Written for the Casket. FEMALE EDUCATION. Yet the best blood by learning is reåned, And the paternal staimp efface.-OLDISWORTH. The inquiry, "should females receive as complete an education as males?" has been the source of much speculation. It is an inquiry, the settlement of which promises a signal triumph either to reason or bigotry. In former times, when knowledge was less extensively diffused-when every useful and brilliant production of genius lay unknown in the cloisters of ecclesiastical priesthood-when the pæans of Sappho and the elegies of Alcaeus were no longer sung-when the voice of Thalha was hushed, and the harp of Clio hung mute and lifeless upon the willow-and when the achievements of the hero and the martyrdom of the Christian, could only be perpetuated by the legends of tradition-woman, lovely woman, "Was doomed the slave of man to toil, Yoked with the beasts and fettered to the soil." But when the sun of knowledge began to diffuse his rays over the semi-barbarians of Europe-dissipating the darkness of ignorance which covered them, and the religion of the blessed Saviour began to be more extensively taught-her condition was improved, and the smiles of her hope, her peace, and approaching happiness, began to mingle with those of her beauty. With what reasoning are the enemies of female education able to satisfy their minds? Some advance as an argument an objection, carrying prejudice and absurdity on its face-viz.: "The inability of woman-her want of mental strength and influence, which are necessary to ensure success and usefulness." Those who take this equally destitute of strength of mind and those qualities which are necessary to command admiration! The reason why there are more poets, orators, and philosophers, among men, is because their education is an object of more care and attention. This education, which could be the means of great good, is often, very often, perverted, and applied to the more vicious and baneful uses. There are many, who, carrying with them through life the appellation of learned, gain an influence over the minds of their contemporaries, which the glaring absurdity and vicious doctrines with which their writings abound, are unable to erase when the hand of mortality shall have seized them, and their bodies shall have crumbled into dust. This is not the result of female education. Naturally chaste, modest, and unassuming-having been taught when young that the beauty and worth of woman consist in those qualities, improved and strengthened by polite literature, she aspires after no higher honor than to be a source of pleasure and happiness to those with whom she is connected, and a means of enjoyment to man, the partner of her bosom-the author of her cares. She labors not for the fleeting honors of time, but the moral tendency of her writings exhibits that they seek after a crown of glory beyond the grave-"a crown, at the sight of which the diadems of the Cæsars would sink to weeds." Who, then, can deny but what the literary productions of women, (when influenced by such motives.) will be beneficial to the males as well as their own sex? Is it reasonable to believe that Paine would have destroyed his own happiness, with that of many of his fellow creatures, had he been blessed with a mother endowed with these heavenly feelings, and these precious accomplishments. Hume and Voltaire, too, might perhaps (after living long and useful lives) have sunk to the tomb, with the same feel usefulness to pay the last tribute to departed greatness. position are opposing analogy, past experience- ings which accompany the Christian in that trythe fountains of experimental, unerring know-ing hour-bearing with them their crowns of ledge. Where are the sublime and useful pro- bliss, and leaving behind the disciples of their ductions of Edgeworth? Where are the trophies of the genius of Opie, of Hemans, of Hamilton, of De Stael and More? To borrow the words of Story, " "man can no longer boast of exclusive dominion in authorship. He has rivals or allies in almost every department tof science, and they are to be found among those whose elegance of manners and blamelessness of life, command his respect as much as their talents excite his admiration. Who is there that does not contemplate with enthusiasm the precious fragments of Elizabeth Smith, the venerable learning of Eli The benefit originating from female productions is more plainly seen in the effect they have on the young. The tender and tractable mind is easily influenced by those writings, which are intended not simply to instruct, but also to interest. It is argued by some, that the many vicious and obscene books met with in the higher branches of literature, are calculated to have an injurious effect on the morals of females; and for this reason there are many who even go so far zabeth Carter, the elevated piety of Hannah as to say, that their education should be restrictMore, the persuasive sense of Mrs. Barbauld, ed to reading and writing, etc.; or should their the elegant memoirs of her accomplished niece, education be prolonged or extended, they should the bewitching pictures of Madame D'Arblay, be robbed of every literary production not im the vivid, picturesque, and terrific imagery of Mrs. Radcliffe, the glowing poetry of Mrs. Hemans, the matchless wit, the inexhaustible conversations, the fine character painting, the practical instructions of Miss Edgeworth, the great Known, standing in her department by the side of the great Unknown!" The same objection, which has been answered, might be urged against the general education of males. How many are there among the males mediately connected with their domestic affairs. That the reading of vicious books is calculated to injure the morals, is what no one will pretend to deny; but that females, with proper care, are much exposed to this evil, is much to be doubted. It is supposed that, in the first place, parents endeavor to keep such books out of the reach of their children; and if this is not the case, the parents neglect the performance of their duty. And if the character of females, when grown, is not composed of modesty, chastity, affection, and every other virtue, we conclude that the reason is, their parents were themselves destitute of the blessings of polite literature; and had this not been the case, such would not have been the character of their children! Besides, the time is fast approaching when every production calculated to injure the morals, will be excluded from the libraries of the polite and patriotic. Great revolutions have taken place during the last century, in relation to the worth of the productions of mind, as well as the actions of the body. Mental struggles must have an umpire, as well as bodily; and he who aspires after Tully's " aliquid immensum que infinitum," in oratory, the "magister boni" of Horace, or the "sana mens in sano corpore" of Virgil, must consent to submit to the scrutiny of the present, as well as hope for the generosity of futurity. The empire of the mind will be triumphant. It must be obvious, then, to every man, that such objections vanish when considerations like these are fully examined. One of the greatest pleasures which man enjoys is conversation: and the pleasure of conversation is certainly increased by an increase of knowledge. And why not employ every means which are justifiable for the purpose of increasing the pleasure of those whose cares are great, and whose worth (experience proves) has never been duly appreciated? But, alas! such arguments as these are calculated to have but little influence on those who inherit the cruelty of their fathers, and who are always ready to resort to any means for destroying every vestige, of justice and prostituting every call of humanity. And if it be granted that every purgranted tha suit of females should be composed of innocence, virtue, and pleasure, what employment is more applicable than the pursuit of literature? The best way to destroy vice, is to place before it something more fascinating. Lay before feimales, when young, something worth the application of their strongest faculties-the employment of all their time-and there will be formed a more impenetrable, a more insurmountable barrier against vice, than all the exhortations which may be given by the philosophic tongue in after Jife. In fact, this is necessary to produce that perfection which Cowper has expressed in a few beautiful lines "Her eye is meek and gentle, and a smile Is to encourage goodness." But the consideration which ought to have most influence in the examination of this subject, remains yet to be mentioned. It is this--"if females were better educated, the education of males would be improved,"-new lustre would be added to their public and private careers, and new energy to their counsels. Take, for instance, a man of high standing-a prince, a general, or any man whose influence promises to be great-what would be the effect of his influence, if destitute of moral instruction--destitute of maternal admonitions-unacquainted with the solicitations of parental affection, and deprived of the blessings of learning? He spreads his influence-injurious and destructive-to the most distant corners of his country. Thousands feel this influence; thousands sink beneath the stroke of oppression. The empire of force is fast fading from the face of the earth. The time is rapidly approaching when the chains of tyranny will be broken-broken so that no artist will be found ingenious enough to mend them: and the spirit of free principle, of universal liberty, will be seen ushering from the shades of darkness, the abodes of ministerial oppression! Yes, the time is fast approaching when physical power will be no longer required to lead man to the goal of prosperity. There will be a mental government-a government of reason. All nature proves it. Why is it, that man will resist to the last gasp the hand of the oppressor? What is that for which man has been toiling from the time when he rose from his cradle in the west, until he reached these last limits of his wanderings? Is it a spirit which is leading him through morasses to the gibbet and the stake? Ask the ruins of Athens-go thunder these questions among the hills where once stood imperial Rome-the land of Brutus, the home of Cassius. Go ask the spirit which hovers over the plains of Marathon; go inquire of those who are still living monuments of our own glorious revolution, and an answer will be received which none can doubt. If, then, this is to be the result of the labors of the good and patriotic, are there not reasons why female education should be improved? We know that the influence of woman is great. To them is left the formation of the character; the turn of mind is always acquired from maternal admonition. It is in the infancy of man, when resting on the knees of the mother, when those principles are implanted in his bosom, which, in after life, are to sway the sceptre of despotism, or lead him to the temple of fame. There are many striking examples of the influence of females over their husbands, and those with whom they may be connected. When Bonaparte had extended his arms over nearly the whole of Southern Europe, and had seen his colors flying triumphantly over the walls of the capitol of Egypt, it was womanthe accomplished Josephine-who added vigor to his arm by her counsels, and infused mercy in his bosom by her affectionate disposition. But though her influence was great, her sufferings were soon disregarded. Such were her qualities, that had her admonitions been listened to, had her sufferings been regarded, the conqueror of conquerors might have died among the " vine hills of his own dear France," exulting in the triumph of liberty, the emancipation of Europe from civil and religious despotism. But, alas! when he turned a deaf ear to her entreaties, his honor, his power and happiness faded away like the dew drops of the morning. The influence of the female is strikingly exhibited in the education of our immortal Washington. The instructions which he received, when young, from his mother, were such as to enable him to lead our fathers through the doubtful period of '76-overcome the powers of temptation, and after having lived "the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen," to sink in peace to the tomb, honored with the ap- | confiding soul of youth had fondly dreamed of. pellation of "Father of his Country." Such is the effect of female influence, and such the force of female accomplishments; and without these accomplishments, what would be the result of female trials and female admonition? Here would rise a Cromwell, with hands crimsoned with his country's blood; there would be seen the car of a Cæsar, driving swiftly over the "forbidden Rubicon." Here a Tiberius, hastening with rapid strides to the goal of power; there a Sylla, trampling on the bodies of his murdered countrymen, and rejoicing at the fall of liberty! With mother and wife, gifted with all the accomplishments which polite literature, a due cultivation of the mind, can afford, how happy is man! But deprived of these "Oh, what is man?-a world without a sun." When we cast our eyes over the chronicles of past ages, and contemplate the treatment which woman has received from man, reflecting, at the same time, on her many charms and accomplishments which are calculated to produce happiness in every circle, we are forced to exclaim with the philosopher of old, "O homines! O tempora!! O mores!!!" As she was called into existence for the happiness of man, was such treatment expected? All was sad without her; man himself was sorrowful. Yes, how beautiful has the poet expressed it "The world was sad! the garden was a wild! And man, the hermit, sighed, till woman smiled." What could have been expected, but that her situation would have called forth the attention of men? But not so! For ages has she been regarded, not as the messenger of glad tidings, but the object of hatred and oppression. Compelled in some countries to toil with unceasing ardor in the bloom of youth, and linger out her latter days in poverty and neglect. But with all this cruelty, she still exclaims "Man, with all thy fauits I love thee still." Unceasing in her love, uncorrupted in her morals, charitable in her affection-abroad a friend and comforter, at home a source of pleasure and delight-who can not exclaim, with the genius of Mocre: "Oh, woman! whose form and whose souI, Are the spell and the light of all we pursue! Just emerging from a state of pupilage and theory, he at once appears upon the broad stage of experiment, full of ardent hope and confident expectation of the glorious success and completion of the noble purposes, which his native magnanimity has dictated. He has been early instructed in all the principles of morality and virtue, and while immediately subject to the salutary instructions of parental affection and care, has been induced to perform all the generous and noble acts which characterize an unsophisticated heart, fixing this noble purpose of doing good, permanently in his mind, and rendering it an established principle; for the accomplishment of this, he has been instructed in the belief that reward is always the consequent result of thinking rightly and acting nobly; none of his worthy actions are suffered to pass unpraised; virtue and vice are pointed out, and defined to him in a manner so decidedly obvious that he requires no hesitation in the choice of the former and in abhorrence of the latter. The distinguishing marks of either, when fairly represented, he does not mistake, and in his heart, from having so plain and pleasing a pleasing a duty before him, from the faithful performance of which, such ample satisfaction results, he determines at once, to be in his future life, the pattern of all that is magnanimous and worthy, and he wonders in himself, why it is that such odious anomalies as bad and intriguing men are found to exist in this fair world. He has to learn, by dear bought experience, that in general the life of man is a system of policy and circumvention, where all act from some latent principle of selfinterestedness, where appearances are assumed to accomplish some favourite object, and where every one is in masquerade; every one assumes a guise which he thinks gives the most specious semblance of the specific qualities which promise most respect and influence in the character be wishes to bear. The novice, when first embarked in what he afterwards learns is the capricious and fluctuating sea of life, is delighted with the imagined bright prospects before him, and he joyously promises himself infinite enjoyment in the consumination of those schemes of life which his ingenuousness has suggested. He has been told, Whether sunned in the tropics, or chilled at the pole, 'tis true, that all men are not alike generous, that If woman be there, there is happiness too!" Y. S. R. For the Saturday Evening Post. THE EXCELLENCE OF VIRTUE. Among all the complexities and multiplicity of experience which go to make up the man who may be said to possess a requisite share of the knowledge of the world, there occurs to my mind some are envious, vicious and intriguing, and that we must expect many crosses and disheartening vexations to intervene and cbscure the brilliancy of intellectual happiness; but theory is not practice-his reliance on the superior power of virtue and his own honest intentions, is to be encouraged, and to the widest extent commended, as in this are based all practical virtues; but experience alone must teach him that virtue without policy, is insufficient to counteract one kind of experience which is very prominent the ills arising from the officiousness of some, in my recollection, and which must necessarily who have acquired the art of counterfeiting virbe passed through by every young man, before tue so exactly that they are mistaken for what he can become in a tolerable degree capable of they seem to be; by these means, the confiding managing with success his pecuniary concerns, spirit of youth becomes obnoxious to all the envy in this calculating world of intrigue and self de- and malignity which can be concentrated in the votion, or with any degree of exemption from the foul hearts of envious and malicious hypocrites, disgust and disappointment arising from the whose chief ambition seems to consist in sinking mistaken anticipations, which the generous and ❘ virtue into degradation. The youth who still 294 TO FERNANDO-THE CASKET'S GREETING-FAREWELL. remains in unshaken belief of the reality of virtue and the honourable principles which he originally started with, and after a succession of such disappointments, has the independence and decision of character to practice them, may be truly said to have been tested by an ordeal, the severity and undermining nature of which, but few have withstood. Beside the shy attempts of envy and malignity, there are numberless other impediments and contrarieties that conspire to delude the young mind into an unexceptionable condemnation of all that presents the semblance of social virtue and fellowship. From having been so frequently and invariably disappointed in his anticipations of unbounded worth, in the men with whom chance has brought him in contact, such unjust conclusions very naturally arise, and the extremes of misanthropy and avarice too frequently establish their throne where generosity and frankness originally shone as latent principles. COLLINGWOOD. Written for the Casket. TO FERNANDO. Fernando, there was once a time And once, within my woodbine bow'r, And once, Fernando, when I'd sigh Thy heart responded too; And when I'd smile how quick thine eye Fernando, canst thou e'er forget Who still is true and loves thee yet, Canst thou be false? 'tis harsh, indeed, That one, so fair and gentle too, ELVIRA. Written for the Casket. THE CASKET'S GREETING. "I come, I come-ye have call'd me." - MRS. HEMANG I come to check the tears that start- And though the Casket bright appears, These gems were sought at early morn, In noon-day's radiant heat, In search of thee, the mighty soul Then scann'd the "chambers of the south," The hidden depths of mind; And now I come, my lady fair, Stockbridge, Mass. A. D. W. Written for the Saturday Evening Post. FAREWELL. Yes, breathe it now, that lingering spell, That nightly dews the budding flower; Yes, yes, e'en soundless as they fell, Be that dread word-farewell! farewell! C. H. W. THE ITALIAN BRIDE. Written for the Casket. In the crowd Of thoughts that were not their thoughts. - BYRON. a 295 the comfort of her beautiful nursling, in the publicity attendant on her line of life. The principal part of the company, who thronged the studio, being of " the opposite sex," (to adopt the apt distinctive epithet of the "immaculate Fredegonda,") the quiet and respectable appearance of the matronly Monica, who was always kept in waiting, effectually nullified all attempts at flirtation, and proved her prudent mistress to be quite in earnest in her determination to hinder ought that might tend to interrupt or depart from the proper business before her. This precaution was by no means unnecessary; for though the Americans-to their praise be it written-are of all men most observant of the courteous usage due to every woman of repute, however lowly her degree, still there were not wanting every where some who arrogate to themselves the privilege of a little freedom, towards one dependent on public patronage for bread. But the lofty Italía soon taught them other things: those who came merely to lounge, or to admire and criticise the fair limner and her superior works, were dismissed without a particular regard to ceremony-while the patronising gallantries of such as felt disposed to pay for a portrait by the Signora di Franzoni, the enormous price, which greatly enhanced its value, were at once discouraged by the imposing air of the humble yet haughty girl, who bore in her looks a stamp of native nobility, before which all involuntarily bent. The winter thus wore away; and a busy and profitable one it was to "la bella Italiana," as she was called by her only countryman resident at Richmond, as a teacher of " the true Etrurian." Every body of fashion was eager to be painted by the admirable hand of the radiant stranger; and those to whom the distinction was accorded, accepted it as such, and treasured up the costly counterfeit, as connoisseurs do an original by Raphael or Rubens. In addition to the worthy towns people, the vernal season brought with it a concourse of strangers to attend the races; several of whom were " ambitious of immortality from her pencil," as, in flattering phrase, they expressed it to the proud Italian painter. Two of these, meditating a call on this famous foreign wonder, sauntered forth, one fair morning, from their quarters at the Eagle Tavern-then, as now, the first house of public entertaiment there. It was May-day; the flush spring had arrayed herself in "all the bloom and verdure and breathing sweetness" belonging to that most poetical and pastoral of the twelve months; and the friends, who were junior officers in our navy, strolled their idle way along sundry streets, giving glimpses through the vistas occurring at each corner, of the distant river scenery. At length, after passing through the western suburbs, they stopped on Gamble's Hill, to enjoy the full prospect that expanded around them like a glorious panorama. On their right stretched a dark skirt of woods and sylvan hills, on one of which, standing close to the water's edge that divided it from them, arose the heavy towers of the Penitentiary; before them, the James river, rushing onward to the Falls with a deep, continuous murmur, pleasant to the ear as a fine thoroughbass, rolled in thundering sheets of white foam |