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HINTS TO YOUNG LADIES.

WILL the young of the fairer sex excuse an old married man for giving them a few hints previous to their visiting a land, which is held up as one in which the shrine of beauty receives such overwhelming adulation, that no female, possessing the slightest attraction, need for a day retain the blessings of freedom, unless she prefers it to the chance of enjoying additional pleasures in matrimonial chains. Every young female looks forward, as a natural consequence to her birth, that she shall become some day the mistress of her own home, the willing captive of the tyrant man; but I fear every young female does not equally seize the advantages offered in early life, to fit her for the sacred and hallowed offices of wife and mother-not that I mean to insinuate, that the majority of ladies proceeding to India are careless as to such qualifications, but that the majority, who, I believe, are the daughters of our old civil and military officers, have not the same opportunities, examples, and incitements as they would have, were they more immediately brought up under the fostering and untiring watchfulness of their own parents-more particularly their own

mother. In how many instances are they sent home under the care of friends, who, from sickness or a thousand other reasons, take no further notice of them than merely to see they are not illused, but who allow them to remain wholly and solely under the charge of their Portuguese or native nurse, from whom they certainly have but little chance of learning anything in morality, religion, or useful knowledge; and few people consider that it is in this early age such impressions are made, such principles imbibed, that if they do not altogether destroy, they make it much more difficult to kindle the original virtue, which, notwithstanding the dominion of evil, is still inherent in every rational being. In England they are placed at school, where they have possibly every attention paid to the improvement of their persons, their accomplishments and style; and many, but for their own good sense and strength of mind, would be like the beauteous image of the painter's phantasy, wanting the life and intellect of an eternal spirit, without which it can attract no warmer feeling than that of admiration and surprise. In returning to their parents, young females are subjected to trials, which few deem as such; but parents have much to answer for, (if by any possibility it can be avoided,) in allowing their daughters to proceed on board a ship for a voyage to India, unless under the protection of some married female or male relative.

In choosing a ship for a young lady, much ought to depend upon the known character of the captain, the arrangement of the cabins, and to the number of married parties proceeding in her. The expense will be very materially affected by two ladies occupying one cabin, which I should, in most cases, recommend, for very many reasons. She will require some more articles of cabin furniture, and have her cabin arranged with a view more to comfort than that of a gentleman's. Her conduct from the first day she puts her foot on board, will be the subject of scrutiny and remark by one or other of her fellow-passengers; and there is hardly a more trying situation a young female can be placed in, than that of being shut up for three or four months with individuals of both sexes, with not one of whom, perhaps, she has ever previously exchanged a word, and even to her chaperon she may possibly be personally a stranger. From the great number of passengers occupying the numerous cabins of an Indian vessel, of course there must be a great diversity of character and disposition; and what by some would be considered the harmless exuberance of youthful spirits, and ignorance of evil, by others might be construed into unfeminine familiarity, or natural boldness. Let not the kind or particular attention of any of your male fellow-passengers draw from you more than an ordinary acknowledgment, the same as a stranger; if you

do, you will have every eye upon you—your name will be bandied about, and every word, every look will be noted, and made the theme of conversation throughout the ship. Frequently will young men pay these pointed attentions, merely to please an inordinate vanity, to prove their power of attraction or some other as weak a motive, and lead a too confiding girl to suppose these attentions are sincere, when, on arrival at the Presidency, she finds instead of the consummation of hopes she had indulged in, being realised, she is pointed at, and spoken of as the "forsaken," the jilted, or, perhaps, may hear tales of which the bare idea makes her shudder at. There is no place, no situation in which either a married or a single female can be placed in, which requires greater circumspection, greater restraint on tongue and act than on board of a passenger ship. A woman's character, unlike the polished mirror, never regains its original brightness, when once it has been breathed on by the breath of slander, if for that slander there has been given but the thousandth part of a shadow to rest the foul aspersion on. Do not, in conversation with your own or the other sex, ever be induced to give your opinion on the character of any individual on board. Reading, music, drawing, and working, with the usual exercise on deck, which should always be in company with some female acquaintance, will find you occupation sufficient without requiring such invidious

discussions. Politeness is so natural to the female character, that I need hardly say a word in its favour; it springs from a benevolent heart, and lays a restraint on every irregularity of the temper, which might otherwise heedlessly wound either the feelings or prejudices of others.

Mrs. Talbot, in her Essays, says, "Politeness is the just medium between form and rudeness; it is the consequence of a benevolent nature, which shows itself to general acquaintance, in an obliging, unconstrained civility, as it does to more particular ones, in distinguished acts of kindness. The good nature must be directed by a justness of sense and a quickness of discernment, that knows how to use every opportunity of exercising it, and to proportion the instances of it to every character and situation. It is a restraint laid by reason and benevolence, upon every irregularity of the temper, which, in obedience to them, is forced to accommodate itself even to the fantastic laws which custom and fashion have established, if by that means it can procure, in any degree, the satisfaction or good opinion of any part of mankind; thus paying an obliging deference to their judgment, so far as it is not inconsistent with the higher obligations of virtue and religion.

"This must be accompanied with an elegance of taste and a delicacy observant of the least trifles which tend to please or oblige; and though its foundation must be rooted in the heart, it can

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