lerated among us, I am not prepared to assert. But I am perfectly convinced, from the proofs he has adduced, that every man professing the Christian religion, is imperatively bound by the doctrines of that religion, to maintain all her life the virgin he may have seduced, however he may be exonerated by the stern morality of the learned barrister's law.

What is the consequence of the present state of things? Why, that Seduction stalks openly about, in broad day-light, literally "seeking whom he may devour." That, without a male protector, a respectable and virtuous female dare scarce set her foot in the streets during the day, far less attempt it at night. That, even guarded, she must shut her eyes and ears to avoid infection. That she is forced to abstain from visiting almost every public place of amusement. That she is in fact obliged to shut herself up within the circle of domestic privacy, and, if she be yet safe there still she is annoyed with the sound of the distant thunder which rolls around her.

You do not, Gentlemen, seem to be at all aware of the extent of the evil, nor of its appalling consequences. Taking the number of unfortunate females in London, at only one-fifth more, than what it was calculated to be twenty years ago, say 50,000,' the average of their lives, after they enter into that course, cannot be estimated above ten years, nay, that, I have reason to think, is too much; and yet to keep up the original number at that average, will require an annual contribution of 5000 fresh victims; dreadful consideration! But this is not all. These revenge themselves by seducing the other sex in their turn, and the number of young men and boys, who fall a sacrifice to them, who lose their lives by disease, or who are ruined in their moral character and prospects in life, is at least equal to the other. Here then is the ancient fable of the Minotaur completely realized, and, alas, to an extent, to which the imagination of the ancients does not seem to have been capable of carrying them. They talked, with astonishment and horror, of a monster, to whom one hundred virgins were annually sacrificed. What would they have thought, or said, if they had been told that, in future times, in the capital of the greatest, the most religious, the most moral nation of the age, a monster, who annually devoured ten thousand of the finest youth of both sexes, should be allowed to establish and maintain himself perfectly unmolested?

The contagion spreads farther; the very air is tainted, and the moral health of the most virtuous youth of both sexes is more or less affected by it. Acute observers from the country have re

In some of the daily papers it was last season estimated at 100,000.

marked of the young females, who have been born and bred in the capital, that, however virtuous, however amiable, however highly accomplished they may be, they frequently want that simplicity of manners to be found in the country. They are obliged to be more on their guard, they have got more tact, but they lose that evanescent but highest charm of the female character, that most fascinating attraction to a real voluptuaryunsuspecting confidence.

It fares still worse with the young men, who are much more exposed; they acquire that harshness of behaviour and hardness of character which was justly observed by a northern poet to be an attendant on this sin :

I wave the quantum of the sin,
And danger of concealing;
But, oh! it hardens all within,
And petrifies the feeling.

This is to be found, more or less, in all who are exposed to those temptations, even although they do not fall a prey to them. In that case, it generally appears in taunts and insults to these unhappy beings as they pass them in the streets. This roughness of behaviour insensibly extends to their female relations, and from them even to female visitors and acquaintance; so that the young men in London are, in general, remarked for being any thing but polite or gallant.

Unfortunately, this state of things has existed so long, that the people in general appear to have become quite callous to it; they see such things around them, and they sometimes suffer from them, but they console themselves with the pure state of domestic society, with the comforts to be found in it, and with the proud boast that Great Britain is, after all, the most virtuous and the most moral country in the world. That, taking all things to account, it really still is so, I am perfectly convinced. Yet appearances are very much against us; and to foreigners, who can only judge from what they see, the assertion must be very doubtful and problematical. A late work upon the manners and habits of the people of this country, by a Frenchman, has been very much and very justly cried down, it being certainly a gross and scandalous libel. But, before condemning it altogether, would it not be well for us to examine, whether this man had no ground whatever for what he has asserted. For instance, he has been particularly abused for stating that the young women in this country are all wantons. That, in the sweeping manner this is stated, it is an infamous, atrocious, and scandalous falsehood, is without doubt. But are there no grounds whatever for the assertion? Are none of our

young women so? Alas! alas! try us in the balance and we shall be found wanting. It has already been mentioned that there are, at least, 40,000 females in London of that description; the population of London is reckoned 1,200,000; of this not above onethird can be grown up females, or 400,000; here, then, is at once a tenth part; but the unmarried grown up females cannot be above 200,000, and these 40,000 are almost, without exception, unmarried; from this it follows that every fifth unmarried woThe blood flies to my face and the pen drops from my fingers, when I think of the word, which rigid truth calls upon me to use here.

man is a

To a Frenchman such a state of society must be particularly striking; because, in France, seduction of unmarried females is little known. There it is provided against, both by the laws of the country, and by the usages of society. By the first a seducer is punishable, and from the second he is expelled. But I may be told, that I ought not to mention the society in France, for that it is the most dissolute and licentious in the world. It may be so; still, if any thing good can be learned from it, why not adopt it? Indeed, this very state of society in France must tend to mislead a native of that country, who visits England. He has, most probably, very little opportunity of proving what the domestic society of this country really is; and, finding so much public licentiousness, he very naturally concludes, that the society is the same as in his own country, and, therefore, sets down the whole as licen tious. He is not, he cannot possibly be aware of the great and essential difference, which exists between the manners of the two countries in this respect, and which may be expressed in a very few words. In France, licentiousness reigns and is generally sought in society; in Britain, it is only to be found out of it. Proud boast long may this continue to be the distinguishing characteristic of this land. If there is any real enjoyment, any real pleasure, any real happiness, in this world, it is to be found in the pure domestic circle. Happy is that man who has such felicity in his power; who can retire from the cares, troubles, and perplexities of public life to the solace and comfort of domestic society. In prosperity, the company of his wife and family add double zest to his enjoyment; and, in adversity, he flies from the taunts and sneers of an unfeeling world to the sympathy and kindness of a virtuous wife, and the affectionate attentions of a yet unsophisticated offspring. Even comparatively happy is that man who, having none of his own, can fully appreciate the privilege of being freely received into the family circles of his friends.

But I am much afraid, that it is principally in the middling ranks, that this inestimable state of society is now to be found in

this country. Although a few shining examples may yet be seen in the higher, the constant scenes of dissipation that take place among the greater number, are destructive of, and perfectly incom patible with, domestic enjoyment; and the alarming increase of crim. con. cases which come legally before the public, and the broad whispers of many more that are said to have taken place, are convincing proofs, that intrigue is making a lamentably rapid progress in that rank. On the other hand, among the lower classes licentiousness reigns in full sway, and under all its dreadful and most disgusting forms. Thus situated, the respectable middling class of society finds itself daily more and more circumscribed, finds daily encroachments made on both its extremities, and, if it do not get some effectual assistance and support, it will soon be completely swallowed up, and the whole society become one general mass of corruption. Nothing will accelerate this so much as the rapid advances of seduction among the youth of both sexes; of these the future heads and supporters of domestic society are to be formed; and, if the fountain be polluted, how can the stream be expected to be pure.

This, then, is what ought to be the object of the Society's labours; this the monster whom they must engage, if they wish to do their country a real and essential service. The undertaking is an arduous one, but may be accomplished in a certain degree. I am not so sanguine an Utopian as to suppose it possible to subdue and extirpate him altogether, but I think that, after paring his claws and pulling his teeth, they may succeed in confining him to the darkness of his den, there to prey only on such victims as put themselves within his power.

I shall now proceed to state what appear to me to be a few of the methods requisite to be followed, in order to effect this most desirable object.

In the first place.-Application should be made to parliament to have a statute passed making seduction penal. I am so far from being an advocate for an indiscriminate increase of the penal statutes, that I think we have already a great deal too many, and, perhaps, some of the late additions might have been spared; but this is most requisite, and most essential, and I conceive the penal statutes to be incomplete without it. Certain I am, that without such support, your labours will be nugatory, and of no avail. You might as well attempt to empty the bed of the Thames, by employing men to carry away the water in hand-buckets, without stopping the stream.

Let this law make every man or boy, who seduces a female under twenty-one years of age, liable to prosecution and to punishment, by fine or imprisonment, or both, according to circum

stantes, and to be doubled on married men guilty of these practices; also to punish procuresses. I am no lawyer, so cannot pretend to give the terms in which such a statute should be worded; but I have little doubt, that that philanthropic lawyer, that patriotic statesman, that upright man, who has already devoted so much of his time to the amelioration of the penal statutes of his country, will, on such an occasion, with pleasure give his assistance.

In the second place.-Open a respectable asylum for the reception of young females who have been seduced, but who have not entered on a life of prostitution. Many a hapless female who has been led astray, and afterwards abandoned by her seducer, would most gladly return repentant; and often do they supplicate and humble themselves to the utmost to their parents and relations, but these, swayed by the opinions and prejudices of society, are almost invariably inexorable. This may be best for the general good of society, but it is dreadfully hard upon the sufferers. Let your labours make it up to them. Let houses be appointed for their reception. Let them be divided into classes, according to the stations they had held in society. Let each class be placed under the direction and management of a respectable matron, appointed for that purpose. Let each female be, at first admission, kept apart for some time, until she prove, by her conduct, that she is fit for the company of the others. Let a slight impropriety be punished by solitary confinement,-a great one, by expulsion, or rather translation to the receptacle you have already established. While in these houses, let each be employed in such labours as she appears to be best calculated for,-the emoluments to go towards her maintenance. In addition to this, each to be questioned, at admission, as to the circumstances attending her seduction; and if they be such as to warrant a prosecution, the directors to be authorised to carry it on in her name; and, if they are successful in obtaining a fine, the amount to be placed to her credit in the books of the Society. After a girl has lived a certain time in one of these houses, and conducted herself with propriety and decorum, an attempt may be made to reconcile her to her friends, and thus to restore her to that rank in society which she formerly held, and which she may live to adorn.

In such a case, if there is any money at the credit of the young woman on the books of the Society, it should be paid over to her or her friends.

When you have thus struck at the cause and given it a check, you may proceed with some prospect of success to endeavour to clear away the effects.

For this purpose, although I would recommend the continuance of your present asylum, as an excellent refuge for such as may