arising from the hearts of those who have been trained and nurtured with delicacy, and accustomed to infuse that training into the minds of those who occupy the higher stations of life in this great kingdom, there is such a call upon him to come forth, that it makes even a shepherd a warrior, and enables him to combat with that great Goliath, the champion of the armies of prejudice.

Such my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, are the motives which have impelled me to leave the retirement of private life and to offer myself and my observations to your notice for an hour or so, a digression, for which I ask your indulgence, assuring you that I shall retire to my wonted occupation, the moment I have discharged my heart and mind of a duty, which, however difficult, I have undertaken to perform.

Before venturing, however, to grapple with the subject now in contemplation, I will freely confess that it is one surrounded by a host of obstacles, presenting a most formidable aspect.

Ridicule, than which there is not a more tenacious monster of society, and which is generally habited in the garb of effrontery, is one of the most impudent enemies female education has to contend with.

The pride of Knowledge, which is so apt to be filled with its own self-sufficiency as scarcely to admit of any degree of excellence in the attainments of the female sex, is another.

The pride of Ignorance, which thinks all wisdom, cultivation of letters, and mental acquirements mere folly, is another; but fortunately one which, in these days, hides its diminished head beneath the all-commanding voice of public reprobation.

Indolence, Inactivity and the Love of Ease, are slothful encmies, which when engendered by affluence, generally degrade, and debase the human mind beneath its proper condition.

Fear, yes! an unaccountable fear of man, is another, and this is generally accompanied by a host of enemies, throwing up obstacles, oppositions, formidable barriers, and superstitious dogmas, to so great a degree, that the human mind becomes involved in such a chaos of darkness, that it requires all the efforts of love to extricate it.

I know but one motive sufficiently powerful to actuate a man through the whole course of his life, to use and not abuse the talents God has given him, and that one motive is, the never to be forgotten responsibility which is laid upon him, to give an account of those talents to the Great Giver of them, who, whilst he bestows them, affords him the opportunity and the grace to bring them forth to his glory.

The talent committed to my care is the Word of Wisdom. May God enable me so to use it before this assembly that I may utter nothing derogatory thereto : but whilst I endeavour to engage your attention, He may be pleased to pour into your hearts a double portion of that fire and spirit of charity, which he has breathed into the soul of your most unworthy lecturer.

With such preliminary observations, I shall commence my lecture upon

THE CHARACTER OF WOMAN.

THERE are but two ways in which I shall venture to treat of the subject now before me: yet, beneath these two may be included all that can be fairly introduced to your notice;

THE IDEAL CHARACTER OF WOMAN.

AND

THE REAL CHARACTER OF WOMAN.

mean

Beneath the Ideal may be considered all that poets, painters, sculptors, artists, novelists, and romantic writers have conceived of her.

Beneath the Real, all that historians sacred and prophane, biographers ancient and modern, have narrated of her, both as to the influence she has held in olden times, and that which in these latter days of Christianity she has and does more immediately possess.

I do not mean to say, that it is possible for me to adduce all that has been written under these two heads. That would be to attempt to detain you until time should be no longer, at least with this generation, before I could complete the task. I only

affirm that beneath the Ideal and the Real Character may be comprehended all that a lecturer could in any reasonable time, to make his words palatable, produce. My sketch must, at any rate, be but a slight one: yet, if that which is impressed upon my mind be but conveyed to your own, I will hope in the end, that I shall not have spoken in vain, to induce you to support the female character, in its humblest and most exalted position.

First, then, as to the Ideal.

Who does not love sometimes to dwell upon the Ideality of Perfection? No man of any mind, of any wisdom, of any perception, intellect, or imagination, but must some time or other, indulge in those bright reflective images which lead him to the contemplation of those days of Innocence and Simplicity in which man and his partner, counterpart or second self were originally formed. Whoever studies man either in the wonderful structure of his corporeal frame, or the still more delicate construction of his mind, must be carried back to that period when man was not as he now is, a being with a clouded comprehension. He was originally created good, and was good, and so was his amiable partner with him, with whom he delighted to contemplate the wonderful works of the Creator, in all their minute infinity amplitude and beauty. Alas that he cannot do so now without labour, care, and intense study. Ask any of the professors of modern sciences, what intricate pains they take to inquire into the minutiae of any one branch of their professions. Ask the professor of zoology, the professor of ornithology, the professor of

entomology, the professor of geology, chonchology, mineralogy, or any of the minuter studies of botany, chymistry, or the grand one of astronomy: they will one and all tell you, that it requires the incessant labour of a man's whole life, to make himself master of any one of these studies. Nay, if you were to ask the professor of botany to lecture even upon a single blade of grass, in the infinity of the wisdom displayed therein by its great Creator, he would tell you that he might lecture three hundred and sixty five days in the year and still find matter only for increased reflection. What then must have been the simplicity, purity, and clearness of the first man's mind, who could give names to all the animated creatures of God's creation, and behold all his wonders, without any fear of offending him, or any consciousness of any termination to his delight?

It is this species of Ideality of man's original perfection, which forms the chief charm of the imaginative poet, the laborious artist sculptor, or architect, who builds up any structure of his imagination, either of words, or of stone, for this or any future age of the world to admire. As there is nothing to which man attributes greater qualities of admiration than he does to his own counterpart, so is there nothing, either in sculpture, painting, or poetry, to which he attaches greater ideality of perfection than he does to the female form. I do not mean to say that beneath the ideal, there is no idolatry for undoubtedly there is; since all idolatry is but the attributing qualities of immortality to that which is perishable.

This is evident in all the handy works of man, in every age of the