Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1810-06-09
MoNoTORIAL..

=, MONOTORIAL-
The novelist does not with more certsin.
~ noison the female mind than do our
more serious and best insentinued writers.
WHO hss not heard Benartis letters spoken
of with admiration the reviewers have Gu
logised them, every young lady Is euchsn,.
ed with them yet ttey abound with sen.
tences that feed the vanity. increase the
passions, and fatter the foibles o. youth
*iany OF this writer's sentiments are excel.
lsn,s much Of his advice forcible and good;
bur most Of his sentences SAVIOR too much
Of the Chestsrfs ldean system and we See
the 'bc,virs, cFinging, smiirg disciple Of
Chesterfield, where we ought to see the vi
eorous, able, diena6.d monitor. He de.
claims in one page on our accountability to
Cod on the necessity OF acting from prin-
ciple;' on the charms of virtue, the next is
filed with sentences ike the following
Avoid card playing, because it will rut,
ae our tempers and discomPose your fea.
lures and a sour or angry look is more
destructive to female charms than an high
scorbu,ic flush or the small Pox," IF you
would captivate menof senss, hyou wish
to please, he pious, be charitable it gives
an additional briiziancy to your eyes, finer
glov to your ce1p1sssenas." q. .-.
What stua for a clergyman and moral
is, to write one who ought to teach vir.
tue in the purity Of the gospel! Why, when
discoursing upon the immoral tendency Il
card playing need he have alluded to what
girls are apt 10 make the prime mover of e.
very action-that which affects external ap-
2earances'
Take that elas: Of readers for whom Ben
nets letters are designed, and how small
proportion IF the m will be induced, from
the advice there given, to attempt the ar
Tduous task OF being vituous from pure mo-
-tives, with avieW Of preparing the msel,es
for usefulness here, and happiness hereaf.
ter If by any easier means than adhering
to tho gospel system, they csn-make their
eyes sbarkle, and their checks bloom, the
great end oftheir existence will be accom-.
plished they will cap,ivate !over, or sc.
cure husband, without regardingthe laws
of rigid virtue. .--
Being warm advocate for the judic;ous
cultivation of the female mind, regret that
30 many women of fine talents and superior
improvement, should so often give just
cause to the enemies Of educa,ioa, 70 ir-.
Weigh against it. Some give Cause by to-
tai neglect of domestic exceileneies; soxre
by an uajusti6able coh6derceia their Cpl.
mons, setting the laws of propristy. the
.maxims of experience, and the tenderest
ADVICE Of friends at defiance and others,
by an Alteration Of superiority, protesting
to feel above al attempts At finding enter
tsinment, except ia the company of the
learned. 1....-#
Among the many causes that may be a.
signed for such misapphcation Of talents and
knowledge, none is more obvious, think,
than the imbibing Of such sentiments as 4.
bove quoted. The GARD in which they arc
clothed isso alluring, that they are reeeiv-
ed into the youthful mind with eagerness,
and give no alarm to virtue till they have
shaken its very fouoda,ion, by implan,mg
wrong and insufficient motives Of action
/ woil&by 40 means infer that the author
meant they should have bad tendescy.-
They doubtless introduced them - necessa-
ry pallia,ives, for the same reason that we
give sugar pixmbs to naughty children to
soften The seventies of a zvh;tpinS. It is
generally believed that the minds OF women
are 20 weak rhst they will not bear the dis
cipliae Of virtue but mus; be cosxed into
goodness by assurances shat their eyes will
be brighter, and their dintks more BE-
,Oischiay.
People argue very speeiously on this sub
jecs, sod preach up the necessity Of aluring
the young mind to love of virtue but
they carry this sssrMg system soesaz.--