ridiculous, and insupportably tiresome to men of sense and science.
But let a woman know any one thing completely, and she will have
sufficient understanding to learn more, and to apply what she has been
taught so as to interest men of generosity and genius in her favour.
The knowledge of the general principles of any science, is very
different from superficial knowledge of the science; perhaps, from not
attending to this distinction, or from not understanding it, many
have failed in female education. Some attempt will be made to mark
this distinction practically, when we come to speak of the cultivation
of the memory, invention, and judgment. No intelligent preceptress
will, it is hoped, find any difficulty in the application of the
observations they may meet with in the chapters on imagination,
sympathy and sensibility, vanity and temper. The masculine pronoun
_he_, has been used for grammatical convenience, not at all because we
agree with the prejudiced, and uncourteous grammarian, who asserts,
"that the masculine is the more worthy gender."

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Une virtuose.

[33] V. Storia di quattro fratelli nati ciechi e guariti coll'
estrazione delle cateratte.--Di Francesco Buzzi.

[34] V. Zoonomia.

[35] This word is sometimes by mistake spelt _fugal_-man.

[36] Sir Joshua Reynolds.

[37] Condillac.

[38] V. Letters for Literary Ladies.

CHAPTER XXI.

MEMORY AND INVENTION.

Before we bestow many years of time and pains upon any object, it may
be prudent to afford a few minutes previously to ascertain its precise
value. Many persons have a vague idea of the great value of memory,
and, without analyzing their opinion, they resolve to cultivate the
memories of their children as much, and as soon, as possible. So far
from having determined the value of this talent, we shall find that it
will be difficult to give a popular definition of a good memory. Some
people call that a good memory which retains the greatest number of
ideas for the longest time. Others prefer a recollective to a
retentive memory, and value not so much the number; as the selection,
of facts; not so much the mass, or even the antiquity, of accumulated
treasure, as the power of producing current specie for immediate use.
Memory is sometimes spoken of as if it were a faculty admirable in
itself, without any union with the other powers of the mind. Amongst
those who allow that memory has no independent claim to regard, there
a