One of the chief beauties in a female character is that modest reserve,
that retiring delicacy which avoids the public eye, and is disconcerted
even at the gaze of admiration. For when a girl ceases to blush, she has
lost the most powerful charm of beauty. That extreme sensibility, which
it indicates, is peculiarly engaging.
Silence in company, particularly a large one, is never mistaken by the
judicious and discerning for dullness, but bespeaks a modesty essential
in the female sex. Dignity of behaviour is necessary at public places,
but care must be taken not to mistake that for that confident ease, that
unabashed countenance which seems to set the company at defiance.
Women should be cautious even in displaying their good sense. It is
often thought assuming a superiority over the rest of the company; but
their learning should be kept a profound secret, especially from men,
who generally look with a jealous and malign eye on a woman of great
parts, and a cultivated understanding.
The great art of pleasing in conversation consists in making the company
pleased with themselves. Detraction should be avoided, especially
amongst women where their own sex is concerned; it would be more noble
for them to shew a compassionate sympathy to the unfortunate, especially
to those who are rendered so by the villainy of men. It is a laudable
pride, as well as secret pleasure, which ought to be indulged, in being
the friend and refuge of the unhappy, but without the vanity of
shewing it.
Every species of indelicacy in conversation should be considered as
shameful and highly disgusting. A sacred regard should ever be had to
truth, for lying is a mean and despicable vice; though a lively
embellishment of a humorous story, which is only intended to promote
innocent mirth, cannot be understood to fall under that head.
Gentleness of spirit and manners is extremely engaging; but not that
indiscriminate attention, that unmeaning simper, which smiles on all
alike. For this arises either from affectation of softness, or from
perfect insipidity.
A fine woman, like other fine things in nature, has her proper point of
view, from which she may be seen to most advantage. To fix this point
requires great judgment, and an intimate knowledge of the human heart.
By the present mode of female manners, the ladies seem to expect that
they shall regain their ascendency over men, by the fullest display of
their personal charms, by being always in their eyes at public places,
by conversing with them with the same unreserved freedom as they do with
one another; in short, by resembling men as near as they can. The folly
of this expectation and conduct will soon be shown. For the power of a
fine woman over the hearts of men, of men of the finest parts, is even
beyond what she conceives. They are sensible of the pleasing illusion,
but they cannot, nor do they wish, to dissolve it. But if she is
determined to dispel the charm, it certainly is in her power, she may
soon reduce _the angel to a very ordinary girl_.
In fine, to form a complete lady, she should possess the most perfect
simplicity of heart and manners; dignity without pride, affability
without meanness, and simple elegance without affectation.
* * * * *
* * * *
The
_WANDERINGS_
of the
IMAGINATION.
_BY MRS. GOOCH._
(Continued from page 387.)
* * *
The pleasures of a fashionable life may not be unaptly compared to the
delirium of the brain in a high fever. ’Tis in vain we in imagination
visit ærial scenes fraught with all that fancy can bestow to give
delight: ’tis in vain we visit gorgeous palaces, and partake of
sumptuous banquets, while seated in the magic circle of Wit and Beauty,
we enjoy the radiant smiles of the happy, and the compliments of the
facetious and the learned: we even in the height of our frenzy still
feel there is a chasm in our pleasures, and a vacuum in our pursuits and
enjoyments; and when awake to reflection, we most sensibly feel that all
has been deception--the malady still rages, and the fever still remains.
But I revert to my first idea, and maintain that happiness is to be
found; and that I witnessed it in the family I have mentioned: they were
uniformly and completely happy in each other; and the casualties of fate
appeared not to terrify by their approach an individual belonging to it.
Had that happiness they amply possest been sufficient to satisfy them,
without searching farther into the world for an addition to it, one of
its branches had not, by creating her own misery, cast a bleak veil over
her fate, and impeded that heart-felt satisfaction which from her alone
knew interruption.
Nancy, the youngest daughter, was by nature more susceptible than the
rest. She had seen a young sailor in the neighbourhood, and against the
advice of all her true friends, contented to marry him, when he should
return from a foreign embarkation. She bore his departure with seeming
composure; but a few letters she received from him baffled all that
parental love could endeavour to save her, and on the first report of
the fleet’s intended return, she packed up a few necessaries, took the
little money she was, through the indulgence of her parents, become
mistress of, and unknown to all, set forward on her disconsolate journey
to Portsmouth, to wait his return.
For some weeks she waited in vain; at length the ship to which he
belonged arrived in the harbour. She eagerly discovered the means by
which she could go on board; and fancy pictured to her ravished senses
his delight on thus proving her unabated love. Alas, poor Nancy! the
ship indeed returned, but her William had been long consigned to a
watery grave. In silent grief she bore the dismal tidings, and returned
to her desolate abode. For three days she pined in speechless agony, and
on the fourth her account was made.
This melancholy incident gave rise to my endeavouring to express it in
the following stanzas:
On the waves of foaming ocean,
Blue-eyed NANCY heav’d a sigh;
View’d with trembling limbs their motion,
As dark they roll’d beneath a troubled sky.
Threat’ning clouds in thick succession,
Darted forth their livid store;
Thunder awful, past expression,
Resounded long and deep adown the ravag’d shore!
On the sea’s terrific border,
NANCY roam’d in deep dismay,
And in looks of wild disorder,
Wail’d to the dreary waste, all heedless of her way!
Horrid cliffs that way surrounded,
Beaten by the dashing surge,
Which in dreadful tumults sounded
To Fancy’s startled ear, her WILLIAM’s funeral dirge!
O’er the vast of Heaven’s covering,
Dark portentous horrors spread;
O’er the earth tremendous hovering,
Those horrors fill’d her aching heart with dread!
To the tempest’s howl she listen’d,
O’er the dashing waves she hung;
Rais’d to Heav’n the eye that glisten’d,
With the full tear which poignant grief had sprung.
Then exclaim’d, “Ah! troubled ocean,
“Tell me where beneath the wave,
“Tell me where, with love’s devotion,
“I may seek my lost, my lovely WILLIAM’s grave?
“Well ye know that I have lost him,
“Well ye know he’s in the deep,
“Well ye know your waves have cross’d him,
“Well ye know he’s rock’d in Death’s eternal sleep.”
She spoke and paus’d; then reasonless and wild
Again she call’d on th; unconscious deep
To answer to her plaint:--when, lo, the cliff
Gave way!--and falling with the love-lorn maid,
Poor NANCY ceas’d to murmur and to weep!
* * * * *
_SIXTH WANDERING._
It was in one of those fine autumnal evenings, when the Sun, while
sinking beneath the last cloud of departing day, tinged the blue
mountains with a paly light, that chance directed my footsteps from
_Chepstow_, to the all-charming and romantic retirement of
_Piercefield_. The deputed guardian of its woods indulged my request,
and left me to myself.
As I wandered alone and pensive over the beauteous scene, no noise but
the soft moaning of the leaves, gently agitated by the summer breeze, or
the distant voice of the nightingale, interrupted my meditations, while
I silently and sadly lamented the fate of its late unfortunate, and
hospitable possessor. Was it from hence (thought I) that our first
parents were precipitated into the abyss of woe, and will _Man_ be never
resigned to his lot? Will he prefer to that path which Nature pointed
out for him to follow, the tongue of envy---the voice of
detraction---the ruin of his fortune---the injury of his health---the
wreck of his peace---and sacrifice to a vision, the pure, true
unadulterated joys of rural and domestic felicity? Vain and transitory
are all sublunary desires; and the objects of whatever kind our
fantastic imagination greedily pursues, soon cloy in the possession.
There is no substantial delight but that which we derive from conscious
rectitude; and the vicissitudes of the world, like the turbulence of the
ocean, if they do not plunge the incautious into actual perdition, will,
by annihilating their senses, leave in them a blank, that no future
period will fill up.
The gloom that was beginning to dim the horizon, insensibly enveloped my
ideas, and the solitude of the woods heightened it. It was the hour when
the sky-lark chaunted its evening hymn to its Creator, as it soared
beyond the confines of sight. The lofty pines waved their high heads to
the wind, and now and then a few straggling leaves, that had loitered
beyond their time, rustled through the thick branches, while gently
falling towards the ground.
On a sudden, the voice of distant music caught my ear. I listened, and
distinguished the sweet sounds of the plaintive harp. My heart
responsively echoed the mournful melody, and I approached the spot from
whence it issued. The Harper, whom I recollected to have seen before,
was blind, and infirm, and his name was Llewyllin. He was sitting at the
foot of a tree, and his dog, who sat watchfully by him, retained his
station, seeming sensible of the attractions his master possessed,
instead of being impressed with fear, or alarm, at the approach of a
stranger.
A very lovely girl, more interesting than beautiful, stood leaning
against the tree in a pensive attitude; she observed me, and, as if
recovering from the reverie I had interrupted, with a soft, but dejected
smile, requested her father (for such I found him to be) would repeat
the variations of Pleyell’s German Hymn. The slow, and solemn measure,
raised my soul to Heaven, while my uplifted eyes invoked the pardon of
human frailties, and the rapturous enthusiasm invigorated my mind.
The Harper arose, his dog trotted on before, and I accepted the
proffered arm of the lovely Julia. Our conversation was on trifling
subjects, and the increasing darkness added an awful solemnity to the
stillness of the scene, as the bat flitted round us, and the solitary
owl poured forth her wailing plaints to the full-rising Orb of Night.
From the high eminence we espied the beautiful little town of
_Chepstow_; its various lamps reflected on the smooth surface of the
_Severn_, while the distant dashing of oars proclaimed our re-union with
the world, from which the peaceful groves of _Piercefield_ had just
before seemed to separate us.
Julia and I, whose tastes already appeared to be formed for each other,
delighted ourselves with the majestic scenery above and below us. We
retraced to our memories _The Sorrows of Werter_, while we gazed on his
favourite constellation, and compared its superiority over the luminous
bodies that surrounded it. But alas! these chearing prospects gladdened
not the heart of our companion; his day was set in everlasting night,
and I sighed while I surveyed the marks of placed resignation that
beamed on his benign countenance.
I accepted Julia’s invitation, and accompanied her home. She inhabited,
with her father, a small neat cottage, which she had adorned with the
elegant ornaments of rustic simplicity: she touched the harp with less
skill than did her father, but the gracefulness of her attitude while
seated at it, was all her own. She had a winning sweetness of manners,
and a captivating gentleness of disposition, which alike charmed and
secured the hearts of those who beheld her. With pious diligence she
discharged the duties of filial care; and as she watched over him with
affectionate zeal, she prevented the desires of her father.
We parted at an early hour, more refreshed than fatigued by the
excessive long walk we had taken; our minds had expanded in the
interview, and it was the beginning of an acquaintance that seemed to
promise an exquisite source of mental enjoyment, both to Julia and
myself.
Till the present moment, the intercourse of female friendship had been
unknown to Julia. The inhabitants of Chepstow, where they had lived five
years, were either too lofty, or too low, to afford gratification to a
susceptible mind. Yet, although her knowledge of the world extended no
farther than what she could collect from the books of a small
circulating library, with which she beguiled the heavy hours of her
father, she had acquired from these, and the polished understanding with
which Nature had endowed her, those requisites which alone were
necessary to render her a most desirable and interesting companion.
We met every day, and our friendship was established in less time than
custom allows to a common acquaintance. Julia, whose notions were above
the prejudices of the vulgar, would artlessly reveal to me her ideas as
they arose, but left me to conjecture on the subject of her heart,
which, from her frequent sighs, and some very distant hints, I could
perceive had not been hitherto insensible.
We went frequently to Piercefield, where, after placing Mr. Llewyllin on
a convenient seat, we would wander from him just far enough to hear the
distant sounds of the harp, which, as they died away, marked the length
of our progression.
Julia, in one of those walks, took occasion to enquire of me, if I had
ever seen _Swansea?_ I answered her in the negative, and she added with
a sigh, that her father would describe it to me better than she could.
The evening dews were beginning to fall, and we joined him in our walk
towards home.
We were no sooner arrived there, than I repeated to him Julia’s
question, which he answered, by giving me his narrative.
(To be continued.)
* * * * *