ness of the former, instead of producing the effect at which it aimed, made the fellow but wrap up the closer; yet no sooner did the sun-beams play, than that which before protected, became now an incumbrance.

Just so, that pride which makes us tenacious in disputes between man and man, when applied to the ladies, inspires us with an eagerness not to contend, but to obey.

To speak sincerely and philosophically, women seem designed by Providence to spread the same splendour and cheerfulness through the intellectual economy, that the celestial bodies diffuse over the material part of the creation. Without them, we might indeed contend, destroy, and triumph over one another. Fraud and force would divide the world between them; and we should pass our lives like slaves, in continual toil, without the prospect of pleasure or relaxation.

It is the conversation of women that gives a proper bias to our inclinations, and by abating the ferocity of our passions, engages us to that gentle. ness of deportment which we style humanity. The tenderness we have for them softens the ruggedness of our own nature; and the virtues we put on to make the better figure in their eyes, keep us in humour with ourselves.

I speak it without affectation or vanity, that no man has applied more assiduously than myself to the study of the fair sex; and I aver it with the greatest simplicity of heart, that I have not only found the most engaging and most amiable, but al so the most generous and most heroic qualities amongst the ladies; and that I have discovered

more of candour, disinterestedness, and fervour, in their friendship, than in those of our own sex, though I have been very careful and particularly happy in the choice of acquaintance.

My readers will, I dare say, observe, and indeed I desire they should, a more than ordinary zeal for inculcating a high esteem of, and a sincere attachment to, the fair. What I propose from it is, to rectify certain notions, which are not only destructive of all politeness, but at the same time detrimental to society, and incompatible with the dignfty of human nature. These have, of late years, spread much among those who assume to themselves the title of fine gentlemen; and in consequence thereof, talk with great freedom of those from whom they are in no danger of being called There is so much of baseness, cowardice, and contempt of truth, in this way of treating those who are alone capable of making us truly and rationally happy, that to consider the crine, must be sufficient to make a reasonable man abhor it. Levity is the best excuse for a transient slip of this kind; but to persist in it, is evidently descending from our own species, and, as far as we are able, putting on the brute.

to an account.

Fram'd to give joy, the lovely sex are seen;
Beauteous their form, and heavenly in their mien.
Silent, they charm the pleased beholder's sight
And speaking, strike us with a new delight:
Words, when pronounc'd by them, bear each a dart,
Invade our ears, and wound us to the heart
To no ill ends the glorious passion sways:
By love and honour bound, the youth obeys;
Till by his service won, the grateful fair
Consents, in time, to ease the lover's care;

Seals all his hopes; and in the bridal kiss,
Gives him a title to untainted bliss.

I choose to put an end to my lecture on politeness here, because having spoke of the ladies, I would not descend again to any other subject. In the current of my discourse, I have taken pains to show the use and amiableness of that art which this treatise was written to recommend ; and have drawn, in as strong colours as I was able, those solecisms in behaviour, which men, either through giddiness or a wrong turn of thought, are most likely to commit.

Perhaps the grave may think I have made politeness too important a thing, from the manner in which I have treated it: yet if they will but reflect, that a statesman in the most august assembly, a lawyer of the deepest talents, and a divine of the greatest parts, must, notwithstanding, have a large share of politeness, in order to engage the attention and bias the inclination of his hearers, before he can persuade them ;-they will be of another opinion, and confess, that some care is due to acquiring that quality which must set off all the rest.

The gayer part of my readers may probably find fault with those restraints which may result from the rules I have here laid down. But I would have these gentlemen remember, that I point out a way whereby, without the trouble of study, they may be enabled to make no despicable figure in the world; which, on mature deliberation, I flatter myself they will think no ill exchange. The ladies will, I hope, repay my labours, by not being displeased with this offer of my service; and thus having done all

in my power towards making folks agreeable to one another, I please me with the hopes of having procured a favourable reception for myself.

When gay Patronius, to correct the age?
Gave way, of old, to his satyric rage;
The motley form he for his writings chose,
And chequer'd lighter verse with graver prose.
When with just malice, he desig'nd to show
How far unbounded vice at last would go;
In prose we read the execrable' tale,
And see the face of sin without a veil.

But when his soul, by some soft theme inspir'd,
The aid of tuneful poetry requir'd,

His numbers with peculiar sweetness ran,
And in his easy verse we see the man;
Learn'd without pride; of taste correct-yet free
Alike from niceness and from pedantry;
Careless of wealth, yet liking decent show;
In fine, by birth a wit, by trade a beau.
Freely he censur'd a licentious age.
And him I copy, though with chaster page;
Expose the evils in which brutes delight,
And show how easy 'tis to be polite;

Exhort our erring youth-to mend in time,
And lectures give, for memory's sake, in rhyme,
Teaching this art to pass through life at ease,
Pleas'd in ourselves, while all around we please.

ADVICE TO YOUTH.

SELECTED FROM THE WORKS

OF

HUGH BLAIR, D. D.

The necessity of forming religious principles at an early age.

As soon as you are capable of reflection, you must perceive that there is a right and a wrong in human actions. You see, that those who are born with the same advantages of fortune, are not all equally prosperous in the course of life. While

some of them, by wise and steady conduct, attain distinction in the world, and pass their days with comfort and honour; others of the same rank, by mean and vicious behaviour, forfeit the advantages of their birth, involve themselves in much misery, and end in being a disgrace to their friends, and a burden on society. Early, then, you may learn, that it is not in the external condition in which you find yourselves placed, but on the part which you are to act, that your welfare and unhappiness, your honour or infamy, depend. Now, when beginning to act that part, what can be of greater moment, than to regulate your plan of conduct with the most serious attention, before you have yet committed any fatal or irretrievable errors? If, instead of ex erting reflection for this valuable purpose, you deli