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Many thanks malone - will do a search.

It's in Collins Online; girl,maid, harlot.
Surprised because the preamble usually says if a word is not in Chambers.
Now, just need to find the relevance of the quotation to the 'adjustments'.

I may add that word's also in the latest Chambers (derived from the French, Shakespeare only).
The relevance of the quote is to be found in its final word!

GK, but shouldn't it also have a relevance to the third word of the quote?

Hi again, "Nelson"! I was kept awake by the possibility that you could be right with your assumption that the third word must be hidden there somewhere, assembled all the 14 letters ( both the substitutes & the substituted)---and arrived at no new solution, even with the help of anagram machines! So either I have the wrong letters somewhere, or there is no word or name there to make the puzzle perfect. What do you (or indeed others) now think? I hesitate to send off my solution, although this little extra (perhaps quite rightly!) is of course not asked for in the instructions.....................

Three questions particularly (but not only) directed at malone:
1. I don't follow your hint about the penultimate word in the quote & its significance --- or do you simply mean "referring to those 14 words"?
2. Do you agree that the clash between the endings of 40a & 33d is NOT to be solved by substituting a plural S in both cases?

3. (the 64 million dollar one) In your opinion, is there no connection between the THIRD word in the quote and the 14 "thematically" substituted letters? Would amaze me if so, but can't see anything even after trying to find anagrams of all 28. Am I on a wild goose chase, or is the puzzle simply imperfect???

GK, I tried the same with anags etc of the removed letters and the new letters.
Taking the quote literally, the (THIRD WORD) has to (FIFTH WORD) the (SEVENTH WORD). Not just change them.
Interesting to see what others think.

Fascinaing, Nelson --- only I'm afraid I don't get what you mean!

The only part of a possible pattern that I can detect in my 2 lists of 14 letters is that, in 2 cases, the same letter is changed to the same other one (thus involving 4 in all). Does that have anything to do with what you're getting at? Otherwise I fear there might even be errors in my 2 lists !

What I'm getting at is . . . .

SPOILER ALERT!

. . . if it's a 'divinity' that 'shapes our ends' I would expect the new end letters to spell out the name of a divinity.