whole London residence, that her girls had not a moment's interval to look into a book; nor could she contrive any method to introduce one, till she happily devised the scheme of reading to them herself for half an hour while they were drawing, by which means no time was lost.* Before the evil is past redress, it will be prudent to reflect, that in all polished countries an entire devotedness to the fine arts has been one grand source of the corruption of the woman; and so justly were these pernicious consequences appreciated by the Greeks, among whom these arts were carried to the highest possible perfection, that they seldom allowed them to be cultivated to a very exquisite degree by women of great purity of character. And if the ambition of an elegant British lady should be fired by the idea that the accomplished females of those polished states were the admired companions of the philosophers, the poets, the wits, and the artists of Athens; and their beauty or talents, so much the favorite subjects of the muse, the lyre, the pencil, and the chisel, that their pictures and statues furnished the most consummate models of Grecian art; if, I say, the accomplished females of our day are panting for similar renown, let their modesty chastise their ambition, by recollecting that these celebrated women are not to be found among the chaste wives and the virtuous daughters of the Aristideses, the Agises, and the Phocions; but that they are to be looked for among the Phrynes, the Laises, the Aspasias, and the Glyceras. I am persuaded the truly Christian female, whatever be her taste or her talents, will renounce the desire of any celebrity when attached to impurity of character, with the same noble indignation with which the virtuous biographer of the above-named heroes renounced any kind of fame which might be dishonestly attained, by exclaiming, "I had rather it should be said there never was a Plutarch, than that they should say Plutarch was malignant, unjust, or envious."† * Since the first edition of this work appeared, the author has received from a person of great eminence the following statement, ascertaining the time employed in the acquisition of music in one instance. As a general calculation, it will, perhaps, be found to be so far from exaggerated, as to be below the truth. The statement concludes with remarking, that the individual who is the subject of it is now married to a man who dislikes music! Suppose your pupil to begin at six years of age, and to continue at the average of four hours a day only, Sunday excepted, and thirteen days allowed for travelling annually, till she is eighteen, the statement stands thus:-300 days multiplied by four, the number of hours amount to 12,000; that number multiplied by twelve, which is the number of years, amounts to 14,400 hours! No censure is levelled at the exertions of real genius, which is as valuable as it is rare; but at the absurdity of that system which is erecting the whole sex into artists. And while this corruption, brought on by an excessive cultivation of the arts, has contributed its full share to the decline of states, it has always furnished an infallible symptom of their impending fall. The satires of the most penetrating and judicious of the Roman poets, corroborating the testimonies of the most accurate of their historians, abound with invectives against the general depravity of manners introduced by the corrupt habits of female education. The bitterness and gross indelicacy of some of these satirists (too gross to be either quoted or referred to) make little against their authority in these points; for how shocking must those corruptions have been, and how obviously offensive their causes, which could have appeared so highly disgusting to minds so coarse as not likely to be scandalized by slight deviations from decency! The famous ode of Horace, attributing the vices and disasters of his degenerate country to the same cause, might, were it quite free from the above objections, be produced, I will not presume to say as an exact picture of the existing manners of this country, but (may I not venture to say?) as a prophecy, the fulfilment of which cannot be very remote. It may, however, be observed, that the modesty of the Roman matron, and the chaste demeanor of her virgin daughters, which, amidst the stern virtues of the state, were as immaculate and pure as the honor of the Roman citizen, fell a sacrifice to the luxurious dissipation brought in by their Asiatic conquests; after which, the females were soon taught a complete change of character. They were instructed to accommodate their talents of pleasing to the more vitiated tastes of the other sex; and began to study every grace and every art which might captivate the exhausted hearts, and excite the wearied and capricious inclinations, of the men; till, by a rapid and at length complete enervation, the Roman character lost its signature, and, through a quick succession of slavery, effeminacy, and vice, sunk into that degeneracy of which some of the modern Italian states serve to furnish a too just specimen. It is of the essence of human things that the same objects which are highly useful in their season, measure, and degree, become mischievous in their excess, at other periods and under other circumstances. In a state of barbarism, the arts are among the best reformers; and they go on to be improved themselves, and improving those who cultivate them, till, having reached a certain point, those very arts which were the instruments of civilization and refinement, become instruments of corruption and decay; enervating and depraving, in the second instance, by the excess and universality of their cultivation, as certainly as they refined in the first. They become agents of voluptuousness. They excite the imagination; and the imagination thus excited, and no longer under the government of strict principle, becomes the most dangerous stimulant of the passions; promotes a too keen relish for pleasure, teaching how to multiply its sources, and inventing new and pernicious modes of artificial gratification. May we not rank among the present corrupt consequences of this unbounded cultivation, the unchaste costume, the impure style of dress, and that indelicate, statue-like exhibition of the female figure, which, by its artfully disposed folds, its seemingly wet and adhesive drapery, so defines the form as to prevent covering itself from becoming a veil? This licentious mode, as the acute Montesquieu observed on the dances of the Spartan virgins, has taught us "to strip chastity itself of modesty." May the author be allowed to address to our own country and our own circumstances, to both of which they seem peculiarly applicable, the spirit of that beautiful apostrophe of the most polished poet of antiquity to the most victorious nation ? "Let us leave to the inhabitants of conquered countries the praise of carrying to the very highest degree of perfection, sculpture and the sister arts; but let this country direct her own exertions to the art of governing mankind in equity and peace, of showing mercy to the submissive, and of abasing the proud among surrounding nations."* * Let me not be suspected of bringing into any sort of comparison the gentleness of British government with the rapacity of Roman conquests, or the tyrannical principles of Roman dominion. To spoil, to butcher, and to commit every kind of violence, they call, says one of the ablest of their historians, by the lying name of government; and when they have spread a general desolation, they call it peace.t With such dictatorial, or, as we might now read, directorial inquisitors, we can have no point of contact; and if I have applied the servile flattery of a delightful poet to the purpose of English happiness, it was only to show wherein true national grandeur consists, and that every country pays too dear a price for those arts and embellishments of society which endanger the loss of its morals and manners. ↑ Tacitus's Life of Agricola-speech of Galgacus to his soldiers CHAPTER III. External Improvement.-Children's Balls.-French Governesses. LET me not, however, be misunderstood. The customs which fashion has established, when they are not in opposition to what is right, when they are not hostile to virtue, should unquestionably be pursued in the education of ladies. Piety maintains no natural war with elegance, and Christianity would be no gainer by making her disciples unamiable. Religion does not forbid that the exterior be made, to a certain degree, the object of attention. But the admiration bestowed, the sums expended, and the time lavished on arts, which add little to the intrinsic value of life, should have limitations. While these arts should be admired, let them not be admired above their just value; while they are practised, let it not be to the exclusion of higher employments; while they are cultivated, let it be to amuse leisure, not to engross life. But it happens unfortunately, that, to ordinary observers, the girl who is really receiving the worst instruction often makes the best figure; while in the more correct but less ostensible education, the deep and sure foundations to which the edifice will owe its strength and stability lie out of sight. The outward accomplishments have the dangerous advantage. of addressing themselves more immediately to the senses, and of course meet every where with those who can in some measure appreciate, as well as admire them; for all can see and hear, but all cannot scrutinize and discriminate. External acquirements, too, recommend themselves the more, because they are more rapidly, as well as more visibly, progressive, while the mind is led on to improvement by slow motions and imperceptible degrees; while the heart must now be admonished by reproof, and now allured by kindness; its liveliest advances being suddenly impeded by obstinacy, and its brightest prospects often obscured by passion; it is slow in its acquisitions of virtue, and reluctant in its approaches to piety; and its progress, when any progress is made, does not obtrude itself to vulgar observation. The unruly and turbulent propensities of the mind are not so obedient to the forming hand, as defects of manner or awkwardness of gait. Often, when we fancy that a troublesome passion is completely crushed, we have the mortification to find that we have "scotch'd the snake, not killed it." One evil temper starts up before another is conquered. The subduing hand cannot cut off the ever-sprouting heads so fast as the prolific hydra can reproduce them, nor fell the stubborn Antæus so often as he can recruit his strength, and rise in vigorous and repeated opposition. Hired teachers are also under a disadvantage resembling tenants at rack-rent: it is their interest to bring in an immediate revenue of praise and profit, and, for the sake of a present rich crop, those who are not strictly conscientious, do not care how much the ground is impoverished for future produce. But parents, who are the lords of the soil, must look to permanent value, and to continued fruitfulness. The best effects of a careful education are often very remote; they are to be discovered in future scenes, and exhibited in as yet untried connections. Every event of life will be putting the heart into fresh situations, and making new demands on its prudence, its firmness, its integrity, or its forbearance. Those whose business it is to form and model it, cannot foresee those contingent situations specifically and distinctly; yet, as far as human wisdom will allow, they must enable it to prepare for them all by general principles, correct habits, and an unremitted sense of dependence on the great Disposer of events. As the soldier must learn and practise all his evolutions, though he do not know on what service his leader may command him, by what particular foe he shall be most assailed, nor what mode of attack the enemy may employ, so must the young Christian militant be prepared by previous discipline for actual duty. But the contrary of all this is the case with external acquisitions. The master-it is his interest-will industriously instruct his young pupil to set all her improvements in the most immediate and conspicuous point of view. To attract admiration, is the great principle sedulously inculcated into her young heart, and is considered as the fundamental maxim; and, perhaps, if we were required to condense the reigning system of the brilliant education of a lady into an aphorism, it might be comprised in this short sentence-to allure and to shine. This system, however, is the fruitful germ, from which a thousand yet unborn vanities, with all their multiplied ramifications, will spring. A tender mother cannot but feel an honest triumph in contemplating those talents in her daughter which will necessarily excite admiration; but she will also shudder at the vanity that admiration may excite, and at the new ideas it will awaken; and, startling as it may sound, the labors of a wise mother, anxious for her daughter's best interests, will seem to be at variance with those of all |