pose, an elegant simplicity of dress is to be recommended in preference to that superabundance of ornament, where the lady herself is the least part of her. The form of dress must nevertheless perpetually vary with the fashion of the time; but a person of taste may lessen those parts of a fashionable dress which oppose beauty or grace, and bring forward those which are more coincident with them, so as to wear a dress in fashion, and yet not devoid of taste. Where the appearance of use in dress can be given to ornaments, it suggests an excuse for wearing them, and is therefore to be preferred; as diamond pins, strings of pearl, and a comb of shell to restrain the exuberant hair; or knots of ribands to fix the slipper on the foot, to contract the sleeve round the arm, to unite the vest upon the bosom, or to attach the cap over the forehead. And when these are similar in colour, it gives an air of simplicity, which must always please. Other ornaments, which bear no analogy to use in dress, should be sparingly worn, lest they give an idea that they were designed to display the pride of the possessor rather than to decorate her person. These are sometimes so ill placed as to make deformities conspicuous, as a number of rings on fingers distorted with the gout, or splendid buckles on turned-in feet. Paint and perfumes are totally inadmissible in the dress of young ladies, as they give a suspicion of natural defects in respect to colour of the skin and odour of the breath. Ornaments of every kind are useless or injurious to youthful beauty; they add no power to the charm, but rather disenchant the beholder, by ab stracting his attention, which dwells with undiminished rapture on beauty arrayed by simplicity, and animated without affectation. The attention to taste in dress may nevertheless be carried into an extreme; it should not seem to be the most important part of the education of a young lady, or the principal object of her care; she should rather appear to follow than to lead the fashion, according to the lines of Mr. Pope Be not the first on which the new are tried, Darwin. While we ridicule those whose thoughts appear to be entirely engrossed by the study of their dress, perhaps the opposite extreme is by no means free from censure; nor should the subject of dress be wholly overlooked in education. When I hear people of sense and refinement pretend to despise dress as beneath their notice, I am sometimes almost tempted to suspect them of affectation or insincerity, since it may be naturally imagined that the same discriminating taste which leads them to admire the chefs d'oeuvres of the fine arts, and to select the most beautiful and appropriate ornaments for the embellishment of their houses and grounds, would make them desirous that the living ornaments of their drawing-rooms should be equally graced by elegance, neatness, and consistency, without which no object, either animate or inanimate, can be perfectly pleasing to the man of true taste. Indeed we are all of us more or less influenced in our opinions of strangers by their outward appearance; and as dress is generally considered as the index of the mind, parents should guard their children from the errors and mistakes many young persons fall into in this respect, owing to their never having been taught to dress with taste and judgment. Perhaps a doll may be of great use for this purpose, as a prudent mother may imperceptibly lead her daughter to prefer neatness and elegance, in the choice of ornaments in dressing her doll, to finery and show. This will not be so likely to increase her vanity, as if this kind of instruction were expressly directed to the embellishment of her own person. Parents should if possible permit their sons and daughters to dress in the same style as the young people with whom they commonly associate; for otherwise they will probably be laughed at and quizzed by their companions, which may make them feel an undue inferiority, inspire them with envy, and spoil their dispositions. I do not mean to say, that their clothes should be equally expensive, but that their general appearance should be the same. Indeed I believe the pains taken by some parents to inspire their children with a contempt for dress are not only very useless, but frequently produce a contrary effect, by inducing them to run into the other extreme when they have the management of it themselves. When young people are grown up, it may be very desirable to encourage them to dress rather less expensively than their companions, that they may endeavour by their example to check as much as possible the present Prudence, Economy, Knowledge of the World, &c. 351 fashionable extravagance in this, and every other species of luxury. Boys sometimes show a great fondness for dress at a very early age, and are inclined to run into the utmost extremes of every fashion. Instead of restraining or opposing this folly, perhaps it would be better to indulge them in it till they grow tired of it themselves. I have frequently heard it remarked, that almost every man is a puppy and a coxcomb during some period of his life, and the sooner the fit is over the better. Editor. CHAPTER XXVI. Prudence, Economy, Knowledge of the World, and establishing young Men in Business. BESIDES being well bred, a tutor should know the world well, the ways, the humours, the follies, the cheats, the faults of the age he lives in, and these he should be able to show to his pupil, and dispose him to think no man better or worse, or wiser or foolisher, than he really is. Thus, by insensible degrees, he will pass from a boy to a man, which is the most hazard. ous step in all the whole course of his life. It requires much discretion to choose the right time and method of teaching young men this knowledge of the world, and a tutor ought to adapt it to the temper, inclination, and weak side of his pupil. It must be remembered, that it is impossible to keep a young gentleman from hearing of or seeing vice, and the longer he is kept hoodwinked, the less he will see when he comes abroad into open day-light, and be the more exposed to be a prey to himself and others. An old boy at his first appearance, with all the gravity of the ivy-bush about him, is sure to draw on him the eyes and chirping of the whole town-volery, amongst which there will not be wanting some birds of prey, that will presently be on the wing for him. A gentleman may be unfurnished with many parts of learning without any great disparagement to himself, or prejudice to his affairs; but prudence and goodbreeding are in all stations necessary, and require the assistance of a teacher more than the languages or sciences, for nobody ever went far in knowledge, or became eminent in any of the sciences, by the discipline and restraints of a master. The great work of a governor is to fashion the carriage and form the mind; to settle in his pupils good habits, and the principles of virtue and wisdom; to give him by little and little a view of mankind, and work him into a love of what is excellent and praiseworthy; and in the prosecution of it to give him vigour, activity, and industry. studies which he sets him upon are but as it were the exercise of his faculties, and to give him some little taste of what his own industry must perfect. The A father would do well, as his son grows up and is capable of it, to talk familiarly with him, nay ask his advice and consult with him about those things wherein he has any knowledge or understanding, by which he will gain two things both of great moment; the one that it will put serious consideration into his son's |