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+Project Gutenberg's Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, by Hester Chapone
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Letters on the Improvement of the Mind
+       Addressed to a Lady
+
+Author: Hester Chapone
+
+Release Date: April 17, 2011 [EBook #35890]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS ON THE IMPROVEMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, JoAnn Greenwood and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
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+
+
+                     LETTERS
+                      ON THE
+             IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.
+
+               ADDRESSED TO A LADY.
+
+                 BY MRS. CHAPONE.
+
+
+                       WITH
+             _THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     I consider an human Soul, without Education, like marble in
+     the Quarry, which shows none of its inherent Beauties till
+     the Skill of the Polisher fetches out the colours, makes the
+     surface shine, and discovers every ornamental Cloud, Spot,
+     and Vein, that runs through the Body of it. Education, after
+     the same manner, when it works upon a noble Mind, draws out
+     to view every latent Virtue and Perfection, which, without
+     such Helps, are never able to make their Appearance.
+
+                               ADDISON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                  A New Edition.
+
+                     _LONDON_:
+
+     Printed by Weed and Rider, Little Britain,
+
+     FOR SCATCHERD AND LETTERMAN, AVE-MARIA LANE; LONGMAN, HURST,
+     REES, ORME, AND BROWN; CADELL AND DAVIES; F. C. AND J.
+     RIVINGTON; SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES; G. AND W. B.
+     WHITTAKER; BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY; J. MAWMAN; J. HARRIS
+     AND SONS; HARVEY AND DARTON; AND C. TAYLOR.
+
+                       1820.
+
+
+
+
+                    _CONTENTS._
+
+
+    Letter                                        Page
+
+          DEDICATION                                 v
+
+          Life of Hester Chapone                   vii
+
+       I. On the first Principles of Religion        1
+
+      II. On the Study of the Holy Scriptures       15
+
+     III. The same Subject continued                34
+
+      IV. On the Regulation of the Heart
+            and Affections                          51
+
+       V. The same Subject continued                66
+
+      VI. On the Government of the Temper           98
+
+     VII. On Economy                               121
+
+    VIII. On Politeness and Accomplishments        143
+
+      IX. On Geography and Chronology              170
+
+       X. On the Manner and Course of reading
+            History                                186
+
+          Conclusion                               209
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+_MRS. MONTAGU_.
+
+
+    MADAM,
+
+I BELIEVE you are persuaded that I never entertained a thought of
+appearing in public, when the desire of being useful to one dear child,
+in whom I take the tenderest interest, induced me to write the following
+Letters:--perhaps it was the partiality of friendship, which so far
+biassed your judgment as to make you think them capable of being more
+extensively useful, and warmly to recommend the publication of them.
+Though this partiality could alone prevent your judgment from being
+considered as decisive in favour of the work, it is more flattering to
+the writer than any literary fame; if, however, you will allow me to
+add, that some strokes of your elegant pen have corrected these Letters,
+I may hope, they will be received with an attention, which will insure a
+candid judgment from the reader, and perhaps will enable them to make
+some useful impressions on those, to whom they are now particularly
+offered.
+
+They only, who know how your hours are employed, and of what important
+value they are to the good and happiness of individuals, as well as to
+the delight and improvement of the public, can justly estimate my
+obligation to you for the time and consideration you have bestowed on
+this little work. As _you_ have drawn it forth, I may claim a sort of
+right to the ornament and protection of your name, and to the privilege
+of publicly professing myself, with the highest esteem,
+
+    MADAM,
+
+    Your much obliged friend,
+      and most obedient
+        humble servant,
+
+            HESTER CHAPONE.
+
+
+
+
+          LIFE
+           OF
+    _HESTER CHAPONE_.
+
+
+Among the illustrious women whose literary productions adorned and
+improved the age in which they appeared, and are likely to be
+transmitted with reputation to posterity, Mrs. Chapone is entitled to
+distinguished consideration. However, incited by the persuasions and
+encouraged by the applauses of Richardson, she had many prejudices to
+encounter, many impediments to overcome. Female writers, always severely
+scrutinized, and often condemned, had not then obtained the estimation
+they have since commanded.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hester Mulso, better known as Chapone, was the daughter of Thomas Mulso,
+Esq. of Twywell, in Northamptonshire; who, in the year 1719, married the
+posthumous daughter of Colonel Thomas, of the Guards. She lived long
+enough to see the last props of an ancient and towering family fall to
+the dust.
+
+Of the immediate connections of Mr. Mulso, his elder sister, Anne, was
+married to the Rev. Dr. Donne, formerly Prebendary of Canterbury; and
+the younger, Susanna, to the brother of his own wife, the Rev. Dr. John
+Thomas, who was preceptor to his Majesty King George III., and who
+successively held the bishoprics of Peterborough, Salisbury, and
+Winchester. Mr. Mulso had himself several children; but of these only
+five lived to grow up, and even of the five, Charles, his third son, who
+was an officer in the navy, died, in the Mediterranean, at the age of
+twenty-one.
+
+Thomas, the eldest of Mr. Mulso's sons, was bred to the law; and, for
+some years, he went the Oxford circuit. He declined legal practice on
+coming to the possession of his paternal inheritance; but was afterwards
+made Registrar of Peterborough, and a Commissioner of Bankrupts. He
+published, in 1768, 'Calistus, or the Man of Fashion;' and 'Sophronius,
+or the Country Gentleman.' Thomas was the elect brother of Mrs. Chapone.
+He died early in February, 1799; and, as his death was not thought near,
+she lost, in him, the tie that bound her to life.
+
+John, the second of Mr. Mulso's sons, became Prebendary of the
+cathedrals of Winchester and Salisbury, and held two valuable benefices
+in Hampshire. It was at the houses of this brother that Mrs. Chapone
+spent much of her time; and to one of his children, her beloved niece,
+the world owes her best work. He died at the prebendal residence at
+Winchester, in 1791, having survived his wife one year.
+
+Edward, the youngest son, was in the Excise Office. He was skilled in
+music, and for many years President of the Anacreonic Society. Of this
+brother, the life of her youth, Mrs. Chapone was also fond; and, as his
+death was sudden and quick, his loss seriously affected her. He died
+during the April of 1782.
+
+Hester Mulso, the main subject of this sketch, was born on the 27th of
+October, 1727; and was the only daughter whom her father had the
+pleasure of seeing arrive to mature years. How soon Miss Mulso
+accustomed herself to investigate what she read, and how well, may be
+inferred from a passage in her published 'Miscellanies;' where, she
+says, that when fifteen years old, being charmed with many of the
+doctrines of the mystics, she then began to canvass them deeply; and
+that, as reason grew, she was able to detect and to reject the fanciful
+theology with which they were fraught. Even at nine years of age she was
+an author. Accustomed to read the old romance, which suited her then
+childish taste, she wrote 'The Loves of Amorat and Melissa,' which,
+however defective, gave promise of the genius that distinguished her
+maturer compositions. Her mind could not, however, long dwell on such
+works. 'I make no scruple,' declares Miss Mulso, writing to Miss Carter,
+from Peterborough, July, 1750, 'to call romances the worst of all the
+species of writing: unnatural representations of the passions, false
+sentiments, false precepts, false wit, false honour, and false modesty,
+with a strange heap of improbable unnatural incidents, mixed up with
+true history, and fastened upon some of the great names of antiquity,
+make up the composition of a romance--at least of such as I have read,
+which have been mostly French ones. Then the prolixity and poverty of
+the style is unsupportable. I have (and yet I am still alive) drudged
+through Le Grand Cyrus in twelve large volumes, Cleopatra in eight or
+ten, Polexander, Ibrahim, Clelie, and some others, whose names, as well
+as all the rest of them, I have forgotten; but this was in the days when
+I did not choose my own books, for there was no part of my life in which
+I loved romances.' This censure of romances, ancient or modern, is not
+more severe than it is just. With scarcely an exception, the business of
+romances is to make good bad, and bad good; to misplace and misstate
+events, falsify characters, and mislead readers. They are full of grave
+lies, well told, to an ill end. These are the Will o' Wisps of the mind.
+
+Something of importance is stated, where Miss Mulso says, that she read
+romances, volume upon volume, in the days when she did not choose her
+own books; and when, therefore, she could not avoid this infantile
+course of reading. She was not then permitted to go in her own way.
+Superadded to the disadvantages then attending female education, she
+struggled under domestic discouragements. Maternal vanity set itself
+against her advances in literature; and it was not till the death of her
+mother took place, that Miss Mulso, liberated from all impediments, felt
+herself free to pursue the cultivation of her own understanding. 'I
+believe,' she writes, referring to her new situation, early in 1750,
+'there are few people who are better pleased and contented with their
+lot than I; for I am qualified to feel my present happiness; by having
+early experienced very different sensations.'
+
+Here then is one marked era in the life of Miss Mulso. Being now
+mistress of herself, as to the disposal of her time, she rapidly
+compassed the circle of intellectual improvement. Notwithstanding that
+she was self-instructed, she soon became mistress of the French and
+Italian languages, and made some proficiency even in the Latin. Attached
+thus to literature, she was also careful to select her acquaintance from
+among persons who were likely to improve her own taste. It was in this
+way that she cultivated an intimacy with the celebrated Richardson; and
+that, in 1750, when she was twenty-three years of age, she ventured to
+controvert his opinions on 'Filial Obedience.'[1]
+
+Richardson delighted to stimulate female talents to honourable and
+persevering exertions. Perhaps his partiality for epistolary
+intercourse, in which he successively engaged his fair friends,
+eventually decided Mrs. Chapone as to the mode of communicating her
+instructions to a beloved niece.
+
+About this time, 1749 to 1752, she wrote some poems. Her 'Ode to Peace,'
+and that to Miss Carter, prefixed to Epictetus, were the first fruits of
+her muse. Her verse comes up to what she thought of verse, and this
+seems as much as can with truth be said of it. 'As fond as I am of the
+works of fancy,' says she, 'of the bold imagery of a Shakspeare, or a
+Milton, and the delicate landscapes of Thomson, I receive much greater
+and more solid pleasure from their poetry, as it is the dress and
+ornament of wisdom and morality, than all the flowers of fancy, and the
+charms of harmonious numbers, can give
+
+    'When gay description holds the place of sense.'
+
+Pursuing the satisfactions of literature, Miss Mulso now produced the
+'Story of Fidelia.' Although this tale was written for the 'Adventurer,'
+she is represented as hesitating to give it to the world; and as
+publishing it only in compliance with the wishes of friendship. Little
+is to be said in praise of this story. Designed, as it was, to expose
+the miseries of freethinking in women, its reasoning tends rather to
+stagger the unlettered moralist than to confute intellectual scepticism.
+It is affected as to its style, and problematical as to its end.
+
+While Miss Mulso was hesitating as to what should be Fidelia's fate, 'to
+print or not to print,' Miss Carter, to whom she was now known, decided
+her for the press. Miss Mulso idolized Miss Carter. Astonished at her
+acquirements, humbled by her talents, she approaches to her as to one of
+superior existence[2]. Miss Carter accepts the homage of Miss Mulso; and
+seems, throughout her deportment, to view it as due to herself. Such
+friends as they were, for their friendship was not mutual in kind, so
+they lasted for more than fifty years. Letters were the chief cement of
+their long friendship.
+
+Nearly at the same time that Miss Mulso commenced acquaintance with Miss
+Carter, it was her lot to meet with Mr. Chapone, to whom she was at last
+married. This gentleman, who was practising the law, was introduced to
+Richardson's friends, at North-End, near Hammersmith, and fully admitted
+among them in the year 1750. 'Most heartily do I thank good Mrs. Dewes,'
+writes Richardson, August 20, 1750, 'for her recommendation of Mr.
+Chapone to my acquaintance and friendship. I am greatly taken with him.
+A sensible, and ingenious, a modest young gentleman.' Miss Mulso's
+friends own, that, from 'their first introduction, she entertained a
+distinguished esteem for Mr. Chapone. It was, with her, love at first
+sight; but, according to her relations, as their intimacy improved, and
+her attachment became rooted, she had the gratification to perceive that
+it was mutual.' She was certainly in love. 'Your opinion of the lordly
+sex,' she says, writing to Miss Carter, in 1754, 'I know is not a very
+high one, but yet I will one day or other make you confess that a man
+may be capable of all the delicacy, purity, and tenderness, which
+distinguish our sex, joined with all the best qualities that dignify his
+own.' Whatever were her father's original objections to her marriage,
+these were for some time found to be insuperable; for, having been made
+acquainted with her passion, he, instead of immediately countenancing
+her wishes, made her promise that she would not contract any matrimonial
+engagement without his previous permission. Prudence forbad him to
+approve, we are told, what kindness would not suffer him to prohibit.
+
+Visiting the coterie of Richardson, during the summer of 1753, Miss
+Mulso was gratified by an interview with Dr. Johnson, with whom she
+before had no personal acquaintance. Her whole account of this interview
+may be fitly told here. 'Mr. Johnson' (Miss Mulso is writing to Miss
+Carter) 'was very communicative and entertaining, and did me the honour
+to address most of his discourse to me. I had the assurance to dispute
+with him on the subject of human malignity[3]; and wondered to hear a
+man, who by his actions shows so much benevolence, maintain that the
+human heart is naturally malevolent, and that all the benevolence we
+see, in the few who are good, is acquired by reason and religion. You
+may believe I entirely disagreed with him, being, as you know, fully
+persuaded that benevolence, or the love of our fellow-creatures, is as
+much a part of our nature as self-love; and that it cannot be
+suppressed, or extinguished, without great violence from the force of
+other passions. I told him I suspected him of these bad notions from
+some of his Ramblers, and had accused him to you; but that you persuaded
+me I had mistaken his sense. To which he answered, that if he had
+betrayed such sentiments in his Ramblers, it was not with design; for
+that he believed _the doctrine of human malevolence, though a true one,
+is not an useful one_, and ought not to be published to the world. Is
+there any truth,' subjoins Miss Mulso, 'that would not be useful, or
+that should not be known?'
+
+The misfortune is, that, on such topics as this, which must implicate
+the character of man, generally as well as personally, each one writes
+as each sees things, and not as things might or ought to be seen.
+Establishing our individual experience as the criterion of universal
+opinion, we are too apt to speak of the world as we find it; and to
+conclude, that what happens to us must of necessity happen to others,
+and that uniformity of experience will terminate in similarity of
+decision. Perhaps truth is still clear of extremes. Man is not so bad as
+some state him to be; nor is man so good as some think him to be.
+
+Miss Mulso is now to be known as Mrs. Chapone. Perceiving that her
+inclination to matrimony was decisive, Mr. Mulso, though he still
+objected to the match, consented to such arrangements, towards the close
+of 1760, as to admit of the union, in one day, of his eldest son,
+Thomas, with Miss Prescott, and of his only daughter, Hester, with Mr.
+Chapone. Living with her father, who was indulgently attached to her,
+Miss Mulso had previously been permitted to enjoy, fairly and fully, the
+society of Mr. Chapone.[4]
+
+'Give me your congratulations,' writes the now Mrs. Chapone, to Miss
+Carter, from town, December the 9th, 1760, 'my dear friend; but, as much
+for my brother and friend (Mr. Thomas Mulso and Miss Prescott) as for
+myself; for, in truth, I could not have enjoyed my own happiness in an
+union with the man of my choice, had I been forced to leave them in the
+same uncomfortable state of tedious and almost hopeless expectation in
+which they have suffered so long. I shall rejoice to hear that you are
+coming to town, and shall hope for many a comfortable tete-a-tete with
+you in my lodgings in Carey Street; for there I must reside till Mr.
+Chapone can get a house that suits him, which is no easy matter, as he
+is so confined in point of situation,' &c. &c. Pleasing as might be the
+prospect of her marriage pleasures, it will soon be seen that, as Mrs.
+Barbauld wrote, 'her married life was short, and,' short as it was, 'not
+very happy!'
+
+Scarcely is Mrs. Chapone first settled, when _she seems to complain of
+being in lodgings_; and, when her husband has taken a house, _still she
+regrets living_ in Arundel Street, as this is '_very wide from_ Clarges
+Street, where' she supposes that her friend _Miss Carter's_ '_residence_
+is fixed.' Even now, dissatisfied with 'a life of hurry and
+engagement,' she puts 'the drudgery of answering all the congratulatory
+letters,' heaped on them as newly married, 'upon Mr. Chapone; who, _poor
+man_,' says his wife, 'was _forced to humour_ me _a little at first_.'
+Here is not the worst. '_I have more hours to myself_,' she adds, '_than
+I wish for_; for business usually allows me _very little of my husband's
+company_, except at meals.' Instead of 'many a comfortable tete-a-tete
+with' Miss Carter, whom she assures of her 'most perfect dissent' from
+the maxim of Johnson's school, 'that a married woman can have no
+friendship but with her husband,' Chapone himself, pleased with Miss
+Carter's old friendship, is represented as wondering why she never
+visits his wife. 'Surely, my dear,' he would say to her, 'if Miss Carter
+loved you, she would sometimes have spent a day with you; and then I
+should have known her better. _If ever she loved you, I fancy she left
+it off on your being married._' Mrs. Chapone's letters may explain the
+absence of Miss Carter. What friend would be in haste to run to her, who
+tells that she 'lived in dirt,' and in 'puddling lodgings;' and who
+adds, 'at last,' that she reckons herself to be but 'tolerably settled?'
+
+Lengthened courtships too seldom conclude with happy marriages. Six
+years of the lives of one pair, 1754 to 1760, was by far too long to
+make love. Our choice may prove to be our lot, just when our lot is no
+more our choice.
+
+Miss Mulso was also more than old enough for Mrs. Chapone. When women
+are of disputatious dispositions[5], fixed in their notions, and do not
+like learned husbands[6], because they may hope to rule simple ones,
+they should marry before the age of thirty-three.
+
+Poverty is inimical to felicity; but marriage penury, worst of woes, is
+inevitably calamitous. Pecuniary difficulties long protracted the union
+of Miss Mulso with Mr. Chapone, who at last died in embarrassing
+circumstances. Much may be borne; but to court long, wait for wealth,
+wed late, and fare ill, seem more than the griefs to which flesh is
+heir.
+
+In her advice to a beloved niece, and in the letter to a new-married
+lady, there are passages perhaps referable to the fate of Mrs. Chapone.
+'Young women,' she observes, '_know so little_ of the world, especially
+_of the other sex_, and _such pains are usually taken to deceive them_,
+that they are every way unqualified to choose for themselves, &c. Many a
+heart-ache shall _I_ feel for _you_, my sweet girl, if I live a few
+years longer[7]!' Equally impressive is her delineation of matrimonial
+bickerings. 'Whatever may be said of the _quarrels of lovers_, (believe
+_me_!) _those of married people have always dreadful consequences_,
+especially if they are not very short and very slight. If _they_ are
+suffered to _produce bitter or contemptuous expressions_, or betray
+_habitual dislike_ in one party _of any thing in the person or mind_ of
+the other, _such wounds can scarcely ever be thoroughly healed_: and
+though regard to principle and character lays the married couple under a
+necessity to make up the breach as well as they can, yet is their
+affiance in each other's affection so rudely shaken in such conflicts,
+that it can hardly ever be perfectly fixed again. _The painful
+recollection of what is passed, will often intrude upon the tenderest
+hours_; and every trifle will awaken and renew it. You must, _even now_,
+(it is to a lady _newly married_ that Mrs. C. is addressing herself) be
+particularly on your guard against _this_ source of misery.'
+
+Within the short space of ten months after marriage, Mr. Chapone, whose
+health could not have been good, was seized by a fever, which, in about
+a week, terminated his mortal career. Though his illness was short, and
+thought fatal at first, Mrs. Chapone was not with him for five days
+before _his death_, 'as her presence was judged to be very hurtful to
+him!' She then heard of his death 'with _her accustomed meekness_;' and,
+continues Miss Burrows, writing to Miss Carter, September the 22d, 1761,
+'you would hardly believe me were I to describe to you _her calmness and
+composure_,' &c., or, 'half _the noble things she says and does_,' &c.
+'_She suffered herself_,' again writes Miss Burrows, October 5, 1761,
+'_to be the most consoled_, by the kindness of her friends, _I ever saw
+any body in her situation_.' Mrs. Chapone was yet for some time ill, on
+the death of Mr. Chapone; and she found some other difficulties[8]
+against which to bear up. Circumstances shortly after induced her to
+retire into lodgings upon a small but decent income, where, cultivating
+her connections, she contrived to preserve her independence and
+respectability. Her small property was soon augmented by the death of
+her father, who did not survive her husband quite two years.
+
+Mrs. Chapone now spent much of her time with friends. Dr. John Thomas,
+her maternal uncle, being then Bishop of Winchester, she was always
+welcome either at Farnham Castle, or at Winchester House. Of her various
+letters from Farnham Castle, the following one, relating to royalty, is
+sufficiently interesting to find its place here. It must be remembered,
+that the Bishop had been preceptor to our late and venerable King.--'Mr.
+Buller went to Windsor on Saturday,' writes Mrs. Chapone to Mr. Burrows,
+August 20, 1778, 'saw the King, who enquired much about the Bishop; and
+hearing that he would be eighty-two next Monday, "Then," said he, "I
+will go and wish him joy." "And I," said the Queen, "will go too." Mr.
+B. then dropped a hint of the additional pleasure it would give the
+Bishop if he could see the Princes. "_That_," said the King, "requires
+contrivance; but, if I can manage it, we will _all_ go".' ... Monday
+morning, a little after eleven o'clock, 'came the King and Queen in
+their phaeton, three coaches and six, and one coach and four, with a
+large retinue of servants. They were all conducted into the great
+drawing-room, by Mr. and Mrs. Buller, where, after paying their
+compliments to the Bishop and Mrs. Thomas, those of the first column
+remained there to breakfast; those of the second column left the room,
+and were led by Mrs. T. to the dressing-room, where Mrs. T. and I were,
+and where I made tea for them. After our breakfast was over, as well as
+that of the upper house, the royal guests[9] came to visit me in the
+dressing-room. The King sent the Princes in to pay their compliments to
+_Mrs. Chapone_: himself, he said, was an old acquaintance. Whilst the
+Princes were speaking to me, Mr. Arnold, sub-preceptor, said, "These
+gentlemen are well acquainted with a certain Ode[10] prefixed to Mrs.
+Carter's Epictetus, if you know any thing of it." Afterwards the King
+came and spoke to us; and the Queen led the Princess Royal to me,
+saying, "This is a young lady, who, I hope, has profited much by your
+instructions[11]. She has read them more than once, and will read them
+oftener;" and the Princess assented to the praise which followed, with a
+very modest air. She has a sweet countenance, and simple unaffected
+manners. I was pleased with all the Princes, but particularly with
+Prince William, who is little of his age, but so sensible and engaging,
+that he won the Bishop's heart; to whom he particularly attached
+himself, and would stay with him while all the rest ran about the house.
+His conversation was surprisingly manly and clever for his age: yet with
+the young Bullers he was quite the boy; and said to John Buller, by way
+of encouraging him to talk, "Come, we are both boys, you know." All of
+them showed affectionate respect to the Bishop; the Prince of Wales
+pressed his hand so hard that he hurt it. Mrs. B----'s two girls were
+here, and the eldest son, and great notice was taken of them all. The
+youngest girl, a comical natural little creature between eight and nine,
+says she thinks it hard that Princes may not marry whom they please; and
+seems not without hopes, that, if it were not for this restriction, the
+Prince of Wales might prove a lover of hers.'
+
+Dr. Thomas, to whom these royal honours were thus paid, died in May
+1781, at the age of eighty-six years.
+
+Several months of the year 1766 were passed by Mrs. Chapone at the
+parsonage of her second brother, John, at Thornhill, near Wakefield, in
+Yorkshire. It was then she conceived that partiality for her niece, his
+eldest daughter, to which society is indebted for her 'Letters on the
+Improvement of the Mind.'
+
+Having become acquainted with Mrs. Montagu some time in 1762, she about
+eight years after joined her in her tour into Scotland; a tour from
+which she derived both information and amusement, and which her pen has
+described with fidelity and interest. 'I am grown as bold as a lion with
+Mrs. Montagu,' asserts Mrs. Chapone, two years before their tour, to
+Mrs. Carter, 'and fly in her face whenever I have a mind: in short, I
+enjoy her society with the most perfect _gout_; and find my love for her
+takes off my fear and awe, though my respect for her character
+continually increases.' Mrs. Montagu's great friendship was found
+eminently conducive to the welfare of Mrs. Chapone. It added to her
+sources of intellectual gratification, extended the old circle of her
+acquaintance, and emboldened and encouraged her to submit her writings
+to the world.
+
+We are now to consider Mrs. Chapone's literary performances; which,
+following the order of publication, consist of
+
+  Letters on the Improvement of the Mind; 1773.
+
+  Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse; 1775.
+
+  Posthumous Works; two volumes, 1804.
+
+These latter volumes contain Mrs. Chapone's Correspondence with Mr.
+Richardson, on Filial Obedience; a Matrimonial Creed, sent by her to
+him; Letters to her friends; some Fugitive Poetry; and 'An Account of
+her _Life and Character_, drawn up _by her own Family_.' Dismissing the
+consideration of its partiality, this account, justly so called, has no
+claim to the character of biography.
+
+Her 'Letters on the Improvement of the Mind' owed much of their early
+success to the talents and kindness of Mrs. Montagu. 'The bookseller,'
+writes their Author, July the 20th, 1773, 'is preparing the second
+edition with all haste, the whole of the first being gone out of his
+hands; which, considering that he printed off fifteen hundred at first,
+is an extraordinary quick sale. _I attribute this success principally to
+Mrs. Montagu's name, and patronage_,' &c. More of this is told in the
+Dedication of the work to her. 'I believe you (Mrs. Montagu) are
+persuaded that I (Mrs. Chapone) never entertained a thought of appearing
+in public, when the desire of being useful to one dear child, in whom I
+take the tenderest interest[12], induced me to write the following
+letters: perhaps it was the partiality of friendship which so far
+biassed your judgment as to make you think them capable of being more
+extensively useful, and warmly to recommend the publication of them.
+If,' proceeds the author, 'you will allow me to add that _some strokes
+of your elegant pen_ have corrected these Letters, I may hope _they will
+be received with an attention_ which will insure a candid judgment from
+the reader; and, perhaps, will enable them to _make some useful
+impressions_ on those to whom they are now particularly offered.'
+
+Notwithstanding their intrinsic excellence, various circumstances
+co-operated to give to her Letters immediate popularity. Besides the
+beginning preference for books on education, epistolary composition, the
+style of her work, was then in very general estimation. It was the style
+to which the volumes of Richardson, the correspondence of Pope, the
+letters of Chesterfield and of Orrery, had familiarized the public mind.
+Nor could expectation have been indifferent to any production from the
+pen of one who was the friendly pupil of Samuel Richardson; in favour of
+whom the discerning part of readers were already prepossessed, by the
+commendation he had bestowed on her talents, and the assiduity with
+which he had cultivated her correspondence. What might not be hoped from
+a lady, who, when not much above twenty years of age, was considered
+qualified to controvert with him the subject of paternal authority and
+filial obedience? But, if admiration had been excited, it was only in
+order to be gratified. Mrs. Chapone did not disappoint the expectations
+entertained concerning Miss Mulso.
+
+It is the imperishable honour of Mrs. Chapone, that the foundation of
+_her_ temple of education is on the rock, and not in the sands; that the
+superstructure is therefore not only beautiful, but lasting. On the
+being of a God, she fixes the tottering hopes of mere mortality: and by
+his Revealed Will would direct its steps, to certainty, happiness, and
+glory. Nor has she been unsuccessful in displaying the benevolent
+attributes of Deity, and in exciting the gratitude of the heart towards
+him. Without impeaching his justice, she has exalted his mercy; without
+diminishing the awe, she has increased the fervency of pious adoration;
+without depreciating prayer, she has insisted on a spirit of
+thanksgiving. Devotion, in her view, becomes attractive as well as
+important. We love, while we obey; while we tremble, we rejoice. Resting
+the ground-work of all morality on religion, _assent_ is insisted upon
+prior to _investigation_; not that the latter is excluded. Since,
+however, we are compelled to _act_ before we become qualified to
+_think_, it is of the utmost importance that some standard be
+established in the mind, for the regulation of the conduct. Religion
+supplies this deficiency. Its penalties and rewards are offered, at a
+time when we are principally governed by our hopes or fears; and are,
+indeed, incapable of being acted upon by abstracted considerations of
+right and wrong.
+
+Of the early _historical_ parts of the Old Testament, Mrs. Chapone
+speaks with the commendation they will always obtain from discriminating
+minds. Nothing in profane history is equal to their beautiful
+simplicity, their affecting minuteness. They are not sufficiently
+studied.
+
+On the scope of the Gospel, as delivered in the New Testament, it is
+justly affirmed--'The whole tenor of the Gospel is to offer us every
+help, direction, and motive, that can enable us to attain that degree of
+perfection, on which depends our eternal good.' Exception must
+nevertheless be taken to a few epithets, by which she endeavours to
+picture a future state of blessedness; as, 'the richest imagination can
+paint:' for, what imagination shall paint that which 'it hath not
+entered into the heart of man to conceive?'
+
+Letters the Fourth and Fifth, _On the Regulation of the Heart and
+Affections_, display considerable knowledge of human nature, exhibit
+high reasoning powers on the part of the writer, and are fraught with
+excellent moral distinctions. The fifth, however, owing to the subjects
+it embraces, is particularly valuable to the sex to whom it is
+addressed. This encomium will apply to her sentiments _On Household
+Economy_, and _On Deportment towards Servants_. The course of _Studies_
+and _Accomplishments_ recommended by her, perhaps, still includes all
+that is essential.
+
+Unornamental, but not ungraceful, Mrs. Chapone's style, though plain, is
+deserving of commendation. If there be one main fault in it, one
+reigning vice, it is that it abounds with parentheses, which tend to
+obscure it.
+
+The success of her Letters is stated by herself to have been the source
+of much good to her: she who, only ten years before, declared that 'this
+world had nothing for her but a few friends,' who owns that 'a certain
+weariness of life, and a sense of insignificance and insipidity,' did
+then 'deject' her, now feels that the success of her writings appeased
+'that uneasy sense of helplessness and insignificancy which often
+depressed and afflicted her.' Her work gave her some tie to the world.
+Her intellectual existence, her new life, succeeded to her sympathetic
+state.
+
+Of her next work, the 'Miscellanies,' not much need be said.
+Unqualified in her admiration of the author's abilities, Mrs. Barbauld
+seems to labour to explain the unpopularity of this publication. The
+toil was not worth the pains. Excepting the _Letter to a New-married
+Lady_, and _Three Essays_, the contents of this volume did not authorize
+the distinction to which friendship conceived it to be entitled.
+
+Her long epistolary controversy with Richardson, respecting 'Filial
+Obedience' generally, evidences great superiority of thought. It extends
+to three letters; of which the first is dated October 12, and the second
+November 10, 1750; and the third, which is her last, bears date the 3d
+of January, 1750-51. Perhaps Miss Carter was not far from the fact,
+when, as now appears from one of Mrs. Chapone's Letters to her, she
+called this controversy 'an unmerciful prolixity upon a plain simple
+subject.' Still it is, in such hands, of much worth. Differing from
+Richardson in some essential particulars, Mrs. Chapone, young as she
+then was, magnanimously promulgated, and resolutely defended, her own
+sentiments. Authority seems to have been here considered by Richardson
+as synonymous with what most men think tyranny. Parents were to be
+despots, and children to live as their bond-slaves. Obligation is
+reciprocal. Subjection necessarily supposes protection; and paternal
+authority has the best claim to filial obedience, where benevolence
+endears dependance, and where conduct demands respect. Goldsmith told no
+more than truth, when, as his Essays will show, he declared that there
+were parents who got children for the gratification of tyrannising over
+them.
+
+Mrs. Chapone had the gift of letter-writing. When she writes to her few
+friends, it is with ease, with sense, and with life. She does not then
+write for the press. She read much, thought more, and wrote as she
+thought. Many of her judgments, both of men and books, deserve to be
+weighed.
+
+The last years of life, it is painful to add, were not her best years.
+Surviving those by whom life was to her rendered estimable, unshaken as
+was her religion, her mind, it is acknowledged by friends, yielded to
+its afflictions; 'her memory became visibly and materially impaired; and
+her body was so much affected by the sufferings of her mind, that she
+soon sank into a state of alarming debility.' She who bore with
+'calmness and composure' the death of a husband, of him whom she calls
+'the man of her choice,' felt that she lost on the death of a brother,
+'her strongest tie to this world,' and 'sank into a state of alarming
+debility!' Where the treasure is, there also will the heart still be
+found. Sublunary happiness is at the best uncertain as unstable; and
+those whose plans of good are made for this earth, will see, sooner or
+later, that they have built on the sands instead of the rock.
+
+Contracted in circumstances, and limited in the number of her friends,
+Mrs. Chapone, with her youngest niece, retired to Hadley, in the autumn
+of 1800; where her living near to Miss Amy Burrows[13], who had been
+there for some years, opened new prospects of comfort for her rapidly
+declining age.
+
+It was now that Mrs. Chapone needed all that the most affectionate
+assiduity could do for her. 'Mrs. and Miss Burrows,' continues the short
+account by her family, 'were her constant visitors; and while they
+surveyed, with compassion and humiliation, the awful lesson to nature
+which the wreck of so bright an ornament to it presented, they omitted
+no opportunity to administer every soothing means of relief she was then
+capable of experiencing.' Mr. Cottrell, also, successor to the Rev. Mr.
+Burrows, at Hadley, and his family, with their friends, sometimes
+enlivened the solitary seclusion to which she was doomed; but her
+infirmities augmented so much, at this time, that she was not able to go
+down stairs more than three or four times.
+
+Her life was near its close. October 1801, she completed her 74th year;
+and on the Christmas-day following, without any direct illness, having
+described herself as unusually well the day before, and after
+experiencing less distemper during the last than any of the years of her
+life, she fell into a doze, from which nothing could rouse her; and at
+the eighth hour of the night, she drew her last breath, tranquilly and
+imperceptibly, in the arms of her niece. Mrs. Burrows was also with her.
+
+Mrs. Chapone is not represented as one who had pretensions to what men
+term beauty. If, however, any credit is due to the opinion of
+Richardson, who knew her in her best days, and who could judge of the
+sex, there was in her something of physiognomical fascination, that
+bright emanation of soul, illuminating the countenance, which, candid
+and benign, gave to the face its best charm.
+
+Music was one of her delights. Naturally possessing a voice both
+mellifluous and powerful, with much true taste, and great accuracy of
+ear, she, without the aid of science, would often surpass the efforts of
+professional excellence. Aided by her brother[14] on the violin, her
+singing frequently astonished those who were the highest judges of that
+talent.[15]
+
+Accomplished in deportment, intelligent in conversation, uniformly
+agreeable to society generally, her company was coveted by all who knew
+her, and sought for by numbers of persons with whom she never
+associated.
+
+Physical infirmities were to her the source of habitual misery. Cold and
+wet seem to have been too much for her frame; and, by the medium of
+that, for her mind.
+
+With all her faults, for some there were in her, she was still great.
+Her life may teach much that it will be well to learn; nor can too much
+be said in praise of her best work.
+
+Mrs. Chapone holds out one bright proof of what intelligence and
+perseverance may in due time hope to accomplish. She cast her own lot.
+Herself made herself; and to the honours of her name, great as they are,
+those who tread in her steps may yet aspire.
+
+Considering the high importance of her literary exertions, no task would
+have been more pleasing than that of bestowing unqualified approbation
+on her character. Her writings, already productive of good the most
+extensively beneficial, will stand the imperishable monument of her
+worth. While the sentiments which they inculcate are valued, and the
+language in which they are conveyed is known, while virtue is loved, or
+piety revered among us, the 'Letters on the Improvement of the Mind'
+will suffer no diminution of that reputation in which they have been so
+long held by the world.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] 'I am at present engaged with a most admirable young lady of little
+more than twenty, Miss Mulso, on the subject of Filial Obedience and
+Paternal Authority, &c. Miss Mulso is a charming writer, &c. Your
+ladyship will be charmed with her part of the subject.' _Richardson to
+Lady Bradshaigh, 1751._
+
+'I have been engaged in a kind of amicable controversy with my honoured
+friend Mr. Richardson, which has occasioned letters of so immoderate a
+length between us, that I have been quite tired of pen and ink, and
+inexcusably negligent of all my other correspondents. Does it not sound
+strange, my dear Miss Carter, that a girl like me should have dared to
+engage in a dispute with such a man? Indeed I have often wondered at my
+own assurance; but the pleasure and improvement I expected from his
+letters were motives too strong to be resisted, and the kind
+encouragement he gave me got the better of my fear of exposing myself.'
+_Miss Mulso to Miss Carter, March 1750._
+
+This correspondence is dated from October 1750, to January 1751.
+
+[2] 'I shall still find in her (Miss Mulso is writing _to_ and _of_ Miss
+Carter) that amiable condescension, and unreserved benevolence, which
+endears her conversation, and enhances the value of her understanding;
+which teaches her how to improve her companions without appearing to
+instruct them, to correct without seeming to reprove, and even to
+reprove without offending.' _Miss Mulso to Miss Carter, September 11,
+1749._
+
+'It is impossible not to be better, as well as happier, for an intimate
+acquaintance with _Miss Carter_; take her for all in all, I think, I may
+venture to pronounce her _the first of women_!' _Miss Mulso to Mr.
+Richardson, July 24, 1752._
+
+[3] 'I think I read the 'Rambler' with great attention, yet I cannot
+entirely acquit him of the charge of severity in his satires on mankind.
+I believe him a worthy humane man; but I think I see a little of the
+asperity of disappointment in his writings.' _Miss Mulso to Miss Carter,
+October 1752._
+
+'I am very unwilling to believe those that fright us with shocking
+pictures of human nature, and could almost quarrel with my very great
+favourite, 'The Rambler,' for his too-general censures on mankind; and
+for speaking of envy and malice as universal passions.' _Ibid._
+
+[4] 'I thank God, (Canterbury, August 29, 1757,) my best soul has now
+the upper hand, by the assistance of medicine and cool weather, much
+more than of reason; and perhaps by the hope of two or three days of
+fancied good, in the presence of a _fancied essential_ (Mr. Chapone) to
+my happiness, who has promised to come down and see me some time before
+the middle of next month.'----'I shall now tell you something of myself,
+who live here (Salisbury, John, the second brother to her, being then
+its Prebendary) uncorrupted by grandeur, &c. &c. &c. who could prefer _a
+little attorney_ (Chapone) even to my Lord Feversham; had he offered to
+me, instead of the fair young lady he has so happily won.' _Miss Mulso
+to Miss Carter._
+
+[5] 'Nothing can ever make me amends for that luxurious ease and
+security, in the kindness of all around me, which enables me to wrangle,
+abuse, and dispute, till I am black in the face,' &c. &c. _Mrs. Chapone
+to Mr. Burrows, 1773._
+
+[6] 'It has always been one of my prayers, that I might never be the
+wife of an overgrown scholar.' _Miss Mulso to Miss Carter, 1754._
+
+[7] Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, edit. 1801, pages 93, 94.
+
+[8] 'I have been very near death; and, at the time he threatened me
+most, it was the most earnest wish of my heart to meet and embrace him.
+But, I bless God, I am restored not only to life, but to a sense of the
+great mercy indulged me in the grant of a longer tern of trial.'--'You
+are so obligingly solicitous about my circumstances, that I would
+willingly inform you of the state of them, if I had any certainty about
+them. But my dear Mr. Chapone's affairs were left in great confusion and
+perplexity by his sudden death; which happened just at the time of year
+in which he should have settled his accounts, and made out his bills. As
+these are very considerable, his estate must suffer a great loss from
+this circumstance. At present, things are in a very melancholy state,
+and my own prospects such as would probably have appeared very dreadful
+to me at any other time.' _Mrs. Chapone to Miss Carter, December 6,
+1761._
+
+[9] King George III. and Queen Charlotte; his present Majesty, then
+Prince of Wales, and sixteen years old; Prince Frederic, Duke of York,
+then fifteen years old; Prince William, Duke of Clarence, then thirteen
+years old; Princess Royal, now Queen of Wirtemberg, then about fourteen
+years old, and Princess Augusta, then about ten years old.
+
+[10] Addressed by Mrs. Chapone to her friend Mrs. Carter.
+
+[11] 'Letters on the Improvement of the Mind.' They had been published
+five years then.
+
+[12] This young lady, of whom the reader must wish to know more, was the
+eldest daughter of Mrs. Chapone's second brother, John, who was
+Prebendary of the cathedrals of Winchester and Salisbury. She became
+attached to this niece in 1766, while on a visit at her home; wrote the
+Letters, to her, in 1772; and, stimulated by her literary friends,
+published them in 1773.--'I had great satisfaction,' writes Mrs. Chapone
+to Miss Carter, November 1797, 'in seeing my darling niece established
+in the happiest manner, at Winchester, with husband (Rev. Benjamin
+Jeffreys) who seems in every respect calculated to make her happy.' Mrs.
+Chapone passed the autumns 1797 and 1798 at the Deanery at Winchester.
+Here she awaited the approaching accouchement of her dearest niece,
+which was destined to terminate one or her fondest hopes. This last joy
+of her life, this child of her heart, was now torn from her, after the
+birth of a dead infant, in March 1799.
+
+[13] Of the family of the Burrows's, who were her tried friends, 'I am
+glad,' writes Mrs. Chapone to Miss Carter, July 31, 1761, 'that you love
+my Burrows's, who are, indeed, some of the most valuable persons I have
+ever known.----Poor Miss Amy (who was her last prop!) is still
+complaining, and consequently her sisters are anxious and unhappy.----I
+wish you were to hear Mr. Burrows preach. There is a simplicity and an
+earnestness in his manner more affecting than any thing I ever heard
+from the pulpit.' Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Elizabeth Burrows, two of the
+sisters mentioned in this place, together with Mr. and Mrs. Burrows,
+died before Mrs. Chapone's final retreat to Hadley; so that 'out of that
+amiable and happy circle with whom she delighted to associate, and on
+whom she relied as the sources of the most refined enjoyments, only one
+sister, the present Mrs. Amy Burrows, remained to bestow on her that
+heartfelt consolation which this inestimable friend never failed to
+administer.' The houses of Mr. Burrows, with his wife and two younger
+sisters, and of his eldest sister, wife of Sir Culling Smith, Bart. were
+long her favourite asylums, and the hours spent by her in them were
+among the most happy of her life.
+
+[14] Edward Mulso. 'Since you went,' (Miss Carter had just left the then
+Miss Mulso,) 'I have done nothing,' writes Mrs. C., 'but sing
+Metastasio's song. I am distracted for a tune that will go to the
+Translation, that I might sing that, from morning to night. I have made
+_Neddy_ walk with me to the tree, by Sir _Edward_ Hale's park; and
+intend often to reconnoitre the spot where you sat by me there.'--'Your
+friend _Edward_ is with us; and we make a pretty little concert at home,
+pretty often,' &c. &c.
+
+[15] The following compliment to the vocal powers of Mrs. C., though
+high, appears to be ingenuous. Dr. Kennicott, relating the University
+Festival, at Oxford, in a letter to Richardson, dated Exeter College,
+June 9, 1754, observes--"The first clap of applause was upon _Forasi's_
+taking her place in the orchestra; _Signiora_ seemed a little too
+sensible of the honour, &c. But I forgive her; for indeed _she_ sings--I
+cannot say _most_ delightfully--for have I not heard Miss _Mulso_?"
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER I.
+
+ON THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION.
+
+
+    _MY DEAREST NIECE_,
+
+THOUGH you are so happy as to have parents, who are both capable and
+desirous of giving you all proper instruction, yet I, who love you so
+tenderly, cannot help fondly wishing to contribute something, if
+possible, to your improvement and welfare: and, as I am so far separated
+from you, that it is only by pen and ink I can offer you my sentiments,
+I will hope that your attention may be engaged, by seeing on paper, from
+the hand of one of your warmest friends, Truths of the highest
+importance, which, though you may not find new, can never be too deeply
+engraven on your mind. Some of them perhaps may make no great
+impression at present, and yet may so far gain a place in your memory as
+readily to return to your thoughts when occasion recalls them. And, if
+you pay me the compliment of preserving my letters, you may possibly
+re-peruse them at some future period, when concurring circumstances may
+give them additional weight:--and thus they may prove more effectual
+than the same things spoken in conversation. But, however this may
+prove, I cannot resist the desire of trying in some degree to be useful
+to you on your setting out in a life of trial and difficulty; your
+success in which must determine your fate for ever.
+
+Hitherto you have "thought as a child, and understood as a child; but it
+is time to put away childish things." You are now in your fifteenth
+year, and must soon act for yourself; therefore it is high time to store
+your mind with those principles, which must direct your conduct, and fix
+your character. If you desire to live in peace and honour, in favour
+with God and man, and to die in the glorious hope of rising from the
+grave to a life of endless happiness--if these things appear worthy your
+ambition, you must set out in earnest in the pursuit of them. Virtue
+and happiness are not attained by chance, nor by a cold and languid
+approbation: they must be sought with ardour, attended to with
+diligence, and every assistance must be eagerly embraced that may enable
+you to obtain them. Consider, that good and evil are now before you;
+that, if you do not heartily choose and love the one, you must
+undoubtedly be the wretched victim of the other. Your trial is now
+begun; you must either become one of the glorious _children_ of _God_,
+who are to rejoice in his love for ever, or a _child_ of
+_destruction_--miserable in this life, and punished with eternal death
+hereafter. Surely, you will be impressed by so awful a situation! you
+will earnestly pray to be directed into that road of life, which leads
+to excellence and happiness; and you will be thankful to every kind hand
+that is held out, to set you forward in your journey.
+
+The first step must be to awaken your mind to a sense of the importance
+of the task before you, which is no less than to bring your frail nature
+to that degree of Christian perfection, which is to qualify it for
+immortality, and without which, it is necessarily incapable of
+happiness; for it is a truth never to be forgotten, that God has annexed
+happiness to virtue, and misery to vice, by the unchangeable nature of
+things; and that a wicked being (while he continues such) is in a
+natural incapacity of enjoying happiness, even with the concurrence of
+all those outward circumstances, which in a virtuous mind would produce
+it.
+
+As there are degrees of virtue and vice, so are there of reward and
+punishment, both here and hereafter: But, let not my dearest Niece aim
+only at escaping the dreadful doom of the wicked--let your desires take
+a nobler flight, and aspire after those transcendent honours, and that
+brighter crown of glory, which await those who have excelled in virtue;
+and, let the animating thought, that every secret effort to gain his
+favour is noted by your all-seeing Judge, who will, with infinite
+goodness, proportion your reward to your labours, excite every faculty
+of your soul to please and serve him. To this end you must _inform your
+understanding_ what you ought to _believe_ and to _do_.--You must
+_correct_ and _purify_ your _heart_; cherish and improve all its good
+affections, and continually mortify and subdue those that are evil.--You
+must _form_ and _govern_ your _temper_ and _manners_, according to the
+laws of benevolence and justice; and qualify yourself, by all means in
+your power, for an _useful_ and _agreeable_ member of society. All this
+you see is no light business, nor can it be performed without a sincere
+and earnest application of the mind, as to its great and constant
+object. When once you consider life, and the duties of life, in this
+manner, you will listen eagerly to the voice of instruction and
+admonition, and seize every opportunity of improvement; every useful
+hint will be laid up in your heart, and your chief delight will be in
+those persons, and those books, from which you can learn true wisdom.
+
+The only sure foundation of human virtue is Religion, and the foundation
+and first principle of religion is in the belief of the one only God,
+and a just sense of his attributes. This you will think you have learned
+long since, and possess in common with almost every human creature in
+this enlightened age and nation; but, believe me, it is less common than
+you imagine, to believe in the true God--that is, to form such a notion
+of the Deity as is agreeable to truth, and consistent with those
+infinite perfections, which all profess to ascribe to him. To form
+worthy notions of the Supreme Being, as far as we are capable, is
+essential to true religion and morality; for as it is our duty to
+imitate those qualities of the Divinity, which are imitable by us, so is
+it necessary we should know what they are, and fatal to mistake them.
+Can those who think of God with servile dread and terror, as of a gloomy
+tyrant, armed with almighty power to torment and destroy them, be said
+to believe in the true God?--in that God, who, the scriptures say, is
+love?--the kindest and best of Beings, who made all creatures in
+bountiful goodness, that he might communicate to them some portion of
+his own unalterable happiness!--who condescends to style himself our
+Father; and who pitieth us, as a father pitieth his own children! Can
+those, who expect to please God by cruelty to themselves or to their
+fellow-creatures--by horrid punishments of their own bodies for the sin
+of their souls--or, by more horrid persecution of others for difference
+of opinion, be called true believers? Have they not set up another God
+in their own minds, who rather resembles the worst of beings than the
+best? Nor do those act on surer principles who think to gain the favour
+of God by senseless enthusiasm and frantic raptures, more like the wild
+excesses of the most depraved human love, than that reasonable
+adoration, that holy reverential love, which is due to the pure and holy
+Father of the universe. Those likewise, who murmur against his
+providence, and repine under the restraint of his commands, cannot
+firmly believe him infinitely wise and good. If we are not disposed to
+trust him for future events, to banish fruitless anxiety, and to believe
+that all things work together for good to those that love him, surely we
+do not really believe in the God of mercy and truth. If we wish to avoid
+all remembrance of him, all communion with him, as much as we dare,
+surely we do not believe him to be the source of joy and comfort, the
+dispenser of all good.
+
+How lamentable it is, that so few hearts should feel the pleasures of
+real piety; that prayer and thanksgiving should be performed, as they
+too often are, not with joy, and love, and gratitude; but, with cold
+indifference, melancholy dejection, or secret horror! It is true, we
+are all such frail and sinful creatures, that we justly fear to have
+offended our gracious Father: but let us remember the condition of his
+forgiveness: If you have sinned, "sin no more." He is ready to receive
+you whenever you sincerely turn to him--and he is ready to assist you,
+when you do but desire to obey him. Let your devotion then be the
+language of filial love and gratitude; confide to this kindest of
+fathers every want and every wish of your heart; but submit them all
+to his will, and freely offer him the disposal of yourself, and of all
+your affairs. Thank him for his benefits, and even for his
+punishments--convinced that these also are benefits, and mercifully
+designed for your good. Implore his direction in all difficulties; his
+assistance in all trials; his comfort and support in sickness or
+affliction; his restraining grace in time of prosperity and joy. Do not
+persist in desiring what his providence denies you; but be assured it
+is not good for you. Refuse not any thing he allots you, but embrace it
+as the best and properest for you. Can you do less to your heavenly
+Father than what your duty to an earthly one requires? If you were to
+ask permission of your father to do or to have any thing you desire,
+and he should refuse it to you, would you obstinately persist in
+setting your heart upon it notwithstanding his prohibition? Would you
+not rather say, My father is wiser than I am; he loves me, and would
+not deny my request, if it was fit to be granted; I will therefore
+banish the thought, and cheerfully acquiesce in his will? How much
+rather should this be said of our heavenly Father, whose wisdom cannot
+be mistaken, and whose bountiful kindness is infinite! Love him,
+therefore, in the same manner you love your earthly parents, but in a
+much higher degree--in the highest your nature is capable of. Forget
+not to dedicate yourself to his service every day; to implore his
+forgiveness of your faults, and his protection from evil, every night:
+and this not merely in formal words, unaccompanied by any act of the
+mind, but "in spirit and in truth;" in grateful love and humble
+adoration. Nor let these stated periods of worship be your only
+communication with him; accustom yourself to think often of him, in all
+your waking hours,--to contemplate his wisdom and power, in the works
+of his hands,--to acknowledge his goodness in every object of use or of
+pleasure,--to delight in giving him praise in your inmost heart in the
+midst of every innocent gratification--in the liveliest hour of social
+enjoyment. You cannot conceive, if you have not experienced, how much
+such silent acts of gratitude and love will enhance every pleasure; nor
+what sweet serenity and cheerfulness such reflections will diffuse over
+your mind. On the other hand, when you are suffering pain or sorrow,
+when you are confined to an unpleasant situation, or engaged in a
+painful duty, how will it support and animate you, to refer yourself to
+your Almighty Father!--to be assured that he knows your state and your
+intentions; that no effort of virtue is lost in his sight, nor the
+least of your actions or sufferings disregarded or forgotten!--that his
+hand is ever over you, to ward off every real evil, which is not the
+effect of your own ill-conduct, and to relieve every suffering that is
+not useful to your future well-being.
+
+You see, my dear, that true devotion is not a melancholy sentiment, that
+depresses the spirits, and excludes the ideas of pleasure, which youth
+is fond of: on the contrary, there is nothing so friendly to joy, so
+productive of true pleasure, so peculiarly suited to the warmth and
+innocence of a youthful heart. Do not therefore think it too soon to
+turn your mind to God; but offer him the first fruits of your
+understanding and affections: and be assured, that the more you increase
+in love to him, and delight in his laws, the more you will increase in
+happiness, in excellence, and honour:--that in proportion as you improve
+in true piety, you will become dear and amiable to your
+fellow-creatures; contented and peaceful in yourself; and qualified to
+enjoy the best blessings of this life, as well as to inherit the
+glorious promise of immortality.
+
+Thus far I have spoken of the first principles of all religion; namely,
+belief in God, worthy notions of his attributes, and suitable
+affections towards him--which will naturally excite a sincere desire of
+obedience. But before you can obey his will, you must know what that
+will is; you must enquire in what manner he has declared it, and where
+you may find those laws which must be the rule of your actions.
+
+The great laws of morality are indeed written in our hearts, and may be
+discovered by reason: but our reason is of slow growth, very unequally
+dispensed to different persons, liable to error, and confined within
+very narrow limits in all. If, therefore, God vouchsafed to grant a
+particular revelation of his will--if he has been so unspeakably
+gracious, as to send his Son into the world to reclaim mankind from
+error and wickedness--to die for our sins--and to teach us the way to
+eternal life--surely it becomes us to receive his precepts with the
+deepest reverence; to love and prize them above all things; and to study
+them constantly, with an earnest desire to conform our thoughts, our
+words, and actions to them.
+
+As you advance in years and understanding, I hope you will be able to
+examine for yourself the evidences of the Christian religion, and be
+convinced, on rational grounds, of its divine authority. At present,
+such inquiries would demand more study, and greater powers of reasoning,
+than your age admits of. It is your part, therefore, till you are
+capable of understanding the proofs, to believe your parents and
+teachers, that the holy scriptures are writings inspired by God,
+containing a true history of facts, in which we are deeply concerned--a
+true recital of the laws given by God to Moses, and of the precepts of
+our blessed Lord and Saviour, delivered from his own mouth to his
+disciples, and repeated and enlarged upon in the edifying epistles of
+his apostles--who were men chosen from amongst those who had the
+advantage of conversing with our Lord, to bear witness of his miracles
+and resurrection--and who, after his ascension, were assisted and
+inspired by the Holy Ghost. This sacred volume must be the rule of your
+life. In it you will find all truths necessary to be believed; and plain
+and easy directions for the practice of every duty. Your Bible then must
+be your chief study and delight: but as it contains many various kinds
+of writing--some parts obscure and difficult of interpretation, others
+plain and intelligible to the meanest capacity--I would chiefly
+recommend to your frequent perusal such parts of the sacred writings as
+are most adapted to your understanding, and most necessary for your
+instruction. Our Saviour's precepts were spoken to the common people
+amongst the Jews; and were therefore given in a manner easy to be
+understood, and equally striking and instructive to the learned and
+unlearned; for the most ignorant may comprehend them, whilst the wisest
+must be charmed and awed, by the beautiful and majestic simplicity with
+which they are expressed. Of the same kind are the Ten Commandments,
+delivered by God to Moses; which, as they were designed for universal
+laws, are worded in the most concise and simple manner, yet with a
+majesty which commands our utmost reverence.
+
+I think you will receive great pleasure, as well as improvement, from
+the Historical Books of the Old Testament--provided you read them as an
+history, in a regular course, and keep the thread of it in your mind, as
+you go on. I know of none, true or fictitious, that is equally
+wonderful, interesting, and affecting; or that is told in so short and
+simple a manner as this, which is, of all histories, the most authentic.
+
+In my next letter, I will give you some brief directions, concerning the
+method and course I wish you to pursue, in reading the Holy Scriptures.
+May you be enabled to make the best use of this most precious gift of
+God--this sacred treasury of knowledge! May you read the Bible, not as a
+task, nor as the dull employment of that day only in which you are
+forbidden more lively entertainments--but with a sincere and ardent
+desire of instruction; with that love and delight in God's word which
+the holy psalmist so pathetically felt, and described, and which is the
+natural consequence of loving God and virtue! Though I speak this of the
+Bible in general, I would not be understood to mean that every part of
+the volume is equally interesting. I have already said, that it consists
+of various matter, and various kinds of books, which must be read with
+different views and sentiments. The having some general notion of what
+you are to expect from each book may possibly help you to understand
+them, and heighten your relish of them. I shall treat you as if you were
+perfectly new to the whole; for so I wish you to consider yourself;
+because the time and manner, in which children usually read the Bible,
+are very ill-calculated to make them really acquainted with it; and too
+many people who have read it thus, without understanding it in their
+youth, satisfy themselves that they know enough of it, and never
+afterwards study it with attention, when they come to a maturer age.
+
+Adieu, my beloved Niece! If the feelings of your heart, whilst you read
+my letters, correspond with those of mine, whilst I write them, I shall
+not be without the advantage of your partial affection, to give weight
+to my advice; for, believe me, my own dear girl, my heart and eyes
+overflow with tenderness while I tell you, with how warm and earnest
+prayers for your happiness here, and hereafter, I subscribe myself
+
+    Your faithful friend
+
+      and most affectionate AUNT.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER II.
+
+ON THE STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
+
+
+I NOW proceed to give my dear Niece some short sketches of the matter
+contained in the different books of the Bible, and of the course in
+which they ought to be read.
+
+The first Book, GENESIS, contains the most grand, and, to us, the most
+interesting, events that ever happened in the universe: The creation of
+the world, and of man:--The deplorable fall of man, from his first state
+of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all
+his descendants continue:--The sentence of death pronounced on Adam, and
+on all his race, with the reviving promise of that deliverance which has
+since been wrought for us by our blessed Saviour:--The account of the
+early state of the world:--Of the universal deluge:--The division of
+mankind into different nations and languages:--The story of Abraham, the
+founder of the Jewish people, whose unshaken faith and obedience, under
+the severest trial human nature could sustain, obtained such favour in
+the sight of God, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and
+promised to make his posterity a great nation; and that in his
+seed--that is, in one of his descendants--all the kingdoms of the earth
+should be blessed: this, you will easily see, refers to the Messiah, who
+was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations. It is amazing
+that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among many others, should have
+been so blinded by prejudice, as to have expected from this great
+personage only a temporal deliverance of their own nation from the
+subjection to which they were reduced under the Romans: it is equally
+amazing, that some Christians should, even now, confine the blessed
+effects of his appearance upon earth to this or that particular sect or
+profession, when he is so clearly and emphatically described as the
+Saviour of the whole world! The story of Abraham's proceeding to
+sacrifice his only son at the command of God, is affecting in the
+highest degree, and sets forth a pattern of unlimited resignation, that
+every one ought to imitate, in those trials of obedience under
+temptation, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispensations, which
+fall to their lot: of this we may be assured, that our trials will be
+always proportioned to the powers afforded us: if we have not Abraham's
+strength of mind, neither shall we be called upon to lift the bloody
+knife against the bosom of an only child: but, if the almighty arm
+should be lifted up against him, we must be ready to resign him, and all
+we hold dear, to the Divine will. This action of Abraham has been
+censured by some, who do not attend to the distinction between obedience
+to a special command, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the
+heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and without any Divine injunctions,
+offered up their own children, under the notion of appeasing the anger
+of their gods. An absolute command from God himself--as in the case of
+Abraham--entirely alters the moral nature of the action; since he, and
+he only, has a perfect right over the lives of his creatures, and may
+appoint whom he will, either angel or man, to be his instrument of
+destruction. That it was really the voice of God which pronounced the
+command, and not a delusion, might be made certain to Abraham's mind, by
+means we do not comprehend, but which we know to be within the power of
+_him_ who made our souls as well as bodies, and who can control and
+direct every faculty of the human mind: and we may be assured, that, if
+he was pleased to reveal himself so miraculously, he would not leave a
+possibility of doubting whether it was a real or an imaginary
+revelation: thus the sacrifice of Abraham appears to be clear of all
+superstition, and remains the noblest instance of religious faith and
+submission that was ever given by a mere man: we cannot wonder that the
+blessings bestowed on him for it should have been extended to his
+posterity. This book proceeds with the history of Isaac, which becomes
+very interesting to us, from the touching scene I have mentioned; and
+still more so, if we consider him as the type of our Saviour: it
+recounts his marriage with Rebecca--the birth and history of his two
+sons, Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, and Esau, the father of
+the Edomites or Idumeans--the exquisitely affecting story of Joseph and
+his brethren--and of his transplanting the Israelites into Egypt, who
+there multiplied to a great nation.
+
+In EXODUS you read of a series of wonders wrought by the Almighty, to
+rescue the oppressed Israelites from the cruel tyranny of the Egyptians,
+who, having first received them as guests, by degrees reduced them to a
+state of slavery. By the most peculiar mercies and exertions in their
+favour, God prepared his chosen people to receive, with reverent and
+obedient hearts, the solemn restitution of those primitive laws, which
+probably he had revealed to Adam and his immediate descendants, or
+which, at least, he had made known by the dictates of conscience, but
+which, time, and the degeneracy of mankind, had much obscured. This
+important revelation was made to them in the wilderness of Sinah: there,
+assembled before the burning mountain, surrounded "with blackness, and
+darkness, and tempest," they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the
+eternal law, impressing it on their hearts with circumstances of terror,
+but without those encouragements and those excellent promises, which
+were afterwards offered to mankind by Jesus Christ. Thus were the great
+laws of morality restored to the Jews, and through them transmitted to
+other nations; and by that means a great restraint was opposed to the
+torrent of vice and impiety, which began to prevail over the world.
+
+To those moral precepts, which are of perpetual and universal
+obligation, were superadded, by the ministration of Moses, many peculiar
+institutions, wisely adapted to different ends--either to fix the memory
+of those past deliverances, which were figurative of a future and far
+greater salvation--to place inviolable barriers between the Jews and the
+idolatrous nations, by whom they were surrounded--or, to be the civil
+law, by which the community was to be governed.
+
+To conduct this series of events, and to establish these laws with his
+people, God raised up that great prophet Moses, whose faith and piety
+enabled him to undertake and execute the most arduous enterprises, and
+to pursue, with unabated zeal, the welfare of his countrymen: even in
+the hour of death, this generous ardour still prevailed: his last
+moments were employed in fervent prayers for their prosperity, and in
+rapturous gratitude for the glimpse vouchsafed him of a Saviour, far
+greater than himself, whom God would one day raise up to his people.
+
+Thus did Moses, by the excellency of his faith, obtain a glorious
+pre-eminence among the saints and prophets in heaven; while, on earth,
+he will be ever revered, as the first of those benefactors to mankind,
+whose labours for the public good have endeared their memory to all
+ages.
+
+The next book is LEVITICUS, which contains little besides the laws for
+the peculiar ritual observance of the Jews, and therefore affords no
+great instruction to us now: you may pass it over entirely; and, for the
+same reason, you may omit the first eight chapters of NUMBERS. The rest
+of Numbers is chiefly a continuation of the history, with some ritual
+laws.
+
+In DEUTERONOMY, Moses makes a recapitulation of the foregoing history,
+with zealous exhortations to the people, faithfully to worship and obey
+that God, who had worked such amazing wonders for them: he promises them
+the noblest temporal blessings, if they prove obedient, and adds the
+most awful and striking denunciations against them, if they rebel or
+forsake the true God. I have before observed, that the sanctions of the
+Mosaic law were _temporal_ rewards and punishments, those of the New
+Testament are _eternal_: these last, as they are so infinitely more
+forcible than the first, were reserved for the last, best gift to
+mankind--and were revealed by the Messiah, in the fullest and clearest
+manner. Moses, in this book, directs the method in which the Israelites
+were to deal with the seven nations, whom they were appointed to punish
+for their profligacy and idolatry! and whose land they were to possess,
+when they had driven out the old inhabitants. He gives them excellent
+laws, civil as well as religious, which were ever after the standing
+municipal laws of that people. This book concludes with Moses' song and
+death.
+
+The book of JOSHUA contains the conquests of the Israelites over the
+seven nations, and their establishment in the promised land. Their
+treatment of these conquered nations must appear to you very cruel and
+unjust, if you consider it as their own act, unauthorized by a positive
+command: but they had the most absolute injunctions, not to spare these
+corrupt people--"to make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy to them,
+but utterly to destroy them." And the reason is given--"lest they should
+turn away the Israelites from following the Lord, that they might serve
+other gods[16]." The children of Israel are to be considered as
+instruments in the hand of the Lord, to punish those whose idolatry and
+wickedness had deservedly brought destruction on them: this example,
+therefore, cannot be pleaded in behalf of cruelty, or bring any
+imputation on the character of the Jews. With regard to other cities,
+which did not belong to these seven nations, they were directed to deal
+with them, according to the common law of arms at that time. If the city
+submitted, it became tributary, and the people were spared; if it
+resisted, the men were to be slain, but the women and children
+saved[17]. Yet, though the crime of cruelty cannot be justly laid to
+their charge on this occasion, you will observe in the course of their
+history many things recorded of them very different from what you would
+expect from the chosen people of God, if you supposed them selected on
+account of their own merit: their national character was by no means
+amiable; and we are repeatedly told, that they were not chosen for their
+superior righteousness--"for they were a stiff-necked people, and
+provoked the Lord with their rebellions from the day they left
+Egypt."--"You have been rebellious against the Lord," says Moses, "from
+the day that I knew you[18]." And he vehemently exhorts them, not to
+flatter themselves that their success was, in any degree, owing to their
+own merits. They were appointed to be the scourge of other nations,
+whose crimes rendered them fit objects of Divine chastisement. For the
+sake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other
+wise reasons, undiscovered to us, they were selected from a world
+over-run with idolatry, to preserve upon earth the pure worship of the
+one only God, and to be honoured with the birth of the Messiah amongst
+them. For this end, they were precluded, by Divine command, from mixing
+with any other people, and defended by a great number of peculiar rites
+and observances from falling into the corrupt worship practised by their
+neighbours.
+
+The book of JUDGES, in which you will find the affecting stories of
+Samson and of Jephtha, carries on the history from the death of Joshua,
+about two hundred and fifty years; but the facts are not told in the
+times in which they happened, which makes some confusion; and it will be
+necessary to consult the marginal dates and notes, as well as the index,
+in order to get any clear idea of the succession of events during that
+period.
+
+The history then proceeds regularly through the two books of SAMUEL, and
+those of KINGS: nothing can be more interesting and entertaining than
+the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon: but, after the death of Solomon,
+when the ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and became a
+separate kingdom, you will find some difficulty in understanding
+distinctly the histories of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which
+are blended together, and, by the likeness of the names, and other
+particulars, will be apt to confound your mind, without great attention
+to the different threads thus carried on together: the Index here will
+be of great use to you. The Second Book of Kings concludes with the
+Babylonish captivity, 588 years before Christ; till which time, the
+kingdom of Judea had descended uninterruptedly in the line of David.
+
+The first book of CHRONICLES begins with a genealogy from Adam, through
+all the tribes of Israel and Judah; and the remainder is the same
+history which is contained in the books of Kings, with little or no
+variation, till the separation of the ten tribes: from that period, it
+proceeds with the history of the kingdom of Judah alone, and gives
+therefore a more regular and clear account of the affairs of Judah than
+the book of Kings. You may pass over the first book of Chronicles, and
+the nine first chapters of the second book: but, by all means, read the
+remaining chapters, as they will give you more clear and distinct ideas
+of the history of Judah, than that you read in the second book of Kings.
+The second of Chronicles ends, like the second of Kings, with the
+Babylonish captivity.
+
+You must pursue the history in the book of EZRA, which gives an account
+of the return of some of the Jews, on the edict of Cyrus, and of the
+rebuilding the Lord's temple.
+
+NEHEMIAH carries on the history for about twelve years, when he himself
+was governor of Jerusalem, with authority to rebuild the walls, &c.
+
+The story of ESTHER is prior in time to that of Ezra and Nehemiah; as
+you will see by the marginal dates: however, as it happened during the
+seventy years captivity, and is a kind of episode, it may be read in its
+own place.
+
+This is the last of the canonical books that is properly historical; and
+I would therefore advise, that you pass over what follows, till you have
+continued the history through the apocryphal books.
+
+The history of JOB is probably very ancient, though that is a point upon
+which learned men have differed: It is dated, however, 1520 years before
+Christ: I believe it is uncertain by whom it was written: many parts of
+it are obscure, but it is well worth studying, for the extreme beauty of
+the poetry, and for the noble and sublime devotion it contains. The
+subject of the dispute, between Job and his pretended friends, seems to
+be, whether the providence of God distributes the rewards and
+punishments of this life in exact proportion to the merit or demerit of
+each individual. His antagonists suppose that it does: and therefore
+infer, from JOB'S uncommon calamities, that, notwithstanding his
+apparent righteousness, he was in reality a grievous sinner: they
+aggravate his supposed guilt, by the imputation of hypocrisy, and call
+upon him to confess it, and to acknowledge the justice of his
+punishment. Job asserts his own innocence and virtue in the most
+pathetic manner, yet does not presume to accuse the Supreme Being of
+injustice. Elihu attempts to arbitrate the matter, by alleging the
+impossibility that so frail and ignorant a creature as man should
+comprehend the ways of the Almighty, and, therefore, condemns the unjust
+and cruel inference the three friends had drawn from the sufferings of
+Job. He also blames Job for the presumption of acquitting himself of all
+iniquity, since the best of men are not pure in the sight of God--but
+all have something to repent of; and he advises him to make this use of
+his affliction. At last, by a bold figure of poetry, the Supreme Being
+himself is introduced, speaking from the whirlwind, and silencing them
+all by the most sublime display of his own power, magnificence, and
+wisdom, and of the comparative littleness and ignorance of man. This
+indeed is the only conclusion of the argument which could be drawn, at
+a time when life and immortality were not yet brought to light. A future
+retribution is the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty arising
+from the sufferings of good people in this life.
+
+Next follow THE PSALMS, with which you cannot be too conversant. If you
+have any taste, either for poetry or devotion, they will be your
+delight, and will afford you a continual feast. The Bible translation is
+far better than that used in the Common Prayer Book: and will often give
+you the sense, when the other is obscure. In this, as well as in all
+other parts of the scripture, you must be careful always to consult the
+margin, which gives you the corrections made since the last translation,
+and is generally preferable to the words of the text. I would wish you
+to select some of the Psalms that please you best, and get them by
+heart; or, at least, make yourself mistress of the sentiments contained
+in them: Dr. Delany's Life of David will show you the occasions on which
+several of them were composed, which add much to their beauty and
+propriety; and, by comparing them with the events of David's life, you
+will greatly enhance your pleasure in them. Never did the spirit of true
+piety breathe more strongly than in these divine songs; which, being
+added to a rich vein of poetry, makes them more captivating to my heart
+and imagination than any thing I ever read. You will consider how great
+disadvantages any poems must sustain from being rendered literally into
+prose, and then imagine how beautiful these must be in the original. May
+you be enabled, by reading them frequently, to transfuse into your own
+breast that holy flame which inspired the writer!--to delight in the
+Lord, and in his laws, like the Psalmist--to rejoice in him always, and
+to think "one day in his courts better than a thousand!" But may you
+escape the heart-piercing sorrow of such repentance as that of David, by
+avoiding sin, which humbled this unhappy king to the dust, and which
+cost him such bitter anguish, as it is impossible to read of without
+being moved. Not all the pleasures of the most prosperous sinner could
+counterbalance the hundredth part of those sensations described in his
+Penitential Psalms; and which must be the portion of every man, who has
+fallen from a religious state into such crimes, when once he recovers a
+sense of religion and virtue, and is brought to a real hatred of sin:
+however available such repentance may be to the safety and happiness of
+the soul after death, it is a state of such exquisite suffering here,
+that one cannot be enough surprised at the folly of those, who indulge
+in sin, with the hope of living to make their peace with God by
+repentance. Happy are they who preserve their innocence unsullied by any
+great or wilful crimes, and who have only the common failings of
+humanity to repent of: these are sufficiently mortifying to a heart
+deeply smitten with the love of virtue, and with the desire of
+perfection. There are many very striking prophecies of the Messiah in
+these divine songs; particularly in Psalm xxii: such may be found
+scattered up and down almost throughout the Old Testament. To bear
+testimony to _him_ is the great and ultimate end, for which the spirit
+of prophecy was bestowed on the sacred writers:--but this will appear
+more plainly to you, when you enter on the study of prophecy, which you
+are now much too young to undertake.
+
+The PROVERBS and ECCLESIASTES are rich stores of wisdom; from which I
+wish you to adopt such maxims as may be of infinite use, both to your
+temporal and eternal interest. But detached sentences are a kind of
+reading not proper to be continued long at a time: a few of them well
+chosen and digested will do you much more service than to read half a
+dozen chapters together: in this respect they are directly opposite to
+the historical books, which, if not read in continuation, can hardly be
+understood, or retained to any purpose.
+
+The SONG of SOLOMON is a fine poem; but its mystical reference to
+religion lies too deep for a common understanding: if you read it,
+therefore, it will be rather as matter of curiosity than of edification.
+
+Next follow the PROPHECIES, which, though highly deserving the greatest
+attention and study, I think you had better omit for some years, and
+then read them with a good exposition; as they are much too difficult
+for you to understand without assistance. Dr. Newton on the Prophecies
+will help you much, whenever you undertake this study; which you should
+by all means do, when your understanding is ripe enough; because one of
+the main proofs of our religion rests on the testimony of the
+prophecies; and they are very frequently quoted and referred to in the
+New Testament: besides the sublimity of the language and sentiments,
+through all the disadvantages of antiquity and translation, must, in
+very many passages, strike every person of taste; and the excellent
+moral and religious precepts found in them must be useful to all.
+
+Though I have spoken of these books in the order in which they stand, I
+repeat, that they are not to be read in that order; but that the thread
+of the history is to be pursued, from Nehemiah, to the first book of
+MACCABEES, in the Apocrypha; taking care to observe the Chronology
+regularly, by referring to the Index, which supplies the deficiencies of
+this history, from _Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews_. The first of
+Maccabees carries on the story till within 195 years of our Lord's
+circumcision: the second book is the same narrative, written by a
+different hand, and does not bring the history so forward as the first;
+so that it may be entirely omitted, unless you have the curiosity to
+read some particulars of the heroic constancy of the Jews, under the
+tortures inflicted by their heathen conquerors; with a few other things
+not mentioned in the first book.
+
+You must then connect the history by the help of the Index, which will
+give you brief heads of the changes that happened in the state of the
+Jews, from this time, till the birth of the Messiah.
+
+The other books of the Apocrypha, though not admitted as of sacred
+authority, have many things well worth your attention; particularly the
+admirable book called ECCLESIASTICUS, and the BOOK OF WISDOM. But, in
+the course of reading which I advise, these must be omitted till after
+you have gone through the Gospels and Acts, that you may not lose the
+historical thread. I must reserve, however, what I have to say to you
+concerning the New Testament to another letter.
+
+    Adieu, my dear!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[16] Deut. chap. ii.
+
+[17] Ibid. chap. xx.
+
+[18] Deut. chap. ix. ver. 24.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER III.
+
+
+    _MY DEAREST NIECE_,
+
+WE come now to that part of scripture, which is the most important of
+all; and which you must make your constant study, not only till you are
+thoroughly acquainted with it, but all your life long; because how often
+soever repeated, it is impossible to read the life and death of our
+blessed Saviour, without renewing and increasing in our hearts that
+love, and reverence, and gratitude, towards him, which is so justly due
+for all he did and suffered for us! Every word that fell from his lips
+is more precious than all the treasures of the earth; for his "are the
+words of eternal life!" They must therefore be laid up in your heart,
+and constantly referred to on all occasions, as the rule and direction
+of all your actions; particularly those very comprehensive moral
+precepts he has graciously left with us, which can never fail to direct
+us aright, if fairly and honestly applied: such as, _whatsoever ye would
+that men should do unto you, even so do unto them_. There is no
+occasion, great or small, on which you may not safely apply this rule,
+for the direction of your conduct: and, whilst your heart honestly
+adheres to it, you can never be guilty of any sort of injustice or
+unkindness. The two great commandments, which contain the summary of our
+duty to God and man, are no less easily retained, and made a standard by
+which to judge our own hearts.--_To love the Lord our God with all our
+hearts, with all our minds, with all our strength; and our neighbour_
+(or fellow-creature) _as ourselves_. "Love worketh no ill to his
+neighbour;" therefore, if you have true benevolence, you will never do
+any thing injurious to individuals, or to society. Now, all crimes
+whatever are (in their remoter consequences at least, if not immediately
+and apparently) injurious to the society in which we live. It is
+impossible _to love God_ without desiring to please him; and, as far as
+we are able, to resemble him; therefore, the love of God must lead to
+every virtue in the highest degree; and, we may be sure, we do not truly
+love him, if we content ourselves with avoiding flagrant sins, and do
+not strive in good earnest, to reach the greatest degree of perfection
+we are capable of. Thus do those few words direct us to the highest
+Christian virtue. Indeed, the whole tenor of the gospel is to offer us
+every help, direction, and motive, that can enable us to attain that
+degree of perfection, on which depends our eternal good.
+
+What an example is set before us in our blessed Master! How is his whole
+life, from earliest youth, dedicated to the pursuit of true wisdom, and
+to the practice of the most exalted virtue! When you see him, at _twelve
+years of age_, in the temple amongst the doctors, hearing them, and
+asking them questions on the subject of religion, and astonishing them
+all with his understanding and answers, you will say, perhaps, "Well
+might the Son of God, even at those years, be far wiser than the aged;
+but, can a mortal child emulate such heavenly wisdom? Can such a pattern
+be proposed to _my_ imitation?" Yes, my dear; remember that he has
+bequeathed to you his heavenly wisdom, as far as concerns your own good.
+He has left you such declarations of his will, and of the consequences
+of your actions, as you are, even now, fully able to understand, if you
+will but attend to them. If then you will imitate his zeal for
+knowledge, if you will delight in gaining information and improvement,
+you may, even now, become _wise unto salvation_. Unmoved by the praise
+he acquired amongst those learned men, you see him meekly return to the
+subjection of a child, under those who appeared to be his parents,
+though he was in reality their Lord: you see him return to live with
+them, to work for them, and to be the joy and solace of their lives;
+till the time came, when he was to enter on that scene of public action,
+for which his heavenly Father had sent him from his own right hand, to
+take upon him the form of a poor carpenter's son. What a lesson of
+humility is this, and of obedience to parents. When, having received
+the glorious testimony from heaven, of his being the beloved Son of the
+Most High, he enters on his public ministry, what an example does he
+give us, of the most extensive and constant benevolence!--how are all
+his hours spent in doing good to the souls and bodies of men!--not the
+meanest sinner is below his notice: to reclaim and save them, he
+condescends to converse familiarly with the most corrupt as well as the
+most abject. All his miracles are wrought to benefit mankind; not one to
+punish and afflict them. Instead of using the almighty power, which
+accompanied him, to the purpose of exalting himself and treading down
+his enemies, he makes no other use of it than to heal and to save.
+
+When you come to read of his sufferings and death, the ignominy and
+reproach, the sorrow of mind, and torment of body, which he submitted
+to--when you consider, that it was for all our sakes--"that by his
+stripes we are healed"--and by his death we are raised from destruction
+to everlasting life--what can I say that can add any thing to the
+sensations you must then feel? No power of language can make the scene
+more touching than it appears in the plain and simple narrations of the
+evangelists. The heart that is unmoved by it can be scarcely human.
+But, my dear, the emotions of tenderness and compunction, which almost
+every one feels in reading this account, will be of no avail, unless
+applied to the true end--unless it inspires you with a sincere and warm
+affection towards your blessed Lord--with a firm resolution to obey his
+commands:--to be his faithful disciple--and ever to renounce and abhor
+those sins, which brought mankind under Divine condemnation, and from
+which we have been redeemed at so dear a rate. Remember, that the title
+of Christian, or follower of Christ, implies a more than ordinary degree
+of holiness and goodness. As our motives to virtue are stronger than
+those which are afforded to the rest of mankind, our guilt will be
+proportionably greater if we depart from it.
+
+Our Saviour appears to have had three great purposes, in descending from
+his glory and dwelling amongst men. The first, to teach them true
+virtue, both by his example and precepts: the second, to give them the
+most forcible motives to the practice of it, "by bringing life and
+immortality to light," by showing them the certainty of a resurrection
+and judgment, and the absolute necessity of obedience to God's laws:
+the third, to sacrifice himself for us, to obtain by his death the
+remission of our sins upon our repentance and reformation, and the power
+of bestowing on his sincere followers the inestimable gift of immortal
+happiness.
+
+What a tremendous scene of the _last day_ does the gospel place before
+our eyes?--of _that day_ when you, and every one of us, shall awake from
+the grave, and behold the Son of God, on his glorious tribunal, attended
+by millions of celestial beings, of whose superior excellence we can now
+form no adequate idea:--When, in presence of all mankind, of those holy
+angels, and of the great Judge himself, you must give an account of your
+past life, and hear your final doom, from which there can be no appeal,
+and which must determine your fate to all eternity. Then think--if for a
+moment you can bear the thought--what will be the desolation, shame, and
+anguish of those wretched souls, who shall hear these dreadful
+words:--_Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
+the devil and his angels_. Oh! my beloved child! I cannot support even
+the idea of your becoming one of those undone, lost creatures. I trust
+in God's mercy, that you will make a better use of that knowledge of his
+will, which he has vouchsafed you, and of those amiable dispositions he
+has given you. Let us therefore turn from this horrid, this
+insupportable view, and rather endeavour to imagine, as far as is
+possible, what will be the sensation of your soul, if you shall hear our
+heavenly Judge address you in these transporting words--_Come, thou
+blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
+foundation of the world_. Think, what it must be, to become an object of
+the esteem and applause, not only of all mankind assembled together, but
+of all the host of heaven, of our blessed Lord himself, nay, of his and
+our Almighty Father: to find your frail flesh changed in a moment into a
+glorious celestial body, endowed with perfect beauty, health, and
+agility--to find your soul cleansed from all its faults and infirmities;
+exalted to the purest and noblest affections, overflowing with divine
+love and rapturous gratitude;--to have your understanding enlightened
+and refined, your heart enlarged and purified, and every power and
+disposition of mind and body adapted to the highest relish of virtue and
+happiness! Thus accomplished, to be admitted into the society of
+amiable and happy beings, all united in the most perfect peace and
+friendship, all breathing nothing but love to God, and to each
+other;--with them to dwell in scenes more delightful than the richest
+imagination can paint--free from every pain and care, and from all
+possibility of change or satiety:--but, above all, to enjoy the more
+immediate presence of God himself--to be able to comprehend and admire
+his adorable perfections in a high degree, though still far short of
+their infinity--to be conscious of his love and favour, and to rejoice
+in the light of his countenance!--but here all imagination fails:--We
+can form no idea of that bliss which may be communicated to us by such a
+near approach to the source of all beauty and all good:--We must content
+ourselves with believing, that it is what _mortal eye hath not seen, nor
+ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive_.
+The crown of all our joys will be to know that we are secure of
+possessing them _for ever_--What a transporting idea!
+
+My dearest child! can you reflect on all these things, and not feel the
+most earnest longings after immortality? Do not all other views and
+desires seem mean and trifling when compared with this? And does not
+your inmost heart resolve that this shall be the chief and constant
+object of its wishes and pursuit, through the whole course of your life?
+If you are not insensible to that desire of happiness, which seems woven
+into our nature, you cannot surely be unmoved by the prospect of such a
+transcendent degree of it; and that, continued to all eternity--perhaps
+continually increasing. You cannot but dread the forfeiture of such an
+inheritance as the most insupportable evil! Remember then--remember the
+conditions on which alone it can be obtained. God will not give to vice,
+to carelessness, or sloth, the prize he has proposed to virtue. You have
+every help that can animate your endeavours:--You have written laws to
+direct you--the example of Christ and his disciples to encourage
+you--the most awakening motives to engage you--and you have, besides,
+the comfortable promise of constant assistance from the Holy Spirit, if
+you diligently and sincerely pray for it. O, my dear child! let not all
+this mercy be lost upon you; but give your attention to this your only
+important concern, and accept, with profound gratitude, the inestimable
+advantages that are thus affectionately offered you.
+
+Though the four gospels are each of them a narration of the life,
+sayings, and death of Christ; yet, as they are not exactly alike, but
+some circumstances and sayings, omitted in one, are recorded in another,
+you must make yourself perfectly mistress of them all.
+
+The ACTS of the holy Apostles, endowed with the Holy Ghost, and
+authorized by their divine Master, come next in order to be read.
+Nothing can be more interesting and edifying, than the history of their
+actions--of the piety, zeal, and courage, with which they preached the
+glad tidings of salvation--and of the various exertions of the wonderful
+powers conferred on them by the Holy Spirit, for the confirmation of
+their mission.
+
+The character of St. Paul, and his miraculous conversion, demand your
+particular attention: most of the apostles were men of low birth and
+education; but St. Paul was a Roman citizen; that is, he possessed the
+privileges annexed to the freedom of the city of Rome, which was
+considered as an high distinction in those countries that had been
+conquered by the Romans. He was educated amongst the most learned sect
+of the Jews, and by one of their principal doctors. He was a man of
+extraordinary eloquence, as appears not only in his writings, but in
+several speeches in his own defence, pronounced before governors and
+courts of justice, when he was called to account for the doctrines he
+taught. He seems to have been of an uncommon warm temper, and zealous in
+whatever religion he professed: this zeal, before his conversion, showed
+itself in the most unjustifiable actions, by furiously persecuting the
+innocent Christians: but though his actions were bad, we may be sure his
+intentions were good; otherwise we should not have seen a miracle
+employed to convince him of his mistake, and to bring him into the right
+way. This example may assure us of the mercy of God towards mistaken
+consciences, and ought to inspire us with the most enlarged charity and
+good-will towards those whose erroneous principles mislead their
+conduct: instead of resentment and hatred against their persons, we
+ought only to feel an active wish of assisting them to find the truth;
+since we know not whether, if convinced, they might not prove, like St.
+Paul, chosen vessels to promote the honour of God, and of true religion.
+It is not my intention now to enter with you into any of the arguments
+for the truth of Christianity, otherwise it would be impossible wholly
+to pass over that which arises from this remarkable conversion, and
+which has been so admirably illustrated by a noble writer,[19] whose
+tract on this subject is in every body's hand.
+
+Next follow the EPISTLES, which make a very important part of the New
+Testament: and you cannot be too much employed in reading them. They
+contain the most excellent precepts and admonitions, and are of
+particular use in explaining more at large several doctrines of
+Christianity, which we could not so fully comprehend without them. There
+are indeed in the Epistles of St. Paul many passages hard to be
+understood; such, in particular, are the first eleven chapters to the
+Romans; the greater part of his Epistles to the Corinthians and
+Galatians; and several chapters of that to the Hebrews. Instead of
+perplexing yourself with these more obscure passages of Scripture, I
+would wish you to employ your attention chiefly on those that are plain;
+and to judge of the doctrines taught in the other parts, by comparing
+them with what you find in these. It is through the neglect of this
+rule, that many have been led to draw the most absurd doctrines from
+the Holy Scriptures. Let me particularly recommend to your careful
+perusal the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th chapters of the Epistle to the
+Romans. In the 14th chapter, St. Paul has in view the difference between
+the Jewish and Gentile (or Heathen) converts at that time; the former
+were disposed to look with horror on the latter, for their impiety in
+not paying the same regard to the distinctions of days and meats, that
+they did; and the latter, on the contrary, were inclined to look with
+contempt on the former, for their weakness and superstition. Excellent
+is the advice which the apostle gives to both parties: he exhorts the
+Jewish converts not to judge, and the Gentiles not to despise;
+remembering that the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but
+righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Endeavour to
+conform yourself to this advice; to acquire a temper of universal
+candour and benevolence: and learn neither to despise nor condemn any
+persons on account of their particular modes of faith and worship;
+remembering always, that goodness is confined to no party; that there
+are wise and worthy men among all the sects of Christians; and that, to
+his own master, every one must stand or fall.
+
+I will enter no further into the several points discussed by St. Paul in
+his various epistles--most of them too intricate for your understanding
+at present, and many of them beyond my abilities to state clearly. I
+will only again recommend to you, to read those passages frequently,
+which, with so much fervour and energy, excite you to the practice of
+the most exalted piety and benevolence. If the effusions of a heart,
+warmed with the tenderest affection for the whole human race--if
+precept, warning, encouragement, example, urged by an eloquence which
+such affection only could inspire, are capable of influencing your mind,
+you cannot fail to find, in such parts of his epistles as are adapted to
+your understanding, the strongest persuasives to every virtue that can
+adorn and improve your nature.
+
+The Epistle of St. James is entirely practical, and exceedingly fine;
+you cannot study it too much. It seems particularly designed to guard
+Christians against misunderstanding some things in St. Paul's writings,
+which have been fatally perverted to the encouragement of a dependance
+on faith alone, without good works. But the more rational commentators
+will tell you, that by the works of the law, which the apostle asserts
+to be incapable of justifying us, he means not the works of moral
+righteousness, but the ceremonial works of the Mosaic law; on which the
+Jews laid the greatest stress, as necessary to salvation. But St. James
+tells us, that, "If any man among us seem to be religious, and bridleth
+not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is
+vain." And that pure religion, and undefiled before God the Father, is
+this: "to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and to
+keep himself unspotted from the world." Faith in Christ, if it produce
+not these effects, he declares is dead, or of no power.
+
+The Epistles of St. Peter are also full of the best instructions and
+admonitions, concerning the relative duties of life; amongst which are
+set forth the duties of women in general, and of wives in particular.
+Some part of the second Epistle is prophetical; warning the church of
+false teachers, and false doctrines, which would undermine morality, and
+disgrace the cause of Christianity.
+
+The first of St. JOHN is written in a highly figurative style, which
+makes it in some parts hard to be understood: but the spirit of divine
+love, which it so fervently expresses, renders it highly edifying and
+delightful.--That love of God and of man, which this beloved apostle so
+pathetically recommends, is in truth the essence of religion, as our
+Saviour himself informs us.
+
+The book of REVELATIONS contains a prophetical account of most of the
+great events relating to the Christian church, which were to happen from
+the time of the writer, St. John, to the end of the world. Many learned
+men have taken a great deal of pains to explain it; and they have done
+this in many instances very successfully: but, I think, it is yet too
+soon for you to study this part of scripture; some years hence perhaps
+there may be no objection to your attempting it, and taking into your
+hands the best expositions to assist you in reading such of the most
+difficult parts of the New Testament as you cannot now be supposed to
+understand. May Heaven direct you in studying this sacred volume, and
+render it the means of making you wise unto salvation! May you love and
+reverence, as it deserves, this blessed and invaluable book, which
+contains the best rule of life, the clearest declaration of the will
+and laws of the Deity, the reviving assurance of favour to true
+penitents, and the unspeakably joyful tidings of eternal life and
+happiness to all the truly virtuous, through Jesus Christ, the Saviour
+and Deliverer of the world!
+
+    Adieu.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[19] Lord Lyttelton.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+ON THE REGULATION OF THE HEART AND AFFECTIONS.
+
+
+YOU will have read the New Testament to very little purpose, my dearest
+Niece, if you do not perceive the great end and intention of all its
+precepts to be the improvement and regulation of the heart: not the
+outward actions alone, but the inward affections, which give birth to
+them, are the subjects of those precepts; as appears in our Saviour's
+explanation[20] of the commandments delivered to Moses; and in a
+thousand other passages of the gospels, which it is needless to recite.
+There are no virtues more insisted on, as necessary to our future
+happiness, than humility, and sincerity, or uprightness, of heart; yet
+none more difficult and rare. Pride and vanity, the vices opposite to
+humility, are the sources of almost all the worst faults, both of men
+and women. The latter are particularly accused--and not without
+reason--of _vanity_, the vice of _little_ minds, chiefly conversant with
+trifling subjects. Pride and vanity have been supposed to differ so
+essentially, as hardly ever to be found in the same person. "Too proud
+to be vain," is no uncommon expression; by which I suppose is meant, too
+proud to be over anxious for the admiration of others: but this seems to
+be founded on mistake. Pride is, I think, an high opinion of one's self,
+and an affected contempt of others: I say _affected_, for that it is not
+a _real_ contempt is evident from this, that the lowest object of it is
+important enough to torture the proud man's heart, only by refusing him
+the homage and admiration he requires. Thus Haman could relish none of
+the advantages in which he valued himself, whilst that Mordecai, whom he
+pretended to despise, sat still in the king's gate, and would not bow to
+him as he passed. But as the proud man's contempt of others is only
+assumed with a view to awe them into reverence by his pretended
+superiority, so it does not preclude an extreme inward anxiety about
+their opinions, and a slavish dependance on them for all his
+gratifications. Pride, though a distinct passion, is seldom
+unaccompanied by vanity, which is an extravagant desire of admiration.
+Indeed, I never saw an insolent person, in whom a discerning eye might
+not discover a very large share of vanity, and of envy, its usual
+companion. One may nevertheless see many _vain_ persons who are not
+_proud_; though they desire to be admired, they do not always admire
+themselves: but as timid minds are apt to despair of those things they
+earnestly wish for, so you will often see the woman who is most anxious
+to be thought handsome, most inclined to be dissatisfied with her looks,
+and to think all the assistance of art too little to attain the end
+desired. To this cause, I believe, we may generally attribute
+affectation; which seems to imply a mean opinion of one's own real form,
+or character, while we strive against nature to alter ourselves by
+ridiculous contortions of body, or by feigned sentiments and unnatural
+manners. There is no art so mean, which this mean passion will not
+descend to for its gratification--no creature so insignificant, whose
+incense it will not gladly receive. Far from despising others, the vain
+man will court them with the most assiduous adulation; in hopes, by
+feeding their vanity, to induce them to supply the craving wants of his
+own. He will put on the guise of benevolence, tenderness, and
+friendship, where he feels not the least degree of kindness, in order to
+prevail on good-nature and gratitude to like and to commend him; but if,
+in any particular case, he fancies the airs of insolence and contempt
+may succeed better, he makes no scruple to assume them; though so
+awkwardly, that he still appears to depend on the breath of the person
+he would be thought to despise. Weak and timid natures seldom venture to
+try this last method; and, when they do, it is without the assurance
+necessary to carry it on with success: but a bold and confident mind
+will oftener endeavour to command and extort admiration than to court
+it. As women are more fearful than men, perhaps this may be one reason
+why they are more vain than proud; whilst the other sex are oftener
+proud than vain. It is, I suppose, from some opinion of a certain
+greatness of mind accompanying the one vice rather than the other, that
+many will readily confess their pride, nay, and even be proud of their
+pride, whilst every creature is ashamed of being convicted of vanity.
+You see, however, that the end of both is the same, though pursued by
+different means; or, if it differs, it is in the importance of the
+subject. Whilst men are proud of power, of wealth, dignity, learning, or
+abilities, young women are usually ambitious of nothing more than to be
+admired for their persons, their dress, or their most trivial
+accomplishments. The homage of men is their grand object; but they only
+desire them to be in love with their persons, careless how despicable
+their minds appear, even to these their pretended adorers. I have known
+a woman so vain as to boast of the most disgraceful addresses; being
+contented to be thought meanly of, in points the most interesting to her
+honour, for the sake of having it known, that her person was attractive
+enough to make a man transgress the bounds of respect due to her
+character, which was not a vicious one, if you except this intemperate
+vanity. But this passion too often leads to the most ruinous actions,
+always corrupts the heart, and, when indulged, renders it, perhaps, as
+displeasing in the sight of the Almighty, as those faults which find
+least mercy from the world; yet, alas! it is a passion so prevailing, I
+had almost said universal, in our sex, that it requires all the efforts
+of reason, and all the assistance of grace, totally to subdue it.
+Religion is indeed the only effectual remedy for this evil. If our
+hearts are not dedicated to God, they will in some way or other be
+dedicated to the world, both in youth and age. If our actions are not
+constantly referred to him, if his approbation and favour is not our
+principal object, we shall certainly take up with the applause of men,
+and make that the ruling motive of our conduct. How melancholy is it to
+see this phantom so eagerly followed through life! whilst all that is
+truly valuable to us is looked upon with indifference; or, at best, made
+subordinate to this darling pursuit!
+
+Equally vain and absurd is every scheme of life that is not subservient
+to, and does not terminate in, that great end of our being--the
+attainment of real excellence, and of the favour of God. Whenever this
+becomes sincerely our object, then will pride and vanity, envy,
+ambition, covetousness, and every evil passion, lose their power over
+us; and we shall, in the language of scripture, "walk humbly with our
+God." We shall then cease to repine under our natural or accidental
+disadvantages, and feel dissatisfied only with our moral defects;--we
+shall love and respect all our fellow-creatures, as the children of the
+same dear parent, and particularly those who seek to do his will: All
+our delight will be "in the saints that are in the earth, and in such as
+excel in virtue." We shall wish to cultivate good-will, and to promote
+innocent enjoyment wherever we are:--we shall strive to please, not from
+vanity, but from benevolence. Instead of contemplating our own fancied
+perfections, or even real superiority with self-complacence, religion
+will teach us to "look into ourselves, and fear:" the best of us, God
+knows, have enough to fear, if we honestly search into all the dark
+recesses of the heart, and bring out every thought and intention fairly
+to the light, to be tried by the precepts of our pure and holy religion.
+
+It is with the rules of the gospel we must compare ourselves, and not
+with the world around us; for we know, "that the many are wicked: and
+that we must not be conformed to the world."
+
+How necessary it is frequently thus to enter into ourselves, and search
+out our spirit, will appear, if we consider, how much the human heart is
+prone to insincerity, and how often, from being first led by vanity into
+attempts to impose upon others, we come at last to impose on ourselves.
+
+There is nothing more common than to see people fall into the most
+ridiculous mistakes, with regard to their own characters; but I can by
+no means allow such mistakes to be unavoidable, and therefore innocent:
+they arose from voluntary insincerity, and are continued for want of
+that strict honesty towards ourselves and others, which the Scripture
+calls "_singleness of heart_;" and which in modern language is termed
+_simplicity_,--the most enchanting of all qualities, esteemed and
+beloved in proportion to its rareness.
+
+He, who "requires truth in the inward parts," will not excuse our
+self-deception; for he has commanded us to examine ourselves diligently,
+and has given us such rules as can never mislead us, if we desire the
+truth, and are willing to see our faults, in order to correct them. But
+this is the point in which we are defective; we are desirous to gain our
+own approbation, as well as that of others, at a cheaper rate than that
+of being really what we ought to be; and we take pains to persuade
+ourselves that we are that which we indolently admire and approve.
+
+There is nothing in which this self-deception is more notorious than in
+what regards sentiment and feeling. Let a vain young woman be told that
+tenderness and softness is the peculiar charm of the sex, that even
+their weakness is lovely, and their fears becoming, and you will
+presently observe her grow so tender as to be ready to weep for a fly;
+so fearful, that she starts at a feather; and so weak-hearted, that the
+smallest accident quite overpowers her. Her fondness and affection
+become fulsome and ridiculous; her compassion grows contemptible
+weakness; and her apprehensiveness the most abject cowardice: for, when
+once she quits the direction of Nature, she knows not where to stop, and
+continually exposes herself by the most absurd extremes.
+
+Nothing so effectually defeats its own ends as this kind of affectation:
+for though warm affections and tender feelings are beyond measure
+amiable and charming, when perfectly natural, and kept under the due
+control of reason and principle, yet nothing is so truly disgusting as
+the affectation of them, or even the unbridled indulgence of such as are
+real.
+
+Remember, my dear, that our feelings were not given us for our ornament,
+but to spur us on to right actions. Compassion, for instance, was not
+impressed upon the human heart, only to adorn the fair face with tears,
+and to give an agreeable languor to the eyes; it was designed to excite
+our utmost endeavours to relieve the sufferer. Yet, how often have I
+heard that selfish weakness, which flies from the sight of distress,
+dignified with the name of tenderness!--"My friend is, I hear, in the
+deepest affliction and misery;--I have not seen her--for indeed I cannot
+bear such scenes--they affect me too much!--those who have less
+sensibility are fitter for this world;--but, for my part, I own, I am
+not able to support such things.--I shall not attempt to visit her, till
+I hear she has recovered her spirits." This have I heard said, with an
+air of complacence; and the poor selfish creature has persuaded herself
+that she had finer feelings than those generous friends, who are sitting
+patiently in the house of mourning, watching, in silence, the proper
+moment to pour in the balm of comfort;--who suppressed their own
+sensations, and only attended to those of the afflicted person; and
+whose tears flowed in secret, whilst their eyes and voice were taught to
+enliven the sinking heart with the appearance of cheerfulness.
+
+That sort of tenderness which makes us useless, may indeed be pitied and
+excused, if owing to natural imbecility; but, if it pretends to
+loveliness and excellence, it becomes truly contemptible.
+
+The same degree of active courage is not to be expected in woman as in
+man; and, not belonging to her nature, it is not agreeable in her: but
+passive courage--patience, and fortitude under sufferings--presence of
+mind, and calm resignation in danger--are surely desirable in every
+rational creature; especially in one professing to believe in an
+over-ruling Providence, in which we may at all times quietly confide,
+and which we may safely trust with every event that does not depend upon
+our own will. Whenever you find yourself deficient in these virtues, let
+it be a subject of shame and humiliation--not of vanity and
+self-complacence: do not fancy yourself the more amiable for that which
+really makes you despicable; but content yourself with the faults and
+weaknesses that belong to you, without putting on more by way of
+ornament. With regard to tenderness, remember that compassion is best
+shown by an ardour to relieve; and affection, by assiduity to promote
+the good and happiness of the persons you love; that tears are
+unamiable, instead of being ornamental, when voluntarily indulged; and
+can never be attractive but when they flow irresistibly, and avoid
+observation as much as possible: the same may be said of every other
+mark of passion. It attracts our sympathy, if involuntary, and not
+designed for our notice--It offends, if we see that it is purposely
+indulged and obtruded on our observation.
+
+Another point, on which the heart is apt to deceive itself, is
+generosity: we cannot bear to suspect ourselves of base and ungenerous
+feelings, therefore we let them work without attending to them, or we
+endeavour to find out some better motive for those actions, which really
+flow from envy and malignity. Before you flatter yourself that you are a
+generous benevolent person, take care to examine whether you are really
+glad of every advantage and excellence, which your friends and
+companions possess, though they are such as you are yourself deficient
+in. If your sister or friend makes a greater proficiency than yourself
+in any accomplishment, which you are in pursuit of, do you never wish to
+stop her progress, instead of trying to hasten your own?
+
+The boundaries between virtuous emulation and vicious envy are very
+nice, and may be easily mistaken. The first will awaken your attention
+to your own defects, and excite your endeavours to improve; the last
+will make you repine at the improvements of others, and wish to rob them
+of the praise they have deserved. Do you sincerely rejoice when your
+sister is enjoying pleasure or commendation, though you are at the same
+time in disagreeable or mortifying circumstances? Do you delight to see
+her approved and beloved, even by those who do not pay you equal
+attention? Are you afflicted and humbled, when she is found to be in
+fault, though you yourself are remarkably clear from the same offence?
+If your heart assures you of the affirmative to these questions, then
+may you think yourself a kind sister and a generous friend: for you must
+observe, my dear, that scarcely any creature is so depraved as not to be
+capable of kind affections in some circumstances. We are all naturally
+benevolent, when no selfish interest interferes, and where no advantage
+is to be given up: we can all pity distress, when it lies complaining at
+our feet, and confesses our superiority and happier situation: but I
+have seen the sufferer himself become the object of envy and ill-will,
+as soon as his fortitude and greatness of mind had begun to attract
+admiration, and to make the envious person feel the superiority of
+virtue above good fortune.
+
+To take sincere pleasure in the blessings and excellencies of others, is
+a much surer mark of benevolence than to pity their calamities: and you
+must always acknowledge yourself ungenerous and selfish, whenever you
+are less ready to "rejoice with them that do rejoice," than to "weep
+with them that weep." If ever your commendations of others are forced
+from you, by the fear of betraying your envy--or if ever you feel a
+secret desire to mention something that may abate the admiration given
+them, do not try to conceal the base disposition from yourself, since
+that is not the way to cure it.
+
+Human nature is ever liable to corruption, and has in it the seeds of
+every vice, as well as of every virtue; and the first will be
+continually shooting forth and growing up, if not carefully watched and
+rooted out as fast as they appear. It is the business of religion to
+purify and exalt us, from a state of imperfection and infirmity, to that
+which is necessary and essential to happiness. Envy would make us
+miserable in heaven itself, could it be admitted there; for we must
+there see beings far more excellent, and consequently more happy than
+ourselves; and till we can rejoice in seeing virtue rewarded in
+proportion to its degree, we can never hope to be among the number of
+the blessed.
+
+Watch then, my dear child, and observe every evil propensity of your
+heart, that you may in time correct it, with the assistance of that
+grace which alone can conquer the evils of our nature, and which you
+must constantly and earnestly implore.
+
+I must add, that even those vices which you would most blush to own, and
+which most effectually defile and vilify the female heart, may by
+degrees be introduced into yours--to the ruin of that virtue, without
+which, misery and shame must be your portion--unless the avenues of the
+heart are guarded by a sincere abhorrence of every thing that
+approaches towards evil. Would you be of the number of those blessed,
+"who are pure in heart," you must hate and avoid every thing, both in
+books and in conversation, that conveys impure ideas, however neatly
+clothed in decent language, or recommended to your taste by pretended
+refinements, and tender sentiments--by elegance of style, or force of
+wit and genius.
+
+I must not now begin to give you my thoughts on the regulation of the
+affections, as that is a subject of too much consequence to be soon
+dismissed. I shall dedicate to it my next letter: in the mean time,
+believe me,
+
+    Your ever affectionate.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[20] Matt. v.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER V.
+
+ON THE REGULATION OF THE AFFECTIONS.
+
+
+THE attachments of the heart, on which almost all the happiness or
+misery of life depends, are most interesting objects of our
+consideration. I shall give my dear niece the observations which
+experience has enabled me to draw from real life, and not from what
+others have said or written, however great their authority.
+
+The first attachment of young hearts is _friendship_--the noblest and
+happiest of affections, when real, and built on a solid foundation; but,
+oftener pernicious than useful to very young people, because the
+connection itself is ill understood, and the subject of it frequently
+ill chosen. Their first error is that of supposing equality of age, and
+exact similarity of disposition, indispensably requisite in friends;
+whereas these are circumstances which in great measure disqualify them
+for assisting each other in moral improvements, or supplying each
+other's defects; they expose them to the same dangers, and incline them
+to encourage rather than correct each other's failings.
+
+The grand cement of this kind of friendship is telling secrets, which
+they call confidence: and I verily believe that the desire of having
+secrets to tell, has often helped to draw silly girls into very unhappy
+adventures. If they have no lover or amour to talk of, the too frequent
+subject of their confidence is betraying the secrets of their families;
+or conjuring up fancied hardships to complain of against their parents
+or relations: this odious cabal, they call friendship; and fancy
+themselves dignified by the profession; but nothing is more different
+from the reality, as is seen by observing how generally those early
+friendships drop off, as the parties advance in years and understanding.
+
+Do not you, my dear, be too ready to profess a friendship with any of
+your young companions. Love them, and be always ready to serve and
+oblige them, and to promote all their innocent gratifications: but, be
+very careful how you enter into confidence with girls of your own age.
+Rather choose some person of riper years and judgment, whose good-nature
+and worthy principles may assure you of her readiness to do you a
+service, and of her candour and condescension towards you.
+
+I do not expect that youth should delight to associate with age, or
+should lay open its feelings and inclinations to such as have almost
+forgot what they were, or how to make proper allowance for them; but if
+you are fortunate enough to meet with a young woman eight or ten years
+older than yourself, of good sense and good principles, to whom you can
+make yourself agreeable, it may be one of the happiest circumstances of
+your life. She will be able to advise and to improve you--and your
+desire of this assistance will recommend you to her taste, as much as
+her superior abilities will recommend her to you. Such a connection will
+afford you more pleasure, as well as more profit, than you can expect
+from a girl like yourself, equally unprovided with knowledge, prudence,
+or any of those qualifications which are necessary to make society
+delightful.
+
+With a friend, such as I have described, of twenty-three or twenty-four
+years of age, you can hardly pass an hour without finding yourself
+brought forward in some useful knowledge; without learning something of
+the world or of your own nature, some rule of behaviour, or some
+necessary caution in the conduct of life: for even in the gayest
+conversations, such useful hints may often be gathered from those whose
+knowledge and experience are much beyond our own. Whenever you find
+yourself in real want of advice, or seek the relief of unburdening your
+heart, such a friend will be able to judge of the feelings you describe,
+or of the circumstances you are in--perhaps from her own experience--or,
+at least, from the knowledge she will have gained of human nature! she
+will be able to point out your dangers, and to guide you into the right
+path; or, if she finds herself incapable, she will have the prudence to
+direct you to some abler adviser. The age I have mentioned will not
+prevent her joining in your pleasures, nor will it make her a dull or
+grave companion; on the contrary, she will have more materials for
+entertaining conversation, and her liveliness will shew itself more
+agreeably than in one of your own age. Your's therefore will be the
+advantage in such a connection; yet do not despair of being admitted
+into it, if you have an amiable and docile disposition. Ingenuous youth
+has many charms for a benevolent mind; and, as nothing is more endearing
+than the exercise of benevolence, the hope of being useful and
+beneficial to you will make her fond of your company.
+
+I have known some of the sweetest and most delightful connections
+between persons of different ages, in which the elder has received the
+highest gratification from the affection and docility of the younger;
+whilst the latter has gained the noblest advantages from the
+conversation and counsels of her wiser friend. Nor has the attachment
+been without use as well as pleasure to the elder party. She has found
+that there is no better way of improving one's own attainments, than by
+imparting them to another; and the desire of doing this in the most
+acceptable way has added a sweetness and gentleness to her manner, and
+taught her the arts of insinuating instruction, and of winning the
+heart, whilst she convinces the understanding.
+
+I hope, my dear, you in your turn will be this useful and engaging
+friend to your younger companions, particularly to your sisters and
+brothers, who ought ever--unless they should prove unworthy--to be your
+nearest and dearest friends, whose interest and welfare you are bound to
+desire as much as your own. If you are wanting here, do not fancy
+yourself qualified for friendship with others, but, be assured, your
+heart is too narrow and selfish for so generous an affection.
+
+Remember, that the end of true friendship is the good of its object, and
+the cultivation of virtue, in two hearts emulous of each other, and
+desirous to perpetuate their society beyond the grave. Nothing can be
+more contrary to this end than that mutual intercourse of flattery,
+which some call friendship. A real friend will venture to displease me,
+rather than indulge my faulty inclinations, or increase my natural
+frailties; she will endeavour to make me acquainted with myself, and
+will put me upon guarding the weak parts of my character.
+
+Friendship, in the highest sense of the word, can only subsist between
+persons of strict integrity and true generosity. Before you fancy
+yourself possessed of such a treasure, you should examine the value of
+your own heart, and see how well it is qualified for so sacred a
+connection; and then a harder task remains--to find out whether the
+object of your affection is also endued with the same virtuous
+disposition. Youth and inexperience are ill able to penetrate into
+characters: the least appearance of good attracts their admiration, and
+they immediately suppose they have found the object they pursued.
+
+It is a melancholy consideration, that the judgement can only be formed
+by experience, which generally comes too late for our own use, and is
+seldom accepted for that of others. I fear it is in vain for me to tell
+you what dangerous mistakes I made in the early choice of friends--how
+incapable I then was of finding out such as were fit for me, and how
+little I was acquainted with the true nature of friendship, when I
+thought myself most fervently engaged in it! I am sensible all this will
+hardly persuade you to choose by the eyes of others, or even to suspect
+that your own may be deceived. Yet, if you should give any weight to my
+observations, it may not be quite useless to mention to you some of the
+essential requisites in a friend; and to exhort you never to choose one
+in whom they are wanting.
+
+The first of these is a deep and sincere regard for religion. If your
+friend draws her principles from the same source with yourself, if the
+gospel precepts are the rule of her life, as well as your's, you will
+always know what to expect from her, and have one common standard of
+right and wrong to refer to, by which to regulate all material points of
+conduct. The woman who thinks lightly of sacred things, or who is ever
+heard to speak of them with levity or indifference, cannot reasonably be
+expected to pay a more serious regard to the laws of friendship, or to
+be uniformly punctual in the performance of any of the duties of
+society; take no such person to your bosom, however recommended by
+good-humour, wit, or any other qualification; nor let gaiety or
+thoughtlessness be deemed an excuse for offending in this important
+point: a person habituated to the love and reverence of religion and
+virtue, no more wants the guard of serious consideration to restrain her
+from speaking disrespectfully of them, than to prevent her speaking ill
+of her dearest friend. In the liveliest hour of mirth, the innocent
+heart can dictate nothing but what is innocent; it will immediately take
+alarm at the apprehension of doing wrong, and stop at once in the full
+career of youthful sprightliness, if reminded of the neglect or
+transgression of any duty. Watch for these symptoms of innocence and
+goodness, and admit no one to your entire affection, who would ever
+persuade you to make light of any sort of offence, or who can treat with
+levity or contempt any person or thing that bears a relation to
+religion.
+
+A due regard to reputation is the next indispensable
+qualification.--"Have regard to thy name," saith the wise son of Sirach,
+"for that will continue with thee above a thousand great treasures of
+gold." The young person, who is careless of blame, and indifferent to
+the esteem of the wise and prudent part of the world, is not only a most
+dangerous companion, but gives a certain proof of the want of rectitude
+in her own mind. Discretion is the guardian of all the virtues; and,
+when she forsakes them, they cannot long resist the attacks of an enemy.
+There is a profligacy of spirit in defying the rules of decorum, and
+despising censure, which seldom ends otherwise than in extreme
+corruption and utter ruin. Modesty and prudence are qualities that early
+display themselves, and are easily discerned: where these do not appear,
+you should avoid, not only friendship, but every step towards intimacy,
+lest your own character should suffer with that of your companion; but,
+where they shine forth in any eminent degree, you may safely cultivate
+an acquaintance, in the reasonable hope of finding the solid fruits of
+virtue beneath such sweet and promising blossoms: should you be
+disappointed, you will at least have run no risk in the search after
+them, and may cherish as a creditable acquaintance the person so
+adorned, though she may not deserve a place in your inmost heart.
+
+The understanding must next be examined: and this is a point which
+requires so much understanding to judge of in another, that I must
+earnestly recommend to you, not to rely entirely on your own, but to
+take the opinion of your older friends. I do not wish you to seek for
+bright and uncommon talents, though these are sources of inexhaustible
+delight and improvement, when found in company with solid judgment and
+sound principles. Good sense (by which I mean a capacity for reasoning
+justly and discerning truly) applied to the uses of life, and exercised
+in distinguishing characters and directing conduct, is alone _necessary_
+to an intimate connection; but, without this, the best intentions,
+though certain of reward hereafter, may fail of producing their effects
+in this life; nor can they singly constitute the character of an useful
+and valuable friend. On the other hand, the most dazzling genius, or the
+most engaging wit and humour, can but ill answer the purposes of
+friendship, without plain common sense and a faculty of just reasoning.
+
+What can one do with those who will not be answered with reason, and
+who, when you are endeavouring to convince or persuade them by serious
+arguments, will parry the blow with a witty repartee or a stroke of
+poignant raillery? I know not whether such a reply is less provoking
+than that of an obstinate fool, who answers your strongest reasons
+with--"What you say may be very true, but this is my way of thinking." A
+small acquaintance with the world will show you instances of the most
+absurd and foolish conduct in persons of brilliant parts and
+entertaining faculties. But how trifling is the talent of diverting an
+idle hour, compared with true wisdom and prudence, which are perpetually
+wanted to direct us safely and happily through life, and to make us
+useful and valuable to others!
+
+Fancy, I know, will have her share in friendship, as well as in
+love:--you must please as well as serve me, before I can love you as the
+friend of my heart. But the faculties that please for an evening may not
+please for life. The humourous man soon runs through his stock of odd
+stories, mimickry, and jest; and the wit, by constant repeated flashes,
+confounds and tires one's intellect, instead of enlivening it with
+agreeable surprise: but good sense can neither tire nor wear out; it
+improves by exercise, and increases in value, the more it is known: the
+pleasure it gives in conversation is lasting and satisfactory, because
+it is accompanied with improvement; its worth is proportioned to the
+occasion that calls for it, and rises highest on the most interesting
+topics; the heart, as well as the understanding, finds its account in
+it; and our noblest interests are promoted by the entertainment we
+receive from such a companion.
+
+A good temper is the next qualification; the value of which in a friend,
+you will want no arguments to prove, when you are truly convinced of the
+necessity of it in yourself, which I shall endeavour to show you in a
+following letter. But, as this is a quality in which you may be
+deceived, without a long and intimate acquaintance, you must not be
+hasty in forming connections, before you have had sufficient opportunity
+for making observations on this head. A young person, when pleased and
+enlivened by the presence of her youthful companions, seldom shows ill
+temper; which must be extreme indeed, if it is not at least controllable
+in such situations. But, you must watch her behaviour to her own family,
+and the degree of estimation she stands in with them. Observe her manner
+to servants and inferiors--to children--and even to animals. See in
+what manner she bears disappointments, contradiction, and restraint;
+and what degree of vexation she expresses on any accident of loss or
+trouble. If in such little trials she shows a meek, resigned, and
+cheerful temper, she will probably preserve it on greater occasions; but
+if she is impatient and discontented under these, how will she support
+the far greater evils which may await her in her progress through life?
+If you should have an opportunity of seeing her in sickness, observe
+whether her complaints are of a mild and gentle kind, forced from her by
+pain, and restrained as much as possible; or whether they are
+expressions of a turbulent rebellious mind, that hardly submits to the
+Divine hand. See whether she is tractable, considerate, kind, and
+grateful, to those about her: or whether she takes the opportunity,
+which their compassion gives her, to tyrannize over and torment them.
+Women are in general very liable to ill health, which must necessarily
+make them in some measure troublesome and disagreeable to those they
+live with. They should therefore, take the more pains to lighten the
+burden as much as possible, by patience and good humour; and be careful
+not to let their infirmities break in on the health, freedom, or
+enjoyments of others, more than is needful and just. Some ladies seem
+to think it very improper for any person within their reach to enjoy a
+moment's comfort while they are in pain; and make no scruple of
+sacrificing to their own least convenience, whenever they are
+indisposed, the proper rest, meals, or refreshments of their servants,
+and even sometimes of their husbands and children. But their selfishness
+defeats its own purpose, as it weakens that affection and tender pity
+which excites the most assiduous services, and affords the most healing
+balm to the heart of the sufferer.
+
+I have already expressed my wishes that your chosen friend may be some
+years older than yourself; but this is an advantage not always to be
+obtained. Whatever be her age, _religion_, _discretion_, _good sense_,
+and _good temper_, must on no account be dispensed with; and till you
+can find one so qualified, you had better make no closer connection than
+that of a mutual intercourse of civilities and good offices. But if it
+is always your aim to mix with the best company, and to be worthy of
+such society, you will probably meet with some one among them deserving
+your affection, to whom you may be equally agreeable.
+
+When I speak of the best company, I do not mean, in the common
+acceptation of the word, persons of high rank and fortune--but rather
+the most worthy and sensible. It is however very important to a young
+woman to be introduced into life on a respectable footing, and to
+converse with those whose manners and style of life may polish her
+behaviour, refine her sentiments, and give her consequence in the eye of
+the world. Your equals in rank are most proper for intimacy, but to be
+sometimes amongst your superiors is every way desirable and
+advantageous, unless it should inspire you with pride, or with the
+foolish desire of emulating their grandeur and expense.
+
+Above all things avoid intimacy with those of low birth and education!
+nor think it a mark of humility to delight in such society; for it much
+oftener proceeds from the meanest kind of pride,--that of being the head
+of the company, and seeing your companions subservient to you. The
+servile flattery and submission, which usually recommend such people,
+and make amends for their ignorance and want of conversation, will
+infallibly corrupt your heart, and make all company insipid from whom
+you cannot expect the same homage. Your manners and faculties, instead
+of improving, must be continually lowered, to suit you to your
+companions; and, believe me, you will find it no easy matter to raise
+them again to a level with those of polite and well-informed people.
+
+The greatest kindness and civility to inferiors is perfectly consistent
+with proper caution on this head. Treat them always with affability, and
+talk to them of their own affairs with an affectionate interest; but
+never make them familiar, nor admit them as associates in your
+diversions: but, above all, never trust them with your secrets, which is
+putting yourself entirely in their power, and subjecting yourself to the
+most shameful slavery. The only reason for making choice of such
+confidants, must be the certainty that they will not venture to blame or
+contradict inclinations, which you are conscious no true friend would
+encourage. But this is a meanness into which I trust you are in no
+danger of falling. I rather hope you will have the laudable ambition of
+spending your time chiefly with those, whose superior talents,
+education, and politeness, may continually improve you, and whose
+society will do you honour. However, let no advantage of this kind
+weigh against the want of principle. I have long ago resolved with
+David, that, as far as lies in my power, "I will not know a wicked
+person." Nothing can compensate for the contagion of bad example, and
+for the danger of wearing off by use that abhorrence of evil actions and
+sentiments, which every innocent mind sets out with, but which an
+indiscriminate acquaintance in the world soon abates, and at length
+destroys.
+
+If you are good, and seek friendship only among the good, I trust you
+will be happy enough to find it. The wise son of Sirach pronounces that
+you will. "[21]A faithful friend," saith he, "is the medicine of life;
+and he that feareth the Lord shall find him. Whoso feareth the Lord
+shall direct his friendship aright; for, as he is, so shall his
+neighbour be also." In the same admirable book, you will find directions
+how to choose and preserve a friend. Indeed there is hardly a
+circumstance in life concerning which you may not there meet with the
+best advice imaginable. Caution in making friendships is particularly
+recommended. "[22]Be in peace with many, nevertheless have but one
+counsellor of a thousand. If thou wouldst get a friend, prove him first,
+and be not hasty to credit him; for some man is a friend for his own
+occasion, and will not abide in the day of trouble. And there is a
+friend, who, being turned to enmity and strife, will discover thy
+reproach." Again, "Some friend is a companion at the table, and will not
+continue in the day of thy affliction; but in thy prosperity he will be
+as thyself, and will be bold over thy servants: if thou be brought low,
+he will be against thee, and will hide himself from thy face." Chap. ix.
+10. "Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him--A
+new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with
+pleasure."
+
+When you have discreetly chosen, the next point is how to preserve your
+friend. Numbers complain of the fickleness and ingratitude of those on
+whom they bestowed their affection; but few examine, whether what they
+complain of is not owing to themselves. Affection is not like a portion
+of freehold land, which once settled upon you is a possession for ever,
+without further trouble on your part. If you grow less deserving, or
+less attentive to please, you must expect to see the effects of your
+remissness, in the gradual decline of your friend's esteem and
+attachment. Resentment and reproaches will not recal what you have lost;
+but, on the contrary, will hasten the dissolution of every remaining
+tie. The best remedy is, to renew your care and assiduity to deserve and
+cultivate affection, without seeming to have perceived its abatement.
+Jealousy and distrust are the bane of friendship, whose essence is
+esteem and affiance. But if jealousy is expressed by unkind upbraidings,
+or, what is worse, by cold haughty looks and insolent contempt, it can
+hardly fail, if often repeated, to realize the misfortune, which at
+first perhaps was imaginary. Nothing can be more an antidote to
+affection than such behaviour, or than the cause of it, which, in
+reality, is nothing but pride; though the jealous person would fain
+attribute it to uncommon tenderness and delicacy: but tenderness is
+never so expressed: it is indeed deeply sensible of unkindness, but it
+cannot be unkind;--it may subsist with anger, but not with contempt;--it
+may be weakened, or even killed, by ingratitude; but it cannot be
+changed into hatred. Remember always, that if you would be _loved_, you
+must be _amiable_. Habit may, indeed, for a time, supply the deficiency
+of merit; what we have long loved we do not easily cease to love; but
+habit will at length be conquered by frequent disgusts.--"[23]Whoso
+casteth a stone at the birds, frayeth them away; and he that upbraideth
+his friend, breaketh friendship. Though thou drewest a sword at thy
+friend, yet despair not, for there may be a returning to favour. If thou
+hast opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not, for there may be a
+reconciliation; excepting for _upbraiding_, or _pride_, or _disclosing
+of secrets_, or a _treacherous wound_,--for, for these things every
+friend will depart."
+
+I have hitherto spoken of a friend in the singular number, rather in
+compliance with the notions of most writers, who have treated of
+friendship, and who generally suppose it can have but one object, than
+from my own ideas. The highest kind of friendship is indeed confined to
+one;--I mean the conjugal, which, in its perfection, is so entire and
+absolute an union of interest, will, and affection, as no other
+connection can stand in competition with. But there are various degrees
+of friendship, which can admit of several objects, esteemed, and
+delighted in, for different qualities, and whose separate rights are
+perfectly compatible. Perhaps it is not possible to love two persons
+exactly in the same degree; yet, the difference may be so small, that
+none of the parties can be certain on which side the scale
+preponderates.
+
+It is narrowness of mind to wish to confine your friend's affection
+solely to yourself; since you are conscious that, however perfect your
+attachment may be, you cannot possibly supply to her all the blessings
+she may derive from several friends, who may each love her as well as
+you do, and may each contribute largely to her happiness. If she depends
+on you alone for all the comforts and advantages of friendship, your
+absence or death may leave her desolate and forlorn. If therefore you
+prefer her good to your own selfish gratification, you should rather
+strive to multiply her friends, and be ready to embrace in your
+affections all who love, and deserve her love: this generosity will
+bring its own reward, by multiplying the sources of your pleasures and
+supports; and your first friend will love you the more for such an
+endearing proof of the extent of your affection, which can stretch to
+receive all who are dear to her. But if, on the contrary, every mark of
+esteem shewn to another excites uneasiness or resentment in you, the
+person you love must soon feel her connection with you a burden and
+restraint. She can own no obligation to so selfish an attachment; nor
+can her tenderness be increased by that which lessens her esteem. If she
+is really fickle and ungrateful, she is not worth your reproaches: If
+not, she must be reasonably offended by such injurious imputations.
+
+You do not want to be told, that the strictest fidelity is required in
+friendship: and though possibly instances might be brought, in which
+even the secret of a friend must be sacrificed to the calls of justice
+and duty, yet these are rare and doubtful cases; and we may venture to
+pronounce that, "[24]Whoso discovereth secrets, loseth his credit, and
+shall never find a friend to his mind."--"Love thy friend, and be
+faithful unto him: but if thou betrayest his secrets, follow no more
+after him. For as a man that hath destroyed his enemy, so hast thou
+destroyed the love of thy friend. As one that letteth a bird go out of
+his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go. Follow no more after him,
+for he is too far off; he is as a roe escaped out of the snare. As for a
+wound, it may be bound up; and after revilings there may be
+reconcilement; but he that betrayeth secrets is without hope."
+
+But in order to reconcile this inviolable fidelity with the duty you owe
+to yourself or others, you must carefully guard against being made the
+repository of such secrets as are not fit to be kept. If your friend
+should engage in any unlawful pursuit--if, for instance, she should
+intend to carry on an affair of love, unknown to her parents--you must
+first use your utmost endeavours to dissuade her from it; and if she
+persists, positively and solemnly declare against being a confidant in
+such a case. Suffer her not to speak to you on the subject, and warn her
+to forbear acquainting you with any step she may propose to take towards
+a marriage unsanctified by parental approbation. Tell her, you would
+think it your duty to apprize her parents of the danger into which she
+was throwing herself. However unkindly she may take this at the time,
+she will certainly esteem and love you the more for it, whenever she
+recovers a sense of her duty, or experiences the sad effects of swerving
+from it.
+
+There is another case, which I should not choose to suppose possible, in
+addressing myself to so young a person, was it not that too many
+instances of it have of late been exposed to public animadversion: I
+mean the case of a married woman, who encourages or tolerates the
+addresses of a lover. May no such person be ever called a friend of
+your's! but if ever one, whom, when innocent, you had loved, should fall
+into so fatal an error, I can only say that, after proper remonstrances,
+you must immediately withdraw from all intimacy and confidence with her.
+Nor let the absurd pretence of _innocent intentions_, in such
+circumstances, prevail with you to lend your countenance a moment to
+disgraceful conduct. There cannot be innocence, in any degree of
+indulgence to unlawful passion. The sacred obligations of marriage are
+very ill understood by the wife, who can think herself innocent, while
+she parleys with a lover, or with love, and who does not shut her heart
+and ears against the most distant approaches of either. A virtuous
+wife--though she should be so unhappy as not to be secured, by having
+her strongest affections fixed on her husband--will never admit an idea
+of any other man, in the light of a lover; but if such an idea should
+unawares intrude into her mind, she would instantly stifle it, before it
+grew strong enough to give her much uneasiness. Not to the most intimate
+friend--hardly to her own soul--would she venture to confess a weakness,
+she would so sincerely abhor. Whenever therefore such infidelity of
+heart is made a subject of confidence, depend upon it the corruption has
+spread far, and has been faultily indulged. Enter not into her counsels:
+show her the danger she is in, and then withdraw yourself from it,
+whilst you are yet unsullied by contagion.
+
+It has been supposed a duty of friendship to lay open every thought and
+every feeling of the heart to our friend. But I have just mentioned a
+case, in which this is not only unnecessary, but wrong. A disgraceful
+inclination, which we resolve to conquer, should be concealed from every
+body; and is more easily subdued when denied the indulgence of talking
+of its object; and, I think, there may be other instances, in which it
+would be most prudent to keep our thoughts concealed even from our
+dearest friend. Some things I would communicate to one friend, and not
+to another, whom perhaps I loved better, because I might know that my
+first friend was not so well qualified as the other to counsel me on
+that particular subject: a natural bias on her mind, some prevailing
+opinion, or some connection with persons concerned, might make her an
+improper confidant with regard to one particular, though qualified to be
+so on all other occasions.
+
+This confidence of friendship is indeed one of its sweetest pleasures
+and greatest advantages. The human heart often stands in need of some
+kind and faithful partner of its cares, in whom it may repose all its
+weaknesses, and with whom it is sure of finding the tenderest sympathy.
+Far be it from me to shut up the heart with cold distrust, and rigid
+caution, or to adopt the odious maxim, that "we should live with a
+friend, as if he were one day to become an enemy." But we must not
+wholly abandon prudence in any sort of connection; since, when every
+guard is laid aside, our unbounded openness may injure others as well as
+ourselves. Secrets entrusted to us must be sacredly kept even from our
+nearest friend: for we have no right to dispose of the secrets of
+others.
+
+If there is danger in making an improper choice of friends, my dear
+child, how much more fatal would it be to mistake in a stronger kind of
+attachment--in that which leads to an irrevocable engagement for life!
+yet so much more is the understanding blinded, when once the fancy is
+captivated, that it seems a desperate undertaking to convince a girl in
+love that she has mistaken the character of the man she prefers.
+
+If the passions would wait for the decision of judgment, and if a young
+woman could have the same opportunities of examining into the real
+character of her lover, as into that of a female candidate for her
+friendship, the same rules might direct you in the choice of both: for
+marriage being the highest state of friendship, the qualities requisite
+in a friend are still more important in a husband. But young women know
+so little of the world, especially of the other sex, and such pains are
+usually taken to deceive them, that they are every way unqualified to
+choose for themselves, upon their own judgment. Many a heart-ache shall
+I feel for you, my sweet girl, if I live a few years longer! Since, not
+only all your happiness in this world, but your advancement in religion
+and virtue, or your apostacy from every good principle you have been
+taught, will probably depend on the companion you fix to for life. Happy
+will it be for you, if you are wise and modest enough to withdraw from
+temptation, and preserve your heart free and open to receive the just
+recommendation of your parents: further than a recommendation, I dare
+say they will never go, in an affair which, though it should be begun by
+them, ought never to be proceeded in without your free concurrence.
+
+Whatever romantic notions you may hear or read of, depend upon it, those
+matches are the happiest which are made on rational grounds--on
+suitableness of character, degree, and fortune--on mutual esteem, and the
+prospect of a real and permanent friendship. Far be it from me to advise
+you to marry where you do not love;--a mercenary marriage is a detestable
+prostitution. But, on the other hand, an union formed upon mere personal
+liking, without the requisite foundation of esteem, without the sanction
+of parental approbation, and, consequently, without the blessing of God,
+can be productive of nothing but misery and shame. The passion, to which
+every consideration of duty and prudence is sacrificed, instead of
+supplying the loss of all other advantages, will soon itself be changed
+into mutual distrust--repentance--reproaches--and, finally, perhaps into
+hatred. The distresses it brings will be void of every consolation; you
+will have disgusted the friends who should be your support--debased
+yourself in the eyes of the world--and, what is much worse, in your own
+eyes, and even in those of your husband: above all, you will have
+offended that God, who alone can shield you from calamity.
+
+From an act like this, I trust, your duty and gratitude to your kind
+parents--the first of dudes next to that we owe to God, and inseparably
+connected with it--will effectually preserve you. But most young people
+think they have fulfilled their duty, if they refrain from actually
+marrying against prohibition: they suffer their affections, and even
+perhaps their word of honour, to be engaged, without consulting their
+parents; yet satisfy themselves with resolving not to marry without
+their consent: not considering, that, besides the wretched, useless,
+uncomfortable state they plunge _themselves_ into, when they contract an
+hopeless engagement, they must likewise involve a _parent_ in the
+miserable dilemma of either giving a forced consent against his
+judgment, or of seeing his beloved child pine away her prime of life in
+fruitless anxiety--seeing her accuse him of tyranny, because he
+restrains her from certain ruin--seeing her affections alienated from
+her family--and all her thoughts engrossed by one object, to the
+destruction of her health and spirits, and of all improvements and
+occupations. What a cruel alternative for parents, whose happiness is
+bound up with that of their child! The time to consult them is before
+you have given a lover the least encouragement; nor ought you to listen
+a moment to the man who would wish you to keep his addresses secret;
+since he thereby shows himself conscious that they are not fit to be
+encouraged.
+
+But perhaps I have said enough on this subject at present; though, if
+ever advice on such a topic can be of use, it must be before passion has
+got possession of the heart, and silenced both reason and principle. Fix
+therefore in your mind, as deeply as possible, those rules of duty and
+prudence which now seem reasonable to you, that they may be at hand in
+the hour of trial, and save you from the miseries, in which strong
+affections, unguided by discretion, involve so many of our sex.
+
+If you love virtue sincerely, you will be incapable of loving an openly
+vicious character. But, alas! your innocent heart may be easily ensnared
+by an artful one--and from this danger nothing can secure you but the
+experience of those, to whose guidance God has entrusted you: may you be
+wise enough to make use of it!--So will you have the fairest chance of
+attaining the best blessings this world can afford, in a faithful and
+virtuous union with a worthy man, who may direct your steps in safety
+and honour through this life, and partake with you the rewards of virtue
+in that which is to come. But, if this happy lot should be denied you,
+do not be afraid of a single life. A worthy woman is never destitute of
+valuable friends, who in a great measure supply to her the want of
+nearer connections. She can never be slighted or disesteemed, while her
+good temper and benevolence render her a blessing to her companions.
+Nay, she must be honoured by all persons of sense and virtue, for
+preferring the single state to an union unworthy of her. The calamities
+of an unhappy marriage are so much greater than can befall a single
+person, that the unmarried woman may find abundant argument to be
+contented with her condition, when pointed out to her by Providence.
+Whether married or single, if your first care is to please God, you will
+undoubtedly be a blessed creature;--"For that which he delights in _must
+be happy_." How earnestly I wish you this happiness, you can never know,
+unless you could read the heart of
+
+    Your truly affectionate.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] Ecclus v.
+
+[22] Ibid. vi.
+
+[23] Ecclus. xxii. 20.
+
+[24] Ecclus. xxvii. 16.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TEMPER.
+
+
+THE next great point of importance to your future happiness, my dear, is
+what your parents have, doubtless, been continually attentive to from
+your infancy, as it is impossible to undertake it too early--I mean the
+due Regulation of your Temper. Though you are in great measure indebted
+to their forming hands for whatever is good in it, you are sensible, no
+doubt, as every human creature is, of propensities to some infirmity of
+temper, which it must now be _your own_ care to correct and to subdue:
+otherwise the pains that have hitherto been taken with you may all
+become fruitless; and, when you are your own mistress, you may relapse
+into those faults, which were originally in your nature, and which will
+require to be diligently watched and kept under, through the whole
+course of your life.
+
+If you consider, that the constant tenor of the gospel precepts is to
+promote love, peace, and good-will amongst men, you will not doubt that
+the cultivation of an amiable disposition is a great part of your
+religious duty: since nothing leads more directly to the breach of
+charity, and to the injury and molestation of our fellow-creatures, than
+the indulgence of an ill-temper. Do not therefore think lightly of the
+offences you may commit, for want of a due command over it, or suppose
+yourself responsible for them to your fellow-creatures only; but, be
+assured, you must give a strict account of them all to the Supreme
+Governor of the world, who has made this a great part of your appointed
+trial upon earth.
+
+A woman, bred up in a religious manner, placed above the reach of want,
+and out of the way of sordid or scandalous vices, can have but few
+temptations to the flagrant breach of the Divine laws. It particularly
+concerns her therefore to understand them in their full import, and to
+consider how far she trespasses against them, by such actions as appear
+trivial when compared with murder, adultery, and theft, but which become
+of very great importance, by being frequently repeated, and occurring in
+the daily transactions of life.
+
+The principal virtues or vices of a woman must be of a private and
+domestic kind. Within the circle of her own family and dependents lies
+her sphere of action--the scene of almost all those tasks and trials,
+which must determine her character, and her fate, here and hereafter.
+Reflect, for a moment, how much the happiness of her husband, children,
+and servants, must depend on her temper, and you will see that the
+greatest good, or evil, which she ever may have in her power to do, may
+arise from her correcting or indulging its infirmities.
+
+Though I wish the principle of duty towards God to be your ruling motive
+in the exercise of every virtue, yet, as human nature stands in need of
+all possible helps, let us not forget how essential it is to present
+happiness, and to the enjoyment of this life, to cultivate such a temper
+as is likewise indispensably requisite to the attainment of higher
+felicity in the life to come. The greatest outward blessings cannot
+afford enjoyment to a mind ruffled and uneasy within itself. A fit of
+ill-humour will spoil the finest entertainment, and is as real a torment
+as the most painful disease. Another unavoidable consequence of
+ill-temper is the dislike and aversion of all who are witnesses to it,
+and, perhaps, the deep and lasting resentment of those who suffer from
+its effects. We all, from social or self-love, earnestly desire the
+esteem and affection of our fellow-creatures; and indeed our condition
+makes them so necessary to us, that the wretch who has forfeited them,
+must feel desolate and undone, deprived of all the best enjoyments and
+comforts the world can afford, and given up to his inward misery,
+unpitied and scorned. But this can never be the fate of a good-natured
+person: whatever faults he may have, they will generally be treated with
+lenity; he will find an advocate in every human heart; his errors will
+be lamented rather than abhorred; and his virtues will be viewed in the
+fairest point of light. His good humour, without the help of great
+talents or acquirements, will make his company preferable to that of the
+most brilliant genius, in whom this quality is wanting; in short, it is
+almost impossible that you can be sincerely beloved by any body, without
+this engaging property, whatever other excellencies you may possess;
+but, with it, you will scarcely fail of finding some friends and
+favourers, even though you should be destitute of almost every other
+advantage.
+
+Perhaps you will say, all this is very true; "but our tempers are not in
+our own power; we are made with different dispositions, and, if mine is
+not amiable, it is rather my unhappiness than my fault." This, my dear,
+is commonly said by those who will not take the trouble to correct
+themselves. Yet, be assured, it is a delusion, and will not avail in our
+justification before Him, "who knoweth whereof we are made," and of what
+we are capable. It is true, we are not all equally happy in our
+dispositions; but human virtue consists in cherishing and cultivating
+every good inclination, and in checking and subduing every propensity to
+evil. If you had been born with a bad temper, it might have been made a
+good one, at least with regard to its outward effects, by education,
+reason, and principle: and, though you are so happy as to have a good
+one while young, do not suppose it will always continue so, if you
+neglect to maintain a proper command over it. Power, sickness,
+disappointments, or worldly cares, may corrupt and embitter the finest
+disposition, if they are not counteracted by reason and religion.
+
+It is observed, that every temper is inclined, in some degree, either to
+passion, peevishness, or obstinacy. Many are so unfortunate as to be
+inclined to each of the three in turn: it is necessary therefore to
+watch the bent of our nature, and to apply the remedies proper for the
+infirmity to which we are most liable. With regard to the first, it is
+so injurious to society, and so odious in itself, especially in the
+female character, that one would think shame alone would be sufficient
+to preserve a young woman from giving way to it: for it is as unbecoming
+her character to be betrayed into ill-behaviour by _passion_, as by
+_intoxication_, and she ought to be ashamed of the one as much as of the
+other. Gentleness, meekness, and patience, are her peculiar
+distinctions; and an enraged woman is one of the most disgusting sights
+in nature.
+
+It is plain, from experience, that the most passionate people can
+command themselves, when they have a motive sufficiently strong--such as
+the presence of those they fear, or to whom they particularly desire to
+recommend themselves; it is therefore no excuse to persons, whom you
+have injured by unkind reproaches, and unjust aspersions, to tell them
+you was in a passion; the allowing yourself to speak to them in a
+passion is a proof of an insolent disrespect, which the meanest of your
+fellow-creatures would have a right to resent. When once you find
+yourself heated so far as to desire to say what you know would be
+provoking and wounding to another, you should immediately resolve either
+to be silent, or to quit the room, rather than give utterance to any
+thing dictated by so bad an inclination. Be assured, you are then unfit
+to reason or to reprove, or to hear reason from others. It is therefore
+your part to retire from such an occasion of sin; and wait till you are
+cool, before you presume to judge of what has passed. By accustoming
+yourself thus to conquer and disappoint your anger, you will, by
+degrees, find it grow weak and manageable, so as to leave your reason at
+liberty. You will be able to restrain your tongue from evil, and your
+looks and gestures from all expressions of violence and ill-will. Pride,
+which produces so many evils in the human mind, is the great source of
+passion. Whoever cultivates in himself a proper humility, a due sense of
+his own faults and insufficiencies, and a due respect for others, will
+find but small temptation to violent or unreasonable anger.
+
+In the case of real injuries, which justify and call for resentment,
+there is a noble and generous kind of anger, a proper and necessary part
+of our nature, which has nothing in it sinful or degrading. I would not
+wish you insensible to this; for the person, who feels not an injury,
+must be incapable of being properly affected by benefits. With those,
+who treat you ill without provocation, you ought to maintain your own
+dignity. But, in order to do this, whilst you show a sense of their
+improper behaviour, you must preserve calmness, and even good-breeding;
+and thereby convince them of the impotence as well as injustice of
+their malice. You must also weigh every circumstance with candour and
+charity, and consider whether your showing the resentment deserved may
+not produce ill consequences to innocent persons--as is almost always
+the case in family quarrels; and whether it may not occasion the breach
+of some duty, or necessary connection, to which you ought to sacrifice
+even your just resentments. Above all things, take care that a
+particular offence to you does not make you unjust to the general
+character of the offending person. Generous anger does not preclude
+esteem for whatever is really estimable, nor does it destroy good-will
+to the person of its object: it even inspires the desire of overcoming
+him by benefits, and wishes to inflict no other punishment than the
+regret of having injured one who deserved his kindness: it is always
+placable, and ready to be reconciled, as soon as the offender is
+convinced of his error; nor can any subsequent injury provoke it to
+recur to past disobligations, which had been once forgiven. But it is
+perhaps unnecessary to give rules for this case. The consciousness of
+injured innocence naturally produces dignity, and usually prevents
+excess of anger. Our passion is most unruly, when we are conscious of
+blame, and when we apprehend that we have laid ourselves open to
+contempt. Where we know we have been wrong, the least injustice in the
+degree of blame imputed to us, excites our bitterest resentment; but,
+where we know ourselves faultless, the sharpest accusation excites pity
+or contempt, rather than rage. Whenever, therefore, you feel yourself
+very angry, suspect yourself to be in the wrong, and resolve to stand
+the decision of your own conscience before you cast upon another the
+punishment, which is perhaps due to yourself. This self-examination will
+at least give you time to cool, and, if you are just, will dispose you
+to balance your own wrong with that of your antagonist, and to settle
+the account with him on equal terms.
+
+Peevishness, though not so violent and fatal in its immediate effects,
+is still more unamiable than passion, and, if possible, more destructive
+of happiness, inasmuch as it operates more continually. Though the
+fretful man injures us less, he disgusts us more than the passionate
+one; because he betrays a low and little mind, intent on trifles, and
+engrossed by a paltry self-love, which knows not how to bear the very
+apprehension of any inconvenience. It is self-love then, which we must
+combat, when we find ourselves assaulted by this infirmity; and, by
+voluntarily induring inconveniences, we shall habituate ourselves to
+bear them with ease and good-humour, when occasioned by others. Perhaps
+this is the best kind of religious mortification; as the chief end of
+denying ourselves any innocent indulgences, must be to acquire a habit
+of command over our passions and inclinations, particularly such as are
+likely to lead us into evil. Another method of conquering this enemy, is
+to abstract our minds from that attention to trifling circumstances,
+which usually creates this uneasiness. Those, who are engaged in high
+and important pursuits, are very little affected by small
+inconveniences. The man, whose head is full of studious thought, or
+whose heart is full of care, will eat his dinner without knowing whether
+it was well or ill dressed, or whether it was served punctually at the
+hour or not: and though absence from the common things of life is far
+from desirable--especially in a woman--yet too minute and anxious an
+attention to them seldom fails to produce a teasing, mean, and fretful
+disposition. I would therefore wish your mind to have always some object
+in pursuit worthy of it, that it may not be engrossed by such as are in
+themselves scarce worth a moment's anxiety. It is chiefly in the decline
+of life, when amusements fail, and when the more importunate passions
+subside, that this infirmity is observed to grow upon us; and perhaps it
+will seldom fail to do so, unless carefully watched, and counteracted by
+reason. We must then endeavour to substitute some pursuits in the place
+of those, which can only engage us in the beginning of our course. The
+pursuit of glory and happiness in another life, by every means of
+improving and exalting our own minds, becomes more and more interesting
+to us, the nearer we draw to the end of all sublunary enjoyments.
+Reading, reflection, rational conversation, and, above all, conversing
+with God, by prayer and meditation, may preserve us from taking that
+anxious interest in the little comforts and conveniences of our
+remaining days, which usually gives birth to so much fretfulness in old
+people. But though the aged and infirm are most liable to this evil--and
+they alone are to be pitied for it--yet we sometimes see the young, the
+healthy, and those who enjoy most outward blessings, inexcusably guilty
+of it. The smallest disappointment in pleasure, or difficulty in the
+most trifling employment, will put wilful young people out of temper,
+and their very amusements frequently become sources of vexation and
+peevishness. How often have I seen a girl, preparing for a ball, or for
+some other public appearance--unable to satisfy her own vanity--fret
+over every ornament she put on, quarrel with her maid, with her clothes,
+her hair; and growing still more unlovely as she grew more cross, be
+ready to fight with her looking-glass for not making her as handsome as
+she wished to be! She did not consider, that the traces of this
+ill-humour on her countenance would be a greater disadvantage to her
+appearance than any defect in her dress, or even than the plainest
+features enlivened by joy and good-humour. There is a degree of
+resignation necessary even to the enjoyment of pleasure: we must be
+ready and willing to give up some part of what we could wish for, before
+we can enjoy that which is indulged to us. I have no doubt that she, who
+frets all the while she is dressing for an assembly, will suffer still
+greater uneasiness when she is there. The same craving restless vanity
+will there endure a thousand mortifications, which, in the midst of
+seeming pleasure, will secretly corrode her heart; whilst the meek and
+humble generally find more gratification than they expected, and return
+home pleased and enlivened from every scene of amusement, though they
+could have staid away from it with perfect ease and contentment.
+
+Sullenness, or obstinacy, is perhaps a worse fault of temper than either
+of the former, and, if indulged, may end in the most fatal extremes of
+stubborn melancholy, malice, and revenge. The resentment which, instead
+of being expressed, is nursed in secret, and continually aggravated by
+the imagination, will, in time, become the ruling passion; and then, how
+horrible must be his case, whose kind and pleasurable affections are all
+swallowed up by the tormenting as well as detestable sentiments of
+hatred and revenge? "[25]Admonish thy friend, peradventure he hath not
+done it: or, if he hath, that he do it no more.--Admonish thy friend,
+peradventure he hath not said it: or, if he hath, that he speak it not
+again." Brood not over a resentment which perhaps was at first
+ill-grounded, and which is undoubtedly heightened by an heated
+imagination. But when you have first subdued your own temper, so as to
+be able to speak calmly, reasonably, and kindly, then expostulate with
+the person you suppose to be in fault--hear what she has to say; and
+either reconcile yourself to her, or quiet your mind under the injury by
+the principle of Christian charity. But, if it should appear that you
+yourself have been most to blame, or if you have been in an error,
+acknowledge it fairly and handsomely; if you feel any reluctance to do
+so, be certain that it arises from pride, to conquer which is an
+absolute duty. "A soft answer turneth away wrath," and a generous
+confession oftentimes more than atones for the fault which requires it.
+Truth and justice demand, that we should acknowledge conviction, as soon
+as we feel it, and not maintain an erroneous opinion, or justify a wrong
+conduct, merely from the false shame of confessing our past ignorance. A
+false shame it undoubtedly is, and as impolitic as unjust, since your
+error is already seen by those who endeavour to set you right; but your
+conviction, and the candour and generosity of owning it freely, may
+still be an honour to you, and would greatly recommend you to the person
+with whom you disputed. With a disposition strongly inclined to
+sullenness or obstinacy, this must be a very painful exertion; and to
+make a perfect conquest over yourself at once may perhaps appear
+impracticable, whilst the zeal of self-justification, and the abhorrence
+of blame, are strong upon you. But, if you are so unhappy as to yield to
+your infirmity, at one time, do not let this discourage you from
+renewing your efforts. Your mind will gain strength from the contest,
+and your internal enemy will by degrees be forced to give ground. Be not
+afraid to revive the subject, as soon as you find yourself able to
+subdue your temper; and then frankly lay open the conflict you sustained
+at the time: by this you will make all the amends in your power for your
+fault, and will certainly change the disgust you have given into pity at
+least, if not admiration. Nothing is more endearing than such a
+confession; and you will find such a satisfaction in your own
+consciousness, and in the renewed tenderness and esteem you will gain
+from the person concerned, that your task for the future will be made
+more easy, and your reluctance to be convinced will on every occasion
+grow less and less.
+
+The love of truth, and a real desire of improvement, ought to be the
+only motives of argumentation; and, where these are sincere, no
+difficulty can be made of embracing the truth, as soon as it is
+perceived. But, in fact, people oftener dispute from vanity and pride,
+which makes it a grievous mortification to allow that we are the wiser
+for what we have heard from another. To receive advice, reproof, and
+instruction, properly, is the surest sign of a sincere and humble heart;
+and shows a greatness of mind, which commands our respect and reverence,
+while it appears so willingly to yield to us the superiority.
+
+Observe, notwithstanding, that I do not wish you to hear of your faults
+without pain: Such an indifference would afford small hopes of
+amendment. Shame and remorse are the first steps to true repentance; yet
+we should be willing to bear this pain, and thankful to the kind hand
+that inflicts it for our good. Nor must we, by sullen silence under it,
+leave our kind physician in doubt, whether the operation has taken
+effect or not, or whether it has not added another malady, instead of
+curing the first. You must consider that those who tell you of your
+faults, if they do it from motives of kindness, and not of malice, exert
+their friendship in a painful office, which must have cost them as great
+an effort as it can be to you to acknowledge the service; and, if you
+refuse this encouragement, you cannot expect that any one, who is not
+absolutely obliged to it by duty, will a second time undertake such an
+ill-requited trouble. What a loss would this be to yourself!--How
+difficult would be our progress to that degree of perfection, which is
+necessary to our happiness, was it not for the assistance we receive
+from each other!--This certainly is one of the means of grace held out
+to us by our merciful Judge, and, if we reject it, we are answerable for
+all the miscarriages we may fall into for want of it.
+
+I know not, whether that strange caprice, that inequality of taste and
+behaviour, so commonly attributed to our sex, may be properly called a
+fault of temper,--as it seems not to be connected with, or arising from,
+our animal frame,--but to be rather the fruit of our own
+self-indulgence, degenerating by degrees into such a wantonness of will
+as knows not how to please itself. When, instead of regulating our
+actions by reason and principle, we suffer ourselves to be guided by
+every slight and momentary impulse of inclination, we shall, doubtless,
+appear so variable and inconstant, that nobody can guess, by our
+behaviour to day, what may be expected from us to-morrow; nor can we
+ourselves tell, whether what we delighted in a week ago will now afford
+us the least degree of pleasure. It is in vain for others to attempt to
+please us--we cannot please ourselves, though all we could wish for
+waits our choice: and thus does a capricious woman become "sick of
+herself, through very selfishness:" And, when this is the case, it is
+easy to judge how sick others must be of her, and how contemptible and
+disgusting she must appear. This wretched state is the usual consequence
+of power and flattery. May my dear child never meet with the temptation
+of that excessive and ill-judged indulgence from a husband, which she
+has happily escaped from her parents, and which seldom fails to reduce
+women to the miserable condition of a humoured child, always unhappy
+from having nobody's will to study but its own! The insolence of such
+demands for yourself, and such disregard to the choice and inclinations
+of others, can seldom fail to make you as many enemies as there are
+persons obliged to bear with your humours; whilst a compliant,
+reasonable, and contented disposition, would render you happy in
+yourself, and beloved by all your companions; particularly by those, who
+live constantly with you; and, of what consequence this is to your
+happiness, a moment's reflection will convince you. Family friendships
+are the friendships made for us, if I may so speak, by God himself. With
+the kindest intentions, he has knit the bands of family love, by
+indispensable duties; and wretched are they who have burst them asunder
+by violence and ill-will, or worn them out by constant little
+disobligations, and by the want of that attention to please, which the
+presence of a stranger always inspires, but which is so often shamefully
+neglected towards those, whom it is most our duty and interest to
+please. May you, my dear, be wise enough to see that every faculty of
+entertainment, every engaging qualification, which you possess, is
+exerted to the best advantage for those, whose love is of most
+importance to you--for those who live under the same roof, and with whom
+you are connected for life, either by the ties of blood, or by the still
+more sacred obligations of a voluntary engagement.
+
+To make you the delight and darling of your family, something more is
+required than barely to be exempt from ill-temper and troublesome
+humours. The sincere and genuine smiles of complacency and love must
+adorn your countenance. That ready compliance, that alertness to assist
+and oblige, which demonstrates true affection, must animate your
+behaviour, and endear your most common action. Politeness must accompany
+your greatest familiarities, and restrain you from every thing that is
+really offensive, or which can give a moment's unnecessary pain.
+Conversation, which is so apt to grow dull and insipid in families, nay,
+in some to be almost wholly laid aside, must be cultivated with the
+frankness and openness of friendship, and by the mutual communication of
+whatever may conduce to the improvement or innocent entertainment of
+each other.
+
+Reading, whether apart or in common, will furnish useful and pleasing
+subjects; and the sprightliness of youth will naturally inspire harmless
+mirth and native humour, if encouraged by a mutual desire of diverting
+each other, and making the hours pass agreeably in your own house: every
+amusement that offers will be heightened by the participation of these
+dear companions, and by talking over every incident together and every
+object of pleasure. If you have any acquired talent of entertainment,
+such as music, painting, or the like, your own family are those before
+whom you should most wish to excel, and for whom you should always be
+ready to exert yourself; not suffering the accomplishments which you
+have gained, perhaps by their means, and at their expense, to lie
+dormant, till the arrival of a stranger gives you spirit in the
+performance. Where this last is the case, you may be sure vanity is the
+only motive of the exertion: a stranger will praise you more: but how
+little sensibility has that heart which is not more gratified by the
+silent pleasure painted on the countenance of a partial parent, or of an
+affectionate brother, than by the empty compliment of a visitor, who is
+perhaps inwardly more disposed to criticise and ridicule than to admire
+you!
+
+I have been longer in this letter than I intended, yet it is with
+difficulty I can quit the subject, because I think it is seldom
+sufficiently insisted on, either in books or in sermons; and because
+there are many persons weak enough to believe themselves in a safe and
+innocent course of life, whilst they are daily harassing every body
+about them by their vexatious humours. But you will, I hope, constantly
+bear in mind, that you can never treat a fellow-creature unkindly,
+without offending the kind Creator and Father of all; and that you can
+no way render yourself so acceptable to him, as by studying to promote
+the happiness of others, in every instance, small as well as great. The
+favour of God, and the love of your companions, will surely be deemed
+rewards sufficient to animate your most fervent endeavours; yet this is
+not all: the disposition of mind, which I would recommend, is its own
+reward, and is in itself essential to happiness. Cultivate it therefore,
+my dear child, with your utmost diligence; and watch the symptoms of
+ill-temper, as they rise, with a firm resolution to conquer them, before
+they are even perceived by any other person. In every such inward
+conflict, call upon our Maker, to assist the feeble nature he hath given
+you, and sacrifice to _Him_ every feeling that would tempt you to
+disobedience: so will you at length attain the true Christian meekness,
+which is blessed in the sight of God and man; "which has the promise of
+this life as well as of that which is to come." Then will you pity, in
+others, those infirmities, which you have conquered in yourself; and
+will think yourself as much bound to assist, by your patience and
+gentleness, those who are so unhappy as to be under the dominion of evil
+passions, as you are to impart a share of your riches to the poor and
+miserable.
+
+    Adieu, my dearest.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[25] Ecclus. xix. 13.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+ON ECONOMY.
+
+
+    _MY DEAREST NIECE_,
+
+ECONOMY is so important a part of a woman's character, so necessary to
+her own happiness, and so essential to her performing properly the
+duties of a wife and of a mother, that it ought to have the precedence
+of all other accomplishments, and take its rank next to the first duties
+of life. It is, moreover, an _art_ as well as a _virtue_; and many
+well-meaning persons, from ignorance, or from inconsideration, are
+strangely deficient in it. Indeed it is too often wholly neglected in a
+young woman's education; and she is sent from her father's house to
+govern a family, without the least degree of that knowledge which should
+qualify her for it: this is the source of much inconvenience; for though
+experience and attention may supply, by degrees, the want of
+instruction, yet this requires time: the family in the meantime may get
+into habits, which are very difficult to alter; and, what is worse, the
+husband's opinion of his wife's incapacity may be fixed too strongly to
+suffer him ever to think justly of her gradual improvements. I would
+therefore earnestly advise you to make use of every opportunity you can
+find, for the laying in some store of knowledge on this subject, before
+you are called upon to the practice; by observing what passes before
+you--by consulting prudent and experienced mistresses of families--and
+by entering in a book a memorandum of every new piece of intelligence
+you acquire; you may afterwards compare these with more mature
+observations, and you can make additions and corrections, as you see
+occasion. I hope it will not be long before your mother entrusts you
+with some part, at least, of the management of your father's house.
+Whilst you are under her eye, your ignorance cannot do much harm, though
+the relief to her at first may not be near so considerable as the
+benefit to yourself.
+
+Economy consists of so many branches, some of which descend to such
+minutenesses, that it is impossible for me in writing to give you
+particular directions. The rude outlines may be perhaps described, and I
+shall be happy if I can furnish you with any hint that may hereafter be
+usefully employed.
+
+The first and greatest point is, to lay out your general plan of living
+in a just proportion to your fortune and rank: if these two will not
+coincide, the last must certainly give way; for, if you have right
+principles, you cannot fail of being wretched under the sense of the
+injustice as well as danger of spending beyond your income, and your
+distress will be continually increasing. No mortifications, which you
+can suffer from retrenching in your appearance, can be comparable to
+this unhappiness. If you would enjoy the real comforts of affluence, you
+should lay your plan considerably within your income; not for the
+pleasure of amassing wealth--though, where there is a growing family, it
+is an absolute duty to lay by something every year--but to provide for
+contingencies, and to have the power of indulging your choice in the
+disposal of the overplus, either in innocent pleasures, or to increase
+your funds for charity and generosity, which are in fact the true funds
+of pleasure. In some circumstances indeed this would not be prudent:
+there are professions in which a man's success greatly depends on his
+making some figure, where the bare suspicion of poverty would bring on
+the reality. If by marriage you should be placed in such a situation, it
+will be your duty to exert all your skill in the management of your
+income: yet, even in this case, I would not strain to the utmost for
+appearance, but would choose my models among the most prudent and
+moderate of my own class; and be contented with slower advancement, for
+the sake of security and peace of mind.
+
+A contrary conduct is the ruin of many; and, in general, the wives of
+men in such professions might live in a more retired and frugal manner
+than they do, without any ill consequence, if they did not make the
+scheme of advancing the success of their husbands an excuse to
+themselves for the indulgence of their own vanity and ambition.
+
+Perhaps it may be said, that the settling the general scheme of expenses
+is seldom the wife's province, and that many men do not choose even to
+acquaint her with the real state of their affairs. Where this is the
+case, a woman can be answerable for no more than is entrusted to her.
+But I think it a very ill sign, for one or both of the parties where
+there is such a want of openness, in what equally concerns them. As I
+trust you will deserve the confidence of your husband, so I hope you
+will be allowed free consultation with him on your mutual interest; and
+I believe there are few men, who would not hearken to reason on their
+own affairs, when they saw a wife ready and desirous to give up her
+share of vanities and indulgences, and only earnest to promote the
+common good of the family.
+
+In order to settle your plan, it will be necessary to make a pretty
+exact calculation: and if, from this time, you accustom yourself to
+calculations, in all the little expenses entrusted to you, you will grow
+expert and ready at them, and be able to guess very nearly, where
+certainty cannot be obtained. Many articles of expense are regular and
+fixed: these may be valued exactly; and, by consulting with experienced
+persons, you may calculate nearly the amount of others: any material
+article of consumption, in a family of any given number and
+circumstances, may be estimated pretty nearly. Your own expenses of
+clothes and pocket-money should be settled and circumscribed, that you
+may be sure not to exceed the just proportion. I think it an admirable
+method to appropriate such a portion of your income, as you judge
+proper to bestow in charity, to be sacredly kept for that purpose, and
+no longer considered as your own. By which means you will avoid the
+temptation of giving less than you ought, through selfishness, or more
+than you ought, through good-nature or weakness. If your circumstances
+allow of it, you might set apart another fund for acts of liberality or
+friendship, which do not come under the head of charity. The having such
+funds ready at hand, makes it easy and pleasant to give; and when acts
+of bounty are performed without effort, they are generally done more
+kindly and effectually. If you are obliged in conscience to lay up for a
+family, the same method of an appropriated fund for saving will be of
+excellent use, as it will prevent that continual and often ineffectual
+anxiety, which a general desire of saving, without having fixed the
+limits, is sure to create.
+
+Regularity of payments and accounts is essential to Economy:--your
+house-keeping should be settled at least once a week, and all the bills
+paid: all other tradesmen should be paid, at furthest, once a year.
+Indeed I think it more advantageous to pay oftener: but, if you make
+them trust you longer, they must either charge proportionally higher, or
+be losers by your custom. Numbers of them fail, every year, from the
+cruel cause of being obliged to give their customers so much longer
+credit than the dealers, from whom they take their goods, will allow to
+them. If people of fortune considered this, they would not defer their
+payments, from mere negligence, as they often do, to the ruin of whole
+families.
+
+You must endeavour to acquire skill in purchasing: in order to this, you
+should begin now to attend to the prices of things, and take every
+proper opportunity of learning the real value of every thing, as well as
+the marks whereby you are to distinguish the good from the bad.
+
+In your table, as in your dress, and in all other things, I wish you to
+aim at _propriety_ and _neatness_, or, if your state demands it,
+_elegance_, rather than _superfluous figure_. To go beyond your sphere,
+either in dress or in the appearance of your table, indicates a greater
+fault in your character than to be too much within it. It is impossible
+to enter into the _minutiae_ of the table; good sense and observation on
+the best models must form your taste, and a due regard to what you can
+afford must restrain it.
+
+Ladies, who are fond of needle-work, generally choose to consider that
+as a principal part of good housewifery: and though I cannot look upon
+it as of equal importance with the due regulation of a family, yet, in a
+middling rank, and with a moderate fortune, it is a necessary part of a
+woman's duty, and a considerable article in expense is saved by it. Many
+young ladies make almost _every thing_ they wear; by which means they
+can make a genteel figure at a small expense. This, in your station, is
+the most profitable and desirable kind of work; and, as much of it as
+you can do, consistently with a due attention to your health, to the
+improvement of your mind, and to the discharge of other duties, I should
+think highly commendable. But, as I do not wish you to impose upon the
+world by your appearance, I should be contented to see you worse
+dressed, rather than see your whole time employed in preparations for
+it, or any of those hours given to it, which are needful to make your
+body strong and active by exercise, or your mind rational by reading.
+Absolute idleness is inexcusable in a woman, because the needle is
+always at hand for those intervals in which she cannot be otherwise
+employed. If you are industrious, and if you keep good hours, you will
+find time for all your proper employments. Early rising, and a good
+disposition of time, is essential to Economy. The necessary orders, and
+examinations into household affairs, should be dispatched as soon in the
+day and as privately as possible, that they may not interrupt your
+husband or guests, or break in upon conversation, or reading, in the
+remainder of the day. If you defer any thing that is necessary, you may
+be tempted by company, or by unforeseen avocations, to forget or to
+neglect it: hurry and irregularity will ensue, with expensive expedients
+to supply the defect.
+
+There is in many people, and particularly in youth, a strange aversion
+to regularity--a desire to delay what ought to be done immediately, in
+order to do something else, which might as well be done afterwards. Be
+assured it is of more consequence to you than you can conceive, to get
+the better of this idle procrastinating spirit, and to acquire habits of
+constancy and steadiness, even in the most trifling matters: without
+them there can be no regularity, or consistency of action or
+character--no dependence on your best intentions, which a sudden humour
+may tempt you to lay aside for a time, and which a thousand unforeseen
+accidents will afterwards render it more and more difficult to execute:
+no one can say what important consequences may follow a trivial neglect
+of this kind. For example--I have known one of these _procrastinators_
+disoblige and gradually lose very valuable friends, by delaying to write
+to them so long, that, having no good excuse to offer, she could not get
+courage enough to write at all, and dropped their correspondence
+entirely.
+
+The neatness and order of your house and furniture is a part of Economy,
+which will greatly affect your appearance and character, and to which
+you must yourself give attention, since it is not possible even for the
+_rich_ and _great_ to rely wholly on the care of servants, in such
+points, without their being often neglected. The more magnificently a
+house is furnished, the more one is disgusted with that air of
+confusion, which often prevails where attention is wanting in the owner.
+But, on the other hand, there is a kind of neatness, which gives a lady
+the air of a housemaid, and makes her excessively troublesome to every
+body, and particularly to her husband: in this, as in all other branches
+of Economy, I wish you to avoid all parade and bustle. Those ladies who
+pique themselves on the particular excellence of neatness, are very apt
+to forget that the decent order of the house should be designed to
+promote the convenience and pleasure of those who are to be in it; and
+that, if it is converted into a cause of trouble and constraint, their
+husbands and guests would be happier without it. The love of fame, that
+universal passion, will sometimes show itself on strangely insignificant
+subjects; and a person who acts for praise only, will always go beyond
+the mark in every thing. The best sign of a house being well governed
+is, that nobody's attention is called to any of the little affairs of
+it, but all goes on so well of course, that one is not led to make
+remarks upon any thing, nor to observe any extraordinary effort that
+produces the general result of ease and elegance, which prevails
+throughout.
+
+Domestic Economy, and the credit and happiness of a family, depend so
+much on the choice and proper regulation of servants, that it must be
+considered as an essential part both of prudence and duty. Those who
+keep a great number of them, have a heavy charge on their consciences,
+and ought to think themselves in some measure responsible for the morals
+and happiness of so many of their fellow-creatures, designed like
+themselves for immortality. Indeed the cares of domestic management are
+by no means lighter to persons of high rank and fortune, if they perform
+their duty, than to those of a retired station. It is with a family, as
+with a commonwealth, the more numerous and luxurious it becomes, the
+more difficult it is to govern it properly. Though the great are placed
+above the little attentions and employments, to which a private
+gentlewoman must dedicate much of her time, they have a larger and more
+important sphere of action, in which, if they are indolent and
+neglectful, the whole government of their house and fortune must fall
+into irregularity. Whatever number of deputies they may employ to
+overlook their affairs, they must themselves overlook those deputies,
+and be ultimately answerable for the conduct of the whole. The
+characters of those servants, who are entrusted with power over the
+rest, cannot be too nicely inquired into; and the mistress of the
+family must be ever watchful over their conduct; at the same time that
+she must carefully avoid every appearance of suspicion, which, whilst it
+wounds and hinders a worthy servant, only excites the artifice and
+cunning of an unjust one.
+
+None, who pretend to be friends of religion and virtue, should ever keep
+a domestic, however expert in business, whom they know to be guilty of
+immorality. How unbecoming a serious character is it, to say of such an
+one, "He is a bad man, but a good servant!" What a preference does it
+show of private convenience to the interests of society, which demand
+that vice should be constantly discountenanced, especially in every
+one's own household; and that the sober, honest, and industrious, should
+be sure of finding encouragement and reward, in the houses of those who
+maintain respectable characters! Such persons should be invariably
+strict and peremptory with regard to the behaviour of their servants, in
+every thing which concerns the general plan of domestic government; but
+should by no means be severe on small faults, since nothing so much
+weakens authority as frequent chiding. Whilst they require precise
+obedience to their rules, they must prove by their general conduct,
+that these rules are the effect, not of humour but of reason. It is
+wonderful that those, who are careful to conceal their ill-temper from
+strangers, should be indifferent how peevish and even contemptibly
+capricious they appear before their servants, on whom their good name so
+much depends, and from whom they can hope for no real respect, when
+their weakness is so apparent. When once a servant can say, "I cannot do
+any thing to please my mistress to-day," all authority is lost.
+
+Those, who continually change their servants, and complain of perpetual
+ill usage, have good reason to believe that the fault is in themselves,
+and that they do not know how to govern. Few indeed possess the skill to
+unite authority with kindness, or are capable of that steady and
+uniformly reasonable conduct, which alone can maintain true dignity, and
+command a willing and attentive obedience. Let us not forget that human
+nature is the same in all stations. If you can convince your servants,
+that you have a generous and considerate regard to their health, their
+interest, and their reasonable gratifications--that you impose no
+commands but what are fit and right, nor ever reprove but with justice
+and temper--why should you imagine that they will be insensible to the
+good they receive, or whence suppose them incapable of esteeming and
+prizing such a mistress? I could never, without indignation, hear it
+said, that "servants have no gratitude;" as if the condition of
+servitude excluded the virtues of humanity! The truth is, masters and
+mistresses have seldom any real claim to gratitude. They think highly of
+what they bestow, and little of the service they receive: they consider
+only their own convenience, and seldom reflect on the kind of life their
+servants pass with them: they do not ask themselves, whether it is such
+an one as is consistent with the preservation of their health, their
+morals, their leisure for religious duties, or with a proper share of
+the enjoyments and comforts of life. The dissipated manners, which now
+so generally prevail, perpetual absence from home, and attendance on
+assemblies or at public places, is, in all these respects, pernicious to
+the whole household, and to the _men-servants_ absolutely ruinous. Their
+only resource, in the tedious hours of waiting, whilst their masters and
+ladies are engaged in diversions, is to find out something of the same
+kind for themselves. Thus they are led into gaming, drinking,
+extravagance, and bad company; and thus, by a natural progression, they
+become distressed and dishonest. That attachment and affiance, which
+ought to subsist between the dependant and his protector, are destroyed.
+The master looks on his attendants as thieves and traitors, whilst they
+consider him as one whose money only gives him power over them, and who
+uses that power without the least regard to their welfare.
+
+"[26]The fool saith, I have no friends--I have no thanks for all my good
+deeds, and they that eat my bread speak evil of me." Thus foolishly do
+those complain, who choose their servants, as well as their friends,
+without discretion, or who treat them in a manner that no worthy person
+will bear.
+
+I have been often shocked at the want of politeness, by which masters
+and mistresses sometimes provoke impertinence from their servants: a
+gentleman, who would resent to death an imputation of falsehood, from
+his equal, will not scruple, without proof, to accuse his servant of it
+in the grossest terms. I have heard the most insolent contempt of the
+whole class expressed at a table, whilst five or six of them attended
+behind the chairs, who the company seemed to think were without senses,
+without understanding, or the natural feelings of resentment: these are
+cruel injuries, and will be retorted in some way or other.
+
+If you, my dear, live to be at the head of a family, I hope you will not
+only avoid all injurious treatment of your domestics, but behave to them
+with that courtesy and good breeding, which will heighten their respect
+as well as their affection. If, on any occasion, they do more than you
+have a right to require, give them, at least, the reward of seeing that
+they have obliged you. If, in your service, they have any hardship to
+endure, let them see that you are concerned for the necessity of
+imposing it. When they are sick, give them all the attention and every
+comfort in your power, with a free heart and kind countenance; "[27]not
+blemishing thy good deeds, not using uncomfortable words when thou
+givest any thing. Is not a word better than a gift? but both are with a
+gracious man. A fool will upbraid churlishly, and a gift of the envious
+consumeth the eyes."
+
+Whilst you thus endear yourself to all your servants, you must ever
+carefully avoid making a favourite of any; unjust distinctions, and weak
+indulgences to one, will of course excite envy and hatred in the rest.
+Your favourite may establish whatever abuses she pleases; none will dare
+to complain against her, and you will be kept ignorant of her ill
+practices, but will feel the effects of them, by finding all your other
+servants uneasy in their places, and, perhaps, by being obliged
+continually to change them.
+
+When they have spent a reasonable time in your service, and have behaved
+commendably, you ought to prefer them, if it is in your power, or to
+recommend them to a better provision. The hope of this keeps alive
+attention and gratitude, and is the proper support of industry. Like a
+parent, you should keep in view their establishment in some way, that
+may preserve their old age from indigence; and to this end, you should
+endeavour to inspire them with care to lay up part of their gains, and
+constantly discourage in them all vanity in dress, and extravagance in
+idle expenses. That you are bound to promote their eternal as well as
+temporal welfare, you cannot doubt, since, next to your children, they
+are your nearest dependants. You ought therefore to instruct them as far
+as you are able, furnish them with good books suited to their capacity,
+and see that they attend the public worship of God: and you must take
+care so to pass the sabbath-day as to allow them time, on that day, at
+least, for reading and reflection at home, as well as for attendance at
+church. Though this is part of your religious duty, I mention it here,
+because it is also a part of family management: for the same reason I
+shall here take occasion earnestly to recommend family prayers, which
+are useful to all, but more particularly to servants, who, being
+constantly employed, are led to the neglect of private prayer, and whose
+ignorance makes it very difficult for them to frame devotions for
+themselves, or to choose proper helps, amidst the numerous books of
+superstitious or enthusiastic nonsense, which are printed for that
+purpose. Even, in a political light, this practice is eligible, since
+the idea which it will give them of your regularity and decency, if not
+counteracted by other parts of your conduct, will probably increase
+their respect for you, and will be some restraint at least on their
+outward behaviour, though it should fail of that inward influence, which
+in general may be hoped from it.
+
+The prudent distribution of your charitable gifts may not improperly be
+considered as a branch of Economy, since the great duty of almsgiving
+cannot be truly fulfilled without a diligent attention so to manage the
+sums you can spare as to produce the most real good to your
+fellow-creatures. Many are willing to give money, who will not bestow
+their time and consideration, and who therefore often hurt the
+community, when they mean to do good to individuals. The larger are your
+funds, the stronger is the call upon you to exert your industry and care
+in disposing of them properly. It seems impossible to give rules for
+this, as every case is attended with a variety of circumstances, which
+must all be considered. In general, charity is most useful, when it is
+appropriated to animate the industry of the young, to procure some ease
+and comforts to old age, and to support in sickness those, whose daily
+labour is their only maintenance in health. They, who are fallen into
+indigence, from circumstances of ease and plenty, and in whom education
+and habit have added a thousand wants to those of nature, must be
+considered with the tenderest sympathy by every feeling heart. It is
+needless to say, that to such the bare support of existence is scarcely
+a benefit, and that the delicacy and liberality of the manner, in which
+relief is here offered, can alone make it a real act of kindness. In
+great families, the waste of provisions, sufficient for the support of
+many poor ones, is a shocking abuse of the gifts of Providence: nor
+should any lady think it beneath her to study the best means of
+preventing it, and of employing the refuse of luxury in the relief of
+the poor. Even the smallest families may give some assistance in this
+way, if care is taken that nothing be wasted.
+
+I am sensible, my dear child, that very little more can be gathered from
+what I have said on Economy, than the general importance of it, which
+cannot be too much impressed on your mind, since the natural turn of
+young people is to neglect and even to despise it; not distinguishing
+it from parsimony and narrowness of spirit. But, be assured, my dear,
+there can be no true generosity without it; and that the most enlarged
+and liberal mind will find itself not debased but ennobled by it.
+Nothing is more common than to see the same person, whose want of
+Economy is ruining his family, consumed with regret and vexation at the
+effect of his profusion; and, by endeavouring to save, in such trifles
+as will not amount to twenty pounds in a year, that which he wastes by
+hundreds, incur the character and suffer the anxieties of a miser,
+together with the misfortunes of a prodigal. A rational plan of expense
+will save you from all these corroding cares, and will give you the full
+and liberal enjoyment of what you spend. An air of ease, of hospitality,
+and frankness, will reign in your house, which will make it pleasant to
+your friends and to yourself. "Better is a morsel of bread," where this
+is found, than the most elaborate entertainment, with that air of
+constraint and anxiety, which often betrays the grudging heart through
+all the disguises of civility.
+
+That you, my dear, may unite in yourself the admirable virtues of
+Generosity and Economy, which will be the grace and crown of all your
+attainments, is the earnest wish of
+
+    Your ever affectionate.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] Ecclus. xx. 16.
+
+[27] Ecclus. xviii.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+ON POLITENESS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
+
+
+WHILST you labour to enrich your mind with the essential virtues of
+Christianity--with piety, benevolence, meekness, humility, integrity,
+and purity--and to make yourself useful in domestic management, I would
+not have my dear child neglect to pursue those graces and acquirements,
+which may set her virtue in the most advantageous light, adorn her
+manners, and enlarge her understanding: and this, not in the spirit of
+vanity, but in the innocent and laudable view of rendering herself more
+useful and pleasing to her fellow-creatures, and consequently more
+acceptable to God. Politeness of behaviour, and the attainment of such
+branches of knowledge and such arts and accomplishments as are proper to
+your sex, capacity, and station, will prove so valuable to yourself
+through life, and will make you so desirable a companion, that the
+neglect of them may reasonably be deemed a neglect of duty; since it is
+undoubtedly our duty to cultivate the powers entrusted to us, and to
+render ourselves as perfect as we can.
+
+You must have often observed, that nothing is so strong a recommendation
+on a slight acquaintance as _politeness_; nor does it lose its value by
+time or intimacy, when preserved, as it ought to be, in the nearest
+connections and strictest friendships. This delightful qualification--so
+universally admired and respected, but so rarely possessed in any
+eminent degree--cannot but be a considerable object of my wishes for
+you: nor should either of us be discouraged by the apprehension, that
+neither I am capable of teaching, nor you of learning it, in
+_perfection_; since whatever degree you attain will amply reward our
+pains.
+
+To be perfectly polite, one must have great _presence of mind_, with a
+delicate and quick _sense of propriety_; or, in other words, one should
+be able to form an instantaneous judgment of what is fittest to be said
+or done, on every occasion as it offers. I have known one or two
+persons, who seemed to owe this advantage to nature only, and to have
+the peculiar happiness of being born, as it were, with another sense, by
+which they had an immediate perception of what was proper and improper,
+in cases absolutely new to them: but this is the lot of very few; in
+general, propriety of behaviour must be the fruit of instruction, of
+observation, and reasoning; and is to be cultivated and improved like
+any other branch of knowledge or virtue. A good temper is a necessary
+groundwork of it; and, if to this is added a good understanding, applied
+industriously to this purpose, I think it can hardly fail of attaining
+all that is essential in it. Particular modes and ceremonies of
+behaviour vary in different countries, and even in different parts of
+the same town. These can only be learned by observation on the manners
+of those who are best skilled in them, and by keeping what is called
+good company. But the principles of politeness are the same in all
+places. Wherever there are human beings, it must be impolite to hurt the
+temper or to shock the passions of those you converse with. It must
+every where be good-breeding, to set your companions in the most
+advantageous point of light, by giving each the opportunity of
+displaying their most agreeable talents, and by carefully avoiding all
+occasions of exposing their defects;--to exert your own endeavours to
+please, and to amuse, but not to outshine them;--to give each their due
+share of attention and notice--not engrossing the talk, when others are
+desirous to speak, nor suffering the conversation to flag, for want of
+introducing something to continue or renew a subject;--not to push your
+advantages in argument so far that your antagonist cannot retreat with
+honour:--In short, it is an universal duty in society to consider others
+more than yourself--"in honour preferring one another." Christianity, in
+this rule, gives the best lesson of politeness; yet judgment must be
+used in the application of it: our humility must not be strained so far
+as to distress those we mean to honour; we must not quit our proper
+rank, nor force others to treat us improperly; or to accept, what we
+mean as an advantage, against their wills. We should be perfectly easy,
+and make others so, if we can. But this happy ease belongs perhaps to
+the last stage of perfection in politeness, and can hardly be attained
+till we are conscious that we know the rules of behaviour, and are not
+likely to offend against propriety. In a very young person, who has
+seen little or nothing of the world, this cannot be expected; but a real
+desire of obliging, and a respectful attention, will in a great measure
+supply the want of knowledge, and will make every one ready to overlook
+those deficiencies, which are owing only to the want of opportunities to
+observe the manners of polite company. You ought not therefore to be too
+much depressed by the consciousness of such deficiencies, but endeavour
+to get above the shame of wanting what you have not had the means of
+acquiring. Nothing heightens this false shame, and the awkwardness it
+occasions, so much as vanity. The humble mind, contented to be known for
+what it is, and unembarrassed by the dread of betraying its ignorance,
+is present to itself, and can command the use of understanding, which
+will generally preserve you from any great indecorum, and will secure
+you from that ridicule, which is the punishment of affectation rather
+than of ignorance. People of sense will never despise you, whilst you
+act naturally; but, the moment you attempt to step out of your own
+character, you make yourself an object of just ridicule.
+
+Many are of opinion, that a very young woman can hardly be too silent
+and reserved in company; and, certainly, nothing is so disgusting in
+youth as pertness and self-conceit. But modesty should be distinguished
+from an awkward bashfulness, and silence should be only enjoined, when
+it would be forward and impertinent to talk. There are many proper
+opportunities for a girl, young even as you are, to speak in company,
+with advantage to herself; and, if she does it without conceit or
+affectation, she will always be more pleasing than those, who sit like
+statues, without sense or motion. When you are silent, your looks should
+show your attention and presence to the company: a respectful and
+earnest attention is the most delicate kind of praise, and never fails
+to gratify and please. You must appear to be interested in what is said,
+and endeavour to improve yourself by it: if you understand the subject
+well enough to ask now and then a pertinent question, or if you can
+mention any circumstances relating to it that have not before been taken
+notice of, this will be an agreeable way of showing your willingness to
+make a part of the company; and will probably draw a particular
+application to you, from some one or other. Then, when called upon, you
+must not draw back as unwilling to answer, nor confine yourself merely
+to _yes_, or _no_, as is the custom of many young persons, who become
+intolerable burdens to the mistress of the house, whilst she strives in
+vain to draw them into notice, and to give them some share in the
+conversation.
+
+In your father's house it is certainly proper for you to pay civility to
+the guests, and to talk to them in your turn--with modesty and
+respect--if they encourage you to it. Young ladies of near your own age,
+who visit there, fall of course to your share to entertain. But, whilst
+you exert yourself to make their visit agreeable to them, you must not
+forget what is due to the elder part of the company, nor, by whispering
+and laughing apart, give them cause to suspect, what is too often true,
+that they themselves are the subjects of your mirth. It is so shocking
+an outrage against society, to talk of, or laugh at, any person in his
+own presence, that one would only think it could be committed by the
+vulgar. I am sorry however to say, that I have too often observed it
+amongst young ladies, who little deserved that title whilst they
+indulged their overflowing spirits in defiance of decency and
+good-nature. The desire of laughing will make such inconsiderate young
+persons find a subject of ridicule, even in the most respectable
+character. Old age, which--if not disgraced by vice or affectation--has
+the justest title to reverence, will be mimicked and insulted; and even
+personal defects and infirmities will too often excite contempt and
+abuse, instead of compassion. If you have ever been led into such an
+action, my dear girl, call it seriously to mind, when you are confessing
+your faults to Almighty God; and be fully persuaded, that it is not one
+of the least which you have to repent of. You will be immediately
+convinced of this, by comparing it with the great rule of justice, that
+of doing to all as you would they should do unto you. No person living
+is insensible to the injury of contempt, nor is there any talent so
+invidious, or so certain to create ill-will, as that of ridicule. The
+natural effects of years, which all hope to attain, and the infirmities
+of the body, which none can prevent, are surely of all others the most
+improper objects of mirth. There are subjects enough that are innocent,
+and on which you may freely indulge the vivacity of your spirits; for I
+would not condemn you to perpetual seriousness; on the contrary, I
+delight in a joyous temper, at all ages, and particularly at your's.
+Delicate and good-natured raillery amongst equal friends, if pointed
+only against such trifling errors as the owner can hardly join to laugh
+at, or such qualities as they do not pique themselves upon, is both
+agreeable and useful; but then it must be offered in perfect kindness
+and sincere good-humour; if tinctured with the least degree of malice,
+its sting becomes venomous and detestable. The person rallied should
+have liberty and ability to return the jest, which must be dropped upon
+the first appearance of its affecting the temper.
+
+You will wonder, perhaps, when I tell you, that there are some
+characters in the world, which I would freely allow you to laugh
+at--though not in their presence. Extravagant vanity and affectation are
+the natural subjects of ridicule, which is their proper punishment. When
+you see old people, instead of maintaining the dignity of their years,
+struggling against nature to conceal them, affecting the graces, and
+imitating the follies of youth--or a young person assuming the
+importance and solemnity of old age--I do not wish you to be insensible
+to the ridicule of such absurd deviations from truth and nature. You
+are welcome to laugh, when you leave the company, provided you lay up a
+lesson for yourself at the same time; and remember that, unless you
+improve your mind whilst you are young, you also will be an
+insignificant fool in old age; and that, if you are presuming and
+arrogant in youth, you are as ridiculous as an old woman with a
+head-dress of flowers.
+
+In a young lady's behaviour towards gentlemen, great delicacy is
+certainly required: yet, I believe, women oftener err from too great a
+consciousness of the supposed views of men, than from inattention to
+those views, or want of caution against them. You are at present rather
+too young to want rules on this subject; but I could wish that you
+should behave almost in the same manner three years hence as now; and
+retain the simplicity and innocence of childhood, with the sense and
+dignity of riper years. Men of loose morals or impertinent behaviour
+must always be avoided: or, if at any time you are obliged to be in
+their company, you must keep them at a distance by cold civility. But,
+with regard to those gentlemen whom your parents think it proper for you
+to converse with, and who give no offence by their own manners, to them
+I wish you to behave with the same frankness and simplicity as if they
+were of your own sex. If you have natural modesty, you will never
+transgress its bounds, whilst you converse with a man, as one rational
+creature with another, without any view to the possibility of a lover or
+admirer, where nothing of that kind is professed; where it is, I hope
+you will ever be equally a stranger to coquetry and prudery; and that
+you will be able to distinguish the effects of real esteem and love from
+idle gallantry and unmeaning fine speeches: the slighter notice you take
+of these last, the better; and that, rather with good-humoured contempt
+than with affected gravity: but the first must be treated with
+seriousness and well-bred sincerity; not giving the least encouragement,
+which you do not mean, nor assuming airs of contempt, where it is not
+deserved. But this belongs to a subject, which I have touched upon in a
+former letter. I have already told you, that you will be unsafe in every
+step which leads to a serious attachment, unless you consult your
+parents, from the first moment you apprehend any thing of that sort to
+be intended: let them be your first confidants, and let every part of
+your conduct, in such a case, be particularly directed by them.
+
+With regard to accomplishments, the chief of these is a competent share
+of reading, well chosen and properly regulated; and of this I shall
+speak more largely hereafter. Dancing and the knowledge of the French
+tongue are now so universal, that they cannot be dispensed with in the
+education of a gentlewoman; and indeed they both are useful as well as
+ornamental; the first, by forming and strengthening the body, and
+improving the carriage; the second, by opening a large field of
+entertainment and improvement for the mind. I believe there are more
+agreeable books of female literature in French than in any other
+language; and, as they are not less commonly talked of than English
+books, you must often feel mortified in company, if you are too ignorant
+to read them. Italian would be easily learnt after French, and, if you
+have leisure and opportunity, may be worth your gaining, though in your
+station of life it is by no means necessary.
+
+To write a free and legible hand, and to understand common arithmetic,
+are indispensable requisites.
+
+As to music and drawing, I would only wish you to follow as Genius
+leads: you have some turn for the first, and I should be sorry to see
+you neglect a talent, which will at least afford you an innocent
+amusement, though it should not enable you to give much pleasure to your
+friends. I think the use of both these arts is more for yourself than
+for others: it is but seldom that a private person has leisure or
+application enough to gain any high degree of excellence in them; and
+your own partial family are perhaps the only persons who would not much
+rather be entertained by the performance of a professor than by your's:
+but, with regard to yourself, it is of great consequence to have the
+power of filling up agreeably those intervals of time, which too often
+hang heavily on the hands of a woman, if her lot be cast in a retired
+situation. Besides this, it is certain that even a small share of
+knowledge in these arts will heighten your pleasure in the performances
+of others: the taste must be improved before it can be susceptible of an
+exquisite relish for any of the imitative arts: an unskilful ear is
+seldom capable of comprehending _harmony_, or of distinguishing the most
+_delicate_ charms of _melody_. The pleasure of seeing fine paintings, or
+even of contemplating the beauties of Nature, must be greatly heightened
+by our being conversant with the rules of drawing, and by the habit of
+considering the most picturesque objects. As I look upon taste to be an
+inestimable fund of innocent delight, I wish you to lose no opportunity
+of improving it, and of cultivating in yourself the relish of such
+pleasures as will not interfere with a rational scheme of life, nor lead
+you into dissipation, with all its attendant evils of vanity and luxury.
+
+As to the learned languages, though I respect the abilities and
+application of those ladies who have attained them, and who make a
+modest and proper use of them, yet I would by no means advise you--or
+any other woman who is not strongly impelled by a particular genius--to
+engage in such studies. The labour and time which they require are
+generally incompatible with our natures and proper employments: the real
+knowledge which they supply is not essential, since the English, French,
+or Italian tongues afford tolerable translations of all the most
+valuable productions of antiquity, besides the multitude of original
+authors which they furnish: and these are much more than sufficient to
+store your mind with as many ideas as you will know how to manage. The
+danger of pedantry and presumption in a woman--of her exciting envy in
+one sex and jealousy in the other--of her exchanging the graces of
+imagination for the severity and preciseness of a scholar, would be, I
+own, sufficient to frighten me from the ambition of seeing my girl
+remarkable for learning. Such objections are perhaps still stronger with
+regard to the abstruse sciences.
+
+Whatever tends to embellish your fancy, to enlighten your understanding,
+and furnish you with ideas to reflect upon when alone, or to converse
+upon in company, is certainly well worth your acquisition. The wretched
+expedient, to which ignorance so often drives our sex, of calling in
+slander to enliven the tedious insipidity of conversation, would alone
+be a strong reason for enriching your mind with innocent subjects of
+entertainment, which may render you a fit companion for persons of sense
+and knowledge, from whom you may reap the most desirable improvements;
+for, though I think reading indispensably necessary to the due
+cultivation of your mind, I prefer the conversation of such persons to
+every other method of instruction: but this you cannot hope to enjoy,
+unless you qualify yourself to bear a part in such society, by, at
+least, a moderate share of reading.
+
+Though _religion_ is the most important of all your pursuits, there are
+not many _books_ on that subject which I should recommend to you at
+present. Controversy is wholly improper at your age, and it is also too
+soon for you to enquire into the evidence of the truth of revelation, or
+to study the difficult parts of scripture: when these shall come before
+you, there are many excellent books, from which you may receive great
+assistance. At present, practical divinity--clear of superstition and
+enthusiasm, but addressed to the heart, and written with a warmth and
+spirit capable of exciting in it pure and rational piety--is what I wish
+you to meet with.
+
+The principal study, I would recommend, is _history_. I know of nothing
+equally proper to entertain and improve at the same time, or that is so
+likely to form and strengthen your judgment, and, by giving you a
+liberal and comprehensive view of human nature, in some measure to
+supply the defect of that experience, which is usually attained too late
+to be of much service to us. Let me add, that more materials for
+conversation are supplied by this kind of knowledge, than by almost any
+other; but I have more to say to you on this subject in a future letter.
+
+The faculty, in which women usually most excel, is that of imagination;
+and, when properly cultivated, it becomes the source of all that is most
+charming in society. Nothing you can read will so much contribute to the
+improvement of this faculty as _poetry_; which, if applied to its true
+ends, adds a thousand charms to those sentiments of religion, virtue,
+generosity, and delicate tenderness, by which the human soul is exalted
+and refined. I hope you are not deficient in natural taste for this
+enchanting art, but that you will find it one of your greatest pleasures
+to be conversant with the best poets, whom our language can bring you
+acquainted with, particularly those immortal ornaments of our nation,
+_Shakspeare_ and _Milton_. The first is not only incomparably the
+noblest genius in dramatic poetry, but the greatest master of nature,
+and the most perfect characterizer of men and manners: in this last
+point of view, I think him inestimable; and I am persuaded that, in the
+course of your life, you will seldom find occasion to correct those
+observations on human nature, and those principles of morality, which
+you may extract from his capital pieces. You will at first find his
+language difficult; but, if you take the assistance of a friend, who
+understands it well, you will by degrees enter into his manner of
+phraseology, and perceive a thousand beauties, which at first lay buried
+in obsolete words and uncouth constructions. The admirable _Essay on
+Shakespeare_, which has lately appeared, so much to the honour of our
+sex, will open your mind to the peculiar excellences of this author, and
+enlighten your judgment on dramatic poetry in general, with such force
+of reason and brilliancy of wit, as cannot fail to delight as well as
+instruct you.
+
+Our great English poet, Milton, is as far above my praise as his
+_Paradise Lost_ is above any thing which I am able to read, except the
+sacred writers. The sublimity of his subject sometimes leads him into
+abstruseness; but many parts of his great poem are easy to all
+comprehensions, and must find their way directly to every heart by the
+tenderness and delicacy of his sentiments, in which he is not less
+strikingly excellent than in the richness and sublimity of his
+imagination. Addison's criticism in the Spectators, written with that
+beauty, elegance, and judgment, which distinguish all his writings, will
+assist you to understand and to relish this poem.
+
+It is needless to recommend to you the translations of Homer and Virgil,
+which every body reads that reads at all. You must have heard that Homer
+is esteemed the father of poetry, the original from whence all the
+moderns--not excepting Milton himself--borrow some of their greatest
+beauties, and from whom they extract those rules for composition, which
+are found most agreeable to nature and true taste. Virgil, you know, is
+the next in rank among the classics: you will read his Eneid with
+extreme pleasure, if ever you are able to read Italian, in Annibal
+Caro's translation; the idiom of the Latin and Italian languages being
+more alike, it is, I believe, much closer, yet preserves more of the
+spirit of the original than the English translations.
+
+For the rest, fame will point out to you the most considerable of our
+poets; and I would not exclude any of name among those whose morality is
+unexceptionable: but of poets, as of all other authors, I wish you to
+read only such as are properly recommended to you--since there are many
+who debase their divine art by abusing it to the purposes of vice and
+impiety. If you could read poetry with a judicious friend, who could
+lead your judgment to a true discernment of its beauties and defects, it
+would inexpressibly heighten both your pleasure and improvement. But,
+before you enter upon this, some acquaintance with the _Heathen
+Mythology_ is necessary. I think that you must before now have met with
+some book under the title of _The Pantheon_[28]: and, if once you know
+as much of the gods and goddesses as the most common books on the
+subject will tell you, the rest may be learned by reading Homer: but
+then you must particularly attend to him in this view. I do not expect
+you to penetrate those numerous mysteries--those amazing depths of
+morality, religion, and metaphysics--which some pretend to have
+discovered in his mythology, but to know the names and principal offices
+of the gods and goddesses, with some idea of their moral meaning, seems
+requisite to the understanding almost any poetical composition. As an
+instance of the _moral meaning_ I speak of, I will mention an
+observation of Bossuet. That Homer's poetry was particularly recommended
+to the Greeks by the superiority which he ascribes to them over the
+Asiatics: this superiority is shown in the Iliad, not only in the
+conquest of Asia by the Greeks, and in the actual destruction of its
+capital, but in the division and arrangement of the gods, who took part
+with the contending nations. On the side of Asia was _Venus_--that is,
+sensual passion--pleasure--and effeminacy. On the side of Greece was
+_Juno_--that is, matronly gravity and conjugal love; together with
+_Mercury_--invention and eloquence--and _Jupiter_--or political wisdom.
+On the side of Asia was _Mars_, who represents brutal valour and blind
+fury. On that of Greece was _Pallas_--that is, military discipline, and
+bravery, guarded by judgment.
+
+This, and many other instances that might be produced, will show you how
+much of the beauty of the poet's art must be lost to you, without some
+notion of these allegorical personages. Boys, in their school learning,
+have this kind of knowledge impressed on their minds by a variety of
+books: but women, who do not go through the same course of instruction,
+are very apt to forget what little they read or hear on the subject: I
+advise you, therefore, never to lose an opportunity of enquiring into
+the meaning of any thing you meet with in poetry, or in painting,
+alluding to the history of any of the heathen deities, and of obtaining
+from some friend an explanation of its connection with true history, or
+of its allegorical reference to morality or to physics.
+
+Natural Philosophy, in the largest sense of the expression, is too wide
+a field for you to undertake; but the study of nature, as far as may
+suit your powers and opportunities, you will find a most sublime
+entertainment: the objects of this study are all the stupendous works of
+the Almighty Hand, that lie within the reach of our observation. In the
+works of man perfection is aimed at, but it can only be found in those
+of the Creator. The contemplation of perfection must produce delight,
+and every natural object around you would offer this delight, if it
+could attract your attention. If you survey the earth, every leaf that
+trembles in the breeze, every blade of grass beneath your feet, is a
+wonder as absolutely beyond the reach of human art to imitate as the
+construction of the universe. Endless pleasures, to those who have a
+taste for them, might be derived from the endless variety to be found in
+the composition of this globe and its inhabitants. The fossil--the
+vegetable--and the animal world--gradually rising in the scale of
+excellence--the innumerable species of each, still preserving their
+specific differences from age to age, yet of which no two individuals
+are ever perfectly alike--afford such a range for observation and
+enquiry, as might engross the whole term of our short life, if followed
+minutely. Besides all the animal creation obvious to our unassisted
+senses, the eye, aided by philosophical inventions, sees myriads of
+creatures, which by the ignorant are not known to have existence: it
+sees all nature teem with life; every fluid--each part of every
+vegetable and animal--swarm with its peculiar inhabitants--invisible to
+the naked eye, but as perfect in all their parts, and enjoying life as
+indisputably, as the elephant or the whale.
+
+But if from the earth, and from these minute wonders, the philosophic
+eye is raised towards the heavens, what a stupendous scene there opens
+to its view!--those brilliant lights that sparkle to the eye of
+ignorance as gems adorning the sky, or as lamps to guide the traveller
+by night, assume an importance that amazes the understanding!--they
+appear to be _worlds_, formed like ours for a variety of inhabitants--or
+_suns_, enlightening numberless other worlds too distant for our
+discovery! I shall ever remember the astonishment and rapture with which
+my mind received this idea, when I was about your age: it was then
+perfectly new to me, and it is impossible to describe the sensations I
+felt from the glorious boundless prospect of infinite beneficence
+bursting at once upon my imagination! Who can contemplate such a scene
+unmoved? If our curiosity is excited to enter upon this noble enquiry, a
+few books on the subject, and those of the easiest sort, with some of
+the common experiments, may be sufficient for your purpose--which is to
+enlarge your mind, and to excite in it the most ardent gratitude and
+profound adoration towards that great and good Being, who exerts his
+boundless power in communicating various portions of happiness through
+all the immense regions of creation.
+
+_Moral_ philosophy, as it relates to human actions, is of still higher
+importance than the study of nature. The works of the ancients on this
+subject are universally said to be entertaining as well as instructive,
+by those who can read them in their original languages; and such of them
+as are well translated will undoubtedly, some years hence, afford you
+great pleasure and improvement. You will also find many agreeable and
+useful books, written originally in French, and in English, on morals
+and manners: for the present, there are works, which, without assuming
+the solemn air of philosophy, will enlighten your mind on these
+subjects, and introduce instruction in an easier dress: of this sort are
+many of the moral essays, that have appeared in periodical papers,
+which, when excellent in their kind--as are the _Spectators_,
+_Guardians_, _Ramblers_, and _Adventurers_--are particularly useful to
+young people, as they comprehend a great variety of subjects--introduce
+many ideas and observations that are new to them--and lead to a habit of
+reflecting on the characters and events that come before them in real
+life, which I consider as the best exercise of the understanding.
+
+Books on taste and criticism will hereafter be more proper for you than
+at present: whatever can improve your discernment, and render your taste
+elegant and just, must be of great consequence to your enjoyments as
+well as to the embellishment of your understanding.
+
+I would by no means exclude the kind of reading, which young people are
+naturally most fond of: though I think the greatest care should be taken
+in the choice of those _fictitious stories_ that so enchant the mind;
+most of which tend to inflame the passions of youth, whilst the chief
+purpose of education should be to moderate and restrain them. Add to
+this, that both the writing and sentiments of most novels and romances
+are such as are only proper to vitiate your style, and to mislead your
+heart and understanding. The expectation of extraordinary
+adventures--which seldom ever happen to the sober and prudent part of
+mankind--and the admiration of extravagant passions and absurd conduct,
+are some of the usual fruits of this kind of reading; which, when a
+young woman makes it her chief amusement, generally render her
+ridiculous in conversation, and miserably wrong-headed in her pursuits
+and behaviour. There are however works of this class in which excellent
+morality is joined with the most lively pictures of the human mind, and
+with all that can entertain the imagination and interest the heart. But
+I must repeatedly exhort you, never to read any thing of the sentimental
+kind without taking the judgment of your best friends in the choice;
+for, I am persuaded that, the indiscriminate reading of such kind of
+books corrupts more female hearts than any other cause whatsoever.
+
+Before I close this correspondence, I shall point out the course of
+history I wish you to pursue, and give you my thoughts of geography and
+chronology, some knowledge of both being, in my opinion, necessary to
+the reading of history with any advantage.
+
+    I am, my dearest Niece,
+
+      Your ever affectionate.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[28] There has been lately published a work particularly adapted to the
+use of young ladies, entitled, "_A Dictionary of Polite Literature, or
+Fabulous History of Heathen Gods and Illustrious Heroes._ Two Vols. with
+Plates."
+
+       _Editor._
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+ON GEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY.
+
+
+    _MY DEAREST NIECE_,
+
+I HAVE told you, that you will not be able to read history, with much
+pleasure or advantage, without some little knowledge of _Geography_ and
+_Chronology_. They are both very easily attained--I mean in the degree
+that will be necessary for you. You must be sensible that you can know
+but little of a country, whose situation with respect to the rest of the
+world you are entirely ignorant of; and, that it is to little purpose
+that you are able to mention a fact, if you cannot nearly ascertain the
+_time_ in which it happened, which alone, in many cases, gives
+importance to the fact itself.
+
+In Geography--the easiest of all sciences, and the best adapted to the
+capacity of children--I suppose you to have made some beginning; to know
+at least the figure of the earth--the supposed lines--the degrees--how
+to measure distances--and a few of the common terms: If you do not
+already know these, two or three lessons will be sufficient to attain
+them; the rest is the work of memory, and is easily gained by reading
+with maps; for I do not wish your knowledge to be exact and masterly;
+but such only as is necessary for the purpose of understanding history,
+and, without which, even a newspaper would be unintelligible. It may be
+sufficient for this end, if, with respect to _ancient_ Geography, you
+have a general idea of the situation of all the great states, without
+being able precisely to ascertain their limits. But, in the _modern_,
+you ought to know the bounds and extent of every state in Europe, and
+its situation with respect to the rest. The other parts of the world
+will require less accurate knowledge, except with regard to the European
+settlements.
+
+It may be an useful and agreeable method, when you learn the situation
+of any important country, to join with that knowledge some one or two
+leading facts or circumstances concerning it, so that its particular
+property may always put you in mind of the situation, and the situation,
+in like manner, recal the particular property. When, for instance, you
+learn in what part of the globe to find Ethiopia, to be told at the same
+time, that, in that vast unknown tract of country, the Christian
+religion was once the religion of the state, would be of service;
+because the geographical and historical knowledge would assist each
+other. Thus, to join with Egypt, _the nurse and parent of arts and of
+superstition_--with Persia, _shocking despotism and perpetual
+revolutions_--with ancient Greece, _freedom and genius_--with Scythia,
+_hardiness and conquest_, are hints which you may make use of as you
+please. Perhaps annexing to any country the idea of some familiar form
+which it most resembles may at first assist you to retain a general
+notion of it; thus Italy has been called a _boot_, and Europe compared
+to a _woman sitting_.
+
+The difference of the ancient and modern names of places is somewhat
+perplexing; the most important should be known by both names at the same
+time, and you must endeavour to fix a few of those which are of most
+consequence so strongly in your mind, by thinking of them, and being
+often told of them, that the ancient name should always call up the
+modern one to your memory, and the modern the ancient: Such as the AEgean
+Sea, now _The Archipelago_--The Peloponnesus, now _The Morea_--Crete,
+_Candia_--Gaul, _France_--Babylon, _Bagdat_--Byzantium--to which the
+Romans transplanted their seat of empire--_Constantinople_, &c.
+
+There have been so many ingenious contrivances to make Geography easy
+and amusing, that I cannot hope to add any thing of much service; I
+would only prevail with you not to neglect acquiring, by whatever method
+pleases you best, that share of knowledge in it which you will find
+necessary, and which is so easily attained; and I entreat that you would
+learn it in such a manner as to fix it in your mind, so that it may not
+be lost and forgotten among other childish acquisitions, but that it may
+remain ready for use through the rest of your life.
+
+Chronology indeed has more of difficulty; but if you do not bewilder
+yourself by attempting to learn too much and too minutely at first, you
+need not despair of gaining enough for the purpose of reading history
+with pleasure and utility.
+
+Chronology may be naturally divided into three parts, _the
+Ancient_--_the Middle_--and _the Modern_. With respect to all these, the
+best direction that can be given is to fix on some periods or epochas,
+which, by being often mentioned and thought of, explained and referred
+to, will at last be so deeply engraven on the memory, that they will be
+ready to present themselves whenever you call for them: these indeed
+should be few, and ought to be well chosen for their importance, since
+they are to serve as elevated stations to the mind, from which it may
+look backwards and forwards upon a great variety of facts.
+
+Till your more learned friends shall supply you with better, I will take
+the liberty to recommend the following, which I have found of service to
+myself.
+
+In the ancient chronology, you will find there were four thousand years
+from the creation to the redemption of man; and that Noah and his family
+were miraculously preserved in the ark 1650 years after Adam's creation.
+
+As there is no history, except that in the Bible, of any thing before
+the flood, we may set out from that great event, which happened, as I
+have said above, in the year of the world 1650.
+
+The 2350 years, which passed from the deluge to our Saviour's birth, may
+be thus divided.--There have been four successive _Empires_, called
+_Universal_, because they extended over a great part of the then known
+world: these are usually distinguished by the name of _The Four great
+Monarchies_: the three first of them are included in ancient Chronology,
+and began and ended in the following manner.
+
+1st, The ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, founded by Nimrod in the year of the world
+1800, ended under Sardanapalus in 3250, endured 1450 years.
+
+     The Median--though not accounted one of the four great
+     monarchies, being conquests of rebels on the Assyrian
+     empire--comes in here for about 200 years.
+
+2d, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, which began under Cyrus, in the year of the
+world 3450, ended in Darius in 3670, before Christ 330, lasted a little
+more than 200 years.
+
+3d, THE GRECIAN EMPIRE, began under Alexander the Great in 3670, was
+soon after his death dismembered by his successors; but the different
+parcels into which they divided it were possessed by their respective
+families, till the famous Cleopatra, the last of the race of Ptolemy,
+one of Alexander's captains who reigned in Egypt, was conquered by
+Julius Caesar, about half a century before our Lord's birth, which is a
+term of about 300 years.
+
+Thus you see that, from the deluge to the establishment of the first
+great monarchy--the
+
+                                      Years
+    Assyrian--is                         150
+    The Assyrian empire continued       1450
+    The Median                           200
+    The Persian                          200
+    The Grecian                          300
+    From Julius Caesar, with whom began
+      the fourth great monarchy,--_viz._
+      the Roman--to Christ                50
+                                        ----
+                              In all    2350
+
+years; the term from the deluge to Christ.
+
+I do not give you these dates and periods as correctly true, for I have
+taken only round numbers, as more easily retained by the memory; so
+that, when you come to consult chronological books or tables, you will
+find variances of some years between them and the above accounts; but
+precise exactness is not material to a beginner.
+
+I offer this short table as a little specimen of what you may easily do
+for yourself; but even this sketch, slight as it is, will give you a
+general notion of the ancient history of the world, from the deluge to
+the birth of Christ.
+
+Within this period flourished the Grecian and Roman republics, with the
+history and chronology of which it will be expected you should be
+tolerably well acquainted; and indeed you will find nothing in the
+records of mankind so entertaining. Greece was divided into many petty
+states, whose various revolutions and annals you can never hope
+distinctly to remember; you are therefore to consider them as forming
+together one great kingdom--like the Germanic body, or the United
+Provinces--composed separately of different governments, but sometimes
+acting with united force for their common interest. The _Lacedemonian_
+government, formed by Lycurgus in the year of the world 3100--and the
+_Athenian_, regulated by Solon about the year 3440--will chiefly engage
+your attention.
+
+In pursuing the _Grecian_ chronology, you need only perhaps make one
+stand or epocha, at the time _Socrates_, that wisest of philosophers,
+whom you must have heard of, who lived about 3570 years from the
+creation, and about 430 before Christ: for within the term of 150 years
+_before_ Socrates, and 200 _after_ him, will fall in most of the great
+events and illustrious characters of the Grecian history.
+
+I must inform you that the Grecian method of dating time was by
+_Olympiads_; that is, four complete years; so called from the
+celebration, every fifty years, of the Olympic Games, which were
+contests in all the manly exercises, such as wrestling, boxing, running,
+chariot-racing, &c. They were instituted in honour of Jupiter and took
+their name from Olympia, a city of Elis, near which they were performed:
+they were attended by all ranks of people, from every state in Greece;
+the noblest youths were eager to obtain the prize of victory, which was
+no other than an olive crown, but esteemed the most distinguishing
+ornament. These games continued all the time that Greece retained any
+spark of liberty; and with them begins the authentic history of that
+country--all before being considered as fabulous. You must therefore
+endeavour to remember, that they began in the year of the world 3228;
+after the flood 1570 years; after the destruction of Troy 400; before
+the building of Rome 23; before Cyrus about 200; and 770 before Christ.
+If you cannot retain _all_ these dates, at least you must not fail to
+remember the near coincidence of the first _Olympiad_ with the _building
+of Rome_, which is of great consequence, because, as the Grecians
+reckoned time by Olympiads, the Romans dated from the building of their
+city; and as these two eras are within 23 years of each other, you may,
+for the ease of memory, suppose them to begin together, in the year of
+the world 3228.
+
+In reading the history of the _Roman Republic_, which continued in that
+form of government to the time of Julius Caesar's dictatorship, about the
+year of the world 3960, and about 48 years before Christ, you will make
+as many epochas as you shall find convenient: I will mention only two;
+the sacking of Rome by the Gauls, which happened in the year of the
+world 3620, in the 365th year of the city, in the 97th Olympiad, before
+Christ 385, and about 30 years before the birth of Alexander. The
+second epocha may be the 608th year of the city, when, after three
+obstinate wars, Carthage was destroyed, and Rome was left without a
+rival.
+
+Perhaps the following bad verses, which were given me when I was young,
+may help to fix in your mind the important eras of the Roman and Grecian
+dates: You must not laugh at them, for chronologers do not pique
+themselves on their poetry, but they make use of numbers and rhymes
+merely as assistants to memory, being so easily learned by heart.
+
+    "Rome and Olympiads bear the same date,
+    Three thousand two hundred and twenty-eight.
+    In three hundred and sixty[29] was Rome sack'd and torn,
+    Thirty summers before Alexander was born."
+
+You will allow that what I have said in these few pages is very easily
+learned; yet, little as it is, I will venture to say that, was you as
+perfectly mistress of it as of your alphabet, you might answer several
+questions relating to ancient chronology more readily than many who
+pretend to know something of this science. One is not so much required
+to tell the precise year, in which a great man lived, as to know, with
+whom he was contemporary in other parts of the world. I would know then,
+from the slight sketch above given, about what year of the Roman
+republic Alexander the Great lived. You would quickly run over in your
+mind, "Alexander lived in the 3670th year of the world, 330 before
+Christ; consequently he must have flourished about the 400th _of Rome_,
+which had endured 750 years when Christ was born." Or, suppose it was
+asked, what was the condition of Greece, at the time of the sacking of
+Rome by the Gauls; had any particular state, or the united body, chosen
+then to take advantage of the misfortunes of the Romans? You consider
+that the 365th year of the city--the date of that event---is 385 before
+Christ; consequently this must have happened about the time of Philip of
+Macedon, father of Alexander, when the Grecians under such a leader
+might have extirpated the Roman nation from the earth, had they ever
+heard of them, or thought the conquest of them an object worthy their
+ambition.
+
+Numberless questions might be answered in like manner, even on this very
+narrow circumscribed plan, if it was completely mastered. I might
+require that other periods or epochas should be learned with the same
+exactness; but these may serve to explain my meaning, and to show you
+how practicable and easy it is. One thing, however, I must
+observe--though perhaps it is sufficiently obvious--which is, that you
+can make no use of this sketch of ancient Chronology, nor even hope to
+retain it, till you have read the ancient _history_. When you have gone
+through Rollin's Histoire Ancienne _once_, then will be the time to fix
+the ancient Chronology deep in your mind, which will very much enhance
+the pleasure and use of reading it a _second_ time; for you must
+remember, that nobody reads a history to much purpose, who does not go
+over it more than once.
+
+When you have got through your course of ancient history, and are come
+to the more modern, you must then have recourse to the second of the
+three divisions; viz. _middle Chronology_: containing about 800 years,
+from the birth of our Lord, and from within 50 years of the rise of the
+Roman empire, to Charlemagne, who died in 814.
+
+This period, except in the earliest part of it, is too much involved in
+obscurity to require a very minute knowledge of its history: it may be
+sufficient to fix two or three of the most singular circumstances by
+their proper dates.
+
+The first epocha to be observed is the year of our Lord 330, when
+Constantine, the first Christian emperor, who restored peace to the
+oppressed and persecuted church, removed the seat of empire from Rome to
+Byzantium, called afterwards from him Constantinople. After his time,
+about the year 400, began those irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and
+other northern nations, who settled themselves all over the western
+parts of the Roman empire, and laid the foundation of the several states
+which now subsist in Europe.
+
+The next epocha is the year 622--for the ease of memory say 600--when
+Mahomet, by his successful imposture, became the founder of the Saracen
+empire, which his followers extended over a great part of Asia and
+Africa, and over some provinces of Europe. At the same time, St.
+Gregory, bishop of Rome, began to assume a spiritual power, which grew
+by degrees into that absolute and enormous dominion, so long maintained
+by the popes over the greatest part of Christendom. St. Augustine--a
+missionary from St. Gregory--about this time, began the conversion of
+Great Britain to Christianity.
+
+The third and concluding epocha in this division, is the year 800; when
+Charlemagne, king of France--after having subdued the Saxons, repressed
+the Saracens, and established the temporal dominion of the pope by a
+grant of considerable territories--was elected emperor of the west, and
+protector of the church. The date of this event corresponds with that
+remarkable period of our English history--the union of the Heptarchy, or
+seven kingdoms, under Egbert.
+
+As to the _third_ part of Chronology, namely, the _Modern_, I shall
+spare you and myself all trouble about at present; for if you follow the
+course of reading which I shall recommend, it will be some years before
+you reach modern history; and, when you do, you will easily make periods
+for yourself, if you do but remember carefully to examine the dates as
+you read, and to impress on your memory those of very remarkable reigns
+or events.
+
+I fear you are by this time tired of Chronology; but my sole intention,
+in what I have said, is to convince you that it is a science not out of
+your reach, in the moderate degree that is requisite for you; _the last
+volume of the Ancient Universal History_ is the best English
+Chronological Work I know; if that does not come in your way, there is
+an excellent French one, called Tablettes Chronologiques de l'Histoire
+Universelle, Du Fresnoy, 3 tomes, Paris; there is also a _chart_ of
+universal history, including Chronology, and a _Biographical_ chart,
+both by Priestley, which you may find of service to you.
+
+Indeed, my dear, a woman makes a poor figure who affects, as I have
+heard some ladies do, to disclaim all knowledge of times and dates: the
+strange confusion they make of events, which happened in different
+periods, and the stare of ignorance when such are referred to as are
+commonly known, are sufficiently pitiable: but the highest mark of folly
+is to be proud of such ignorance--a resource, in which some of our sex
+find great consolation.
+
+Adieu, my dear child! I am, with the tenderest affection,
+
+    Ever your's.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[29] That is, in the 365th year of the city.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER X.
+
+ON READING HISTORY.
+
+
+    _MY DEAREST NIECE_,
+
+WHEN I recommend to you to gain some insight into the general history of
+the world, perhaps you will think I propose a formidable task; but your
+apprehensions will vanish, when you consider that of near half the globe
+we have no histories at all; that of other parts of it, a few facts only
+are known to us; and that, even of those nations which make the greatest
+figure in history, the early ages are involved in obscurity and fable:
+it is not indeed allowable to be totally ignorant even of those fables,
+because they are the frequent subjects of poetry and painting, and are
+often referred to in more authentic histories.
+
+The first recorders of actions are generally poets: in the historical
+songs of the bards are found the only accounts of the first ages of
+every state; but in these we must naturally expect to find truth mixed
+with fiction, and often disguised in allegory. In such early times,
+before science has enlightened the minds of men, the people are ready to
+believe every thing; and the historian, having no restraints from the
+fear of contradiction or criticism, delivers the most improbable and
+absurd tales as an account of the lives and actions of their
+forefathers; thus the first heroes of every nation are gods, or the sons
+of gods; and every great event is accompanied with some supernatural
+agency. Homer, whom I have already mentioned, as a poet, you will find
+the most agreeable historian of the early ages of Greece; and Virgil
+will show you the supposed origin of the Carthaginians and Romans.
+
+It will be necessary for you to observe some regular plan in your
+historical studies, which can never be pursued with advantage otherwise
+than in a continued series. I do not mean to confine you solely to that
+kind of reading; on the contrary, I wish you frequently to relax with
+poetry or some other amusement, whilst you are pursuing your course of
+history; I only mean to warn you against mixing _ancient_ history with
+_modern_, or _general_ histories of one place with _particular reigns_
+in another; by which desultory manner of reading, many people distract
+and confound their memories, and retain nothing to any purpose from such
+a confused mass of materials.
+
+The most ancient of all histories, you will read in your Bible: from
+thence you will proceed to l'Histoire Ancienne of Rollin, who very
+ingeniously points out the connection of profane with sacred history,
+and enlivens his narrative with many agreeable and improving
+reflections, and many very pleasing detached stories and anecdotes,
+which may serve you as resting places in your journey. It would be an
+useful exercise of your memory and judgment, to recount these
+interesting passages to a friend, either by letter or in conversation;
+not in the words of the author, but in your own natural style--by
+memory, and not by book; and to add whatever remarks may occur to you. I
+need not say that you will please me much, whenever you are disposed to
+make this use of _me_.
+
+The want of memory is a great discouragement in historical pursuits, and
+is what every body complains of. Many artificial helps have been
+invented, of which those who have tried them can best tell you the
+effects; but the most natural and pleasant expedient is that of
+conversation with a friend, who is acquainted with the history which you
+are reading. By such conversations, you will find out how much is
+usually retained of what is read, and you will learn to select those
+characters and facts which are best worth preserving: for it is by
+trying to remember every thing, without distinction, that young people
+are so apt to lose every trace of what they read. By repeating to your
+friend what you can recollect, you will fix it in your memory: and if
+you should omit any striking particular, which ought to be retained,
+that friend will remind you of it, and will direct your attention to it
+on a second perusal. It is a good rule to cast your eye each day over
+what you read the day before, and to look over the contents of every
+book when you have finished it.
+
+Rollin's work takes in a large compass: but, of all the ancient nations
+it treats of, perhaps there are only the Grecians and Romans, whose
+stories ought to be read with any anxious desire of retaining them
+perfectly: for the rest, such as the Assyrians, Egyptians, &c., I
+believe you would find, on examination, that most of those who are
+supposed tolerably well read in history, remember no more than a few of
+the most remarkable facts and characters. I tell you this, to prevent
+your being discouraged on finding so little remain in your mind after
+reading these less interesting parts of ancient history.
+
+But, when you come to the Grecian and Roman[30] stories, I expect to
+find you deeply interested and highly entertained; and, of consequence,
+eager to treasure up in your memory those heroic actions and exalted
+characters by which a young mind is naturally so much animated and
+impressed. As Greece and Rome were distinguished as much for genius as
+valour, and were the theatres, not only of the greatest military
+actions, the noblest efforts of liberty and patriotism, but of the
+highest perfection of arts and sciences, their immortal fame is a
+subject of wonder and emulation, even to these distant ages; and it is
+thought a shameful degree of ignorance, even in our sex, to be
+unacquainted with the nature and revolutions of their governments, and
+with the characters and stories of their most illustrious heroes.
+Perhaps, when you are told that the government and the national
+character of your own countrymen have been compared with those of the
+Romans, it may not be an useless amusement, in reading the Roman
+history, to carry this observation in your mind, and to examine how far
+the parallel holds good. The French have been thought to resemble the
+Athenians in their genius, though not in their love of liberty. These
+little hints sometimes serve to awaken reflection and attention in young
+readers--I leave you to make what use of them you please.
+
+When you have got through Rollin, if you add _Vertot's Revolutions
+Romaines_--a short and very entertaining work--you may be said to have
+read as much as is _absolutely necessary_ of ancient history. Plutarch's
+lives of famous Greeks and Romans--a book deservedly of the highest
+reputation--can never be read to so much advantage as immediately after
+the histories of Greece and Rome: I should even prefer reading each life
+in Plutarch, immediately after the history of each particular hero, as
+you meet with them in Rollin or in Vertot.
+
+If hereafter you should choose to enlarge your plan, and should wish to
+know more of any particular people or period than you find in Rollin,
+the sources from which he drew may be open to you; for there are, I
+believe, French or English translations of all the original historians,
+from whom he extracted his materials.
+
+Crevier's continuation of Rollin, I believe, gives the best account of
+the Roman emperors down to Constantine. What shocking instances will you
+there meet with, of the terrible effects of lawless power on the human
+mind! How will you be amazed to see the most promising characters
+changed by flattery and self-indulgence into monsters that disgrace
+humanity! To read a series of such lives as those of Tiberius, Nero, or
+Domitian, would be intolerable, were we not consoled by the view of
+those excellent emperors, who remained uncorrupted through all
+temptations. When the mind--disgusted, depressed, and terrified--turns
+from the contemplation of those depths of vice, to which human nature
+may be sunk, a Titus, the delight of mankind--a Trajan--an
+Antoninus--restore it to an exulting sense of the dignity, to which
+that nature may be exalted by virtue. Nothing is more awful than this
+consideration: a human creature given up to vice is infinitely below the
+most abject brute; the same creature, trained by virtue to the utmost
+perfection of his nature, 'is but a little lower than the angels, and is
+crowned with glory and immortality.'
+
+Before you enter upon the modern history of any particular kingdom, it
+will be proper to gain some idea of that interval between ancient and
+modern times, which is justly called the dark and barbarous ages, and
+which lasted from Constantine to Charlemagne--perhaps one might say to
+some centuries after. On the irruption of the northern Barbarians, who
+broke the Roman empire, and dissipated all the treasures of knowledge,
+as well as of riches, which had been so long accumulating in that
+enormous state, the European world may be said to have returned to a
+second infancy; and the Monkish legends, which are the only records
+preserved of the times in which they were written, are not less fabulous
+than the tales of the demi-gods. I must profess myself ignorant how to
+direct you to any distinct or amusing knowledge of the History of Europe
+during this period[31]: some collect it from _Puffendorf's
+Introduction_; some from _The Universal History_; and now, perhaps, with
+more advantage and delight, from the first volume of _Robertson's
+Charles the Fifth_, in which he traces the progress of civilization,
+government, and arts, from the first settlements of the Barbarians; and
+shows the foundation of the several states into which Europe is now
+divided, and of those laws, customs, and politics, which prevail in this
+quarter of the world.
+
+In those dark ages, you will find no single character so interesting as
+that of Mahomet; that bold impostor, who extended his usurped dominion
+equally over the minds and properties of men, and propagated a new
+religion, whilst he founded a new empire, over a large portion of the
+globe. His life has been written by various hands.
+
+When you come to the particular histories of the European states, your
+own country seems to demand the precedence; and there is no part more
+commodious to set out from, since you cannot learn the history of Great
+Britain, without becoming in some degree acquainted with almost every
+neighbouring nation, and without finding your curiosity excited to know
+more of those with whom we are most connected.
+
+By the amazing progress of navigation and commerce, within the last two
+or three centuries, all parts of the world are now connected: the most
+distant people are become well acquainted, who, for thousands of years,
+never heard of one another's existence: we are still every day exploring
+new regions; and every day see greater reason to expect that immense
+countries may yet be discovered, and America no longer retain the name
+of the _New World_. You may pass to every quarter of the earth, and find
+yourself still in the British dominion: this island, in which we live,
+is the least portion of it; and, if we were to adopt the style of
+ancient conquerors, we might call it the throne, from which we rule the
+world. To this boast we are better entitled than some of those who
+formerly called themselves _Masters of the Globe_, as we possess an
+empire of greater extent, and from the superior advantages of our
+commerce, much greater power and riches: but we have now too many
+rivals in dominion, to take upon us such haughty titles.
+
+You cannot be said to know the history of that empire, of which you are
+a subject, without knowing something of the East and West Indies, where
+so great a part of it is situated: and you will find the accounts of the
+discovery and conquest of America very entertaining, though you will be
+shocked at the injustice and cruelty of its conquerors. But, with which
+of the glorious conquerors of mankind must not humanity be shocked!
+Ambition, the most remorseless of all passions, pursues its object by
+all sorts of means: justice, mercy, truth, and every thing most sacred,
+in vain oppose its progress! Alas, my dear, shall I venture to tell you,
+that the history of the world is little else than a shocking account of
+the wickedness and folly of the ambitious! The world has ever been, and,
+I suppose, ever must be, governed and insulted by these aspiring
+spirits: it has always, in greater or less degree, groaned under their
+unjust usurpation.
+
+But let not the horror of such a scene put a stop to your curiosity: it
+is proper you should know mankind as they are: you must be acquainted
+with the heroes of the earth, and perhaps you may be too well reconciled
+to them: mankind have in general a strong bias in their favour; we see
+them surrounded with pomp and splendour--every thing that relates to
+them has an air of grandeur--and, whilst we admire their natural powers,
+we are too apt to pardon the detestable abuse of them, to the injury and
+ruin of the human race. We are dazzled with false glory, and willingly
+give into the delusion; for mighty conquests, like great conflagrations,
+have something of the sublime that pleases the imagination, though we
+know, if we reflect at all, that the consequences of them are
+devastation and misery.
+
+The Western and Eastern world will present to you very different
+prospects. In _America_, the first European conquerors found nature in
+great simplicity; society still in its infancy; and consequently the
+arts and sciences yet unknown: so that the facility with which they
+overpowered these poor innocent people, was entirely owing to their
+superior knowledge in the arts of destroying. They found the inhabitants
+brave enthusiastic patriots, but without either the military or
+political arts necessary for their defence. The two great kingdoms of
+Mexico and Peru had alone made some progress in civilization; they were
+both formed into regular states, and had gained some order and
+discipline: from these therefore the Spaniards met with something like
+an opposition. At first indeed the invaders appeared supernatural
+beings, who came upon them flying over the ocean, on the wings of the
+wind, and who, mounted on fiery animals, unknown in that country,
+attacked them with thunder and lightning in their hands; for such the
+fire-arms of the Spaniards appeared to this astonished people. But from
+being worshipped as gods, they soon came to be feared as evil spirits;
+and in time being discovered to be men--different from the Americans
+only in their outrageous injustice, and in the cruel arts of
+destroying--they were abhorred and boldly opposed. The resistance
+however of a million of these poor naked people, desperately crowding on
+each other to destruction, served only to make their ruin more complete.
+The Europeans have destroyed, with the most shocking barbarity, many
+millions of the original inhabitants of these countries, and have ever
+since been depopulating Europe and Africa to supply their places.
+
+Though our own countrymen have no reason to boast of the justice and
+humanity of their proceedings in America, yet, in comparison with those
+of the Spaniards, our possessions there were innocently acquired. Some
+of them gained by conquest, or cession, from Spain and from other
+European powers; some by contract with the natives, or by settlements on
+uninhabited lands[32]. We are now possessed of a series of colonies,
+extending above two thousand miles along the whole Eastern coast of
+North-America, besides many islands of immense value. These countries,
+instead of being thinly peopled by a few hordes of ignorant savages, are
+now adorned with many great cities, and innumerable rich plantations,
+which have made ample returns to their mother-country, for the dangers
+and expenses which attended their first establishment. Blessed with more
+natural advantages than almost any country in the world, they are making
+a swift progress in wealth and grandeur, and seem likely, in some future
+period, to be as much the seat of empire and of science as Europe is at
+present. Whether their attainments in virtue and happiness will keep
+pace with their advancement in knowledge, wealth, and power, is much to
+be questioned; for you will observe in your historical view of the
+several great empires of the world, that as each grew up towards the
+highest pitch of greatness, the seeds of destruction grew up with it;
+luxury and vice, by debasing the minds, and enervating the bodies of the
+people, left them all, in their turns, an easy prey to poorer and more
+valiant nations.
+
+In the East, the Europeans introduced themselves in a milder way;
+admitted first as traders--and, for the more commodious carrying on
+their commerce, indulged by the powers of the country in establishing a
+few small factories--they, by gentle degrees, extended and strengthened
+their settlements there, till their force became considerable enough to
+be thought an useful auxiliary to contending princes; and, as it has
+often happened to those who have called in foreign powers to interfere
+in their domestic contentions, by availing themselves of the
+disturbances of a dismembered monarchy, they at length raised a power
+almost independent of their employers. Soon, the several European
+nations, who had thus got footing in the Indies, jealous of each other's
+growing greatness, made the feuds of the native princes subservient to
+their mutual contests; till within a few years, the English, by a happy
+concurrence of circumstances, obtained the mastery, and expelled their
+rivals from all their considerable settlements.
+
+The rapidity of our conquests here has been perhaps equal to that of the
+first invaders of America--but from different causes. Here we found an
+old-established empire advanced to its crisis; the magnificence and
+luxury of the great carried to the highest excess, and the people in a
+proportionable degree of oppression and debasement. Thus ripe for
+destruction, the rivalship of the viceroys, from the weakness of the
+government, become independent sovereigns; and the dastardly spirit of
+the meaner people, indifferent to the cause for which they were
+compelled to fight, encouraged these ambitious merchants to push their
+advantages further than they could at first have supposed possible: with
+astonishment they saw the intrepid leaders of a few hundreds of brave
+free Britons, boldly oppose and repeatedly put to flight millions of
+these effeminate Indian slaves; and, in a short time, raised for them an
+empire much larger than their mother-country.
+
+From these remote quarters of the world, let us now return to Great
+Britain, with the history of which you ought certainly to acquaint
+yourself, before you enter upon that of any other European kingdom. If
+you have courage and industry enough to begin so high as the invasion of
+Julius Caesar--before which nothing is known of the inhabitants of this
+island--you may set out with Rapin, and proceed with him to William the
+Conqueror. From this era there are other histories of England more
+entertaining than his, though I believe none esteemed more authentic.
+Party so strongly influences both historians and their readers, that it
+is a difficult and invidious task to point out the _best_ amongst the
+number of English histories that offer themselves: but, as _you_ will
+not read with a critical view, nor enter deeply into politics, I think
+you may be allowed to choose that which is most entertaining; and, in
+this view, I believe the general voice will direct you to Hume, though
+he goes no further than the Revolution. Among other _historians_, do not
+forget my darling _Shakspeare_--a faithful as well as a most agreeable
+one--whose historical plays, if read in a series, will fix in your
+memory the reigns he has chosen, more durable than any other history.
+You need not fear his leading you into any material mistakes, for he
+keeps surprisingly close to the truth, as well in the characters as in
+the events. One cannot but wish he had given us a play on the reign of
+every English king; as it would have been the pleasantest, and perhaps
+the most useful, way of becoming acquainted with it.
+
+For the other portion of Great Britain, Robertson's History of Scotland
+is a delightful work, and of a moderate size.
+
+Next to your own country, _France_ will be the most interesting object
+of your inquiries; our ancient possessions in that country, and the
+frequent contests we have been engaged in with its inhabitants, connect
+their history with our own. The extent of their dominion and
+influence--their supposed superiority in elegance and politeness--their
+eminence in the Arts and Sciences--and that intercourse of thought, if
+so I may call it, which subsists between us, by the mutual communication
+of literary productions--make them peculiarly interesting to us; and we
+cannot but find our curiosity excited to know their story, and to be
+intimately acquainted with the character, genius, and sentiments of this
+nation.
+
+I do not know of any general history of France, that will answer your
+purpose, except that of _Mezerai_, which even in the abridgment is a
+pretty large work: there is a very modern one by _Velly and others_,
+which perhaps may be more lively, but is still more voluminous, and not
+yet completed. From Mezerai you may proceed with Voltaire to the end of
+the reign of Louis the Fourteenth.
+
+In considering the rest of Europe, your curiosity may be confined within
+narrower limits. Modern history is, from the nature of it, much more
+minute and laborious than the ancient; and to pursue that of so many
+various kingdoms and governments, would be a task unequal to your
+leisure and abilities, at least for several years to come; at the same
+time, it must be owned, that the present system of politics and commerce
+has formed such a relation between the different powers of Europe, that
+they are in a manner members of one great body, and a total ignorance of
+any considerable state would throw an obscurity even upon the affairs
+of your own country[33]; an acquaintance however with the most
+remarkable circumstances that distinguish the principal governments,
+will sufficiently enlighten you, and will enable you to comprehend
+whatever relates to them, in the histories with which you are more
+familiar. Instead of referring you for this purpose to dull and
+uninteresting abridgments, I choose rather to point out to you a few
+small Tracts, which exhibit striking and lively pictures, not easily
+effaced from the memory, of the constitutions and the most remarkable
+transactions of several of these nations. Such are
+
+     Sir William Temple's Essay on the United Provinces.
+
+     His Essay on Heroic Virtue, which contains some account of
+     the Saracen Empire.
+
+     Vertot's Revolutions de Suede.
+
+     Vertot's Revolutions de Portugal.
+
+     Voltaire's Charles XII. de Suede.
+
+     Voltaire's Pierre le Grand.
+
+     Puffendorf's Account of the Popes, in his Introduction to
+     Modern History.
+
+Some part of the History of Germany and Spain, you will see more in
+detail in Robertson's History of Charles the Vth, which I have already
+recommended to you in another view.
+
+After all this, you may still be at a loss for the transactions of
+Europe, in the last fifty years: for the purpose of giving you, in a
+very small compass, some idea of the state of affairs during that
+period, I will venture to recommend one book more--_Campbell's State of
+Europe_[34].
+
+Thus much may suffice for that moderate scheme, which I think is best
+suited to your sex and age. There are several excellent histories, and
+memoirs of particular reigns and periods, which I have taken no notice
+of in this circumscribed plan; but with which, if you should happen to
+have a taste for the study, you will hereafter choose to be acquainted:
+these will be read with most advantage after you have gained some
+general view of history; and they will then serve to refresh your
+memory, and settle your ideas distinctly; as well as enable you to
+compare different accounts of the persons and facts which they treat of,
+and to form your opinions of them on just grounds.
+
+As I cannot, with certainty, foresee what degree of application or
+genius for such pursuits you will be mistress of, I shall leave
+deficiencies of this collection to be supplied by the suggestions of
+your more informed friends; who, if you explain to them how far you wish
+to extend your knowledge, will direct you to the proper books.
+
+But if, instead of an eager desire for this kind of knowledge, you
+should happen to feel that distaste for it, which is too common in young
+ladies who have been indulged in reading only works of mere amusement,
+you will perhaps rather think that I want mercy in offering you so large
+a plan, than that there needs an apology for the deficiencies of it:
+but, comfort yourself with the assurance, that a taste for history will
+grow and improve by reading; that, as you get acquainted with one period
+or nation, your curiosity cannot fail to be awakened for what concerns
+those immediately connected with it: and thus you will insensibly be led
+on from one degree of knowledge to another.
+
+If you waste in trivial amusement the next three or four years of your
+life, which are the prime season of improvement, believe me you will
+hereafter bitterly regret their loss: when you come to feel yourself
+inferior in knowledge to almost every one you converse with--and, above
+all, if you should ever be a mother, when you feel your own inability to
+direct and assist the pursuits of your children--you will then find
+ignorance a severe mortification and a real evil. Let this, my dear,
+animate your industry; and let not a modest opinion of your own capacity
+be a discouragement to your endeavours after knowledge: a moderate
+understanding, with diligent and well-directed application, will go much
+further than a more lively genius, if attended with that impatience and
+inattention, which too often accompanies quick parts. It is not from
+want of capacity that so many women are such trifling insipid
+companions, so ill qualified for the friendship and conversation of a
+sensible man, or for the task of governing and instructing a family: it
+is much oftener from the neglect of exercising the talents which they
+really have, and from omitting to cultivate a taste for intellectual
+improvement: by this neglect, they lose the sincerest of pleasures; a
+pleasure which would remain when almost every other forsakes them; which
+neither fortune nor age can deprive them of, and which would be a
+comfort and resource in almost every possible situation of life.
+
+If I can but inspire you, my dear child, with the desire of making the
+most of your time and abilities, my end is answered; the means of
+knowledge will easily be found by those who diligently seek them, and
+they will find their labours abundantly rewarded.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now, my dear, I think it is time to finish this long correspondence,
+which, though in some parts it may have been tedious to you, will not, I
+hope, be found entirely useless in any. I have laid before you all that
+my maturest reflections could enable me to suggest, for the direction of
+your conduct through life. My love for you, my dearest child, extends
+its views beyond this frail and transitory existence; it considers you
+as a candidate for immortality--as entering the lists for the prize of
+your high calling--as contending for a crown of unfading glory. It sees,
+with anxious solicitude, the dangers that surround you, and the
+everlasting shame that must follow, if you do not exert all your
+strength in the conflict. Religion therefore has been the basis of my
+plan--the principle to which every other pursuit is ultimately referred.
+Here then I have endeavoured to guide your researches; and to assist you
+in forming just notions on a subject of such infinite importance, I have
+shown you the necessity of regulating your heart and temper, according
+to the genuine spirit of that religion which I have so earnestly
+recommended as the great rule of your life. To the same principle I
+would refer your attention to domestic duties; and, even that refinement
+and elegance of manners, and all those graces and accomplishments, which
+will set your virtues in the fairest light, and will engage the
+affection and respect of all who converse with you. Endeared to society
+by these amiable qualities, your influence in it will be more extensive,
+and your capacity of being useful proportionably enlarged. The studies,
+which I have recommended to you, must be likewise subservient to the
+same views; the pursuit of knowledge, when it is guided and controlled
+by the principles I have established, will conduce to many valuable
+ends: the habit of industry it will give you, the nobler kind of
+friendships for which it will qualify you, and its tendency to promote a
+candid and liberal way of thinking, are obvious advantages. I might add,
+that a mind well informed in the various pursuits which interest
+mankind, and the influence of such pursuits on their happiness, will
+embrace with a clearer choice, and will more steadily adhere to, those
+principles of Virtue and Religion, which the judgment must ever approve,
+in proportion as it becomes enlightened.
+
+May those delightful hopes be answered which have animated my heart,
+while with diligent attention I have endeavoured to apply to your
+advantage all that my own experience and best observation could furnish.
+With what joy should I see my dearest girl shine forth a bright example
+of every thing that is amiable and praiseworthy;--and how sweet would be
+the reflection that I had, in any degree, contributed to make her
+so!--My heart expands with the affecting thought, and pours forth in
+this adieu the most ardent wishes for your perfection! If the tender
+solicitude expressed for your welfare by this 'labour of love' can
+engage your gratitude, you will always remember how deeply your conduct
+interests the happiness of
+
+    Your most affectionate
+
+      AUNT.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[30] _Dr. Goldsmith's Histories of Greece and Rome_ are generally
+considered as most useful to young persons.
+
+        _Editor._
+
+[31] _Russel's History of Ancient Europe_ will give all the information
+requisite.
+
+        _Editor._
+
+[32] This work was first printed in 1773.
+
+[33] _The History of Modern Europe_ may be read with particular
+advantage.
+
+        _Editor._
+
+[34] This work has not been published for some years; _Guthrie's
+Geographical and Historical Grammar_ is the best work of the kind, at
+present.
+
+        _Editor._
+
+
+                     FINIS.
+
+Printed by Weed and Rider, Little Britain, London.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious misspellings and punctuation errors repaired. Otherwise,
+unusual spellings retained when used consistently in original.
+
+Hyphenated/nonhyphenated retained when occurring evenly.
+
+Thought break on P.209 added, corresponds to "Conclusion" in Contents.
+
+P.205, list: Second occurrences of "Vertot's Revolutions" and
+"Voltaire's" added in place of "repeat" dashes.
+
+"Ecclus" = Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus
+
+P.xxxii, "whole tenour of the Gospel" to "whole tenor of the Gospel"
+
+P.26 "himself was govenor" to "himself was governor"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, by
+Hester Chapone
+
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