LETTER XII. On Celibacy, Love, and Marriage. MY DEAR MISS M THE extensive prospect that lately lay before us begins to contract into a narrow compass. A few relative duties and engagements are all that we have to consider before we enter upon the closing scene. Previous to our discussing the topic of love and marriage, it may be necessary to inquire which is the most eligible for women, the single or the married state. The answer appears extremely obvious: certainly, the condition which the Almighty created us to occupy must be most conducive to our general happiness; that is to say, defining happiness as it always should be interpreted, to signify the peace of conscience which results from well-doing. The corrupted inclinations and luxurious habits of mankind have, however, introduced such disorder and mutability into the universe, that we may be allowed to produce the confessedly uninspired determination of an apostle, in opposition to the general law of nature, and to acknowledge that a greater share of care, perplexity, pain, and sorrow, belongs to the matron than to the spinster: our inquiries must, therefore, be extended further, or our conclusions will be contradictory. general laws of the Creator point at universal or individuál happiness? Are not troubles and afflictions medicinal in this probationary state, as the purifiers of error and the nourishers of christian graces? Should we, therefore, estimate the blessedness of our lives by the degree of self-enjoyment that has fallen to our Do the lot; or by our usefulness to our fellowcreatures, and preparedness for a better existence? I hear my young friends exclaim, "Who could have courage to enter into the marriage state with such mournful views of futurity ?" Alas! we can never form a right estimate of the present, or act upon proper motives, without extending our researches to what is impending and unseen. It is a false and dangerous assertion, that single women must at best pass their lives in a dull mediocrity, removed indeed from lively griefs, but unacquainted with real enjoyment. Spinsters may be daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends, though they are not wives and mothers. Every one's experience can supply instances, wherein much warmth of attachment and solicitude of attention have accompanied the fraternal, as ever hallowed the conjugal tie. How many helpless orphans have found maternal tenderness supplied by the attachment of an aunt! How many parents have perceived the joyless portion of extreme old age turned into the downy pillow of repose, by the assiduous watchfulness of an unconnected daughter! Friendship, too, may reign in the heart of the single woman with unrivalled influence; and the absolute power that she possesses over her time. and property gives an extensive range to her patriotic and charitable exertions. Ladies who are thus circumstanced are the properest patronesses of public undertakings; they are the natural protectors of the friendless, and the proprietors of those funds to which genius and indigence have a right to apply. Destitute of nearer ties, and unfettered by primary obligations, the whole world of benevolence affords a sphere for their actions, and the whole circle of science offers to adorn their minds. It seems, indeed, difficult to pourtray a more enviable being, than a single woman possessed of affluence, who has passed through the tempest of youthful passions with untainted character, unvitiated temper, and unfettered heart. Let us allow her an active mind, sound judgment, good principles, and bodily activity; and we must rank her with those orders of superior beings who, though they "neither marry nor are given in marriage," are ever employed in executing the will and studying the works of God. But such a view of human nature is no more applicable to the daughters than to the sons of Adam. As in the latter, liberty is too often used for a cloak of licentiousness; so in the former, it is apt to be considered as a patent for folly. I do not however discover, that those rotaries of Bacchus or |