and circular characters, and used only one curled one, which is for the letter g; and I trust I have made them fufficiently diftinct in their forms. There are some angled and compound characters, ufed for the treble letters; but then it fhould be remembered that each of thefe characters with a vowel point, will very often ferve for a whole word, and I was afraid, by indulging too great a fimplicity in thefe characters, I might degenerate into the modern uniformity.

The method of marking the vowels by points, as I have here advised, will be found a very great saving of time. It will alfo afford those who can fo far depend upon their memory, an opportunity of entirely omitting them, till the writing be finifhed; when, by an attentive perufal, the piece may have all its vowels marked; which will render it intelligible to the writer at a future time, when he has,, perhaps, forgotten the fubject matter.

A PRAXIS,

OF THREE LESSONS.

On Modefty.

Leffoa I.-I know no two words, that have been more abufed by the different and wrong interpretations which are put upon them, than thefe two, Modefty and Affurance. To fay, fuch a one is a modest man, fometimes indeed passes for a good character; but, at prefent, is very often used to fignify a fheepish, awkward fellow, who has neither good breeding, politeness, nor any knowledge of the world.

Again, a man of affurance, though, at firft, it only denoted a perfon of a free and open rriage, is now, very usually, applied to a profligate wich, who can break through all the rules of decency and morality without a blush.

I shall endeavour, therefore, in this effay, to restore these words to their true meaning; to prevent the idea of Modesty from being confounded with that of Sheepifhnefs, and to hinder Impudence from paffing for Affurance.

VOL. I.

P

Leffon

Lesson II.—If I were put to define Modefty, I would call it the reflection of an ingenuous mind, either when a man has committed an action for which he cenfures himself, or fancies that he is exposed to the cenfure of others.

For this reafon a man truly modeft is as much so when he is alone as in company, and as subject to a blush in his clofet, as when the eyes of multitudes are upon him. ?

I do not remember to have met with any instance of modefty with which I am so well pleased, as that celebrated one of the young prince, whofe father, being a tributary king to the Romans, had several complaints laid against him before the fenate, as a tyrant and oppressor of his fubjects. The prince went to Rome to defend his father; but coming into the senate, and hearing a multitude of crimes proved upon him, was fo oppreffed when it came to his turn to speak, that he was unable to utter a word. The story tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this instance of modesty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the most pathetic oration; and, in fhort, pardoned the guilty father for this early promise of virtue in the fon

I take affurance to be the faculty of poffeffing a man's felf, or of faying and doing indifferent things without any uneafinefs or emotion in the mind. That which generally gives a man affurance is a moderate knowledge of the world, but above all a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules of honour and decency. An open and af fured behaviour is the natural confequence of such a refolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time misinterpreted, retires within himself, and, from a consciousness of his own integrity, affumes force enough to defpife the little cenfures of ignorance and malice.

Leffon III.Every one ought to cherish and encourage in himself the modesty and affurance I have here mentioned.

A man without affurance is liable to be made uneafy by the folly or ill-nature of every one he converfes with. A man without modefty is loft to all sense of honour and virtue.

It is more than probable, that the prince above mentioned poffeffed both thefe qualifications in a very eminent degree. Without affurance he would never have undertaken to speak before the most auguft affembly in the world; without modefty he would have pleaded the caufe he had taken upon him, though it had appeared, ever fo fcandalous.

From what has been faid, it is plain, that modefty and affurance are both amiable, and may very well meet in the fame perfon. When they are thus mixed and blended together, they compose what we endeavour to express when we say a modeft affurance: by which we understand the just mean between bashfulness and impudence.

1 fhall conclude with obferving, that as the fame man may be both modeft and affured, so it is alfo poffible for the fame perfon to be both impudent and bashful,

We have frequent instances of this odd kind of mixture in people of depraved minds and mean education; who, though they are not able to meet a man's eyes, or pronounce a fentence without confufion, can voluntarily commit the greatest villanies or most indecent actions.

Such a perfon feems to have made a refolution to do ill even in fpite of himself, and in defiance of all those checks and restraints his temper and complexion feem to have laid in his way.

Upon the whole, I would endeavour to establish this maxim, that the practice of virtue is the moft proper method to give a man a becoming affurance in his words and actions. Guilt always feeks to fhelter itself in one of the extremes, and is fometimes attended with both.

I have, for the ease of the learner, diftributed all the words of each of the foregoing leffons, into a regular order; and prefixed to each word, or phrafe, its number, as it is numbered in the plate; by which the characters that compose it may be seen at one view.

In the first leffon is inferted every confonant belonging to each word, with the point for every vowel; which practice, as was before obferved, the learner muft purfue, till he be. very ready in both writing and reading all his exercises. The first ten words in this leffon have their characters formed feparately from each other.

In the second leffon no more letters in a word are inferted than are abfolutely neceffary to difcover the found. The fingle confonant marks are also ufed for the words, prepofitions, and terminations they reprefent; and the characters for the double and treble letters.

The third leffon is written upon the most finished principles of this art. Above all the advantages which it posfeffes, in common with the fecond leffon, it has, moreover, all the abbreviations delivered in the foregoing rules. And which rules the writer fhould have very perfectly in his memory,