A LEGACY

FOR

YOUNG LADIES,

CONSISTING OF

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES,

IN PKOSE AND VERSE,

BY THE LATE

Mrs. BARBAULD.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BUOWN, AND GREEN,

PATERNOSTER BOW.

1826.

Generated on 2013-03-26 22:41 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101068138005 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google

CONTENTS.

Page

True Magicians l

A Lecture on the Use of Words J 7

The Pine and the Olive: a Fable 23

On Riddles 26

The King in his Castle 34

On Female Studies 41

The Rich and the Poor: a Dialogue .... 57

Description of a curious Animal lately found

in the Wilds of Derbyshire 70

On the Classics 73

Letter of a Young King 95

Verses written in the Leaves of an Ivory

Pocket-book, presented to master T***** 103

On Plants 105

On a Portrait of a Lady and Two Children . Ill

Earth 112

On the Uses of History;

Letter I. . 117

Letter II 126

Letter III 137

Fashion: a Vision 165

To Miss D*** 180

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Vili CONTENTS.

Page

On the Birth of a Friend's eldest Son . . 181

Epitaph on a Goldfinch 183

The Morning Repast 185

Description of Two Sisters . . . . . . J 87

A Character 191

Pic-nic 192

Letter from Grimalkin to Selima .... 198

Petition of a Schoolboy to his Father . . 205

The River and the Brook: a Fable . . . 209

The Lament: a Ballad 211

Allegory on Sleep 214

To *##****, occasioned by his Poem on the

Sun 221

A Hymn 223

On Friendship 226

Confidence and Modesty: a Fable . . . 235

The Death-bed 239

A Dialogue of the Dead between Helen, and

Madame Maintenon 241

A Riddle . . . 251

On Expense 253

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PREFACE.

THE late Mrs. Barbauld was one of the

best friends of youth. In her " Early Les-

sons," and " Prose Hymns," she has con-

descended to apply her admirable genius

to the instruction even of infant minds. Se-

veral excellent pieces, adapted to children

of different ages, she contributed to Dr.

Aikin's "Evenings at Home." That elegant

volume of verse and prose " The Female

Speaker," was compiled by her for the use

of young ladies, for whom she also made

a selection from the Tatlers, Spectators,

and Guardians, prefixing to it an instruc-

tive and beautiful Essay. In others of her

productions she has given valuable advice

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iv PREFACE.

to parents on the subject of instruction; and

her " Poems" contain many pieces worthy

to be early reposited among the choicest

stores of an elegant and ingenuous mind.

Many young persons of both sexes par-

took, during the course of her long life,

of the benefit of her personal instructions;

and in the present volume she may be re-

garded as continuing even from the grave

to delight and improve the rising genera-

tion.

These pieces were found among her pa-

pers by the members of her own family.

Some of them enforce moral truths; others

contain instruction in history and other

branches of the graver studies of youth ;

but the greater number are of a light and

elegant cast, adapted to exercise the inge-

nuity and amuse the fancy while they re-

fine the taste. Those in the form of letters

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PREFACE. V

were all addressed to different ladies whom

she favoured with her friendship.

Had she herself presented these pieces

to the public, it is probable that she would

in. some instances have extended them by

additions which, from her own pen, would

have enhanced their value, but which it

would have been presumption in any other

to attempt. None of them, however, can

properly be called fragments: and it was

so natural to her to express herself with

the highest beauty and perfection of style,

that in this respect little difference would

be found either in verse or prose, be-

tween the slightest sketch she ever traced

and the most finished of her admired pro-

ductions.

Lucy Aikin.

Hampstead, Dec. 1825.

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