feize my fleeting foul.-Methinks I dare not hope, nor will the Reverend Doctor G*** fuffer me to despair; he comforts me with the promifes in holy writ, which to my shame, I was unacquainted with before; but now I feel them balm to my tormented confcience.- Dear, dear fifter, I must bid you eternally adieu; I have difcharged my duty in giving you this warning: O! may my death, which you will shortly hear of, give it that weight I wish and pray for: You are the last object of my earthly cares :-I have now done with all below,fhall retire into myself, and devote the few moments allowed me to that penitence which alone can entitle me to a glorious immortality. I die,

Your fincere friend

And most affectionate and departing fifter,

BERINTHIA.

10 MISS W

ADVISING HER TO TAKE CARE OF HER HOUSE, &C.

As you are tenant at will in a very handsome genteel houfe, and are now capable of furnishing it in the politest manner, ruling it by the strictest maxims of œconomy and decorum, permit a friend to give a few curfory hints in an affair of fo much importance.

Your

Your building is compofed of fome of the finest matetials I ever faw, and is fo much the more liable to dif cover any flaw or spot that may accidentally touch it.-'Tis erected of a proper height, a juft fize, reared on a regular plan, and finished with the most accurate proportion. On the top ftands an eminent turret, furnished with a room of a globular form, which I obferve has two crystal windows in the front; these are so conftruct-ed as to be exceeding ufeful, as they command an extenfive profpect, and, if always kept clean and bright, will prove a very great ornament to the house. I advise you not to look through them at every object that pafles by; be fure to fhut them foon at night, and you may open them as early as you pleafe in the morning-On each fide I discover a small portal to receive company; take care they don't always ftand open, for then you will be crowded with visitors, and perhaps with many fuch as you will not like; let them never be shut against the inftructive parent, the advising friend, or the fupplicating orphan. I took notice of one gate in the front, at which all your company goes out; let that generally be barred clofe; be cautious what visitors you let out publicly, left any of ill character be feen coming from it, you draw a fcandal upon your houfe; it will be neceffary therefore to lay a ftrict injunction of vigilance on your two porters, who ftand centinels in liveries of the deepeft fcarlet, juft without the ivory pallifades. -I have seen some people paint the two pan nels, juft below the windows; but I would advise you

to the contrary, for your natural colours far exceed all the decorations of art.

Beneath is the great hall, in which you have a fmall closet of exquifite workmanship; this I fuppofe, is the place of your fecret retirement, open to none but yourfelf, or fome faithful intimate friend.-I advise you to keep this always clean, furnish it well, make it a little library of the best practical authors, and vifit it frequently, especially when you return home from church, or leave a circle of acquaintance, which you have met at the tea-table: Let the outfide of the hall not appear ⚫ like an hearse hung round with efcutcheons, nor like a coach of ftate bedaubed with gilt and colourings, but let it be plain, neat, and clean, to convince the world that 'tis kept more for use than ornament.

You are fenfible, Mifs, time effaces the beauty, and demolishes the ftrength of the nobleft ftructure, and therefore will not be surprised to find your little tenement fubject to the fame change: Doubtless, it has often wanted repairs, though you have lived in it no longer, which are plain intimations that the house will one day fall.-You may foon be turned out-the landlord may give you warning, or may not-this is all uncertain be ever ready to go when call'd upon, and then you will not be afraid to leave it at the fhorteft notice. One thing I would obferve too, is, that when you quit the house, no other tenant will inhabit it, but 'twill lie waste and in ruins; yet the proprietor will fome time or other rebuild it for your reception, in a more dura

ble

ble manner, with the fame materials, but fo refined and modifed, that it will be liable to no accident or decays; and as it is abfolutely neceffary that your habitation be new-reared in fome other place, I heartily with it may be in a finer country, under a milder climate, and well fheltered from all forms; then will your fituation be happy and honourable, and your leafe never expire.

2

Yours, &c.

FORM HER LOOKING GLASS.

TO THE BEAUTIFUL ANGELICA.

Madam,

I have enjoyed the honour of ferving your ladyship fome years, during which time you have been pleafed to favour me with evident marks of your esteem, and a familiarity that none of your other utenfils can boast of tho' many of them my betters by far; as therefore I have shewn you to yourself fo often, and been fo happy always to have my fidelity approved of by your ladyship, I hope you will pardon my boldness, in taking this method to difcover to you fome failings in yourself, which my furface cannot properly reprefent. If I may prefume to fay fo, madam, you confult me much too often;

often; and I am confident, it would be better for you, if you was to be a greater stranger to me.

How many

thousand times muft you be told, that you are handfome? I affure you of it every day, but you will not be fatisfied, unless I tell you fo every hour, nay, almost every moment.-I cannot lie; your person is exceeding amiable; but I muft, at the fame time, inform your ladyfhip with my ufual fincerity, that you would be infinitely more agreeable, if you did not think fso. Confider, madam, I beseech you, that if you come to me ten thousand times a day, I cannot make you a bit the better, or the handfomer: But fhall certainly deftroy one of the finest ornaments of beauty, by rendering you too well acquainted with your own perfections. Whenever you ftand before me, with all your charms fet forth to the best advantage, I perceive you are apt to view yourself with too great pleasure, and grow proud and conceited of your own beauty; which, in time, will make other people defpife and ridicule you; and therefore I honestly and ingenuously intreat you, to avoid my company; for madam, I must confefs, that the worst enemy the fair ones have, can't do them fo much prejudice as I their chief favourite. It grieves me to the heart to find it fo, and often puzzles me extremely to account for their fondness of me, when I fo continually do them mifchief:-Whether it be, as a witty gentleman once faid of me, from my talent of casting reflections --or whether it be from the large quantity of quick filver which belongs to me, and without which I am ufelefs as well as innocent.

or

whether