Italy; neither the character nor circumstances of the people are changed they are not debased, enslaved or trampled upon, nor are there any reasons for thinking that they are likely to be so.

As to this country, there are many reasons for thinking that, so far from having arrived at its zenith in prosperity, as soon as the effects of the last expensive and long war are worn away, it will be greater than ever.

The real foundation of the greatness of this country has never been properly, or at least generally, understood; but to enter on that important subject in this paper, would render it too long, the investigation of it shall therefore be reserved to the next Number, when it will be proved that, from internal industry, and her excellent institutions, Britain derives her prosperity, and not from her foreign possessions or colonies, of which she may, in the vicissitude of events, be deprived.

[We have been favoured with the following letter, which we present to our readers without a comment: it will be read, we are sure, with delight, and we hope, with profit.]-ED.

TO THE FEMALES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

At

I have now appeared so often before my countrywomen, and have on former occasions ventured to use the language of exhor'tation and reproof so freely, that it might, in the present instance, seem to savour more of affected modesty than of genuine humility, to offer any apology for again venturing to address them. Could indeed the real anxiety which pervades my breast for their honour, and for that of the country with which it is so intimately connected, be made manifest, I should have little cause to fear; and though I might fail of accomplishing the design I had in view, my disappointment would be unimbittered by the consciousness of having incurred deserved censure. tached to the land of my birth, by every tie of affection, association, or duty, respecting even its national prejudices, and regarding its ancient institutions with profound reverence; acutely alive to every thing that affects the dignity of my own sex, and impressed with the fullest conviction of its importance on the best interests of the community; I cannot behold the repose of the one, and the respectability of the other, menaced, without using my endeavours, ineffectual as they may prove, and inadequate to the greatness of the cause as they really are, to avert the accumulating danger.

Never, perhaps, was the exertion of such endeavours more necessary than at the present moment. A very cursory view of society is sufficient to pourtray, even to a superficial observer, the incongruous appearance it presents. On one side infidelity, or at best, a decided indifference to every thing relative to religion, concealed under the garb of affected liberality, is observable; while on the other, a zeal, amounting to fanaticism, strikes us with astonishment. I do not mean to infer from hence, that there is no intermediate state between these extremes; happily, there are numbers among whom genuine piety is exhibited in its loveliest colours, but these are hid from common observation, and content within the precincts of their own homes and allotted spheres, to shew forth the beauty of holiness in the purity of their lives, they are known only in their own circles, and form no feature in the general outline. On no part, however, does this assertion bear more forcibly than upon the female, and probably for this reason; the sex

were never before placed in so conspicuous a light as they now are. A complete revolution in this respect has in fact been completed, and from the shades of obscurity where they had long been allowed to remain, they are now protruded into every situation into which it is possible to place them. How far this change is conducive to their own happiness, or to the welfare of society at large, a slight investigation alone may be sufficient to demonstrate.

Woman is a creature born for retirement, alike suited to it by nature, and if uncontaminated by fashionable contagion, by inclination. Her virtues, her abilities, physical and moral, the very errors to which she is subject, and the weaknesses to which she is liable, point out that the quiet and secluded walks of life are the most appropriate to her character, and the only sure paths to her happiness. It is in the domestic circle, in the gentle performance of reciprocal duties, and in the unobtrusive exercise of the functions of her station that she appears in her natural character, and consequently in the most advantageous light. Removed from this, she acts at best but an artificial part, and most generally a contemptible one; and as she rises in notoriety, she sinks in respectability, or exchanges solid comforts for unreal gratifications. Many years have not elapsed since these sentiments would have been received with scarcely a dissentient opinion; at which period the name of a British female was connected with the idea of every thing that was dignified and chaste, and British female society was held up to neighbouring nations as a criterion of moral excellence: but this proud distinction, which has already been impaired by the perverseness of some, and the thoughtlessness of others, will soon cease to exist, if the two prevailing evils of the present day, school exhibitions, and the ladies' bible associations, are suffered and encouraged. It is on this subject, a subject which is fraught with matter of the most serious moment to every wellthinking person, that I am desirous of drawing the attention of my countrywomen. The task is a difficult, and, I am aware, an ungracious, one; but I should ill deserve the favour that has been before shewn me, if I suffered any private motive to overcome a sense of moral and public duty. So much, however, has been said upon the latter, and so ably have its pernicious effects been displayed, that I should not have presumed to enter upon such a theme, had not the increase of such associations pointed out, that the alarum ought once more to be sounded, and the warning voice exerted in the land ere it be too late, to stem the torrent that is overwhelming it with its baneful waters!

Institutions, societies, auxiliary and independent, crowd fast upon us every city, every town, nay almost every village, boasts of an association, or a branch of a neighbouring one,

under whose banners both old and young, are, by every specious representation, invited to enrol themselves, and unhappily not without success. That this increase may, in a great measure, be attributed to the prevalence of the exhibitions before alluded to, exhibitions which are avowedly adopted for the express purpose of annihilating that diffidence which naturally distinguishes our youthful females, and which, though it might lessen the effect of brilliant acquirements, was formerly considered an equivalent for every defect, there seems to be little doubt, and as the evils resulting from each must necessarily be multiplied in proportion as they become more general, and are continued to be diffused in every rising generation, there is an imperious demand upon all who are convinced of their impropriety to endeavour to put some effectual check upon them.

To such an extent indeed have these exhibitions risen, that scarcely any respectable seminary is without its appointed public day for the display of some particular acquirement or accomplishment; inconveniences, expense, all are forgotten by the superior of the establishment, and every other object is absorbed in the one great motive,-a desire to make an imposing appearance. Scarcely has the tender bud of intellect unfolded itself, scarcely has the infant finger learnt to glide over the keys, or to awaken the string, or the pliant form to move in the dance, ere the child, with the more blooming girl, is ushered into public. Long, however, before the eventful hour arrives, it occupies every thought, and every other branch of education gives way to the favourite one; repeated rehearsals take place in order to overcome the appalling diffidence that would diminish the intended effect, every article of apparel, and the whole appearance are carefully studied. Thus prepared the youthful debutante at length appears before the gay and crowded assembly, from whom no marks of encouragement are wanting to recall her fleeting composure, and when her performance is ended she retires amidst applauses, which would better become a theatre than a private apartment, elated with her success, and triumphing in the consciousness of her superior powers. Thus every feeling of the youthful breast is called into action; the seeds of vanity are profusely sown, and a love of dress, of admiration, and even of conquest, are engendered in the mind before it is fortified by any correcting principle. The infatuated parent, however, beholds all this with feelings of ill-dissembled delight, and bows and smiles to the congratulations that are offered her by many an injudicious acquaintance, while others, who are not personally interested in the scene, experience a sensation of envy arising in their bosoms, and look forward with impatience to the hour when their own offspring shall share the same rapturous encomiums. Mothers of Britain, awake from your delusion, and read in these exhibitions a destruction of all your

better hopes! Too soon without your aid may the sweet retiring grace of youthful innocence be destroyed, and the blush of native modesty for ever banished! Ah, be not yourselves the accessaries to a change so deeply to be lamented, nor pave the way for your own misery, and their disgrace. Reflect on the absurdity even of such a procedure: your daughters are not intended for the senate, the stage, or the opera, that this confidence is required. Ah, then expose no more the lovely forms of your offspring to the gaze of the multitude, to the ardent or inquisitive looks of the licentious or the inconsiderate; associate them no more with hired performers, nor again endanger woman's sweetest, holiest grace diffidence in herself, and an innate modesty which shrinks even from merited praise.

But alas! the system thus reprehensibly begun at school is more blindly continued at home. The now-finished female must still display her abilities, and must still be admired; the education she has received may have formed her for public, but it has totally unfitted her for private life. The circle of acquaintance must be extended, and frequent parties given in which she presides with an ease and confidence, which her predecessors probably never acquired throughout the course of a long life. Parental discipline is frequently set at defiance, the domestic concerns of the family are looked upon as mere drudgery, or as incompatible with the views and sentiments she has imbibed. Thus inured from infancy to endure the gaze of strangers, to listen to her own plaudits, and to conquer every feeling of retiring delicacy, she is properly prepared for the character of a female bible associate, which she is soon solicited to take, and which probably from a love of novelty, or the prospects it affords her of agreeably passing away the dull hours of monotonous insipidity, she readily undertakes. Her mornings are accordingly passed either in the committee-room, or in rambling from house to house for the purpose of collecting contributions, descanting on the merits of the association with a volubility and speciousness scarcely to be repressed or conceived, or consigning this part of the embassy to a more experienced companion, amusing herself with making observations on the manners, conversations, dress, furniture, &c., of all that comes under her notice; thus too frequently providing herself with fresh matter of satirical remark or ludicrous description for the entertainment of her evening friends. The shades of a domestic character in the meantime daily become less and less visible. In the middle ranks of life the household occupations devolve solely on the indulgent mother, who feels herself amply repaid for her fatigue in the real or fancied admiration which follows her daughter, who is thus rendered incapable of sustaining the future character of a mistress, a wife, or a mother. Under this distressing view of the result of an early injudicious system, to you, fathers and