Speech, or any of thofe Qualities, which fhe may enjoy in common with a great Number of other Women, of little Senfe otherwife, and in some respects, very contemptible. Her Behaviour should be exact and regular, her Temper even and orderly, her Judgment juft and upright, to know when to talk and when to be filent; and if in all her Conduct there appears more Difcretion than Humour, her other Qualities will shine the brighter, and distinguish her from the rest of her Sex.

This Prudence is a much more neceffary Qualification than what is call'd Wit:. It will give her an Air of Authority and Refpect, instead of a vain and familiar one. Whatever other Accomplishments fhe has, will, without this, want their true Ornament, and have no more Value without good Order, than scatter'd Flowers confufedly blown about by the Wind.

There is a fort of Discretion and Prudence by which even the Vicious preferve their Reputation, and for want of which, the moft Virtuous lofe theirs. The Escapes of little Excurfions of Wit are often the Occafion of it. Young Ladies, therefore, must be upon their guard, and not let things flip from their Tongues which ought not to dwell in their Minds. Delicacy of thought will help them to avoid this Wreck; nothing can be delicate that is not true and innocent. Pertness of Fancy and Expreffion has a falfe Delicacy, which glares perhaps in Conversation, but never pleases. The fureft Sign of want of Wit is a Fondness of fhewing its those that have it are sparing of a Treasure which is fo rare and uncommon. True Wisdom is like the Lamps of the ancient Sepulchres, which lafted fo long light as they were under ground, and were extinguish'd as foon as they took Air. Wit indeed, if true, fhines out, but never but when it is fure of ftriking, and to have the Effect it intended.

To affect a nice Taste of Things, without Difcernment, is like judging of Painting without Sight. The best Tafte in the Conduct of Life is the accommodating

our

ourselves to Affairs, according as they are more or lefs ufeful. Nothing is really eftimable but good Senfe and Virtue; both of which make us look upon Difguft and Nicenefs, not as laudable Delicacies, but rather as the Weakness of a fick Mind or Body.

Since we are to live in the World with the Dull and Rude, as well as with the Polite and Witty; fince our Affairs will not be always fo very delicate; Reafon, the only true Delicacy, bids us to be polite with the Polite, and delicate with the Delicate; to fuit our Behaviour to our Company, and as that is, to be either witty or dull; if it is in our Power to be either the one or the other. A difguftful Temper makes us uneafy both to ourselves and others. If we diftafte every Thing, every Body will diftafte us; and he who imagines that by being over-nice he may get the Character of being wife, may probably meet with that of being over-wife, agreeably to the State of a modern Critick, whofe over-wisdom and over-delicacy have turn'd at last into downright Madness.

RECREATIONS.

F the two Sexes, the fofter one has moft need of Advice in the ufe of their Diverfions; there are more Eyes upon them, from the other to admire and please them, than from their own to obferve and cenfure. Befides the Temptations of their own Hearts, they have thofe of the Men to ftruggle with; and if they fhew the leaft Difpofition to Pleafure, they will find enow to encourage them in it. To be eager in the Purfuit of it, while they are young, is dangerous; to catch at it, when they are old, is catching at a Shadow: When it becomes lefs natural it grows to be indecent. Diverfions are for fuch as are

Oppreft

Oppreft by Labour, to eafe and relieve them; the Idle want not Relief and Eafe, and yet they, above all, are ever crying they want fomething to divert themselves. "Tis as neceffary as natural, to unbend our Thoughts, when they are too much ftretch'd by our Cares; but to turn our whole Lives into a Holiday, is ridiculous and abfurd, destroying Pleasure inftead of promoting it. The Mind like the Body is tir'd in being always in one Pofture. The most piquant Sauces wou'd lose their Taste, if we were to be always eating them. Too ferious Application of Mind breaks it, too diverting loofens it; Variety gives the Relish. Diverfions too frequently repeated become at first indifferent, and at laft tedious; when well-chofen and well-tim'd, they are without Blame; when us'd to an Excess their Innocence turns, if not to a Crime, at least to Impertinence. Ladies are now engag'd for Affemblies, Parties, Vifits, and Maskerades, as Beffus was for. Duels. They live in a Circle of Idlenefs, where they turn round for the whole Year, without the Interruption of a ferious Hour; they know what Plays are on the Stocks, what Singers are come or coming from Italy: No Trooper is more obedient to the Sound of his Captain's Trumpet, than they are to that which fummons them to a Puppet-Show or a Monster. The Spring that brings out Flies and Fools drives them to Hide-Park. In Winter they are an Incumberance to the Theatres, and the Ballad of the Drawing-Room ; the Streets are all this while fo weary of these daily Faces, that Mens Eyes are glutted with them; they ride about fo long to be gaz'd upon, that at laft they are a Surfeit to the Sight, which is glutted with fine things, as the Stomach is with fweer ones. The Indian, and other Ladies, who want the Charms of the English, excite by Curiofity the Paffion they cannot raise by Beauty. But as if ours were always fure of Conqueft, they do not confider that by giving too much of themfelves to the World, they grow luscious, and rather oppress

oppress than please. These jolly Dames fo continually feek Diverfion, that in a little Time they grow into a Jeft, yet are unwilling to remember that if they were feldomer feen they would not be fo often laugh'd at. Who will choose to look on a Face he is fure to fee to-morrow, who to-day has a new one to entertain him? The Ladies grow cheap by growing familiar, and cheap is the unkindest Word that can be beftow'd upon the Sex.

To game a little for the Diverfion of yourself or your Company, has no Harm in it; but to do it so often as to be call'd a Gamefter is to be avoided next to things that are criminal. And if Gaming is a Vice in Men, it is much more fo in Women; for that one of its Confequences is often the Lofs of what is much more valuable than Gold or Diamonds, their Reputation, if not their Honour. It engages both in a Habit of Idleness and ill Hours, draws them into mixt Company, makes them neglect their Civilities abroad, and their Business at home; in a word, the Gamefter, whether Man or Woman, has neither God, Father, Husband, or Friend; at least they live as if they had neither, and give up to Chance the Empire of Providence.

The Objections are much stronger still to the Ladies than to the Men, with refpect to deep Play; it gives occafion of the World to ask spiteful Queftions: How they dare venture to lofe? and what Means they have to pay fuch great Sums? The Winner and the Lofer are alike in Danger: If the wins, it puts her into fo good a Humour nothing can put her into an ill one; if the loses, she runs in Debt, and there are more Ways than one to discharge it. The Debtor is at the Mercy of the Creditor, and exact are both Sexes in paying these Debts of Honour. If the Ladies pay in Money, it will be ask'd how they come by it? If they owe, and efpecially to a Man, he will be thought no unfair Creditor, if, when the Eftate fails, he feizes upon the Person. Add to this, if a lovely Woman cou'd fee her own Face

upon.

upon an ill Run, the fullen Looks, and the Contorfions of Countenance, fhe would forfwear any thing that gives fuch a Difadvantage to her Beauty.

Dancing is not of itself a Fault, but all that fhou'd be aim'd at in learning it, is how to move gracefully; all beyond it may be call'd excelling in a Mistake. A Man or Woman had better never dance, because they have no Skill in it, than dance often because they do it well. The easiest, as well as fafeft Method of doing it, is in private Companies, amongst particular Friends, and then carelefly, like a Diverfion, never folemnly like a Bufinefs. A Year, or indeed a Month's Converse with a Dancing-Mafter, would be very ill spent, if one learnt of him to mif-fpend the rest of our Time by it. Dancing is a Recreation that contributes to Health of Body, as well as to Deportment, and ceases to be innocent only when we do it not fo much for our own fake, as the fake of others. The Effect it has upon the Body and Mind, when us'd to Excess, should frighten us from fuch Ufe of it; fo contrary to the Prayer taught us by our Saviour, to be delivered from Temptation, into which we then blindly throw ourselves. The Freedoms familiariz'd by Custom are, what at other Times would fhock the Delicacy and Decency of Ladies, who may affure themselves, that no Diverfion is warrantable that's fhocking either to Decency or Delicacy.

All Recreations are defign'd to relieve, and not to foften the Mind; they are no longer lawful than they answer that Design: And it will not be amifs to carry our Reflexion upon Recreations to what is lawful and unlawful in them.

To be lawful, they must be fuch as have no Sin in them; by which Dancing and Gaming, laft fpoken of, are in great Danger of being excluded: They are placed on the very Margin of Virtue, and the leaft Stumble flings one into the Precipice of Vice. Whatever is dishonourable to God, or injurious to your