with, which is no fmall Addition to her Merit; but how can it be otherwife, when fhe is your Daughter, and has you for an Example? I am, &c.

I

LETTER XVI.

Domeftic Rule the Province of the Wife.

Madam,

Muft 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 Cots to the contrary. Thofe 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 Samplers, 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 moft value themselves. Indeed, which I would condemn too eager a Pursuit of, we are taught Singing and Dancing; but what are these to the Drudgery of Schools and Univerfities? The Bufinefs 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 certainly then are more likely to understand Domestic Policy than the Men, who have twenty other Things to mind: A mere Housewife, like a mere Scholar, is fit for nothing elfe, I admit, and will make a Man a very unfociable Companion. But as fome Men of great Application to their refpective Profeffions, have, notwithftanding, 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 should twice or thrice a Week hear her fcolding the Servants. This is one of the great Objections to Female Government, and our Adverfaries would fain present it as a Thing as neceffary to us, as a standing Army to the Adminiftration. But both may be Calumnies, and the

mere

mere Effects of a Defire to get into other Folks Places. Experience is wholly on our Side; for, where-ever the Mafter exceeds his proper Sphere, and pretends to give Law to the Cook-Maid 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 Wa Way to make the rest of the Family defpife them both. But when a Woman of tolerable good Senfe is allowed to direct her Houfe without Controul, all l'hings go well; the prevents even her Husband's Wishes, the Servants know their Bufinefs, and the whole Family live. eafy and happy. It is with great Concern that I perceive our Sex, of late, inclined to mind any Thingrather than their Families, which Inclination must have fatal Confequences. Can there be any Thing more honourable for a Woman, than the right Management of her Family? And it may be obferved to them, that they muft take their Choice either to manage their Children, and Servants, or to be managed by them. If Liberty is the Thing they aim at, they certainly mistake the Road; a Woman's Freedom confifts in Power, and not in a Licence to gad about, which is fcandalous even in a Girl, and befpeaks a Giddinefs of Soul below Compaffion. The Conduct of the Eftate or Bufinefs ought furely to be in the Hufband, and if he parts with it, it is an Act of Weakness: The Conduct of the Houle belongs as juftly to the Wife; and no Man ought to marry a Woman whom he would not truft with the Management of fuch Concerns. Adieu, dear Friend! incroach not on the Province of your Husband, but continue to be Mistress in your own. I am, Your affectionate Friend,

`SYLVIA SHARP.

LET

LETTER XVII

From a Lady to her Acquaintance on growing old.

My dear Lucy,

I HAVE been thinking that Human Underfanding is no less liable to be unhinged, than the Mechanism of the Human Frame. The leaft Jar of a Surprize puts it out of Tune, and one cannot prefently get into order again. We have certainly Paffions of the Mind as well as Difeafes of the Body, which we are not aware of, till fome fudden Accident calls them forth; and the one are no lefs capable of fufpending the Faculties of Reafon for a Time, than the other are of obstructing that Animal Fluid, to the proper Circulation of which we owe our Health and Vigour.

I was led into this Reflection by catching myself in a Folly which I fhall not be much afhamed of confeffing, fince, on contemplating fome Paffages my Obfervation fupplies me with, I find the Foible inherent, in a more or lefs Degree, to the whole Species of Human Kind, though few are ingenuous enough to acknowledge it.

I was fitting Yefterday in my Parlour Window, looking carelessly on the People as they paffed, when all at once a Fellow abruptly prefented himself before me, and cried in a hoarfe Voice, Spectacles, Madam, fine Spectacles, and at the fame Time thruft a Pair of thofe Nofe-Saddles within the Safh: You cannot imagine, dear Lucy, how I was fhocked; I gave the Man a fhort Anfwer, and immediately drew down the Window.-Good God! faid I to myfelf, do I look old enough to be fuppofed to want Spectacles? not confidering that it was the Fellow's Trade to offer them to every Body, and that many People younger than myfelf were obliged to make Ufe of them.I ran however to my Glafs, and fancied I perceived what they call the Crow's Feet appeared at the Corners of my Eyes.I looked, and looked again, and the more I did fo, the more I thought these cruel Marks of Time were vifible; and now recollecting that my laft Birth-Day brought me into my one and thirtieth Year, and that a very few

more

more of them would rank me among the Number of the Aged, I fell into fuch a Fit of the Vapours as I had never before known. Is not this unaccountable? -Where now was my Understanding?-where my Reafon? The little Share I have is fufficient to make me know, that whoever lives a great while in this World, muft grow old, and few of us there are who defire to die young: Why was not this Knowledge at Hand to make me eafy under the common Courie of Nature?

I do affure you, I had grown two or three Hours older, before I could bring myfelf to be reconciled with the Apprehenfions that every Moment brought me nearer to that fo-much dreaded Stage of Lite but, thank Heaven, I got the better of it at last, and Jaughed at the foolish Part my Imagination had been ading.

That we all, however, have a natural Averfion to grey Hairs and Wrinkles, cannot be denied; and that to overcome the Uneafinefs of their Approach inflicts, requires the utmoft Exertion of our Realon; yet is not this an Inconfiftency, a Kind of Abfurdity in our Habit of thinking-We ridicule a thoufand leffer Follies of Mankind, yet pafs over that which more than all deferves Cenfure, the being afhamed or afraid of attaining what all the World, as well as ourselves, would wish to arrive at-But we would live for ever if we could, and yet be always young; we would annihilate the Depredations of Time from Fifteen to Sixty; and even then not be content perhaps to be thought in our Decline.

Were old Age terrible to us merely as it is the Fore.. rur.ner of Death, or as it is generally attended with. Infirmities which render Life a Burden, I should not be fo much furprized; but, alas! we fee Death and Difeafes feize on Youth and Strength; no Time of Life is a Security against either.-Nor is it altogether. the Apprehenfion of being deprived of what Share of Beauty Nature may have beftowed upon us, that renders it fo alarming, fince that alfo may be loft by the Small-Pox, and a thoufand other Accidents.-No, it is only the Name, not the Effects, we fo much dread

and

and I believe moft People would rather chuse Deformity with Youth, than Comelinefs with Old Age.

This, and fome other Propenfities of the Mind, in my Opinion, are fufficient to convince any thinking Perfon of the Importance of Human Understanding, and oblige us all to own with the Poet, that

"Reafon in Man is but a twinkling Lamp

"Of wand'ring Life, that wakes and winks by Turns

66

Fooling the Follower betwixt Shade and Shining.' You will imagine, by my being fo ferious, that I have not yet got over the Fright the Man put me into, and indeed I am not fure whether I have or not; but, be that as it will, I have Refolution enough to with, from the very Bottom of my Heart, that you and I may grow old in Friendship, and that, whatever Effect Time may have upon our Perfons, our Minds may remain as now united; which will be a Balance against the Mortifications in the Power of the old Gentleman with the Hour-Glafs, to,

My dear Lucy,

Yours, with the most perfect Amity,

HILLARIA.

I

LETTER XVIII.

To a Lady who had loft her Beauty by the Small Pox.
My dear Ophelia,`

Received yours, and rejoice too much in your Recovery, to be able to condole with you on any Alteration your late Illness has made in you; and, indeed, how great foever it may be, am far from thinking it deferves to be mentioned with that Concern you exprefs. You have encountered Death, and foiled him at one of his fharpeft Weapons; and if you have received fome Scars, ought to look upon them rather as Trophies of Victory than Blemishes.-What if your Complexion has loft fome Part of its fair Enamel, and your Features are not altogether fo delicate; the lefs Charms your Glafs prefent you with, the more you will find in your Clofet; and deprived of vain Pleasure

in