INTRODUCTION.

"OH! Mamma, what can be so tiresome as a lecture upon neatness, which that "Mrs. Tidy talked of giving us some "rainy morning! I am sure we are

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always employed, and never idle;

"and when we have so little time to

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prepare for our masters, it is quite

"impossible to give up any of it in

putting our things in their places, and “keeping them all in prim order."

Such was part of a conversation which passed a few days ago at the breakfast

table of Lady

and her daughters,

after one of them had been lamenting the loss of a French exercise, which she had been preparing for her master; while her sister was begging the loan of a pencil to finish her tambour pattern for a gown which was to be worn in the evening; and a cold dish of tea was standing for a third, who had not yet made her appearance in the family group.

Alas! Order is an ill-fated topic of

eloquence with the class for whom it is designed, for it is impossible to fill their minds with a due sense of its dignity and importance. From the days of Mrs. Teachum, who related the tragical fate of the Miss Watkins's, (those victims of

delay and untidiness,) to that in which Mrs. Barbauld introduced in the world

her elegant little allegory of the two fairies, Order and Disorder,* the subject remained in hopeless neglect and disgrace; and even since that benevolent attempt, matters have not much mended. What then can be expected from the effort of an individual, whose name is unknown in the annals of literature? Be it, however, remembered, that the exertions of a mouse once delivered a lion from his toils; that the cackling of geese saved the Capitol; and let the following hints, which may appear

* Vide Evenings at Home.

minute and trifling, be received with candour, as laying the foundation of those feelings and habits which are to form part of the female character. If begun at the age of eight, they will have reached a happy maturity by that of eighteen. Nor let the brothers of the Misses in question, shake their heads at the old lady's preciseness; for it is no less worthy the attention of these future lords of the creation. Order and regularity are qualifications essential to the character of even a hero, and may be called the life and soul of military discipline. The manual exercise is comprised in a certain set of motions; and the following rules are intended to es

tablish a mechanical habit of exactness in the daily labours and duties of life. By the fashionable and affluent description of readers, this system, which embraces also the cause of economy, may perhaps be disdained, since money may be supposed to supersede the necessity of all trouble of this kind. Let these then be reminded, that liberality, domestic comfort, and even elegance, are the happy fruits of it; for the money spared from waste may add to the stock destined for charity; the time rescued may be employed in a thousand ways to their own improvement; and the invisible attention of the mistress can alone ensure the regularity of the servants, and the real