business, and letters of affection cut into squares by the creases worn in them?

V.

Acquire a habit of folding or rolling up. Many a fine print or drawing has been ruined, many a cloak crumpled, and many a shawl trailed on the floor, for want of this timely neatness in a fine lady, who, even if she can afford to buy new ones when they are spoiled, must carry a contribution of dust upon her delicate shoulders.

VI.

Be aware that dust is one of the enemies of human comfort and purity. We discover it upon a black hat, and we for

get that the very same quantity adheres invisibly to a white one. Expose not therefore, to its insidious attacks, any article of value either in dress, furniture, books, or pictures. If the piano-forte be left open, the desk elevated, and the music exposed all night, a frightful accumulation of dust will have taken place before the next morning, which will cling to the fingers of the performer, as well as spoil the articles in question.

VII.

Commit not to a chair the office of a table, by laying upon it books, papers, or work, still less a desk, or any thing heavy, to fall upon the toes of the first person that moves it; neither degrade

the chimney-piece by throwing implements of use upon a place destined for ornament, and dashing down or endangering the china, bronzes, or flowerglasses which dwell upon that station.

VIII.

Never sally forth from your own room in the morning without that oldfashioned article of dress, a pocket: discard for ever that modern invention called a ridicule, (properly reticule,) and remember that a pocket-handkerchief is the most disgusting and unladylike article of litter that can be exposed to view, which must often occur where there is no pocket.* It is also

*In olden time it was thought characteristic of an unbred person to come into a room, or sit

expedient to carry about you a purse, a thimble, a pincushion, a pencil, a knife, and a pair of scissars, which will not only be an inexpressible source of comfort and independence, by removing the necessity of borrowing, but will secure the privilege of not lending these indispensable articles. The establishment of needles and thread is to be kept not only ready for service, but bright in action.

down with a pocket handkerchief in her hand. Not only is this custom introduced, but it is now too common an enormity for a young lady, when she is sitting down to a writing-desk or pianoforte, to place it by her side. This appendage, being forgotten when she has finished her occupation and goes out of the room, is often left, an unfortunate memorial of its owner, and a disgrace to the apartment. Perhaps a sumptuary law might be wholesome, to prevent this article from being admitted upon the list of embellishments, by a worked or lace border, an expedient by which it has been known to usurp the empire of the fan. Vide Spectator, vol. ii. No. 102..

Nothing is to remain unsewed or undarned for want of a maid to perform it.* Alas! it is a dismal thing to be a slave to that article of luxury, of which the most helpless and indolent of us may be deprived by frequent accidents. Always have a piece of work to take up at a spare minute, and particularly for evenings at home, when reading is going forward.

IX.

When you have finished your morning studies, and go out to take a walk or

*Neatness in dress is so universally allowed to be an essential qualification in a gentlewoman, that it has been thought unnecessary to enter upon the discussion of it here; but a young person who is really neat and gentlewomanlike in her personal appearance, is sometimes very deficient in attention to the circumstances above described.