from contemptible; and they may be both the encouragers and the imitators of genius. They should not grasp at too much, or be content with superficial attainment; they should not merely daub a few flowers, or hammer out a few tunes, or trifle away their time in inept efforts, which at best claim only indulgence; but they should do well what they do attempt, and do it without affectation or display.

CHAPTER II.

CAUSES OF FEMALE INFLUENCE.

NOTHING is so likely to conciliate the affections of the other sex as a feeling that woman looks to them for support and guidance. In proportion as men are themselves superior, they are accessible to this appeal. On the contrary, they never feel interested in one who seems disposed rather to offer than to ask assistance. There is, indeed, something unfeminine in independence. It is contrary to nature, and therefore it offends. We do not like to see a woman affecting tremors, but still less do we like to see her acting the amazon. A really sensible woman feels her dependence. She does what she can; but she is conscious of inferiority, and therefore grateful for support. She knows that she is the weaker vessel, and that as such she should receive honor. In this view, her weakness is an attraction, not a blemish.

In every thing, therefore, that women attempt, they should show their consciousness of dependence. If they are learners, let them evince a teachable spirit; if they give an opinion, let them do it in an unassuming manner. There is something so unpleasant in female self-sufficiency that it not unfrequently deters instead of persuading, and prevents

the adoption of advice which the judgment even ap proves. Yet this is a fault into which women of certain pretensions are occasionally betrayed. Age, or experience, or superior endowment, entitles them, they imagine, to assume a higher place, and a more independent tone. But their sex should ever teach them to be subordinate; and they should remember that influence is obtained not by assumption, but by a delicate appeal to affection or principle. Women, in this respect, are something like children; the more they show their need of support, the more engaging they are.

The appropriate expression of dependence is gentleness. However endowed with superior talents a woman may be, without gentleness she cannot be agreeable. Gentleness ought to be the characteristic of the sex; and there is nothing that can compensate for the want of this feminine attraction.

Gentleness is, indeed, the talisman of woman. To interest the feelings is to her much easier than to convince the judgment; the heart is far more accessible to her influence than the head. She never gains so much as by concession, and is never so likely to overcome as when she seems to yield.

Gentleness prepossesses at first sight: it insinuates itself into the vantage ground, and gains the best position by surprise. Whilst a display of skill and strength calls forth a counter array, gentleness at once disarms opposition, and wins the day before it is contested.

The mind of woman should be cast in a gentle mould. We feel occasionally that how much soever we may respect some women, there is that about them which we can scarcely love. They want the softness and sweetness essential to female grace. Their conversation is not pleasing, because, though what they say may be very just, and even very in structive, it does not fall from honied lips. And though we esteem their character, we do not court their society, but are inclined to prefer knowing them at a distance to a more intimate acquaintance with them.

Nearly allied to gentleness is elegance. Elegance contributes much to female fascination; and women should seek to be elegant not only in manner, but in mind. Manner is, indeed, generally symptomatic ; but as it may be artificial, it is no sure criterion of mental grace. It is the latter which is essential to true beauty. Without it, the fairest form disappoints and wearies. It is the radiance that sets off every other charm, and sheds on each its appropriate hue. It is tint and proportion. Yet it is more easily understood than defined, and better felt than expressed.

Of such elegance taste is the true source. As it teaches symmetry, so does it impart grace. Taste is the rule of elegance. There may be artificial forms, and these may or may not be agreeable to the proportions of taste; but taste gives the only true models, and every departure from them is an error.

- Taste is susceptible of improvement; and elegance is the result of cultivated taste. As in art the rude handler of the chisel may in time become a proficient in sculpture, or the most simple designer a master of the easel; so may the taste which refines the mind and proportions the character be equally disciplined and improved.

It is a great mistake to suppose that fashion is a criterion of elegance. Modes of fashion are entirely conventional, and are often as ungraceful as they are capricious. The lady, for instance, who anoints her head with tallow is irresistible in Ethiopia; and though we cannot sympathize with her admirers, we have no right to question their taste. Our own has been, at times, little better. We may smile at the strictures of the Spectator on the patches of his day; but the coiffure of this century has vied with the cushion of the last, and the dimensions of our own petticoats have sometimes seemed to threaten the reinstatement of the hoop.

But it is not in costume only that fashion is gro tesque; in manner she is equally capricious. Elegance rests on immutable rules; but the versatility of fashion is proverbial. The euphuism of the Elizabethan court was but little more absurd than the mannerism which has often been as arbitrarily prescribed. Each may be in its turn a test of ton, or a passport to exclusive circles, or a mode as universal as the contour of a robe, and, from its sameness, as wearisome; but it has no intrinsic recommendation