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Article WISDOM AND FOLLY. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Wisdom And Folly.
account of that exploit for which he is most memorable , ( as that of Africanus on Scipio , of St . Vincent on Jervis ) will . I thir-k , entertain you , and in some points affect you , at least if you are a man of common sensibility , and can detest brutality to a most lovely woman . That you shall have by and by . My Guide now took me to see some of the private parties of Fools . We made our way into a splendid drawing-roomwhere several
per-, sons of both sexes , fine !' , dressed , were earnestly discussing the most elegant mode of tying a bow on neck handkerchiefs : ir ; ni this they proceeded to the best lace for cravats and the most fashionable trimming for gowns . This led to ear-rings : from whence they digressed to set shoe-buckles , with annotations upon paste-From this drawing-room the company proceeded to a dining-room
, in which an entertainment was put upon the table in such a manner as to display the contents of the plate-chest—Fools minding shew more than substance . ' There is , ' my Guide told me , ' this great difference between the entertainments of the Wise and the Fools , that the Fools mind the garnishing- and the arrangement of the dishes— . the Wisethe goodness of the meat ancl wine . ' After dinnerthere
, , was much bowing , compliment , and laughing ; but no conversation . They returned to the drawing-room , and conn'd over oblong pieces of pasteboard for the whole evening : so completely did they preserve their loyalty to Follv , that n ,. t a single word escaped one of the company which she would not have acknowledged as her own .
Another party , we viewed , had met much more numerously , so as to consist of several subdivisions . The business was , first , a curtesy and bow ; then to-file off into detachments , for examining similar pieces of pasteboard . Some were engaged in rattling bones in boxes . That rattling appeared to have more of enterprizing folly than the pasteboard gazing , which last was little more than mere stuj idity and frivolity . But che rattling , in a short timedrew forth great quantities
, of money . Sorry indeed was I to see persons , who , I was told , were native Wise , joining the Fools in this rattling . A Fool ruining himself is of little consequence , as he can be of little use when not ruined ; but one of the Wise in that state is prevented from promoting the cause of Wisdom , as he otherwise might . We peeped into the most famous Boarding-Schools for young
Ladies , and found them all training for the service of Folly . The means were , teaching them what was useless instead of what was useful : e . gr . Humstrumming , jabbering half-learned lan ua es , flowering gauze , ( instead of studying domestic qualifications , and imj-ioving their hearts and heads ); ancl , above all , perusing the works patronized by Mrs . Novel .
' A ven long detail of precepts ancl usages , enjoined and practised under Queen Folly , may be summed up in a few words . Let young ladies , as to their understandings , learn n thing that is useful ; ancl so , though natives of Wisdom , will they be subjects of Folly . Let their mothers give them , in every thing , their own way ; and so will they be sure of being Fools . ' M Guide told me , that in the Boarding-Schools of Folly , beside the general uselessness of the things taught , as to any women , it had
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Wisdom And Folly.
account of that exploit for which he is most memorable , ( as that of Africanus on Scipio , of St . Vincent on Jervis ) will . I thir-k , entertain you , and in some points affect you , at least if you are a man of common sensibility , and can detest brutality to a most lovely woman . That you shall have by and by . My Guide now took me to see some of the private parties of Fools . We made our way into a splendid drawing-roomwhere several
per-, sons of both sexes , fine !' , dressed , were earnestly discussing the most elegant mode of tying a bow on neck handkerchiefs : ir ; ni this they proceeded to the best lace for cravats and the most fashionable trimming for gowns . This led to ear-rings : from whence they digressed to set shoe-buckles , with annotations upon paste-From this drawing-room the company proceeded to a dining-room
, in which an entertainment was put upon the table in such a manner as to display the contents of the plate-chest—Fools minding shew more than substance . ' There is , ' my Guide told me , ' this great difference between the entertainments of the Wise and the Fools , that the Fools mind the garnishing- and the arrangement of the dishes— . the Wisethe goodness of the meat ancl wine . ' After dinnerthere
, , was much bowing , compliment , and laughing ; but no conversation . They returned to the drawing-room , and conn'd over oblong pieces of pasteboard for the whole evening : so completely did they preserve their loyalty to Follv , that n ,. t a single word escaped one of the company which she would not have acknowledged as her own .
Another party , we viewed , had met much more numerously , so as to consist of several subdivisions . The business was , first , a curtesy and bow ; then to-file off into detachments , for examining similar pieces of pasteboard . Some were engaged in rattling bones in boxes . That rattling appeared to have more of enterprizing folly than the pasteboard gazing , which last was little more than mere stuj idity and frivolity . But che rattling , in a short timedrew forth great quantities
, of money . Sorry indeed was I to see persons , who , I was told , were native Wise , joining the Fools in this rattling . A Fool ruining himself is of little consequence , as he can be of little use when not ruined ; but one of the Wise in that state is prevented from promoting the cause of Wisdom , as he otherwise might . We peeped into the most famous Boarding-Schools for young
Ladies , and found them all training for the service of Folly . The means were , teaching them what was useless instead of what was useful : e . gr . Humstrumming , jabbering half-learned lan ua es , flowering gauze , ( instead of studying domestic qualifications , and imj-ioving their hearts and heads ); ancl , above all , perusing the works patronized by Mrs . Novel .
' A ven long detail of precepts ancl usages , enjoined and practised under Queen Folly , may be summed up in a few words . Let young ladies , as to their understandings , learn n thing that is useful ; ancl so , though natives of Wisdom , will they be subjects of Folly . Let their mothers give them , in every thing , their own way ; and so will they be sure of being Fools . ' M Guide told me , that in the Boarding-Schools of Folly , beside the general uselessness of the things taught , as to any women , it had