pleasures of polite literature, and receiving the just homage of learned and accomplished men.' To this beautiful description I may add,-it gives her, to the latest period of life-the friendship, esteem and affection of her husband-the respect, admiration and tender regard of her sons-the obedience, love, and unbounded confidence of her daughters-the approbation of the virtuous, and the veneration of posterity; and above all, the sweet satisfaction of an approving conscience-the serene delight arising from reflections on the steady performance of past duty -the pleasure of contemplating a happy futurity, and a permanent re-union to souls in heaven, whom she trained on earth, to virtue, piety and usefulness.

CONVERSATION IX.

On the Evils which result from the Selfish and Malevolent Principles of Action.

AMON

MONGST the evils, said the Vicar, which are connected with the probationary situation of man, those which result from the prevalence of the selfish and malevolent principles of action are unquestionably the greatest. The selfish propensities generate the malevolent, and the mind in which they predominate, is capable of descending progressively from one degree of moral debasement to another, until at length the most nefarious acts and iniquitous conduct are scarcely considered as a moral degradation.

An obvious distinction, said Charles, exists between momentary impulses of the mind and permanent principles of action: an impulse is

transitory, a principle durable; an impulse arises from a passion, a principle from an affection of the mind: a passion proceeds from an external impulsive cause, an affection from approbation and choice. By repetition, impulses increase in power and effect, and by habit, affections become permanently operating and influential principles. The importance of restraining any percussion or impulse of the mind contrary to the principles we desire to cultivate, must be evident from considering the tendency of repetition to lessen the vividness of sensible impressions, and to strengthen the power and force of habit.

When the benevolent principle, said the Vicar, is permanently operative, a malevolent action cannot be committed. However great the injury a benevolent man may receive, he is superior to the degradation and incapable of the littleness of revenge; hence magnanimity is inseparably connected with the prevalence of the benevolent principle.

The lower principles of action, said Sir Edward, occasion the external evils which attend societies and individuals. The predominance of the selfish principle in the higher departments of legisla

tive power produces the evils arising from want of economy in national expenditure, and from the improper appropriation of the public resources. As the prodigality and thoughtless extravagance of a father involves his family or posterity in the evils of poverty, so the want of economy or the injudicious appropriation of national resources, must eventually be injurious to posterity.

Every external evil of society, said Mrs. Osbourne, results from the prevalence of the lower principles of action. Gross self-interest and the practice of every nefarious means to promote it, is discernible in every rank and station of life. Youth and inexperience are frequently hapless victims to hypocrisy, deceit, and other modifications of the selfish principle.

Young people, said Sophronia, are much to be pitied, who have to sail down the stream of time without a parental hand to steer or a prudent friend to direct them. The warm and unsuspecting mind of youth believes that every extended hand is designed to afford them succour or protection; they perceive not ostentation beneath the form of friendship, nor self-interest under the mark of affection and kindness. It is not until experience

has withdrawn the veil, that they are enabled to discern, that actions to which their generous feelings induced them to affix the highest merit, were only diversified modifications of the selfish principle. /

Every stage of life, said Mrs. Wentworth, has its peculiar evils to endure and dangers to combat; those of youth are certainly the greatest, because they are seldom perceived until they are passed, or if discerned, avoided until pain and anguish has resulted from them.

Every age, said Mrs. Osbourne, has its follies and fashionable vices. Society has its degrees and its prevailing corresponding propensities. In the present state of society, more has been done in principle than in practice. The seeds of knowledge and religion are sowing, which must be infallibly productive of good in their consequences to the latest posterity.

One peculiarity, said William, which distinguishes the manners of the present day, and which I suppose arises from that superior degree of civilization which admits the perfect equality of the sexes, is, that ladies throw aside the mo