learned and higher employments of society; while in two thousand academies and schools, both sexes are liberally educated, and in other two thousand, the children of the poor are taught useful knowledge free of expense.

Such is your native country, that country of which, I trust, you will become amiable, virtuous, and useful members.

** **

LETTER XCIII.

Conclusion and Exhortation.

MY ESTEEMED Children,

I have now obeyed the feelings which stimulated me to write these epistles. I might fill volumes, if quantity rather than quality proved my anxiety to be of use to you. But I have thus far opened to you the temple of wisdom, and invited you to employment, virtue, and contentment, which constitute happiness.

I have enabled you, if you are wise, to enjoy the comforts of religion by displaying its light, and instructing you in certain facts, which will induce you, with good intelligence, to become members of a Christian establishment.

I have enlarged on your relative duties of all kinds, and shewn that the practice of virtue is your best interest in this world, and your best title to divine favour in the next.

I have introduced you, if you are thoughtful, to the elements of various knowledge, have set them in new points of view, and enabled you to judge for yourselves of the value and practical importance of all your studies..

I have analyzed the science of language, and

divested it of its forbidding appearance; and I have led you step by step to a taste for the Belles Lettres, and given you critical views of the most distinguished productions of acknowledged genius.

I have carried you through the History of man and of nations, and enabled you, by correct general views, to pursue the details of these never-ending pursuits, as your leisure or opportunities permit.

I have opened to you the Book of Nature, and instructed you in regard to the phenomena by which you are surrounded, and which present materials for your endless curiosity, at every turn of which you will be forced to admire the wisdom, the power, the goodness, and the sublimity of the eternal and infinite Creator and Preserver. The subject is inexhaustible; but I have treated its leading branches in a way calculated to pique further inquiry, and lead you to study the various expositions with which the feeble powers of men have sought to satisfy their pride.

I have enlarged particularly on the globe which we inhabit, and on the part of the creation of which we are members, without attempting details, which alone would fill many volumes.

I have dwelt also with pleasure on the United Kingdom, of which we are the fortunate subjects, in the hope of making you love your country as you ought, and as it deserves.

I have not neglected to notice those accomplishments which are so essential to the female character, and which, united with virtue, benevolence, good sense, and intelligence, render women so important and so estimable in human society.

I have likewise sought to guide and enlarge your studies, by naming the best books and authors, by means of which you may pursue every subject in detail, either within the period allotted to your education, or when you have the choice of your own employments.

306

LETTERS FROM A RETIRED GOVERNESS.

All this I have endeavoured to perform with sincerity, anxiety, and singleness of heart. If I have failed, it has not been for want of zeal; but if I have succeeded I shall die happy, and the short remainder of my days will be cheered by the consciousness that I have secured your grateful remembrance.

Farewell, beloved children! may you reap in your future lives the reward of industrious and well-spent youth,-may you do credit to your governess and instructors, may you be the pride of your parents, and a source of happiness to them, may you be deservedly esteemed in the circle of society in which you are placed, may you often feel the pleasure of making others happy,-may you enjoy health as the result of prudence and temperance, and in fine, may you become good examples for the imitation of others, and when called to another world, may no self-reproaches disturb your hopes of immortality at the right-hand of your blessed Redeemer.

THE END.

FOR

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