town life is not only moft agreeable, but most neceffary, and that there are others who would probably be happy in any fituation. And this, after all, is the true definition of a happy man he is one whofe happineis is founded on the practice of virtue and the confolations of religion and to fuch a man, all fituations and all places will be equal.

Those who have not cultivated their minds, who have no relish for reading, cannot be happy, nor enjoy life apart from fociety. They muft either fall into a liftlefs and lethargie fiate, exhibiting neither life nor fcarcely motion, or, they fall into the purfuit of pleasures where they make but a forry figure, and which are not always confiftent with virtue or œconomy.

they are agreeable in proportion t the quantity of scandal and nonfen: which they retail from houfe t houfe.

To all thefe, folitude, even o fhort duration, is a torment. The are entitled to our pity, for thei habits are fo ftrong, that perhap even a confcioufnels of their im prudence and folly cannot aki i thaking them off.

To be able, fays Dr. Johnfon, t procure its own entertainments, an to fubit upon its own ftock, is no the prerogative of every mind There are, indeed, understanding fo fertile and comprehenfive, tha they can always feed reflection with new fupplies, and fuffer nothing from the preclufion of adventitio.. amufements, as fome cities hav within their own wails enclofe

bitants in a fiege; but others hav only from day to day, and must be confiantly enabled, by foreign fup phies, to keep our the encroachment of langour and ftupidity. Such could not, indeed, be blamed fo hovering within reach of their ufu pleafure more than any other ani mal for not quitting its native ele. ment, swere not their faculties con tracted by their own fault.

Having adverted to reading, I may add, that it is a very great neg-grounds enough to feed their inha lect in education not to endeavour that our children fhould acquire a relifh for books. With regard to the female fex, this has much been reformed lately; but with regard to the male fex, it does not yet ap. pear to be an object of that ferious concern it ought. It certainly has not formerly been fo, and I cannot conceive a more pitiable object than an elderly man whofe relih for the pleafures of youth is neceflarily decayed, and who has no turn for reading, nothing to amufe him rationally when alone. Thoufands of fuch, when maimed by age or accident, fly to drinking, keep improper company, often unworthy of their rank in life, and pollute the minds of their hearers as well as of themselves, by recounting the actions of their youth, thofe juvenile feats of which they have often more reafon to be ashamed than to boast.

In the female fex too this want of fomething to render thofe folitary hours agreeable which age will bring on, induces them to fly from place to place, with no claims but thofe of goffips, and flatter themfeives that

LETTER from a FRENCH LADY to her DAUGHTER.

[Tranflated from the French.]

N the plan of your education, my

dear Julia, I have confulted your glory more than my own, and fhall be completely happy to fee you perfectly without any vanity, in having doubly formed you, by blood and precepts. The only plea fure I propofe to myfelf is feeing you follow them, which your doci lity in liftening to them flatters me you will do. I give you my inftruc tions in writing, that in what place

ΟΙ

Letter from a French Lady.

or condition foever you are, they may be always prefent with you, and that when death deprives you of me, it may not, at the fame time, rob you of that which may be more ufeful to you than myfelt.

23

to give into fome of the little follies of it, the remorfe of an irregular conduct, and the diigut of a life filled with intrigue, every thing appears in its proper colours, and we look on retirement as the most fovereign bleffing. We ought, therefore, to kno v ourielves thoroughly before we enter fuch a life. But perhaps you'll fay, Muft we then plunge ourfelves into vice, that our return to virtue may be with the more vigour ?" No, that is not what I mean, but I would have you be witnefs of the failings of others, without

ferve as a prefervative to your ditcretion; and that comparing the troubles, noife, hurry and confufion, of an interested and intriguing

retirement, you may confult your heart in the chice, and then embrace that to which you are most inclined. One may live as regularly in the world as in a cloifter, and perhaps better; a generous mind, when ir has the power of doing evil, will rather avoid it, than when it is undef a constraint.

Acuftom wifely introduced into the world our readers will remember this FRENCH lady) having made me trust your bringing up to perfons who are, by being fhut in a cloifter, fecured from all worldly troubles, wvill therefore prevent two things equally unhappy; either too great an inclination for a monaftic life, or too violent an abhorrence of it; be up-erring yourself, that ill examples may on your guard, my dearest Julia, against both. Youth, always fond of novelty, often furrenders itfelf without confulting reafon. The tranquillity of a monaftic life, the in-world, with the ferene comforts of ticing discourfes of those whofe only aim is to make you embrace the vows they are already bound by, makes me apprehend your adding to the number of fo many young creatures, who are, by an inacceffible grare often rendered more wretched than those whose morals have heen corrupted by the world. When remorse affaults one in the cloifler, fhe muft be very particularly endowed with grace to find any remedy, fince the only ones that can be applied, are the very caufes of our affliction, as retirement, prayer, and a regular and a religious life. One is then apt to paint the world in fuch lively and beautiful colours, that one burns with an impatience to be in it, and cannot forbear lamenting the impoffi-is coquetry. The adoration of the bility there is of ever doing it. How men, and the perpetual flatteries one wll the mind, in fuch a cafe, be meets with from them, are often too racked with ten thousand torturing pleafing to our vanity; and by lif ideas. One thinks thofe very things tening to a number, the heart is unfilled with charms, which are, in certain in its determinations, and we reality, fubjects only of forrow and infenfibly give up to a croud that revexation; vice appears dreffed inputation we fear to trutt with one fin the fhape of virtue, and without fin-gle perion, and which ought to be ning in the practical part, one does fo doubly in the theoretic.

When a perfon has been in the world, and has had the misfortune']

+8

The charms with which heaven has bleft you, while they delight the eye, make me tremble for you hereafter. Beauty has often been the rock on which virtue has split, when care has not ben taken to enrich the mind with treafures which may defend it in all the various changes of life. A fplendid fortune is ever attended by luxury, whofe companion

dearer to us than our lives. Poverty, misfortunes, and a life embittered by eternal vexations, is no lefs fatal to virtue; fuch a woman is apt to make

ufe

ue of her beauty to fubdue her ene- fon, never ceafe endeavouring

mies, to procure her friends in time of need: the meets, it is probable, with dangerous confulers, and her honour is the facrifice to gratitude.

conquer your diflike, and rement the beauties of the mind are be the most preferable. If you ch to be equally indifferent to ea other, let not that draw you into a

t

To prevent thefe accidents, wifirregularities: fhun the opportuniti dom is the only means; but en. deavour to be wife without affeta tion: wisdom does not require fo much outward fhew as inward feverity. Be prudent, without being at prude. Let your modefty be accompanied by gaiety, and you, referve with good nature. Apply yourfe!f to learn what will embellish your mind, but let not vanity a tend your knowledge. Let your philofophy be Chriftian. Be affable and obliging to all, intimate but with few. Pity the misfortunes you are in no prof pect of feeling, behave without too much fubmiflion to your equals, and without pride to your inferiors. Comfort the diftreffed of all conditions. Do nothing but what is praifeworthy, without aiming at praife; the oftentation of a good action often eclipfes the glory which it would otherwife deferve. If fate allots you to a happy marriage, make the bleff ing permanent by love, virtue, and a generous confidence. If, on the contrary, you are unfortunately married, and your mind torn and diftracted with the agonies of domelic jars, look out for friends who have a greater refpect for your virtue than your beauty; and if, by that means, you get no relief, feek it from him who alone can extricate us out of the deepeft diftrefs. If you love your husband paflionately, and he but ill returns your tenderness, let mildness, complaifance, and a blameless conduct, be the only arms wherewith you combat his ill-humour; jealoufy, fullennefs, or a pcevifh melancholy will never regain a heart liable to wandering. If the match is difproportioned, and he happens to be very agreeable in his humour, but the contrary in his per

of finding in another the charn that are wanting in your husband and let the force of duty fupply th defects of fondness.

It is in fuch circumftances a thefe that it is difficult to preferv one's virtue; but then it is at thef times that it is most requifite, and appears with most luftre. A woman. perfectly happy, who is not wanting in her duty, is fteemed without being praifed, becaufe having no com plaint, fhe has no pretence for doing otherwife; but a woman that is unfortunate, and yet wife, feems to exceed even expectation. The virgin or the widow-flate alfo seems to me as much expofed to danger; a young woman that is left without father or mother, and entirely miftrefs of her actions, cannot be too circumfpect in them. She takes no ftep that does not endanger her reputation; if fhe keeps a deal of company, the paffes for a coquet; if fhe confines herself to a few felect friends, the then has fome fecret intrigue; in fhort, every body pafs their judgment on her with lefs charity, becaufe they know the has nobody to be refponfible for her conduct. It is then I advife retirement, but without entering into religious orders.

If you fhould marry, and your hufband dies, take care not to imitate. thofe women, who think, because they have nobody to whom they are obliged to be accountable for what they do, they may, with fafety abandon themselves to an irregular conduct, believing that, under the fhadow of their crape, they may conceal the clofe inclinations of their hearts. A WIDOW ought to be more nice in her behaviour than either a wife or a maid. The state fhe had,

pafled

24

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