ject that paffes by; be fure to fhut them foon at night, and you may open them as early as you please in the morning.-On each fide I difcover a finall portal to receive company; take care they don't always ftand open, for then you will be crowded with visitors, and, perhaps, with many fuch as you will not like; let them never be fhut against the inftructive parent, the adviling friend, or the fupplicating orphan.-I took notice of one gate in the front, at which all your company goes out; let that generally be barred clofe; be cautious what vifitors you let out publicly, left, if any of ill cha-racters be feen coming from it, you draw a fcan-dal upon your houfe it will be neceffary, therefore, to lay a ftrict injunction of vigilance on your two porters, who ftand centinels in liveries of the deepeft fcarlet, juft without the ivory pallifades.. -I have feen fome people paint the two pannels just below the windows; but I would advise you to the contrary, for your natural colours far ex-ceed all the decorations of art.-This part of the: edifice is fupported by a pillar of Corinthian marble, whofe bafe is ornamented with two alabafter femiglobes, over which is generally drawn a fine lawn-curtain of admirable needlework.

Beneath is the great hall, in which you have a fmall clofet of exquifite workmanship; this, I fup pofe, is the place of your fecret retirement, open to none but yourfelf, or fome faithful intimate friend. I advife you to keep this always clean, furnish it well, make it a little library of the best practical authors, and vifit it frequently, efpecial ly when you return home from church, or leave circle of acquaintance which you have met at the tea-table. Let the outfide of the hall not appear like a hearfe hung round with efcutcheons, nor like a coach of ftate bedawbed with gilt and colour. ings; but let it be plain, neat, and clean, to con

a

vince the world that it is kept more for use than

ornament.

You are fenfible, Mifs, Time effaces the beauty, and demolishes the ftrength, of the nobleft ftrecture, and therefore will not be furprized to find your little tenement fubject to the fame change. Doubtless it has often wanted repairs, though you have lived in it no longer, which are plain intimations that the houfe will one day fall. You may foon be turned out-the landlord may give you warning, or may not-this is all uncertain-be ever ready to go when called upon, and then you will not be afraid to leave it at the fhortest notice.

One thing I would obferve, too, is, that when you quit the house, no other tenant will inhabit it, but will ly wafte and in ruins; yet the proprietor will fome time or other rebuild it for your reception in a more durable manner, with the fame materials, but fo refined and modified that it will be liable to no accident or decay; and as it is abfolutely neceffary that your habitation be new reared in fome other place, I heartily with it may be in a finer country, under a milder climate, and well fheltered from all forms; then will your fituation be happy and honourable, and your leafe never expire.

Your's, &c.

LETTER XV.

ROLERT N.

From a fenfible lady, with a never-failing receipt for a beauty-wash.

A &

S you feem fo intent on improving the per fonal charms of your already amiable daugh ter, I can no longer delay anfwering your letteri

-You would be glad, you fay, of a receipt to make a wash; but it muft be perfectly innocent, What I recommend, Madam, is truly fo, and will greatly illuftrate and preferve her complexion.

Pray let her obferve the following rules:

In the morning fair water is to be used as a preparatory; after which the muft abftain from all fudden gufts of paffion, particularly envy, as that gives the fkin a fallow palenefs. It may feem trifling to talk of temperance; yet muft this be attended to, both in eating and drinking, if the would avoid thofe pimples, for which the adver tifed washes are a boafted cure. Inftead of rouge, let her ufe moderate exercife, which will excite a natural bloom in her cheeks not to be imitated by art. Ingenuous candour, and unaffected good humour, will give an openness to her countenance that will make her univerfally agreeable. A des fire of pleating will add fire to her eyes, and breathing the morning air at funrife will give her lips a vermilion hue. That amrable vivacity, which the now poffeffes, inay be happily heightened and preferved, if the avoids late hours and card-playing, but not other wife: for the first gives the face a drowfy dilagreeable afpect, and the laft is the mother of wrinkles.A white hand is a very defi rable ornament; and a hand can never be white unless it be kept clean Nor is this all; for if the young lady will excel her companions in this refpect, the muft keep her hands in conftant motion, which will occafion the blood to circulate freely, and have a wonderful effect. The motion I would recommend is working at her needle,. brushing up the houfe, or twirling the diftaff. It was this induftry in our grandmothers which gave Kneller an opportunity of gratifying pofterity with the view of fo many fine hands and arms in his incomparable portraits.A few words more and

I have done. Let her preferve an unaffected neatnefs in her apparel: her fortune will permit her to drefs elegantly; but her good fenfe fhould always prevent her from defcending to gaudiness, which strikes the eyes of the ignorant, but difgufts those of true taste and difcernment; befides, Madam, your daughter has fo many natural charms, that the can have no occafion to wear clothes that will attract all the attention of the multitude. She poffeffes more beauties than fhe is acquainted with, which is no fmall addition to her merit ; but how can it be otherwife, when fhe is your daugh ter, and has you for an example?

LETTER XVI.

I am, &c.

Domeftic rule the province of the IVife..

Madam,

"

MUST affert, that the right of directing domeftic affairs is, by the law of Nature, in the woman; and that we are perfectly qualified for the exercife of dominion, notwithstanding what has often been faid by male-coats to the contrary. Those who pretend to direct our bringing up, feem to have deftined us to that power which they would afterwards difpute. We are employed in our famplers, or diverting ourfelves with our babies; we pafs from our mother's nursery to. our own, and from imaginary vifits to real ones, without fatiguing ourselves with a variety of unneceffary acquirements, on which the men most value themselves. Indeed, which I would condemn too eager a purfuit of, we are taught finging and dancing; but what are thefe to the drudgery of fchools and univerfities? The bufiness

of a family, when thoroughly performed, takes in the whole circle of our time, and affords no room for any thing except innocent relaxations. We are certainly then more likely to underftand domeftic policy than the men, who have twenty other things to mind. A mere house

wife, like a mere fcholar, is fit for nothing else, I admit, and will make a man a very unfociable companion. But as fome men of great application to their refpective profeffions have, notwithstanding, a very polite behaviour, fo a woman may make the government of her houfe the principal care, without fuffering it to become the principal theme of her difcourfe; nor do I think it at all neceffary, that to establish a character as a manager, her husband fhould twice or thrice aweek hear her fcolding the fervants. This is one of the great objections to female government, and our adverfaries would fain prefent it as a thing as neceffary to us as a ftanding army to the adminiftration. But both may be calumnies, and the mere effects of a defire to get into other folks' places. Experience is wholly on our fide; for wherev the mafter exceeds his proper fphere, and pretends to give law to the cookmaid as well as the coachman, we obferve a great deal of difcord and confufion. When a man, who is always a better judge when things are wrong than of the method of fetting them to rights, entrenches on the woman's province, it is the ready way to make the rest of the family defpife them both. But when a woman of tolerable good fenfe is allowed to direct her house without controul, all things go well, fhe prevents even her husband's wifhes, the fervants know their business, and the whole family live eafy and happy. It is with great concern that I perceive our fex of late inclined to mind any thing rather than their families, which inclination