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MR. URBAN,

Thoughts on the Education of young Ladies

Correfpondent in your Magazine A withes for fome thoughts on female education. Having formed a decided opinion upon the fubject, give me leave to lay the following remarks before your readers. The education of a daughter is an important truft, which people of fuperior rank feldom or ever commit to perfons wholly indifferent; but, the cuftom of the generality of the inhabitants of the metropolis is, to fend their daughters, at a certain age, to fome of the numerous boarding schools in the neighbouring villages, which are now increased, and are increafing, to a degree, of which the laft generation could have no conception.

To a truly ferious mind, the prefent ftate of female education amongst us muft be a matter of concern: how little do we find of that elegant fimplicity, that unaffected devotion, that characteristic delicacy, which form the truly amiable woman! and how can this be otherwife? parents, in whom nature has implanted an inftinctive affection, throw the whole care of forming the inorals and the manners of their daughters on those whose chief motive is to enrich themfelves. Nothing, furely, but cuftom, can reconcile parents to fuch a breach of duty; owing, perhaps, to the diffipation of the prefent day, and that love of company, and of public entertainments, which is fo univerfally prevalent. When the mother fpends great part of the night at cards, rifes late, has vifits to pay, and friends to receive, the cannot have much leifure for the education of her daughter; the boarding-school is then the refuge, which gives an uncontrouled liberty to her conduct. Here the young lady is to be qualified for company; but how qua lified! he is never to be alone; her dancing-mafter (for he is the important tutor) is to teach her to ftand, to walk, and to hold up her head; her mufic-mafter, to thrum upon the harpsichord; the writing-mafter, to make fcratches and to blot paper; and her French teacher, to forget her mother tongue! but who is to form her manners and correct her morals, which alone can fix a folid principle, and give vigor and ftability to the unde: standing Accomplishments, it is faid, are best attained in public. If by accomplishment a knowledge of the fine arts is meant, I much doubt it; the teachers at thofe places are feldom of the firft rank, and neither their time nor their inclination lead them to beltow that attention which is necellary to inftruct a scholar. I have obferved

that girls, when they first come from these fchoos, are generally referved and ungra cious in the company of thofe they confider as their fuperiors. They have not been introduced into the right clafs of company; thofe with whom they are to pafs the reft of their days, or thofe who are capable of affording them inftruction with delight; perhaps, they even despise the fociety of perfons of that character; for much of the oeconomy of schools being drefs, the young lady is naturally led to ridicule thofe whofe appearance does not come up to her ftandard of excellence in that refpect. On the contrary, thofe who have been gradually advancing into life in the fociety of thofe with whom they are in future to be connected, and under the influence of the affectionate mother, or kind relation, who can fay, "Here, my child, place your confidence "on fuch and fuch friends, who have principles, and will be lafting objects "of your affection," are never at a lofs in whatever company they may be in ; they are always at home; but what can a fchoolmistress do in directing the mind to fuch attachments? Indeed, experience fully proves, that boarding-fchool friendfhips are generally of short duration.

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I would by no means wish to bear hard upon misfortune: but is not this too frequently the recommendation of a governefs of a school? The failure in trade, of a father or hufband, is confidered as a kind of claim to that office; and in thofe very great fchools, of long eftablishment, it is not a fuperior knowledge, or ability of communicating inftruction, that is the requifite; but an addrefs, and manner of fuiting their converfation to the humour of the young lady's friends; for, with refpect to inftruction, there is often a regular apprenticeship ferved to the profef

on, and a kind of routine established, never to be departed from, under the title of "the rules of the fchool;" besides, in thofe of great eminence, muft not the time of the principal be almoft entirely taken up in fuperintending the oeconomy of the whole ?

Doubtlefs there are exceptions to the general management of fchools. Some ladies have few scholars, and devote their whole attention to them; other ladies only take fuch as are grown up, and who, from adventitious circumftances, have not had an opportunity of improvement under their parents: th's is a totally dif ferent cafe, and few of the foregoing remarks hold good with refpect to fuch a finish of education; thefe too are ufually

Vindication of Dr. Dodwell.-Critique on Virgil.

perfons of fuperior abilities to the common rank.

I am no friend, Mr. Urban, to confinement for young perfons of either fex; I would have them fee the world, partake of its amusements, and enjoy its real pleasures, in order to form a character of their own, and defpife the routine of fenfe lefs gaiety and diffipation,

You, Mr. Urban, are an old man; but I have received fo much entertainment and instruction from your Mifcel. lany, that I am ready to fay, in the highflown language of Eastern compliment"O Urban! live for ever." L. M.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

HE affertion in your last vol, p. 1005, of Dr. Dodwell's having been the author of "Chriftianity not founded in "argument," to thofe who knew the Door, either in his private life, or by his writings, will carry with it its own refutation; but left this attack, by its general acceptation, should prove injurious to the honeft fame, or well-earned

character, of Dr. Dodwell, the writer of this expoftulation is defirous that the contradiction of the calumny may be as peremptory and decifive*, as the latter has been unqualified and indecent.

Whoever was the author of the Tract alluded to matters, at prefent, very little to enquire; certain it is, he took care to conceal his name, So little was Dr. Dodwell ever fufpected to have written jt; that he was even believed by many to have entered one of the ftrongeft protefts against the infidious and fallacious purpofes of that publication,

If general reafoninge may he thought neceffary to overthrow a momentary be lief of Dr. Dodwell's having been the author of a fet of opinions fo incongruous with his fituation, character, and connections, it may be fufficient to obferve, that he poffeffed the confidence, and was benefited by the patronage, of the late learned bishop Sherlock; that he acquired this friendship, not through the partiality of private intereft, or the clamour of academical cabal; but by the refined learn ing, becoming zeal, and chriftian fpirit, which were diffplayed by the Doctor in his fermon preached at the Bishop's vifitation at Reading, on the 30th of Aug, 1744. Again, it may be remarked, that his private converfations, and the manners of his domeftic life, were always found to correfpond with thofe principles which, as a champion of our truly ortho

See our laft Mag. p. 32. EDIT.

133

dox church, he had ever maintained in the pulpit, and frequently published to the world. If thefe arguments should not be thought to carry fufficient conviction with them, let it be remembered, at leaft, to Doctor Dodwell's honour, that the University of Oxford, in full Convo cation, thought him worthy to have the degree of Doctor of Divinity conferred on him, for his very mafterly Reply to Dr. Middleton's Free Enquiry into the Miraculous Powers.

Great indeed must be the weight of evidence, which can establish a belief of. Dr. Dodwell having written the Tract, to which reference is now had, when we know that he exerted, with all polible ardour, the powers of his well-informed mind, in endeavouring to expofe the injurious purposes of a publication which bore a ftrict analogy to the principles of that book, of which Dr, Dodwell is now enviously charged with having been the author,

Mr. URBAN,

K.

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An obfcurity probably hath arifen from the Romans having three fignifications for the word malum; malus, the mast of a fhip, and malum an apple, hath, as every one knows, the first fyllable long, and, on the contrary, ma, in malus, evil, is fhort. Some commentators, therefore, being guided by quantity, have been contented to explain, "affuetumque malo Ligurem," the Ligurian accustomed to deceit. But others have juftly faid, that this interpretation of malo makes the Ligurian a difgrace, instead of an ornainent, to Italy, and yet have fatisfied themselves with rendering it, the Ligurian accustom ed to hardship or labour; neither of thefe tranflations feem reconcileable to the poet's intention. The judicious Virgil would not, on this occafion, have uled the word malo in either of thefe fenfes, though, while que is retained, ma in male must be short; and, without a breach of quantity, can hear no other fignification. I therefore examined all the editions I could meet with, to fee if any of them omitted the que, and find in Burman's the following extract; " Adfuetum Zulichemius

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Chandler, Browne, Forfter.-Poetical Imitations.

Zulichemius addita gloffa, id eft navibus,
vel pomis." Hence it is evident, that
this neglected annotator (father of the
celebrated Huygens) had not que in his
copy. Now if we reject this particle,
then "affuetum malo Ligurem" fignifies,
the Ligurian accustomed to the maft, that
is, the Ligurian failor; who furely is a
much properer companion for the Volfcian
foldier, than either a Ligurian thief, or
a Ligurian worn out with labour. The
maritime fituation of Liguria, of which
Genoa is now the capital, ftrengthens this
interpretation.
T. H. W.

MR. URBAN,

YOUR

OUR Editor, vol. LV. p 847. afks, whether the Chandler, mentioned in the Extract I fent you from the preface to Kals's Hebrew Grammar, was not Dr. Richard Chandler, the Traveller in Greece, &c. I anfwer, certainly not: Dr. Chandler, I believe, was not then entered in the Univerfity; and, I am fare, he was not in orders. I did not place much confidence in my own conjecture, yet I do not think it altogether improbable. Dr. S. Chandler was a man of fome eminence among the Diffenters; and it is not unlikely that Germans, vifiting England, might become acquainted with him, or night have been recommended to him by fome of their divines. But I think we may fafely fay, that the perfon here in tended was not a member of the Univerfity of Oxford; for fuch an one would fcarcely have recommended his friends to a foreigner, and a ftranger, who was the most unfit perfon he could have chosen to fhew them the Univerfity. And, for the fame reason, I think it at least probable that he was not of Cambridge; for a Cambridge man would have been fenfible of this inconvenience; and, to avoid it, would natually have enquired amongst his friends for a proper recommendation, if he had happened himself to know nobody in Oxford. There is another reafon which inclines me to think ftill farther, that the perfon intended was not of the church of England. This is the diftinguifhing note, V. D. M. fcarcely ever uted by our di

vines; but not uncommon among the Diffenters. But I do not depend very much upon this argument; becaufe Kals, being a foreigner, might poffibly make ufe of a fignature, common in his own country, without attending to the diftinction; but, if Dr. Samuel Chandler was the perfon intended, the defignation is proper; and it is not to be wondered at that he should recommend to Kals, who may be fuppofed to have known little of the members or customs of the Univerfity.

The Editor is again mistaken with refpect to Browne, who could not be either Dr. Richard, or Dr. Jofeph Browne. The former, indeed, died canon of ChriftChurch; but he was originally of Trinity, afterwards of Wadham, and did not remove to Chrift-Church, till the death of Dr. Hunt, 1774, when he was appointed Regius Profeffor of Hebrew, to which a canonry is annexed. Dr. Jofeph Browne, who was Provoft of Queen's, went regularly through the foundation, and was never of any other college +.

If Mr. Forster, of Cheatham, was then refident in Oxford, he might be the perfon; but fo, likewife, might Dr. Samuel Forter, of Wadham, now Register of the University; his brother, Dr. Forster, of Baliol, who has now a living in Effex, I think Colchefter; and others, I believe, of the name, who were also refident. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

E. E.

Ifertion in your ufetul Mifcellany, they

the following remarks are worth in

are much at your fervice.

Sure be that made us, with fuch large difcourfe,
Locking before and after, gave us not
That capability and God-like reason
To ruft in us unused.- 4 A&t Ham. Shak,

Theobald produces two paffages from Homer, where this thought occurs. See Iliad. 7. 109. Iliad. . 249. Mr. Gray, in the fragment of a moft beatiful Ode on Viciffitude, has the fame idea. Mr. Mafon, in his edition, has not remarked it amongst his other imitations. See P. 95. Vol. I.

J. H.'s more particular account of Mr. Kals fhall be inferted in our next. EDIT. MANTUAN has made the fame remark, and obferves, that "Mr. Brown is called Ecclefiæ Chrifti Alumnas ;' and if Mr. Kals did not use the term Alumbus' in the appropriate fenfe of ftudent, he must fill mean by it a member of that college. It is odd enough, Brown being fo very common a furname, and Christ Church the largest college in the university, that it should not be met with, as of Chrift Church, in the Catalogue of Oxford Graduates from the beginning of this century, to the year 1770. The Mr. Brown who was fuch a favourite with Mr. Kals feems to have taken no degree; and who he was I have no pucfs. The rest of the names propofed by the Editor may be right." of Thei

Inftances of Poetical Imitations in Milton, &c.

"Their raptures now that wildly flow, No yesterday, nor morrów know; 'Tis man alone that joy deferies, With forward and reverted eyes." "The breezy call of incenfe breathing Morn" Elegy in C. C. Yard.

This epithet is fuggefted by Milton and unnoticed by Mr. Mafon. See P. Loft. "Now when as facred light began to dawn, In Eden, on the humid flowers that breath'd Their morning incense.

"These thall the fury Paffions tear."

Eton Coll "The fury Paffions from that flood began, And turn on man, a fiercer tyrant, man.-' POPE's 3d Eth. Ep. "The painful family of death." GRAY. Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain." POPE'S 2d Eth. Ep.

When Gray wrote his Church-yard, his mind feems to have been much tinc. tured with reading Tickell's Poem to the Earl of Warwick. It were difficult to produce paffages that were immediately parallel. I must refer your readers, therefore, to the two pieces; the following imitations are amongst the moft striking.

Proud names who once the reins of empire held." TICKELL.

Hands that the rod of empire might have held." GRAY,

"What awe did the flow folemn knell in-
spire

The pealing organ, and the paufing choir."
TICKELL

"The pealing anthem fwells the note of praife.
GRAY

Gray appears to have been a most attentive reader of Cowley, as he has adopt ed many of his occafional brilliances, which Dr. Hurd has pointed out in his Edition; this, however, feems to have efcaped him. Cowley beautifully exclaims:

"Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, fay

Have you not feen us walking every day." &c. Hurd's Edit. Vol. 1. p. 117. Say, Father Thames, for thou haft feen," GRAY. "Hence 'twas a mafter in those ancient days, &c.

&c.

135

Spirantefque crocos, et in urnâ perpetuum ver,
Qui præceptorem fandi voluere parentis
Elfe loco."-7 Sat.

"To me the fun is more delightful far,
And all fair days much fairer are," &c.

COWLEY.

"Inftar veris enim vultus ubi tuus
Affulfit populo; gratior it dies

4 B.

Et foles melius nitent." HOR. 03.
5
Edwards's Sonnet upon a family pic-
ture, has as much merit as any Sonnet,
perhaps, can be entitled to; there is a
paffage in one of Pope's letters, that re-
minds us of the leading idea that pervades
the Sonnet.

"It feems that like a colonn left alone,
The tottering remnant of fame flendid fane,
'Scaped from the fury of the barbarous
Gaul,

And wafting Time, which has the reft o'er-
thrown,

Amidft our houfes' ruins I remain
Single, unpropp'd, and nodding to my fall.”
EDWARDS.

Nothing, fays Seneca, is fo melancholy a circumftance in human life, or fo reconciles us to the thought of our death, as the reflection and profpect of one friend after another dropping round us! who would ftand alone the fole remaining ruin, the left tottering column of all the fabrick of friendship; once fo large, feemingly to ftrong, and yet so suddenly funk and buried.-Letter 10th, to Hon. R. Digby.— Vol. VI. p. 87.

In fupport of the ufage of the word tale in Milton, which an anonymous writer fuggefted to Mr. Warton in his late edition, perhaps the following paffage may be adduced:

nor the vale Of Alfbury, whofe grafs feems given out by tale."

Drayton, New Edit. p. 369, col. 1. Milton feems to have been a great reader of Phineas, Fletcher, and Drayton. 1 fhall refer your readers to a few inftances. See Fletcher, p. 173, fect. 58. "to try what may be." See Par. Loft, b. 1, 270, 66 eyes that fparkling blaz'd." Milton, 174, lib. 1. See Fletcher, fect. 61, 174. See Par. Loft, lib. 1, 48. See Fletcher, fe&t. 64, §. 174, 66 troop to the infernal fail." Ode on Ch. Nativity, Hurd's Edit. Vol. I. p. 114. "Troop the poor." Fletcher, p. 131, Thefe lines are an imitation of Juve. "numbers numberlefs." Fletcher, P. nal's fine apostrophe. Ifland, 123, "fhapelefs fhapes." Fletcher, 166, "nummed foul," Fletcher,83. "im"Dii majorum umbris tenuem et fine pon paradifed." Fletcher, P. Island, P. 4.

Father itself was but a fecond name."

dere terram,

The

136
The expreffive alliteration of Milton's
combinations is, in fome inftances, to be
found in both Fletcher and Drayton.
"valleys dark and deep." Drayton, Fol.
Edit, p. 279, col, 1, Ryedale dark and
deep." 378, col. 1, "rude refort," Dray-
wafte of wa-
ton, 337. 395, col. 2,
ters." Drayton, 349, col. 1. Married
applied to mufic, fet Drayton, Fol. Edit.

Inftances of Poetical Imitations in Milton, &c.

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66

Dray

col. 2. whilft the fat under an P. 52, efate of lawn," Drayton, P: 73, col. 1. faily Milton ufes fate in this fense, " wings," Drayton, p. 368. col. 2. flagSee gy fails," Fletch. P. Ifland, 173: Milton's Par. Loft, b, 1, 225. ton's 15th Sonnet feems fuggefted by the ftory of Coucy, which is to be found in Howell's Letters, and in Baron's Cyprian Academy. Drayton has an idea which I never faw exceeded, though we frequent ly find common-place ideas of the kind; perhaps, notwithstanding its beauty, it has fomething the caft of a conceit."

Whilft in their cryftal eyes he doth for

Cupids look."

The two following lines are a fpecimen of fine imagery, not easily to be equalled: "Her mantle richly wrought with fundry flowers;

Her moitful temples bound with quivering
reeds."
Drayton, 3:6, col. 1.
Lord Rochefter's verfes on Nothing,
which Dr. Johnfon fuppofes might have
been fuggefted by a Latin Poem, on that
fubject, by Pallerat, might have arifen from
fome verfes of P. Fletcher, on the fame
fubject, fee p. 70; di he might have found
the idea in Crafhaw, p. 14. It is much
to be regretted that Mr. Upton did not
live to compleat his magnificent edition of
Spenfer; he has left all the minor poems
unpublished. Spenter's incongruities, as
well as his beauties, are without end.
See Shep. Cal. April.

I fee Calliope fpeed her to the place,
Where my Goddefs thines;

And after her the other Mules trace
With their violines.

See likewife Shep. Cal. June.

I faw Calliope with Mufes moc, Soon as thy oaten pipe began to found Their ivery lutes and Tamburins forego. From the ridiculous infignia of violins 24 Tamburins, that are here affigned to the Mefes, we might almost be led to imame that Spenter had feen a painting by Cario Maratti, who has very facetioudy drawn Apollo, playing on the fiddie, fårounded by the nice Mules. The imi36 tons of Spinfet, which we find in

Shakspeare, are not unfrequen; the following inftance (if it comes under the head of an imitation) I do not recollect to have feen remarked. Caffius fays, of Cæfar, to Brutus :

"Why man he doth beftride this narrow world;

Like a Coloffus, and we, petty men,
Walk under his huge legs." Jul. Cef. feen.3

See F. Queen, B. 4. Cant. 10,
"But I, tho' meanest man of many moe,
Yet much difdaining unto him to lout,
Or creep between his legs."

"This bold bad man, occurs in Shak., Hen. VIII. A&t 2. fc. 4. a mode of expreffion every where to be met with in Spenfer. " like apined ghoft," Spenfer, B. 3, Cant. 2. 51. Shakspeare has this word in one of his moft exquifite fonhanging her pale and pixed head

nets,

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befide."

-"With you bring triumphant Mart.” Spenf. Introd. b. 1. Stan. 3. This ufage of the word Mart for Mars we find in Mallinger's Bahful Lover. Mafon's Edit. p. 289. C-T-O

MR. URBAN,

PERHAPS fome of your correfpon

dents would reply to a few Queries. 1. Ought not every child of the worthy ufeful labourer to be bred up a Chrittian!

2. Could not this be easily effected by a fhort aft of the legislature?!

3. Cught a man of 70, after. perhaps, 60 years faithful fervice, in one parish, be obliged to leave his old and happy firefide with his aged wife?

4. Could not the poor laws be revised, torefcue fuch from the horrible tyrants of Overfeers, by compelling them to allow fuch fome comfortable weekly ftipend A CHRISTIAN.

It was an excellent felieme that was propofed fome years ago: for every fervant, after the age of15, to pay a monthly fum, by way of establishing a fund, in every paridhi, for the fupport of the aged poor. It was propofed, that every labouring man, after 60, fhould have a certain allowance weekly, to enable him to live. without working all the reft of his days. No removal from parifh to parih; but every poor man to get work where he could; and when fettled in bus finefs, to be empowered to bring his family with him.

EDIT. 13. Letters

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