sense perceive it; above all as the Bible, which we as professors of Christianity, acknowledge to be the word of Truth, presents it.

It perhaps may not be amiss to say that among the many improvements suggested in the present day for the subject of education, and the multiplied acquisitions, in consequence, made by our sex, the cultivation of their taste is too much neglected. The tender and elevated verse of Tasso, the pure and lofty strains of Milton, have given place to the exciting, though immoral muse, of Byron and others like him. Vulgar and profane wit are now seen where once lay the pages that contained the delicate satires of Addison. The almost divine allegory of Bunyan is by many considered inferior to its imitation. Indeed, who now are much conversant with the classic pages of the past? The moral tale, the historical novel, the gleanings of travellers make up the sum of common reading.

In what are called the accomplishments in education, together with the ornaments in dress, and the furniture of the domestic home, we abandon the directions of the taste, so natural to woman, and suffer ourselves to be guided by those artists who must change the fashion to provoke fresh wants, and occasion new demands upon their labours. The most exquisite music is thrown aside because not new, the

dress and furniture that drew forth high admiration is now exchanged because unfashionable. Women thus setting aside the judgment that would bring contentment with the comforts, and even elegancies, in possession, often involve their families in difficulties, and help to bring into their country the luxury, which sooner or later will end in the ruin that luxury has brought upon the great empires of the past.

Let woman be true to her rational nature and her moral feeling, then will her associations of thought be correct, her imagination active and delicate, she will revolt at coarseness and immorality, and assert her own right to stand independent of fashion, or rather by the cultivation of her well balanced mind, be herself its lawgiver. While a provision for the sustenance of life belongs to man, its happiness, was entrusted to woman. Therefore should she be cultivated. Though it be not important that she sing like Malibran, yet her gentle voice. heard in the soft song, at the sweet hour of twilight, not necessarily in a fashionable air, but one to which all the feelings of the soul respond, will throw a soothing charm over the wearied spirit of a fond father. Then if the cheerful, 2 clear, and tastefully arranged apartment, presents the attraction of a well chosen book, read in the clear and finely modulated tones of

an educated woman, whose affectionate looks and intellectual remarks give evidence of well directed thought and kindest feeling, that man must be wanting in some of the best emotions his nature who could coldly cast away such happiness. Oh would not the rescue of a beloved husband from the popular causes of excitement that involve so many families in ruin, making him as much a bankrupt in happiness as in fortune, be worth this sacrifice, if it may be called a sacrifice, of time in a wife? Would not the salvation of a dear brother from the influence of evil associates be worth the sacrifice of the evening visit to a loving sister?

True refinement of mind is always attended with a perception and love of fitness and propriety, as well as of beauty and sublimity. The woman of delicate perception will in the first place examine herself, and sooner detect her own improprieties than those of her neighbour: she knows them more certainly, they interest her more nearly, and she has the power to rectify them. Such a person will avoid rudeness in her manners, indelicacy or coarseness in her appearance. She will suit her dress to her circumstances, and no circumstance, either of hurry or small means, will induce her to forego neatness and agreeable arrangement; nor will wealth or fashion oblige her to load her attire with or

nament, or draw her into what is ridiculous or immodest. To a woman of good taste affectation is abhorrent, feeling, as she must, that it is not only a species of falsehood, but that it renders one the object of ridicule and disgust. Having an eye for beauty, she will discover the beauty of actions and character as well as material beauty; hence in her judgment no action of duty or kindness will be considered degrading, but rather the omission of it. She would blush at incivility to the poor or aged. In addressing a domestic or dependant, the tones of her voice will acquire unwonted softness, and instead of delivering commands, she seems to solicit favours. Her parents are the objects of her tenderest veneration: she would consider herself wanting in self-respect did she not respect all the feelings of her mother, or be unwilling to share the labours devolving upon her. In her manners and actions there is a uniform propriety. To wound the feelings of a sister, or by a sarcasm or slight, to give pain to any one, would to her correct and delicate thoughts, seem impossible.

Such is the woman whose associations are correct, whose judgment is sound, whose imagination is active and governed by reason. Her moral sense will not suffer her, even though wanting in spiritual piety, to join in a jest on

pear

the subject, which to her correct mind must apof awful import-Religion. Such a woman will pass through life honoured and loved. Ah, how deplored, and how deplorable should she at its close still be wanting in the "one thing needful."

CHAPTER III.

EMOTIONS CONNECTED WITH OUR HAPPINESS.

The mind, as I have endeavoured to explain to you, is moved to action by various external causes, operating upon its own nature. Let us first consider the gentler emotions more immediately concerned in the happiness of life. These emotions though founded in our moral and social nature, depend much upon the right cultivation of the imagination, and the correct association of our thoughts. Our moral sense shews us the right, the true and the good in action, and the imagination which sees the beautiful immediately applies that quality to the character which exhibits such actions. We shall look at agreeableness or beauty mostly as it regards our social state.

"The idea of the beautiful," says Cousin, "is equally inherent in the mind as that of the