31822017001538
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO 
 
 CAI 
 
 SAM 
 
 n 31822017001538
 
 777. 
 
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 /Vrv /*-
 
 

 

 
 LETTERS 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND. 
 
 to a 
 
 BY MRS. CHAPONE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN SHARPE, 
 
 PICCADILLY; 
 BY C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK. 
 
 MDCCCXXI1.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 DEDICATION vii 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 On the first Principles of Religion 1 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 On the Study of the Holy Scriptures 14 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 The same Subject continued 31 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 On the Regulation of the Heart and Affections 46 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 The same Subject continued 59 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 On the Government of the Temper 87 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 On Economy 107 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 On Politeness and Accomplishments 126 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 On Geography and Chronology 150 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 On the Manner and Course of reading History ]63 
 
 Conclusion 182
 
 MRS. MONTAGU. 
 
 MADAM, 
 
 I BELIEVE you are persuaded that I never 
 entertained a thought of appearing in public, 
 when the desire of being useful to one dear 
 child, in whom I take the tenderest interest, 
 induced me to write the following Letters : 
 perhaps it was the partiality of friendship, 
 which so far biased your judgment as to make 
 you think them capable of being more exten- 
 sively useful, and warmly to recommend the 
 publication of them. Though this partiality 
 could alone prevent your judgment from being 
 considered as decisive in favour of the work, 
 it is more flattering to the writer than any 
 literary fame ; if, however, you will allow me 
 to add, that some strokes of your elegant pen 
 have corrected these Letters, I may hope, they 
 will be received with an attention, which will 
 insure a candid judgment from the reader, and
 
 Vlii DEDICATION. 
 
 perhaps will enable them to make some useful 
 impressions on those, to whom they are now 
 particularly offered. 
 
 They only, who know how your hours are 
 employed, and of what important value they 
 are to the good and happiness of individuals, 
 as well as to the delight and improvement of 
 the public, can justly estimate my obligation to 
 you for the time and consideration you have 
 bestowed on this little work. As you have 
 drawn it forth, I may claim a sort of right to 
 the ornament and protection of your name, 
 and to the privilege of publicly professing my- 
 self, with the highest esteem, 
 
 MADAM, 
 
 Your much obliged friend, 
 and most obedient, 
 humble servant, 
 
 HESTER CHAPONE.
 
 ERASBST KT S1CHAEI' AVE.-;TAT.I,,B.A. KN'.'EAVE'D BY CHARLES SOIiS; 
 FnW.I.SHtfD -HY JOHN SUABPE, PICCADILLY: 
 
 :FKB.I!>. U22.
 
 LETTERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 ON THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION. 
 
 MY DEAREST NIECE, 
 
 THOUGH you are so happy as to have parents, 
 who are both capable and desirous of giving you 
 all proper instruction, yet I, who love you so 
 tenderly, cannot help fondly wishing to contribute 
 something, if possible, to your improvement and 
 welfare : and, as I am so far separated from you 
 that it is only by pen and ink I can offer you my 
 sentiments, I will hope that your attention may 
 be engaged, by seeing on paper, from the hand 
 of one of your warmest friends, Truths of the 
 highest importance, which, though you may not 
 find new, can never be too deeply engraven on 
 your mind. Some of them perhaps may make 
 no great impression at present, and yet may so 
 
 B
 
 2 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 far gain a place in your memory as readily to 
 return to your thoughts when occasion recalls 
 them. And if you pay me the compliment of 
 preserving my letters, you may possibly reperuse 
 them at some future period, when concurring 
 circumstances may give them additional weight : 
 and thus they may prove more effectual than 
 the same things spoken in conversation. But, 
 however this may prove, I cannot resist the de- 
 sire of trying in some degree to be useful to you, 
 on your setting out in a life of trial and dif- 
 ficulty; your success in which must determine 
 your fate for ever. 
 
 Hitherto you have " thought as a child, and 
 understood as a child ; but it is time to put away 
 childish things." You are now in your fifteenth 
 year, and must soon act for yourself; therefore 
 it is high time to store your mind with those 
 principles, which must direct your conduct, and 
 fix your character. If you desire to live in 
 peace and honour, in favour with God and man, 
 and to die in the glorious hope of rising from the 
 grave to a life of endless happiness if these 
 things appear worthy your ambition, you must 
 set out in earnest in the pursuit of them. Virtue 
 and happiness are not attained by chance, nor 
 by a cold and languid approbation; they must 
 be sought with ardour, attended to with dili- 
 gence, and every assistance must be eagerly
 
 OF THE MIND. 3 
 
 embraced that may enable you to obtain them. 
 Consider r that good and evil are now before you ; 
 that, if you do not heartily choose and love the 
 one, you must undoubtedly be the wretched vic- 
 tim of the other. Your trial is now begun ; you 
 must either become one of the glorious children 
 of God, who are to rejoice in his love for ever, 
 or a child of destruction miserable in this life, 
 and punished with eternal death hereafter. 
 Surely, you will be impressed by so awful a 
 situation ! you will earnestly pray to be directed 
 into that road of life, which leads to excellence 
 and happiness; and, you will be thankful to 
 every kind hand that is held out, to set you for- 
 ward in your journey. 
 
 The first step must be to awaken your mind to 
 a sense of the importance of the task before you, 
 which is no less than to bring your frail nature 
 to that degree of Christian perfection, which is 
 to qualify it for immortality, and without which 
 it is necessarily incapable of happiness ; for it is 
 a truth never to be forgotten, that God has an- 
 nexed happiness to virtue, and misery to vice, 
 by the unchangeable nature of things; and that a 
 wicked being (while he continues such) is in a 
 natural incapacity of enjoying happiness, even 
 with the concurrence of all those outward cir- 
 cumstances, which in a virtuous mind would 
 produce it. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 As there are degrees of virtue and vice, so arc 
 there of reward and punishment, both here and 
 hereafter: But, let not my dearest Niece aim 
 only at escaping the dreadful doom of the wicked 
 let your desires take a nobler flight, and as- 
 pire after those transcendent honours, and that 
 brighter crown of glory which await those who 
 have excelled in virtue; and, let the animating 
 thought, that every secret effort to gain bis favour 
 is noted by your all-seeing Judge, who will, with 
 infinite goodness, proportion your reward to 
 your labours, excite every faculty of your soul to 
 please and serve him. To this end you must 
 inform your understanding what you ought to 
 believe and to do. You must correct and purify 
 your heart; cherish and improve all its good 
 affections, and continually mortify and subdue 
 those that are evil. You must form and govern 
 your temper and manners, according to the laws 
 of benevolence and justice ; and qualify yourself, 
 by all means in your power, for a useful and 
 agreeable member of society. All this you see 
 is no light business, nor can it be performed 
 without a sincere and earnest application of the 
 mind, as to its great and constant object. When 
 once you consider life, and the duties of life, in 
 this manner, you will listen eagerly to the voice 
 of instruction and admonition, and seize every 
 opportunity of improvement; every useful hint
 
 OF THE MIND. 5 
 
 will be laid up in your heart, and your chief 
 delight will be in those persons, and those books, 
 from which you can learn true wisdom. 
 
 The only sure foundation of human virtue is 
 Religion, and the foundation and first principle 
 of religion is in the belief of the one only God, 
 and a just sense of his attributes. This you will 
 think you have learned long since, and possess in 
 common with almost every human creature in 
 this enlightened age and nation ; but, believe me, 
 it is less common than you imagine, to believe in 
 the true God that is, to form such a notion of 
 the Deity as is agreeable to truth, and consistent 
 with those infinite perfections, which all profess 
 to ascribe to him. To form worthy notions of 
 the Supreme Being, as far as we are capable, is 
 essential to true religion and morality; for as it 
 is our duty to imitate those qualities of the Di- 
 vinity, which are imitable by us, so it is neces- 
 sary we should know what they are, and fatal to 
 mistake them. Can those who think of God 
 with servile dread and terror, as of a gloomy 
 tyrant, armed with almighty power to forment 
 and destroy them, be said to believe in the true 
 God? in that God who, the Scriptures say, is 
 love? The kindest and best of Beings, who 
 made all creatures in bountiful goodness, that he 
 might communicate to them some portion of his 
 own unalterable happiness ! who condescends
 
 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 to style himself our Father! and who pitieth us, 
 as a father pitieth his own children ! Can those 
 who expect to please God by cruelty to them- 
 selves, or to their fellow-creatures hy horrid 
 punishments of their own bodies for the sin of 
 their souls or, by more horrid persecution of 
 others for difference of opinion, be called true 
 believers? Have they not set up another God in 
 their own minds, who rather resembles the worst 
 of beings than the best? Nor do those act on 
 surer principles who think to gain the favour of 
 God by senseless enthusiasm and frantic rap- 
 tures, more like the wild excesses of the most 
 depraved human love, than that reasonable ado- 
 ration, that holy reverential love, which is due 
 to the pure and holy Father of the universe. 
 Those likewise, who murmur against his pro- 
 vidence, and repine under the restraint of his 
 commands, cannot firmly believe him infinitely 
 wise and good. If we are not disposed to trust 
 him for future events, to banish fruitless anxiety, 
 and to believe that all things work together for 
 good to those that love him, surely we do not 
 really believe in the God of mercy and truth. If 
 we wish to avoid all remembrance of him, all 
 communion with him, as much as we dare, surely 
 we do not believe him to be the source of joy 
 and comfort, the dispenser of all good. 
 
 How lamentable it is, that so few hearts should
 
 OF THE MIND. 7 
 
 feel the pleasures of real piety 1 that prayer and 
 thanksgiving should be performed, as they too 
 often are, not with joy, and love, and gratitude ; 
 but, with cold indifference, melancholy dejection, 
 or secret horror! It is true, we are all such 
 frail and sinful creatures, that we justly fear to 
 have offended our gracious Father; but let us 
 remember the condition of his forgiveness : If 
 you have sinned " sin no more." He is ready 
 to receive you whenever you sincerely turn to 
 him and he is ready to assist you, when you 
 do but desire to obey him. Let your devotion 
 then be the language of filial love and gratitude ; 
 confide to this kindest of fathers every want and 
 every wish of your heart; but submit them all 
 to his will, and freely offer him the disposal of 
 yourself, and of all your affairs. Thank him for 
 his benefits, and even for his punishments con- 
 vinced that these also are benefits, and mercifully 
 designed for your good. Implore his direction 
 in all difficulties; his assistance in all trials; his 
 comfort and support in sickness or affliction; his 
 restraining grace in time of prosperity and joy. 
 Do not persist in desiring what his providence 
 denies you; but be assured it is not good for 
 you. Refuse not any thing he allots you, but 
 embrace it as the best and properest for you. 
 Can you do less to your heavenly Father than 
 what your duty to an earthly one requires? If
 
 8 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 you were to ask permission of your father to do> 
 or to have any thing you desire, and he should 
 refuse it to you, would you obstinately persist in 
 setting your heart upon it, notwithstanding his 
 prohibition? would you not rather say, My 
 father is wiser than I am; he loves me, and 
 would not deny my request, if it was fit to be 
 granted; I will therefore banish the thought, 
 and cheerfully acquiesce in his will? How 
 much rather should this be said of our heavenly 
 Father, whose wisdom cannot be mistaken, and 
 whose bountiful kindness is infinite ! Love him 
 therefore in the same manner you love your 
 earthly parents, but in a much higher degree 
 in the highest your nature is capable of. Forget 
 not to dedicate yourself to his service every day; 
 to implore his forgiveness of your faults, and his 
 protection from evil, every night : and this not 
 merely in formal words, unaccompanied by any 
 act of the mind, but " in spirit and in truth;" in 
 grateful love and humble adoration. Nor let 
 these stated periods of worship be your only 
 communication with him; accustom yourself to 
 think often of him, in all your waking hours; 
 to contemplate his wisdom and power, in the 
 works of his hands to acknowledge his good- 
 ness in every object of use or of pleasure, to 
 delight in giving him praise in your inmost heart 
 in the midst of every innocent gratification in
 
 OF THE MIND. 
 
 the liveliest hour of social enjoyment. You can- 
 not conceive, if you have not experienced, how 
 much such silent acts of gratitude and love will 
 enhance every pleasure ; nor what sweet serenity 
 and cheerfulness such reflections will diffuse over 
 your mind. On the other hand, when you are 
 suffering pain or sorrow, when you are confined 
 to an unpleasant situation, or engaged in a pain- 
 ful duty, how will it support and animate you, 
 to refer yourself to your Almighty Father! to 
 be assured that he knows your state and your 
 intentions ; that no effort of virtue is lost in his 
 sight, nor the least of your actions or sufferings 
 disregarded or forgotten! that his hand is ever 
 over you, to ward off every real evil, which is 
 not the effect of your own ill conduct, and to 
 relieve every suffering that is not useful to your 
 future well-being. 
 
 You see, my dear, that true devotion is not a 
 melancholy sentiment that depresses the spirits, 
 and excludes the ideas of pleasure, which youth 
 is fond of: on the contrary, there is nothing so 
 friendly to joy, so productive of true pleasure, so 
 peculiarly suited to the warmth and innocence of 
 a youthful heart. Do not therefore think it too 
 soon to turn your mind to God; but offer him 
 the first fruits of your understanding and affec- 
 tions : and be assured, that the more you increase 
 in love to him, and delight in his laws, the more 
 
 B 3
 
 10 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 you will increase in happiness, in excellence, 
 and honour : that in proportion as you improve 
 in true piety, you will hecome dear and amiable 
 to your fellow-creatures; contented and peaceful 
 in yourself; and qualified to enjoy the best bless- 
 ings of this life, as well as to inherit the glorious 
 promise of immortality. 
 
 Thus far [ have spoken of the first principles 
 of all religion; namely, belief in God, worthy 
 notions of his attributes, and suitable affections 
 towards him which will naturally excite a sin- 
 cere desire of obedience. But, before you can 
 obey his will, you must know what that will is; 
 you must inquire in what manner he has declared 
 it, and where you may find those laws which 
 must be the rule of your actions. 
 
 The great laws of morality are indeed written 
 in our hearts, and may be discovered by reason ; 
 but our reason is of slow growth, very unequally 
 dispensed to different persons, liable to error, 
 and confined within very narrow limits in all. 
 If, therefore; God vouchsafed to grant a par- 
 ticular revelation of his will if he has been so 
 unspeakably gracious as to send his Son into the 
 world to reclaim mankind from error and wicked- 
 ness to die for our sins and to teach us the 
 way to eternal life surely it becomes us to re- 
 ceive his precepts with the deepest reverence; 
 to love and prize them above all things ; and to
 
 OF THE MIND* 11 
 
 study them constantly, with an earnest desire to 
 conform our thoughts, our words, and actions to 
 them. 
 
 As you advance in years and understanding, 
 I hope you will be able to examine for yourself 
 the evidences of the Christian religion, and be 
 convinced, on rational grounds, of its divine au- 
 thority. At present, such inquiries would de- 
 mand more study, and greater powers of reason- 
 ing, than your age admits of. It is your part, 
 therefore, till you are capable of understanding 
 the proofs, to believe your parents and teachers, 
 that the Holy Scriptures are writings inspired by 
 God, containing a true history of facts, in which 
 we are deeply concerned a true recital of the 
 laws given by God to Moses, and of the precepts 
 of our blessed .Lord and Saviour, delivered from 
 his own mouth to his disciples, and repeated and 
 enlarged upon in the edifying epistles of his 
 apostles who were men chosen from amongst 
 those who had the advantage of conversing with 
 our Lord, to bear witness of his miracles and 
 resurrection and who, after his ascension, were 
 assisted and inspired by the Holy Ghost. This 
 sacred volume must be the rule of your life. In 
 it you will find all truths necessary to be be- 
 lieved; and plain and easy directions for the 
 practice of every duty. Your Bible then must 
 be your chief study and delight : but as it con-
 
 12 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 tains many various kinds of writing some parts 
 obscure and difficult of interpretation, others 
 plain and intelligible to the meanest capacity I 
 would chiefly recommend to your frequent pe- 
 rusal such parts of the sacred writings as are 
 most adapted to your understanding, and most 
 necessary for your instruction. Our Saviour's 
 precepts were spoken to the common people 
 amongst the Jews: and were therefore given in 
 a manner easy to be understood, and equally 
 striking and instructive to the learned and to the 
 unlearned ; for the most ignorant may compre- 
 hend them, whilst the wisest must be charmed 
 and awed by the beautiful and majestic sim- 
 plicity with which they are expressed. Of the 
 same kind are the Ten Commandments, delivered 
 by God to Moses ; which, as they were designed 
 for universal laws, are worded in the most con- 
 cise and simple manner, yet with a majesty 
 which commands our utmost reverence. 
 
 I think you will receive great pleasure, as well 
 as improvement, from the Historical Books of 
 the Old Testament provided you read them 
 as a history, in a regular course, and keep the 
 thread of it in your mind, as you go on. I know 
 of none, true or fictitious, that is equally wonder- 
 ful, interesting, and affecting: or that is told in 
 so short and simple a manner as this, which is, 
 of all histories, the most authentic.
 
 OF THE MIND. 13 
 
 In my next letter, I will give you some brief 
 directions, concerning the method and course I 
 wish you to pursue, in reading the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. May you be enabled to make the best 
 use of this most precious gift of God this sacred 
 treasury of knowledge ! May you read the Bible, 
 not as a task, nor as the dull employment of that 
 day only in which you are forbidden more lively 
 entertainments but with a sincere and ardent 
 desire of instruction; with that love and delight 
 in God's word which the holy Psalmist so pa- 
 thetically felt and described, and which is the 
 natural consequence of loving God and virtue ! 
 Though I speak this of the Bible in general, I 
 would not be understood to mean that every part 
 of the volume is equally interesting. I have 
 already said, that it consists of various matter, 
 and various kinds of books, which must be read 
 with different views and sentiments. The having 
 some general notion of what you are to expect 
 from each book may possibly help you to under- 
 stand them, and heighten your relish of them. I 
 shall treat you as if you were perfectly new to. 
 the whole; for so I wish you to consider your- 
 self; because the time and manner, in which 
 children usually read the Bible, are very ill cal- 
 culated to make them really acquainted with it; 
 and too many people who have read it thus, 
 without understanding it in their youth,, satisfy
 
 14 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 themselves that they know enough of it, and never 
 afterwards study it with attention, when they 
 come to a maturer age. 
 
 Adieu, my beloved Niece! If the feelings of 
 your heart, whilst you read my letters correspond 
 with those of mine whilst I write them, I shall 
 not be without the advantage of your partial 
 affection, to give weight to my advice; for, be- 
 lieve me, my own dear girl, my heart and eyes 
 overflow with tenderness while I tell you, with 
 how warm and earnest prayers for your happi- 
 ness here and hereafter, I subscribe myself 
 
 Your faithful friend 
 
 and most affectionate AUNT. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 ON THE STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 I NOW proceed to give my dear Niece some 
 short sketches of the matter contained in the 
 different books of the Bible, and of the course in 
 which they ought to be read. 
 
 The first Book, GENESIS, contains the most 
 grand, and, to us, the most interesting events 
 that ever happened in the universe : The crea- 
 tion of the world, and of man: The deplorable 
 fall of man from his first state of excellence and
 
 OP THE MIND. 15 
 
 bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see 
 all his descendants continue: The sentence of 
 death pronounced on Adam, and on all his race ; 
 with the reviving promise of that deliverance 
 which has since been wrought for us by our 
 blessed Saviour: The account of the early state 
 of the world : Of the universal deluge, The 
 division of mankind into different nations and 
 languages : The story of Abraham the founder 
 of the Jewish people, whose unshaken faith and 
 obedience, under the severest trial human na- 
 ture could sustain, obtained such favour in the 
 sight of God that he vouchsafed to style him his 
 friend, and promised to make of his posterity a 
 great nation; and that in his seed that is, in 
 one of his descendants all the kingdoms of the 
 earth should be blessed : this, you will easily see, 
 refers to the Messiah, who was to be the blessing 
 and deliverance of all nations. It is amazing 
 that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among 
 many others, should have been so blinded by 
 prejudice as to have expected, from this great 
 personage, only a temporal deliverance of their 
 own nation from the subjection to which they 
 were reduced under the Romans: it is equally 
 amazing, that some Christians should, even now, 
 confine the blessed effects of his appearance upon 
 the earth to this or that particular sect or pro- 
 fession, when he is so clearly and emphatically
 
 16 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 described as the Saviour of the whole world. 
 The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice 
 his only son, at the command of God, is affecting 
 in the highest degree, and sets forth a pattern of 
 unlimited resignation, that every one ought to 
 imitate, in those trials of obedience under tempta- 
 tion, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispen- 
 sations, which fall to their lot; of this we may 
 be assured, that our trials will be always propor- 
 tioned to the powers afforded us: if we have not 
 Abraham's strength of mind, neither shall we be 
 called upon to lift the bloody knife against the 
 bosom of an only child: but, if the almighty arm 
 should be lifted up against him, we must be 
 ready to resign him, and all we hold dear, to the 
 divine will. This action of Abraham has been 
 censured by some, who do not attend to the dis- 
 tinction between obedience to a special com- 
 mand, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the 
 heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and with- 
 out any divine injunctions, offered up their own 
 children under the notion of appeasing the anger 
 of their gods. An absolute command from God 
 himself as in the case of Abraham- entirely 
 alters the moral nature of the action ; since he, 
 and he only has a perfect right over the lives of 
 his creatures, and may appoint whom he will,, 
 either angel or man, to be his instrument of de- 
 struction. That it was really the voice of God
 
 OF THE MIND. 17 
 
 which pronounced the command, and not a delu- 
 sion, might be made certain to Abraham's mind, 
 by means we do not comprehend, but which we 
 know to be within the power of him who made 
 our souls as well as bodies, and who can control 
 and direct every faculty of the human mind : and 
 we may be assured, that if he was pleased to re- 
 Teal himself so miraculously, he would not leave 
 a possibility of doubting whether it was a real or 
 an imaginary revelation: thus the sacrifice of 
 Abraham appears to be clear of all superstition, 
 and remains the noblest instance of religious faith 
 and submission that was ever given by a mere 
 man: we cannot wonder that the blessings be- 
 stowed on him for it should have been extended 
 to his posterity. This book proceeds with the 
 history of Isaac, which becomes very interesting 
 to us, from the touching scene Thave mentioned 
 and still more so, if we consider him as the type 
 of our Saviour: it recounts his marriage with 
 Rebecca the birth and history of his two sons, 
 Jacob, the falher of the twelve tribes, and Esau, 
 the father of the Edomites or Idumeans the ex- 
 quisitely affecting story of Joseph and his brethren 
 and of his transplanting the Israelites into 
 Egypt, who there multiplied to a great nation. 
 
 In EXODUS, you read of a series of wonders, 
 wrought by the Almighty, to rescue the oppressed 
 Israelites from the cruel tyranny of the Egyptians,
 
 18 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 who, having first received them as guests, by de- 
 grees reduced them to a state of slavery. By the 
 most peculiar mercies and exertions in their fa- 
 vour, God prepared his chosen people to receive, 
 with reverent and obedient hearts, the solemn 
 restitution of those primitive laws, which pro- 
 bably he had revealed to Adam and his immediate 
 descendants, or which, at least, he had made 
 known by the dictates of conscience, but which 
 time and the degeneracy of mankind had much 
 obscured. This important revelation was made 
 to them in the Wilderness of Sinah : there, as- 
 sembled before the burning mountain, surrounded 
 " with blackness, and darkness, and tempest," 
 they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the 
 eternal law, impressing it on their hearts with 
 circumstances of terror, but without those encou- 
 ragements and those excellent promises, which 
 were afterwards offered to mankind by Jesus 
 Christ. Thus were the great laws of morality 
 restored to the Jews, and through them trans- 
 mitted to other nations; and by that means a great 
 restraint was opposed to the torrent of vice and 
 impiety, which began to prevail over the world. 
 To those moral precepts, which are of perpetual 
 and universal obligation, were superadded, by the 
 ministration of Moses, many peculiar institutions, 
 wisely adapted to different ends either to fix the 
 memory of those past deliverances, which were
 
 OF THE MIND. 19 
 
 figurative of a future and far greater salvation 
 to place inviolable barriers between the Jews and 
 the idolatrous nations, by whom they were sur- 
 rounded or, to be the civil law, by which the 
 community was to be governed. 
 
 To conduct this series of events, and to esta- 
 blish these laws with his people, God raised up 
 that great prophet Moses, whose faith and piety 
 enabled him to undertake and execute the most 
 arduous enterprises, and to pursue with unabated 
 zeal the welfare of his countrymen; even in the 
 hour of death, this generous ardour still pre- 
 vailed: his last moments were employed in fer- 
 vent prayers for their prosperity, and in rap- 
 turous gratitude for the glimpse vouchsafed him 
 of a Saviour, far greater than himself, whom God 
 would one day raise up to his people. 
 
 Thus did Moses, by the excellency of his faith, 
 obtain a glorious preeminence among the saints 
 and prophets in heaven; while, on earth, he will 
 .be ever revered, as the first of those benefactors 
 to mankind, whose labours for the public good 
 have endeared their memory to all ages. 
 
 The next book is LEVITICUS, which contains 
 little besides the laws for the peculiar ritual ob- 
 servance of the Jews, and therefore affords no 
 great instruction to us now; you may pass it over 
 entirely; and, for the same reason, you may omit 
 the first eight chapters of NUMBERS. The rest
 
 20 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 of Numbers is chiefly a continuation of the his- 
 tory, with some ritual laws. 
 
 Ill DEUTERONOMY Moses makes a recapitu- 
 lation of the foregoing history, with zealous ex- 
 hortations to the people, faithfully to worship and 
 obey that God who had worked such amazing 
 wonders for them : he promises them the noblest 
 temporal blessings, if they prove obedient, and 
 adds the most awful and striking denunciations 
 against them, if they rebel or forsake the true 
 God. I have before observed, that the sanctions 
 of the Mosaic law were temporal rewards and 
 punishments, those of the New Testament are 
 eternal: these last, as they are so infinitely more 
 forcible than the first, were reserved for the last, 
 best gift to mankind and were revealed by the 
 Messiah, in the fullest and clearest manner. 
 Moses, in this book, directs the method in which 
 the Israelites were to deal with the seven nations, 
 whom they were appointed to punish for their 
 profligacy and idolatry ! and whose land they 
 were to possess, when they had driven out the 
 old inhabitants. He gives them excellent laws, 
 civil as well as religious, which were ever after 
 the standing municipal laws of that people. This 
 book concludes with Moses' song and death. 
 
 The book of JOSHUA contains the conquests of 
 the Israelites over the seven nations, and their 
 establishment in the promised land. Their treat-
 
 OF THE MIND. 21 
 
 ment of these conquered nations must appear to 
 you very cruel and unjust, if you consider it as 
 their own act, unauthorized by a positive com- 
 mand: but they had the most absolute injunctions, 
 not to spare these corrupt people " to make no 
 covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, but 
 utterly to destroy them." And the reason is 
 given " lest they should turn away the Israelites 
 from following the Lord, that they might serve 
 other gods*." The children of Israel are to be 
 considered as instruments in the hand of the 
 Lord, to punish those whose idolatry and wicked- 
 ness had deservedly brought destruction on them : 
 this example, therefore, cannot be pleaded in be- 
 half of cruelty, or bring any imputation on the 
 character of the Jews. With regard to other 
 cities, which did not belong to these seven nations, 
 they were directed to deal with them according 
 to the common law of arms at that time. If the 
 city submitted, it became tributary, and the people 
 were spared; if it resisted, the men were to be 
 slain, but the women and children saved f. Yet, 
 though the crime of cruelty cannot be justly laid 
 to their charge on this occasion, you will observe, 
 in the course of their history, many things re- 
 corded of them very different from what you 
 would expect from the chosen people of God, if 
 you supposed them selected on account of their 
 
 * Deut. chap. ii. t Ibid. chap. xx.
 
 22 ON* THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 own merit: their national character was by no 
 means amiable; and we are repeatedly told that 
 they were not chosen for their superior righteous- 
 ness " for they were a stiflhecked people, and 
 provoked the Lord with their rebellions from the 
 day they left Egypt." " .You have been rebel- 
 lious against the Lord," says Moses, " from the 
 day that I knew you*." And he vehemently ex- 
 horts them, not to flatter themselves that their 
 success was, in any degree, owing to their own 
 merits. They were appointed to be the scourge 
 of other nations, whose crimes rendered them fit 
 objects of divine chastisement. For the sake of 
 righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps 
 for many other wise reasons, undiscovered to us, 
 they were selected from a world overrun with 
 idolatry, to preserve upon earth the pure worship 
 of the one only God, and to be honoured with the 
 birth of the Messiah amongst them. For this 
 end, they were precluded, by divine command, 
 from mixing with any other people, and defended, 
 by a great number of peculiar rites and observ- 
 ances, from falling into the corrupt worship prac- 
 tised by their neighbours. 
 
 The book of JUDGES, in which you will find 
 the affecting stories of Samson and of Jephtha, 
 carries on the history from the death of Joshua, 
 about two hundred and fifty years; but the facts 
 
 * Deut. chap. ix. ver. 24.
 
 OF THE MIND. 23 
 
 are not told in the times in which they happened, 
 which makes some confusion; and, it will be ne- 
 cessary to consult the marginal dates and notes, 
 as well as the index, in order to get any clear idea 
 of the succession of events during that period. 
 
 The history then proceeds regularly through 
 the two books of SAMUEL and those of KINGS: 
 nothing can be more interesting and entertaining 
 than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon: 
 but, after the death of Solomon, when ten tribes 
 revolted from his son Rehoboam, and became a 
 separate kingdom, you will find some difficulty in 
 understanding distinctly the histories of the two 
 kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are blended 
 together, and, by the likeness of the names, and 
 other particulars, will be apt to confound your 
 mind, without great attention to the different 
 threads thus carried on together; the index here 
 will be of great use to you. The Second Book 
 of Kings concludes with the Babylonish captivity, 
 588 years before Christ till which time, the 
 kindom of Judea had descended uninterruptedly 
 in the line of David. 
 
 The first book of CHRONICLES begins with a 
 genealogy from Adam, through all the tribes of 
 Israel and Judah ; and the remainder is the same 
 history which is contained in the books of Kings, 
 with little or no variation, till the separation of 
 the ten tribes: from that period, it proceeds with
 
 24 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 the history of the kingdom of Judah alone, and 
 gives therefore a more regular and clear account 
 of the affairs of Judah than the book of Kings. 
 You may pass over the first book of Chronicles, 
 and the nine first chapters of the second book : 
 but, by all means read the remaining chapters, as 
 they will give you more clear and distinct ideas 
 of the history of Judah than that you read in the 
 second book of Kings. The second of Chronicles 
 ends, like the second of Kings, with the Baby- 
 lonish captivity. 
 
 You must pursue the history in the book of 
 EZRA, which gives an account of the return of 
 some of the Jews, on the edict of Cyrus, and of 
 the rebuilding the Lord's temple. 
 
 N EH EM i AH carries on the history, for about 
 twelve years, when he himself was governor of 
 Jerusalem, with authority to rebuild the walls, &c. 
 
 The story of ESTHER is prior in time to that 
 of Ezra and Nehemiah; as you will see by the 
 marginal dates; however, as it happened during 
 the seventy years captivity, and is a kind of epi- 
 sode, it may be read in its own place. 
 
 This is the last of the canonical books that is 
 properly historical; and I would therefore ad- 
 vise that you pass over what follows, till you 
 have continued the history through the apocry- 
 phal books. 
 
 The history of JOB is probably very ai:cient,
 
 OF THE MIND. 25 
 
 though that is a point upon which learned men 
 have differed : it is dated, however, 1520 years 
 before Christ: I believe it is uncertain by whom 
 it was written : many parts of it are obscure, but 
 it is well worth studying, for the extreme beauty 
 of the poetry, and for the noble and sublime de- 
 votion it contains. The subject of the dispute, 
 between Job and his pretended friends, seems to 
 be, whether the providence of God distributes the 
 rewards and punishments of this life, in exact, 
 proportion to the merit or demerit of each indi- 
 vidual. His antagonists suppose that it does: 
 and therefore infer from JOB'S uncommon calami- 
 ties that, notwithstanding his apparent righteous- 
 ness, he was in reality a grievous sinner; they 
 aggravate his supposed guilt, by the imputation of 
 hypocrisy, and call upon him to confess it, and to 
 acknowledge the justice of his punishment. Job 
 asserts his own innocence and virtue in the most 
 pathetic manner, yet does not presume to accuse 
 the Supreme Being of injustice. Elihu attempts 
 to arbitrate the matter, by alleging the impossi- 
 bility that so frail and ignorant a creature as man 
 should comprehend the ways of the Almighty, 
 and, therefore, condemns the unjust and cruel in- 
 ference the three friends had drawn from the 
 sufferings of Job. He also blames Job for the 
 presumption of acquitting himself of all iniquity, 
 since the best of men are not pure in the sight of 
 
 c
 
 26 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 God but all have something to repent of; and 
 he advises him to make this use of his afflictions. 
 At last, by a bold figure of poetry, the Supreme 
 Being himself is introduced, speaking from the 
 whirlwind, and silencing them all by the most 
 sublime display of his own power, magnificence, 
 and wisdom, and of the comparative littleness and 
 ignorance of man. This indeed is the only con- 
 clusion of the argument which could be drawn, 
 at a time when life and immortality were not yet 
 brought to light. A future retribution is the only 
 satisfactory solution of the difficulty arising from 
 the sufferings of good people in this life. 
 
 Next follow THE PSALMS, with which you 
 cannot be too conversant. If you have any taste, 
 either for poetry or devotion, they will be your 
 delight, and will afford you a continual feast. 
 The Bible translation is far better than that used 
 in the Common Prayer Book ; and will often give 
 you the sense, when the other is obscure. In 
 this, as well as in all other parts of the scripture, 
 you must be careful always to consult the margin, 
 which gives you the corrections made since the 
 last translation, and is generally preferable to the 
 words of the text. I would wish you to select 
 some of the Psalms that please you best, and get 
 them by heart; or, at least, make yourself mis- 
 tress of the sentiments contained in them : Dr. De- 
 lany's Life of David will show you the occasions
 
 OP THE MIND. 27 
 
 on which several of them were composed, which 
 add much to their beauty and propriety ; and by 
 comparing them with the events of David's life, 
 you will greatly enhance your pleasure in them. 
 Never did the spirit of true piety breathe more 
 strongly than in these divine songs; which, being 
 added to a rich vein of poetry, makes them more 
 captivating to my heart and imagination than any 
 thing T ever read. You will consider how great 
 disadvantages any poems must sustain from being 
 rendered literally into prose, and then imagine 
 how beautiful these must be in the original. May 
 you be enabled, by reading them frequently, to 
 transfuse into your own breast that holy flame 
 which inspired the writer! To delight in the 
 Lord, and in his laws, like the Psalmist to re- 
 joice in him always, and to think " one day in 
 his courts better than 'a thousand !" But, may 
 you escape the heart-piercing sorrow of such 
 repentance as that of David by avoiding sin, 
 which humbled this unhappy king to the dust 
 and which cost him such bitter anguish, as it is 
 impossible to read of without being moved. Not 
 all the pleastires of the most prosperous sinner 
 could counterbalance the hundredth part of those 
 sensations described in his Penitential Psalms 
 and which must be the portion of every man, 
 who has fallen from a religious state into such 
 crimes, when once he recovers a sense of religion 
 
 C 2
 
 28 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 and virtue, and is brought to a real hatred of sin : 
 however available such repentance may be to the 
 safety and happiness of the soul after death, it is 
 a state of such exquisite suffering here that one 
 cannot be enough surprised at the folly of those 
 who indulge in sin, with the hope of living to 
 make their peace with God by repentance. 
 Happy are they who preserve their innocence 
 unsullied by any great or wilful crimes, and who 
 have only the common failings of humanity to 
 repent of; these are sufficiently mortifying to a 
 heart deeply smitten with the love of virtue, and 
 with the desire of perfection. There are many 
 very striking prophecies of the Messiah, in these 
 divine songs; particularly in Psalm xxii. : such 
 may be found scattered up and down almost 
 throughout the Old Testament. To bear testi- 
 mony to him is the great and ultimate end, for 
 which the spirit of prophecy was bestowed on 
 the sacred writers : but this will appear more 
 plainly to you, when you enter on the study of 
 prophecy, which you are now much too young to 
 undertake. 
 
 The PROVERBS and ECCLESIASTES are rich 
 stores of wisdom; from which I wish you to 
 adopt such maxims as may be of infinite use, both 
 to your temporal and eternal interest. But, de- 
 tached sentences are a kind of reading not proper 
 to be continued long at a time; a few of them
 
 OF THE MIND. 29 
 
 well chosen and digested will do you much more 
 service than to read half a dozen chapters to- 
 gether ; in this respect they are directly opposite 
 to the historical books, which, if not read in con- 
 tinuation, can hardly be understood, or retained 
 to any purpose. 
 
 The SONG of SOLOMON is a fine poem but 
 its mystical reference to religion lies too deep for 
 a common understanding; if you read it, there- 
 fore, it will be rather as matter of curiosity than 
 of edification. 
 
 Next follow the PROPHECIES, which though 
 highly deserving the greatest attention and study, 
 I think you had better omit for some years, and 
 then read them with a good exposition; as they 
 are much too difficult for you to understand 
 without assistance. Dr. Newton on the Prophe- 
 cies will help you much, whenever you undertake 
 this study which you should by all means do, 
 when your understanding is ripe enough; be- 
 cause one of the main proofs of our religion rests 
 on the testimony of the prophecies : and they 
 are very frequently quoted and referred to in the 
 New Testament: besides the sublimity of the 
 language and sentiments, through all the disad- 
 vantages of antiquity and translation, must, in 
 very many passages, strike every person of taste; 
 and the excellent moral and religious precepts 
 found in them must be useful to all.
 
 30 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 Though I have spoken of these books in the 
 order in which they stand, I repeat, that they are 
 not to be read in that order but that the thread 
 of the history is to be pursued, from Nehemiah, 
 to the first book of MACCABEES, in the Apocry- 
 pha; taking care to observe the chronology regu- 
 larly, by referring to the Index, which supplies 
 the deficiencies of this history, from Josephus's 
 Antiquities of the Jews. The first of Maccabees 
 carries on the story till within 195 years of our 
 Lord's circumcision : the second book is the same 
 narrative, written by a different hand, and does 
 not bring the history so forward as the first; so 
 that it may be entirely omitted, unless you have 
 the curiosity to read some particulars of the he- 
 roic constancy of the Jews, under the tortures 
 inflicted by their heathen conquerors; with a few 
 other things not mentioned in the first book. 
 
 You must then connect the history by the help 
 of the Index, which will give you brief heads of 
 the changes that happened in the state of the Jews, 
 from this time, till the birth of the Messiah. 
 
 The other books of the Apocrypha, though not 
 admitted as of sacred authority, have many things 
 well worth your attention; particularly the ad- 
 mirable book called ECCLESIASTICUS, and the 
 BOOK OF WISDOM. But, in the course of 
 reading which I advise, these must be omitted 
 till after you have gone through the Gospels and
 
 OF THE MIND. 31 
 
 Acts, that you may not lose the historical thread. 
 I must reserve however what I have to say to 
 you concerning the New Testament, to another 
 letter. 
 
 Adieu, my dear! 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 MY DEAREST NIECE, 
 
 WE come now to that part of Scripture, which is 
 the most important of all; and which you must 
 make your constant study, not only till you are 
 thoroughly acquainted with it, but all your life 
 long ; because how often soever repeated, it is im- 
 possible to read the life and death of our blessed 
 Saviour, without renewing and increasing in our 
 hearts that love, and reverence, and gratitude 
 towards him, which is so justly due for all he 
 did, and suffered, for us ! Every word that fell 
 from his lips is more precious than all the trea- 
 sures of the earth; for his " are the words of 
 eternal life !" They must therefore be laid up in 
 your heart, and constantly referred to on all occa- 
 sions, as the rule and direction of all your actions; 
 particularly those very comprehensive moral pre- 
 cepts he has graciously left with us, which can 
 never fail to direct us aright, if fairly and ho- 
 nestly applied : such as whatsoever ye would that
 
 32 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 men should do unto you, so even do unto them. 
 There is no occasion, great or small, on which 
 you may not safely apply this rule for the direc- 
 tion of your conduct: and, whilst your heart ho- 
 nestly adheres to it, you can never be guilty of 
 any sort of injustice or unkindness. The two 
 great commandments, which contain the sum- 
 mary of our duty to God and man, are no less 
 easily retained, and made a standard by which 
 to judge our own hearts. To love the Lord our 
 God with all our hearts, with all our minds, with 
 all our strength; and our neighbour (or fellow- 
 creature) as ourselves. " Love worketh no ill to 
 his neighbour;" therefore, if you have true be- 
 nevolence, you will never do any thing injurious 
 to individuals, or to society. Now, all crimes 
 whatever are (in their remoter consequences at 
 least, if not immediately and apparently) injurious 
 to the society in which we live. It is impossible 
 to love God without desiring to please him, and, 
 as far as we are able, to resemble him ; therefore 
 the love of God must lead to every virtue in the 
 highest degree; and, we may be sure, we do not 
 truly love him, if we content ourselves with 
 avoiding flagrant sins, and do not strive in good 
 earnest, to reach the greatest degree of perfection 
 we are capable of. Thus do those few words 
 direct us to the highest Christian virtue. Indeed, 
 the whole tenor of the gospel is to offer us every
 
 OF THE MIND. S3 
 
 help, direction, and motive, that can enahle us to 
 attain that degree of perfection, on which de- 
 pends our eternal good. 
 
 What an example is set before us in our blessed 
 Master! How is his whole life, from earliest 
 youth, dedicated to the pursuit of true wisdom, 
 and to the practice of the most exalted virtue ! 
 When you see him, at twelve years of age, in the 
 temple amongst the doctors, hearing them, and 
 asking them questions on the subject of religion, 
 and astonishing them all with his understanding 
 and answers you will say, perhaps, " Well- 
 might the Son of God, even at those years, be 
 far wiser than the aged ; but can a mortal child 
 emulate such heavenly wisdom ? Can such a pat- 
 tern be proposed to my imitation?" Yes, my 
 dear; remember that he has bequeathed to you 
 his heavenly wisdom, as far as concerns your 
 own good. He has left you such declarations of 
 his will, and of the consequences of your actions, 
 as you are, even now, fully able to understand, if 
 you will but attend to them. If then you will 
 imitate his zeal for knowledge, if you will delight 
 in gaining information and improvement; you 
 may even now become wise unto salvation. 
 Unmoved by the praise he acquired amongst 
 these learned men, you see him meekly return 
 to the subjection of a child, under those who ap- 
 peared to be his parents, though he was in reality 
 
 c 3
 
 34 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 their Lord: you see him return to live with them, 
 to work for them, and to be the joy and solace of 
 their lives ; till the time came, when he was to 
 enter on that scene of public action, for which his 
 heavenly Father had sent him from his own right 
 hand, to take upon him the form of a poor carpen- 
 ter's son. What a lesson of humility is this, and 
 of obedience to parents When, having received 
 the glorious testimony from heaven, of his being 
 the beloved Son of the Most High, he enters on 
 his public ministry, what an example does he 
 give us of the most extensive and constant be- 
 nevolence ! how are all liis hours spent in doing 
 good to the souls and bodies of men! not the 
 meanest sinner is below his notice : to reclaim 
 and save them, he condescends to converse fami- 
 liarly with the most corrupt, as well as the most 
 abject. All his miracles are wrought to benefit 
 mankind; not one to punish and afflict them. 
 Instead of using the almighty power, which ac- 
 companied him, to the purpose of exalting him- 
 self and treading down his enemies, he makes no 
 other use of it than to heal and to save. 
 
 When you come to read of his sufferings and 
 death, the ignominy and reproach, the sorrow of 
 mind, and torment of body, which he submitted 
 to when you consider, that it was for all our 
 sakes " that by his stripes we are healed" and 
 by his death we are raised from destruction to
 
 OF THE MIND. 35 
 
 everlasting life what can I say that can add any 
 thing to the sensations you must then feel? No 
 power of language can make the scene more 
 touching than it appears in the plain and simple 
 narrations of the evangelists. The heart that is 
 unmoved by it can he scarcely human : but, my 
 dear, the emotions of tenderness and compunc- 
 tion, which almost every one feels in reading this 
 account, will be of no avail, unless applied to the 
 true end unless it inspire you with a sincere 
 and warm affection towards your blessed Lord - 
 with a firm resolution to obey his commands : 
 to be his faithful disciple and ever to renounce 
 and abhor those sins, which brought mankind 
 under divine condemnation, and from which we 
 have been redeemed at so dear a rate. Remem- 
 ber that the title of Christian, or follower of 
 Christ, implies a more than an ordinary degree of 
 holiness and goodness. As our motives to vir- 
 tue are stronger than those which are afforded to 
 the rest of mankind, our guilt will be propor- 
 tionably greater if we depart from it. 
 
 Our Saviour appears to have had three great 
 purposes, in descending from his glory and dwell- 
 ing amongst men. The first, to teach them true 
 virtue, both by his example and precepts : the 
 second, to give them the most forcible motives to 
 the practice of it, " by bringing life and immor- 
 tality to light :" by showing them the certainty of
 
 36 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 a resurrection and judgment, and the absolute 
 necessity of obedience to God's laws: the third 
 to sacrifice himself for us, to obtain by his death 
 the remission of our sins upon our repentance 
 and' re formation, and the power of bestowing on 
 his sincere followers the inestimable gift of im- 
 mortal happiness. 
 
 What a tremendous scene of the last day does 
 the gospel place before our eyes? of that day 
 when you, and every one of us, shall awake from 
 the grave, and behold the Son of God on his 
 glorious tribunal, attended by millions of celestial 
 beings, of whose superior excellence we can now 
 form no adequate idea : When in presence of all 
 mankind, of those holy angels, and of the great 
 Judge himself, you must give an account of your 
 past life and hear your final doom, from which 
 there can be no appeal, and which must deter- 
 mine your fate to all eternity. Then think if 
 for a moment you can bear the thought what 
 will he the desolation, shame, and anguish of 
 those wretched souls, who shall hear these dread- 
 ful -words : Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 angels. Oh ! my beloved child ! I cannot sup- 
 port even the idea of you becoming one of those 
 undone, lost creatures. I trust in God's mercy, 
 that you will make a better use of that knowledge 
 of his will, which he has vouchsafed you, and of
 
 OF THE MIND. 37 
 
 those amiable dispositions he has given you. Let 
 us therefore turn from this horrid, this insupport- 
 able view and rather endeavour to imagine, as 
 far as is possible, what will be the sensation of 
 your soul, if you shall hear our heavenly Judge 
 address you in these transporting words Come, 
 thou blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
 Think, what it must be, to become an object 
 of the esteem and applause not only of all man- 
 kind assembled together but of all the host of 
 heaven, of our blessed Lord himself nay of his 
 and our Almighty Father : to find your frail flesh 
 changed in a moment into a glorious celestial 
 body, endowed with perfect beauty, health, and 
 agility to find your soul cleansed from all its 
 faults and infirmities; exalted to the purest and 
 noblest affections overflowing with divine love 
 and rapturous gratitude ; to have your under- 
 standing enlightened and refined your heart en- 
 larged and purified and every power and dispo- 
 sition of mind and body adapted to the highest 
 relish of virtue and happiness! Thus accom- 
 plished, to be admitted into the society of amiable 
 and happy beings, all united in the most perfect 
 peace and friendship, all breathing nothing but 
 love to God, and to each other; with them to 
 dwell in scenes more delightful than the richest 
 imagination can paint free from every pain and
 
 38 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 care, and from all possibility of change or satiety: 
 but, above all, to enjoy the more immediate 
 presence of God himself to be able to compre- 
 hend and admire his adorable perfections in a 
 high degree, though still far short of their infinity 
 to be conscious of his love and favour, and to 
 rejoice in the light of his countenance ! but here 
 all imagination fails: We can form no idea of 
 that bliss which may be communicated to us by 
 such a near approach to the source of all beauty 
 and all good : We must content ourselves with 
 believing that it is what mortal eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the 
 heart of man to conceive. The crown of all our 
 joys will be to know that we are secure of pos- 
 sessing them/or ever What a transporting idea! 
 My dearest child ! can you reflect on all these 
 things, and not feel the most earnest longings 
 after immortality ? Do not all other views and 
 desires seem mean and trifling, when compared 
 with this ? And does not your inmost heart re- 
 solve that this shall be the chief and constant 
 object of its wishes and pursuit, through the 
 whole course of your life? If you are not insensi- 
 ble to that desire of happiness, which seems woven 
 into our nature, you cannot surely be unmoved by 
 the prospect of such a transcendent degree of it; 
 and that, continued to all eternity perhaps con- 
 tinually increasing. You cannot but dread the
 
 OF THE MIND. 39 
 
 forfeiture of such an inheritance as the most in- 
 supportable evil! Remember then remember 
 the conditions on which alone it can be obtained. 
 God will not give to vice, to carelessness, or 
 sloth, the prize he has proposed to virtue. You 
 have every help that can animate your endea- 
 vours : You have written laws to direct you 
 the example of Christ and his disciples to en- 
 courage you the most awajgpiring motives to en- 
 gage you and you have, bt sdes, the comfort- 
 able promise of constant assistance from the Holy 
 Spirit, if you diligently and sincerely pray for it. 
 O, my dear child! let not all this mercy be lost 
 upon you but give your attention to this your 
 only important concern, and accept, with pro- 
 found gratitude, the inestimable advantages that 
 are thus affectionately offered you. 
 
 Though the four Gospels are each of them a 
 narration of the life, sayings, and death of Christ; 
 yet, as they are not exactly alike, but some cir- 
 cumstances and sayings, omitted in one, are re 
 corded in another, you must make yourself per- 
 fectly mistress of them all. 
 
 The ACTS of the holy Apostles, endowed with 
 the Holy Ghost, and authorized by their divine 
 Master, come next in order to be read. Nothing 
 can be more interesting and edifying than the 
 history of their actions of the piety, zeal, and 
 courage, with which they preached the glad
 
 40 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 tidings of salvation and of the various exertions 
 of the wonderful powers conferred on them by 
 the Holy Spirit, for the confirmation of their 
 mission. 
 
 The character of St. Paul, and his miraculous 
 conversion, demand your particular attention: 
 most of the apo.xt !"' were men of low birth and 
 education: bu! ,' ill was a Roman citizen ; 
 that is, he po,s '~3*y - Le privileges annexed to 
 the freedom of t *& y of Rome, which was con- 
 sidered as a high'' * ^tinction in those countries 
 that had been con-, Ted by the Romans. He 
 was educated amongst the most learned sect of 
 the Jews, and by one of their principal doctors. 
 He was a man of extraordinary eloquence, as 
 appears not only in his writings, but in several 
 speeches in his own defence, pronounced before 
 governors and courts of justice, when he was 
 called to account for the doctrines he taught. 
 He seems to have been of an uncommon warm 
 temper, and zealous in whatever religion he pro- 
 fessed: this zeal, before his conversion, showed 
 itself in the most unjustifiable actions, by fu- 
 riously persecuting the innocent Christians : but, 
 though his actions were bad, we may be sure his 
 intentions were good ; otherwise we should not 
 have seen a miracle employed to convince him of 
 his mistake, and to bring him into the right way. 
 This example may assure us of the mercy of God
 
 OF THE MIND. 41 
 
 towards mistaken consciences, and ought to in- 
 spire us with the most enlarged charity and 
 goodwill towards those whose erroneous prin- 
 ciples mislead their conduct: instead of resent- 
 ment and hatred against their persons, we ought 
 only to feel an active wish of assisting them to 
 find the truth, since we know not whether, if 
 convinced, they might not prose, like St. Paul, 
 chosen vessels to promote thjp honour of God, 
 and of true religion. It is not my intention now 
 to enter with you into any of the arguments for 
 the truth of Christianity, otherwise it would be 
 impossible wholly to pass over that which arises 
 from this remarkable conversion, and which has 
 been so admirably illustrated by a noble writer*, 
 whose tract on this subject is in every body's 
 hand. 
 
 Next follow the EPISTLES, which make a 
 very important part of the New Testament: and 
 you cannot be too much employed in reading 
 them. They contain the . most excellent pre- 
 cepts and admonitions, and are of particular use 
 in explaining more at large several doctrines of 
 Christianity, which we could not so fully com- 
 prehend without them. There are indeed in the 
 Epistles of St. Paul many passages hard to be 
 understood: such, in particular, are the first 
 
 * Lord Lyttelton.
 
 42 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 eleven chapters to the Romans ; the greater part 
 of his Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians ; 
 and several chapters of that to the Hebrews. 
 Instead of perplexing yourself with these more 
 obscure passages of Scripture, I would wish you 
 to employ your attention chiefly on those that 
 are plain; and to judge of the doctrines taught 
 in the other parts, by comparing them with what 
 you find in these.. It is through the neglect of 
 this rule, that many have been led to draw the 
 most absurd doctrines from the Holy Scriptures. 
 Let me particularly recommend to your care- 
 ful perusal the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th chap- 
 ters of the Epistle to the Romans. In the 14th 
 chapter, St. Paul has in view the difference be- 
 tween the Jewish and Gentile (or Heathen) con- 
 verts at that time ; the former were disposed to 
 look with horror on the latter, for their impiety 
 in not paying the same regard to the distinctions 
 of days and meats that they did ; and the latter, 
 on the contrary, were inclined to look with con- 
 tempt on the former, for their weakness and 
 superstition. Excellent is the advice which the 
 apostle gives to both parties: he exhorts the 
 Jewish converts not to judge, and the Gentiles 
 not to despise; remembering that the kingdom 
 of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteous- 
 ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost: 
 Endeavour to conform yourself to this advice;
 
 OF THE MIND. 43 
 
 to acquire a temper of universal candour and 
 benevolence: and learn neither to despise nor 
 condemn any persons on account of their par- 
 ticular modes of faith and worship : remembering 
 always, that goodness is confined to no party 
 that there are wise and worthy men among all 
 the sects of Christians and that, to his own 
 master, every one must stand or fall. 
 
 I will enter no further into the several points 
 discussed by St. Paul in his various epistles 
 most of them too intricate for your understanding 
 at present, and many of them beyond my abilities 
 to state clearly. I will only again recommend 
 to you, to read those passages frequently, which, 
 with so much fervour and energy, excite you to 
 the practice of the most exalted piety and bene- 
 volence. If the effusions of a heart, warmed 
 with the tenderest affection for the whole human 
 race if precept, warning, encouragement, ex- 
 ample, urged by an eloquence which such affec- 
 tion only could inspire, are capable of influencing 
 your mind you cannot fail to find, in such parts 
 of his epistles as are adapted to your understand- 
 ing, the strongest persuasives to every virtue that 
 can adorn and improve your nature. 
 
 The Epistle of St. James is entirely practical, 
 and exceedingly fine ; you cannot study it too 
 much. It seems particularly designed to guard 
 Christians against misunderstanding some things 
 in St. Paul's writings, which have been fatally
 
 44 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 perverted to the encouragement of a dependence 
 on faith alone, without good works. But the 
 more rational commentators will tell you, that by 
 the works of the law, which the apostle asserts 
 to be incapable of justifying us, he means not the 
 works of moral righteousness, but the ceremonial 
 works of the Mosaic law ; on which the Jews laid 
 the greatest stress, as necessary to salvation. 
 But St. James tells us, that, " if any man among 
 us seem to be religious, and bridleth not his 
 tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's 
 religion is vain." And that pure religion, and 
 undefiled before God the Father, is this: "to 
 visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, 
 and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 
 Faith in Christ, if it produce not these effects, he 
 declares, is dead, or of no power. 
 
 The Epistles of St. Peter are also full of the 
 best instructions and admonitions, concerning the 
 relative duties of life; amongst which are set 
 forth the duties of women in general, and of 
 wives in particular. Some part of the second 
 Epistle is prophetical ; warning the church of 
 false teachers, and false doctrines, which would 
 undermine morality, and disgrace the cause of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The first of St. JOHN is written in a highly 
 figurative style, which makes it in some parts 
 hard to be understood : but the spirit of divine 
 love, which it so fervently expresses, renders it
 
 OF THE MIND. 45 
 
 highly edifying and delightful. That love of 
 God and of man which this beloved apostle so 
 pathetically recommends, is in truth the essence 
 of religion, as our Saviour himself informs us. 
 
 The book of REVELATIONS contains a pro- 
 phetical account of most of the great events 
 relating to the Christian church, which were to 
 happen from the time of the writer, St. John, to 
 the end of the world. Many learned men have 
 taken a great deal of pains to explain it; and 
 they have done this in many instances very suc- 
 cessfully : but, I think, it is yet too soon for you 
 to study this part of Scripture ; some years hence 
 perhaps there may be no objection to your at- 
 tempting it, and taking into your hands the best 
 expositions to assist you in reading such of the 
 most difficult parts of the New Testament as you 
 cannot now be supposed to understand. May 
 Heaven direct you in studying this sacred volume, 
 and render it the means of making you wise unto 
 salvation! May you love and reverence, as it 
 deserves, this blessed and invaluable book, which 
 contains the best rule of life, the clearest decla- 
 ration of the will and laws of the Deity, the re- 
 viving assurance of favour to true penitents, and 
 the unspeakably joyful tidings of eternal life and 
 happiness to all the truly virtuous, through Jesus 
 Christ, the Saviour and Deliverer of the world ! 
 
 Adieu.
 
 4G ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 ON THE REGULATION OF THE HEART AN1> 
 AFFECTIONS. 
 
 You will have read the New Testament to very 
 little purpose, my dearest Niece, if you do not 
 perceive the great end and intention of all its 
 precepts to be the improvement and regulation of 
 the heart : not the outward actions alone, hut the 
 inward affections which give birth to them, are 
 the subjects of those precepts ; as appears in our 
 Saviour's explanation* of the commandments 
 delivered to Moses; and in a thousand other 
 passages of the gospels, which it is needless to 
 recite. There are no virtues more insisted on, 
 as necessary to our future happiness, than hu- 
 mility, and sincerity, or uprightness, of heart; 
 yet none more difficult and rare. Pride and 
 vanity, the vices opposite to humility, are the 
 sources of almost all the worst faults, both of 
 men and women. The latter are particularly 
 accused and not without reason of vanity, the 
 vice of little minds, chiefly conversant with trifling 
 subjects. Pride and vanity have been supposed 
 to differ so essentially as hardly ever to be found 
 in the same person. " Too proud to be vain" 
 
 Matt. T.
 
 OF THE MIND. 47 
 
 is no uncommon expression ; by which I suppose 
 is meant, too proud to be over anxious for the ad- 
 miration of others : but this seems to be founded 
 on mistake. Pride is, I think, a high opinion 
 of one's self, and an affected contempt of others : 
 I say affected, for that it is not a real contempt 
 is evident from this, that the lowest object of it 
 is important enough to torture the proud man's 
 heart, only by refusing him the homage and ad- 
 miration he requires. Thus Hainan could relish 
 none of the advantages in which he valued him- 
 self, whilst that Mordecai, whom he pretended 
 to despise, sat still in the king's gate, and would 
 not bow to him as he passed. But as the proud 
 man's contempt of others is only assumed with a 
 view to awe them into reverence by his pretended 
 superiority, so it does not preclude an extreme 
 inward anxiety about their opinions, and a slavish 
 dependence on them for all his gratifications. 
 Pride, though a distinct passion, is seldom unac- 
 companied by vanity, which is an extravagant 
 desire of admiration. Indeed, I never saw an 
 insolent person, in whom a discerning eye might 
 not discover a very large share of vanity, and of 
 envy, its usual companion. One may never- 
 theless see many vain persons who are not proud; 
 though they desire to be admired, they do not 
 always admire themselves : but as timid minds 
 are apt to despair of those things they earnestly
 
 48 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 wish for, so you will often see the woman who i.s 
 most anxious to be thought handsome, most in- 
 clined to be dissatisfied with her looks, and to 
 think all the assistance of art too little to attain 
 the end desired. To this cause, I believe, we 
 may generally attribute affectation ; which seems 
 to imply a mean opinion of one's own real form, 
 or character, while we strive against nature to 
 alter ourselves by ridiculous contortions of body, 
 or by feigned sentiments and unnatural manners. 
 There is no art so mean, which this mean pas- 
 sion will not descend to for its gratification no 
 creature so insignificant, whose incense it will 
 not gladly receive. Far from despising others, 
 the vain man will court them with the most as- 
 siduous adulation; in hopes, by feeding their 
 vanity, to induce them to supply the craving 
 wants of his own. He will put on the guise of 
 benevolence, tenderness, and friendship, where 
 he feels not the least degree of kindness, in order 
 to prevail on goodnature and gratitude, to like 
 and to commend him; but if, in any particular 
 case, he fancies the airs of insolence and con- 
 tempt may succeed better, he makes no scruple 
 to assume them; though so awkwardly that he 
 still appears to depend on the breath of the per- 
 son he would be thought to despise. Weak and 
 timid natures seldom venture to try this last me- 
 thod ; and, when they do, it is without the as-
 
 OF THE MIND. 49 
 
 surance necessary to carry it on with success : 
 but a bold and confident mind will oftener en- 
 deavour to command and extort admiration than 
 to court it. As women are more fearful than 
 men, perhaps this may be one reason why they 
 are more vain than proud : whilst the other sex 
 are oftener proud than vain. It is, I suppose, 
 from some opinion of a certain greatness of mind 
 accompanying the one vice rather than the other, 
 that many will readily confess their pride, nay, 
 and even be proud of their pride, whilst every 
 creature is ashamed of being convicted of vanity. 
 You see, however, that the end of both is the 
 same, though pursued by different means : or, if 
 it differs, it is in the importance of the subject. 
 Whilst men are proud of power, of wealth, dig- 
 nity, learning, or abilities, young women are 
 usually ambitious of nothing more than to be 
 admired for their persons, their dress, or their 
 most trivial accomplishments. The homage of 
 men is their grand object; but they only desire 
 them to be in love with their persons, careless 
 how despicable their minds appear, even to these 
 their pretended adorers. I have known a wo- 
 man so vain as to boast of the most disgraceful 
 addresses ; being contented to be thought meanly 
 of, in points the most interesting to her honour, 
 for the sake of having it known, that her person 
 was attractive enough to make a man transgress 
 
 D
 
 50 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 the bounds of respect due to her character, which 
 was not a vicious one, if you except this intem- 
 perate vanity. But this passion too often leads 
 to the most ruinous actions, always corrupts the 
 heart, and, when indulged, renders it, perhaps, 
 as displeasing in the sight of the Almighty, as 
 those faults which find least mercy from the 
 world ; yet, alas ! it is a passion so prevailing, I 
 had almost said universal, in our sex, that it 
 requires all the efforts of reason, and all the as- 
 sistance of grace, totally to subdue it. Religion 
 is indeed the only effectual remedy for this evil. 
 If our hearts are not dedicated to God, they will 
 in some way or other be dedicated to the world, 
 both in youth and age. If our actions are not 
 constantly referred to him, if his approbation 
 and favour is not our principal object, we shall 
 certainly take up with the applause of men, and 
 make that the ruling motive of our conduct. 
 How melancholy is it to see this phantom so 
 eagerly followed through life ! whilst all that is 
 truly valuable to us is looked upon with indiffer- 
 ence ; or at best made subordinate to this darling 
 pursuit ! 
 
 Equally vain and absurd is every scheme of 
 life that is not subservient to, and does not ter- 
 minate hi, that great end of our being the at- 
 tainment of real excellence, and of the favour of 
 God. Whenever this becomes sincerely our
 
 6F THE MIND. 61 
 
 object, then will pride and vanity, envy, ambi- 
 tion, covetousness, and every evil passion, lose 
 their power over us; and we shall, in the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, " walk humbly with our 
 God." We shall then cease to repine under our 
 natural or accidental disadvantages, and feel dis- 
 satisfied only with onr moral defects; we shall 
 love and respect all our fellow creatures, as the 
 children of the same dear parent, and parti- 
 cularly those who seek to d'o his will : All our 
 delight will be " in the saints that are in the 
 earth, and in such as excel in virtue." We shall 
 wish to cultivate good-will, and to promote in- 
 nocent enjoyment wherever we are : we shall 
 strive to please, not from vanity, but from bene- 
 volence. Instead of contemplating our own fan- 
 cied perfections, or even real superiority with 
 self-complacence, religion will teach us to " look 
 into ourselves, and fear :" the best of us, God 
 knows, have enough to fear, if we honestly search 
 into all the dark recesses of the heart, and bring 
 out every thought and intention fairly to the 
 light, to be tried by the precepts of our pure and 
 holy religion. 
 
 It is with the rules of the gospel we must com- 
 pare ourselves, and not with the world around us ; 
 for we know, " that the many are wicked : and 
 that we must not be conformed to the world." 
 
 How necessary it is, frequently thus to enter 
 
 D 2
 
 52 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 into ourselves, and search out our spirit, will ap- 
 pear, if we consider, how much the human heart 
 is prone to insincerity, and how often, from being 
 first led by vanity into attempts to impose upon 
 others, we come at last to impose on ourselves. 
 
 There is nothing more common than to see 
 people fall into the most ridiculous mistakes, with 
 regard to their own characters ; but I can by no 
 means allow such mistakes to be unavoidable, 
 and therefore innocent : they arose from voluntary 
 insincerity, and are continued for want of that 
 strict honesty towards ourselves and others, which 
 'the Scripture calls "singleness of heart;" and 
 which in modern language is termed simplicity, 
 the most enchanting of all qualities, esteemed and 
 beloved in proportion to its rareness. 
 
 He, who " requires truth in the inward parts," 
 will not excuse our self-deception; for he has 
 commanded us to examine ourselves diligently, 
 and has given us such rules as can never mislead 
 us, if we desire the truth, and are willing to see 
 our faults in order to correct them. But this is 
 the point in which we are defective; we are de- 
 sirous to gain our own approbation, as well as 
 that of others, at a cheaper rate than that of 
 being really what we ought to be; and we take 
 pains to persuade ourselves that we are that 
 which we indolently admire and approve. 
 
 There is nothing in which this self-deception is
 
 OF THE MIND. 53 
 
 more notorious than in what regards sentiment 
 and feeling. JLet a vain young woman be told 
 that tenderness and softness is the peculiar charm 
 of the sex that even their weakness is lovely, 
 and their fears becoming and you will presently 
 observe her grow so tender as to be ready to 
 weep for a fly; so fearful, that she starts at a 
 feather; and so weak-hearted, that the smallest 
 accident quite overpowers her. Her fondness 
 and affection become fulsome and ridiculous; 
 her compassion contemptible weakness; and her 
 apprehensiveness the most abject cowardice : for, 
 when once she quits the direction of Nature, she 
 knows not where to stop, and continually ex- 
 poses herself by the most absurd extremes. 
 
 Nothing so effectually defeats its own ends as 
 this kind of affectation : for though warm affec- 
 tions and tender feelings are beyond measure 
 amiable and charming, when perfectly 'natural* 
 and kept under the due control of reason and 
 principle, yet nothing is so truly disgusting as the 
 affectation of them, or even the unbridled indul- 
 gence of such as are real. 
 
 Remember, my dear, that our feelings were 
 not given us for our ornament, but to spur us 
 on to right actions. Compassion, for instance, 
 was not impressed upon the human heart, only 
 to adorn the fair face with tears, and to give an 
 agreeable languor to the eyes; it was designed
 
 54 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 to excite our utmost endeavours to relieve the 
 sufferer. Yet, how often hfcve I heard that se!6sh 
 weakness, which flies from the sight of distress, 
 dignified with the name of tenderness ! " My 
 friend is, I hear, in the deepest affliction and 
 misery; I have not seen her for indeed I can- 
 not bear such scenes they affect me too much ! 
 those who have less sensibility are fitter for 
 this world; but, for my part, I own I am not 
 able to support such things. I shall not attempt 
 to visit her, till I hear she has recovered her spi- 
 rits." This have I heard said with an air of com- 
 placence ; and the poor selfish creature has per- 
 suaded herself that she had finer feelings than 
 those generous friends, who are sitting patiently 
 in the house of mourning watching, in silence, 
 the proper moment to pour in the balm of com- 
 fort; who suppressed their own sensations, and 
 only attended to those of the afflicted person; 
 and whose tears flowed in secret, whilst their 
 eyes and voice were taught to enliven the sinking 
 heart with the appearance of cheerfulness. 
 
 That sort of tenderness which makes us useless 
 may indeed be pitied and excused, if owing to na- 
 tural imbecility ; but, if it pretend to loveliness 
 and excellence, it becomes truly contemptible. 
 
 The same degree of active courage is not to be 
 expected in woman as in man; and, not belong- 
 ing to her nature, it is not agreeable in her: but
 
 OF THE MIND. 55 
 
 passive courage patience, and fortitude under 
 sufferings presence of mind, and calm resigna- 
 tion in danger are surely desirable in every ra- 
 tional creature; especially in one professing to 
 believe in an overruling Providence, in which we 
 may at all times quietly confide, and which we 
 may safely trust with every event that does not 
 depend upon our own will. Whenever you find 
 yourself deficient in these virtues, let it be a sub- 
 ject of shame and humiliation not of vanity and 
 self-complacence : do not fancy yourself the more 
 amiable for that which really makes you despi- 
 cable but content yourself with the faults and 
 weaknesses that belong to you, without putting 
 on more by way of ornament. With regard to 
 tenderness, remember that compassion is best 
 shown by an ardour to relieve and affection by 
 assiduity to promote the good and happiness of 
 the persons you love : that tears are unamiable, 
 instead of being ornamental, when voluntarily in- 
 dulged: and can never be attractive but when 
 they flow irresistibly, and avoid observation as 
 much as possible : the same may be said of every 
 other mark of passion. It attracts our sympathy, 
 if involuntary and not designed for our notice 
 It offends, if we see that it is purposely indulged 
 and obtruded on our observation. 
 
 Another point, on which the heart is apt to de- 
 ceive itself, is generosity; we cannot bear to sus-
 
 56 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 pect ourselves of base and ungenerous feelings, 
 therefore we let them work without attending to 
 them, or we endeavour to find out some better 
 motive for those actions which really flow from 
 envy and malignity. Before you flatter yourself 
 that you are a generous benevolent person, take 
 care to examine whether you are really glad of 
 every advantage and excellence, which your 
 friends and companions possess, though they are 
 such as you are yourself deficient in. If your 
 sister or friend make a greater proficiency than 
 yourself in any accomplishment, which you are 
 in pursuit of, do you never wish to stop her pro- 
 gress, instead of trying to hasten your own? 
 
 The boundaries between virtuous emulation 
 and vicious envy are very nice, and may be easily 
 mistaken. The first will awaken your attention 
 to your own defects, and excite your endeavours 
 to improve; the last will make you repine at the 
 improvements of others, and wish to rob them of 
 the praise they have deserved. Do you sincerely 
 rejoice when your sister is enjoying pleasure or 
 commendation, though you are at the same time 
 in disagreeable or mortifying circumstances? 
 Do you delight to see her approved and beloved, 
 even by those who do not pay you equal atten- 
 tion ? Are you afflicted and humbled, when she 
 is found to be in fault, though you yourself are re- 
 markably clear from the same ofl'ence? if youi?
 
 OF THE MIND. O"J 
 
 heart assures you of the affirmative to these ques- 
 tions, then may you think yourself a kind sister 
 and a generous friend : for you must observe, my 
 dear, that scarcely any creature is so depraved as 
 not to be capable of kind affections in some cir- 
 cumstances. We are all naturally benevolent, 
 when no selfish interest interferes, and where no 
 advantage is to be given up : we can all pity dis- 
 tress, when it lies complaining at our feet, and 
 confesses our superiority and happier situation ; 
 but I have seen the sufferer himself become the 
 object of envy and ill-will, as soon as his fortitude 
 and greatness of mind had begun to attract admi- 
 ration, and to make the envious person feel the 
 superiority of virtue above good fortune. 
 
 To take sincere pleasure in the blessings and 
 excellences of others is a much surer mark of 
 benevolence than to pity their calamities : and 
 you must always acknowledge yourself ungene- 
 rous and selfish, whenever you are less ready to 
 " rejoice with them that do rejoice," than to 
 " weep with them that weep." If ever your com- 
 mendations of others be forced from you, by the 
 fear of betraying your envy or if ever you feel a 
 secret desire to mention something that may abate 
 the admiration given them, do not try to conceal 
 the base disposition from yourself, since that is 
 not the way to cure it. 
 
 Human nature is ever liable to corruption, and 
 
 D3
 
 58 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 has in it the seeds of every vice, as well as of 
 every virtue ; and the first will be continually 
 shooting forth and growing up, if not carefully 
 watched and rooted out as fast as they appear. 
 It is the business of religion to purify and exalt 
 us from a state of imperfection and infirmity, to 
 that which is necessary and essential to happiness. 
 Envy would make us miserable in heaven itself, 
 could it be admitted there; for we must there see 
 beings far more excellent, and consequently more 
 happy, than ourselves ; and till we can rejoice in 
 seeing virtue rewarded in proportion to its degree, 
 we can never hope to be among the number of 
 the blessed. 
 
 Watch then, my dear child, and observe every 
 evil propensity of your heart, that you may in 
 time correct it, with the assistance of that grace 
 which alone can conquer the evils of our nature, 
 and which you must constantly and earnestly im- 
 plore. 
 
 I must add, that even those vices which you 
 would most blush to own, and which most effec- 
 tually defile and vilify the female heart, may by 
 degrees be introduced into yours to the ruin of 
 that virtue, without which, misery and shame 
 must be your portion unless the avenues of the 
 heart are guarded by a sincere abhorrence of 
 every thing that approaches towards evil. Would 
 you be of the number of those blessed, " who
 
 OF THE MIND. 59 
 
 are pare in heart," you must hate and avoid 
 every thing, both in books and in conversation, 
 that conveys impure ideas, however neatly clothed 
 in decent language, or recommended to your taste 
 by pretended refinements, and tender sentiments 
 by elegance of style, or force of wit and ge- 
 nius. 
 
 I must not now begin to give you my thoughts 
 on the regulation of the affections, as that is a 
 subject of too much consequence to be soon dis- 
 missed I shall dedicate to it my next letter: in 
 the meantime, believe me, 
 
 Your ever affectionate. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 ON THE REGULATION OF THE AFFECTIONS. 
 
 THE attachments of the heart, on which almost 
 all the happiness or misery of life depends, are 
 most interesting objects of our consideration. I 
 shall give my dear niece the observations which 
 experience has enabled me to draw from real life, 
 and not from what others have said or written, 
 however great their authority. 
 
 The first attachment of young hearts is friend- 
 ship the noblest and happiest of affections when 
 real, and built on a solid foundation ; but, oftener 
 pernicious than useful to very young people, be- 
 cause the connexion itself is ill understood, and
 
 GO ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 the subject of it frequently ill chosen. Their first 
 error is that of supposing equality of age, and 
 exact similarity of disposition, indispensably re- 
 quisite in friends; whereas these are circum- 
 stances which in a great measure disqualify them 
 for assisting each other in moral improvements, 
 or supplying each other's defects; they expose 
 them to the same dangers, and incline them to 
 encourage rather than correct each other's fail- 
 iugs. 
 
 The grand cement of this kind of friendship is 
 telling secrets, which they call confidence: and I 
 verily believe that the desire of having secrets to 
 tell has often helped to draw silly girls into very 
 unhappy adventures. If they have no lover or 
 amour to talk of, the too frequent subject of their 
 confidence is betraying the secrets of their fa- 
 milies; or conjuring up fancied hardships to com- 
 plain of against their parents or relations : this 
 odious cabal they call friendship; and fancy 
 themselves dignified by the profession ; but no- 
 thing is more different from the reality, as is seen 
 by observing how generally those early friend- 
 ships drop off, as the parties advance in years 
 and understanding. 
 
 Do not you, my dear, be too ready to profess a 
 friendship with any of your young companions. 
 Love them, and be always ready to serve and 
 oblige them, and to promote all their innocent 
 gratifications: but, be very careful how you enter
 
 OF THE MIND, Cl 
 
 into confidence with girls of your own age. Ra- 
 ther choose some person of riper years and judg- 
 ment, whose good-nature and worthy principles 
 may assure you of her readiness to do you a ser- 
 vice, and of her candour and condescension to- 
 wards you. 
 
 I do not expect that youth should delight to 
 associate with age, or should lay open its feelings 
 and inclinations to such as have almost forgot 
 what they were, or how to make proper allowance 
 for them ; but if you are fortunate enough to meet 
 with a young woman eight or ten years older 
 than yourself, of good sense and good principles, 
 to whom you can make yourself agreeable, it may 
 be one of the happiest circumstances of your life. 
 She will be able to advise and to improve you 
 and your desire of this assistance will recommend 
 you to her taste, as much as her superior abilities 
 will recommend her to you. Such a connexion 
 will afford you more pleasure, as well as more 
 profit, than you can expect from a girl like your- 
 self, equally unprovided with knowledge, pru- 
 dence, or any of those qualifications which are 
 necessary to make society delightful. 
 
 With a friend, such as I have described, of 
 twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, you can 
 hardly pass an hour without finding yourself 
 brought forward in some useful knowledge; with- 
 out learning something of the world or of your
 
 62 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 own nature, some rule of behaviour, or some ne- 
 cessary caution in the conduct of life ; for even in 
 the gayest conversations such useful hints may 
 often be gathered from those whose knowledge 
 and experience are much beyond our own. When- 
 ever you find yourself in real want of advice, or 
 seek the relief of unburdening your heart, such a 
 friend will be able to judge of the feelings you 
 describe, or of the circumstances you are in 
 perhaps from her own experience or, at least, 
 from the knowledge she will have gained of hu- 
 man nature ! she will be able to point out your 
 dangers, and to guide you into the right path or, 
 if she finds herself incapable, she will have the 
 prudence to direct you to some abler adviser. 
 The age I haye mentioned will not prevent her 
 joining in your pleasures, nor will it make her a 
 dull or grave companion; on the contrary, she 
 will have more materials for entertaining conver- 
 sation, and her liveliness will show itself more 
 agreeably than in one of your own age. Yours 
 therefore will be the advantage in such a con- 
 nexion; yet do not despair of being admitted 
 into it, if you have an amiable and docile dispo- 
 sition. Ingenuous youth has many charms for a 
 benevolent mind; and, as nothing is more endear- 
 ing than the exercise of benevolence, the hope of 
 being useful and beneficial to you will make her 
 fond of your company.
 
 OF THE MIND. 63 
 
 I have known some of the sweetest and most 
 delightful connexions between persons of different 
 ages, in which the elder has received the highest 
 gratification from the affection and docility of the 
 younger : whilst the latter has gained the noblest 
 advantages from the conversation and counsels of 
 her wiser friend. Nor has the attachment been 
 without use as well as pleasure to the elder party. 
 She has found that there is no better way of im- 
 proving one's own attainments than by imparting 
 them to another ; and the desire of doing this in 
 the most acceptable way has added a sweetness 
 and gentleness to her manner, and taught her the 
 arts of insinuating instruction, and of winning the 
 heart, whilst she convinces the understanding. 
 
 I hope, my dear, you in your turn will be this 
 useful and engaging friend to your younger com- 
 panions, particularly to your sisters and brothers, 
 who ought ever unless they should prove un- 
 worthy to be your nearest and dearest friends, 
 whose interest and welfare you are bound to de- 
 sire as much as your own. If you are wanting 
 here, do not fancy yourself qualified for friend- 
 ship with others, but, be assured, your heart is 
 too narrow and selfish for so generous an af- 
 fection. 
 
 Remember that the end of true friendship is 
 the good of its object, and the cultivation of vir- 
 tue in two hearts emulous of each other, and de-
 
 04 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 sirous to perpetuate their society beyond the 
 grave. Nothing can be more contrary to this 
 end than that mutual intercourse of flattery which 
 some call friendship. A real friend will venture 
 to displease me, rather than indulge my faulty 
 inclinations, or increase my natural frailties ; she 
 will endeavour to make me acquainted with my- 
 self, and will put me upon guarding the weak 
 parts of my character. 
 
 Friendship, in the highest sense of the word, 
 can only subsist between persons of strict inte- 
 grity and true generosity. Before you fancy 
 yourself possessed of such a treasure, you should 
 examine the value of your own heart, and see how 
 well it is qualified for so sacred a connexion : 
 and then a harder task remains to find out whe- 
 ther the object of your affection is also endued 
 with the same virtuous disposition. Youth and 
 inexperience are ill able to penetrate into charac- 
 ters : the least appearance of good attracts their 
 admiration, and they immediately suppose they 
 have found the object they pursued. 
 
 It is a melancholy consideration, that the judg- 
 ment can only be formed by experience, which 
 generally comes too late for our own use, and is 
 seldom accepted for that of others. I fear it is 
 in vain for me to tell you what dangerous mis- 
 takes I made in the early choice of friends how 
 incapable I then was of finding out such as were
 
 OF THE MIND. 65 
 
 fit for me, and Low little I was acquainted with 
 the true nature of friendship, Avhen I thought my- 
 self most fervently engaged in it! I am sensible 
 all this will hardly persuade you to choose by the 
 eyes of others, or even to suspect that your own 
 may be deceived. Yet, if you should give any 
 weight to my observations, it may not be quite 
 useless to mention to you some of the essential 
 requisites in a friend ; and to exhort you never to 
 choose one in whom they are wanting. 
 
 The first of these is a deep and sincere regard 
 for religion. If your friend draw her principles 
 from the same source with yourself, if the gospel 
 precepts be the rule of her life as well as of yours, 
 you will always know what to expect from her, 
 and have one common standard of right and 
 wrong to refer to, by which to regulate all mate- 
 rial points of conduct. The woman who thinks 
 lightly of sacred things, or who is ever heard to 
 speak of them with levity or indifference, cannot 
 reasonably be expected to pay a more serious 
 regard to the laws of friendship, or to be uni- 
 formly punctual in the performance of any of the 
 duties of society; take no such person to your 
 bosom, however recommended by good-humour, 
 wit, or any other qualification; nor let gaiety or 
 thoughtlessness be deemed an excuse for offend- 
 ing in this important point : a person, habituated 
 to the love and reverence of religion and virtue.
 
 66 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 no more wants the guard of serious consideration 
 to restrain her from speaking disrespectfully of 
 them, than to prevent her speaking ill of her 
 dearest friend. In the liveliest hour of mirth 
 the innocent heart can dictate nothing but what 
 is innocent: it will immediately take alarm at 
 the apprehension of doing wrong, and stop at 
 once in the full career of youthful sprightliness, 
 if reminded of the neglect or transgression of 
 any duty. Watch for these symptoms of inno- 
 cence and goodness, and admit no one to your 
 entire affection, who would ever persuade you to 
 make light of any sort of offence, or who can 
 treat with levity or contempt, any person or thing 
 that bears a relation to religion. 
 
 A due regard to reputation is the next indis- 
 pensable qualification, " Have regard to thy 
 name," saith the wise son of Sirach, " for that 
 will continue with thee above a thousand great 
 treasures of gold." The young person who is 
 careless of blame, and indifferent to the esteem 
 of the wise and prudent part of the world, is not 
 only a most dangerous companion, but gives a 
 certain proof of the want of rectitude in her own 
 mind. Discretion is the guardian of all the vir- 
 tues ; and, when she forsakes them, they cannot 
 long resist the attacks of an enemy. There is a 
 profligacy of spirit in defying the rules of deco- 
 rum, and in despising censure, which seldom ends
 
 OF THE MIND. 67 
 
 otherwise than in extreme corruption and utter 
 ruin. Modesty and prudence are qualities that 
 early display themselves, and are easily dis- 
 cerned : where these do not appear, you should 
 avoid not only friendship but every step towards 
 intimacy, lest your own character should suffer 
 with that of your companion; but, where they 
 shine forth in any eminent degree, you may safely 
 cultivate an acquaintance, in the reasonable hope 
 of finding the solid fruits of virtue beneath such 
 sweet and promising blossoms : should you be 
 disappointed, you will at least have run no risk 
 in the search after them, and may cherish as a 
 creditable acquaintance the person so adorned, 
 though she may not deserve a place in your in- 
 most heart. 
 
 The understanding must next be examined: 
 and this is a point which requires so much un- 
 derstanding to judge of in another that I must 
 earnestly recommend you not to rely entirely on 
 your own, but to take the opinion of your older 
 friends. I do not wish you to seek for bright 
 and uncommon talents, though these are sources 
 of inexhaustible delight and improvement, when 
 found in company with solid judgment and sound 
 principles. Good sense (by which I mean a ca- 
 pacity for reasoning justly and discerning truly), 
 applied to the uses of life, and exercised in dis- 
 tinguishing characters and directing conduct, is
 
 G8 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 alone necessary to an intimate connexion; but, 
 without this, the best intentions, though certain 
 of reward hereafter, may fail of producing their 
 effects in this life ; nor can they singly constitute 
 the character of a useful and valuable friend. 
 On the other hand, the most dazzling genius, or 
 the most engaging wit and humour, can but ill 
 answer the purposes of friendship, without plain 
 common sense and a faculty of just reasoning. 
 
 What can one do with those who will not be 
 answered with reason and who, when you are 
 endeavouring to convince or persuade them by 
 serious arguments, will parry the blow with a 
 witty repartee or a stroke of poignant raillery ? I 
 know not whether such a reply is less provoking 
 than that of an obstinate fool, who answers your 
 strongest reasons with " What you say may be 
 very true, but this is my way of thinking." A 
 small acquaintance with the world will show you 
 instances of the most absurd and foolish conduct 
 in persons of brilliant parts and entertaining facul- 
 ties. But how trifling is the talent of diverting an 
 idle hour, compared with true wisdom and pru- 
 dence, which are perpetually wanted to direct us 
 safely and happily through life, and to make us 
 useful and valuable to others! 
 
 Fancy, I know, will have her share in friend- 
 ship, as well as in love ; you must please as well 
 as serve me, before I can love you as the friend
 
 OF THE MIND. 69 
 
 of my heart. But the faculties that please for an 
 evening may not please for life. The humorous 
 man soon runs through his stock of odd stories, 
 mimicry, and jest; and the wit, by constant re- 
 peated flashes, confounds and tires one's intellect, 
 instead of enlivening it with agreeable surprise : 
 but good sense can neither tire nor wear out; it 
 improves by exercise and increases in value the 
 more it is known : the pleasure it gives in con- 
 versation is lasting and satisfactory, because it is 
 accompanied with improvement ; its worth is pro- 
 portioned to the occasion that calls for it, and 
 rises highest on the most interesting topics; the 
 heart, as well as the understanding, finds its 
 account in it : and our noblest interests are pro- 
 moted by the entertainment we receive from such 
 a companion. 
 
 A good temper is the next qualification; the 
 value of which in a friend you will want no ar- 
 guments to prove, when you are truly convinced 
 of the necessity of it in yourself, which I shall 
 endeavour to show you in a following letter. But, 
 as this is a quality in which you may be deceived, 
 without a long and intimate acquaintance, you 
 must not be hasty in forming connexions, before 
 you have had sufficient opportunity for making 
 observations on this head. A young person, 
 when pleased and enli vened by the presence of her 
 yo,uthful companions, seldom shows ill temper:
 
 70 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 which must be extreme indeed, if it is not at least 
 controlable in such situations. But, you must 
 watch her behaviour to her own family, and the 
 degree of estimation she stands in with them. 
 Observe her manner to servants and inferiors to 
 children and even to animals. See in what man- 
 ner she bears disappointments, contradiction, and 
 restraint; and what degree of vexation she ex- 
 presses on any accident of loss or trouble. If in 
 such little trials she shows a meek, resigned, and 
 cheerful temper, she will probably preserve it on 
 greater occasions ; but if she is impatient and dis- 
 contented under these, how will she support the 
 far greater evils which may await her in her pro- 
 gress through life ? If you should have an op- 
 portunity of seeing her in sickness, observe whe- 
 ther her complaints are of a mild and gentle kind, 
 forced from her by pain, and restrained as much 
 as possible or whether they are expressions of a 
 turbulent, rebellious mind, that hardly submits to 
 the divine hand. See whether she is tractable, 
 considerate, kind, and grateful to those about her : 
 or whether she takes the opportunity, which their 
 compassion gives her, to tyrannize over and tor- 
 ment them. Women are in general very liable 
 to ill health, which must necessarily make them 
 in some measure troublesome and disagreeable to 
 those they live with. They should therefore take 
 the more pains to lighten the burden as much as
 
 OF THE MIND. 71 
 
 possible, by patience and good-humour; and be 
 careful not to let their infirmities break in on the 
 health, freedom, or enjoyment of others, more 
 than is needful and just. Some ladies seem to 
 think it very improper for any person within their 
 reach to enjoy a moment's comfort while they 
 are in pain ; and make no scruple of sacrificing to 
 their own least convenience, whenever they are 
 indisposed, the proper rest, meals, or refresh- 
 ments of their servants, and even sometimes of 
 their husbands and children. But their selfish- 
 ness defeats its own purpose, as it weakens that 
 affection and tender pity which excite the most 
 assiduous services, and afford the most healing 
 balm to the heart of the sufferer. 
 
 I have already expressed my wishes that your 
 chosen friend may be some years older than 
 yourself; but this is an advantage not always to 
 be obtained. Whatever be her age, religion, 
 discretion, good sense, and good temper, must on 
 no account be dispensed with; and till you can 
 find one so qualified, you had better make no 
 closer connexion than that of a mutual inter- 
 course of civilities and good offices. But if it be 
 always your aim to mix with the best company, 
 and to be worthy of such society, you will pro- 
 bably meet with some one among them deserving 
 your affection, to whom you may be equally 
 agreeable.
 
 7*2 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 When I speak of the best company, I do not 
 mean in the common acceptation of the word 
 persons of high rank and fortune but rather the 
 most worthy and sensible. It is, however, very 
 important to a young woman' to be introduced 
 into life, on a respectable footing, and to converse 
 with those whose manners and style of life may 
 polish her behaviour, refine her sentiments, and 
 give her consequence in the eye of the world. 
 Your equals in rank are most proper for intimacy, 
 but to be sometimes amongst your superiors is 
 every way desirable and advantageous, unless 
 it should inspire you with pride, or with the 
 foolish desire of emulating their grandeur and 
 expense. 
 
 Above all things, avoid intimacy with those of 
 low birth and education! nor think it a mark of 
 humility to delight in such society ; for it much 
 oftener proceeds from the meanest kind of pride, 
 that of being the head of the company, and seeing 
 your companions subservient to you. The ser- 
 vile flattery and submission, which usually recom- 
 mend such people, and make amends for their 
 ignorance and want of conversation, will infallibly 
 corrupt your heart, and make all company insipid 
 from whom you cannot expect the same homage. 
 Your manners and faculties, instead of improving, 
 must be continually lowered to suit you to your 
 companions ; "and, believe me, you will find it no
 
 OF THE MIND. 73 
 
 easy matter, to raise them again to a level with 
 those of polite and well-informed people. 
 
 The greatest kindness and civility to inferiors 
 is perfectly consistent with proper caution on this 
 head. Treat them always with affability, and 
 talk to them of their own affairs with an affec- 
 tionate interest; but never make them familiar, 
 nor admit them as associates in your diversions : 
 but, above all, never trust them with your secrets, 
 which is putting yourself entirely in their power, 
 and subjecting yourself to the most shameful 
 slavery. The only reason for making choice of 
 such confidants, must be the certainty that they 
 will not venture to blame or contradict inclina- 
 tions, which you are conscious no true friend 
 would encourage. But this is a meanness into 
 which I trust you are in no danger of falling. I 
 rather hope you will have the laudable ambition 
 of spending your time chiefly with those whose 
 superior talents, education, and politeness, may 
 continually improve you, and whose society will 
 do you honour. However, let no advantage of 
 this kind weigh against the want of principle. I 
 have long ago resolved with David, that, as far 
 as lies in my power, " I will not know a wicked 
 person." Nothing can compensate for the con- 
 tagion of bad example, and for the danger of 
 wearing off by use that abhorrence of evil actions 
 and sentiments which every innocent mind sets 
 
 E
 
 74 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 out with, but which an indiscriminate acquaint- 
 ance in the world soon abates, and at length de- 
 stroys. 
 
 If you are good, and seek friendship only among 
 the good, I trust you will be happy enough to 
 find it. The wise son of Sirach pronounces that 
 you will. " * A faithful friend," saith he, "is the 
 medicine of life; and he that feareth the Lord 
 shall find him. Whoso feareth the Lord shall 
 direct his friendship aright : for as he is, so shall 
 his neighbour be also." In the same admirable 
 book, you will find directions how to choose and 
 preserve a friend. Indeed there is hardly a cir- 
 cumstance in life, concerning which you may not 
 there meet with the best advice imaginable. 
 Caution in making friendships is particularly re- 
 commended. " t Be in peace with many, never- 
 theless have but one counsellor of a thousand. 
 If thou wouldst get a friend, prove him first, and 
 be not hasty to credit him ; for some man is a 
 friend for his own occasion, and will not abide in 
 the day of trouble. And there is a friend, who, 
 being turned to enmity and strife, will discover 
 thy reproach." Again " Some friend is a com- 
 panion at the table, and will not continue in the 
 day of thy affliction ; but in thy prosperity he will 
 be as thyself, and will be bold over thy servants : 
 
 * Ecclns. v. t Ecclus. vi.
 
 OF THE MIND. 75 
 
 if tLou be brought low, he will be against thee, 
 and will hide himself from thy face." Chap. ix. 
 10. " Forsake not an old friend ; for the new is 
 not comparable to him A new friend is as new 
 wine ; when it is old, thou shall drink it with 
 pleasure." 
 
 When you have discreetly chosen, the next 
 point is how to preserve your friend. Numbers 
 complain of the fickleness and ingratitude of those 
 on whom they bestowed their affection ; but few 
 examine, whether what they complain of is not 
 owing to themselves. Affection is not like a 
 portion of freehold land, which once settled upon 
 you is a possession for ever, without further 
 trouble on your part. If you grow less deserving, 
 or less attentive to please, you must expect to 
 see the effects of your remissness, in the gradual 
 decline of your friend's esteem and attachment. 
 Resentment and reproaches will not recall what 
 you have lost; but, on the contrary, will hasten 
 the dissolution of every remaining tie. The best 
 remedy is, to renew your care and assiduity to 
 deserve and cultivate affection, without seeming 
 to have perceived its abatement. Jealousy and 
 distrust are the bane of friendship, whose essence 
 is esteem and affiance. But if jealousy is ex- 
 pressed by unkind upbraidings, or, what is worse, 
 by cold haughty looks and insolent contempt, it 
 can hardly fail, if often repeated, to realize the 
 
 E2
 
 76 0\ THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 misfortune, which at first perhaps was imaginary. 
 Nothing can be more an antidote to afi'ection 
 than such behaviour, or than the cause of it, 
 which, in reality, is nothing but pride ; though 
 the jealous person would fain attribute it to un- 
 common tenderness and delicacy. But tenderness 
 is never so expressed ; it is indeed deeply sensible 
 of unkindness, but it cannot be unkind; it may 
 subsist with anger, but not with contempt; it 
 may be weakened, or even killed, by ingratitude; 
 but it cannot be changed into hatred. Remember 
 always, that if you would be laved, you must be 
 amiable. Habit may indeed, for a time, supply 
 the deficiency of merit; what we have long loved 
 we do not easily cease to love; but habit will 
 at length be conquered by frequent disgusts. "- 
 * \yhoso casteth a stone at the birds, frayeth 
 them away; and he that upbraideth his friend, 
 breaketh friendship. Though thou drewest a 
 sword at thy friend, yet despair not, for there 
 may be a returning to favour. If thou hast 
 opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not, 
 for there may be a reconciliation; excepting for 
 tipbraiding or pride, or disclosing of secrets, or a 
 treacherous wound, for, for these things every 
 friend will depart." 
 
 I have hitherto spoken of a friend in the sin- 
 
 * Cecils, xxii. 20.
 
 OF THE MIND. 77 
 
 gular number, rather in compliance with the no- 
 tions of most writers, who have treated of friend- 
 ship, and who generally suppose it can have but 
 one object, than from my own ideas. The highest 
 kind of friendship is indeed confined to one ; I 
 mean the conjugal which, in its perfection, is so 
 entire and absolute an union, of interest, will, and 
 affection, as no other connexion can stand in 
 competition with. But there are various degrees 
 of friendship, which can admit of several objects, 
 esteemed and delighted in for different qualities 
 and Avhose separate rights are perfectly com- 
 patible. Perhaps it is not possible to love two 
 persons exactly in the same degree : yet, the 
 difference may be so small that none of the par- 
 ties can be certain on which side the scale pre- 
 ponderates. 
 
 It is narrowness of mind to wish to confine 
 your friend's affection solely to yourself; since 
 you are conscious that, however perfect your 
 attachment may be, you cannot possibly supply 
 to her all the blessings she may derive from se- 
 veral friends, who may each love her as well as 
 you do, and may each contribute largely to her 
 happiness. If she depend on you alone for all 
 the comforts and advantages of friendship, your 
 absence or death may leave her desolate or for- 
 lorn. If therefore you prefer her good to your 
 own selfish gratification, you should rather strive 
 to multiply her friends, and be ready to embrace
 
 78 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 in your affections all who love, and deserve her 
 love; this generosity will bring its own reward, 
 by multiplying the sources of your pleasures and 
 supports : and your first friend will love you the 
 more for such an endearing proof of the extent of 
 your affection, which can stretch to receive all 
 >vho are dear to her. But if, on the contrary, 
 every mark of esteem shown to another excite 
 uneasiness or resentment in you, the person you 
 love must soon feel her connexion with you a 
 burden and restraint. She can own no obligation 
 to so selfish an attachment : nor can her tender- 
 ness be increased by that which lessens her 
 esteem. If she be really fickle and ungrateful, 
 she is not worth your reproaches : if not, she 
 must be reasonably offended by such injurious 
 imputations. 
 
 You do not want to be told, that the strictest 
 fidelity is required in friendship: and though 
 possibly instances might be brought, in which 
 even the secret of a friend must be sacrificed to 
 the calls of justice and duty, yet these are rare 
 and doubtful cases, and we may venture to pro- 
 nounce that, " * Whoso discovereth secrets loseth 
 his credit, and shall never find a friend to his 
 mind." " Love thy friend, and be faithful unto 
 him : but if thou betrayest his secrets, follow no 
 more after him. For as a man that hath destroyed 
 
 * Ecclus. xxvii. 16.
 
 OF THE MIND. 79 
 
 his enemy, so hast thou destroyed the love of thy 
 friend. As one that letteth a bird go out of his 
 hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go. Follow 
 no more after him, for he is too far off; he is as 
 a roe escaped out of the snare. As for a wound 
 it ' may be bound up; and after revilings there 
 may be reconcilement; but he that bewrayeth 
 secrets is without hope." 
 
 But in order to reconcile this inviolable fidelity 
 with the duty you owe to yourself or others, you 
 must carefully guard against being made the re- 
 pository of such secrets as are not fit to be kept. 
 If your friend should engage in any unlawful pur- 
 suit if, for instance, she should intend to carry 
 on an affair of love, unknown to her parents 
 you must first use your utmost endeavours to 
 dissuade her from it ; and if she persist, positively 
 and solemnly declare against being a confidant in 
 such a case. Suffer her not to speak to you on 
 the subject, and warn her to forbear acquainting 
 you with any step she may propose to take to- 
 wards a marriage unsanctified by parental appro- 
 bation. Tell her, you would think it your duty 
 to apprise her parents of the danger into which 
 she was throwing herself. However unkindly 
 she may take this at the time, she will certainly 
 esteem and love you the more for it, whenever 
 she recovers a sense of her duty, or experiences 
 the sad effects of swerving from it.
 
 80 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 There is another case, which I should not 
 choose to suppose possible, in addressing myself 
 to so young a person, was it not that too many 
 instances of it have of late been exposed to public 
 animadversion : I mean the case of a married 
 woman, who encourages or tolerates the addresses 
 of a lov er. May no such person be ever called a 
 friend of yours ! but if ever one whom, when 
 innocent, you had loved, should fall into so fatal 
 an error, 1 can only say that, after proper remon- 
 strances, you must immediately withdraw from all 
 intimacy and confidence with her. Nor let the 
 absurd pretence of innocent intentions, in such 
 circumstances, prevail with you to lend your 
 countenance, a moment, to disgraceful conduct. 
 There cannot be innocence, in any degree of in- 
 dulgence to unlawful passion. The sacred obli- 
 gations of marriage are very ill understood by 
 the wife, who can think herself innocent, while 
 she parleys with a lover, or with love and who 
 does not shut her heart and ears against the most 
 distant approaches of either. A virtuous wife 
 tbough she should be so unhappy as not to be 
 secured, by having her strongest affections fixed 
 on her husband will never admit an idea of any 
 other man, in the light of a lover ; but if such an 
 idea should unawares intrude into her miud, she 
 would instantly stifle it, before it grew strong 
 enough to give her much uneasiness. Not to the
 
 OF THE MIND. 81 
 
 most intimate friend hardly to her own soul 
 would she venture to confess a weakness she 
 would so sincerely abhor. Whenever therefore 
 such infidelity of heart is made a subject of con- 
 fidence, depend upon it the corruption has spread 
 far, and has been faultily indulged. Enter not 
 into her counsels: show her the danger she is in, 
 and then withdraw yourself from it, whilst you 
 are yet unsullied by contagion. 
 
 It has been supposed a duty of friendship to 
 lay open every thought and every feeling of the 
 heart to our friend. But I have just mentioned 
 a case, in which this is not only unnecessary but 
 wrong. A disgraceful inclination, which we re- 
 solve to conquer, should be concealed from every 
 body ; and is more easily subdued when denied 
 the indulgence of talking of its object; and, I 
 think, there may be other instances, in which it 
 would be most prudent to keep our thoughts con- 
 cealed even from our dearest friend. Some things 
 I would communicate to one friend, and not to 
 another, whom perhaps I loved better, because I 
 might know that my first friend was not so well 
 qualified as the other to counsel me on that par- 
 ticular subject; a natural bias on her mind, some 
 prevailing opinion, or some connexion with per- 
 sons concerned, might make her an improper 
 confidant with regard to one particular, though 
 qualified to be so on all other occasions. 
 
 3
 
 82 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 This confidence of friendship is indeed one of 
 its sweetest pleasures and greatest advantages. 
 The human heart often stands in need of some 
 kind and faithful partner of its cares, in whom it 
 may repose all its weaknesses, and with whom 
 it is sure of finding the tenderest sympathy. Far 
 be it from nie to shut up the heart with cold dis- 
 trust and rigid caution, or to adopt the odious 
 maxim, that " we should live with a friend, as if 
 he were one day to become an enemy." But we 
 must not wholly abandon prudence in any sort of 
 connexion ; since, when every guard is laid aside, 
 our unbounded openness may injure others as 
 well as ourselves. Secrets entrusted to us must 
 be sacredly kept even from our nearest friend ; 
 for we have no right to dispose of the secrets of 
 others. 
 
 If there is danger in making an improper choice 
 of friends, my dear child, how much more fatal 
 would it be to mistake in a stronger kind of at- 
 tachment in that which leads to an irrevocable 
 engagement for life ! yet so much more is the un- 
 derstanding blinded, when once the fancy is cap- 
 tivated, that it seems a desperate undertaking, to 
 convince a girl in love, that she has mistaken the 
 character of the man she prefers. 
 
 If the passions would wait for the decision of 
 the judgment, and if a young woman could have 
 the same opportunities of examining into the real
 
 OF THE MIND. 83 
 
 character of her lover as into that of a female 
 candidate for her friendship, the same rules might 
 direct you in the choice of both; for marriage 
 being the highest state of friendship, the qualities 
 requisite in a friend are still more important in a 
 husband. But young women know so little of 
 the world, especially of the other sex, and such 
 pains are usually taken to deceive them, that they 
 are every way unqualified to choose for them- 
 selves upon their own subject. Many a heartach 
 shall I feel for you, my sweet girl, if I live a 
 few years longer! Since, not only all your hap- 
 piness in this world, but your advancement in 
 religion and virtue, or your apostacy from every 
 good principle you have been taught, will pro- 
 bably depend on the companion you fix to fur 
 life. Happy will it be for you if you are wise 
 and modest enough to withdraw from temptation, 
 and preserve your heart free and open to receive 
 the just recommendation of your parents: further 
 than a recommendation, I dare say they will never 
 go, in an affair which, though it should be begun 
 by them, ought never to be proceeded in without 
 your free concurrence. 
 
 Whatever romantic notions you may hear or 
 read of, depend upon it, those matches are the 
 happiest which are made on rational grounds 
 on suitableness of character, degree, and fortune 
 on mutual esteem, and the prospect of a real
 
 84 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 and permanent friendship. Far be it from me to 
 advise you to marry where you do not love ; a 
 mercenary marriage isadetestahle prostitution: 
 But, on the other hand, an union formed upon 
 mere personal liking, without the requisite foun- 
 dation of esteem, without the sanction of parental 
 approbation, and, consequently, without the bless- 
 ing of God, can be productive of nothing but 
 misery and shame. The passion, to which every 
 consideration of duty and prudence is sacrificed, 
 instead of supplying the loss of all other advan- 
 tages, will soon itself be changed into mutual 
 distrust repentance reproaches and, finally, 
 perhaps into hatred. The distresses it brings 
 will be void of every consolation; you will have 
 disgusted the friends who should be your support 
 debased yourself in the eyes of the world 
 and, what is much worse, in your own eyes, and 
 even hi those of your husband: above all, you 
 will have offended that God, who alone can 
 shield you from calamity. 
 
 From an act like this, I trust, your duty and 
 gratitude to your kind parents the first of duties 
 next to that we owe to God, and inseparably 
 connected with it will effectually preserve you. 
 But most young people think they have fulfilled 
 their duty, if they refrain from actually marrying 
 against prohibition ; they suffer their affections, 
 and even perhaps their word of honour, to be
 
 OF THE MIND. 85 
 
 engaged, without consulting their parents; yet 
 satisfy themselves with resolving not to marry 
 without their consent : not considering that, be- 
 sides the wretched, useless, uncomfortable state 
 they plunge themselves into, when they contract 
 an hopeless engagement, they must likewise in- 
 volve a. parent in the miserable dilemma of either 
 giving a forced consent against his judgment, or 
 of seeing his beloved child pine away her prime 
 of life in fruitless anxiety seeing her accuse him 
 of tyranny, because he restrains her from certain 
 ruin seeing her affections alienated from her 
 family and all her thoughts engrossed by one 
 object, to the destruction of her health and spirits, 
 and of all improvements and occupations. What 
 a cruel alternative for parents, whose happiness is 
 bound up with that of their child ! The time to 
 consult them is before you have given a lover the 
 least encouragement; nor ought you to listen a 
 moment to the man who would wish you to keep 
 his addresses secret; since he thereby shows 
 himself conscious that they are not fit to be en- 
 couraged. 
 
 But perhaps I have said enough on this sub- 
 ject at present; though, if ever advice on such a 
 topic can be of use, it must be before passion has 
 got possession of the heart, and silenced both 
 reason and principle. Fix therefore in your mind, 
 as deeply as possible, those rules of duty and pru-
 
 86 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 dence, which now seem reasonable to you, that 
 they may be at hand in the hour of trial, and 
 save you from the miseries, in which strong af- 
 fections, unguided by discretion, involve so many 
 of our sex. 
 
 If you love virtue sincerely, you will be inca- 
 pable of loving an openly vicious character. But, 
 alas! your jnnocent heart may be easily en- 
 snared by an artful one and from this danger 
 nothing can secure you but the experience of 
 those, to whose guidance God has entrusted you: 
 may you be wise enough to make use of it! So 
 will you have the fairest chance of attaining the 
 best blessings this world can afford, in a faithful 
 and virtuous union with a worthy man, who may 
 direct your steps in safety and honour through 
 this life, and partake with you the rewards of 
 virtue in that which is to come. But, if this 
 happy lot should be denied you, do not be afraid 
 of a single life. A worthy woman is never des- 
 titute of valuable friends, who in a great measure 
 supply to her the want of nearer connexions. 
 She can never be slighted or disesteemed, while 
 her good temper and benevolence render her a 
 blessing to her companions. Nay, she must be 
 honoured by all persons of sense and virtue for 
 preferring the single state to an union unworthy 
 of her. The calamities of an unhappy marriage 
 are so much greater than can befall a single per-
 
 The thin* to consult them is Twfore you tare giv 
 a. lover the leart eDonragement. _ 
 
 fTIAKD -WE5TAU..K.A. EiTSH/J'ED BT CHABEES SOTJ.S ; 
 'PUBLISHED BT JOIET .s-HABPE, PICCADILLT: 
 FEB. la. 1S22.
 
 OF THE MIND. 87 
 
 son, that the unmarried woman may find abun- 
 dant argument to be contented with her condition,, 
 when pointed out to her by Providence. Whe- 
 ther married or single, if your first care is to 
 please God, you will undoubtedly be a blesssed 
 creature ; " For that which he delights in must 
 be happy" How earnestly I wish you this hap- 
 piness, you can never know, unless you could 
 read the heart of 
 
 Your truly affectionate. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TEMPER. 
 
 THE next great point of importance to your future 
 happiness, ray dear, is what your parents have, 
 doubtless, been continually attentive to from your 
 infancy, as it is impossible to undertake it too 
 early I mean the due regulation of your Tem- 
 per. Though you are in great measure indebted 
 to their forming hands for whatever is good in it, 
 you are sensible, no doubt, as every human crea- 
 ture is, of propensities to some infirmity of tem- 
 per, which it must now be your own care to cor- 
 rect and to subdue : otherwise the pains that 
 have hitherto been taken with you. may all be- 
 come fruitless; and, when you are your own
 
 88 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 mistress, you may relapse into those faults, which 
 were originally in your nature, and which will 
 require to be diligently watched and kept under, 
 through the whole course of your life. 
 
 If you consider, that the constant tenor of the 
 gospel precepts is to promote love, peace, and 
 good will amongst men, you will not doubt that 
 the cultivation of an amiable disposition is a great 
 part of your religious duty; since nothing leads 
 more directly to the breach of charity, and to the 
 injury and molestation of our fellow-creatures, 
 than the indulgence of an ill temper. Do not 
 therefore think lightly of the offences you may 
 commit, for want of a due command over it, or 
 suppose yourself responsible for them to your 
 fellow-creatures only; but, he assured, you must 
 give a strict account of them all to the Supreme 
 Governor of the world, who has made tills a 
 great part of your appointed trial upon earth. 
 
 A woman, bred up in a religious manner, 
 placed above the reach of want, and out of the 
 way of sordid or scandalous vices, can have but 
 few temptations to the flagrant breach of the di- 
 vine laws. It particularly concerns her therefore 
 to understand them in their full import, and to 
 consider how far she trespasses against them, by 
 such actions as appear trivial when compared 
 with murder, adultery, and theft, but which be- 
 come of very great importance, by being fre-
 
 OF THE MIND. 89 
 
 quently repeated, and occurring in the daily 
 transactions of life. 
 
 The principal virtues or vices of a woman must 
 be of a private and domestic kind. Within the 
 circle of her own family and dependents lies her 
 sphere of action the scene of almost all those 
 tasks and trials, which must determine her cha- 
 racter, and her fate, here and hereafter. Reflect, 
 for a moment, how much the happiness of her 
 husband, children, and servants, must depend on 
 her temper, and you will see that the greatest 
 good, or evil, which she ever may have in her 
 power to do, may arise from her correcting or in- 
 dulging its infirmities. 
 
 Though I wish the principle of duty towards 
 God to be your ruling motive in the exercise of 
 every virtue, yet, as human nature stands in need 
 of all possible helps, let us not forget how essen- 
 tial it is to present happiness, and to the enjoy- 
 ment of this life, to cultivate such a temper as is 
 likewise indispensably requisite to the attainment 
 of higher felicity in the life to come. The great- 
 est outward blessings cannot afford enjoyment to 
 a mind ruffled and uneasy within itself. A fit of 
 ill humour will spoil the finest entertainment, and 
 is as real a torment as the most painful disease. 
 Another unavoidable consequence of ill temper, 
 is the dislike and aversion of all who are witnesses 
 to it, and, perhaps, the deep and lasting resent-
 
 90 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 ment of those who suffer from its effects. We 
 all, from social or self-love, earnestly desire the 
 esteem and affection of our fellow-creatures ; and 
 indeed our condition makes them so necessary to 
 us, that the wretch who has forfeited them must 
 feel desolate and undone, deprived of all the best 
 enjoyments and comforts the world can afford, 
 and given up to his inward misery, unpitied and 
 scorned. But this can never be the fate of a 
 good-natured person: whatever faults he may 
 have, they will generally he treated with lenity ; 
 he will find an advocate in every human heart ; his 
 errors will be ever lamented rather than abhorred ; 
 and his virtues will be viewed in the fairest point 
 of light. His good humour, without the help of 
 great talents or acquirements, will make his com- 
 pany preferable to that of the most brilliant ge- 
 nius, in whom this quality is wanting ; in short, it 
 is almost impossible that you can be sincerely 
 beloved by any body, without this engaging pro- 
 perty, whatever other excellences you may pos- 
 sess ; but, with it, you will scarcely fail of finding 
 some friends and favourers, even though you 
 should be destitute of almost every other ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 Perhaps you will say, " All this is very true ; 
 hut our tempers are not in our own power we 
 are made with different dispositions, and, if mine 
 is not amiable, it is rather my unhappiness than
 
 OF THE MIND. 91 
 
 my fault." This, my dear, is commonly said by 
 those who will not take the trouble to correct 
 themselves. Yet, be assured, it is a delusion, 
 and will not avail in our justification before him, 
 " who knoweth whereof we are made," and of 
 what we are capable. It is true, we are not all 
 equally happy in our dispositions; but human 
 virtue consists in cherishing and cultivating every 
 good inclination, and in checking and subduing 
 every propensity to evil. If you had been born 
 with a bad temper, it might have been made a 
 good one, at least with regard to its outward 
 effects, by education, reason, and principle: and, 
 though you are so happy as to have a good one 
 while young, do not suppose it will always con- 
 tinue so, if you neglect to maintain a proper com- 
 mand over it. Power, sickness, disappointments, 
 or worldly cares, may corrupt and embitter the 
 finest disposition, if they are not counteracted by 
 reason and religion. 
 
 It is observed, that every temper is inclined, 
 in some degree, either to passion, peevishness, 
 or obstinacy. Many are so unfortunate as to be 
 inclined to each of the three in turn ; it is neces- 
 sary therefore to watch the bent of our nature, 
 and to apply the remedies proper for the infirmity 
 to which we are most liable. With regard to the 
 first, it is so injurious to society, and so odious in 
 itself, especially in the female character, that one
 
 92 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 would think shame alone would be sufficient to 
 preserve a young woman from giving way to it : 
 for it is as unbecoming her character to be be- 
 trayed into ill behaviour by passion as by intoxi- 
 cation, and she ought to be ashamed of the one 
 as much as of the other. Gentleness, meekness, 
 and patience, are her peculiar distinctions, and an 
 enraged woman is one of the most disgusting 
 sights in nature. 
 
 It is plain, from experience, that the most pas- 
 sionate people can command themselves, when 
 they have a motive sufficiently strong such as 
 the presence of those they fear, or to whom they 
 particularly desire to recommend themselves ; it 
 is therefore no excuse to persons, whom you have 
 injured by unkind reproaches, and unjust asper- 
 sions, to tell them you were in a passion : the al- 
 lowing yourself to speak to them in a passion is 
 a proof of an insolent disrespect, which the mean- 
 est of your fellow-creatures would have a right 
 to resent. When once you find yourself heated 
 so far as to desire to say what you know would 
 be provoking and wounding to another, you should 
 immediately resolve either to be silent, or to quit 
 the room, rather than give utterance to any thing 
 dictated by so bad an inclination. Be assured, 
 you are then unfit to reason or to reprove, or to 
 hear reason from others. It is therefore your 
 part to retire from such an occasion of sin ; and
 
 OF THE MIND. 93 
 
 wait till you are cool, before you presume to 
 judge of what has passed. By accustoming 
 yourself thus to conquer and disappoint your 
 anger, you will, by degrees, find it grow weak 
 and manageable, so as to leave your reason at 
 liberty. You will be able to restrain your tongue 
 from evil, and your looks and gestures from all 
 expressions of violence and ill will. Pride, which 
 produces so many evils in the human mind, is the 
 great source of passion. Whoever cultivates in 
 himself a proper humility, a due sense of his own 
 faults and insufficiencies, and a due respect for 
 others, will find but small temptation to violent 
 or unreasonable anger. 
 
 In the case of real injuries, which justify and 
 call for resentment, there is a noble and generous 
 kind of anger, a proper and necessary part of our 
 nature, which has nothing in it sinful or degrading. 
 I would not wish you insensible to this; for the 
 person who feels not an injury must be incapable 
 of being properly affected by benefits. With 
 those, who treat you ill without provocation, you 
 ought to maintain your own dignity. But, in 
 order to do this, whilst you show a sense of their 
 improper behaviour, you must preserve calmness, 
 and even good breeding and thereby convince 
 them of the impotence as well as injustice of their 
 malice. You must also weigh every circumstance 
 with candour and charity, and consider whether
 
 94 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 your showing the resentment deserved may not 
 produce ill consequences to innocent persons as 
 is almost always the case in family quarrels and 
 whether it may not occasion the breach of some 
 duty, or necessary connexion, to which you ought 
 to sacrifice even your just resentments. Above 
 all things, take care that a particular offence to 
 you does not make you unjust to the general 
 character of the offending person. Generous 
 anger does not preclude esteem for whatever is 
 really estimable, nor does it destroy good will to 
 the person of its object: it even inspires the de- 
 sire of overcoming him by benefits, and wishes 
 to inflict no other punishment than the regret of 
 having injured one who deserved his kindness : 
 it is always placable, and ready to be reconciled, 
 as soon as the offender is convinced of his error; 
 nor can any subsequent injury provoke it to recur 
 to past disobligalions, which had been once for- 
 given. But it is perhaps unnecessary to give 
 rules for this case. The consciousness of injured 
 innocence naturally produces dignity, and usually 
 prevents excess of anger. Our passion is most 
 unruly, when we are conscious of blame, and 
 when we apprehend that \ve have laid ourselves 
 open to contempt. Where we know we have 
 been wrong, the least injustice in the degree of 
 blame imputed to us, excites our bitterest resent- 
 ment; but, where we know ourselves faultless,
 
 OF THE MIND. 95 
 
 the sharpest accusation excites pity or contempt, 
 rather than rage. Whenever therefore you feel 
 yourself very angry, suspect yourself to be in the 
 wrong, and resolve to stand the decision of your 
 own conscience before you cast upon another the 
 punishment, which is perhaps due to yourself. 
 This self-examination will at least give you time 
 to cool, and, if you are just, will dispose you to 
 balance your own wrong with that of your anta- 
 gonist, and to settle the account with him on 
 equal terms. 
 
 Peevishness, though not so violent and fatal in 
 its immediate effects, is still more unamiable than 
 passion, and, if possible, more destructive of hap- 
 piness, inasmuch as it operates more continually- 
 Though the fretful man injures us less, he disgusts 
 us more than the passionate one because he be- 
 trays a low and little mind, intent on trifles, and 
 engrossed by a paltry self-love, which knows not 
 how to bear the very apprehension of any incon- 
 venience. It is self-love then, which we must 
 combat, when we find ourselves assaulted by this 
 infirmity ; and, by voluntarily enduring inconve- 
 niences, we shall habituate ourselves to bear them 
 with ease and good humour, when occasioned by 
 others. Perhaps this is the best kind of religious 
 mortification, as the chief end of denying our- 
 selves any innocent indulgences must be to ac- 
 quire a habit of command over our passions and
 
 96 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 inclinations, particularly such as are likely to 
 lead us into evil. Another method of conquering 
 this enemy, is to abstract our minds from that 
 attention to trifling circumstances, which usually 
 creates this uneasiness. Those who are engaged 
 in high and important pursuits are very little af- 
 fected by small inconveniences. The man whose 
 head is full of studious thought, or whose heart 
 is full of care, will eat his dinner without knowing 
 whether it was well or ill dressed, or whether it 
 was served punctually at the hour or not: and 
 though absence from the common things of life is 
 far from desirable especially in a woman yet 
 too minute and anxious attention to them sel- 
 dom fails to produce a teasing, mean, and fretful 
 disposition. I would therefore wish your mind 
 to have always some object in pursuit worthy of 
 it, that it may not be engrossed by such as are in 
 themselves scarce worth a moment's anxiety. It 
 is chiefly in the decline of life, when amusements 
 fail, and when the more importunate passions 
 subside, that this infirmity is observed to grow 
 upon us and perhaps it will seldom fail to do 
 so, unless carefully watched, and counteracted 
 by reason. We must then endeavour to substi- 
 tute some pursuits in the place of those, which 
 can only engage us in the beginning of our course. 
 The pursuit of glory and happiness in another 
 life, by every means of improving and exalting
 
 OF THE MIND. 97 
 
 our own minds, becomes more and more interest- 
 ing to us, the qearer we draw to the end of all 
 sublunary enjoyments. Reading, reflection, ra- 
 tional conversation, and, above all, conversing 
 with God, by prayer and meditation, may pre- 
 serve us from taking that anxious interest in the 
 little comforts and conveniences of our remaining 
 days, which usually gives birth to so much fret- 
 fulness in old people. But though the aged and 
 infirm are most liable to this evil and they alone 
 are to be pitied for it yet we sometimes see the 
 young, the healthy, and those who enjoy most 
 outward blessings, inexcusably guilty of it. The 
 smallest disappointment in pleasure, or difficulty 
 in the most trifling employment, will put wilful 
 young people out of temper, and their very amuse- 
 ments frequently become sources of vexation and 
 peevishness. How often have I seen a girl, pre- 
 paring for a ball, or for some other public appear- 
 ance unable to satisfy her own vanity fret over 
 every ornament she puts on, quarrel with her 
 maid, with her clothes, her hair: and, growing 
 still more unlovely as she grew more cross, be 
 ready to fight with her lookingglass for not 
 making her as handsome as she wished to be! 
 She did not consider that the traces of this ill 
 humour on her countenance would be a greater 
 disadvantage to her appearance than any defect 
 in her dress or even than the plainest features 
 
 F
 
 98 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 enlivened by joy and good humour. There is a 
 degree of resignation necessary even to the en- 
 joyment of pleasure; we must be ready and will- 
 ing to give up some part of what we could wish 
 for, before we can enjoy that which is indulged to 
 us. I have no doubt that she, who frets all the 
 while she is dressing for an assembly, will suffer 
 still greater uneasiness when she is there. The 
 same craving restless vanity will there endure a 
 thousand mortifications, which, in the midst of 
 seeming pleasure, will secretly corrode her heart; 
 whilst the meek and humble generally find more 
 -gratification than they expected, and return home 
 pleased and enlivened from every scene of amuse- 
 ment, though they could have stayed away from 
 it with perfect ease and contentment. 
 
 Sullenness; or obstinacy, is perhaps a worse 
 fault of temper than either of the former and, if 
 indulged, may end in the most fatal extremes of 
 stubborn melancholy, malice, and revenge. The 
 resentment which, instead of being expressed, is 
 nursed in secret, and continually aggravated by 
 the imagination, will, in time, become the ruling 
 passion: and then, how horrible must be his 
 case, whose kind and pleasurable affections are 
 all swallowed up by the tormenting as well as 
 detestable sentiments of hatred and revenge! 
 " * Admonish thy friend, peradventure he hath 
 
 * Ecclns. xix. 13.
 
 to satisfy ~h.ee own vanity- 
 
 JJR.V.V.V BY JJIl-HiBB \\'ST.MX.B_A.. fi-YO-K AVKD py a 
 
 yui!fj^H>n^ BY J(>nN .-;ITAH?T-' 
 
 1C 18ZZ.
 
 OF THE MIND. 99 
 
 not done it: or, if he hath, that he do it no more. 
 Admonish thy friend, peradventure he hath not 
 said it: or, if he hath, that he speak it not again." 
 Brood not over a resentment which perhaps 
 was at first ill grounded, and which is undoubt- 
 edly heightened by a heated imagination. But, 
 when you have first subdued your own temper, 
 so as to be able to speak calmly, reasonably, and 
 kindly, then expostulate with the person you sup- 
 pose to be in fault hear what she has to say : 
 and either reconcile yourself to her, or quiet your 
 mind under the injury by the principle of Chris- 
 tian charity. But if it should appear that you 
 yourself have been most to blame, or if you have 
 been in an error, acknowledge it fairly and hand- 
 somely; if you feel any reluctance to do so, be 
 certain that it arises from pride, to conquer which 
 is an absolute duty. " A soft answer turneth 
 away wrath," and a generous confession often- 
 times more than atones for the fault which requires 
 it. Truth and justice demand that we should ac- 
 knowledge conviction, as soon as we feel it, and 
 not maintain an erroneous opinion, or justify a 
 wrong conduct, merely from the false shame of 
 confessing our past ignorance. A false shame it 
 undoubtedly is, and as impolitic as unjust, since 
 your error is already seen by those who endea- 
 vour to set you right; but your conviction, and 
 the candour and generosity of owning it freely, 
 
 ' F 2
 
 100 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 may still be an honour to you, and would greatly 
 recommend you to the person with whom you 
 disputed. With a disposition strongly inclihed 
 to sullenness or obstinacy, this must be a very 
 painful exertion; and to make a perfect conquest 
 over yourself at once may perhaps appear im- 
 practicable, whilst the zeal of self-justification, 
 and the abhorrence of blame, are strong upon 
 you. But, if you are so unhappy as to yield to 
 your infirmity, at one time, do not let this discou- 
 rage you from renewingyour efforts. Your mind 
 will gain strength from the contest, and your in- 
 ternal enemy will by degrees be forced to give 
 ground. Be not afraid to revive the subject, as 
 soon as you find yourself able to subdue your 
 temper: and then frankly lay open the conflict 
 you sustained at the time ; by this you will make 
 all the amends in your power for your fault, and 
 will certainly change the disgust you have given 
 into pity at least if not admiration. Nothing is 
 more endearing than such a confession and you 
 will find such a satisfaction in your own consci- 
 ousness, and the renewed tenderness and esteem 
 you will gain from the person concerned, that 
 your task for the future will be made more easy, 
 and your reluctance to be convinced will on 
 every occasion grow less and less. 
 
 The love of truth, and a real desire of im- 
 provement, ought to be the only motives of argu-
 
 OF THE MIND. 101 
 
 mentation; and, where these are sincere, no dif- 
 ficulty can be made of embracing the truth, as 
 soon as it is perceived. But, in fact, people 
 oftener dispute from vanity and pride, which 
 makes it a grievous mortification to allow that 
 we are the wiser for what we have heard from 
 another. To receive advice, reproof, and instruc- 
 tion, properly, is the surest sign of a sincere and 
 humble heart and shows a greatness of mind, 
 which commands our respect and reverence, 
 while it appears so willingly to yield to us the 
 superiority. 
 
 Observe, notwithstanding, that I do not wish 
 you to hear of your faults without pain: such an 
 indifference would afford small hopes of amend- 
 ment. Shame and remorse are the first steps to 
 true repentance ; yet we should be willing to bear 
 this pain, and thankful to the kind hand that in- 
 flicts it for our good. Nor must we, by sullen 
 silence under it, leave our kind physician in doubt, 
 whether the operation has taken effect or not, or 
 whether it has not added another malady, instead 
 of curing the first. You must consider, that 
 those who tell you of your faults, if they do it 
 from motives of kindness, and not of malice, 
 exert their friendship in a painful office, which 
 must have cost them as great an effort as it can 
 be to you to acknowledge the service; and, if 
 jou refuse this encouragement, you cannot expect
 
 102 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 that any one, who is not absolutely obliged to it 
 by duty, will a second time undertake such an ill 
 requited trouble. What a loss would this be to 
 yourself! how difficult would be our progress 
 to that degree of perfection, which is necessary 
 to our happiness, was it not for the assistance we 
 receive from each other! this certainly is one of 
 the means of grace held out to us by our mer- 
 ciful Judge, and, if we reject it, we are answer- 
 able for all the miscarriages we may fall into for 
 want of it. 
 
 I know not, whether that strange caprice, that 
 inequality of taste and behaviour, so commonly 
 attributed to our sex, may be properly called a 
 fault of temper as it seems not to be connected 
 with, or arising from, our animal frame, but to be 
 rather the fruit of our own self-indulgence, de- 
 generating by degrees into such a wantonness of 
 will as knows not how to please itself. When, 
 instead of regulating our actions by reason and 
 principle, we suffer ourselves to be guided by 
 every slight and momentary impulse of inclina- 
 tion, we shall, doubtless, appear so variable and 
 inconstant, that nobody can guess, by our be- 
 haviour to-day, what may be expected from us 
 to-morrow; nor can we ourselves tell whether 
 what we delighted in a week ago will now afford 
 us the least degree of pleasure. It is in vain for 
 others to attempt to please us we cannot please
 
 OF THE MIND. 103 
 
 ourselves, though all we could wish for waits our 
 choice: and thus does a capricious woman be- 
 come " sick of herself, through very selfishness:" 
 and, when this is the case, it is easy to judge how 
 sick others must be of her, and how contemptible 
 and disgusting she must appear. This wretched 
 state is the usual consequence of power and flat- 
 tery. May my dear child never meet with the 
 temptation of that excessive and ill judged indul- 
 gence from a husband, which she has happily 
 escaped from her parents, and which seldom fails 
 to reduce women to the miserable condition of a 
 humoured child, always unhappy from having no- 
 body's will to study but its own! The insolence 
 of such demands for yourself, and such disregard 
 to the choice and inclinations of others, can sel- 
 dom fail to make you as many enemies as there 
 are persons obliged to bear with your humours ; 
 whilst a compliant, reasonable, and contented 
 disposition, would render you happy in yourself, 
 and beloved by all your companions particularly 
 by those who live constantly with you; and, of 
 what consequence this is to your happiness, a 
 moment's reflection will convince you. Family 
 friendships are the friendships made for us, if I 
 may so speak, by God himself. With the kindest 
 intentions, he has knit the bonds of family love, 
 by indispensable duties; and wretched are they 
 who have burst them asunder by violence and
 
 104 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 ill will, or worn them out by constant little dis- 
 obligalions, and by the want of that attention to 
 please, which the presence of a stranger always 
 inspires, but which is so often shamefully neg- 
 lected towards those M'hom it is most our duty 
 and interest to please. May you, my dear, be 
 wise enough to see that every faculty of entertain- 
 ment, every engaging qualification which you 
 possess, is exerted to the best advantage for 
 those whose love is of most importance to you 
 for those who live under the same roof, and with 
 whom you are connected for life, either by the 
 ties of blood, or by the still more sacred obliga- 
 tions of a voluntary engagement. 
 
 To make you the delight and darling of your 
 family, something more is required than barely to 
 be exempt from ill temper and troublesome hu- 
 mours. The sincere and genuine smiles of com- 
 placency and love must adorn your countenance. 
 That ready compliance, that alertness to assist 
 and oblige, which demonstrates true affection, 
 must animate your behaviour, and endear your 
 most common action. Politeness must accom- 
 pany your greatest familiarities, and restrain you 
 from every thing that is really offensive, or which 
 can give a moment's unnecessary pain. Conver- 
 sation, which is so apt to grow dull and insipid in 
 families, nay, in some to be almost wholly laid 
 aside, must be cultivated with the frankness and
 
 OF THE MIND. 105 
 
 openness of friendship, and by the mutual com- 
 munication of whatever may conduce to the im- 
 provement or innocent entertainment of each 
 other. 
 
 Reading, whether apart or in common, will 
 furnish useful and pleasing subjects; and the 
 sprightliness of youth will naturally inspire harm- 
 less mirth and native humour, if encouraged by a 
 mutual desire of diverting each other, and making 
 the hours pass agreeably in your own house: 
 every amusement that offers will be heightened 
 by the participation of these dear companions, and 
 by talking over every incident together and every 
 object of pleasure. If you have any acquired 
 talent of entertainment, such as music, painting, 
 or the like, your own family are those before 
 whom you should most wish .to excel, and for 
 whom you should always be ready to exert your- 
 self; not suffering the accomplishments which 
 you have gained, perhaps by their means, and at 
 their expense, to lie dormant, till the arrival of 
 a stranger gives you spirit in the performance. 
 Where this last is the case, you may be sure 
 vanity is the only motive of the exertion : a 
 stranger will praise you more : but how little sen- 
 sibility has that heart which is not more gratified 
 by the silent pleasure painted on the countenance 
 of a partial parent, or of an affectionate brother, 
 than by the empty compliment of a visitor, who 
 
 F 3
 
 10G ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 is perhaps inwardly more disposed to criticise and 
 ridicule than to admire you! 
 
 I have been longer in this letter than I in- 
 tended, yet it is with difficulty I can quit the sub- 
 ject, because I think it is seldom sufficiently in- 
 sisted on, either in books or in sermons and 
 because there are many persons weak enough to 
 believe themselves in a safe and innocent course 
 of life, whilst they are daily harassing every body 
 about them by their vexatious humours. But 
 you will, I hope, constantly bear in mind, that 
 you can never treat a fellow-creature unkindly, 
 without offending the kind Creator and Father of 
 all and that you can no way render yourself so 
 acceptable to him as by studying to promote the 
 happiness of others, in every instance, small as 
 well as great. The favour of God, and the love 
 of your companions, will surely be deemed re- 
 wards sufficient to animate your most fervent en- 
 deavours; yet this is not all: the disposition of 
 mind, which I would recommend, is its own re- 
 ward, and is in itself essential to happiness. Cul- 
 tivate it therefore, my dear child, with your 
 utmost diligence and watch the symptoms of 
 ill temper, as they rise, with a firm resolution to 
 conquer them, before they are even perceived by 
 any other person. In every such inward conflict, 
 call upon your Maker, to assist the feeble nature 
 he hath given you and sacrifice to Him every
 
 OF THE MIND. 107 
 
 feeling that would tempt you to disobedience : so 
 will you at length attain the true Christian meek- 
 ness, which is blessed in the sight of God and 
 man : " which has the promise of this life as well 
 as of that which is to come." Then will you pity, 
 in others, those infirmities which you have con- 
 quered in yourself; and will think yourself as 
 much bound to assist, by your patience and gen- 
 tleness, those who are so unhappy as to be under 
 the dominion of evil passions, as you are to impart 
 a share of your riches to the poor and miserable. 
 
 Adieu, my dearest. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 ON ECONOMY. 
 
 MY DEAREST NIECE, 
 
 ECONOMY is so important a part of a woman's 
 character, so necessary to her own happiness, and 
 so essential to her performing properly the duties 
 of a wife and of a mother, that it ought to have 
 the precedence of all other accomplishments, and 
 take its rank next to the first duties of life. It is, 
 moreover, an art as well as a virtue and many 
 well meaning persons, from ignorance, or from 
 inconsideration, are strangely deficient in it. In- 
 deed it is too often wholly neglected in a young
 
 108 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 woman's education and she is sent from her 
 father's house to govern a family, without the 
 least degree of that knowledge which should 
 qualify her for it: this is the source of much in- 
 convenience; for though experience and attention 
 may supply, by degrees, the want of instruction, 
 yet this requires time the family in the mean 
 time may get into habits, which are very difficult 
 to alter; and, what is worse, the husband's opi- 
 nion of his wife's incapacity may be fixed too 
 strongly to suffer him ever to think justly of her 
 gradual improvements. I would therefore earn- 
 estly advise you to make use of every opportunity 
 you can find, for the laying in some store of know- 
 ledge on this subject, before you are called upon 
 to the practice; by observing what passes before 
 you by consulting prudent and experienced mis- 
 tresses of families and by entering in a book a 
 memorandum of every new piece of intelligence 
 you acquire; you may afterwards compare these 
 with more mature observations, and you can 
 make additions and corrections, as you see occa- 
 sion. I hope it will not be long before your mo- 
 ther intrusts you with some part, at least, of the 
 management of your father's house. Whilst you 
 are under her eye, your ignorance cannot do 
 much harm, though the relief to her at first may 
 not be near^so considerable as the benefit to 
 yourself.
 
 OF THE MIND. 109 
 
 Economy consists of so many branches, some 
 of which descend to such minuteness, that it is 
 impossible for me in writing to give you par- 
 ticular directions. The rude outlines may be 
 perhaps described, and I shall be happy if I can 
 furnish you with any hint that may hereafter be 
 usefully employed. 
 
 The first and greatest point is to lay out your 
 general plan of living in a just proportion to your 
 fortune and rank : if these two will not coincide, 
 the last must certainly give way ; for, if you have 
 right principles, you cannot fail of being wretched 
 under the sense of the injustice as well as danger 
 of spending beyond your income, and your dis- 
 tress will be continually increasing. No mortifi- 
 cations, which you can suffer from retrenching in 
 your appearance, can be comparable to this un- 
 happiness. If you would enjoy the real comforts 
 .of affluence, you should lay your plan consider- 
 ably within your income ; not for the pleasure of 
 amassing wealth though, where there is a grow- 
 ing family, it is an absolute duty to lay by some- 
 thing every year but to provide for contin- 
 gencies, and to have the power of indulging your 
 choice in the disposal of the overplus either in 
 innocent pleasures, or to increase your funds for 
 charity and generosity, which are in fact the true 
 funds of pleasure. In some circumstances in- 
 deed this would not be prudent: there are pro-
 
 110 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 fessions in which a man's success greatly depends 
 on his making some figure, where the bare sus- 
 picion of poverty would bring on the reality. If 
 by marriage you should be placed in such a si- 
 tuation, it will be your duty to exert all your skill 
 in the management of your income : yet even in 
 this case, I would not strain to the utmost for 
 appearance, but would choose my models among 
 the most prudent and moderate of my own class ; 
 and be contented with slower advancement, for 
 the sake of security and peace of mind. 
 
 A. contrary conduct is the ruin of many; and, 
 in general, the wives of men in such professions 
 might live in a more retired and frugal manner 
 than they do, without any ill consequence, if they 
 did not make the scheme of advancing the suc- 
 cess of their husbands an excuse to themselves 
 for the indulgence of their own vanity and am- 
 bition. 
 
 Perhaps it may be said, that the settling the 
 general scheme of expenses is seldom the wife's 
 province, and that many men do not choose even 
 to acquaint her with the real state of their affairs. 
 Where this is the case, a woman can be answer- 
 able for no more than is intrusted to her. But I 
 think it a very ill sign, for one or both of the 
 parties, where there is such a want of openness 
 in what equally concerns them. As I trust you 
 will deserve the confidence of your husband,
 
 OF THE MIND. Ill 
 
 so I hope you will be allowed free consulta- 
 tion with him on your mutual interest; and 
 I believe there are few men, who would not 
 hearken to reason on their own affairs, when 
 they see a wife ready and desirous to give up 
 her share of vanities and indulgences, and only 
 earnest to promote the common good of the fa- 
 mily. 
 
 In order to settle your plan, it will be necessary 
 to make a pretty exact calculation: and if, from 
 this time, you accustom yourself to calculations, 
 in all the little expenses intrusted to you, you 
 will grow expert and ready at them, and be able 
 to guess very nearly, where certainty cannot be 
 obtained. Many articles of expense are regular 
 and fixed; these may be valued exactly; and, 
 by consulting with experienced persons, you may 
 calculate nearly the amount of others : any ma- 
 terial article of consumption, in a family of any 
 given number and circumstances, may be esti- 
 mated pretty nearly. Your own expenses of 
 clothes and pocket-money should be settled and 
 circumscribed, that you may be sure not to exceed 
 the just proportion. I think it an admirable 
 method to appropriate such a portion of your in- 
 come, as you judge proper to bestow in charity, 
 to be sacredly kepi for that purpose, and no 
 longer considered as your own. By which means 
 you will avoid the temptation of giving less than
 
 112 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 you ought, through selfishness, or more than you 
 ought, through good-nature or weakness. If your 
 circumstances allow of it, you might set apart 
 another fund for acts of liberality or friendship, 
 which do not come under the head of charity. 
 The having such funds ready at hand makes it 
 easy and pleasant to give ; and when acts of 
 bounty are performed without effort, they are 
 generally done more kindly and effectually. If 
 you are obliged in conscience to lay up for a fa- 
 mily, the same method of an appropriated fund 
 for saving will be of excellent use, as it will pre- 
 vent that continual and often ineffectual anxiety, 
 which a general desire of saving, without having 
 fixed the limits, is sure to create. 
 
 Regularity of payments and accounts is essen- 
 tial to Economy : your housekeeping should 
 be settled at least once a week, and all the bills 
 paid: all other tradesmen should be paid, at 
 furthest, once a year. Indeed I think it more 
 advantageous to pay oftener : but, if you make 
 them trust you longer, they must either charge 
 proportionably higher, or be losers by your cus- 
 tom. Numbers of them fail, every year, from 
 the cruel cause of being obliged to give their cus- 
 tomers so much longer credit than the dealers, 
 from whom they take their goods, will allow to 
 them. If people of fortune considered this, they 
 would not defer their payments, from mere neg-
 
 OF THE MIND. 113 
 
 ligeuce, as they often do, to the ruin of whole 
 families. 
 
 You must endeavour to acquire skill in pur- 
 chasing : in order to this, you should begin now 
 to attend to the prices of things, and take every 
 proper opportunity of learning the real value of 
 every thing, as well as the marks whereby you 
 are to distinguish the good from the bad. 
 
 In your table, as in your dress, and in all other 
 things, I wish you to aim at propriety and neat- 
 ness, or, if your slate demand it, elegance, rather 
 than superfluous figure. To go beyond your 
 sphere, either in dress or in the appearance of 
 your table, indicates a greater fault in your cha- 
 racter than to be too much within it. It is im- 
 possible to enter into the minutice of the table : 
 good sense and observation on the best models 
 must form your taste, and a due regard to what 
 you can afford must restrain it. 
 
 Ladies who are fond of needlework generally 
 choose to consider that as a principal part of 
 good housewifery: and though I cannot look 
 upon it as of equal importance with the due re- 
 gulation of a family, yet, in a middling rank, and 
 with a moderate fortune, it is a necessary part of 
 a woman's duty, and a considerable article in ex- 
 pense is saved by it. Many young ladies make 
 almost every thing they wear; by which means 
 they can make a genteel figure at a small ex-
 
 114 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 pense. This, in your station, is the most profit- 
 able and desirable kind of work : and, as much 
 of it as you can do, consistently with a due atten- 
 tion to your health, to the improvement of your 
 mind, and to the discharge of other duties, I 
 should think highly commendable. But, as I do 
 not wish you to impose upon the world by your 
 appearance, I should be contented to see you 
 worse dressed, rather than see your whole time 
 employed in preparations for it, or any of those 
 hours given to it, which are needful to make your 
 body strong and active by exercise, or your mind 
 rational by reading. Absolute idleness is inex- 
 cusable in a woman, because the needle is always 
 at hand for those intervals in which she cannot 
 be otherwise employed. If you are industrious, 
 and if you keep good hours, you will find time for 
 all your proper employments. Early rising, and a 
 good disposition of time, is essential to Economy. 
 The necessary orders, and examinations into 
 household affairs, should be dispatched, as soon 
 in the day, and as privately as possible, that they 
 may not interrupt your husband or guests, or 
 break in upon conversation, or reading, in the re- 
 mainder of the day. If you defer any thing that 
 is necessary, you may be tempted by company, 
 or by unforeseen avocations, to forget or to neg- 
 lect it; hurry and irregularity will ensue, with 
 expensive expedients to supply the defect.
 
 OF THE MIND. 115 
 
 There is hi many people, and particularly in 
 youth, a strange aversion to regularity a desire 
 to delay what ought to be done immediately, in 
 order to do something else, which might as well 
 be done afterwards. Be assured it is of more 
 consequence to you than you can conceive, to get 
 the better of this idle procrastinating spirit, and 
 to acquire habits of constancy and steadiness, 
 even in the most trifling matters : without them 
 there can be no regularity, or consistency of action 
 or character no dependence on your best inten- 
 tions, which a sudden humour may tempt you to 
 lay aside for a time, and which a thousand un- 
 foreseen accidents will afterwards render it more 
 and more difficult to execute : no one can say what 
 important consequences may follow a trivial neg- 
 lect of this kind. For example I have known 
 one of these procrastinators disoblige, and gra- 
 dually lose very valuable friends, by delaying to 
 write to them so long, that, having no good ex- 
 cuse to offer, she could not get courage enough 
 to write at all, and dropped their correspondence 
 entirely. 
 
 The neatness and order of your house and fur- 
 niture is a part of Economy, which will greatly 
 affect your appearance and character, and to 
 which you must yourself give attention, since it 
 is not possible even for the rich and great to rely 
 wholly on the care of servants, in such points,
 
 116 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 without their being often neglected. The more 
 magnificently a house is furnished, the more one 
 is disgusted with that air of confusion, which 
 often prevails where attention is wanting in the 
 owner. But, on the other hand, there is a kind 
 of neatness, which gives a lady the air of a house- 
 maid, and makes her excessively troublesome to 
 every body, and particularly to her husband: in 
 this, as in all other branches of Economy, I wish 
 you to avoid all parade and bustle. Those ladies, 
 who pique themselves on the particular excellence 
 of neatness, are very apt to forget that the decent 
 order of the house should be designed to promote 
 the convenience and pleasure of those who are to 
 be in it; and that, if it be converted into a cause 
 of trouble and constraint, their husbands and 
 guests would be happier without it. The love of 
 fame, that universal passion, will sometimes show 
 itself on strangely insignificant subjects; and a 
 person who acts for praise only will always go 
 beyond the mark in every thing. The best sign 
 of a house being well governed is, that nobody's 
 attention is called to any of the little affairs of it, 
 but all goes on so well of course, that one is not 
 led to make remarks upon any thing, nor to ob- 
 serve any extraordinary effort that produces the 
 general result of ease and elegance, which pre- 
 vails throughout. 
 
 Domestic Economy, and the credit and happi-
 
 OF THE MIND. 117 
 
 ness of a family, depend so much on the choice 
 and proper regulation of servants, that it must be 
 considered as an essential part both of prudence 
 and duty. Those who keep a great number of 
 them have a heavy charge on their consciences, 
 and ought to think themselves in some measure 
 responsible for the morals and happiness of so 
 many of their fellow creatures, designed like them- 
 selves for immortality. Indeed the cares of do- 
 mestic management are by no means lighter to 
 persons of high rank and fortune, if they perform 
 their duty, than to those of a retired station. It 
 is with a family as with a commonwealth, the 
 more numerous and luxurious it becomes, the 
 more difficult it is to govern it properly. Though 
 the great are placed above the little attentions 
 and employments, to which a private gentlewo- 
 man must dedicate much of her time, they have 
 a larger and more important sphere of action, in 
 which, if they are indolent and neglectful, the 
 whole government of their house and fortune 
 must fall into irregularity. Whatever number of 
 deputies they may employ to overlook their affairs, 
 they must themselves overlook those deputies, 
 and be ultimately answerable for the conduct of 
 the whole. The characters of those servants, 
 M ho are intrusted with power over the rest, can- 
 not be too nicely inquired into ; and the mistress 
 of the family must be ever watchful over their
 
 118 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 conduct at the same time that she must care- 
 fully avoid every appearance of suspicion, which, 
 whilst it wounds and hinders a worthy servant, 
 only excites the artifice and cunning of an unjust 
 one. 
 
 None, who pretend to be friends of religion and 
 virtue, should ever keep a domestic, however ex- 
 pert in business, whom they know to be guilty of 
 immorality. How unbecoming a serious cha- 
 racter is it, to say of such an one, " He is a bad 
 man, but a good servant!" What a preference 
 does it show of private convenience to the inte- 
 rests of society, which demand that vice should 
 be constantly discountenanced, especially in every 
 one's own household; and that the sober, honest, 
 and industrious should be sure of finding encou- 
 ragement and reward, in the houses of those who 
 maintain respectable characters! Such persons 
 should be invariably strict and peremptory with 
 regard to the behaviour of their servants, in every 
 thing which concerns the general plan of domestic 
 government but should by no means be severe 
 on small faults, since nothing so much weakens 
 authority as frequent chiding. Whilst they re- 
 quire precise obedience to their rules, they must 
 prove by their general conduct, that these rules 
 are the effect, not of humour but of reason. It is 
 wonderful that those, who are careful to conceal 
 their ill temper from strangers, should be indiffe-
 
 OF THE MIND. 119 
 
 rent how peevish and even contemptibly capri- 
 cious they appear before their servants, on whom 
 their good name so much depends, and from whom 
 they can hope for no real respect, when their 
 weakness is so apparent. When once a servant 
 can say " I cannot do any thing to please my 
 mistress to-day" all authority is lost. 
 
 Those who continually change their servants, 
 and complain of perpetual ill usage, have good 
 reason to believe that the fault is in themselves, 
 and that they do not know how to govern. Few 
 indeed possess the skill to unite authority with 
 kindness, or are capable of that steady and uni- 
 formly reasonable conduct, which alone can main- 
 tain true dignity, and command a willing and at- 
 tentive obedience. Let us not forget that human 
 nature is the same in all stations. If you can 
 convince your servants that you have a generous 
 and considerate regard to their health, their inte- 
 rest, and their reasonable gratifications that you 
 impose no commands but what are fit and right, 
 nor ever reprove but with justice and temper 
 why should you imagine that they will be insen- 
 sible to the good they receive, or whence suppose 
 them incapable of esteeming and prizing such a 
 mistress? I could never, without indignation, 
 hear it said that " servants have no gratitude" 
 as if the condition of servitude excluded the vir- 
 tues of humanity! The truth is, masters and 
 mistresses have seldom any real claim to grati-
 
 120 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 tude. They think highly of what they bestow, 
 and little of the service they receive; they con- 
 sider only their own convenience, and seldom re- 
 flect on the kind of life their servants pass with 
 them: they do not ask themselves, whether it is 
 such an one as is consistent with the preservation 
 of their health, their morals, their leisure for reli- 
 gious duties, or with a proper share of the enjoy- 
 ments and comforts of life. The dissipated man- 
 ners, which now so generally prevail, perpetual 
 absence from home, and attendance on assemblies 
 or at public places, are, in all these respects, per- 
 nicious to the whole household and to the men 
 servants absolutely ruinous. Their only resource, 
 iu the tedious hours of waiting, whilst their mas- 
 ters and ladies are engaged in diversions, is to 
 find out something of the same kind for them- 
 selves. Thus they are led into gaming, drinking, 
 extravagance, and bad company and thus, by a 
 natural progression, they become distressed and 
 dishonest. That attachment and affiance, which 
 ought to subsist between the dependant and his 
 protector, are destroyed. The master looks on 
 his attendants as thieves and traitors, whilst they 
 consider him as one whose money only gives him 
 power over them and who uses that power with- 
 out the least regard to their welfare. 
 
 " *The fool saith I have no friends I have 
 
 * Ecclas. xx. 16.
 
 OF THE MIND. 121 
 
 no thanks for all my good deeds, and they that 
 eat my bread speak evil of me." Thus foolishly 
 do those complain who choose their servants, as 
 well as their friends, without discretion, or who 
 treat them in a manner that no worthy person will 
 bear. 
 
 I have been often shocked at the want of po- 
 liteness, by which masters and mistresses some- 
 times provoke impertinence from their servants : 
 a gentleman, who would resent to death an impu- 
 tation of falsehood, from his equal, will not scru- 
 ple, without proof, to accuse his servant of it in 
 the grossest terms. I have heard the most inso- 
 lent contempt of the whole class expressed at a 
 table, whilst five or six of them attended behind 
 the chairs, who the company seemed to think 
 were without senses, without understanding, or 
 the natural feelings of resentment : these are 
 cruel injuries, and will be retorted in some way 
 or other. 
 
 If you, my dear, live to be at the head of a 
 family, I hope you will not only avoid all inju- 
 rious treatment of your domestics, but behave 
 to them with that courtesy and good breeding 
 which will heighten their respect as well as their 
 affection. If, on any occasion, they do more than 
 you have a right to require, give them, at least, 
 the reward of seeing that they have obliged you. 
 If, in your service, they have any hardship to en- 
 
 G
 
 122 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 dure, let them see that you are concerned for the 
 necessity of imposing it. When they are sick, 
 give them all the attention and every comfort in 
 your power, with a free heart and kind counte- 
 nance; "*not blemishing thy good deeds, not 
 using uncomfortable words, when thou givest any 
 thing. Is not a word better than a gift? but 
 both are with a gracious man A fool will up- 
 braid churlishly, and a gift of the envious con- 
 sumeth the eyes." 
 
 Whilst you thus endear yourself to all your 
 servants, you must ever carefully avoid making a 
 favourite of any ; unjust distinctions, and weak 
 indulgences to one, will of course excite envy 
 and hatred in the rest. Your favourite may 
 establish whatever abuses she pleases; none will 
 dare to complain against her, and you will be 
 kept ignorant of her ill practices, but will feel 
 the effects of them, by finding all your other ser- 
 vants uneasy in their places, and, perhaps, by 
 being obliged continually to change them. 
 
 When they have spent a reasonable time in 
 your service, and have behaved commendably, 
 you ought to prefer them, if it is in your power, 
 or to recommend them to a better provision. The 
 hope of this keeps alive attention and gratitude, 
 and is the proper support of industry. Like a 
 parent, you should keep in view their establish- 
 
 .* Ecclus. xviii.
 
 OF THE MIND. 123 
 
 ment in some way that may preserve their old 
 age from indigence; and to this end, you should 
 endeavour to inspire them with care to lay up 
 part of their gains, and constantly discourage in 
 them all vanity in dress, and extravagance in idle 
 expenses. That you are bound to promote their 
 eternal as well as temporal welfare, you cannot 
 doubt, since, next to your children, they are your 
 nearest dependants. You ought therefore to in- 
 struct them as far as you are able, furnish them 
 with good books suited to their capacity, and see 
 that they attend the public worship of God : and 
 you must take care so to pass the sabbath-day as 
 to allow them time, on that day at least, for read- 
 ing and reflection at home, as well as for attend- 
 ance at church. Though this is part of your re- 
 ligious duty, I mention it here, because it is also 
 a part of family management: for the same rea- 
 son I shall here take occasion earnestly to re- 
 commend family prayers, which are useful to all, 
 but more particularly to servants who, being 
 constantly employed, are led to the neglect of 
 private prayer and whose ignorance makes it 
 very difficult for them to frame devotions for 
 themselves, or to choose proper helps, amidst the 
 numerous books of superstitious or enthusiastic 
 nonsense, which are printed for that purpose. 
 Even, in a political light, this practice is eli- 
 gible, since the idea which it will give them of 
 
 G 2
 
 124 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 your regularity and decency, if not counteracted 
 by other parts of your conduct, will probably in- 
 crease their respect for you, and will be some re- 
 straint at least on their outward behaviour, though 
 it should fail of that inward influence which in 
 general may be hoped from it. 
 
 The prudent distribution of your charitable gifts 
 may not improperly be considered as a branch 
 of Economy, since the great duty of alms-giving 
 cannot be truly fulfilled without a diligent atten- 
 tion so to manage the sums you can spare as to 
 produce the most real good to your fellow-crea- 
 tures. Many are willing to give money, who 
 will not bestow their time and consideration, and 
 who therefore often hurt the community when they 
 mean to do good to individuals. The larger are 
 your funds, the stronger is the call upon you to 
 exert your industry and care in disposing of them 
 properly. It seems impossible to give rules for 
 this, as every case is attended with a variety of 
 circumstances, which must all be considered. In 
 general, charity is most useful when it is appro- 
 priated to animate the industry of the young, to 
 procure some ease and comfort to old age, and 
 to support in sickness those whose daily labour 
 is their only maintenance in health. They, who 
 are fallen into indigence, from circumstances of 
 ease and plenty, and in whom education and 
 habit have added a thousand wants to those of
 
 OF THE MIND. 125 
 
 nature, mast be considered with the tenderest 
 sympathy by every feeling heart. It is needless 
 to say that to such the bare support of existence 
 is scarcely a benefit, and that the delicacy and 
 liberality of the manner, in which relief is here 
 offered, can alone make it a real act of kindness. 
 In great families, the waste of provisions, suffi- 
 cient for the support of many poor ones, is a 
 shocking abuse of the gifts of Providence : nor 
 should any lady think it beneath her to study the 
 best means of preventing it, and of employing 
 the refuse of luxury in the relief of the poor. 
 Even the smallest families may give some assist- 
 ance in this way, if care is taken that nothing be 
 wasted. 
 
 I am sensible, my dear child, that very little 
 more can be gathered from what I have said on 
 Economy than the general importance of it, 
 which cannot be too much impressed on your 
 mind, since the natural turn of young people is to 
 neglect and even to despise it; not distinguishing 
 it from parsimony and narrowness of spirit. But, 
 be assured, my dear, there can be no true gene- 
 rosity without it; and that the most enlarged and 
 liberal mind will find itself not debased but en- 
 nobled by it. Nothing is more common than to 
 see the same person, whose want of Economy is 
 ruining his family, consumed with regret and 
 vexation at the effect of his profusion; and, by
 
 126 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 endeavouring to save, in such trifles as will not 
 amount to twenty pounds in a year, that which 
 he wastes by hundreds, incur the character and 
 suffer the anxieties of a miser, together with the 
 misfortunes of a prodigal. A rational plan of 
 expense will save you from all these corroding 
 cares, and will give you the full and liberal en- 
 joyment of what you spend. An air of ease, of 
 hospitality, and frankness will reign in your 
 house, which will make it pleasant to your friends 
 and to yourself. " Better is a morsel of bread," 
 where this is found, than the most elaborate 
 entertainment, with that air of constraint and 
 anxiety, which often betrays the grudging heart 
 through all the disguises of civility. 
 
 That you, my dear, may unite in yourself the 
 admirable virtues of Generosity and Economy, 
 which will be the grace and crown of all your 
 attainments, is the earnest wish of 
 
 Your ever affectionate. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 ON POLITENESS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 
 
 WHILST you labour to enrich your mind with 
 the essential virtues of Christianity with piety, 
 benevolence, meekness, humility, integrity, and 
 purity and to make yourself useful in domestic
 
 OF THE MIND. 127 
 
 management, I would not have my dear child 
 neglect to pursue those graces and acquirements 
 which may set her virtue in the most advan- 
 tageous light, adorn her manners, and enlarge 
 her understanding : and this, not in the spirit of 
 vanity, but in the innocent and laudable view of 
 rendering herself more useful and pleasing to her 
 fellow-creatures, and consequently more accept- 
 able to God. Politeness of behaviour, and the 
 attainment of such branches of knowledge and 
 such arts and accomplishments as are proper to 
 your sex, capacity, and station, will prove so va- 
 luable to yourself through life, and will make you 
 so desirable a companion, that the neglect of them 
 may reasonably be deemed a neglect of duty ; 
 since it is undoubtedly our duty to cultivate the 
 powers intrusted to us, and to render ourselves 
 as perfect as we can. 
 
 You must have often observed that nothing is 
 so strong a recommendation on a slight acquaint- 
 ance as politeness; nor does it lose its value by 
 time or intimacy, when preserved, as it ought to 
 be, in the nearest connexions and strictest friend- 
 ships. This delightful qualification so univer- 
 sally admired and respected, but so rarely pos- 
 sessed in any eminent degree cannot but be a 
 considerable object of my wishes for you: nor 
 should either of us be discouraged by the appre- 
 hension, that neither I am capable of teaching,
 
 128 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 nor you of learning it, in perfection since what- 
 ever degree you attain will amply reward our 
 pains. 
 
 To be perfectly polite, one must have great 
 presence of mind, with a delicate and quick sense 
 of propriety ; or, in other words, one should be 
 able to form an instantaneous judgment of what 
 is fittest to be said or done, on every occasion as 
 it offers. I have known one or two persons, who 
 seemed to owe this advantage to nature only, and 
 to have the peculiar happiness of being born, as 
 it were, with another sense, by which they had 
 an immediate perception of what was proper and 
 improper, in cases absolutely new to them : but 
 this is the lot of very few : in general, propriety 
 of behaviour must be the fruit of instruction, of 
 observation, and reasoning; and is to be culti- 
 vated and improved like any other branch of 
 knowledge or virtue. A good temper is a neces- 
 sary groundwork of it; and if to this is added 
 a good understanding, applied industriously to 
 this purpose, I think it can hardly fail of attain- 
 ing all that is essential in it. Particular modes 
 and ceremonies of behaviour vary in different 
 countries, and even in different parts of the same 
 town. These can only be learned by observation 
 on the manners of those who are best skilled in 
 them, and by keeping what is called good com- 
 pany. But the principles of politeness are the
 
 OF THE MIND. 12D 
 
 same in all places. Wherever there are human 
 beings, it must be impolite to hurt the temper or 
 to shock the passions of those you converse with. 
 It must every where be good breeding, to set 
 your companions in the most advantageous point 
 of light, by giving each the opportunity of dis- 
 playing their most agreeable talents, and by "care- 
 fully avoiding all occasions of exposing their de- 
 fects : to exert your own endeavours to please, 
 and to amuse, but not to outshine them ; to give 
 each their due share of attention and notice not 
 engrossing the talk when others are desirous to 
 speak, nor suffering the conversation to flag, for 
 want of introducing something to continue or re- 
 new a subject ; not to push your advantages in 
 argument so far that your antagonist cannot re- 
 treat with honour: in short,. it is an universal 
 duty in society to consider others more than 
 yourself " in honour preferring one another." 
 Christianity, in this rule, gives the best lesson of 
 politeness ; yet judgment must be used in the ap- 
 plication of it : our humility must not be strained 
 so far as to distress those we mean to honour; 
 we must not quit our proper rank, nor force others 
 to treat us improperly; or to accept, what we 
 mean as an advantage, against their wills. We 
 .should be perfectly easy, and make others so if 
 we can. But this happy ease belongs perhaps to 
 the last stage of perfection in politeness, and can 
 
 G3
 
 130 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 hardly be attained till we are conscious that we 
 know the rules of behaviour, and are not likely 
 to offend against propriety. In a very young 
 person, who has seen little or nothing of the 
 world, this cannot be expected, but a real desire 
 of obliging, and a respectful attention, will in a 
 great measure supply the want of knowledge, 
 and will make every one ready to overlook those 
 deficiencies which are owing only to the want of 
 opportunity to observe the manners of polite 
 company. You ought not therefore to he too 
 much depressed by the consciousness of such de- 
 ficiencies, but endeavour to get above the shame 
 of wanting what you have not had the means of 
 acquiring. Nothing heightens this false shame, 
 and the awkwardness it occasions, so much as 
 vanity. The humble mind, contented to be known 
 for what it is, and unembarrassed by the dread 
 of betraying its ignorance, is present to itself, and 
 can command the use of understanding, which 
 will generally preserve you from any great inde- 
 corum, and will secure you from that ridicule 
 which is the punishment of affectation rather than 
 of ignorance. People of sense will never despise 
 you whilst you act naturally; but, the moment 
 you attempt to step out of your own character, 
 you make yourself an object of just ridicule. 
 
 Many are of opinion that a very young woman 
 can hardly be too silent and reserved in company;
 
 OF THE MIND. 131 
 
 and, certainly, nothing is so disgusting in youth as 
 pertness and self-conceit. But, modesty should 
 be distinguished from an awkward bashfulness, 
 and silence should he only enjoined when it 
 would be forward and impertinent to talk. There 
 are many proper opportunities for a girl, young 
 even as you are, to speak in company, with ad- 
 vantage to herself; and, if she does it without 
 conceit or affectation, she will always be more 
 pleasing than those who sit like statues, without 
 sense or motion. When you are silent, your 
 looks should show your attention and presence to 
 the company; a respectful and earnest attention 
 is the most delicate kind of praise, and never fails 
 to gratify and please. You must appear to be 
 interested in what is said, and endeavour to im- 
 prove yourself by it : if you understand the sub- 
 ject well enough to ask now and then a pertinent 
 question, or if you can mention any circumstances 
 relating to it that have not before been taken 
 notice of, this will be an agreeable way of show- 
 ing your willingness to make a part of the com- 
 pany; and will probably draw a particular ap- 
 plication to you from some one or other. Then, 
 when called upon, you must not draw back as 
 unwilling to answer, nor confine yourself merely 
 to yes, or no, as is the custom of many young 
 persons, who become intolerable burdens to the 
 mistress of the house, whilst she strives in vain
 
 132 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 to draw them into notice, and to give them some 
 share in the conversation. 
 
 In your father's house it is certainly proper for 
 you to pay civility to the guests, and to talk to 
 them in your turn with modesty and respect if 
 they encourage you to it. Young ladies of near 
 your own age, who visit there, fall of course to 
 your share to entertain. But, whilst you exert 
 yourself to make their visit agreeable to them, 
 you must not forget what is due to the elder part 
 of the company, nor, by whispering and laughing 
 apart, give them cause to suspect, what is too 
 often true, that they themselves are the subjects 
 of your mirth. It is so shocking an outrage 
 against society, to talk of or laugh at any person 
 in his own presence, that one would think it could 
 only be committed by the vulgar. I am sorry 
 however to say that I have too often observed it 
 amongst young ladies, who little deserved that 
 title whilst they indulged their overflowing spirits 
 in defiance of decency and good-nature. The 
 desire of laughing will make such inconsiderate 
 young persons find a subject of ridicule, even in 
 the most respectable character. Old age, which 
 if not disgraced by vice or affectation has the 
 justest title to reverence, will be mimicked and 
 insulted; and even personal defects and infirmi- 
 ties will too often excite contempt and abuse in- 
 stead of compassion. If you have ever been led
 
 OF THE MIND. 133 
 
 into such an action, my dear girl, call it seriously 
 to mind when you are confessing your faults to 
 Almighty God: and be fully persuaded that it 
 is not one of the least which you have to repent 
 of. You will be immediately convinced of this, 
 by comparing it with the great role of justice, 
 that of doing to all as you would they should do 
 unto you. No person living is insensible to the 
 injury of contempt, nor is there any talent so in- 
 vidious, or so certain to create ill will, as that of 
 ridicule. The natural effects of years, which all 
 hope to attain, and the in6rmities of the body, 
 which none can prevent, are surely of all others 
 the most improper objects of mirth. There are 
 subjects enough that are innocent, and on which 
 you may freely indulge the vivacity of your spi- 
 rits ; for I would not condemn you to perpetual 
 seriousness on the contrary, I delight in a joy- 
 ous temper, at all ages, and particularly at yours. 
 Delicate and good-natured raillery amongst equal 
 friends, if pointed only against such trifling errors 
 as the owner can hardly join to laugh at, or such 
 qualities as they do not pique themselves upon, is 
 both agreeable and useful; but then it must be 
 offered in perfect kindness and sincere good hu- 
 mour; if tinctured with the least degree of malice, 
 its sting becomes venomous and detestable. The 
 person rallied should have liberty and ability to
 
 134 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 return the jest, which must be dropped upon the 
 first appearance of its affecting the temper. 
 
 You will wonder, perhaps, when I tell you 
 that there are some characters in the world' 
 which I would freely allow you to laugh at 
 though not in their presence. Extravagant va- 
 nity, and affectation, are the natural subjects of 
 ridicule, which is their proper punishment. 
 When you see old people, instead of maintain- 
 ing the dignity of their years, struggling against 
 nature to conceal them, affecting the graces, and 
 imitating the follies of youth or a young person 
 assuming the importance and solemnity of old 
 age I do not wish you to be insensible to the 
 ridicule of such absurd deviations from truth and 
 nature. You are welcome to laugh when you 
 leave the company, provided you lay up a lesson 
 for yourself at the same time, and remember, 
 that unless you improve your mind whilst you 
 are young, you also will be an insignificant fool 
 in old age and that, if you are presuming and 
 arrogant in youth, you are as ridiculous as an old 
 woman with a headdress of flowers. 
 
 In a young lady's behaviour towards gentle- 
 men, great delicacy is certainly required : yet, I 
 believe, women oftener err from too great a con- 
 sciousness of the supposed views of men than 
 from inattention to those views, or want of cau-
 
 OF THE MIND. 135 
 
 tion against them. You are at present rather too 
 young to want rules on this subject ; but I could 
 wish that you should behave almost in the same 
 manner three years hence as now ; and retain the 
 simplicity and innocence of childhood, with the 
 sense and dignity of riper years. Men of loose 
 morals or impertinent behaviour must always be 
 avoided : or, if at any time you are obliged to be 
 in their company, you must keep them at a dis- 
 tance by cold civility. But, with regard to those 
 gentlemen whom your parents think it proper for 
 you to converse with, and who give no offence 
 by their own manners, to them I wish you to 
 behave with the same frankness and simplicity as 
 if they were of your own sex. If you have na- 
 tural modesty, you will never transgress its bounds, 
 whilst you converse with a man, as one rational 
 creature with another, without any view to the 
 possibility of a lover or admirer, where nothing 
 of that kind is professed ; where it is, I hope 
 you will ever be equally a stranger to coquetry 
 and prudery; and that you will be able to dis- 
 tinguish the effects of real esteem and love from 
 idle gallantry and unmeaning fine speeches : the 
 slighter notice you take of these last, the better; 
 and that, rather with good humoured contempt 
 than with affected gravity: but, the first must be 
 treated with seriousness and well bred sincerity; 
 not giving the least encouragement which you
 
 136 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 do not mean, nor assuming airs of contempt 
 where it is not deserved. But this belongs to a 
 subject which I have touched upon in a former 
 letter. I have already told you that you will be 
 unsafe in every step which leads to a serious at- 
 tachment, unless you consult your parents, from 
 the first moment you apprehend any thing of that 
 sort to be intended: let them be your first confi- 
 dants, and let every part of }'our conduct, in such 
 a case, be particularly directed by them. 
 
 With regard to accomplishments, the chief of 
 these is a competent share of reading, well chosen 
 and properly regulated ; and of this I shall speak 
 more largely hereafter. Dancing and the know- 
 ledge of the French tongue are now so universal 
 that they cannot be dispensed with in the edu- 
 cation of a gentlewoman; and indeed they both 
 are useful as well as ornamental; the first, by 
 forming and strengthening the body, and im- 
 proving the carriage ; the second, by opening a 
 large field of entertainment and improvement for 
 the mind. I believe there are more agreeable 
 books of female literature in French than in any 
 other language; and, as they are not less com- 
 monly talked of than English books, you must 
 often feel mortified in company if you are too 
 ignorant to read them. Italian would be easily 
 learned after French, and, if you have leisure and 
 opportunity, may be worth your gaining, though
 
 OF THE MIND. 137 
 
 in your station of life it is by no means ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 To write a free and legible band, and to un- 
 derstand common arithmetic, are indispensable 
 requisites. 
 
 As to music and drawing, I would only wish 
 you to follow as Genius leads : you have some 
 turn for the first, and I should be sorry to see 
 you neglect a talent, which will at least afford 
 you an innocent amusement, though it should not 
 enable you to give much pleasure to your friends: 
 I think the use of both these arts is more for 
 yourself than for others : it is but seldom that a 
 private person has leisure or application enough 
 to gain any high degree of excellence in them ; 
 and your own partial family are perhaps the only 
 persons who would not much rather be enter- 
 tained by the performance of a professor than by 
 yours : but, with regard to yourself, it is of great 
 consequence to have the power of filling up agree- 
 ably those intervals of time which too often hang 
 heavily on the hands of a woman, if her lot be 
 cast in a retired situation. Besides this, it is 
 certain that even a small share of knowledge in 
 these arts will heighten your pleasure in the per- 
 formances of others : the taste must be improved 
 before it can be susceptible of an exquisite relish 
 for any of the imitative arts : an unskilful ear is 
 seldom capable of comprehending harmony, or of
 
 138 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 distinguishing the most delicate charms of melody. 
 The pleasure of seeing fine paintings, or even of 
 contemplating the beauties of Nature, must be 
 greatly heightened by our being conversant with 
 the rules of drawing, and by the habit of consi- 
 dering the most picturesque objects. As I look 
 upon taste to be an inestimable fund of innocent 
 delight, I wish you to lose no opportunity of im- 
 proving it, and of cultivating in yourself the relish 
 of such pleasures as will not interfere with a 
 rational scheme of life, nor lead you into dissi- 
 pation, with all its attendant evils of vanity and 
 luxury. 
 
 As to the learned languages, though I respect 
 the abilities and application of those ladies who 
 have attained them, and who make a modest and 
 proper use of them, yet I would by no means 
 advise you or any other woman who is not 
 strongly impelled by a particular genius to en- 
 gage in such studies. The labour and time which 
 they require are generally incompatible with our 
 natures and proper employments ; the real know- 
 ledge which they supply is not essential, since the 
 English, French, and Italian tongues afford tole- 
 rable translations of all the most valuable pro- 
 ductions of antiquity, besides the multitude of 
 original authors which they furnish ; and these 
 are much more than sufficient to store your mind 
 with as many ideas as you will know how to ma-
 
 OF THE MIND. 139 
 
 nage. The danger of pedantry and presumption 
 in a woman of her exciting envy in one sex and 
 jealousy in the other of her exchanging the 
 graces of imagination for the severity and pre- 
 ciseness of a scholar, would be, I own, sufficient 
 to frighten me from the ambition of seeing my 
 girl remarkable for learning. Such objections 
 are perhaps still stronger with regard to the ab- 
 struse sciences. 
 
 Whatever tends to embellish your fancy, to 
 enlighten your understanding, and furnish you 
 with ideas to reflect upon when alone, or to con- 
 verse upon in company, is certainly well worth 
 your acquisition. The wretched expedient, to 
 which ignorance so often drives our sex, of call- 
 ing in slander to enliven the tedious insipidity of 
 conversation, would alone be a strong reason for 
 enriching your mind with innocent subjects of 
 entertainment, which may render you a fit com- 
 panion for persons of sense and knowledge, from 
 whom you may reap the most desirable improve- 
 ments; for, though I think reading indispensably 
 necessary to the due cultivation of your mind, I 
 prefer the conversation of such persons to every 
 other method of instruction : but this you cannot 
 hope to enjoy, unless you qualify yourself to bear 
 a part in such society, by, at least, a moderate 
 share of reading. 
 
 Though religion is the most important of all
 
 140 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 your pursuits, there are not many books on that 
 subject which I should recommend to you at pre- 
 sent. Controversy is wholly improper at your 
 age, and it is also too soon for you to inquire 
 into the evidence of the truth of revelation, or to 
 study the difficult parts of Scripture: when these 
 shall come before you, there are many excellent 
 books, from which you may receive great assist- 
 ance. At present, practical divinity clear of 
 superstition and enthusiasm, but addressed to the 
 heart, and written with a warmth and spirit ca- 
 pable of exciting in it pure and rational piety is 
 what I wish you to meet with. 
 
 The principal study, I would recommend, is 
 history. I know of nothing equally proper to 
 entertain and improve at the same time, or that 
 is so likely to form and strengthen your judg- 
 ment, and, by giving you a liberal and compre- 
 hensive view of human nature, in some measure 
 to supply the defect of that experience which is 
 usually attained too late to be of much service to 
 us. Let me add, that more materials for conver- 
 sation are supplied by this kind of knowledge 
 than by almost any other; but I have more to 
 say to you on this subject in a future letter. 
 
 The faculty, in which women usually most ex- 
 cel, is that of imagination; and, when properly 
 cultivated, it becomes the source of all that is 
 most charming in society. Nothing you can read
 
 OF THE MIND. 141 
 
 will so much contribute to the improvement of 
 this faculty as poetry; which, if applied to its 
 true ends, adds a thousand charms to those senti- 
 ments of religion, virtue, generosity, and delicate 
 tenderness, by which the human soul is exalted 
 and refined. I hope you are not deficient in 
 natural taste for this enchanting art, but that you 
 will find it one of your greatest pleasures to be 
 conversant with the best poets whom our lan- 
 guage can bring you acquainted with, particularly 
 those immortal ornaments of our nation, Skaks- 
 peare and Milton. The first is not only incom- 
 parably the noblest genius in dramatic poetry, 
 but the greatest master of nature, and the most 
 perfect characterizer of men and manners: in 
 this point of view, I think him inestimable; and 
 I am persuaded that, in the course of your life, 
 you will seldom find occasion to correct those 
 observations on human nature, and those prin- 
 ciples of morality, which you may extract from 
 his capital pieces. You will at first find his 
 language difficult; but if you take the assistance 
 of a friend who understands it well, you will by 
 degrees enter into his manner of phraseology, 
 and perceive a thousand beauties, which at first 
 lay buried in obsolete words and uncouth con- 
 structions. The admirable Essay on Shakspeare, 
 which has lately appeared, so much to the honour 
 of our sex, will open your mind to the peculiar
 
 142 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 excellences of this author, and enlighten your 
 judgment on dramatic poetry in general, with 
 such force of reason and brilliancy of wit as 
 cannot fail to delight as well as instruct you. 
 
 Our great English poet, Milton, is as far above 
 iny praise as his Paradise Lost is above any thing 
 which I am able to read, except the sacred 
 writers. The sublimity of his subject sometimes 
 leads him into abstruseness ; but many parts of 
 his great poem are easy to all comprehensions, 
 and must find their way directly to every heart 
 by the tenderness and delicacy of his sentiments, 
 iu which he is not less strikingly excellent than 
 in the richness and sublimity of his imagination. 
 Addison's criticism in the Spectators, written with 
 that beauty, elegance, and judgment, which dis- 
 tinguish all his writings, will assist you to under- 
 stand and to relish this poe-m. 
 
 It is needless to recommend to you the trans- 
 lations of Homer and Virgil, which every body 
 reads that reads at all. You must have heard 
 that Homer is esteemed the father of poetry, the 
 original from whence all the moderns not ex- 
 cepting Milton himself borrow some of their 
 greatest beauties, and from whom they extract 
 those rules for composition which are found most 
 agreeable to nature and true taste. Virgil, you 
 know, is the next in rank among the classics: 
 you will read his JEneid with extreme pleasure,
 
 OF THE MIND. 143 
 
 if ever you are able to read Italian, in Annibal 
 Caro's translation ; the idiom of the Latin and 
 Italian languages being more alike, it is, I be- 
 lieve, much closer, yet preserves more of the 
 spirit of the original than the English transla- 
 tions. 
 
 For the rest, fame will point out to you the 
 most considerable of our poets ; and I would not 
 exclude any of name among those whose morality 
 is unexceptionable : but of poets, as of all other 
 authors, I wish you to read only such as are pro- 
 perly recommended to you since there are many 
 who debase their divine art by abusing it to the 
 purposes of vice and impiety. If you could read 
 poetry with a judicious friend, who could lead 
 your judgment to a true discernment of its beau- 
 ties and defects, it would inexpressibly heighten 
 both your pleasure and improvement. But, be- 
 fore you enter upon this, some acquaintance with 
 the Heathen Mythology is necessary. I think 
 that you must before now have met with some 
 book under the title of The Pantheon: and, if 
 once you know as much of the gods and goddesses 
 as the most common books on the subject will tell 
 you, the rest may be learned by reading Homer : 
 but then you must particularly attend to him in 
 this view. I do not expect you to penetrate those 
 numerous mysteries those amazing depths of 
 morality, religion, and metaphysics which some
 
 144 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 pretend to have discovered in his mythology, but 
 to know the names and principal offices of the 
 gods and goddesses, with some idea of their mo- 
 ral meaning, seems requisite to the understanding 
 almost any poetical composition. As an instance 
 of the moral meaning I speak of, I will mention 
 an observation of Bossuet, That Homer's poetry 
 was particularly recommended to the Greeks by 
 the superiority which he ascribes to them over 
 the Asiatics; this superiority is shown in the 
 Ilia<l, not only in the conquest of Asia by the 
 Greeks, and in the actual destruction of its ca- 
 pital, but in the division and arrangement of the 
 gods, who took part with the contending nations. 
 On the side of Asia was Venus that is, sensual 
 passion pleasure and effeminacy. On the side 
 of Greece was Juno that is, matronly gravity 
 and conjugal love; together with Mercury in- 
 vention and eloquence and Jupiter or political 
 wisdom. On the side of Asia was Mars, who 
 represents brutal valour and blind fury. On that 
 of Greece was Pallas that is, military discipline, 
 and hravery, guarded by judgment. 
 
 This, and many other instances that might he 
 produced, will show you how much of the beauty 
 of the poet's art must be lost to you, without some 
 notion of these allegorical personages. Boys, in 
 their school-learning, have this kind of know- 
 ledge impressed on their minds by a variety of
 
 OF THE MIND. 145 
 
 books; but women, who do not go through the 
 same course of instruction, are very apt to forget 
 what little they read or hear on the subject: I 
 advise you therefore never to lose an opportunity 
 of inquiring into the meaning of any thing you 
 meet with in poetry, or in painting, alluding to 
 the history of any of the heathen deities, and of 
 obtaining from some friend an explanation of its 
 connexion with true history, or of its allegorical 
 reference to morality or to physics. 
 
 Natural Philosophy, in the largest sense of the 
 expression, is too wide a field for you to under- 
 take ; but the study of nature, as far as may suit 
 your powers and opportunities, you will find a 
 most sublime entertainment : the objects of this 
 study are all the stupendous works of the Al- 
 mighty Hand, that lie within the reach of our ob- 
 servation. In the works of man perfection is 
 aimed at, but it can only be found in those of the 
 Creator. The contemplation of perfection must 
 produce delight, and every natural object around 
 you would offer this delight, if it could attract 
 your attention. If you survey the earth, every 
 leaf that trembles in the breeze, every blade of 
 grass beneath your feet, is a wonder as abso- 
 lutely beyond the reach of human art to imitate 
 as the construction of the universe. Endless 
 pleasures to those who have a taste for them 
 might be derived from the endless variety to be 
 
 H
 
 14G ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 found ill the composition of this globe and its in- 
 habitants. The fossil the vegetable and the 
 animal world gradually rising in the scale of 
 excellence the innumerable species of each, still 
 preserving their specific differences from age to 
 age, yet of which no two individuals are ever 
 perfectly alike afford such a range for observa- 
 tion and inquiry as might engross the whole term 
 of our short life, if followed minutely. Besides 
 all the animal creation obvious to our unassisted 
 senses, the eye, aided by philosophical inven- 
 tions, sees myriads of creatures, which by the ig- 
 norant are not known to have existence : it sees 
 all nature teem with life ; every fluid each part 
 of every vegetable and animal swarm with its 
 peculiar inhabitants invisible to the naked eye, 
 but as perfect in all their parts, and enjoying life 
 as indisputably as the elephant or the whale. 
 
 But if from the earth, and from these minute 
 wonders, the philosophic eye is raised towards 
 the heavens, what a stupendous scene there opens 
 to its view,! those brilliant lights that sparkle to 
 the eye of ignorance as gems adorning the sky, 
 or as lamps to guide the traveller by night, assume 
 an importance that amazes the understanding! 
 they appear to be worlds, formed like ours for a 
 variety of inhabitants or suns, enlightening num- 
 berless other worlds too distant for our discovery ! 
 I shall ever remember the astonishment and
 
 ESPV 
 
 X.3S TT3&R & 
 
 TVESTAIJLJI.A X 
 iEV UY .tons 
 
 tXB.19 1822 
 
 Br CHARLES
 
 OF THE MIND. 147 
 
 rapture with which my mind received this idea, 
 when I was about your age; it was then perfectly 
 new to me, and it is impossible to describe the 
 sensations I felt from the glorious, boundless 
 prospect of infinite beneficence bursting at once 
 upon my imagination! Who can contemplate 
 such a scene unmoved ? if our curiosity is ex- 
 cited to enter upon this noble inquiry, a few books 
 on the subject, and those of the easiest sort, with 
 some of the common experiments, may be suffi- 
 cient for your purpose which is to enlarge your 
 mind, and to excite in it the most ardent grati- 
 tude and profound adoration towards that great 
 and good Being, who exerts his boundless power 
 in communicating various portions of happiness 
 through all the immense regions of creation. 
 
 Moral philosophy, as it relates to human ac- 
 tions, is of still higher importance than the study 
 of nature. The works of the .ancients on this 
 subject are universally said to be entertaining as 
 well as instructive, by those who can read them 
 in their original languages ; and such of them as 
 are well translated will undoubtedly, some years 
 hence, afford you great pleasure and improve- 
 ment. You will also find many agreeable and 
 useful books, written originally in French, and in 
 English, on morals and manners: for the pre- 
 sent, there are works which, without assuming 
 the solemn air of philosophy, will enlighten your 
 
 H 2
 
 148 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 mind on these subjects, and introduce instruction 
 in an easier dress : of this sort are many of the 
 moral essays, that have appeared in periodical 
 papers which, when excellent in their kind as 
 are the Spectators, Guardians, Ramblers, and 
 Adventurers are particularly useful to young 
 people, as they comprehend a great variety of 
 subjects introduce many ideas and observations 
 that are new to them and lead to a habit of re- 
 flecting on the characters and events that come 
 before them in real life, which I consider as ihe 
 best exercise of the understanding. 
 
 Books on taste and criticism will hereafter be 
 more proper for you than at present : whatever 
 can improve your discernment, and render your 
 taste elegant and just, must be of great conse- 
 quence to your enjoyments as well as to the em- 
 bellishment of your understanding. 
 
 I would by no means exclude the kind of read- 
 ing which young people are naturally most fond 
 of; though I think the greatest care should be 
 taken in the choice of those fictitious stories that 
 so enchant the mind most of which tend to in- 
 flame the passions of youth, whilst the chief pur- 
 pose of education should be to moderate and re- 
 strain them. Add to this, that both the writing 
 and sentiments of most novels and romances are 
 such as are only proper to vitiate your style, and 
 to mislead your heart and understanding. The
 
 OF THE MIND. 149 
 
 expectation of extraordinary adventures which 
 seldom ever happen to the sober and prudent part 
 of mankind and the admiration of extravagant 
 passions and absurd conduct, are some of the 
 usual fruits of this kind of reading ; which, when 
 a young woman makes it her chief amusement, 
 generally render her ridiculous in conversation, 
 and miserably wrong-headed in her pursuits and 
 behaviour. There are however works of this class 
 in which excellent morality is joined with the 
 most lively pictures of the human mind, and with 
 all that can entertain the imagination and interest 
 the heart But, I must repeatedly exhort you, 
 never to read any thing of the sentimental kind, 
 without taking the judgment of your best friends 
 in the choice ; for I am persuaded, that the in- 
 discriminate reading of such kind of books cor- 
 rupts more female hearts than any other cause 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Before I close this correspondence, I shall 
 point out the course of history I wish you to 
 pursue, and give you my thoughts of geography 
 and chronology, some knowledge of both being, 
 in my opinion, necessary to the reading of history 
 with any advantage. 
 
 I am, my dearest Niece, 
 
 Your ever affectionate.
 
 150 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 ON GEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 MY DEAREST NIECE, 
 
 I HAVE told you that you will not be able to 
 read history, with much pleasure or advantage, 
 without some little knowledge of Geography and 
 Chronology. They are both very easily attained 
 I mean in the degree that will be necessary for 
 you. You must be sensible that you can know 
 but little of a country, whose situation with re- 
 spect to the rest of the world you are entirely 
 ignorant of and, that it is to little purpose that 
 you are able to mention a fact, if you cannot 
 nearly ascertain the time in which it happened, 
 which alone, in many cases, gives importance to 
 the fact itself. 
 
 In Geography the easiest of all sciences, and 
 the best adapted to the capacity of children I 
 suppose you to have made some beginning; to 
 know at least the figure of the earth the sup- 
 posed lines the degrees how to measure dis- 
 tances and a few of the common terms: If you 
 do not already know these, two or three lessons 
 will be sufficient to attain them; the rest is the 
 work of memory, and is easily gained by reading 
 with maps ; for I do not wish your knowledge to 
 be exact and masterly but such only as is ne- 
 cessary for the purpose of understanding history,
 
 OF THE MIND. 151 
 
 and, without which, even a newspaper would be 
 unintelligible. It may be sufficient for this end, 
 if, with respect to ancient Geography, you have 
 a general idea of the situation of all the great 
 states, without being able precisely to ascertain 
 their limits. But, in the modern, you ought to 
 know the bounds and extent of every state in 
 Europe, and its situation with respect to the rest. 
 The other parts of the world will require less 
 accurate knowledge, except with regard to the 
 European settlements. 
 
 It may be a useful and agreeable method, 
 when you learn the situation of any important 
 country, to join with that knowledge some one or 
 two leading facts or circumstances concerning it, 
 so that its particular property may always put you 
 in mind of the situation ; and the situation, in like 
 manner, recall the particular property. When, 
 for instance, you learn in what part of the globe 
 to find Ethiopia, to be told at the same time that, 
 in that vast unknown tract of country, the Chris- 
 tian religion was once the religion of the state, 
 would be of service because the geographical 
 and historical knowledge would assist each other. 
 Thus, to join with Egypt, the nurse and parent of 
 arts and of superstition With Persia, shocking 
 despotism and perpetual revolutions with an- 
 cient Greece, freedom and genius with Scythia, 
 hardiness and conquest, are hints which you may
 
 152 - ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 make use of as you please. Perhaps annexing 
 to any country the idea of some familiar form 
 which it most resembles may at first assist you 
 to retain a general notion of it; thus Italy has 
 been called a boot and Europe compared to a 
 woman sitting. 
 
 The difference of the ancient and modern names 
 of places is somewhat perplexing; the most im- 
 portant should be known by both names at the 
 same time, and you must endeavour to fix a few 
 of those which are of most consequence so 
 strongly in your mind, by thinking of them, and 
 being often told of them, that the ancient name 
 should always call up the modern one to your 
 memory, and the modern the ancient: Such as 
 the JEgean Sea, now The Archipelago The 
 Peloponnesus, now Tlie Morea Crete, Candia 
 Gaul, France Babylon, Bagdat Byzantium 
 to which the Unmans transplanted their seat 
 of empire Constantinople, &c. 
 
 There have been so many ingenious con- 
 trivances to make Geography easy and amusing, 
 that I cannot hope to add any thing of much 
 service; I would only prevail with you not to 
 neglect acquiring, by whatever method pleases 
 you best, that share of knowledge in it which 
 you will find necessary, and which is so easily 
 attained ; and I entreat that you would learn it in 
 such a manner as to fix it in your mind, so that
 
 OF THE MIND. 153 
 
 it may not be lost and forgotten among other 
 childish acquisitions, but that it may remain 
 ready for use through the rest of your life. 
 
 Chronology indeed has more of difficulty; but 
 if you do not bewilder yourself by attempting to 
 learn too much and too minutely at first, you need 
 not despair of gaining enough for the purpose of 
 reading history with pleasure and utility. 
 
 Chronology may be naturally divided into three 
 parts, the Ancient the Middle and the Modern. 
 With respect to all these, the best direction 
 that can be given is to fix on some periods or 
 epochas, which, by being often mentioned and 
 thought of, explained and referred to, will at last 
 be so deeply engraven on the memory, that they 
 will be ready to present themselves whenever you 
 call for them ; these indeed should be few, and 
 ought to be well chosen for their importance, 
 since they are to serve as elevated stations to the 
 mind, from which it may look backwards and 
 forwards upon a great variety of facts. 
 
 Till your more learned friends shall supply you 
 with better, I will take the liberty to recommend 
 the following, which I have found of service to 
 myself. 
 
 In the ancient chronology, you will find there 
 were four thousand years from the creation to the 
 redemption of man and that Noah and his fa- 
 mily were miraculously preserved in the ark 
 1650 years after Adam's creation. 
 
 H 3
 
 154 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 As there is no history, except that in the Bible, 
 of any thing before the flood, we may set out from 
 that great event, which happened, as I have said 
 above, in the year of the world 1650. 
 
 The 2350 years, which passed from the deluge 
 to our Saviour's birth, may be thus divided. 
 There have been four successive Empires called 
 Universal, because they extended over a great 
 part of the then known world these are usually 
 distinguished by the name of The Four great 
 Monarchies : the three first of them are included 
 in ancient Chronology, and began and ended in 
 the following manner; 
 
 1st, The ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, founded by 
 Nimrod in the year of the world 1800, ended 
 under Sardanapalus in 3250, endured 1450 
 years. 
 
 The Median though not accounted one of the 
 four great monarchies, being conquests of 
 rebels on the Assyrian empire comes in 
 here for about 200 years. 
 
 2d, The PERSIAN EMPIRE, which began 
 under Cyrus, in the year of the world 3450, 
 ended in Darius in 3070, before Christ 330, 
 lasted a little more than 200 years. 
 
 3d, The GRECIAN EMPIRE, began under 
 Alexander the Great in 3670, was soon after his 
 death dismembered by his successors, but the 
 different parcels into which they divided it were 
 possessed by their respective families, till the fa-
 
 OF THE MIND. 15-3 
 
 uious Cleopatra, the last of the race of Ptolemy, 
 one of Alexander's captains who reigned in Egypt, 
 was conquered by Julius Caesar, about half a 
 century before our Lord's birth, which is a term 
 of about 300 years. 
 
 Thus you see that from the deluge to the estab- 
 lishment of the first great monarchy the Assy- 
 rian is 150 years. 
 
 The Assyrian empire continued . . 1450 
 
 The Median 200 
 
 The Persian 200 
 
 The Grecian 300 
 
 From Julius Caesar, with whom be- 
 gan the fourth great monarchy 
 viz. the Roman to Christ . 50 
 
 In all ... 2350 years ; 
 the term from the deluge to Christ. 
 
 I do not give you these dates and periods as 
 correctly true, for I have taken only round num- 
 bers, as more easily retained by the memory; so 
 that when you come to consult chronological 
 books or tables, you will find variances of some 
 years between them and the above accounts ; but 
 precise exactness is not material to a beginner. 
 
 I offer this short table as a little specimen of 
 what you may easily do for yourself; but even 
 this sketch, slight as k is, will give you a general 
 notion of the ancient history of the world, from 
 the deluge to the birth of Christ.
 
 156 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 Within this period flourished the Grecian and 
 Roman republics, with the history and chrono- 
 logy of which it will be expected you should be 
 tolerably well acquainted; and indeed you will 
 find nothing in the records of mankind so enter- 
 taining. Greece was divided into many petty 
 states, whose various revolutions and annals you 
 can never hope distinctly to remember; you are 
 therefore to consider them as forming together one 
 great kingdom like the Germanic body, or the 
 United Provinces composed separately of dif- 
 ferent governments, hut sometimes acting with 
 united force for their common interest. The 
 Lacedaemonian government, formed by Lycurgus 
 in the year of the world 3100 and the Athenian 
 regulated by Solon about the year 3440 will 
 chiefly engage your attention. 
 
 In pursuing the Grecian chronology, you need 
 only perhaps make one stand or epocha at the 
 time of Socrates, that wisest of philosophers, whom 
 you must have heard of who lived about 3570 
 years from the creation, and about 430 before 
 Christ: for within the term of 150 years before' 
 Socrates, and 200 after him, will fall in most of 
 the great events and illustrious characters of the 
 Grecian history. 
 
 I must inform you that the Grecian method of 
 dating time was by Olympiads that is, four com- 
 plete years so called from the celebration, every 
 fifth year, of the Olympic Games, which were
 
 OF THE MIND. 157 
 
 contests in all the manly exercises, such as wrest- 
 ling boxing running chariot-racing, &c. 
 They were instituted in honour of Jupiter, and 
 took their name from Olympia, a city of Elis, 
 near which they were performed : they were at- 
 tended by all ranks of people, from every state in 
 Greece ; -the noblest youths were eager to obtain 
 the prize of victory, which was no other than an 
 olive crown, but esteemed the most distinguishing 
 ornament. These games continued all the time 
 that Greece retained any spark of liberty ; and 
 with them begins the authentic history of that 
 country all before being considered as fabulous. 
 You must therefore endeavour to remember that 
 they began in the year of the world 3228 after 
 the flood 1570 years- after the destruction of 
 Troy 400 before the building of Rome 23 be- 
 fore Cyrus about 200 and 770 before Christ. 
 If you cannot retain all these dates, at least you 
 must not fail to remember the near coincidence of 
 the first Olympiad with the building of Rome, 
 which is of great consequence, because as the 
 Grecians reckoned time by Olympiads, the Ro- 
 mans dated from the building of their city ; and 
 as these two eras are within 23 years of each 
 other, you may, for the ease of memory, suppose 
 them to begin together, in the year of the world 
 3228. 
 
 In reading the history of the Roman Republic 
 which continued in that form of government to
 
 158 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 the time of Julius Caesar's dictatorship, about the 
 year of the world 3960, and about 48 years before 
 Christ you will make as many epochas as you 
 shall find convenient : I will mention only two 
 the sacking of Rome by the Gauls, which hap- 
 pened in the year of the world 3620 in the 
 365th year of the city in the 97th Olympiad 
 before Christ 385 and about 30 years before the 
 birth of Alexander. The second epocha may be 
 the 608th year of the city when, after three ob- 
 stinate wars, Carthage was destroyed, and Rome 
 was left without a rival. 
 
 Perhaps the following bad verses, which were 
 given me when I was young, may help to fix in 
 your mind the important eras of the Roman and 
 Grecian dates: You must not laugh at them, 
 for chronologers do not pique themselves on their 
 poetry, but they make use of numbers and rhymes 
 merely as assistants to memory, being so easily 
 learned by heart. 
 
 " Rome and Olympiads bear the same date, 
 
 Three thousand two hundred and twenty-eight. 
 
 In three hundred and sixty* was Romesack'd and torn, 
 
 Thirty gammers before Alexander was born." 
 
 You will allow that what I have said in these 
 few pages is very easily learned yet, little as it 
 is, I will venture to say that, were you as perfectly 
 mistress of it as of your alphabet, you might 
 answer several questions relating to ancient chro- 
 
 * That is, in the 365th year of the city.
 
 OF THE MIND. 159 
 
 nology more readily than many who pretend to 
 know something of this science. One is not so 
 much required to tell the precise year, in which a 
 great man lived, as to know, with whom he was 
 contemporary in other parts of the world I 
 would know then, from the slight sketch ahove 
 given, about what year of the Roman republic 
 Alexander the Great lived. You would quickly 
 run over in your mind, " Alexander lived in the 
 3670th year of the world 330 before Christ 
 consequently he must have flourished about the 
 400th of Rome, which had endured 750 years 
 when Christ was born." Or, suppose it was 
 asked what was the condition of Greece, at the 
 time of the sacking of Rome by the Gauls; had 
 any particular state, or the united body, chosen 
 then to take advantage of the misfortunes of the 
 Romans ? You consider that the 365th year of 
 the city the date of that event-^-is 385 before 
 Christ; consequently this must have happened 
 about the time of Philip of Macedon, father of 
 Alexander, when the Grecians under such a 
 leader might have extirpated the Roman nation 
 from the earth, had they ever heard of them, or 
 thought the conquest of them an object worthy 
 their ambition. 
 
 Numberless questions might be answered in 
 like manner, even on this very narrow circum- 
 scribed plan, if it was completely mastered. I 
 might require that other periods or epochas should
 
 160 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 be learned with the same exactness but these 
 may serve to explain my meaning, and to show 
 you how practicable and easy it is. One thing, 
 however, I must observe though perhaps it is 
 sufficiently obvious which is, that you can make 
 no use of this sketch of ancient Chronology, nor 
 even hope to retain it, till you have read the 
 ancient history. When you have gone through 
 Rollin's Histoire Ancienne once, then will be the 
 time to fix the ancient Chronology deep in your 
 mind, which will very much enhance the pleasure 
 and use of reading it a second time ; for you must 
 remember that nobody reads a history to much 
 purpose, who does not go over it more than once. 
 
 When you have got through your course of 
 ancient history, and are come to the more modern, 
 you must then have recourse to the second of the 
 three divisions \iz.middle Chronology ; contain- 
 ing about 800 years, from the birth of our Lord, 
 and from within 50 years of the rise of the Roman 
 empire, to Charlemagne, who died in 814. 
 
 This period, except in the earliest part of it, is 
 too much involved in obscurity to require a very 
 minute knowledge of its history it may be suffi- 
 cient to fix two or three of the most singular cir- 
 cumstances by their proper dates. 
 
 The first epocha to be observed is the year of 
 our Lord 330 when Constantine the first Chris- 
 tian emperor, who restored peace to the oppressed 
 and persecuted church, removed the seat of em-
 
 OF THE MIND. 161 
 
 pire from Rome to Byzantium, called afterwards 
 from him Constantinople. After his time about 
 the year 400 began those irruptions of the 
 Goths and Vandals, and other northern nations, 
 who settled themselves all over the western parts 
 of the Roman empire, and laid the foundation of 
 the several states which now subsist in Europe. 
 
 The next epocha is the year 622 for the ease 
 of memory say 600 when Mahomet, by his suc- 
 cessful imposture, became the founder of the 
 Saracen empire, which his followers extended 
 over a great part of Asia and Africa, and over 
 some provinces of Europe. At the same time, 
 St. Gregory, bishop of Rome, began to assume a 
 spiritual power, which grew by degrees into that 
 absolute and enormous dominion, so long main- 
 tained by the popes over the greatest part of 
 Christendom. St. Augustine a missionary from 
 St. Gregory about this time, began the conver- 
 sion of Great Britain to Christianity. 
 
 The third and concluding epocha, in this di- 
 vision, is the year 800 ; when Charlemagne, king 
 of France after having subdued the Saxons, 
 repressed the Saracens, and established the tem- 
 poral dominion of the pope by a grant of con- 
 siderable territories was elected emperor of the 
 west, and protector of the church. The date of 
 this event corresponds with that remarkable period 
 of our English history the union of the Hep- 
 tarchy or Seven kingdoms under Egbert.
 
 162 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 As to the third part of Chronology namely, 
 the Modern, I shall spare you and myself all 
 trouble about at present; for if you follow the 
 course of reading which I shall recommend, it 
 will be some years before you reach modern his- 
 tory and, when you do, you will easily make 
 periods for yourself, if you do but remember 
 carefully to examine the dates as you read, and 
 to impress on your memory those of very re- 
 markable reigns or events. 
 
 I fear you are by this time tired of Chronology ; 
 but my sole intention, in what I have said, is to 
 convince you that it is a science not out of your 
 reach, in the moderate degree that is requisite for 
 you: the last volume of the Ancient Universal 
 History is the best English Chronological Work 
 I know ; if that does not come in your way, there 
 is an excellent French one called Tablettes Chro- 
 nologiques de 1'Histoire Universelle, Du Fres- 
 noy, 3 tomes, Paris; there is also a chart of 
 universal history including Chronology and a 
 Biographical chart both by Priestley which 
 you may find of service to you. 
 
 Indeed, my dear, a woman makes a poor figure 
 who affects, as I have heard some ladies do, to 
 disclaim all knowledge of times and dates : the 
 strange confusion they make of events which 
 happened in different periods, and the stare of 
 ignorance when such are referred to as are com- 
 monly known, are sufficiently pitiable: but the
 
 OF THE MIND. 163 
 
 highest mark of folly is to be proud of such igno- 
 rance a resource, in which some of our sex find 
 great consolation. 
 
 Adieu, my dear child! I am with the ten- 
 derest affection, 
 
 Ever yours. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 ON READING HISTORY. 
 
 MY DEAREST NIECE, 
 
 WHEN I recommend to you to gain some insight 
 into the general history of the world, perhaps you 
 think I propose a formidable task ; but your ap- 
 prehensions will vanish, when you consider that 
 of near half the globe we have no histories at 
 all ; that, of other parts of it, a few facts only 
 are known to us and that, even of those nations 
 which make the greatest figure in history, the 
 early ages are involved in obscurity and fable : it 
 is not indeed allowable to be totally ignorant even 
 of those fables, because they are the frequent 
 subjects of poetry and painting, and are often re- 
 ferred to in more authentic histories. 
 
 The first recorders of actions are generally 
 poets : in the historical songs of the bards are 
 found the only accounts of the first ages of every 
 state; but in these we must naturally expect to 
 find truth mixed with fiction, and often disguised
 
 164 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 in allegory. In such only times, before science 
 has enlightened the minds of men, the people are 
 ready to believe every thing and the historian, 
 having no restraints from the fear of contradic- 
 tion or criticism, delivers the most improbable 
 and absurd tales as an account of the lives and 
 actions of their forefathers ; thus the first heroes 
 of every nation are gods, or the sons of gods ; 
 and every great event is accompanied with some 
 supernatural agency. Homer, whom I have al- 
 ready mentioned as a poet, you will find the 
 most agreeable historian of the early ages of 
 Greece and Virgil will show you the supposed 
 origin of the Carthaginians and Romans. 
 
 It will be necessary for you to observe some 
 regular plan in your historical studies, which can 
 never be pursued with advantage otherwise than 
 in a continued series. I do not mean to confine 
 you solely to that kind of reading on the con- 
 trary, I wish you frequently to relax with poetry 
 or some other amusement, whilst you are pur- 
 suing your course of history ; I only mean to warn 
 you against mixing ancient history with modern, 
 or general histories of one place with particular 
 reigns in another by which desultory manner of 
 reading, many people distract and confound their 
 memories, and retain notbing to any purpose from 
 such a confused mass of materials. 
 
 The most ancient of all histories you will read 
 in your Bible : from thence you will proceed to
 
 OF THE MIND. 165 
 
 1'Histoire Ancienne of Roll in, who very inge- 
 niously points out the connexion of profane with 
 sacred history, and enlivens his narrative with 
 many agreeahle and improving reflections and 
 many very pleasing detached stories and anec- 
 dotes, which may serve you as resting places in 
 your journey. It would be a useful exercise of 
 your memory and judgment, to recount these in- 
 teresting passages to a friend, either by letter or 
 in conversation ; not in the words of the author, 
 but in your own natural style by memory, and 
 not by book ; and to add whatever remarks may 
 occur to you. I need not say that you will please 
 me much, whenever you are disposed to make this 
 use of me. 
 
 The want of memory is a great discouragement 
 in historical pursuits, and i& what every body 
 complains of. Many artificial helps have been 
 invented, of which, those who have tried them 
 can best tell you the effects : but the most natural 
 and pleasant expedient is that of conversation 
 with a friend, who is acquainted with the history 
 which you are reading. By such conversations, 
 you will find out how much is usually retained of 
 what is read, and you will learn to select those 
 characters and facts which are best worth pre- 
 serving: for it is by trying to remember every 
 thing without distinction, that young people are 
 so apt to lose every trace of what they read. By 
 repeating to your friend what you can recollect,
 
 ICG ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 you will fix it in your memory : and if you should 
 omit any striking particular, which ought to be 
 retained, that friend will remind you of it, and 
 will direct your attention to it on a second pe- 
 rusal. It is a good rule, to cast your eye each 
 day over what you read the day before, and to 
 look over the contents of every book when you 
 have finished it. 
 
 Rollin's work takes in a large compass but 
 of all the ancient nations it treats of, perhaps 
 there are only the Grecians and Romans, whose 
 stories ought to be read with any anxious desire 
 of retaining them perfectly : for the rest such 
 as the Assyrians, Egyptians, &c. 1 believe you 
 would find, on examination, that most of those, 
 who are supposed tolerably well read in history, 
 remember no more than a few of the most re- 
 markable facts and characters. I tell you this, 
 to prevent your being discouraged on finding so 
 little remain in your mind after reading these less 
 interesting parts of ancient history. 
 
 But, when you come to the Grecian and Ro- 
 man stories, I expect to find you deeply interested 
 and highly entertained; and, of consequence, 
 eager to treasure up in your memory those he- 
 roic actions and exalted characters by which a 
 young mind is naturally so much animated and 
 impressed. As Greece and Rome were distin- 
 guished as much for genius as valour, and were 
 the theatres, not only of the greatest military ac-
 
 OF THE MIND. 167 
 
 tions the noblest efforts of liberty and pa- 
 triotism but of the highest perfection of arts 
 and sciences, their immortal fame is a subject of 
 wonder and emulation, even to these distant ages ; 
 and, it is thought a shameful degree of ignorance, 
 even in our sex, to be unacquainted with the na- 
 ture and revolutions of their governments, and 
 with the characters and stories of their most il- 
 lustrious heroes. Perhaps, when you are told 
 that the government and the national character 
 of your own countrymen have been compared 
 with those of the Romans, it may not be a use- 
 less amusement, in reading the Roman history, 
 to carry this observation in your mind, and to ex- 
 amine how far the parallel holds good. The 
 French have been thought to resemble the Athe- 
 nians in their genius, though not in their love of 
 liberty. These little hints sometimes serve to 
 awaken reflection and attention in young readers 
 I leave you to make what use of them you 
 please. 
 
 When you have got through Rollin, if you add 
 Vertofs Revolutions Romaines a short, and very 
 entertaining work you may be said to have read 
 as much as is absolutely necessary of ancient his- 
 tory. Plutarch's Lives of famous Greeks and 
 Romans a book deservedly of the highest repu- 
 tation can never be read to so much advantage 
 as immediately after the histories of Greece and 
 Rome : I should even prefer reading each life in
 
 1G8 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 Plutarch, immediately after the history of each 
 particular hero, as you meet with them in Rollin 
 or in Vertot. 
 
 If hereafter you should choose to enlarge your 
 plan, and should wish to know more of any par- 
 ticular people or period than you find in Rollin, 
 the sources from which he drew may be open to 
 you for there are, I believe, French or English 
 translations of all the original historians, from 
 whom he extracted his materials. 
 
 Crevier's continuation of Rollin, I believe, gives 
 the best account of the Roman emperors down to 
 Constantine. What shocking instances will you 
 there meet with, of the terrible effects of lawless 
 power on the human mind ! How will you be 
 amazed to see the most promising characters 
 changed by flattery and self-indulgence into mon- 
 sters that disgrace humanity ! To read a series 
 of such lives as those of Tiberius, Nero, or Do- 
 mitian, would be intolerable, were we not con- 
 soled by the view of those excellent emperors, 
 who remained uncorrupted through all tempta- 
 tions. When the mind disgusted, depressed, 
 and terrified turns from the contemplation of 
 those depths of vice, to which human nature may 
 be sunk, a Titus, the delight of mankind a Tra- 
 jan an Antoninus restore it to an exulting sense 
 of the dignity, to which that nature may be ex- 
 alted by virtue. Nothing is more awful than this 
 consideration : a human creature given up to vice
 
 OF THE MIND. 169 
 
 is infinitely below the most abject brute; the 
 same creature, trained by virtue to the utmost 
 perfection of his nature, ' is but a little lower 
 than the angels, and is crowned with glory and 
 immortality.' 
 
 Before you enter upon the modern history of 
 any particular kingdom, it will be proper to gain 
 some idea of that interval between ancient and 
 modern times, which is justly called the dark and 
 barbarous ages and which lasted from Constan- 
 tine to Charlemagne perhaps one might say to 
 some centuries after. On the irruption of the 
 northern Barbarians, who broke the Roman em- 
 pire, and dissipated all the treasures of know- 
 ledge, as well as of riches, which had been so 
 long accumulating in that enormous state, the 
 European world may be said to have returned to 
 a second infancy; and the Monkish legends, 
 which are the only records preserved of the times 
 in which they were written, are not less fabulous 
 than the tales of the demi-gods. I must profess 
 myself ignorant how to direct you to any distinct 
 or amusing knowledge of the History of Europe 
 during this period ; some collect it from Puf- 
 fendorfs Introduction some from The Universal 
 History and now, perhaps, with more advantage 
 and delight, from the first volume of Robertson's 
 Charles the Fifth, in which he traces the progress 
 of civilization, government, and arts, from the 
 first settlements of the Barbarians : and shows.
 
 170 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 the foundation of the several states into which 
 Europe is now divided, and of those laws, cus- 
 toms, and politics, which prevail in this quarter 
 of the world. 
 
 In those dark ages, you will find no single cha- 
 racter so interesting as that of Mahomet that 
 bold impostor, who extended his usurped domi- 
 nion equally over the minds and properties of 
 men, and propagated a new religion, whilst he 
 founded a new empire, over a large portion of 
 the globe. His life has been written by various 
 hands. 
 
 When you come to the particular histories of 
 the European states, your own country seems to 
 demand the precedence; and, there is no part 
 more commodious to set out from, since you can- 
 not learn the history of Great Britain, without 
 becoming in some degree acquainted with almost 
 every neighbouring nation, and without finding 
 your curiosity excited to know more of those 
 with whom we are most connected. 
 
 By the amazing progress of navigation and 
 commerce, within the last two or three centuries, 
 all parts of the world are now connected : the 
 most distant people are become well acquainted, 
 who, for thousands of years, never heard of one 
 another's existence: we are still every day ex- 
 ploring new regions and every day see greater 
 reason to expect that immense countries may yet 
 be discovered, and America no longer retain the
 
 OF THE MIND. 171 
 
 name of the New World. You may pass to every 
 quarter of the earth, and find yourself still in the 
 British dominion: this island, in which we live, 
 is the least portion of it ; and, if we were to adopt 
 the style of ancient conquerors, we might call it 
 the throne, from which we rule the world. To 
 this boast we are better entitled than some of 
 those who formerly called themselves Masters of 
 the Globe, as we possess an empire of greater 
 extent, and from the superior advantages of our 
 commerce, much greater power and riches: but 
 we have now too many rivals in dominion, to take 
 upon us such haughty titles. 
 
 You cannot be said to know the history of 
 that empire, of which you are a subject, without 
 knowing something of the East and West Indies, 
 where so great a part of it is situated : and you 
 will find the accounts of the discovery and con- 
 quest of America very entertaining, though you 
 will be shocked at the injustice and cruelty of its 
 conquerors. But, with which of the glorious 
 conquerors of mankind must not humanity be 
 shocked ! Ambition, the most remorseless of all 
 passions, pursues its object by all sorts of means : 
 justice, mercy, truth, and every thing most sacred, 
 in vain oppose its progress ! alas, my dear, shall 
 I venture to tell you that the history of the world 
 is little else than a shocking account of the wick- 
 edness and folly of the ambitious ! The world 
 has ever been, and, I suppose, ever must be, go- 
 
 12
 
 172 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 verned and insulted by these aspiring spirits it 
 has always, in greater or less degree, groaned 
 under their unjust usurpation. 
 
 But let not the horror of such a scene put a 
 stop to your curiosity : it is proper you should 
 know mankind as they are : you must be ac- 
 quainted with the heroes of the earth, and per- 
 haps you may be too well reconciled to them: 
 mankind have in general a strong bias in their 
 favour: we see them surrounded with pomp and 
 splendour every thing that relates to them has 
 an air of grandeur and, whilst we admire their 
 natural powers, we are too apt to pardon the de- 
 testable abuse of them, to the injury and ruin of 
 the human race. We are dazzled with false glory, 
 and willingly give in to the delusion ; for mighty 
 conquests, like great conflagrations, have some- 
 thing of the sublime that pleases the imagination, 
 though we know, if we reflect at all, that the con- 
 sequences of them are devastation and misery. 
 
 The Western and Eastern world will present 
 to you very different prospects. In America, the 
 first European conquerors found nature in great 
 simplicity ; society still in its infancy and con- 
 sequently the arts and sciences yet unknown : so 
 that the facility with which they overpowered 
 these poor innocent people, was entirely owing to 
 their superior knowledge in the arts of destroying. 
 They found the inhabitants brave enthusiastic pa- 
 triots, but without either the military or political
 
 OF THE MIND. 173 
 
 arts necessary for their defence. The two great 
 kingdoms of Mexico and Peru had alone made 
 some progress in civilisation; they were both 
 formed into regular states, and had gained some 
 order and discipline: from these therefore the 
 Spaniards met with something like an opposition. 
 At first indeed the invaders appeared superna- 
 tural beings, who came upon them flying over the 
 ocean, on the wings of the wind, and who, mounted 
 on fiery animals, unknown in that country, at- 
 tacked them with thunder and lightning in their 
 hands for such the firearms of the Spaniards 
 appeared to this astonished people. But from 
 being worshiped as gods, they soon came to be 
 feared as evil spirits; and in time being disco- 
 vered to be men different from the Americans 
 only in their outrageous injustice, and in the cruel 
 arts of destroying they were abhorred and boldly 
 opposed. The resistance however of a million 
 of these poor naked people, desperately crowding 
 on each other to destruction, served only to make 
 their ruin more complete. The Europeans have 
 destroyed, with the most shocking barbarity, 
 many millions of the original inhabitants of these 
 countries, and have ever since been depopulating 
 Europe and Africa to supply their places. 
 
 Though our own countrymen have no reason 
 to boast of the justice and humanity of their 
 proceedings iu America, yet, in comparison with 
 those of the Spaniards, our possessions there
 
 174 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 were innocently acquired. Some of them gained 
 by conquest, or cession, from Spain and from 
 other European powers some by contract with 
 the natives, or by settlements on uninhabited 
 lands*. We are now possessed of a series of 
 colonies, extending above two thousand miles 
 along the whole eastern coast of North America, 
 besides many islands of immense value. These 
 countries, instead of being thinly peopled by a 
 few hordes of ignorant savages, are now adorned 
 with many great cities, and innumerable rich 
 plantations, which have made ample returns to 
 their mother-country, for the dangers and ex- 
 penses which attended their first establishment. 
 Blessed with more natural advantages than almost 
 any country in the world, they are making a swift 
 progress in wealth and grandeur, and seem likely, 
 in some future period, to be as much the seat of 
 empire and of science as Europe is at present. 
 Whether their attainments in virtue and happi- 
 ness will keep pace with their advancement in 
 knowledge, wealth, and power, is much to be 
 questioned ; for you will observe in your histori- 
 cal view of the several great empires of the world, 
 that as each grew up towards the highest pitch 
 of greatness, the seeds of destruction grew up 
 with it; luxury and vice, by debasing the minds, 
 and enervating the bodies of the people, left them 
 
 * This work was first printed in 1773.
 
 OF THE MIND. 175 
 
 all, in their turns, an easy prey to poorer and 
 more valiant nations. 
 
 In the East, the Europeans introduced them- 
 selves in a milder way ; admitted first as traders 
 and, for the more commodious carrying on 
 their commerce, indulged by the powers of the 
 country in establishing a few small factories 
 they by gentle degrees extended and strengthened 
 their settlements there, till their force became 
 considerable enough to be thought an useful 
 auxiliary to contending princes ; and as it has 
 often happened to those who have called in foreign 
 powers to interfere in their domestic contentions 
 by availing themselves of the disturbances of 
 a dismembered monarchy, they at length raised 
 a power almost independent of their employers. 
 Soon the several European nations, who had 
 thus got footing in the Indies, jealous of each 
 other's growing greatness, made the feuds of the 
 native princes subservient to their mutual con- 
 tests till within a few years, the English, by a 
 happy concurrence of circumstances, obtained the 
 mastery, and expelled their rivals from all their 
 considerable settlements. 
 
 The rapidity of our conquests here has been 
 perhaps equal to that of the first invaders of 
 America but from different causes. Here we 
 found an old established empire advanced to its 
 crisis; the magnificence and luxury of the great 
 carried to the highest excess and the people in
 
 176 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 a proportionable degree of oppression and de- 
 basement. Thus ripe for destruction, the rival- 
 ship of the viceroys, from the weakness of the 
 government become independent sovereigns 
 and the dastardly spirit of the meaner people, 
 indifferent to the cause for which they were com- 
 pelled to fight encouraged these ambitious mer- 
 chants to push their advantages further than they 
 could at first have supposed possible : with asto- 
 nishment they saw the intrepid leaders of a few 
 hundreds of brave free Britons boldly oppose 
 and repeatedly put to flight millions of these effe- 
 minate Indian slaves and, in a short time, 
 raised for them an empire much larger than their 
 mother-country. 
 
 From these remote quarters of the world let 
 us now return to Great Britain, with the history 
 of which you ought certainly to acquaint your- 
 self, before you enter upon that of any other 
 European kingdom. If you have courage and 
 industry enough to begin so high as the invasion 
 of Julius Caesar before which nothing is known 
 of the inhabitants of this island you may set out 
 with Rapin, and proceed with him to William 
 the Conqueror. From this era there are other 
 histories of England more entertaining than his, 
 though 1 believe none esteemed more authentic. 
 Party so strongly influences both historians and 
 their readers, that it is a difficult and invidious 
 task to point out the best amongst the number of
 
 OF THE MIND. 177 
 
 English histories that offer themselves : but, as 
 you will not read with a critical view, nor enter 
 deeply into politics, I think you may be allowed 
 to choose that which is most entertaining; and, 
 in this yiew, I believe the general voice will 
 direct you to Hume, though he goes no further 
 than the Revolution. Among other historians, 
 do not forget my darling Shakspeare a faithful 
 as well as a most agreeable one ; whose historical 
 plays, if read in a series, will fix in your memory 
 the reigns he has chosen more durably than any 
 other history. You need not fear his leading you 
 into any material mistakes, for he keeps sur- 
 prisingly close to the truth, as well in the cha- 
 racters as in the events. One cannot but wish 
 he had given us a play on the reign of every 
 English king as it would have been the plea- 
 santest, and perhaps the most useful, way of be- 
 coming acquainted with it. 
 
 For the other portion of Great Britain, Robert- 
 son's History of Scotland is a delightful work, 
 and of a moderate size. 
 
 Next to your own country, France will be the 
 most interesting object of your inquiries ; our an- 
 cient possessions in that country, and the fre- 
 quent contests we have been engaged in with its 
 inhabitants, connect their history with our own. 
 The extent of their dominion and influence their 
 supposed superiority in elegance and politeness 
 their eminence in the arts and sciences and that
 
 178 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 intercourse of thought, if so I may call it, which 
 subsists between us, by the mutual communica- 
 tion of literary productions make them pecu- 
 liarly interesting to us; and we cannot but find 
 our curiosity excited to know their story, and to 
 be intimately acquainted with the character, ge- 
 nius, and sentiments of this nation. 
 
 I do not know of any general history of France, 
 that W 7 ill answer your purpose, except that of 
 Mezerai, which even the abridgment is a pretty 
 large work ; there is a very modern one by Velly, 
 and others, which perhaps may be more lively, 
 but is still more voluminous, and not yet com- 
 pleted. From Mezerai you may proceed with 
 Voltaire to the end of the reign of .Louis the 
 Fourteenth. 
 
 In considering the rest of Europe, your cu- 
 riosity may be confined within narrower limits. 
 Modern history is, from the nature of it, much 
 more minute and laborious than the ancient and 
 to pursue that of so many various kingdoms and 
 governments, would be a task unequal to your 
 leisure and abilities, at least for several years to 
 come; at the same time, it must be owned, that 
 the present system of politics and commerce has 
 formed such a relation between the different 
 powers of Europe that they are in a manner 
 members of one great body, and a total igno- 
 rance of any considerable state would throw an 
 obscurity even upon the affairs of your own coun-
 
 OF THE MIND. 179 
 
 try ; an acquaintance however with the most re- 
 markable circumstances, that distinguish the prin- 
 cipal governments, will sufficiently enlighten you, 
 and will enable you to comprehend whatever re- 
 lates to them, in the histories with which you are 
 more familiar. Instead of referring you for this 
 purpose to dull and uninteresting abridgments, I 
 choose rather to point out to you a few small 
 Tracts, which exhibit striking and lively pictures, 
 not easily effaced from the memory, of the con- 
 stitutions and the most remarkable transactions 
 of several of these nations. Such are 
 
 Sir William Temple's Essay on the United 
 Provinces. 
 
 His Essay on Heroic Virtue, which contains 
 some account of the Saracen Empire. 
 
 Vertot's Revolutions de Suede. 
 
 de Portugal. 
 
 Voltaire's Charles XII. de Suede. 
 
 Pierre le Grand. 
 
 Puffendorf's Account of the Popes, in his In- 
 troduction, to Modern History. 
 
 Some part of the History of Germany and 
 Spain, you will see more in detail in Robertson's 
 History of Charles the Fifth, which I have al- 
 ready recommended to you in another view. 
 
 After all this, you may still be at a loss for the 
 transactions of Europe, in the last fifty years; 
 for the purpose of giving you, in a very small 
 compass, some idea of the state of affairs during
 
 180 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 that period, I will venture to recommend one 
 book more Campbell's State of Europe*. 
 
 Thus much may suffice for that moderate 
 scheme, which I think is best suited to your sex 
 and age. There are several excellent histories, 
 and memoirs of particular reigns and periods, 
 which I have taken no notice of in this circum- 
 scribed plan but with which, if you should hap- 
 pen to have a taste for the study, you will here- 
 after choose to be acquainted : these will be read 
 with most advantage after you have gained some 
 general view of history and they will then serve 
 to refresh your memory, and settle your ideas 
 distinctly; as well as enable you to compare dif- 
 ferent accounts of the persons and facts which 
 they treat of, and to form your opinions of them 
 on just grounds. 
 
 As I cannot, with certainty, foresee what de- 
 gree of application or genius for such pursuits 
 you will be mistress of, I shall leave deficiencies 
 of this collection to be supplied by the sugges- 
 tions of your more informed friends who, if you 
 explain to them how far you wish to extend your 
 knowledge, will direct you to the proper books. 
 
 But if, instead of an eager desire for this kind 
 of knowledge, you should happen to feel that 
 distaste for it, which is too common in young 
 
 * This work has not been published for some years ; Guth- 
 rie's Geographical and Historical Grammar is the best work 
 of the kind at present.
 
 OF THE MIND. 181 
 
 ladies who have been indulged in reading only 
 works of mere amusement, you will perhaps 
 rather think that I want mercy in offering you 
 so large a plan, than that there needs an apology 
 for the deficiencies of it: hut, comfort yourself 
 with the assurance that a taste for history will 
 grow and improve by reading : that as you get 
 acquainted with one period or nation, your cu- 
 riosity cannot fail to be awakened for what con- 
 cerns those immediately connected -with it: and 
 thus you will insensibly be led on from one de- 
 gree of knowledge to another. 
 
 If you waste in trivial amusement the next 
 three or four years of your life which are the 
 prime season of improvement, believe me you 
 will hereafter bitterly regret their loss : when you 
 come to feel yourself inferior in knowledge to 
 almost every one you converse with and, above 
 all, if you should ever be a mother, when you 
 feel your own inability to direct and assist the 
 pursuits of your children you will then find ig- 
 norance a severe mortification and a real evil. 
 Let this, my dear, animate your industry and let 
 not a modest opinion of your own capacity be a 
 discouragement of your endeavours after know- 
 ledge ; a moderate understanding, with diligent 
 and well directed application, will go much fur- 
 ther than a more lively genius, if attended with 
 that impatience and inattention which too often 
 accompany quick parts. It is not from want of
 
 182 ON THE IMPROVEMENT 
 
 capacity that so many women are such trifling 
 insipid companions-^ so ill qualified for the friend- 
 ship and conversation of a sensible man or for 
 the task of governing and instructing a family ; 
 it is much oftener from the neglect of exercising 
 the talents which they really have, and from 
 omitting to cultivate a taste for intellectual im- 
 provement: by this neglect they lose the sin- 
 cerest of pleasures ; a pleasure which would re- 
 main when almost every other forsakes them 
 which neither fortune nor age can deprive them 
 of and which would be a comfort and resource 
 in almost every possible situation of life. 
 
 If I can but inspire you, my dear child, with 
 the desire of making the most of your time and 
 abilities, my end is answered; the means of 
 knowledge will easily be found by those who 
 diligently seek them and they will find their la- 
 bours abundantly rewarded. 
 
 And now, my dear, I think it is time to finish 
 this long correspondence which, though in some 
 parts it may have been tedious to you, will not, I 
 hope, be found entirely useless in any. I have 
 laid before you all that my matures! reflections 
 could enable me to suggest, for the direction of 
 your conduct through life. My love for you, my 
 dearest child, extends its views beyond this frail 
 and transitory existence; it considers you as a 
 candidate for immortality as entering the lists
 
 OF THE MIND. 183 
 
 for the prize of your high calling as contending 
 for a crown of unfading glory. It sees, with 
 anxious solicitude, the dangers that surround you, 
 and the everlasting shame that must follow, if 
 you do not exert all your strength in the conflict. 
 Religion therefore has been the basis of my plan 
 the principle to which every other pursuit is 
 ultimately referred. Here then I have endea- 
 voured to guide your researches; and to assist 
 you in forming just notions on a subject of such 
 infinite importance, I have shown you the neces- 
 sity of regulating your heart and temper, accord- 
 ing to the genuine spirit of religion which I have 
 so earnestly recommended as the great rule of 
 your life. To the same principle I would refer 
 your attention to domestic duties and even that 
 refinement and elegance of manners, and all those 
 graces and accomplishments, which will set your 
 virtues in the fairest light, and will engage the 
 affection and respect of all who converse with 
 you. Endeared to society by these amiable qua- 
 lities, your influence in it will be more extensive, 
 and your capacity of being useful proportionably 
 enlarged. The studies, which I have recom- 
 mended to you, must be likewise subservient to 
 the same views ; the pursuit of knowledge, when 
 it is guided and controlled by the principles I 
 have established, will conduce to many valuable 
 ends ; the habit of industry it will give you the 
 nobler kind of friendships for which it will qua.
 
 184 IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND. 
 
 lify you, and its tendency to promote a candid 
 and liberal way of thinking are obvious advan- 
 tages. T might add, that a mind well informed 
 in the various pursuits which interest mankind, 
 and the influence of such pursuits on their happi- 
 ness, will embrace with a clearer choice, and will 
 more steadily adhere to those principles of Virtue 
 and Religion which the judgment must ever ap- 
 prove, in proportion as it becomes enlightened. 
 
 May those delightful hopes be answered which 
 have animated my heart, while with diligent at- 
 tention I have endeavoured to apply to your ad- 
 vantage all that my own experience and best 
 observation could furnish. With what joy should 
 I see my dearest girl shine forth a bright example 
 of every thing that is amiable and praiseworthy ! 
 and how sweet would be the reflection that I 
 had, in any degree, contributed to make her so!- 
 My heart expands with the affecting thought, and 
 pours forth in this adieu the most ardent wishes 
 for your perfection ! If the tender solicitude ex- 
 pressed for your welfare by this ' labour of love' 
 can engage your gratitude, you will always re- 
 member how deeply your conduct interests the 
 happiness of Your most affectionate 
 
 AUNT. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 University of California 
 
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