agrecable, should be individual; that is, it should reflect exactly the author's mind. In some seminaries for young ladies, it is customary to insist upon their writing poetry for a school exercise. O, the intolerable burden of counting out lines upon the fingers, and making them match to words from the rhyming dictionary! Doubtless, facility in versification may be thus acquired by long practice, where there is no natural ear for the harmony of numbers. The altar is built, the wood is laid, but where is the fire, and where the burnt-offering? Sentimental scribblers, puffed up with self-conceit, they are in danger of becoming; and it is difficult to conceive of any advantage to be derived from forcing, or endeavouring to create, a talent which has not been bestowed by the almighty Author of our being. But should young ladies never write poetry? If they are poets born, they will write "by stealth, and blush to find it fame;" not because it is wrong, but true genius and true sensibility are ever accompanied by modesty and a high standard of excellence. There is little danger to be apprehended from repressing the early exhibition of poetical talent; if it really exist, it will in time manifest itself. Let education be judiciously conducted, and the mind welldisciplined, and it will not extinguish the fire of genius, but (to use a homely comparison) find fuel for it to act upon. Exercises in prose composition, often much disliked at school, are of acknowledged utility, and should not now be discontinued. Bacon says, "He seeth how they (his thoughts) look when turned into words." We seldom know whether we have thoughts on any particular subject until we endeavour to express them; and if we have, the expression gives to them more clearness and precision. Often when some idea seems beautiful as it floats vaguely in the mind, it is painful to find how all the beauty vanishes when it is "turned into words;" as the lovely vision of the painter's fancy often resists all his attempts to transfer it to canvass. That the conception was imperfect could be demonstrated as the most frequent cause of failure in composition. Coleridge says, in one of his translations from Schiller "There exist Few fit to rule themselves, but few that use Their intellects intelligently." Some, perhaps, who feel that they are made for something better than mere followers of fashion, nevertheless suppress the aspirings of their nature, and strive to be like the fluttering myriads around them. Unworthy effort! you may for a time tame down your mind to dull mediocrity; but have you thus gained the good-will of those for whom you sacrifice so much? No; they, even they, would despise you for trampling under foot the glorious riches of genius. You may be unfavourably situated for the cultivation of mind, for it is "not possible for the best minds to attain their full development but amid an atmosphere highly charged with the electricity of thought;" yet, to the Giver you are accountable for all his gifts, and your means are proportioned to your responsibilities. Although every one is thus bound to use the talents that God has given, none need covet the possession of genius. Well might the gifted and truly feminine poetess Hemans exclaim "A mournful gift is mine, O friends! A mournful gift is mine." Something might here be said of the importance of the study of grammar and philology. They fill so conspicuous a place in the modern system of school education, that it may be deemed unnecessary to recommend farther attention to them. The philosophy of language is seldom understood by the young, and you would doubtless derive much advantage from a thorough examination of this subject. Horne Tooke's Diversions of Purley afford amusement and profound knowledge on this subject; Campbell's Rhetoric is not generally employed as a class-book, and should by all means be attentively read, as should also Alison on Taste, and Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful. As models of a pure and carefully elaborated prose style, few works are more worthy of study than Foster's Essays; and scarcely less fastidious was the great modern critic, Lord Jeffrey, whose selected contributions from the Edinburgh Review include papers on questions of taste and literary criticism well suited for the study of ladies desirous of acquiring a correct and purely grammatical style. CHAPTER X. MODERN LANGUAGES. "Frenche she spake ful faire and fetisely, For Frenche of Paris was to her unknowe." CHAUCER. WHEN female education is conducted in a very liberal manner, young ladies frequently acquire a knowledge of Latin, and occasionally of Greek. A good knowledge of Latin furnishes so excellent a foundation for modern languages, that you may deem it a valuable possession. The French, being a language so universally spoken, has long been considered indispensable to a young lady's education, though, from the imperfect way in which it is usually acquired, as a spoken language, it can be of little use. In many cases, the difficulty of gaining a correct pronunciation and accent is so great, that it is not advisable to make the attempt. To be able to read and write it well, is much better than the useless smattering which many possess. If the foundation has been well laid at school, you can continue to perfect yourself in the language, without the aid of a teacher. You have already become familiar with the amiable Madame Cottin and Madame de Genlis, and can now perhaps enjoy Molière, Racine, Corneille, and Madame de Staël. In cultivating a knowledge of this language, however, beware of becoming too familiar with modern French literature. Better to be ignorant of French entirely, than to learn it from the debasing, corrupting pages of French fictitious writing. Among modern lady authors, Mesdames Guizot, De Saus sure, and Necker, furnish unexceptionable reading; but be careful to learn their character before you venture upon new French books.* The Italian is easily acquired after the French. The sweet strains of Tasso, and the sublime visions of Dante and Ariosto, cannot be perfectly transfused into another language. Modern Italy can boast of much that is interesting in elegant literature, besides the writings of the splendid Alfieri, and the well-known letters of Ganganelli. The poet, Silvio Pellico,-whose long and cruel confinement at Spielberg has been made known to the world by that most interesting book, Mia Prigione,—has written pure, classical drama, which may safely be placed in your hands. The Spanish can be added with so little trouble, after French and Italian, that it should not be neglected; it is a beautiful and dignified language. The German, as it is much more difficult, will remain with a favoured few; but such are its treasures, that time and labour would be well spent in its acquisition. German literature has a freshness and vigour of thought, a strength and raciness of style, beyond comparison. Milton has, indeed, said that "one tongue is enough for any woman," and thousands of meaner minds have echoed and re-echoed this saying; but fear not. We live in another age; the charge of blue stocking, as applied to a literary or learned lady, when her acquirements are accompanied with true feminine modesty, is no longer a bugbear. The great danger is, of becoming a mere smatterer. The scanty gleaning of the school-room should not content you; go on with everything which you have commenced there, until you make yourself mistress of it. Having begun to build, do not incur the ridicule justly cast on her who is not able to finish. Read at least a chapter in your French or Italian * The following brief list of French authors may possibly be of some assistance to the young reader in the choice of books:-Montaigne, Corneille, La Fontaine, Molière, Pascal, Madame de Sévigné, Bossuet, Fléchier, Bourdaloue, Racine, Fénélon, Rollin, Massillon, Saurin, Montesquieu, Buffon, Barthélemy, D'Alembert, Saint Pierre, Delille, La Harpe, Madame de Staël, Chateaubriand, Cuvier, Sismondi, Guizot, Cousin, Lamartine, Delavigne. Testament every day. If you have leisure, take up some standard work, read it critically, and write out its beautiful passages in your note-book. This is an admirable way to fix a language in the memory, whilst improving your mind. In every country the useful arts must first occupy attention; as wealth and luxury increase, the ornamental follow. In a new country, mind must be long entirely occupied upon government, laws, religion, commerce, and the mechanical arts. In the infancy of a country these are the legitimate objects for the energies of mind. If it be averred, that the efforts for the mere accumulation of wealth, and the immense amount of invention expended upon the means to facilitate its acquisition, are a waste of mental power, there is truth in the assertion. But the attempt to designate ours as a mere "nation of shopkeepers" cannot stand the test of truth. Our ingenuity in mechanical arts has only accompanied a corresponding intellectual progress, and given a new impetus to taste. The supremacy of such practical arts may, indeed, be still maintained in our newer colonies; but with us this period has long passed away. Our ruined castles and abbeys preserve to us the evidences of the arts of our forefathers of a thousand years back; our line of poets descends to us from remote antiquity; and, amid the influence of education and the march of knowledge, a cultivated taste is demanded even for our manufacturers and artizans, in order that their productions may win the favour of those for whose use they are designed. |