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Sermons to Young Women. 8vo. 2 vol. 6s. Millar and T. Cadell, &c.

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E are not informed to whom the public is obliged for thefe fermons ; but whoever be the Author, he is certainly a man of taste and genius; and what is ftill greater praife, he appears to have a warm and generous concern for the best interests of humanity. His ftyle, his manner, the obfer vations he makes, plainly fhew that he knows the world, that he has carefully ftudied and is well acquainted with the human heart, and that he is poffeffed of every qualification necessary to execute the important task he has undertaken. There are indeed, to the best of our recollection, no compofitions of this kind in the English language, in which are to be found greater delicacy of fentiment, correctness of imagination, elegance of tafte, or that contain fuch genuine pictures of life and manners. The Author's ftyle of preaching is entirely new, having never, as far as we know, been before attempted; it require uncommon talents to fucceed in it, and he has fucceeded to ad miration. His defign is to improve the moft amiable and mof agreeable part of the creation, for whofe beft interefts he pro fefles an unfeigned regard and a fervent zeal. He entertain the highest idea of their importance and deftination; confide them not in that debafing light, in which they are too oft confidered, as formed only to be domeftic drudges, and t flaves of our pleasures, but as intended to be reasonable a agreeable companions, faithful and affectionate friends, the fwe ners, and the charm of human life; in a word, as defigned foften our hearts and polish our manners. Though natu obferving the fame diftinétion here, as in the more delic frame of their bodics, has, in his opinion, formed the facult of their minds lefs vigorous than thofe of men, yet fhe has ftowed upon them, he thinks, a greater fenfibility of he and sweetness of temper; a nicer and quicker difcerniment characters, a more lively fancy, and a greater delicacy of t and fentiment.

Though he is a profeffed advocate for the fex, he does addrefs them in the ufual ftrains of flattery and admiration, in the fober and impartial ftyle of friendship. He feems unw ing, indeed, and thinks it mean and ungenerous, to det from their juft merit, or to deny them that fhare of praif which they are entitled, but he is too honeft to conceal difguife their weakneffes; when he commends, he does it judgment and delicacy; when he cenfures, it is with digr and without feverity.

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Attend then, to his inftructions, ye fair daughters of BRITAIN! He addreffes you in the character of an affectionate brother, and you will find him a difcreet guardian, a prudent counsellor, a faithful friend, an agreeable and a rational companion. Hearken to him, and he will teach you how to captivate the hearts of every virtuous beholder, how to spread a luftre round your perfon fuperior to that of all the diamonds in the universe, how to enrich and adorn your understandings, how to enjoy folitude, how to fhine in converfation without defigning it, how to infpire a mixture of complacence and respect, how to unite decency and fenfe with mirth and joy. Take him for your guide, and he will lead you from the wide and dangerous walks of idle amufement and diffipation, from the gay and fluttering scenes of vanity, into the peaceful and delightful paths of knowledge, genuine beauty, and elegance. He will fet you free from all extravagant attachments to drefs and toys, to equipage and oftentation, to all the gaudy apparatus of female vanity, and will fhew you wherein your true intereft, your highest honour and dignity confift; how to efcape difhonour and remorse, reproach and ridicule; and that sense and capacity, joined to meekness and modefty, are exempted from the condition of every thing elfe; which is to lofe its influence, when it lofes its novelty. Attend to him, and he will teach you to cultivate genuine worth instead of artificial forms; to practise undiffembled sweetnefs instead of fictitious courtesy; to level the fantastic structures of pride, and to raise on their ruins the plain and modeft, but pleafing and grateful fabric of meeknefs and humility. He will fhew you the difference between flattery and approbation, between fmiles and attachment; he will direct you in the choice of your companions, and diverfions; how to guard against the follies of your own fex, and the arts of ours. He will teach you to defpife or rather to pity the futility of those frivolous fops, thofe empty, conceited, and infignificant danglers, that are to be feen, in fuch numbers, in every place of public refort; whofe tafte extends no farther than the adjusting a fword-knot, and whofe capacity reaches no higher, than the flattering every young thing they fee into good humour, by telling it perpetually how hand foine and how fine it is. He will teach you to dread, and to guard with the utmost caution against thofe cool, complimental fmooth-tongued libertines, thofe fly, infinuating, infidious deceivers, who have steeled their breafts by a fyftem; whom the boafted principles of infidelity have raised to a glorious contempt of all laws human and divine, delivered from the vulgar conceit of immortality, and enabled to conquer the little weakneffes of nature, with the ignoble prejudices of education: and fuch wily wretches, fuch obdurate and flagitious offenders, he affures you, abound every where.-Liften then to this faithful and kind monitor, and

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he will convince you, that your fafety lies in retreat and vigilance, in fobriety and prudence, in virtuous friendship and rational converfation, in domeftic, elegant, and intellectual accomplishments, in the guardianship of omnipotence, which can only be obtained by TRUE RELIGION.

Such, and many more fuch, are the important leffons this excellent preacher will teach you; nor does he approach you, ye fair ones, with an auftere countenance, or an awful folemnity on the contrary his afpect is chearful and sprightly; he is no less entertaining than he is inftructive; he thinks thofe perfons ftrangers to true wifdom, who fuppofe her monitions incompatible with chearful images or joyful ideas; and he is too well acquainted with the human mind, to hope to reform its errors without conciliating its affections, or to imagine that the tutoring of terror alone, as he expreffes himself, will produce the love of goodness.--Happy the mothers, who follow his maxims, in forming the tafte and manners of their daughters! happy, thrice happy the daughters, who are bleffed with fuch mothers!

We have expreffed ourselves ftrongly on this occafion, but we have only expreffed what we feel; and every perfon of taste and virtue will be convinced, we doubt not, by the following extracts, that our praife and approbation are well grounded.

In the first of the twelve fermons contained in the two vo lumes before us, the author confiders the importance of the female fex, especially the younger part.After putting them in mind, in the first place, how deeply their parents are interested in their behaviour, he proceeds to another and principal fource of their importance, which is, the very great and extenfive influence they, in general, have with our fex.

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To form the manners of men, fays he, various causes contribute; but nothing, I apprehend, fo much as the turn of the women they converfe with. Thofe who are moft converfant with women of virtue and understanding, will be always found the most amiable characters, other circumftances being fuppofed alike. fociety, beyond every thing clfe, rubs off the corners that give many of our fex an ungracious roughnefs. It produces a polish more perfect, and more pleafing, than that which is received from a general commerce with the world. This laft is often fpecious, but commonly fuperficial. The other is the refult of gentler feelings, and a more elegant humanity: the heart itself is moulded; habits of undiffembled courtesy are formed; a certain flowing urbanity is acquired; violent paflions, rash oaths, coarfe jefts, indelicate language of every kind, are precluded and difrelifhed. Understanding and virtue, by being often contemplated in the most engaging lights, have a fort of affimilating power. I do not mean, that the men I speak of will become fe minine; but their fentiments and deportment will contract a

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grace. Their principles will have nothing ferocious or forbidding; their affections will be chafte and foothing at the fame inftant. In this cafe the Gentleman, the Man of worth, the Chriftian, will all melt infenfibly and fweetly into one another. How agreeable the compofition! In the fame way too, honourable love is infpired and cherished. - Honourable love! that great prefervative of purity, that powerful foftener of the fierceft fpirit, that mighty improver of the rudeft carriage, that all-fubduing, yet all-exalting principle of the human breast, which humbles the proud, and bends the ftubborn, yet fills with lofty conceptions, and animates with a fortitude that nothing can conquer what fhall I fay more? - which converts the favage into a man, and lifts the man into a hero! What a happy change should we behold in the minds, the morals, and the demeanour of our youth, were this charming paffion to take place of that falfe and vicious gallantry which gains ground amongst us every day, to the difgrace of our country, to the discouragement of holy wedlock, to the deftruction of health, fortune, decency, refinement, rectitude of mind, and dignity of manners! For my part, I defpair of feeing the effeminate, trifling, and diffolute character of the age reformed, fo long as this kind of gallantry is the mode. But it will be the mode, fo long as the prefent fashionable fyftem of Female Education continues.

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Parents now-a-days almoft univerfally, down to the lowest tradefman, or mechanic, who to ape his fuperiors ftrains himfelf beyond his circumftances, fend their daughters to Boardingfchools. And what do they moftly learn there? I fay, Mostly; for there are exceptions, and fuch as do the Miftreffes real honour. Need mention that, making allowance for thofe exceptions, they learn principally to drefs, to dance, to speak bad French, to prattle much nonfenfe, to practise I know not how many pert conceited airs, and in confequence of all to conclude themselves Accomplished Women? I fay nothing here of the alarming fuggeftions I have heard as to the corruption of their morals. Thus prepared they come forth into the world. Their parents, naturally partial, fancy them to be every thing that is fine, and are impatient to fhow them, or, according to the fashionable phrase, to let them fee Company; by which is chiefly meant exhibiting them in public places. Thither at least many of them are conducted. They have youth, and perhaps beauty. The effect of both is heightened by every poffible means, at an expence frequently felt for a long time after. They are intoxicated by fo many things concurring to deprive them of their little fenfes. Gazers and flatterers they meet with every where. All is romance and diftraction, the extravagance of vanity, and the rage of conqueft. Nothing domeftic or rational is thought of. Alas! they were never taught it. How

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to appear abroad with the greatest advantage, is the main con In fubferviency to that, as well as from the general lost of amusement, Parties of Pleafure, as they are called, become the prevailing demand. The fame difpofitions on the side of the men, fometimes ftimulated by the worst defigns, often secondet by good nature, and not feldom perhaps pushed on by the fer of appearing lefs generous or lefs gallant, prompt them to ket pace with all this folly. They are foon fired in the chace; every thing is gay and glittering; prudence appears too cold monitor; gravity is deemed fevere; the Ladies must be pleased; mirth and diverfion are all in all. The phantoms pass: the fe male adventurers must return home; it is needless to say, with what impreffions. The young gentlemen are not always unde equal reftraint; their blood boils; the tavern, the streets, the ftews, eke out the evening; riot and madnefs conclude the scene or if this fhould be prevented, it is not difficult to ima gine the diffipation that must naturally grow out of those idle gallantries often repeated. Nor fhall we be furprised to find the majority of our youth fo infignificant, and fo profligate; when to thefe we join the influence of bad or giddy women grown up, the infection of the moft peftilent books, and the pattern of ve terans in fin, ever zealous to display the fuperiority of their talents by the number of their difciples.

That men are fometimes dreadfully fuccefsful in corrupting the women cannot be denied. But do women on the other fide never corrupt the men? I fpeak not at present of those abandoned creatures that are the vifible ruin of fo many of our unhappy youth; but I muft take the liberty to fay, that, amongst a num ber of your fex who are not funk fo low, there is a forwardness, a levity of look, converfation, and demeanour, unspeakably hurtful to young men. Their reverence for female virtue in general, it deftroys in a great measure; it even tempts them to fufpect that the whole is a pretence, that the fex are all of a piece. The confequences of this with regard to their behaviour while they remain fingle, the prejudices it must neceffarily produce against marriage, and the wild work it is likely to make if they ever enter into that ftate, I leave you to guess."

After confidering the importance of the fair fex in their fingle condition, our Author goes on to confider their importance when connected in wedlock.

It is natural for me, fays he, to wifh well to my own fex; and therefore you will not wonder, if I am folicitous for your poffeffing every quality that can render you agreeable companions in a relation which of all others is the most intimate, fhould be the most endearing, and must be the happiest or the worst. But to this folicitude my friendship for you is at least an equal motive. In truth, were the lower fprings of felf-love to

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