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siege of Dunkirk. He, however, recovered, and returned to England, where he found his beautiful mistress, Lucy Sacheverel, who had supposed that he was dead, married to another; and his attachment to his sovereign having rendered him obnoxious to the powers who then had the ascendency, he was thrown into prison; from. which having obtained a release, he wandered about in rags and poverty; and being broken down both in mind and fortune, died in obscure lodgings, in Gunpowder Alley, Shoe Lane.

The fickle goddess (Fortune) does not always abuse her power, by hurling down those to an abyss of misfortunes, whom she has first raised to the height of prosperity she sometimes reverses her capricious decrees, and restores the unfortunate to affluence and comfort, as in the instance of Mrs. Anne Dash, better known/ by the name of Tolson. This lady having been twice married, was, in her second widowhood, reduced to narrow circumstances, and obliged to set up a boardingschool, as a means of procuring a livelihood; but blindness having disqualified her for that employment, she became an object of charity. In the meantime, Dr. Caleb Cotesworth, a physician, who had married a relation of Mrs. Tolson's died, having amassed in the course of his practice, 150,000l. the greater part of which, being 120,000l. he left to his wife, who surviving only a few hours, died without a will, and her large fortune

was divided between Mrs. Tolson and two others, as the nearest of kin. With a due sense of this signal deliverance from a state of humiliation and uncertainty, she appropriated, by a deed of gift, the sum of 5000l. to be expended after her decease in building and endowing an alms-house at Isleworth, for six poor men, and the same number of women. What a transition must pass in the breast of this lady, from receiving a support from the bounty of others, to have been enabled to break her bread to the hungry, to have clothed the naked, and to have dispensed a permanent liberality to those unborn.

ON MODISH DRESS.

FROM want of other amusement, I lately took up a volume of the Travels of Anacharsis, and was forcibly struck with the following passage, in the chapter that describes the manners of the Athenians. Speaking of the article of female dress, he says: "We likewise see stuffs, embroidered with gold, and others worked with the most beautiful flowers, in their natural colours; but these are employed only in the vestments with which they cover the statues of the gods, or for the dress of the actors at the theatre. To prevent modest women from wearing them, the laws direct that they shall be worn by females of loose reputation."

The Athenian legislators, no doubt, wisely thought that it would be unnecessary to prohibit women who valued

their character from putting on such a gaudy habit, after commanding it to be worn by those who disgraced their sex by their profligacy, and making it, as it were, a badge of their order. They could not suppose that a virtuous girl would like to assume the appearance of an immodest wanton, lest she should be mistaken for a character that she abhors, however she may pity the individual to whom it is attached.

Could they now, by any sudden transition, be brought to life, and conveyed into the midst of our christian metropolis, how would these grave heathens be astonished to see the streets crowded with young women, between whose garb they could perceive no distinction, however, the manners might lead them to discriminate the modest from the bold.

The form exposed under the light covering of thin drapery, the bosom and shoulders bare, with arms un. covered nearly up to the shoulders, are such a general description of female habiliments, at the present time, that they must either suppose that the majority of the women they met were of that unhappy class of females, who have laid aside all claim to modesty and decorum; or that the pure and the depraved adopted the same fashions indiscriminately. To what cause can this error be attributed in a country celebrated for the virtue of its women, and which has produced so many illustrious female worthies?

In the discharge of the duties of the important relations of wives and mothers, I believe the English women are excelled by no nation upon earth. Domestic

pleasures seem to be no where so well understood: and this arises from the manners of the women, who know how to render home the place of all others the most agreeable; yet, inconsideration and the force of example, lead so many to deviate in the propriety of dress, that a hint on the subject, from a monitor, may not be amiss, to call the attention of the careless, to restrain the folly of the vain, and to rouse the courage of those of superior judgment, to dare to be singular in the cause of propriety, by holding forth a model for others to fol

low.

Let your dress be becoming and elegant, according to your circumstances in life; but remember to guard strictly against every innovation that inclines to immodesty or fantastic levity, let it be worn by whom it may. Wear nothing to be remarked, either for its oddity or novelty. It is better to follow than to lead the mode; and the less dress is made a topic of conversation, the more room is left for subjects deserving attention. I was concerned to hear the low whispers of a circle of young ladies, a few evenings ago, in a party of mixed company; as they would have better suited an assembly of milliners, whose business it is to compare the forms of caps, and the colour of ribbons and feathers, than a society of persons whose rank and fortune had given them an opportunity of cultivating various branches of knowledge. Instead of gaining information, or communicating it to their companions, the only entertainment they could provide was paltry remarks on the dress of their acquaintance. One wore too long a waist, another

too many petticoats, and a third muffled herself up like an old maid of the last century. Scandal and small-talk generally go together: praise was scantily dispensed, till a leader of the ton was brought upon the carpet: her perfections were extolled from every mouth; and I collected from her praises, that her dress chiefly consisted in going half naked. Disgusted with the insignificancy of these triflers, I removed to another part of the room, where I enjoyed the conversation of some wellinformed women, on various subjects.

When the hour of retirement came, a comparison naturally suggested itself between the turn of mind displayed by those different parts of the company; and I could not help suspecting, that a mistaken education had laid the foundation of this frivolous taste, in which exterior accomplishments had monopolised so much time, that very little opportunity had been left for reading, and the cultivation of the understanding. A well-selected collection of books, affording variety, instruction, and entertainment, after the more essential guard of good principles, is the best antidote to the evil which this paper is intended to put out of countenance: as reading, judiciously directed, enlarges the understanding, corrects a depraved taste, and, by associating the readers with the most enlightened men of past ages, raises them above the pursuit of baubles, that perish with an hour's enjoyment.

The following address to Modesty, by Mrs. Bath; being appropriate to the present subject, will form a suitable conclusion to it.

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