ހ intermediate propenfities are a kind of balancing powers, which feem indeed to hold a neutrality in moral affairs, but, holding it with arms in their hands, cannot be fuppofed to remain impartial fpectators of the fray, and therefore must be either with us, or against us. I fhall make myself better understood when I proceed to inftance them, and I will begin with that, which has been called the univerfal paffion, The love of Fame. · I presume no lady will difavow this propenfity; I would not with her to attempt it; let her examine it howe⚫er; let her first inquire to what point it is likely to carry her before the commits herself to its conduct: Ifit is to be her guide to that fame only, which excels in fashionable diffipation, figures in the firft circles of the gay world, and is the loadstone to attract every libertine of high life into the sphere of its activity, it is a traiterous guide, and is feducing her to a precipice, that will fooner or later be the grave of her happiness: On the contrary, if it propofes to avoid these dangerous purfuits, and recommends a progress through paths lefs tempting to the eye perhaps, but terminated by fubftantial comforts, the may fecurely follow a propenfity, which cannot mislead her, and indulge a paffion, which will be the moving fpring of all her actions, and but for which her nature would want energy, and her character be no otherwife diftinguished than by avoidance of vice without the grace and merit of any pofitive virtue. I can hardly fuppofe, if it was put to a lady's choice at her outfet into life which kind of fame fhe would be diftinguifhed for, good or evil, but that he would at once prefer the good; I must I must believe she would acknowledge more gra. tification in being fignalized as the beft wife, the best mother, the most exemplary woman of her time,than in being pointed out in all circles the frequents as the most fashionable rake, the best dreffed voluptuary in the nation: If this be rightly conjectured, why will not every woman, who has her choice to make, direct her ambition to those objects, which will give her most fatisfaction, when attained? There can be no reafon but because it imposes on her fome self-denials by the way, which he has not fortitude to furmount; and it is plain the does not love fare well enough to be at much pains in acquiring it; her ambition does not reach at noble objects, her paffion for celebrity is no better than that of a buffoon's, who for the vanity of being confpicuous fubmits to be contemptible. Friendship is a word which has a very captivating found, but is by no means of a decided quality; it may be friend or foe as reafon and true judgment fhall determine for it. If I were to decry all female friendships in the lump it might seem a harsh sentence, and yet it will seriously behove every parent to keep ftrict watch over this propenfity in the early movements of the female mind. I am not difpofed to expatiate upon its dangers very particularly; they are fufficiently known to people of experience and difcretion; but attachments must be ftemmed in their beginnings; keep off correfpondents from your daughters as you would keep off the peftilence: Romantic miffes, fentimental novelifts and fcribbling pedants overturn each other heads with fuch eternal rhap. fodies about friendship, and refine upon nonfenfe with fuch an affectation of enthufiafm, that if it has not been the parent's ftudy to take early precautions against all fuch growing propenfities, it will be in vain to oppofe the torrent, when it carries all before it and overwhelms the paffions with its force. Senfibility is a mighty favorite with the fair fex; it is an amiable friend or a very dangerous foe to virtue: Let the female who profeffes it, be careful how she makes too full a display of her weakness; for this is fo very foft and infinuating a propensity, that it will be found in moft female gloffaries as a fynonymous term for love itfelf; in fact it is little. elfe than the nomme-de-guerre, which that infidious adventurer takes upon him in all firft approaches; the pass-word in all those skirmishing experiments, which young people make upon each other's affections, before they proceed to plainer declarations; it is the whetstone, upon which love fharpens and prepares his arrows: If any lady makes a certain fhow of fenfibility in company with her admirer, he must be a very dull fellow, if he does not know how to turn the weapon from himself to her. Now fenfibility affumes a different character when it is taken into the fervice of benevolence, or made the centinel of modefty; in one cafe it gives the fpring to pity, in the other the alarm to discretion; but whenever it affails the heart by foft feduction to bestow that pity and relief, which difcretion does not warrant and purity ought not to grant, it should be treated as a renegado and a fpy, which under the mafk of charity would impofe upon credulity for the vilest purposes, and betray the heart by flattering it to its ruin. Vanity is a paffion, to which I think I am very complaifant, when I admit it to a place amongst thefe convertible propenfities, for it is as much as I can do to find any occupation for it in the family-concerns of virtue; perhaps if I had not known Vanea I fhould not pay it even this small compliment: It can however do fome under-offices in the household of generofity, of chearfulness, hofpitality, and certain other refpectable qualities: It is little elfe than an officious, civil, filly thing, that runs on errands for its betters, and is content to be paid with a fmile for its good-will by thofe, who have too much good fenfe to show it any real respect When it is harmlefs, it would be hard to wound it out of wantonnefs; when it is mifchievous, there is merit in chaftifing it with the whip of ridicule: A lap-dog may be endured, if he is inoffenfiye and does not annoy the company, but a fnappifh, barking pett, though in a lady's arms, deferves to have his ears pulled for his imperti nence. Delicacy is a foft name, and fine ladies, who have a proper contempt for the vulgar, are very willing to be thought endowed with fenfes more refined and exquifite, than nature ever meant to give them; their nerves are fufceptible in the extreme, and they are of conftitutions fo irritable, that the very winds of heaven must not be allowed to vifit their face too roughly. I have ftudied this female favorite with fome attention, and I am not yet able to difcover any one of its good qualities; Í do not perceive the merit of fuch exquifite fibres, nor have I obferved that the flendereft ftrings are apt to produce the fweeteft founds, when applied to inftruments of harmony; I prefume the female heart heart fhould be fuch an harmonious inftrument, when touched by the parent, the friend, the hufband; but how can these expect a concert of sweet founds to be excited from a thing, which is liable to be jarred and put out of tune by every breath of air? It may be kept in its cafe, like an oldfashioned virginal, which nobody knows, or even wishes to know, how to touch: It can never be brought to bear its part in a family concert, but must hang by the wall, or at beft be a folo inftrument for the remainder of its days. Bashfulness, when it is attached to modefty, will be regarded with the eye of candor and cheared with the smile of encouragement; but bashfulness is a hireling, and is fometimes difcovered in the livery of pride, oftentimes in the caft-off trappings of affectation; pedantry is very apt to bring it into company, and fly, fecret confcioufnefs will frequently blush because it understands. I do not fay I have much to lay to its charge, for it is not apt to be troublesome in polite focieties, nor do I commonly meet it even in the youngest of the female fex. There is a great deal of blufhing I confefs in all the circles of fine ladies, but then it is fo univerfal a blush and withal fo permanent, that I am far from imputing it always to bafhfulness, when the cheeks of the fair are tinged with rofes. However, though it is fometimes an impoftor, and for that reason may deferve to be difmiffed, I cannot help having a confideration for one, that has in past times been the handmaid of beauty, and therefore as merit has taken modefty into her fervice, I would recommend to ignorance to put bashfulness into full pay and employment. Politeness |