66. Temper and constitutional good Spirits oftener the Cause of Happiness than Genius and Abilities, illus- trated in the Situations of Tom Sanguine and Ned ✔67. Superiority of modern Education over the ancient- Its Principle the Acquisition of Knowledge by Speak- 70. Happiness of a Man reclaimed from Extravagance and Dissipation to a Life of Industry, Sobriety, and Inde- pendence-Story of Mr. Saintfort 71. The Pride of Poverty contrasted with the Vanity of 76. Proposal by W. Jenkin for a Standard of Fashion in 77. Sensibility and virtuous Feeling do not always lead to Be- No.- Page 80. Letter from To-morrow, proposing a Division of his Ef- Nerva, on the common Applause of the Audience at 81. Modern Soldiers less desirous of Fame than of Profit- 82. The Power of corrupt Society and false Shame over the 85. On the decreased Power of Love in modern Times- Ode to a Lady going abroad. . . 86. Men's Ideas of Happiness formed from their own fa- 87. Effects of rural Objects on the Mind-Portrait of a 88, Character of Dormer, a Man of Public Spirit rather than of private Benevolence or Virtue 89. Letter from Urbanus, in consequence of the late Paper on the Effects of rural Objects on the Mind, giving an Account of the rural Sentiment which is cultivated at the Country Seat of a Man of Fashion . . 90. Letter from Barbara Heartless, the unfortunate At- 91. On Misanthropy, and its different Species-Illustration 92. Martha Edwards's Complaint of a romantic Husband 259 93. The tender Indulgence of Melancholy, particularly 95. Visit from a young Relation of Colonel Caustic's- Improvements of Edinburgh for the ensuing Winter, particularly of the Theatre, as proposed in a Letter 96. Amiable Picture of a Family in the Country 97. Extraordinary Account of Robert Burns, the Ayrshire Ploughman; with Extracts from his Poems . . 99. Of animal Magnetism, and its Application to the Dis- N° 52. SATURDAY, JANUARY, 28, 1786. On peut ebaucher un portrait en peu de mots; mais le detailler exactement, c'est un ouvrage sans fin. MARIVAUX. 'MOST women have no characters at all.' So says a poet of great good sense, and of much observation on human character. I own, however, that I am not very willing to acknowledge the truth of the proposition. I admit that there is a certain sameness in the situation of our women, which is apt to give a similarity to their manner and turn of mind; but I am persuaded there is a foundation of diversity in the characters of women as strong as in those of men. the features of the first, indeed, are more delicate, less strongly marked, and on that account more difficult to be distinguished; but still the difference equally exists. In their faces, the features of men are stronger than those of women; but the difference of one woman's face from another is not therefore the less real. So it is, in my opinion, with their minds. I have been lately more than ever disposed to deny the truth of Mr. Pope's observation, from an acquaintance with two ladies, who, in situations nearly alike, without that difference which vicissitudes of fortune, or uncommon incidents in life, might produce, are in character perfectly dissimilar. I never, indeed, knew two characters more pointedly different than those of Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hambden. Mrs. Williams is a woman of plain good sense, and of great justness of conduct. She was early married to a man of good understanding, and in a respectable situation of life. He married her, because he wished for a wife who could be a useful as well as an agreeable companion to him, and would make a good mother to his children. She married him, because she thought him a worthy man, with whom she could be happy. Neither the husband nor the wife are re markable for taste or refinement; but they have both such a stock of sense, as prevents their ever falling into any impropriety. Mrs. Williams conducts the affairs of her family with the greatest regularity and exactness; and she never feels herself above giving attention to any particular of domestic economy. The education of her sons she leaves almost entirely to her husband; that of the daughters she considers as peculiarly belonging to her. Believing the great truths, and attentive to the great doctrines of religion, she never troubled herself with its intricacies; and following, in morality, the plain path of right, she never speculated on points of delicate embarrassment. To her daughters, in like manner, she never taught mystery in religion, nor casuistry in morals; but she instills into them the most obvious and useful principles in both. She allows them to mix with the world to a certain degree, and to associate with companions of their own age and rank; but she guards against every thing which might give them a |