Clariſsa Dormer.
Pub. Oct 14-1808, by I. Harris, Corner St. Paul’s Church Yd.
CLARISSA DORMER:
OR, THE
ADVANTAGES
OF
GOOD INSTRUCTION.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. HARRIS, SUCCESSOR TO E. NEWBERY,
AT THE ORIGINAL JUVENILE LIBRARY, AT THE
CORNER OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD.
1808.
H. Bryer, Printer, Bridge-Street, Blackfriars.
The parents of Clarissa Dormerwere natives of one of our WestIndia settlements. They were notblack enough to be esteemed descendantsof those unhappy beingswhom perfidy or avarice broughtinto the hands of Europeans, noryet so fair as to pass for nativesof our temperate clime. Bornamid the tears and groans of theirfellow creatures, and taught byexample to tyrannize over themiserable Africans, they were callousto their sufferings, and unmindful[4]of the barbarities inflictedupon them.
One only child (Clarissa) wasthe fruit of their marriage, andheiress to their vast possessions.
Dearer to them than their livesor riches, they would not sufferher to be contradicted in anything, from the moment her littlelegs were able to carry her; andfrom the instant she knew how toframe a wish or feel a want, herwill was a law. Every slave onthe plantation must serve her, inpreference to any other business.
Can it be wondered at then,that, before she was five years ofage, she was a tyrant?
At a prodigious expence, a governessfrom England was engagedto attend her.
The gentleman who was agentfor Mr. Dormer in this business,saw many before his choice wasabsolutely decided. He well knewthe tempers and habits of thosewith whom the lady would haveto deal; and he wished to actwith justice on both sides.
At length, his choice fell onMiss Melville, a young lady bornto happier prospects, educa