REBECCA NATHAN; OR, A DAUGHTER OF ISRAEL. "Let the mount Sion rejoice, and the daughter of Judah be MESSRS. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD. JAMES BURRILL, CHATHAM. 1844. THIS LITTLE WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED ΤΟ THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL, BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE THERE is a remarkable analogy between the literary and the fashionable world, for as the circle of the latter cannot be entered without a formal introduction, so few works are considered complete without a preface; and as those who are numbered among the elité must possess some claim to that distinction, such as high descent, education, rank, or fortune, so a book cannot receive any considerable portion of public attention, unless it have either intrinsic merit, or patronage, or else be indebted to the peculiar temper of the times for its popularity. In the latter case, the fate of the book depends not so much on the ability of the author, as on the passions of the reader, for when the former writes on a favourite topic, if his work want interest the excited imagination of the latter |