Chapter VI: Appendix

During the passage of the present work through the press, Mr. York Powell was fortunate enough to acquire by purchase in Oxford a book not mentioned in any bibliographical dictionary, nor possessed by any of the chief English libraries, containing a translation into verse of the five Letters of the Portuguese Nun. On account of the rarity of the book, of which this is probably a unique copy, as well as of the curious rendering of the famous Letters, it seemed advisable to transcribe here all that concerned the love-lorn Marianna, which has therefore been done. It should perhaps be mentioned that every inquiry as to the author of this translation and the date of its first edition has proved fruitless.

The following is a description of the book in question--

New Miscellaneous
POEMS
With Five
_Love-Letters_
FROM
A Nun to a Cavalier.

Done into Verse.

_Nil dulcius est istoc amare aut amari, præter hoc ipsum amare & amari._

The Second Edition.

_London_, Printed for W. MEARS, at the _Lamb_ without _Temple-bar_. 1713.

One vol. in 16mo.

First comes the Preface, then a Table of Contents, and the title-page to the Letters, which runs,

Five | Love-Letters | From a | Nun | to | A Cavalier | Done into Verse | London | Printed in the Year 1713. |

The Letters take up pp. 3-43, after which is another title-page to the Miscellaneous Poems, then the Poems themselves follow, occupying pp. 47-129.

The frontispiece to the volume shows the Nun seated at a table in the act of writing; upon the table is a lighted candle, rosary and ink-pot, while the portrait of her lover hangs over some book-shelves. The engraving is unsigned, and seems to be different from any of those hitherto recorded.

LOVE-LETTERS

FROM

A NUN TO A CAVALIER