1500.] 
lent at lively defcription, and can tell a 
pretty little ftory well. One additional 
piece of information may be communi- 
cated, if it fhould be confidered as any fa- 
vourable fymprom of improvement, that, 
fince your travelier’s vit, there has been 
a circulating library eftablifhed in the 
town of Bafingltoke. And, perhaps, even 
before the ‘ime of his vilit, the mmhabi- 
tants were delerving of a better character, 
as readers of books (though not, perhaps, 
of novels and romances), than has been 
given them. 
There is another matter on which I beg 
leave to fay @ word or two. An epigram, 
among thofe tranflaced from the German, 
No. 17, (in your la) Magazine) is intros 
‘duced, as if it were an original one from 
the pen of Leffing. But, it I miftake not, 
it will mot probably trike your claffical 
readers, as it does myfelf, by comparing 
one with the other, that Leffing’s is no 
more than a tranflation from the following 
Latin epigram of Pafvhafius, which may 
be met with in Epigrammatum Delecius, 
P+ 599- 
PASCHASIUS. 
Omnia pauperibus moriens dedit Harpalus, 
heres, 
Ut fe non fictas exprimat in lachrymas. 
LESSING, IN ENGLISH 
Grudge leaves thé poor his whole poffeffions 
nearly 5 
He means his next of kin fhall weep fincerely. 
It the above remarks, refpectfully of- 
fered to your readers, fhould be thought 
not unworthy ¢fa place, by inferting them 
in your magazine you wiil obliges 
Yours, &c. 
Bafing floke, J. JEFFERSON; 
Nov. 25, 1799. 
—aae 
For the Mouthly Magazine. 
‘ she 
$© Incipe, parve puer: rifa cognofcere 
matrem.” 
SSUREDLY, the aurfing mother has 
the enjoyment of an adcitional 
fenie ; nor can nature, in all her extent 
and variely, prefent a {pectacle more inter- 
efling, thanthe maternal nurfe in the per- 
formance of this molt de:ightful of duties, 
leoking down on the infant that draws 
life {rom her bofom, and yields in return 
a {weetelt, pureft, but moft indifcribable 
fenfation, parily revealed in the eyes and 
attitude, but which can neither be tranf- 
Jated by the pencil of Raphael, northe pen 
of Rofcoe. It is this ferene fenfation, this 
placid, but confummate Jove, which repays 
the mother for much previous fuffcring 
(fuffering that perhaps heightens fucceed- 
ing plealure); and this is the compentaiton 
ordained for the daily cares, the nightly 
On Maternal Nurfing. 
937 
watchings, and the numerous privations 
of the nurfe. 
That moft affeting tran{port which, 
at one highly contrafted noment (perhaps 
the moft fo in human life) when a female 
is at once delivered from, agony the moft 
excruciating, and terror the moft impref- 
five, and hears the cry of her firft-born, 
and exclaims feebly, yet fercibly—My 
darling child!—that affecting tran{port 
then telt and manifefted by the generality 
of mothers, graduallyfubfides into the quiet 
and retired delight which bleffes the nurfe; 
but this fecovdary fenfation, or rather iena 
timent, 1 am unwillingly obliged to ob- 
ferve, is by no means fo.common, or fo 
conformable ta the minds or habits of 
many mothers. Let me affure thofe ladies 
who have read Roicoe, that it is much ea- 
fier to be a mother thana nurfe. Let not 
poetry excite feelings, tranfient tender- 
nefs, romantic fondnefs for a plain ferious, 
{weet, laborious occupation—let not, I fay, 
the pleafures ef the itate well paraphrafed 
by the poet, feduce every one who has 
the happioefs of being a mother, to think 
fhe has alfo the wirtue to be a nurfe, 
And isit no virtue to ftay at home from 
evening parties 3 to be careful and vigi-+ 
Jant by night as wellas by day, with eyes 
that open, with heart that is aroufed at. 
every uneafy cry; is it no virtue to regue 
late with the niceft attention every mis 
nute article of regimen, to be cautious in 
giving medicines and fill more cautious 
in preventing their neceffity ; to pacify: 
the little impatient ; to get by heart all 
the Janguage of nature, various and com. 
prchenfive as it is, even in the earliett lifes 
to ditinguifh pain from pettifhnefs, and 
erroneous regimen from real malady ; 
is it no virtue to live only, and at all. 
times, for that child, who lives only by 
you; to keep the temper ever ferene and 
unruffled, the mind, like the milk, fweet 
and fair, and bland and balmy; to keep 
yourfelf facred fiom the ecntamination of 
{trong liquors ; in fhort, to keep the mind 
at home, always pure, always patient, ale 
ways prepared, always ftrong enough not 
to farrender itfelf to the magic of any oid 
woman, whether of the male fex, or of the 
female ?>—-Oh! Believe me it is not on 
that breaft, at one time panting with fe- 
verifh folicitude for fome new pleafure, 
fome change without variety, at another 
time chilled with indifference and ennui— 
it is not on that bofom, whofe milk is poi- 
foned by anger or thofe accurfed cordials 
that rob women of their hearts, without 
immediately deranging their heads—no— 
it is not on that bofom, however fair, I 
fhould lay an infant, even though it were 
the breaft of a mother. 
She 
~ 
