ime. I had so long
been out of the habit of using a pencil, that I could not expect to be
very dexterous; but we commonly retain the power of repeating with
pleasure, or at least of attempting with ease, whatever we have
successfully practised in our youth. Therefore the study of the fine
arts, considered as a part of female education, should be attended to,
much less with a view to the acquisition of superior talents, than
with a desire to give women a taste for industry, the habit of
application, and a greater variety of employments; for these assist us
to escape from _ennui_, the most cruel disease of civilized society;
by these we are preserved from the dangers of vice, and even from
those seductions which are far more likely to lead us astray.

"I would not make my daughter a _performer_.[32] I remember, that my
mother was afraid that I should become a great musician, or that I
should have devoted myself entirely to painting: she wished that I
should, above all other things, love the duties of my sex: that I
should be a good economist, a good mistress, as well as a good mother
of a family. I wish my Eudora to be able to accompany her voice
agreeably on the harp. I wish that she may play agreeably on the
piano-forte; that she may know enough of drawing, to feel pleasure
from the sight and from the examination of the finest pictures of the
great painters; that she may be able to draw a flower that happens to
please her; and that she may unite in her dress elegance and
simplicity. I should wish that her talents might be such, that they
should neither excite the admiration of others, nor inspire her with
vanity; I should wish that she should please by the general effect of
her whole character, without ever striking any body with astonishment
at first sight; and that she should attach by her good qualities,
rather than shine by her accomplishments."

Women cannot foresee what may be the tastes of the individuals with
whom they are to pass their lives. Their own tastes should not,
therefore, be early decided; they should, if possible, be so educated
that they may attain any talent in perfection which they may desire,
or which their circumstances may render necessary. If, for instance, a
woman were to marry a man who was fond of music, or who admired
painting, she should be able to cultivate these talents for his
amusement and her own. If he be a man of sense and feeling, he will
be more pleased with the motive than wit