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With very sincere gratitude I avail myself of the permission so kindly granted to inscribe the accompanying volume of Poems to your name. It is, I believe, the first production of the kind, emanating from a female pen, which has issued from the Calcutta Press. May I venture to hail its appearance under your patronage, as an auspicious omen of the advancement of literature in the East? Recommended by the sanction of a Lady eminently distinguished for the accomplishments and virtues which add lustre to noble birth, it will, I hope, stimulate my country women in India to cultivate those intellectual pursuits which have