marks the traces of mighty events and ancient glory, the illustrious dead of centuries troop up before her, and alike rivet the steady gaze and warm emotion of her enraptured intellect and heart. Conducted by the same kind patroness, she visits the land of story and of song-stands amid the ruins of that architectural magnificence which has given immortality to the genius of antiquity-looks at the grove where Socrates breathed his lessons of philosophy-glances her eye over the scenery which once surrounded the masters of oratory and poetry, and moves over the plains where once assembled the wisdom of the world, and where was exhibited the daring and devotion of the firstborn of freemen. In a word, memory spreads before her delighted view the grand panorama of sixty centuries, and enables her to thread its mighty events, and to commune with those who participated in its loftiest deeds. Who doubts the importance of preparing the mind for the luxury of such entertainment? But science unseals still richer fountains of pleasure. She walks abroad upon the earth, and nature, as by enchantment, throws open the gates of the vast temple of the universe, and admits her an interested spectator of its profound mysteries. To her eye are unfolded all the varied phenomena of matter. She knows how the air bears to her the tones of music, and the melodies of ten thousand voices, and how light diffuses joy over animate and inanimate creation. With Newton, she can admire its nature and results in the rainbow which bespangles the vault of heaven, and in the telescope, by which other worlds are brought to move before her eyes. With Franklin, she can bring the lightning from the thunder cloud, and play familiar with that fluid, which spreads its terrific agencies over the empire of matter. With the astronomer she can scale the heavens, scrutinize the vastness of other planets, examine their relations, their distances, their courses, their satellites, with all their influences upon this globe of ours, and all the glories of their being-in a word, it is her privilege and high prerogative to gaze with rapture and delight upon all that is grand, beautiful and picturesque in that temple in which she worships and adores. Nor is this all. The spirit of religion, ever the kind attendant and handmaid of true science, will lead her "through nature up to nature's God." As her mind expands with the splendors of the material universe, her heart will be taught to feel the holiest impress of that love which planted the stars in the firmament; and as she looks abroad,

"She calls the beauteous scenery all her own;
Hers are the mountains, and the valleys hers,
And the resplendent rivers hers to enjoy,
With a propriety which none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspired,

Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,

And, smiling, say, My Father made them all."

FEMALE CHARACTER AND EDUCATION.

No. II.

BY SAMUEL GALLOWAY, A.M.

LET us briefly inquire what ought to be the kind and character of female education. We need not now discuss the question of the comparative intellect of the two sexes. A century or two ago it might have been doubted whether the female possessed a capacity for high intellectual and moral cultivation. Then she appeared but as a twinkling star above the horizon. Education, however, has since borne her up to mid-heaven, and she now shines with as rich a lustre as any of the kindred orbs which spangle the literary firmament. The bow that God set in the cloud is not a clearer token of his covenant with his people, than are the results of female intellect, that he stamped upon male and female the same moral and intellectual image. We are formed for different spheres of action by the same Providence which "bids the oak brave the fury of the tempest, and the Alpine flower lean its cheek on the bosom of eternal snows." This very variety, so far from being any evidence of inferiority, is one of the strongest proofs of his wisdom, who adapts intellect to the purposes of his varied empire-who qualifies a Newton to scan the mysteries of science, and a Hannah More to unfold the love and excellence of his moral government.

We have already glanced at the duties and responsibilities of the female, and we will, incidentally, discuss the most appropriate kind of education, by noticing one or two errors, as we conceive, in the past, if not in many of the present systems of study.

One of these is a disproportionate attention to what are termed the "fine arts and accomplishments." Do not accuse us of underrating these branches of study, or of being too cold-hearted to appreciate the charms with which they invest the educated female." Music, drawing, &c., added to the acquisitions of an intellect enriched by substantial literature and science, are as admirable as the dome, the portico, or the alcove, adorning the splendid edifice. The original and proper object of these studies ought to be to decorate sclid and useful attainments-as rich drapery for the magnificent saloon-carved work for the gigantic column, or rich apparel for the majestic form; but in the perversion of this object, in the fashionable education, we frequently find the ornament without the mind-the drapery of the palace hung

around the kitchen-the fretted work upon the log, and apparel befitting queens overshadowing dwarfs. We cannot better describe this system of education, than by adopting, with one or two exceptions, the picture as drawn by an eminent lady—

"See Bulwer and Scott laid out on the lap

Then dancing springs up and skips into a gap-
Next drawing, with all its varieties, comes,

Laid down in their place by the finger and thumb;
And then, for completing her fanciful robes,

Geography, music, and a look at the globes,

And so forth, and so forth, which, match as they will,

Are sown into shape, and set down in the bill.

Thus science, distorted, and torn into bits,

Art, tortured and frightened half out of her wits

In portions and patches, some light and some shady,
Are stitched up together and make a fine lady."

Unpopular as the charge may be, it is, nevertheless, true, that there has been more effort, among those who have supervised and controlled the education of the female, to clothe her with light and gaudy wing, to float sportively through the undercurrent of thought, than to invest her with strong and steady pinions, with which she might boldly soar to the loftiest heights of intellectual attainment. Is it not the fact that educated ladies are more prone to exhibit their specimens of painting, or their proficiency and skill in music, than to unfold those beauties and curiosities which they have gathered in the empire of science, and to discuss those prominent subjects of philosophy whose wonders are the glory of the universe, and whose results and applications are mingled with the daily duties, employments, and enjoyments of life? Yes, so popular and absorbing is this phrensy for accomplishments, that the little miss who has scarcely reached baker or crucifix, flutters with restless desire to seize the paint-brush, or play the piano; and if she is even told that there are useful studies first to be attended to, it is more than probable that she will overcome the tender-hearted parent, by the prevailing argument, that "them things are not for ladies to study." I ask, in the language of an eminent authoress, is it right that "what relates to the body and the organs of the body-I meanthose accomplishments which address themselves to the eye and the ear-should occupy almost the whole thoughts; while the intellectual part is robbed of its due proportion, and the spiritual part has almost no proportion at all?" It is this error in education which has given currency to the false sentiment that the mind of woman is incapable of grasping profound or lofty subjects of thought-that her intellectual structure is not framed upon that broad and magnificent scale which adjusts the propor tions of the temple of true genius. It is the same error which led such a man as Dean Swift to blunder on the opinion "that, after all their attempts at learning, women, in general, would be surpassed by the attainments of a common school-boy." To be

an educated lady in the dean's day, was to be qualified to whir gracefully through the mazes of the ball-room, to strut the admired, in form and fashion, of every circle-to shroud the simplicity of a generous nature in the tawdry tapestry of art, and to substitute the graces of person for the enduring embellishments of a cultivated intellect. An educated lady, at the present day, presents a more interesting spectacle of contemplation; and whenever the system of study shall be so improved as to give the cultivation of the mind more prominence than the cultivation of the manners, she will then ascend to the full exercise of that power which is to usher in a brighter day for human hope and energy. We would not be understood as even insinuating that the error and its consequences are to be charged upon the female. No; the blame must rest upon an erroneous public sentiment, which has controlled her education. Females have been taught that it was not their province to survey the empire of God-scale the heights of science-regale themselves in the fields of literatureor be equal participants in the privileges of nature's vast and magnificent temple. No; the mount of science, like Mount Sinai to the Israelites, has been guarded against their approach, "lest they should break through to gaze;" and the command has been, "Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up to the mount, or touch the borders of it." They have been told, in great condescension, that they may pluck the flowers which begirt the borders of the fields of literature, and play the harp or thread the organ for the man-worshippers in nature's temple; and yet the task-master has asked them, "Where are your gems of science, and garlands of literature?" and coolly said, as the task-masters of Pharaoh, "Ye are idle, ye are idle." "Go, therefore, to work, for there shall no straw be given you; yet ye shall deliver the tale of the brick." Thanks to the redeeming spirit of the age, a better sentiment is now warming the hearts and inspiring the thoughts of mankind. The female is now being taught that her life is to be something higher than a school of pasteboard pageantry" a court where fashion and folly are presiding deities." She now learns that a higher destiny awaits her, than merely to tickle the ear and please the eye of creation's lord"to adjust the toilet-project dresses-study colors-assort ribbons-mingle flowers-choose feathers," and, at the sound of the psaltery, harp, and all kinds of music, like the subjects of Nebuchadnezzar, fall down and worship fashion's golden image.

She now studies, as if the immortal mind and the heart, out of which are the issues of life, were her chosen possessions contemplates the nature and destiny of that immortal guest whose home is in her bosom-scrutinizes its powers-cherishes its lofty aspirations, and admires its achievements. She follows the range

of this intellect, as it traces the wonders of nature's wide domainunrols the map marked with the deeds of Providence and the doings of the illustrious dead-unlocks the portals of the future, and, as with a prophet's pencil, describes, in characters of living fire, those mighty themes which swell the song and enrapture the powers of angelic mind. Ay, more-enriched with these acquisitions, she goes to the social circle, and the kindled eye, attentive ear, and awakened intellect, greet her approach, and wait on her ministrations-visits the hut of poverty, and the bounding heart proclaims her errand, and the little wilderness, by the force of her kindness, begins to bloom. Yes, she may now be contemplated in the still loftier attitude of a missionary of literature and religion. Many of the educated daughters of Zion, animated with a zeal which difficulties cannot conquer, nor disappointments crush, have pledged their all for the world's redemption; and they may now be seen communing with the desolate child of superstition, on the dark borders of our continent-threading the rivers and scaling the mountains in Hindostan-treading with noiseless and timid steps the gloomy coasts of Africa, and riding on the surging billows to the lone isles of the sea. Thus may and does the educated lady of the nineteenth century live, at home and abroad, a visitant angel of her species; and when she dies, her memory will be identified with the moral grandeur of the age, and enshrined in the tears and pure recollections of the virtuous of all ages-a prouder mausoleum than that of marble.

I cannot dismiss this subject, without adverting to another and yet more fatal error in the literary studies and pursuits of the female. I allude to that passionate and excessive devotion to fictitious writings, which is the reigning idolatry of the sex. This is not a new, but it is an important topic. I speak not of the influence of these writings upon pure affections and chaste sensibilities of the impure associations, erroneous sentiment, and splendid, but deceptive imagery, which, decked in the drapery of virtue, steal upon the soul, and possess its sacred citadel, whilst "conscience, as a bribed sentinel, cries, All's well." It would be strange indeed if the intellect, familiarised to scenes of depravity and vice, and disciplined to a constant communion with the dark damps and murky vapors of selfishness and sin, should acquire a refined relish for the mountain air and balmy influences of the heaven-inspired heart, and love to contemplate humanity robed in celestial splendors. It is not my purpose to describe how this species of literature mingles poison with the elements of thought and feeling, and sensualises the motives, hopes, and operations of the soul: my object is to speak of its influence in seducing the mind from the purest intellectual