tage-I cannot help it-I cannot fly from censure. I do not deserve the pity which a less guilty object might claim and receive. All I suffer in this world cannot equal my offences, and at the awful mo-' ment of death, I. will seek no subterfuge. them. The days of your seeming prosperity wear to their end; your pleasure decays in every enjoyment. All that serenity which seems to light you the way to happiness, is but the "unreal mockery” of a deluded mind—A cloud of misery hangs over your head to darken the days of remorse-When they come, as soon they must, you will be the first to pronounce, that you are unfit to live, yet mo:e un-ness and unshaken sympathy I can fit to die. Yet, Lucinda,among my friends, there are some, on whose tender depend. Guilty as I have been, there are some who may remember my frailties with a charitable sorrow, many a distant year after she who has wrang their hearts, shall have slept in cold earth. It is to them and you I' now address. myself. With the world I am too insignificant to be remembered; their censure or charity, their pity or spleen, are exerted on present objects. But I know that your goodness of heart will interpose to construe favourably on all my errors, and pity sincerely where you cannot withold your blame: your judgment will direct how much of my story may be communicated. at home; but use not art to extenuate. When I am gone, the memory of departed penitence will raise that tenderness which I had probably been without, if my life had still continued a burthen to myself, and a reproachful calamity to my friends. The morning of my unhappy existence arose with every beauty that could bid fair for a cheerful day. The youngest of an honora innocent because without tempta tion, but I knew not the value of that innocence antil I had lost it -Every one said, I was a pattern of youthful virtue and worth, bụt none taught me to preserve that virtue and enlarge that worth. The elegance of apparel, the splendour of a ball-room, and the variations of the fashion were strongly recommended, and by me unremittingly considered as ble family, I received every attontion which the fondest of parents could bestow, and as death had lessened our number, those attentions were mine alone. My infant days glided with unusual pleasantness. Partial friends thought they discovered a disposition, and an innocence in my early deportment that rewarded their care,and might comfort their old age. All around gave me credit for many virtues, the want of which I have since sin-objects of the most serious conse; cerely lamented. Innocence in youth is too often but ignorance of vicc. While I smiled on the lap of an enraptured mother, could she have discerned the true colour of my fate, she would have prayedtion (when I did reflect) that as that every hour might be my last. Fatal is the mist of parental tanderness; it blinds to the begin-acter for innocence formed a senings of vice, and begets habits of fond partiality which embitter disappointment. quence, Born to a family, distinguished on acceunt of its merit, I exulted in the pride of reputation borrowed from hereditary worth : and solaced my self with the reflec my reputation was untouched, it was also invulnerable. My char curity on which I determined to rest an independent confidence. Naturally gay and lively, I was by education rendered more so. Ever prone to return the social smile, and re-echo the loud laugh of a vacant mind, I had no propensity to anticipate misery. Abandoning my imagination, 'and sacri. Confiding in the promising respect of my mind, she was less attentive to cultivate and direct its powers, to regulate its emotions, and fill i's vacancies, than to ado: that outside which nature had fin-fiding my time to the delights of ished, and recommend those employments which the vanity of youth is sufficient of itself to point ont. Dress and finery were my enly studies; youth and folly like my own my only companions. hed virtuous example before daily but when the principics of rectitude are allowed to starve on the soul, it becomes unambitious ofits greatest excellence. I was I the present moment, I left the days of sorrow to come when they would. Such a disposition could not fail of producing a dangerous thoughtlessness and inattention. Yet I thought it an happy disposi metion--but it deepened the gloom of that tempest which gathered around me, and burston my devoted head when I was least abię to encounter it remember, that there are sacred' bounds beyond which no female' delicacy can subsist-which to overleap, is to hazard virtue and character; it is to leave those paths which lead to supreme feli but delusive country, from which there can be no return unburthened with remorse, misery, and shame. Let them learn of me, that this is not the age when ingenuousness and open hearted conduct are in no danger from the unfeeling and treacherous. Let them learn of me, that it is not an elevation of rank, or the most cxalted speculative purity and innocence which can screen them in an hour of passion, unless they shelter themselves under the wings of that angel, by whose power their weakness becomes strength. Confiding in this, let them ielinquish all security in lesser help, or the unavailing consciousness of harmless meaning. About two years ago I became acquainted with Mr., by one of these accidental interviews for which there is no accounting. From this moment, however, I date my tuin. Being of that age when young females are surround-city, and to wander in an alluring ed and pleased with the language of flattery, I observed, with satisfaction, the many civilities with which Mr. honored me; and as he frequently distinguished me from others, I contracted a liking to his company. His address was most insinuating, his appearance that of a man of honor and sincerity, and his vices too closely covered for my penetration. Had they been less so, my thoughtlessness was too great to permit me to employ even the little discernment I did possess. He was skilled in dissimulation-I was all ingenuousness. He knew the human heart-be had traced back the corruption of his own, and could corrupt the hearts of o thers. I acquired the character of being affable-you know it. To me no grace seemed more attracting than affability, and bota nature and art conspired to make it mine. In the company of all I was ingenious and free-but in the company of I lost every reserve. So deceitful was his exterior, that, I thought myself not less safe with him than with the best of my own sex. But let such of them as can s ill boast of happiness unhurt by guilt, and virtue unspotted by passion, The destroyer of my peace continued to take every method in his power to ingratiate himself with me. These were not unsuccessful. He soon inspired me with the tenderest passion for him He made me believe-an easy task to a young, vain,and eredulous mind! --that the happiness or misery of his future life depended upon me. It was not in my power to give pain; it was not for my years to suspect his intentions. Gratitude for his distinguishing preference seemed not only a duty, but an suggest. Cruel wretch! these were deep designs, too subtle, and too well disguised for my slender knowledge of mankind--too successful against a mind softened into credulity, and weakened by unconstrained gaiety. emotion peculiarly. amiable, and graceful at my age. In a word, what he seemed to feel, joined with the impassionote, tenor of his whole conduct, lard the most forcible claims on my affections. I had an enemy within my own bosom to second his attempts, an uniformed, inexperienced soul, that had not yet learned to suspect the alluring pleasure which courted its embrace. I knew how to gratify my inclinations, but I had not been taught to correct their luxy-sibility. Every circumstance, ariancy when in an hurtful channel. He told me that love was the sn preme bliss of human life; that it would be infinitely more so, if free and unfettered by the tramels of man's invention; that no emotions could have been planted in our breasts merely to be repelled, and that youth was the season made for unbounded pleasure. Imperceptible were the gradations to my guik, for by slow and pleasurable steps he perverted my judgment to a mistaken pliancy that plunged me deeper into insen round me conspired to hasten my Lessons of this undoing import be whispered at first, in distinct and casual expressions, but accord.tions of friendship, nor thought ing as he saw their influence, continued to instil them with firmness, and maintained his opinion with every specious argument, and every grace of language. Aided by credulity and negligence, they sunk deep into a mind already too well prepared to receive them, and where better principles had not been placed to resist the attacks of sophistry and delusion. By injunctions of the strictest silence, to which I faithfully acceded, he left me exposed to every imprudence that he could contrive, or my folly that person my friend who dared to put a negative on my levity, But the time was not far off when I was to know what a void there is in the human heart, when deprived of the inestimable blessings of friendship and innocence.Heavens! how would indignation rise, could I recount half the artful snares laid for my destruction; not a motion, nor a look that he did not watch with attentive solicitude to manifest his regard for me -to promote his base pu poses--Yes, Lucin da, the most charitable those pernicious palliatives to guilty indulgence quenched the few remaining sparks of expiring. fortitude. bosom, however teeming with benevolence and philanthrophy,would swell to madness, and the meek and forgiving soulthat never knew to chide, would curse such delibe. rate attempts to ruin innocence. May I be the last victim on this dreadful shrine! May his sex henceforth learn humanity, and our's wisdom! May the time commence from this hour, when men shall be eager to cherish and support virtue, and women anxious to join affection and reputation,recti-virtue, and virtue has lost the tude and love in the same bosom. strength of her empire. Yet in the moments of reflection --for none are free from those--it may be thought I might liave found resolution sufficient to stop my father progress in delusion ; but, alas! these were filled up with employments, on which it is imposible to look back without anguish. He brought me many books for my perusal, written by vicious and mercenary men, who had much rather flatter the depraved taste of a dissipated age, than make any efforts to correct it. From such books his arguments fou nd an irresistable -strength. The langrage of many of them was elegant and persuasive, the illusions frequent and pleasing, and the whole decked out in a dress of virtue and wisdom, that could not fail to attract, and by attracting deceive. The fictions of love created in me its most dangerous sensibilities; my heart became weak and susceptible. The struggles of virtue were faint But, my dear Lucinda, join with me in wishing, that the young may henceforth judge of no merit from its external appearance, not even of virtue if in a gaudy dress. Could I spare a tear from my own misery it should be shed over the many woes that await this unhappy land, where vice wears the charm, of There was a time when vice to be hated needed only to be seen, but now it is gilded over with such cunning, as to slide into our minds unsecn and unknown, until it begins to prey on our happiness. Cursed be the maxims of profligate pleasure, that unhappy rock on which so many mariners, in the voyage of life heedlessly split; and while the laws of men neglect the cruel deluder, may the interposition of Heaven put a period to the reign of this fos to virtue, and still the tumultuous breast that meditates rebellion against the laws of humanity-Am I nnreasonably severe against the destroyers of peace; or do they deserve pry? -No-The child that is yet inome it. the |