16 THB SWITCH OP KENDAL. 



Take, then, sweet Girls, a Friend's advice. 

 Who always sung his best to please you. 



Be not too vain, nor idly nice ; 

 Nor let Dorinda's whimsies teize you. 



Think, sadly think — when youth has pass'd. 

 In heartless dressing and flirtation, 



What wilful maids endure, at last. 

 In loneliness and tribulation. 



Neglect not in your rosy prime 

 To make your hay in sunny weather ; 



And choose a proper switch in time, 

 When Love and Beauty dance together.* 



July, 1793. 



• The time of representation, in this tale, is about the middle of George the 2nd's reig^i. 

 The manners even of the better orders, such as they are painted m authentic contemporary 

 records, and by our best novelists and dramatic writers, were then, in many particulars, 

 still tinctured with the prejudices and coarseness of the preceding century. This failure 

 in courtesy was evinced in a degree of coldness, neglect, and derisive behaviour to un- 

 married ladies of a certain age. Fortunately this rudeness, so disgraceful to that period, 

 has almost wholly disappeared before the advance of good feeling and true politeness. 

 Females, who, from circumstances over which they have no control, or from inclination, a 

 love of retirement and quiet independence ; a timid disposition ; or a religious sentiment, 

 live in a single state, form an estimable portion of the community in the United Kingdom. 

 In this class there are numbers distinguished for talents, elegant accomplishments, a 

 cheerful good temper, and the exemplary practice of the Christian virtues. It is not 

 necessary to cite names from a past age. It is enough to mention, in our own time. Miss 

 Edgeworth, Miss Anna Maria Porter, and the late Hannah More. Many unmarried ladies, 

 from their having few household cares to occupy them, become an ornament and a blessing 

 to society ; of almost every public institution for the improvement, or advantage of the poor, 

 or for general purposes of charity and piety, they are active and liberal supporters. There 

 are, also, many, on whom nature has bestowed tender domestic affections, and every 

 qualification to render a matrimonial union happy, who are deterred from changing their 

 condition by the too frequent instances of most obsequious and fervent adorers before the 

 bridal ceremony, who, shortly after, are transformed into domestic tyrants and libertine 

 husbands. Others live single from a conscientious dread of having a young family, 

 without adequate means for their suitable education and establishment. To these pru- 

 dential and virtuous motives for celibacy, more, as just and laudable, might be added. 



The preceding remarks prove the satiric touches, in the tale, are aimed at an injurious 

 practice, not at any particular individual. "The Switch" was not written to abet a 

 senseless, vulgar prejudice, or cast a ridicule on any class. The author intended, as a 

 sincere friend, to show those very young ladies, who, with good hearts, without any ill 

 intention, are not sufficiently considerate, through a want of experience, thoughtlessness, 

 or a levity of temper, the folly of wasting the flower of their years in coquetry, flirtation, 

 and the rejection of good oflFers, contrary to tlie aft'ectionate advice of their parents and 

 friends. A discreditable marriage, at the age of a grandame, with every chance of unhap. 

 piness, is no uncommon result of these early errors. He has, always, looked upon the 

 natural endowments and social qualities of the Fair Sex with esteem and admiration. 

 Woman was the " last and best gift " of the Almighty, and she may be fairly valued as the 

 golden link between man and his Creator. Man comparatively boasts of his virtues. 

 Woman practices hers, unobtrusively, without profession. In the breast of a true wife and 

 mother, there are inexhaustible treasures of purity, resignation, fortitude, and dis- 

 interested affection, which family misfortunes only call into action with more force and 

 splendour. It is then seen that her attachment is devoid of selfishness. When the world 

 falls away from her partner, her tenderness increases ; and she redoubles her kind offices. 

 Her voice is that of a consoling angel to his drooping spirit ; her presence as a beam of 

 light from heaven to guide his steps in the dark night of adversity. The heroism of 

 Warriors is rarely free from some alloy of personal acquisition, aggrandisement, or false 

 glory. But history furnishes abundance of examples, which show that the heroism of 

 woman, whether called forth by the love of country, or by conjugal or maternal love, is a 

 sublime emotion, which, at once, elevates her above the weakness that " flesh is heir to," In 

 such instances, when her consort or little ones are in danger, she loses all thought of her 

 own safety, and faces the dens of wild beasts, the sword of violence, the rage of fire and 

 flood, all extremities of peril, even instant death itself, in their defence. 



The admirable influence of woman on the manners and morals of nations, cannot be 

 too highly appreciated. The more she is honored and esteemed, the higher is man raised 

 in intellectual dignity and public and private virtue. On the contrary, in the most 

 inclement regions of the habitable globe, where man is sunk into the lowest barbarism of 

 the savage state, one leading characteristic of his brutal degradation is his contemptuous 

 and cruel treatment of woman. In all the wild tribes, however, they may differ in other 

 revolting and ferocious habits and customs, there is found a disgusting agreement in their 

 debasement of the women into servile drudges, driven, like beasts of burden, by threats 



