source of preservation to parents, and the qualification for the performance of all their relative duties.

The rising youth have greatly the advan tage of those who are now in the meridianof life. On the subject of female education, and virtuous accomplishments particularly, much has been said, calculated to assist in forming the mind for usefulness; in qualifying it for domestic enjoyments; enlarging and ennobling the heart with virtuous sensibility, and thereby preparing the young to become interesting and agreeable companions, and to act their part with dignity and propriety in that sphere wherein they may be placed. To be fully sensible of, and carefully to improve this blessing, would be of incalculable benefit to them, and to posterity.

It was the design of an All-wise and benevolent Creator in the formation of woman, that she should be a help-meet and companion to man. If, in a state of innocency, her company and assistance were necessary to his comfort and happiness, how much more so, when his cares, his toils, and his anxieties, are multiplied. This sentiment is

finely illustrated by one of the ancien, when speaking of the excellent qualities that adorn a virtuous woman. "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he hath no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness."

Although there are many very useful persons of interesting character, who prefer a single life, yet I think the celebrated Montesquieu, when speaking of the influence of females on public manners, &c. must have considered them in the capacity of wives and of mothers. He says, "The safety of the State depends on the virtue of the women." He also observes, that "Greece owed much of its wise policy to their chastity and economical virtues." But we need

not go to Greece or Rome for examples to prove the effects of female influence.

It is said, that soon after the conquest of England, and while it was divided into many small kingdoms, and when Ethelbert, king of Kent, was soliciting the hand of Bertha, a prince of Paris, "one of the stipulations insisted on, was, that she should have the free enjoyment of her religion, which was that of Christianity." "When she was introduced to the Court of her husband, the steadfastness of her principles, the sweetness and suavity of her disposition, and the conciliatory influence of her deportment, were so attractive, that not only the king, but his courtiers were brought to the acknowledgment of christianity, and through them it was spread over the whole English nation."

If we carefully examine the sacred writings, the history of some of the kings of Israel and Judah, will furnish abundant proof of the effects of female influence. It is stated as one of Ahab's first and great transgressions, that "he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, and became a worshipper of Baal: and that there

was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." When his son came to the throne, "he did evil (also) in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and made Israel to sin." It is likewise said of Jehoram, King of Judah," he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife ;" and of Ahaziah, because his mother who was the daughter of Omri, and sister of Ahab, "was his counsellor to do wickedly."

Another essential circumstance is observable in this history. When those kings governed, who endeavoured to serve the Lord, and to teach the people to do so, (though they were not exempt from human frailties) they generally prospered in their undertakings, enjoyed the good things of the land, and their enemies were not suffered to tyrannise over them. But during the reign of those kings who worshipped other gods; thereby setting their subjects a bad example, there were wars and famine almost continually.

And from the great suffering of man and beast, the Prophets might well say

"When the wicked bear rule, the land mourneth." In this view of the subject, we may clearly discover the propriety, and more fully estimate the advantages, arising from a proper cultivation of the female mind. It is often asserted, and with great propriety, that on a proper education, the safety and happiness of a nation very materially depend. If so, is not the foundation of that education to be laid in the virtuous culture of females; that they may be prepared to watch carefully the opening buds of infantile intellect, and to distinguish between those propensities which should be fostered with care, those that want regulating, and those which ought to be entirely eradicated? Is it not on the lap, or by the side of a pious and judicious mother, that the foundation of what is good and great is generally laid?

For a woman to be a true help-meet to her husband, and a faithful mother to her children, she must be virtuous, industrious, and economical: studiously careful to live within the limits of their income, and by