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DEDICATION.
be injured but by Indiſcretion; and that it is this alone which often betrays them into the Snares that Deceit and Villainy ſpread for them. A Moral which I have the more induſtriouſly laboured, as the teaching of it is, of all others, the likelieſt to be attended with Succeſs; ſince, I believe, it is much eaſier to make good Men wiſe, than to make bad Men good.
For theſe Purpoſes I have employed all the Wit and Humour of which I am Maſter in the following Hiſtory; wherein I have endeavoured to laugh Mankind out of their favourite Follies and Vices. How far I have ſucceeded in this good Attempt, I ſhall ſubmit to the candid Reader, with only two Re-queſts.
