306 State of the Manners, &e. of the Metropolis of England. [Nov. 1, 
of confiderable advantage in forming early 
and honourable conneétions, and they are 
unguettionably far preferable to private 
tutors. The moft ditinguifhed feminaries 
are thofe of Eton and Weftminfter ; and 
{ome of our mof enlightened ftatefmen, 
orators, and literary as wellas profefiion- 
al charaéters, have been the ftuden’s of 
thefe celebrated colleges. Yet, by the 
ablurd cuftom of taking {chool-boys from 
their half-finifhed {cholattic labours, to 
place them in the ranks of military prow- 
efs, we often behold the ftripling tow- 
ering over the head of the veteran foldier ; 
and the fcented powder which floats round 
the foft features of a noble youth ({carce~ 
_ ly arrived ai the age of manhood) mocking 
the {cars of the untitled HERO, whom he 
_was deflined to command, though not to 
imitate ! 
The frequency of divorces unqueftisna- 
bly tends to the contamination of morals: 
but thefe public examplesare ftill lefs per- 
nicious than the open and avowed indiffe- 
rence, the undifguifed infidelities, which 
are daily wiinefled in the fafhionable 
world, Example is the funfhive or the 
poifon of domeftic life’: and when we fee 
the moft polithed women, the moft enlight- 
ened men, affiduouily purfuing a fyfema- 
tic plan of mutual feduétion; when we 
beneld females of known intrigue, and 
. profefiors of notorious libertinifm, received 
and fanétioned in the very highe/t circles ; 
is it a matter of altonifhment that the mid- 
dimg claffes of focie'y are only one degree 
Jels vicious? It is true that we have ma- 
ny literary chara€ters who employ their 
pens in the caufe of moral virtue; but 
they only excite a {mile of ridicule, when 
they are daily feen in the fociety of thofe 
Jaw breakers who are the fubjeéts of their 
execration! The nobility, at leatt two- 
thirds of them, abhor French principles; 
yet they employ not only French domei- 
tics, but French governefies and precep. 
tors for the education of their fons and 
daughters! Aé€uated by the fame fpirit 
of contradiction -we daily contemplate 
men who afiume the title of philanthro- 
pifts, though their own relations are in 
want of bread. We fee v-luntary contri- 
butions (printed in con{picuous charac- 
ters) trom wealthy hypocrites, while they 
withhold the finale a:d from the uncom- 
plainmg chiluren ‘of adverfity; and we 
neet the venerable dowager quitting the 
altar of the Divinity on a fabbato morn- 
ing, while fhe calculates the chances of 
the evening in the mylteries of a saming 
tabie ! 
Among the liberal, the enlighted, and 
‘Linwood’s genius. 
the unaffectedly pious, truth muft record 
the name of the Dowager Countefs Spen- 
cer. Cf the patroneffes of literature and 
the arts, her all accomplifhed daughters, 
the Duchefs of Devonfhire, and the Count- 
cfs of Befborough, unite their names with 
thofe of the Marchionefs of Hertford and 
many others of cur female nobility. To 
the improvement of tafte and the increafe 
of emulation the wo:ld muf bear tefti- 
mony in the f{culpture of Mrs. Damer. 
In thofe-inventive powers which produce 
new wonders in the labours of ingenuity, 
honourable mention muft be made of Mis 
Of fingular mechan- 
ifm many public exhibitions prefenc {peci- 
mens that aftonifh the beholder ; while the 
extenfive warehoufes of the metropolis dif 
play the perfeétion as well as the boundlefs 
variety of Britifh manufactures. 
The ftreets of London are better paved 
and better lighted than thofe of any me- 
tropolis in Europe: we have fewer ftreet 
robberies, and {carcely ever a midnight 
aflaflination. This laft circumftance is 
owing to the benevolent {pirit of the peo- 
pie; for whatever crimes the loweft orders 
of fuciety are tempted to commit, thofe of 
a fangumary nature are lefs frequent here 
than they are in any other country. . Yet 
it is fingular, where the police is fo ably 
regulated, that the watchmen, our guar- 
dians of the night, are generally old de- 
crepit men, who have fcarcely ftrength to 
ufe the alarum which is their fignal of 
diftrefs in cafes of emergency. It does 
credit, however, to the morals’of the peo- 
ple, and tothe national fpirit which 
evinces that the brave are always benevo- 
lent, when we reflect that at a period when 
all kingdoms have exhibited the horrors 
of maflacre, and the outrages of anarchy ; 
when blood has.contaminated the ftandard 
of liberty, and defaced the long eftablifhed 
Jaws of nations, while it fapped and over- 
whelmed the aitars of religions this ifland 
has preiented the throne of Reafon, placed 
on the foftering foil of GENIUS, VALOUR, 
and PHILANTHROPY! 
M.R. 
ea 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N admirer of your excellent and ufe- 
4& ful publication folicits a little {pace 
in it for the expreflion of a grievance, 
which may mott likely receive an allevia- 
tion from {ome of your ingenions Corre- 
{pondents. Ki 
I am at prefent a member of the Church 
of England, although it has been my lot 
to fuifex on account of fome inititutions ne- 
ceflary 
