wiles of seduction. Modesty adds beauty to virtue, renders loveliness more lovely; and, to a susceptible mind, fascinates more than the perfection of symmetry. Every man, therefore, whether fulfilling the duties of a father, husband, or brother, or the mere admirer of female charms, becomes interested in the preservation of so estimable a quality. The common unrestrained practice of bathing in places exposed to public view, is very indecent, and must operate to the detriment of female delicacy. This indecency is particularly conspicuous at most of the fashionable wa«tering-places, and of such, strikingly so at Brighton. I have taken up my residence there this summer, and shall therefore lay before you such facts and observations as present themselves to me. In front of the most desirable promenade in the town, and under the windows of the principal houses, groups, naked, exhibit themselves the whole of the day. This assemblage is composed of grooms, footmen, &c. who being alike unincumbered by work, and a sense of common decency, are at liberty to enjoy the confusion a modest woman feels, at being exposed to such indecencies, and also gratify the meretricious leers of many an amorous wanton. But are the ladies we occasionally see on the beach, walking through the midst of the naked male creatures, of this latter description? Perhaps they have only an eye to their health, and none to other matters. Air from the sea is reckoned salutary, and the nearer the body of the waves, the stronger will be the salubrious impregnation. The virgins of the nursery also, as, merely to gratify little Master or Miss, they gather shells and pebbles on the beach, are no doubt led on by inadvertence, when unexpectedly they find themselves in the company of Mr. John, Mr. William, and others of their male acquaintance, not clad in the gaudy trappings of their

gala

gala liveries, but in the more interesting equipment of their birth-day suits. How edifying must such scenes be to the female imagination! how much so to the young Miss, just stepping from the discipline of a boarding-school, to the free range of fashionable life! How much more solid information must they afford than the lessons of a French teacher! and what a source for future associations of ideas!

But does not the opening mind, being thus habituated, tend rather to fit it for the arts of intrigue, than the discharge of domestic duties, and to induce an unblushing effrontery, in place of the natural softness of the sex? Certainly it does; and it is a shame such practices should be suffered," exclaims every resident at Brighton. Then why are they not prevented?" Well, we certainly must do something; we must enter into an agreement, not to suffer our servants to bathe after such an hour in the morning." But some such plan has been spoken of year after year, without ever having been brought into practice, nor could such ever be made efficient. It is only in the power of the neighbouring magistrates, effectually to stop the evil; and, by putting in force the powers they are vested with, they may execute it by the most simple process imaginable, were they to'publish a notice, that whoever was seen naked on the beach before the town after nine in the morning, should be apprehended as disorderly, and dealt with according to law; and, by seeing that the regulation was duly enforced, I am persuaded, the grievance would speedily be removed. The coercion of the law alone will be equal to the task. I lately saw a respectable inhabitant of the town receive a severe ducking from some men whom he endeavoured to prevent bathing before his house. If the local police continues asleep, a higher branch of the legislature must awake it. The morality of the people is

7

not an idle subject for judicial interference, and decency is one of the strongest outworks of morality.

A LOVER OF DECENCY.

f

THOUGH Balaam's ass got many a whack,
His happy fate was rare→→→→→

He bore a prophet on his back,
And met an angel fair.

it Is not your fortune still more bright.

Ye Brighton donkies say?:

Ye carry spirits ev'ry night,
And angels ev'ry day!

་།

THE BRIGHTON DONKEY.-A SKETCH...

[From the Morning Herald.]

SEE, on the patient ass
A lovely charge, the form of beauty sits.
Poor and neglected, and ill-treated brute!
Thou hast been long abus'd--thy useful race
Contempt, but little merited, have borne,
And cruelty not merited at all!

To man thou little ow'st-his cares are given
-To rear the noblest steed: the favourite horse
Is pamper'd, manag'd, exercis'd, and train'd,
...The winds of heaven to surpass in speed,
And gain the honours of the rapid course;
To, bear his master through the lengthen'd chase,
O'er hills, and floods, and vallies, or to shine
With gaudy trappings in the van of war.

But thou, abandon'd from thy earliest age,

Art doom'd in silent misery to feel

The tricks of children, and the blows of slaves;

Us'd for the vilest offices, and press'd

With frequent loads beyond thy strength to bear;
And when the labours of the day have ceas'd,
Art turn'd upon the common's stinted verge,
Of coarsest herbs to pick thy scanty meal!
But happier days shall shine-pathetic Sterne
First wak'd the sigh of pity for thy woes;
And late, so fortune wills, thou art become
The useful favourite of the British fair.
She will not task thy strength beyond its powers,
Nor goad thy sides with many-pointed steel.
Her hand shall guide thee with a gentle rein.
Pleas'd with thy charge, and docile to command,
Not fam'd Bucephalus with greater joy-

Bore the world's victor through the ranks of war,
Than thou, blest Albion's fair-c'en now thou bear'st
With mingled pride and pleasure to the shore
The hapless Julia; o'er whose feverish cheek
Passes the hectic flush-along the tide
Slowly thou pacest, and thy fetlocks deep.
Plungest in ocean's waves, that she may catch
The pure salubrious breezes, as they spring
Fresh from the blue serene, whose gentle breath
May fan the half-extinguished flame of life!
Nor shall thy cares be fruitless-though the pangs
Of love despis'd, and sorrow's rankling tooth,
Have blanch'd the roses of her cheek, the smile
Again shall beam from Julia's lucid eye,
Like morn's clear rays that glitter in the east!

THE SENTIMENTAL SOLILOQUY OF A DUMB DONKEY AT MARGATE..

I

[From the Morning Post, August 19.]

F I, like Balaam's famous ass of old,

Had power of speech, I 'd loudly bray my grief,
And tell how city dames, with "bottoms broad,"
By many a pound of fish and flesh made up,
Sit squat, unwieldy on my suff'ring back;
(Just, as I 've heard, Atlas on shoulders broad

Sustain'd

Sustain'd this world, that now on nothing hangs.)

*

* * * * * * *

Thanet! whose shores behold clusters of nymphs
And nereïds, who parboil themselves in vats
Of liquid brine-or plunge into the flood
To reinforce their charms. Ah! city swains,
Beware! secure your hearts against the blaze
Of beauty thus preserv'd, or thus procur'd!
But to myself I now must turn the song;
Myself, the hero of this tale of woe.

What were the troubles of the hunted stag,
When "big round drops, cours'd one another down
His nose of innocence," compar'd to mine?
Or his of my own race, by Sterne describ'd,
With thistle munching in his famish'd' maw ? .
Or theirs, who, from Blackheath, as I've been told,
Bring sand for cleanly housewises, or to fill d
The hour-glass, emblem of fast fleeting time!
Time! treated just as I am, with neglect
By many a passer-by-Who knows this truth,
If he takes time to think (such are but few!!
That waste of time can't well be put to use,
Till, by the process of the glass up-turn'd,
What had before unheeded past the eye,
Now teaches us time's true and sterling worth,.
Which, at the former turn, we overlook'd.
These of Blackheath by some are lions call'd,
(But still in sport, as we're "the scorn of time;")
Sand-bags their load; mine-bags full charg'd with flesh;
One canvass coarse, and t'other muslin fine!

Would that we were of that courageous race!
of strength;
For if we were, we could in saddle shake
The heaviest she that now oppresses us,-
Or scare her from our now too feeble backs.
What are the biped's "miseries of life,"
(Though without number,) when put in the sale
To weigh against those troubles which I bear;
Those heavy ills that I am burden'll with?
What boots it that I prance, or turn, or kick,
Or stand stock still; or throw my load of ills

Of the "Nemean"-fam'd for nerves