ページの画像
PDF
ePub

be extracted from the unfashionable philosopher above quoted, which will be more effectual in heightening and preserving the beauty of the ladies, than all the pearl powder, or other cosmetics of the perfumer's shop. I hope I shall not be misunderstood, and I beg my fair readers may not think me so ill-bred, or so ignorant of the world, as to recommend the qualities mentioned in the above passage, on account of their having any intrinsic value. To recommend to the world to embrace virtue for its own sake, should be left to such antiquated fellows as the heathen philosopher from whom I have taken the motto of this number, or the modern philosopher who has borrowed much from his writings; but I would not wish to sully my paper, or to prevent its currency in the fashionable circle, by such obsolete doctrines.

Far be it from me, therefore, so much as to hint to a fine lady, that she should sometimes stay at home, or retire to the country with, that dullest of all dull companions, a husband, because it is the duty of a wife to pay attention to her spouse; that she should speak civilly to her servants, because it is agreeable to the fitness of things; that people under us should be well treated; that she should give up play, or late hours upon Sunday, because the parson says Sunday should be devoted to religion. I know well, that nothing is so unfashionable as for a husband and wife to be often together; that it is beneath a fine lady to give attention to domestic economy, or to demean herself so far as to consider servants to be of the same species with their mistresses; and that going to church is fit only for fools and old women. But though I do not recommend the above, or the like practices, on their own account, and in so far must differ from the philosophical gentlemen I have referred to; yet, I think, what they recommend ought to be attended to, for the good effects it may have on female beauty. Though I am aware, that every

fine lady is apt, like Lady Townly, to faint at the very description of the pleasures of the country; yet she ought to be induced to spend some of her time there, even though it should be her husband's principal place of residence; because the tranquillity, and fresh air of the country, may repair some of the devastations which a winter-campaign in town may have made upon her cheeks. Though I know also, that spending Sunday like a good Christian is the most tiresome and unfashionable of all things; yet, perhaps, some observance of the sabbath, and a little regularity on that day, by going to church, and getting early to bed, may smooth those wrinkles which the late hours of the other six are apt to produce: and though economy, or attention to a husband's affairs, is, I allow, a mean and vulgar thing in itself; yet, possibly, it should be so far attended to as to prevent that husband's total ruin; because duns, and the other impertinent concomitants of bankruptcy, are apt, from the trouble they occasion, to spoil a fine face before its time. In like manner, though I grant it is below a fine lady to cultivate the qualities of sweetness, mildness, humility, tenderness, or goodnature, because she is taught that it is her duty to do so; I would nevertheless, humbly propose to the ladies, to be good-humoured, to be mild to their domestics, nay, to be complaisant even to their husbands; because good humour, mildness and complaisance, are good for their faces. Attention to these qualities, I am inclined to believe, will do more for their beauty than the finest paint the most skilfully laid on the culture of them will give a higher lustre to their complexion, without any danger of this colouring being rubbed off, or the natural fineness of the skin being hurt by its use.

Let every lady, therefore, consider that whenever she says or does a good-humoured thing, she adds a new beauty to her countenance; that by giving some

attention to the affairs of her family, and now and then living regularly, and abstaining from the late hours of dissipation, she will keep off, somewhat longer than otherwise, the wrinkles of age and I would hope the prescription I have given may, amidst the more important cares of pleasure, appear deserving of her attention.

This prescription must, from its nature, be confined to the ladies, beauty in perfection being their prerogative. To recommend virtue to our fine gentlemen, because vice may hurt their shapes, or spoil their faces, might appear somewhat like irony, which, on so serious a subject, I would wish to avoid. Some considerations may, however, be suggested, why even a fine gentleman may find his account in an occasional practice of virtue, without derogating from the dignity of that character which it costs him so much labour to attain; and these may perhaps be the subject of a future paper.

No. IV. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6.

Meliora pii docuere parentes.

HOR.

THE following letter I received from an unknown correspondent. The subject of it is so important, that I shall probably take some future opportunity of giving my sentiments on it to the public: in the mean time I am persuaded it will afford matter of much serious consideration to many of my readers.

SIR,

To the Author of the Mirror.

AT the age of twenty-five I succeeded to an estate of 15001. a year by the death of a father, by whom I

[blocks in formation]

was tenderly beloved, and for whose memory I still retain the most sincere regard. Not long after I married a lady, to whom I had for some time been warmly attached. As neither of us were fond of the bustle of the world, and as we found it every day become more irksome, we took the resolution of quitting it altogether; and soon after retired to a family-seat, which has been the favourite residence of my ancestors for many successive generations.

There I passed my days in as perfect happiness as any reasonable man can expect to find in this world... My affection and esteem for my wife increased daily; and as she brought me three fine children, two boys and a girl, their prattle afforded a new fund of amusement. There were, likewise, in our neighbourhood several families that might have adorned any society, with whom we lived on an easy, friendly footing, free from the restraints of ceremony, which, in the great world, may, perhaps, be necessary, but, in private life, are the bane of all social intercourse.

There is no state, however, entirely free from care and uneasiness. My solicitude about my children increased with their years. My boys, in particular, gave me a thousand anxious thoughts. Many plans of education were proposed for them, of which the advantages and disadvantages were so equally balanced, as to render the choice of any one a matter of no small perplexity.

Meantime the boys grew up; and the eldest, who was a year older than his brother, had entered his tenth year, when an uncle of my wife, who, by his services in parliament, and an assiduous attendance at court, had obtained a very considerable office under government, honoured us with a visit. He seemed much pleased with the looks, the spirit, and promising appearance of my sons; he paid me many compliments on the occasion, and I listened to him with

all the pleasure a fond parent feels in hearing the praises of his children.

After he had been some days with us, he asked me in what manner I proposed to educate the boys, and what my views were as to their establishment in the world? I told him all my doubts and perplexities. He enlarged on the absurdity of the old fashioned system of education, as he termed it, and talked much of the folly of sending a boy to Eton or Westminster, to waste the most precious years of his life in acquiring languages of little or no real use in the world; and begged leave to suggest a plan, which, he said, had been attended with the greatest success in a va riety of instances that had fallen within his own particular knowledge.

His scheme was to send my sons for two or three years to a private school in the neighbourhood of London, where they might get rid of their provincial dialect, which, he observed, would be alone sufficient to disappoint all hopes of their future advancement. He proposed to send them afterwards to an academy at Paris, to acquire the French language, with every other accomplishment necessary to fit them for the world. "When your eldest son," added he, "is thus qualified, it will be easy for me to get him appointed secretary to an embassy; and if he shall then possess those abilities of which he has now every appearance, I make no doubt I shall be able to procure him a seat in parliament; and there will be no office in the state to which he may not aspire. As to your second son, give him the same education you give his brother; and when he is of a proper age, get him a commission in the army, and push him on in that line as fast as possible."

Though I saw some objections to this scheme, yet, I must confess, the flattering prospect of ambition it opened, had a considerable effect upon my mind; and as my wife, who had been taught to re

« 前へ次へ »