porary fits of
frenzy, learned to foresee his approaching malady, and often requested
his friends to disarm him, lest he should injure any of his
attendants.

In a malady which precludes the use of reason, it was possible for
this humane patient to foresee the probable mischief he might do to
his fellow-creatures, and to take prudent measures against his own
violence; and may not we expect, that those who are early accustomed
to attend to their own feelings, may prepare against the extravagance
of their own passions, and avail themselves of the regulating advice
of their temperate friends?

In the education of girls, we must teach them much more caution than
is necessary to boys: their prudence must be more the result of
reasoning than of experiment; they _must_ trust to the experience of
others; they cannot always have recourse to what _ought to be_; they
must adapt themselves to what is. They cannot rectify the material
mistakes in their conduct,[101] Timidity, a certain tardiness of
decision, and reluctance to act in public situations, are not
considered as defects in a woman's character: her pausing prudence
does not, to a man of discernment, denote imbecility; but appears to
him the graceful, auspicious characteristic of female virtue. There is
always more probability that women should endanger their own happiness
by precipitation, than by forbearance.--Promptitude of choice, is
seldom expected from the female sex; they should avail themselves of
the leisure that is permitted to them for reflection. "Begin nothing
of which you have not well considered the end," was the piece of
advice for which the Eastern Sultan[102] paid a purse of gold, the
price set upon it by a sage. The monarch did not repent of his
purchase. This maxim should be engraved upon the memory of our female
pupils, by the repeated lessons of education. We should, even in
trifles, avoid every circumstance which can tend to make girls
venturesome; which can encourage them to trust their good fortune,
instead of relying on their own prudence. Marmontel's tale, entitled
"_Heureusement_," is a witty, but surely not a _moral_, tale. Girls
should be discouraged from hazarding opinions in general conversation;
but amongst their friends, they should be excited to reason with
accuracy and with temper.[103] It is really a part of a woman's
prudence to have command of temper; if she has it not, her wit and
sense will not have their just value in domestic li