._] INTRODUCTION. In presenting the following pages to the Public, I conceive it to be incumbent on me to say, that Miss Cowley’s letters to her friend will be found to contain nearly the whole of a narrative, from which, I trust, my readers may draw a lesson of morality, as well as of gratification to that curiosity which a _new Novel_ often excites, but sometimes disappoints. My claims to candour are consequently few; for as the Editor, rather than the Author, I beg leave to observe, that with the materials before me, I have balanced, pretty equally as I think, my hopes of my readers’ favour, with my fears of their frowns; and I stand chargeable with no more than an error in judgment, or too much partiality for Miss Cowley’s talents, in having preferred her pen to my own. It is, however, indispensably necessary, that I should prepare the way for her appearance as a candidate for public notice; and with as much of brevity as of fidelity, do I intend to make my first chapter useful to this purpose, by detailing such particulars of her family, birth, and circumstances of fortune, as are requisite for the better knowledge and illustration of those occurrences which engaged her time and attention, and furnished the principal subjects for her pen. LADY MACLAIRN, THE _VICTIM OF VILLANY_. CHAP. I.