lative length of the notes and rests; a knowledge that may be acquired in an hour,

It was a very just observation of my acquaintance Dr. J———, that singing has this great advantage over instruments; the learner may practise whenever he is alone, walking or riding, so that there is no loss of time; whilst one of the strongest objections to the practice of instrumental music is, that it requires more time than a studious young man can spare.

Berkenbout.

If a young woman cannot partake of the amusements of a ball-room, except at the expense of benevolence, of friendship, of diffidence, of sincerity, of good-humour, at the expense of some christian dispo sition, some christian virtue, she has no business there. The recreation to others is innocent, to her it is a sin.-Gisborne.

It is perhaps more desirable, that young ladies should play, sing, and dance, only so well as to amuse themselves and their friends, than to practise these arts in so eminent a degree as to astonish the public; because a great apparent attention to trivial accomplishments is liable to give a suspicion that more valuable acquisitions have been neglected. And as they consist in an exhibition of the person, they are liable to be attended with vanity, and to extinguish the blush of ⚫ youthful timidity, which is in young ladies the most powerful of their exterior charms. Such masters should be chosen to instruct young ladies in these

accomplishments, as are not only well qualified to sing and play and dance themselves, but also who can teach with good temper and genteel behaviour; they should also recollect, that vulgar manners, with the sharp gestures of anger, and its disagreeable tones of voice, are unpardonable in those who profess to teach grace-: ful motion and melodious expressions, and may affect the taste and temper of their pupils, so as to be more injurious to their educations, than any thing which they are able to teach them can counterbalance.

Darwin.

Is it compatible with propriety and decency, that the persons of girls advancing towards maturity should be exposed to the wanton eye of a dancing master? Are not the fascinating tones of music as dangerous as the graces of dancing in exciting the tender emotions? Women only, therefore, should be permitted to instruct the sex in these seductive arts. It ought to be their privilege to do so in every other.-Wakefield.

Unluckily, while the age is become so knowing and fastidious, that if a young lady does not play like a public performer, no one thinks her worth attending to, yet if she does so excel, some of the soberest of the admiring circle feel a strong alloy to their pleasure on reflecting at what a vast expense of time this perfection must probably have been acquired.

Besides, the natural constant reference to that public performance, for which they are sedulously cultivating this talent, excites the same passions of envy, vanity, Tt

VOL. II.

and composition in the dilettanti performers, as might be supposed to stimulate professional candidates for fame and profit at public games and theatrical exhibitions. Is this emulation, is this spirit of rivalry the temper which prudent parents would wish to excite and foster? Besides, in any event the issue is not favourable: if the young performers are timid, they disgrace themselves and distress their friends; if courageous, their boldness offends still more than their bad performance. Shall they then be studiously brought into situations, in which failure discredits, and success disgusts?

The Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks believed, that they could more effectually teach their youth maxims of virtue by calling in the aid of music and poetry; these maxims, therefore, they put into verses, and these again were set to the most popular and simple tunes which the children sang; thus was their love of goodness excited by the very instruments of their pleasure; and the senses, the taste, and the imagination, as it were, pressed into the service of religion and morals. Dare I appeal to christian parents, if these arts are commonly used by them as subsidiary to religion, and to a system of morals much more worthy of every ingenious aid and association which might tend to recommend them to the youthful mind? Dare I appeal to christian parents, whether music, which fills up no trifling portion of their daughters' time, does not fill it without any moral or even specific object? nay, whether some of the favourite songs of polished societies are not amatory, are not anacreontic, more than 'quite become the modest lips of innocent youth and delicate beauty?

Baby-balls are a triple conspiracy against the innocence, the health, and the happiness of children: thus by factitious amusements to rob them of a relish for the simple joys, the unbought delights which naturally belong to their blooming season, is like blotting out spring from the year. While childhood While childhood preserves its natural simplicity, every little change is interesting, every gratification a luxury; a ride or a walk will be a delightful amusement to a child in her natural state, but it will be dull and tasteless to a sophisticated little creature, nursed in these forced and costly and vapid creatures. Alas! that we should throw away this first grand opportunity of working into a practical habit the moral of this important truth, that the chief source of human discontent is to be looked for not in our real but in our factitious wants, not in the demands of nature, but in the artificial cravings of desire. To behold lilliputian coquettes projecting dresses, studying colours, assorting ribands and feathers, their little hearts beating with hopes about partners and fears about rivals, and to see their fresh cheeks pale after the midnight supper, their aching heads and unbraced nerves disqualifying the little languid beings for the next day's task, and to hear the grave apology, "that it is owing to the wine, the crowd, and the heated room of the last midnight's ball;" all this I say would really be as ludicrous, if the mischief of the thing did not take off from the merriment of it, as any of the ludicrous disproportions of the diverting travels of captain Lemuel Gulliver*.—More.

* I am aware this passage has been much objected to; but my sentiments perfectly coincide with the author's, if these remarks

Music is a very pleasing accomplishment for young ladies, whose station in life allows them sufficient leisure for such pursuits, but then it should not be considered as a chief object of education (which is too much the case at the present day), nor should it be ever suffered to encroach on that portion of time which ought to be devoted to the improvement of the mind, and more particularly to the fulfilment of the various duties of life. It is certainly the height of absurdity for young ladies to learn music merely because it is fashionable; but when they show a decided taste for it, and possess a good ear, it is perhaps desirable thus to increase the number of their innocent amusements; and where the expense of a master is considered as an objection, any lady who understands music may instruct her daughters for some years, with the assistance of Dussek's or any other good book on fingering, even though she does not perform well herself. A few lessons from a fashionable master will afterwards be sufficient to give them taste and expression.

I cannot judge of the utility of Madame de Genlis' plan for teaching music, not having known any one who has adopted it; but it appears to me, that if children were only taught to play with one hand at a time

Nothing

are confined to children under twelve years of age. surely can be more absurd, though nothing is more common in the higher circles, than for parents to make splendid and expensive entertainments for little children, who are fitter for the nursery than the ball-room.-Editor.