ledge, and that superiority of mind which
sees the just proportion and value of every acquisition, which is not
to be overawed by authority, or dazzled by fashion. Under the eye of
such persons, masters will keep precisely their proper places; they
will teach all they can teach, without instilling absurd prejudices,
or inspiring a spirit of vain rivalship; nor will masters be suffered
to continue their lessons when they have nothing more to teach.

Parents who do not think that they have leisure, or feel that they
have capacity, to take the entire direction of their children's
education upon themselves, will trust this important office to a
governess. The inquiry concerning the value of female accomplishments,
has been purposely entered into before we could speak of the choice of
a governess, because the estimation in which these are held, will very
much determine parents in their choice.

If what has been said of the probability of a decline in the public
taste for what are usually called accomplishments; of their little
utility to the happiness of families and individuals; of the waste of
time, and waste of the higher powers of the mind in acquiring them: if
what has been observed on any of these points is allowed to be just,
we shall have little difficulty in pursuing the same principles
further. In the choice of a governess we should not, then, consider
her fashionable accomplishments as her best recommendations; these
will be only secondary objects. We shall examine with more anxiety,
whether she possess a sound, discriminating, and enlarged
understanding: whether her mind be free from prejudice; whether she
has steadiness of temper to pursue her own plans; and, above all,
whether she has that species of integrity which will justify a parent
in trusting a child to her care. We shall attend to her conversation,
and observe her manners, with scrupulous minuteness. Children are
_imitative animals_, and they are peculiarly disposed to imitate the
language, manners, and gestures, of those with whom they live, and to
whom they look up with admiration. In female education, too much care
cannot be taken to form all those habits in morals and in manners,
which are distinguishing characteristics of amiable women. These
habits must be acquired early, or they will never appear easy or
graceful; they will necessarily be formed by those who see none but
good models.

We have already pointed out the absolute necessity of union