nce get into the habit, they neglect all
other matters, and, in some cases, even their very dress. Attending to
the affairs of the house: to the washing, the baking, the brewing, the
preservation and cooking of victuals, the management of the poultry and
the garden; these are their proper occupations. It is said (with what
truth I know not) of the _present Queen_ (wife of William IV), that she
was an active, excellent manager of her house. Impossible to bestow on
her greater praise; and I trust that her example will have its due
effect on the young women of the present day, who stand, but too
generally, in need of that example.

326. The great fault of the present generation, is, that, in _all_
ranks, the _notions of self-importance are too high_. This has arisen
from causes not visible to many, out the consequences are felt by all,
and that, too, with great severity. There has been a general
_sublimating_ going on for many years. Not to put the word _Esquire_
before the name of almost any man who is not a mere labourer or artisan,
is almost _an affront_. Every merchant, every master-manufacturer, every
dealer, if at all rich, is an _Esquire_; squires' sons must be
_gentlemen_, and squires' wives and daughters _ladies_. If this were
_all_; if it were merely a ridiculous misapplication of words, the evil
would not be great; but, unhappily, words lead to acts and produce
things; and the '_young gentleman_' is not easily to be moulded into a
_tradesman_ or a _working farmer_. And yet the world is too small to
hold so many _gentlemen_ and _ladies_. How many thousands of young men
have, at this moment, cause to lament that they are not carpenters, or
masons, or tailors, or shoemakers; and how many thousands of those, that
they have been bred up to wish to disguise their honest and useful, and
therefore honourable, calling! ROUSSEAU observes, that men are happy,
first, in proportion to their virtue, and next, in proportion to their
_independence_; and that, of all mankind, the artisan, or craftsman, is
the most independent; because he carries about, _in his own hands_ and
person, the means of gaining his livelihood; and that the more common
the use of the articles on which he works, the more perfect his
independence. 'Where,' says he, 'there is one man that stands in need of
the talents of the dentist, there are a hundred thousand that want those
of the people who supply the matter for the teeth to work on; and for
one who wa