everywhere in the same way and time is everywhere equally distributed; the young lady who travels, merely makes a change of place, not of habits or occupations; she resumes her work, her reading, in the house of her hosts, as if she were still in the bosom of her own family: not a year passes without one or two of these excursions, and, when they are of marriageable age, their relations take them to pass some weeks in London or Edinburgh. Thus, until the era of marriage, which happens between twenty-two and twenty-five years of age, their life passes in quiet studies and amusements; and, after marriage, in "pleasing duties," as an amiable English lady told me. It ought not, therefore, to excite surprise that there is in England a prodigious number of old maids. As their youth is not a state of slavery, as in other D D 302 ITALIAN EXILE IN ENGLAND. countries, and they enjoy, when marriageable, a liberty of choice, it happens that they are not at all anxious to shake off the maternal yoke, to burden themselves with that of a husband, and that they often prefer a state of life a little insipid, and sometimes exposed to derision, to the miseries of an ill-assorted union. SEQUEL. Children Their Food-Temperament of the English-"Af fairs of Honour"-Female Authors. "Gay hope is theirs, by fancy fed, And lively cheer of vigour born: That fly the approach of morn." Gray. THERE are no children in all the world more lovely than the English, except perhaps those of Correggio or Albani. They are fair and fresh,-true flowers of spring; exactly like the flowers Nature creates them, but care and attention make them still more beautiful. The extreme cleanliness in which they are kept, their healthy, regular, and abundant food, the invariable mildness and placability of their parents, and the total absence of unpleasing objects, all contribute to render them serene in countenance and healthy in body. If in England the quadrupeds have laws for their protection, and orators to speak for them in Parliament, how much care and tenderness must be the portion of the children! They are washed two or three times a day; every day they change their clothes at least once, and their hair is combed twice. Who ever saw more radiant heads than those of the English babies? They are golden heads. Elegance is not a vanity in them, it is a habit. I never heard a mother praising a new dress to her son, or promising a new cap as a reward. Hence I have never seen a boy proud of himself on account of his dress, or pointing with vanity to his shoes. Their food is simple,-milk, preserved fruits, bread and butter, and fresh meat, which is never allowanced out to them. They sit at table like others. I have been present many times where only children were dining together they carve, help themselves, behave orderly, and acquire the same demeanour and the same ease and polish of manner as adults, without trouble, scolding, or tears. The large English loaves, piles of potatoes, and mountains of meat, seem made on purpose to prevent greediness, and to satiate little gluttons |