LONDON:

Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.

SULEIAN

31-12-1901

IBRARY

STRICTURES

ON THE

MODERN SYSTEM

OF

FEMALE EDUCATION;

WITH

A VIEW OF THE PRINCIPLES AND CONDUCT PREVALENT AMONG WOMEN OF RANK AND FORTUNE.

May you so raise your character, that you may help to make the next age a better thing, and leave posterity in your debt for the advantage it shall receive by your example! — LORD HALIFAX.

Domestic happiness, thou only bliss

Of Paradise that has surviv'd the Fall!
Thou art not known where PLEASURE is ador'd,
That reeling Goddess with the zoneless waist:
Forsaking thee, what shipwreck have we made
Of honour, dignity, and fair renown!

The Hope and Expectation of the Time
Should not so lavish of their presence be,
Nor so enfeoff'd to Popularity,

That being nightly swallow'd by Men's eyes,
They're surfeited with honey, and begin

To loathe the taste of sweetness.

CowPER.

SHAKSPEARE.

Address to women of rank and fortune, on the

effects of their influence on society. - Sugges-

tions for the exertion of it in various instances.

CHAP. II.

On the education of women.

---

The prevailing

system tends to establish the errors which it

Dangers arising from an

ought to correct.

-

excessive cultivation of the arts.......

1

43

CHAP. III.

External improvement. Children's balls.

-

French governesses.............

CHAP. IV.

Comparison of the mode of female education in

the last age with the present.

60

70

CHAP. V.

-

On the religious employment of time. — On the

manner in which holidays are passed. Self-

ishness and inconsideration considered. — Dan-

gers arising from the world..................

CHAP. VI.

ON THE EARLY FORMING OF HABITS.

On the necessity of forming the judgment to

direct those habits.....

CHAP. VII.

Page

80

98

Filial obedience not the character of the age.

A comparison with the preceding age in this

respect. Those who cultivate the mind ad-

vised to study the nature of the soil. — Unpro-

mising children often make strong characters.

-

Teachers too apt to devote their pains

almost exclusively to children of parts.......... 109

CHAP. VIII.

On female study, and initiation into knowledge.

-Error of cultivating the imagination to the

neglect of the judgment. - Books of reasoning

recommended. ...

126

CHAP. IX.

On the religious and moral use of history and

geography............

CHAP. X.

142

On the use of definitions, and the moral benefits

of accuracy in language........................................

........ 158