nocent amusement and delightful recreation. A
woman, who possesses this quality, has received a most dangerous
present, perhaps not less so than beauty itself: especially if it be not
sheathed in a temper peculiarly inoffensive, chastised by a most
correct judgment, and restrained by more prudence than falls to the
common lot.

THIS talent is more likely to make a woman vain than knowledge; for as
Wit is the immediate property of its possessor, and learning is only
an acquaintance with the knowledge of other people, there is much more
danger, that we should be vain of what is our own, than of what we
borrow.

BUT Wit, like learning, is not near so common a thing as is imagined.
Let not therefore a young lady be alarmed at the acuteness of her own
wit, any more than at the abundance of her own knowledge. The great
danger is, lest she should mistake pertness, flippancy, or imprudence,
for this brilliant quality, or imagine she is witty, only because she
is indiscreet. This is very frequently the case, and this makes the name
of wit so cheap, while its real existence is so rare.

LEST the flattery of her acquaintance, or an over-weening opinion of her
own qualifications, should lead some vain and petulant girl into a false
notion that she has a great deal of wit, when she has only a redundancy
of animal spirits, she may not find it useless to attend to the
definition of this quality, by one who had as large a portion of it, as
most individuals could ever boast:

'Tis not a tale, 'tis not a jest,
Admir'd with laughter at a feast,
Nor florid talk, which can that title gain,
The proofs of wit for ever must remain.
Neither can that have any place,
At which a virgin hides her face;
Such dross the fire must purge away; 'tis just,
The author blush there, where the reader must.

COWLEY.

BUT those who actually possess this rare talent, cannot be too
abstinent in the use of it. It often makes admirers, but it never makes
friends; I mean, where it is the predominant feature; and the
unprotected and defenceless state of womanhood calls for friendship more
than for admiration. She who does not desire friends has a sordid and
insensible soul; but she who is ambitious of making every man her
admirer, has an invincible vanity and a cold heart.

BUT to dwell only on the side of policy, a prudent woman, who has
established the reputation of some genius will sufficiently maintain
it, w