STUDY XIV. 359 



rited this defcription, have Hkewife been, almofl 

 all of them, unfortunate in love, from Sappho down. 

 to Chrijiina^ Queen of Sweden, and even ftill nearer 

 to us. It fhould be, then, by the fide of her mo- 

 ther, of her father, of her brothers and fifters, that 

 a young woman ought to derive inftruflion re- 

 fpedling her future duties of mother and wife. 

 In her father's houfe it is that fhe ought to learn 

 a multitude of domeftic arts, at this day unknown 

 to our highly bred dames, 



I have oftener than once, in the courfe of this 

 Work, fpoken in high terms of the felicity enjoyed 

 in Holland ; however, as I only pafl'ed through 

 that country, I have but a flight acquaintance 

 with their domeftic manners. This much, never- 

 thelefs, I know, that the women there are con- 

 flantly employed in houfhold affairs, and that the 

 mofl undifturbed concord reigns in families. But 

 I enjoyed, at Berlin, an image of the charms which 

 thofe manners, held in fuch contempt among us, 

 are capable of diffufing over domçftic Hfe. A 

 friend whom Providence raifed up for me in that 

 city, where I was an entire ftranger, introduced me 

 to a fociety of young ladies ; for, in Prufïïa, thefe 

 alTemblies are held, not in the apartments of the 

 married women, but of their daughters. This 

 cuftom is kept up in all the families which have 

 not been corrupted by the manners of our French 



A a 4 officers, 



