du Madila Marquise da Deffand: From an Original Drawing at Strawberry Hill. Published by Longman & C° Paternoster Row, July 1810. OF THE MARQUISE DU DEFFAND TO THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE, AFTERWARDS EARL OF ORFORD, From the Year 1766 to the Year 1780. TO WHICH ARE ADDED LETTERS OF MADAME DU DEFFAND TO VOLTAIRE, From the Year 1759 to the Year 1775. PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINALS AT STRAWBERRY-HILL. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, 39, PATERNOSTER-ROW. PREFACE THE Letters which compose these Volumes are certainly what, in the truest sense, may be called familiar; but the Editor does not, on that account, consider any apology necessary for offering them to the Public. The familiar letters of distinguished persons have always been sought for with eagerness, and received with avidity by all those who are not contented with reading history in compilations, or viewing characters through the refracting medium of the prejudices of others. By familiar letters are meant, letters written without premeditation, not extorted upon any particular occasion, but flowing from a habit of communicating whatever may have af |