are guilty of the most unworthy and infamous conduct in the attempt to support their expenses; in this way, however, fidelity, probity, and natural affection, even among the nearest relatives, gradually become extinct.

All these calamities spring from the authority that vain women have in deciding on the fashions; they assail with ridicule and contempt all those who wish to preserve the gravity and simplicity of ancient manners.

Be solicitous then to make young ladies sensible that the honor which springs from a good character and from real capacity, is far more estimable than that which is derived from their hair or their dress. Assure them that beauty deceives the person who possesses it, even more than those who are dazzled by it; it disturbs and intoxicates the soul; its possessor views herself with greater fondness than is felt by the most impassioned lovers for those of whom they are enamored. A very few years constitute the difference between a fine woman, and one who is destitute of personal charms. Beauty can be only in

jurious, unless it procure a young lady an advantageous marriage. But how can it do this, unless it be sustained by merit and virtue? She cannot expect to marry any one but a young fool, unless her wisdom and modesty render her attractive in the estimation of men who possess cultivated minds, and who are sensible of the superior excellence of moral qualities. Those whose beauty is their only recommendation, soon become ridiculous; they unconsciously arrive at an age when their beauty fades, and they continue to be charmed with themselves, though every one else, far from being pleased, is disgusted with them. In fine, it is as unreasonable to value beauty alone, as to wish, like savage and barbarous nations, to make all merit consist in muscular strength.

From beauty we pass to consider the subject of dress; real graces depend not on vain and affected ornament. We may indeed regard neatness, decency and propriety in the adjustment of our necessary attire; but, beyond this, the garments that cover us, and

which we may render convenient and agreeable, can never confer upon us real beauty. I would even lead young ladies to remark the noble simplicity apparent in the statues and other representations which remain to us of the Grecian and Roman women; they would here see how graceful and majestic are those figures, where the hair is tied behind with an air of negligence, and where the drapery is full and flowing. It would also be advantageous to them to hear the conversation of painters, and other persons who have this exquisite taste for the models of antiquity. If their minds rise in any degree above the prejudices of custom, they will soon conceive the greatest dislike for their unnatural modes of curling the hair, and for those dresses that are made in the extremity of the fashion. I am well aware that we should not wish them to conform to the ancient models; it would be extravagant to desire it; but they might, without any singularity, form a taste for that simplicity of dress, which is so dignified, so graceful, and, at the same time, so suitable

to Christian morals. In this way, while externally conforming to present fashions, they would at least know what to think of these fashions. They would comply with custom, as they would submit to a tiresome servitude, and they would yield to it only what they could not refuse. Make them observe, seasonably and frequently, the vanity and frivolousness that produce this inconstancy in the fashions. It is a very ill-judged thing, for example, to swell the head dress with I know not how many caps piled one upon another; the true graces follow nature, and never place her under constraint.

But the fashion destroys itself; it is always aiming at perfection, and yet never reaches it; at least, it is never willing to stop at that point; it would be reasonable, if it changed for the sake of remaining fixed, after having attained perfection in convenience and elegance; but to change continually, merely for the sake of changing, is nothing less than to seek inconstancy and confusion, true refinement and good taste.

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rally find nothing but caprice in the fashions. The ladies have the power of deciding in these concerns. They are indeed the only persons to whom we should wish to consign this charge; it is true, however, that the most ignorant and frivolous take the chief direction; they neither choose nor refuse anything on rational principles; if any tasteful invention has been long in fashion, that is a sufficient reason for its being so no longer; it is displaced, and something else, however ridiculous, takes its place on the ground of novelty, and is admired.

When these principles are established, you may proceed to point out the rules of Christian modesty. We learn by the sacred Scriptures, that man is born in the corruption of sin. His depraved passions and appetites are a source of temptation to his soul. Jesus Christ teaches us to place all our virtue in the distrust and dread of ourselves. "Would you then be willing," you can say to a young. lady, "to expose your own soul and that of your neighbor to danger, for the sake of