this philofophy has given it a most alarming and extensive increase.

WITHOUT any reference to its horrid impiety, did the fair creatures, who use fuch language, only know how completely it ftrips them of every feminine charm, and how odious it makes them appear in the eyes of thofe, whom they are moft anxious to pleafe, they would furely abandon a practice, which in men is offenfive, but in woman is disgustingly fhocking. Indeed, what can be more unnatural,than that a beautiful virgin fhould utter a figh and a curfe in the fame breath? Surely, a man of modesty and virtue, will turn with averfion from fo unnatural a being.

IT is a remarkable fact, that this practice has acquired the most extensive sway in the most genteel and polished circles; while in thofe, which are equally removed from meannefs and pride, it hardly has an existence.

THE athletic exercifes, which the female philofopher fo cogently recom

mends, have been adopted, in America, only in a partial degree.

I HAVE indeed heard of a great Nabob in this country, who has educated his daughter to leap a fence without bringing her clothes into contact, to vault from the ground into the faddle, and even to manage a mettlefome horfe, while ftanding upon one foot, on his back.

A LADY, also, at Salem, a town far to the north-eaft, in a Soubah or District, called Maffachusetts, initiates young virgins, into the invigorating exercise of skating; an amusement, which, in an epistle from Holland, I have already explained. One would fuppofe, that the narrow apparel of fashionable females, would greatly impede the exertions of the fair one's energies, in this moft flippery diversion; and should she fall headlong, (an accident which often occurs to boys,) who can divine the confequences, which might enfue?

O, EL HASSAN, my friend! how would it affect thy heart and mind, to see these

unnatural practices introduced among the daughters of Hinduftan? Still may they remain modeft, timid and feminine, and may no cold-hearted, ferocious philofopher attempt to fubftitute that masculine robuftness of character, which Mary Wolftonecraft inculcates, in the place of that delightful tendernefs, which adorns every female action, which enlivens profperity, and smooths the pillow of grief.

Letter Fifth.

DEARLY BELOVED EL HASSAN,

IMMENSE oceans roll a waste of water, and unexplored continents stretch their regions between SHAHCOOLEN and those he loves.

How often does my heart figh for the fhady bowers of Agra, my dear native land; how do I dwell upon thofe happy days, when in company with thee, I wandered in the flowery vale of Cashmere ;walked by moon-light upon the banks of the ancient Indus; watched the revolutions of the bear, and the setting of Orion, from the top of Mat'hura; visited the venerable abodes of the Bramins, upon the borders of the facred Ganges; or plunged my limbs in its purifying waves? In fearch of knowledge, to which my life has been devoted, we then explored the immenfe regions of Hindustan, and furveyed the inhabitants of Ceylon, breath

E

ing aromatic gales, and the wretched outcaft, who gathers gems in the mines of Golconda.

To a real philofopher, man is the most interesting fubject of contemplation.— Majestic mountains, magnificent rivers, flowery vallies, and boundless landscapes, occur in every country, and are prefented to every eye.

EVEN thofe regions, where cold and darkness, in one unceasing night, ufurp the empire of half the year; and where, during that period, the eye furveys nothing but one boundless waste of fnow; ftill enjoy an equal period of day; when the fun does not fet, verdure fprings upon the hills, animals fport upon the plains, and birds flutter through the air.

THEN, perhaps, the Greenlander, be holding his fields, lately buried in fnow, but now verdant and beautiful, feels no lefs delight than the native of ORIXA, who reclines beneath bowers, that are always green, and liftens to the bubbling of