How happy would it be, if, instead of fighting with the air, as these good men persist in doing, they were employed in teaching the rudiments of knowledge, in searching for, and compiling such moral passages from the ancient Hindoo books, as, taught to the young Indiaus, might improve them, and render them worthy of still further advantages-an improvement they would be far from refusing, as it would accord with their prejudices, and being founded on the wisdom of their forefathers, would carry with it the authority of religion, and the attraction of affection. Should we hear of the habitual want of truth in the Hindoos-if, from their infancy, they were exercised in those sacred passages, where truth, in all her sublime and attractive array, is identified with the universal soul, and made familiar with the strains of the poet, who, speaking of the inviolability of a promise, sings," Before the appointed hour, even thou, thyself, art not able to destroy the tyrant to whom thou hast promised life, no more than the sun is able prematurely to close the day which he himself enlightens."-Graham's Letters on India. THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND. history, leads us to the proposition, that the chief cause of the difference of manners, is to be sought in the different treatment experienced by the women of Asia and Europe. Because the woman, in Asia, is condemned to play a subordinate part in society, and is doomed to a kind of imprisoument; and as the man exercises full controul over her, her influence is extremely limited, and cannot operate, in any remarkable way, on the national character. Even in early ages, the customs of Europe were the opposite of all this. Among the ancient Germans, women were honoured and respected-they were even admitted to public assemblies, and allowed to deliberate on political affairs.This custom gave birth to the gallantries of the age of chivalry, the most brilliant period for the female sex. The Turks must, indeed, have regarded, as singular, the oath made by St. Louis, not to consider as valid the agreement which guaranteed the lives of himself and his companions in arms, until it should be ratified by his Queen, whom he had left behind at Damietta.The influence of knight-errantry has even extended to modern times. The Europeans have, by degrees, adopted those habits and customs, which are most agreeable to women. To please them, the European has renounced the beard, which the Asiatic regards as his greatest ornament, and not only forms his person, but likewise his mind, in the way which may be most agreeable to them. On the other hand, the European women resemble the men. Europe is indebted to the fair sex for many of her pre-eminences over the other regions of the world. Rudeness and despotism prevail where women are kept in a state of complete oppression-effeminacy and cowardice are the characteristics of those nations where they enjoy too great an ascendancy. THE causes which have produced the differences between the manners and customs of the Asiatic and European natious, is a subject for the inquiry of the philosopher. I regard them, as affording two principal classifications. There are nations in Asia, whose habits resemble those of the Europeans; and in some countries of Europe, customs similar to those of Asia prevail. The manners and customs of the ancient Romans, corresponded more with those of the modern Asiatics than the Europeans. In Turkey, the customs of Asia In England, the spirit of chivalry was never carried to such an extent, as on the prevail. Among the other European nations, the habits of the Portuguese, Spa- opposite shores of France; in the former niards, Russians, and Hungarians, approx-country, it consisted merely in superficial Women never possessed so imate most closely to those of the Asiatics.appearances. Were we to seek for a mother country, or much power in England as in Francecentral point, if it may so be called, for Though the English woman is not, like manners, we should say that Persia is such her sister in Turkey, the slave of her hus for Asia, and France for Europe. band, yet she is, more than females in This assertion, which is supported by other parts of Europe, excluded from an interference with public affairs, and confined to the occupations which nature has marked out for her—namely, the education of her children, and the care of her household affairs. Until the reign of Charles I. agriculture constituted the chief occupation of the English, and the form of their constitution bordered on a territorial aristocracy, that is to say, the landed proprietors, who have since been reduced, and have degenerated, were the most important individuals in the country. They furnished the model, according to which the manners, customs, and prejudices of the whole nation, were formed. Educated on their estates, they obstinately retained their peculiarities. Being naturally serious, and living entirely within the circle of their families, the superior classes in England acquire a more solid knowledge, and purer morals, than those on the Continent. During the period of the reformation, intolerance was a prominent feature in the English character, combined with religious feelings, which degenerated into bigotry. The women formed themselves after the model of the men. With the exception of a few traits of barbarity, which arose out of the darkness of the age, many women, during the period of the English republic, bring to our recollection the Valerias and Portias of antiquity. With warm feelings of patriotism and national pride, they combined the sincerest devotedness to their husbands.They displayed talent and ability for manly occupations, without, for a moment, renouncing female modesty and reserve. The periods of tranquillity which succeeded the storms of the revolution, afford- || ed the fair sex no opportunities for the developement of the virtues above alluded to; they rather withdrew themselves from all manly occupations, to which the nature of the English constitution has contributed. The monarch, who is limited in his prerogatives, cannot, as under other constitutions, invest his wife, or mistress, with any important influence in political affairs.The minister must pay dearly in his person, were he to suffer his mistress to officiate for him. The course of government affairs is too precisely indicated, to admit of any foreign influence; the fair sex are, conse quently, shut out from all political intriguing.* Modern English history presents but few instances of the choice of an Admiral or General having been decided by female influence. An Englishman does not love the fair sex with such a degree of adoration, as would lead him, voluntarily, to renounce the dominion which nature seems to have assigned to man, and which is likewise granted to him by the laws. As soon as a woman is married, all she is possessed of becomes the property of her husband; and she can dispose of nothing without his consent. He, on the other hand, is responsible for all the debts she may incur, either before or after marriage. Though the husband is obliged, by law, to pay his wife's debts, and is deprived of personal freedom in case he should not possess the means of doing so, yet, in all that regards property, the wife is reduced to a state of subjection, and the husband invested with controul, though limits are established against its abuse. An Englishwoman is equally estimable, as a wife and as a mother. As a wife, she is the faithful companion of her husband; she participates in all his sorrows, observes regularity in her domestic arrangements; and for cleanliness, is superior to the females of any other country in Europe. She remains at home, whilst her husband is abroad seeking the recreations of riding, driving or hunting; she rises early from table, leaving him and his friends to enjoy the pleasures of the bottle; frequently excluded from all society, she lives for years in a lonely country estate, without feeling any desire to seek for amusement beyond the walls of her house. When she exercises dominion over her husband, it is obtained by sweetness of temper; her's, therefore, is a dominion to which man readily yields, and that only which becomes her sex. As a mother, an Englishwoman regards the education of her children as her dear *This practice of excluding females from all participation in public affairs in England, is a serious cause of complaint to the foreign Envoys who are sent to the English court. All diplo matic intrigues prove ineffectual. The Ambassador must trust to the public journals for all his information on the subject of state secrets. est duty. It is exclusively the mother's office, to implant in the minds of her children those early precepts, which exercise || so important an influence over their future existence, and which redound so much to the honour of the English system of education. || There is, however, something monastic in the mode of educating young women in England. A foreigner, introduced for the first time to a party of young English ladies, might almost fancy himself transported to a nunnery. The uniformity of their white muslin dresses, would likewise contribute to maintain the illusion, for every female follows the same fashion, without any distinction being observed between youth and old age. Uncommonly || fine features are to be met with among the young women in England; but their complexions seem too delicate to resist, for any length of time, the destructive influence of the foggy English atmosphere; they lose their beauty at an early age. The English women are more remarkable for well-proportioned forms, than for any striking beauty of countenance. They do not, however, devote much attention to gracefulness of deportment. || Foreigners might be inclined to wish for more vivacity, more wit, and more talent for conversation among the fair sex of Eng• || land. Even the English husband not unfrequently complains of ennui when at home; but he reflects, that the attainment of these attractive talents might have a prejudicial influence on the exercise of more important duties.-From a German Work. HOLLAND, IN 1773. THE country is entirely flat, and so are the surrounding towns: but nothing can be more neat, more pretty, nor more elegant than these towns. They present to the eye, at a great distance, by their numerous canals, planted on each side with trees, the prospect of a great number of hamlets, united together; we seem always in the country, and the hamlets appear as if they had been formed during the night by the wand of a fairy. The public edifices and houses are built on the waters, which surround and divide the country; these appear in the water like so many stationary vessels, without masts, the roofs of which seem to be the decks. They are slight, and have not cost much labour in erecting. They are washed every day, inside and out; the outside, by means of engines-the inside, with spunges. The corridors, and stories, are all inlaid with Dutch tiling; which give an air of newness to the most ancient buildings. The outside is varnished in all manner of colours, and the stairs are covered with matting, or strips of cloth. In Holland, the way of living is temperate and wholesome; a piece of beef, weighing about twenty pounds, serves all the week, with a dish of excellent vegetables. This is the whole course. Those who call the Hollanders cheese-eaters, have only been familiar with sailors, and other seafaring men. It is in vain that the Russians may tell a foreigner to be guarded against the effects of cold, or the Hollanders against the in fluence of their evening dews; experience furnishes the best defence. Would you wish to preserve your health, always follow the regimen of the natives belonging to the country wherein you may sojourn; when in Russia, during the winter, eat their sugar-cakes, and drink the spirituous liquors they offer you before dinner; in Holland, return home early, and when you go out, do not go till it is late. The vicissitudes of the atmosphere require little change in the clothing, from winter to summer. The roads, in several countries, are made with new half-baked bricks, just from the field; they last, because they are well covered with sand, and no heavy carriages pass over them. Every thing is transported in boats, and provisions are carried to their destined place in wheelbarrows. Holland, watered on almost every side by the ocean, offers only extensive fields. There are no forests, and the only trees are those of the gardens, and of places near the towns. Besides the rivers, there are innumerable canals, to facilitate parties of pleasure, voyages, and the transporting of merchandize; and the boatmen undertake to carry provisions and goods at a moderate price. A boat costs but little to keep it, and will contain more than eight cart-loads of merchandize. The public barks, with which the canals are covered, are drawn by horses, and depart and arrive at a given hour. The banks of the canals are almost all adorned with beautiful walks of elms, and linden trees, and intersected with handsome houses, and gardens, finely cultivated, with all sorts of trees and flowers; and wherein are bred the most scarce and beautiful birds from India. The roufe of the canal-boat is a little kind of cabin, set apart for some particular travellers. The time of frost and snow is the carnival of Holland; the canals and rivers are covered with skaters, both male and female. A villager carries his provisions to market, skating; the female villager does the same. It seems that, without the business of commerce, which draws the Hollanders together, there is no kind of society among them, so little do they frequent each other. The country-house of a wealthy individual, has the appearance of a Prince's palace. The coffee-houses are very simple; there are no women seen presiding in them; there is no bar, no marble tables; neither glasses, nor chandeliers. that they are kept in the utmost extreme of neatness. They love their boorish husbands, are beloved by them, have all the rule in domestic affairs, and are sovereigns in their own houses. Several women wear large rings of gold on the first finger and on the thumb of the right hand: the ring on the forefinger is a mark of their having gold enough; and that on the thumb, that they have abundance. The Dutch women are fair, but they are apt to stoop too much; they are handsome, if we may allow a woman to be so who is enormously fat. Such as we see them painted by Reubens, such we actually behold them in their houses. The young women seldom marry till they are five-and-twenty. On the wedding-day, the bride receives a present, with part of her household furniture. The present is what is observed, as a custom, with the most opulent; the furniture is bestowed among the common people, at the expence of the aunts, cousins, relations, and friends, who are present at the wedding, where there is always an equal number of each sex invited. There are very pretty children, few handsome men, and scarce any beautiful women, in Holland. If morals are not attended to more in Amsterdam than in The carriages are built high, and are very light, because the country is sandy, and a heavy carriage would require several horses to drag it out of the deep ruts which the wheels would make. The quantity of diamonds worn by the Paris, it is not the case in other towns; a ladies, the buckles, knives, scissors, chains|| of gold, rings, on the fingers of the tradesmen's wives, and even on those of female peasants, are proofs of the riches in the country. The women yet wear, hanging to their sides, a kind of purse, similar to the ancient French Escarcelle, ornamented with a spring circlet, and hooks of silver. The young maidens, however wealthy,|| do not marry so early as in France; the fathers keeping close together, as long as they possibly can, their tuns of gold. The Dutch women are, in general, truly virtuous; and there are few men, prodigals or libertines. Interest, labour, the love of gain, and close application to business, with a natural taste for commerce, absorb every other passion. public courtezan would not be allowed to remain in Saardam: at this place, the women wear short petticoats, folded like fans, a corset, tight to the shape, and a straw hat; not even the shadow of a naked bust is to be seen, at any time in the year. They wear fine laces, rings on their fingers, earrings, their legs almost bare, and they stir up the dung with forks, like men: but one cause of the extreme neatness of the Dutch, is, that there are a far greater number of women than men-servants. The Hollanders take, regularly, four meals a day; their coffee in the morning, dine between one and two o'clock, drink tea at six, and sup at nine. Economical as is the Dutchman, he yet loves a good table. The birth of a child, its christenThe women, as we have said before, are ing, its weaning, all agreements, betrothvirtuous and modest, good housewives--ra-ings, weddings, lyings-in, departing on a ther too economical; they watch over their journey, and on return, are all subjects for houses with the most incessant care, to see feasting. gotiate, nor make any demand or payment; and Sunday is a day of liberty for every debtor. The Dutch keep their dead unburied for a whole week; they often wash the corpse with warm water, shave it, dress it, and expose it, for two or three days, to its nearest relatives and friends: they place it in an oak coffin, lined with iron plates, the head placed on a cross-bar, which serves as a pillow the coffin is nailed and screw The Westphalians in Holland, are what the Savoyards are in France. They are industrious, faithful, and parsimonious; they live on bread and water, with a little of their own country bacon; they are employed in all kinds of works, but in particular with the gathering in of the hayharvest, which is considerable in a country covered with fields and meadows. The women are attached to the country-houses, where they are employed in gardening. There are fewer thieves in Holland thaned down. The women are dressed in the in other parts of the world: and how could habiliments suitable to their sex, trimmed they possibly exercise the perilous trade of with black ribband; the men are in nighta highwayman, in a country cut out into gowns, with wigs on their heads, and are ditches, canals, and rivers, and set thick, buried with an expence proportionate to all over, with barriers? their means. Translated from the French of Diderot's Supplementary Work, just published. On Sunday, every man and woman are seen flocking to church; they never work on that day, neither do they buy, sell, ne : TO THE EDITOR OF LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE. which, on easy terms, the poor may obtain access. These aids, to the admonitions of parents, friends, and employers, may avert evils more dire than the extinction of life by lingering agony-alas! too often drawn upon themselves by girls, whose personal attractions, aspiring refinement, and dependant state, are rendered, by impru the dictatorial sex shall deign to look into the chapters, the cogent appeals to a natu ral horror at protracted sufferings, corroborated by generous repugnance to inflict cureless ills upon others, may counteract allurements to the elegant profligacy, supposed to confer tonish notoriety upon a man of pleasure; but which, according to our mass of evidence, soon transforms him to a man of pain. SIR,-To combat with anxious energy the encroachments of folly and vice, by disseminating Christian principles and useful information, is a harmless quixotism; and it is highly encouraging to know, that schemes which, in the commencement, appeared visionary, and agency deemed too feeble for momentous effect, have, by perseverance, ultimately prospered, in attempt-dence, destructive snares; and if youth of ing, out of the beaten track, to serve man. kind. Viewing society as a tree, improved in its loftiest boughs by careful cultivation applied to the root, the writer is pledged, with unwearied zeal, to provide mental melioration for the sons and daughters of industry-animated by a hope of inciting more efficient lovers of their species to coufederate in saving multitudes from the most dire temporal evils, and from eternal perdition. To promote the speediest circulation of appropriate instruction, all remaining copies of the first, second, and third parts of the Popular Models are to be sold by auction, and each purchaser of a set is to receive a ticket, entitling him or her to a copy of the fourth volume, gratis. Besides these homely vehicles of edification, some hundred copies of the fourth part are to be gratuitously distributed to parochial libraries, and other collections of books, to Subjoined to those Warnings of Bitter Experience, a note, on the means for preventing a recurrence of public distress, contains many considerations, suggested by the present state of extensive districts, where crowds of children, like the birds of the air, seek their chief sustenance gathering wild berries in woods, moors, and mountains, while the parents languish under contagious fever, the consequence of scanty and unwholesome provisions. The |