in a state of amity with her three sisters, Nancy, Maria, and Emma; for though she excelled them in personal beauty and vivacity of disposition, vanity had not yet taken possession of her blameless bosom. Sometimes, indeed, the ridiculous praise of her mother's visitors gave her a momentary sensation of delight; but some toy, by engaging her attention, commonly prevented her from being injured by this pernicious, though customary species of flattery. What is more common, and at the same time what can be more egregious, than to hear visitors of both sexes expressing their approbation of the beauty and accomplishments of the children of those whom they visit; and all this under a semblance of friendship. Such insincere, vulgar, and preposterous flattery, should be banished out of society; for doubtless many an innocent girl has received the first taint of vanity from the breath of these pernicious encomiasts. Nay, how often have we beheld the pretty innocent at a short distance, in the same apartment, listening with speechless attention to the praises of those who flattered the parent, by approving the child.

When the plan of Eliza's education was determined on, Mrs. Meanwell easily persuaded her husband to send the girl to some celebrated boardingschool in the west end of the town. Here, my

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dear," said this mistaken mother, our girl will constantly associate with the daughters of persons of quality; and acquire an elegance of manners, which she could never obtain even in the best school in our vulgar neighbourhood."

Mrs. Meanwell, without delay, applied to Mrs. V, whose boarding-school was celebrated as

the very Temple of the Graces. Her reception was flattering, and Mrs. V. boasted that her pupils were better instructed than those of any other school. "I employ the best masters," said she; "and Mademoiselle Nannette Racemier teaches the French language in perfection. Permit me, Madam, to introduce that young lady, she is a French woman of the most easy and engaging manners." Saying this she rung a bell, and sent a servant for the governess, who entered the room with the ease of an actress.

The terms of tuition being mentioned to the satisfaction of all parties, Mrs. Meanwell returned home, and immediate preparations were made for the removal of Eliza to **** Street, Mary-le-bone.

But young and inconsiderate as Eliza was, and though elated with the idea of her own importance, she could not think of parting with her sisters and playmates without sorrow. Her sisters were inconsolable, and considered the departure of Eliza as a very great misfortune; but the dictates of pride prevailed over the voice of nature. The innocent Eliza set out for the boarding school with an aching, though blameless heart, which was soon to feel the perversion of false refinement,

Mrs. V received her lovely pupil with complaisance, and Mademoiselle Nannette engaged in the tuition of her charge with alacrity.

This cunning young Frenchwoman soon ingratiated herself with Eliza, who was grateful for the friendly attention of her good-natured preceptress, as she then thought her.

Nannette was, indeed, too good-natured! she was originally the daughter of M. Racemier, a fruiterer, near the Palais Royal, Paris, where her agree

able person and sprightly conversation first engaged the attention of Lord W--, an English Nobleman. His lordship persuaded Nannette to elope with him to England, where they lived together two years. Her vivacity and spirit however occasioned bickerings, and her noble seducer resolved on a separation. Being a voluptuary, who gloried in the seduction of young women, he offered Nannette five hundred a year, on condition that she should engage as governess in a boarding school for young ladies, and assist him in the seduction of the most beautiful girl entrusted to her care. The unprincipled Nannette agreed, and Mrs. V's. school was the place where this most diabolical scheme was to be carried into execution.

At this school Nannette had resided about six months before the arrival of Eliza, and though some very charming girls were placed under her tuition, their rank and reservedness had hitherto deterred her from exercising her seductive arts. The moment Eliza made her appearance, Nannette marked her out as a proper companion for Lord W-

Miss Meanwell was now initiated in the first principles of affectation. A dancing master, a master of music, and her French governess, alternately harrassed the poor girl with their impertinent instructions. By degrees she acquired some knowledge of the French, and made a rapid progress in the art of dancing. Her attainments in music were slow, not from any deficiency of taste, but the difficulty of acquiring that elegant accomplishment.

In her deportment, affectation soon took the place of untaught grace. She found to her surprise that to blush, or laugh, would be considered as a mark of vulgarity in a young lady; that her be

haviour must be regulated according to the barometer, and her feelings by the thermometer of fashion. Music, that inchanting but seductive science, was one of the accomplishments in which her governess excelled, and Eliza, whose voice was melodious and her ear delicate, soon became delighted with her progress in the study of harmony. Under the influence of this musical mania, she struck the chords of her lyre like a Muse, and while her symphonious voice chaunted love-songs, her gentle bosom was infected with that morbid sensibility, which prepared it for the reception of tender impressions, and eventually led to seduction.

The artful Nannette observed the progress of her charming pupil with secret glee. To render her. person more attractive, Eliza was also taught to dance. On this occasion she suffered almost as much pain and mortification as a recruit under the discipline of a drill-serjeant. As the skipping-rope was now considered an appendage to the art of dancing, Eliza was indulged with a silken cord, and soon felt an ambition to excel her school fellows by superior agility and grace in the elegant accomplishment of skipping.

In a few days she attained such a proficiency in th's useful exercise, that she could swing her skipping-rope backwards, forwards, or transversly, with a scientific ease which her playmates imitated in vain. Her health indeed was improved by this exercise, but she lost that delicate sensation of modesty which formerly suffused her beautiful cheek with a crimson glow on the slightest occasion.

Nannette beheld with rapture the gradual depravation of the devoted Eliza. When that bloom

ing innocent was first placed under the tuition of the intriguing Frenchwoman, she felt some doubts of success; but from the moment that Eliza became a skipping girl, the giddy votary of levity and false refinement-from that moment Nannette was convinced that her machinations would be successful.

Indeed the fantastical amusements and acquirements of young ladies at a boarding school seem adapted to render them either proud, insignificant, or licentious, and such was their effect on Eliza. The advocate for ornamental accomplishments may exclaim, " "would you have young ladies to remain in a state of ignorance? why should not their minds receive the polish of instruction?" To this it may be replied, that the lighter accomplishments, which now wholly engross their time and attention, should be made the secondary, not the primary objects of acquisition.

Benevolence should be first cherished in the innocent and susceptible female bosom, instead of that ridiculous affectation of feeling, which only tends to harden the heart! Candour and sincerity should be adopted, instead of the grimace which is now called good breeding. Frequent visits to their parents and friends, should keep alive the filial and fraternal virtues, which are the source of so much felicity to those who participate the sweet emotions of "relätions dear; and that censurable estrangement, by which the heart is now alienated from these essential duties, wonld be no longer productive of a general negligence in the performance of the domestic virtues. As the great object of education is the promotion of individual and general happiness, let piety to the great Creator be the basis on which