observation will suffice to overthrow the superstructure erected on Spartan gymnastics. Violent exercise has a powerful influence over the whole system. Leaping, falls, struggles, must be followed by various derangements in the constitution.

Those who are ignorant of the causes and consequences of these derangements, may admire the wrestling of the Lacedemonians; but an acquaintance with these causes and consequences demonstrate the dangers that may arise from these injudicious exercises; and had all the ancients agreed in praising the Spartan gymnastics alluded to, for young ladies, we should still retain our opinion. There is something that takes precedence over antiquity and tradition,-nature or woman's own organization. Nature has wisely ordained that, in all countries, instinct should lead females to prefer quiet and peaceable occupations.

From what precedes, let it not be supposed that we disapprove of all juvenile exercises; we condemn only the application of Spartan gymnastics to the delicate natives of London or Paris.

Let exercises be gradual, adapted to our morals, to the constitution of young ladies, and their hereditary or acquired state; this is our candid idea, and will be continually manifested in our observations on female gymnastics. Notwithstanding our remarks on the ancients, our disapprobation has its limits. In our theological

allegories, the most forcible truths are slightly disguised. Does not the huntress, Diana, represent exercise? and are not her virtues supposed to be the result of occupations that may truly be the guardian of chastity and virtue? Diana may serve as a model to young people; let them be active, industrious, diligent, and they will retain the greatest ornament of their sex. Thus the ancients represented Diana as chastity, and offered her as an example to youth.

The allegory of Prometheus, so well explained by Chancellor Bacon, is meant to shew the power of muscular exercise, after debility has been caused by excess of application. Prometheus, led by a love of science, and a wish to discover the secrets of nature, carried off some of the celestial fire; and as a punishment for this offence, was condemned by the gods to have his entrails gnawed by a vulture; a faithful picture of artists and scientific men, who are induced to rob celestial fire; thus destroying, by an absence of equilibrium, the harmony of the functions.

Hercules, the prototype of muscular force, and the emblem of exercise, at last delivers Prometheus. Can the assistance of gymnastic exercise be represented in a more pleasing form?

To languid and sentimental, nervous and romantic young ladies, we strongly recommend Diana as an example.

CHAP. XIV.

Climate or Habitation.

CLIMATE is the reunion of physical circumstances attached to each locality, and the habits in which these circumstances originated. The organization of man carries with it the stamp of the climate he inhabits, and his native land is the most favorable situation for the preservation of life. Man is formed for his climate, it seems adapted to the human constitution, and this admirable equilibrium unites him by the strongest ties to the place of his birth; for which reason patriotism is termed instinct. There is an irresistible attraction in the spot were first we received life, and where our early days were happily passed: that the delightful recollections associated with childhood should influence us in later life, is the natural consequence of the power of early impressions.

Patriotism has ever been the favorite theme of poets; yet have they not sought the origin of this ardent and lasting passion, which so forcibly contributes to the formation of our tastes and inclinations, and gives so powerful a duration to the temper, and national character.

Human beings are endowed with extreme sensibility; whatever has any action on living bodies, has a still higher degree of influence on man: his natural disposition is modified by daily

occurrences, whence arise decisions proceeding from habit, that may be justly termed second

nature.

"There are," says Hippocrates, "rugged mountains and extensive plains, the inhabitants of which are stamped by nature, born stout and vigorous; circumstances seem to have prepared them for the most arduous undertakings, and they boldly rush into the midst of danger to seek their daily food. It has been wisely ordained by Providence, that man should be formed for his native country, and that the country which gave him birth should be suited to his tastes and habits."

The temperature, the hygrometrical state of the air, the varieties of atmospheric pressure; the aspect of the clouds, of the heavens, of the sea; nourishment, novel impressions of every description, influence man, even without his own knowlege. This influence of external agents, acts more forcibly at times on young children; at other periods, it has greater power over adults.

In transplanting exotics, naturalists carefully adapt the artificial climate to the nature of the plants, as they have been taught by experience, that this precaution is necessary to prevent total degeneracy, or death. Why is not an equal degree of care bestowed on children? It is not the temperature and the atmosphere which alone have a direct action on them, taken from their native home; but it is all the surrounding objects

that strike the young imagination and leave most forcible impressions.

In a pleasant and airy cottage situated near the village of Brives, lived Adeline de St. Geran, with her aged grandmother. Her parents resided in Paris, but thinking that the earlier years of their little girl could be more profitably spent in the quiet seclusion of Brives, than in the noise and bustle of the metropolis, they confided her, though unwillingly, to the fostering and affectionate care of their kind relative. Adeline was happy and contented, her good behaviour gained her the esteem of all; the old women in the village, and the few companions with whom she was intimate, held her up as a model of amiability and obedience; and she was generally beloved. Her favorite amusements were not found in the recreations most common to youth; she was a complete child of nature, and would pass hours in the fields, with no other company than that of a flock of sheep, who feared not to approach her, or even to repose at her feet. Among their number, Adeline had selected one pet lamb, and she never passed a day, without feeding and caressing her favorite, who always ran to meet her.

She was of a lively disposition, and strong constitution. At ten years old, she was sent to Paris, where her family resided, in an airy situation, but there was only a small garden. The child seemed to want air, she missed her play fellow,

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