320 Mrs. Cappe on Girl's Charity-Schools. 2dly. That the allowing the mafter and miftrefs the benefits of the children's labour, as it made it their int reft to infift upon exertions difproportionate to the abilities of the children, might in many refpects prove injurious to them. 3dly. That although, by virtue of the original agreement, the mistress was obliged to employ the girls in household affairs, in order to fit them for fervants; yet being fubject to no regulations which Thould compel her to take them in rotation, fhe would probably be tempted to confult her intereft, by employing thofe only who could most easily be taught; and thus the greater part of the children would not be at all inftructed. And, 4thly, that binding the girls apprentice for four years, however kindly intended by the inftitutors of the charity, who doubtless hoped that, by this means, these young people would be certain of protection during that term, was a most ruinous practice; and this, for the following reafons. completely ruined by ill ufage, and their little day of life prolonged, if it were at all prolonged, in circumstances of extreme fuffering and wretchedness. fo much into detail on a matter which I should not, Mr. Editor, have entered could not be of importance to the public at large, were the interefts of the particular inftitution to which it relates alone probably many other charity fchools in concerned in it; but apprehending that different parts of the kingdom may be established on a fimilar plan, and that bably, on examination, many like abufes would be found to prevail, I have hoped that, by means of your useful and widely circulated Magazine, fome attention might in other inftances be excited to the fubject. That the perfons applying for thefe, girls, would generally be fuch as were in necellitous circumstances, induced to take them into their fervice, as they were intitled to their labour without wages. That the abfolute power which the mafter or mistress has over fuch an apprentice, generally operates unfavorably on the mind of both parties, tending to make the one tyrannical and fevere (even where previously they were decent characters), and to render the other ftupid and obftinate, diffatisfied with her condition, and unwilling therefore to comply with demands which in themfelves might be reasonable and above all, that in cafes where the master or mistress, or both, were previously unprincipled (a cafe which, Notwithstanding every precaution, would in fact very often happen), the evils refulting would be incalculable. We found, upon ftrict inquiry, that the truth of this reafoning was confirmed by what had in fact taken place, and more efpecially that part of it which related to binding the girls apprentice. It appeared, that fome of thefe poor girls had been feduced by their matters; that fome had run away before the term of their apprenticeship had expired (in cither of which cafes, forlorn and unprotected, they had generally become the victims of proftitution); and that the health of others, not good when they left the school, had been pro you fome account of the alterations To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. N SIR, your Magazine for February, I ob correfpondent requests fome information ferve a judicious and well-intentioned refpecting the most proper books to be ufed in charity-fchools, and other fimilar a Chriftian, and therefore I fhould be inftitutions. I am an old man, fir, and forry not to fee the Bible in the hands of the children of the poor, convinced that, in maturer life, they will, from the peru fal of that book, derive their best confolation. Yet I am difpofed, in fome degree, your correfpondent; and I confess, I to compromife the matter with think the Teftament, or rather, the four Evangelifts, would be more instructive, in proportion to its bulk, than the Bible at large :-or, perhaps, if a felection was made of the hiftorical and more ftriking parts, including a good portion of the book of Job, with the history and difof Scripture, it might anfwer ftill better. courfes of our Lord, all in the language Though I admire greatly the moral parts of the" Church Catechifm," yet I agree with your correfpondent, that a great part of that fummary of faith is not very intelligible to children. plainer catechifm publifhed fome years There was a ago, with " of the Philanthropic Reform," and, I beFamily Prayers, for the Ufe lieve compofed or compiled by Dr. GREGORY, which, with fome might be rendered very generally useful; additions, and Books for Charity-Schools.....Greek Verfion of Gray's Elegy. 32% and the exhortation at the end might, with fome alteration, be eafily adapted to the use of common charity-schools. Some of the little penny and twopenny numbers of" The Cheap Repofitory," might alfo be diftributed with advantage among the children. The great difficulty, however, with children is, to make what is their duty pleasant to them. I fhould, therefore, advife, that books fhould be occafionally given, in charity fchools, as prizes to fuch children as excel. As it is a great object to cultivate in them religious feelings, and as all children feem to be entertained with the perufal of it, perhaps "The Pilgrim's Progrefs," of which there are cheap editions, would be a good book to be diftributed in this way. There is another popular book which I will alfo venture to recommend, and that is " Robinfen Crufoe;" a book which inftructs as well as pleafes; a book admirably caltulated to excite a spirit of enterprize, to fhew the advantage of ingenuity and induftry, and to cultivate religious fentiments. Your correfpondent mentions civil hiftory; if that branch of difcipline hould be deemed compatible with the very limited courfe of inftruction to which thofe inftitutions are neceffarily confined, I know of no book fo good as "The Hiftory of England, in a series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son," commonly attributed to Lord Lyttelton, but really written by Dr. Goldfmith. I remain, Sir, yours, &c. NEPIODIDASKALOS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, AVING been difappointed of feeing which a correfpondent of yours has long fince promifed to publish: I have committed the refult of my own obfervations and experience to prefs. This ESSAY will probably appear in the beginning of next month; and I hope will exhibit an impartial view of the whole evidence, as it now ftands, both for and against the new plan of treatment; including a variety of cafes which have been recently communirated to me, by different practitioners in London. As I have no favorite theory to fupport, it will be my first wish and aim to arrive at the truth, whitherfoever it may lead me. At fome future period, I shall endeavour to fupply what may appear to be deficient, and correct what shall be pointed out as erroneous. Great Ruffel-Street, May 17, 1798. WILLIAM BLAIR. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, I Believe there never was a time, when claffical books were in fo much re- PORSON and William Cooke. Nor Α The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 322 Greek Verfion of Gray's Elegy.....On Matrimony. grace of kingly fway," are a moft undignified and indeed pitiful reprefentation of the noble original. Grace is not employed by fuch, as know how to imitate the ancients, to fubjects of grandeur and fublimity, but to thofe of elegance and beauty. We never hear of the graces fimply of Jupiter and Mars, but of Venus and the Nymphs. Befides, no difcretive particle-or -has place here: one of a collective import was required. This grofs impropriety is moft obvious and unquestionable. The pofition too of is altogether clumfy and inadmiffible. We can make no indulgences for fuch faults in short and needlefs exercises: poterat duci quia cœna fine iftis. Only obferve, how an artist of the leaft dexterity might have remedied thefe defects: Αχαρις ευγενεων, βασιληϊδη & χαρις αρχας. But the profeffor and his encomiast are no artists in the Greek language.-Lastly, vy for the abstract year is mean, and barely tolerable. But the tranflator, in the plenitude of his learning, doubtlefs fuppofed, that yea; would not be allowable even în poetry! In the fecond line the infertion of the article in the fecond claufe, after its omiffion in the first, is the mere botch of a man, who knew not how to complete the feet of his verfe without fuch a wretched Incongruity. I fay nothing of the power and purport of the tranflator's language, which refembles the original just as adequately as a farthing candle reprefents the fun but request our learned admirer of the profeffor to point out that paffage of the ancients, which will justify an acceptation of the pointed phrafe ra daga Appodrag in a fenfe demanded by this place. Homer, Anacreon, Pindar (fee alfo Virg. n. iv. 33.) employ the words, but in a lefs delicate meaning, than Gray requires: and, if we undertake to compofe in dead languages, we must not prefume to transfer their properties to our own idioms. In the third line, I fhould be glad to know, whether we are to understand the conftru&tion to be ηνθεν εις αμας, oι αμαρ : if the former way, I doubt the legitimacy of the phrafe; if the latter, the variation of conftruction is clumfy and offenfive. In either cafe, the claufe is unpardonably ambiguous. In the fourth line, how the elegant figure of the original is profaned and 'murdered by moft facrilegious butchery! *** The paths of glory lead but to the grave:" a verfe, for elegance and fimplicity not. to be exceeded. At any rate, we could have excufed the falfe quantity, the fhortening of o before the confonant. But let that pafs. What is Ads? I know no fuch word. Ads, with the either at the fide, or fubfcribed, would have been intelligible: but perhaps our recondite gentleman has fome great authorities in Itore for fuch puzzling fingularities. Upon the whole, it is fcarcely poffible for any version to be more despicable than the ftanza before us: and these few remarks will ferve to prove what a mere fmatterer and fecond-hand quotationdealer we have in this faid author of "The Purfuits of Literature:" and it fin of reputation, who is execrated by all will be curious to fee, whether this affafparties, will violate his nature, and devi. ate into modesty, by omitting, or defending, his encomium on this tranflation of the Elegy in a future edition of his work. But he probably has not learning enough to know, when he is confuted and expofed: nor indeed is conviction to be expected from to hardened a flanderer, or modefty from fuch felf-fufficiency and impudence. Hackney, GILBERT WAKEFIELD. April 27, 1798. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, follies attract the at HEN public four fuperiors, I do not fay that deliberation thereby acquires a fashion; but certain it is, that we little people take example, and fitting in folemn, yet humble council, prefume to give our opinion and advice. And feeing that the prefent ftate of matrimony hath lately been taken into very high confideration, and very fevere remarks made thereon, although no remedy hath yet been propofed, except fome fmall additions to the under garments of certain public dancers; I have bestowed a confiderable portion of time and attention on the fubject, and having flattered myself (an office which no man elfe chufes to take upon him), that I have found out both the caufe and the remedy, of matrimonial infidelity, I now fend you the refult of my labours, trufting that you will not object to the early infertion of a fubject, which, as my Lord Bacon obferveth, "Cometh home to all men's bofoms and bufinefs.' hiftorically, that the state and condition And first, fir, permit me to obferve, of women quoad marriage, has undergone many Evils of Modern Matrimony. many and great alterations within these two hundred years. It was formerly obferved, that women were better treated in this country than in Spain and Italy, where they were kept under the strictest confinement, and guarded in every poffible way from the opportunities of finning. It was alfo obferved, that in confequence of the greater liberty which the English and German women enjoyed, they proved tg be the most virtuous of their fex. Now, fir, if this had continued to be the cafe, the bufinefs of Doctor's Commons would not have been fo great as at prefent, and I fhould have been fpared the trouble of addreffing this letter to you. I, therefore, beg leave to affign that very liberty as the caufe of the prefent complaints. I prefume I need fcarce tell you, that there is nothing fo liable to be abufed as liberty. We have feen fo much of this abufe of late years, that many very worthy and wife men become fick at the very mention of liberty; while others have written elaborate treatifes, to prove that the world enjoys much more liberty than it ought; and that thefe times, which fome people call times of arbitrary power, were, in fact, very good times, compared to the prefent. Now, if the abufe of liberty be fo general, as to have pervaded all ranks, it is not uncharitable to fuppofe that the weaker fex may have fallen into the error, if it were only from the influence of bad example. One evil confequence of the liberty allowed them is, that matrimony is now attended with no manner of difficulty. In novels, indeed, and other works of imagination, we read of the cruelty of parents, batchelor uncles, and maiden aunts; but fo very fcarce are those things in real life, that the writers of novels, having nothing before their eyes to paint and defcribe, are obliged to go on copying from one another, the manners of half a century old. It has never been well with matrimony, fince a lover could visit his miftre's by the houfe door. When there were windows and gardenwalls, and rope-ladders, and when it was an even chance whether a man faluted his miftrefs or the hard ground, a man learned to fet a juft value on what had been atchieved at fo much rik. And young ladies, too, permit me to fay, would naturally be much more attached to a man, who had ventured his neck only for a five minutes converfation, than to one who came quietly in at the door, in the prefence of the whole family, and with out the smallest danger. "Ah! these 323 were happy days, when every step to gain a meeting was attended with the moft delightful palpitations; and when the terrors of the blunderbufs prescribed a tip-toish caution, that is not known in our time. Then, fir, a courtship was a regular fiege, and the lovers were acquainted with all the ftratagems of war. To be known to be in love, was to be known to be in danger; and when a parent difcovered his fon's paffion, he locked up all fire-arms and other hurtful weapons; and when uneafy at his abfence, instead of the prefent vulgar mode of fending a fervant, would have ordered the ponds to be dragged. Thefe were happy days. Marriage, fir, is greatly too eafy, and what is the confequence? We have loft the noble paffion of jealoufy, that great prefervative of a man's honour; that watchful fpy, and informar, who was always ready to give notice of a plot before it was hatched, and could cook up a moft formidable confpiracy without the help of confpirators. No man can tell what are the comforts of jealousy, and what the fecurity it affords, but the happy few who poffefs it in its original and uncorrupted form. But this leads me to what I confider as the cure of the evil. Since matrimonial infidelity arifes from mistaken notions of liberty, and fince we have wandered far from the fecure and fafe times, when women were virtuous and confined, what can be fo eafy as to retrace our steps, and return to thofe fuc cefsful practices, which will always prevent the abufe of liberty, and prevent it from running into licentioufnefs? Let us confult the fpirit of the times, and I think we fhall find very little oppofition to our plan. So very abfurd are we at prefent, that when a couple are married, inftead of confidering the ceremony as any tie, they confider it as a taking up of their freedom. When invited to celebrate a wedding-day, I have fometimes been furprized how it could be confidered as a festival, but experience has taught me better; and a friend, who lately lent me an invitation of this kind, dated his card, Second year of our liberty. Inftead of this, fir, let the husband, or intended hufband begin, as before, with furnishing a houfe fit to receive the bride; but let him firft confult some emi nent architect, who has been employed on the numerous jails for folitary confinement, that have lately been built for the prefervation of focial order. In fecuring the doors and windows firmly, and plac ing 324 Obfervations on Mr. Tennant's Bleaching Liquor. ing a chevaux de frize along the top, he will do better than by providing tables fo finely polifhed, as to ferve for lookingglaffes; and chairs of fo delicate a fabrique, as to be fit for every thing but fitting upon. If there must be a chinaclofet, let him take care that there is nothing in it more brittle than porcelain; and if there must be mufic, let the notes be foftened and harmonized, by paffing through a key-hole. In the courfe of thefe preparations, I cannot help obferving, that we shall be greatly affifted by the fuperior ingenuity of modern mechanics. Befides the ufual help of bolts and bars, we may adopt the patent lock, which, we are told, is fo contrived that no dishonest person can pick it; and that the owner may depend on the fecurity of what he guards by means of it. ercifed in the ferious ufe of it? not as a graceful and manly exercife of fport, but as a defence, which both its efficacy in itself and its novelty in European warfare, might very justly recommend to be adopted into our tactics. This may ftrike the eye of feveral, whofe profeffional knowledge and expe rience will enable them beft to judge whether this propofal deferves attention. I have understood it was one of the weapons which Marshal Saxe had meditated to revive. C. LOFFT. April, 1798. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. IVE me leave, fir, to make a few Groblervations on Mr. TENNANT'S new method of preparing the chemical bleaching liquor, defcribed in your exI fee nothing elfe that can prevent the cellent Magazine for March. Mr. TENabufe of liberty, but means like these. It NANT combines the oxygenated muriatic is in vain to think that people will not acid, produced by 30lb. of falt, with a abufe liberty, if they have it. They may ley, confifting of a folution of 30lb. of afk for a little, and that little may not falt, and 60lb. of lime, diffused in water; feem unreasonable, but, if it is granted, instead of combining it with an alcaline can we be fure that they will ftop there? ley, as it has hitherto been practifed. No, fir, the more liberty you give to a The queftion is, whether his method be man, or a woman (which is the point preferable to the old one at prefent in ufe, here), the more they will require. It is If it be preferable, it must be either like giving drink in the dropfy. It grows cheaper, or better in point of quality, or by what it feeds on. We live, however, both.-We find, that feven pounds and a in times, where I hope there is not much half of pearl-afhes are fufficient to fix the occafion for my dilating upon this fub- acid produced from solb of falt; the exject. It is a general maxim now, that pence of this quantity of afhes is, at fix the abufe of any thing is a fufficient rea-pence a pound, 3s. 9d. To fix the fame fon against the ufe; and it is highly re- quantity of acid, Mr. TENNANT cm<< quifite we fhould carry this theory into ploys practice. If I have not fully explained every part of my plan, I truft many of your readers will have entered into the Ipirit of it, fufficiently to fupply my defects; and I hope, in a very fhort time, to find that crim. con, and all its confequences of "deprivation of comfort, and heavy damages," will be for ever extinguished and abolished, by my plan of FAMILY BARRACKS. I am, fir, your's, C. C. 30lb. of falt at 1fd. s. d. 39 o 7 44 It appears, therefore, that the calcareous liquor is not cheaper, but even dearer than the alcaline liquor, independant of the additional labour which Mr. TENNANT's method requires. But, is his method better? is the quality of the liquor improved by it? I have feen, in a paper published in the last half volume of the "Memoirs of the Literary and Philsfophical Society of Manchester, that in proportion as the oxygenated muriatic comes lefs active in bleaching. The fame must be the cafe when this acid is neutralized by any other bafis. Now the quantity of calcareous earth which Mr. T. prefcribes, is more than fufficient completely to faturate the acid produced by 30lb. of falt; whereas 74lb. of pearlashes will not faturate it; hence Mr. TEN. NANT'S |