University of Virginia Library

Tuesday, L. M.
MUSIC AND DANCING.

Her pupils having taken their places,
Mrs. Williams proceeded.

“In music and dancing you have made such
proficiency that your performances must be very
pleasing to your friends, before whom you occasionally
exhibit.

“As dancing is an accomplishment merely external,
let not the vanity of excellence in it betray
itself in an air of conscious superiority, when
you shine at the ball, and perceive yourselves to
have attracted the attention and applause of the
gay assembly. But in the midst of hilarity and
mirth, remember that modesty, diffidence, discretion,
and humility are indispensable appendages of
virtue and decency.

“Music is a talent which nature has bestowed,
and which your application has considerably improved.
It has a powerful influence over the
heart; wonderfully soothes and humanizes the
passions, and is a source of refined pleasure to a
mind capable of tasting its charms.

“Never refuse gratifying your friends by the
exertion of your abilities in performing, unless
for some very special reason. Though I would
not have you vain of your skill, and officiously
forward to display it; yet the affectation of uncommon
modesty, and ignorance, is truly ridiculous.
To plead inability to exercise powers,
which you are conscious of possessing, and for
which you wish to be esteemed and honored by
others, is false delicacy, and will never gain admission
to the breast where that which is genuine
resides. How perfectly absurd it is for a young
lady, who is politely requested to entertain a
company with her musical talents, to declare them
so small that she is really ashamed to expose herself
before such good judges; or that she has neglected
playing, or singing, for some time, and cannot
immediately revive her dormant skill; or that
she has forgotten her tunes, or songs; or that
she has a bad cold, (which none but herself perceives)
and is unable to sing; or that she is loath
to begin this amusement, and must insist upon
some other lady's setting the example; which
other lady has, in her turn, an equal number of
excuses! Thus the time of the company is engrossed,
and their pleasure suspended, till a long
train of arguments, entreaties, and compliments
are run through, and her vanity fully gratified by-the
most flattering and importunate solicitations.

“Then, clate with pride and self importance,
she condescends to grant their request; not considering
how far she has derogated from her own
merit by the futile artifice she has employed; an
artifice unworthy of an ingenuous mind, and disgraceful
to any lady who has arrived to years of
discretion.

“Let us view this evasive manner of seeking
compliments a little nearer. When a person is
known to be mistress of this delightful art, what
can be her motive for delaying the gratification
of her friends by its exercise, and refusing a
compliance with their wishes, till their patience
is exhausted? I believe that excuses, in this case,
are very seldom sincere. The youthful mind is
not insensible to praise, nor indifferent to the
means of obtaining it.

“Why then should it not be received and increased
by a ready and obliging compliance? A
desire to please is usually attended with success;
and for what reason should the power and disposition
be artifully concealed?

“Always preserve a frankness and sincerity in
your actions and designs. These will add dignity
to your condescensions, and gracefulness to
your deportment.

“Rise superior to those little arts which bespeak
the finesse of a childish folly, or a narrow mind.
Do honor to this, as well as to every other part
of your education, by acting conformably to the

precepts which have been given you, the knowledge
which you have acquired, and the opportunities
with which you may be furnished for the
purpose.

“Music and dancing, though polite and elegant
accomplishments, are, perhaps, the most fascinating,
and, of course, the most dangerous of
any that fall under that description. When indulged
to excess, beside engrossing much time
which ought to be employed in the execution
of more necessary and useful designs, they sometimes
allure their fond votaries from that purity
and rectitude which are the chief embellishments
of the female character. They lay the mind open
to many temptations, and, by nourishing a frivolous
vanity, benumb the nobler powers both
of reflection and action.

“Levitia was endowed, by the joint influence of
nature and art, with these pleasing charms. Symmetry
was perfected in her form; and her voice
was melody itself. Her parents were not in affluent
circumstances; yet their taste led them to
distinguish those graces and talents in their
daughter, which they injudiciously flattered themselves
might, one day, raise her to affluence and
same. Hence they spared no pains nor expense,
in their power to bestow, to assist her inclination
and gratify her wishes. As she advanced in
years, she affiduously cultivated and diligently imimproved
those endowments which she had been

erroneously encouraged, and oven taught, to consider
most valuable. To adorn her person, regulate
her movements, and practise her music, was
all her care. Nor had she a wish beyond the pleasures,
which she fancied they could yield. Her
mind resembled a garden, in which the useful
plants are overrun and choaked by noxious
weeds. Here and there a gaudy flower rears its
brilliant head, and proudly dares to arrest the
eye; while the delicate and useful lie buried
and concealed in the surrounding waste!

“Flattery was pleasing to her car, in whatever
form it was presented. The gay and licentious
fought her society; and vanity with its attendant
train of follies led her imagination far from the
sphere of life which Providence had assigned her.
Her parents saw their own mistake, and were
alarmed at her's: but, alas! too late were their
endeavours to prevent the mischiefs which impended.
They could not supply her unbounded
wants; and therefore to gratify her ruling passion, she deemed means of her own invention
indispensable. Among her admirers was a foreigner,
who, failing of success in his own country,
sought a subsistence in ours, from the stage.
He knew Levitia's talents. These might give
her the palm of applause, and in his way of
life, render her conspicuous. This plan he
communicated to her, infidiously offering to become
her guardian, and to put her under the

protection of such friends as should defend her
honor, and ensure her success. She was pleased
with the project. Wholly unacquainted with
the world, and unsuspicious of the subtle arts of
the deluding libertine, she scrupled not his veracity,
but listened to his insinuating declarations
of love and friendship. She was deceived by
the vanity of appearing where her fancied merit
would meet with the encouragement and reward
it deserved; and vainly imagining that her beauty
might secure her elevation and affluence, she
readily consented to the fatal experiment, eloped
from her father's house, and became a professed
actress.

“Her parents were overwhelmed with grief
and anxiety, at the discovery; but to no purpose
were all their exertions to reclaim her. She had
left them, no more to return; left them, too,
with the heart-rending reflection, that they themselves
had heedlessly contributed to her disgrace
and ruin. But bitter indeed were the fruits of
her disobedience and folly!

“She made her appearance on the stage. She
sung and danced, for which she was caressed,
flattered, and paid. A licentious mode of life
quadrating with the levity of her heart, soon left
her a prey to seduction. Her gaiety and beauty
gained her many votaries, and she became a
complete courtezan.

“In the midst of this career, her mother died
of a broken heart, evidently occasioned by her
undutiful and vicious conduct. A sense of her
ingratitude to her parents, and her shameless
manner of life struck her mind, not naturally
unfeeling, with such force, as to throw her into
a fever which undermined her constitution, deprived
her of her beauty, ruined her voice, and
left her without means of support. Her pretended
lover, finding she could no longer be useful
to him, perfidiously abandoned her to poverty
and shame. She returned, like the prodigal,
to her unhappy father, who received, but could
not assist her. Her behaviour, with its consequences
in the death of her mother, had impaired
his health, depressed his spirits, and rendered
him incapable of providing for himself.

“She is now despised and avoided by all her
former acquaintance, and must inevitably spend
the remainder of her days in wretchedness.

“Let us turn from this disgusting picture, and
behold its contrast in the amiable Florella. To
beauty of person she superadds delicacy, sensibility,
and every noble quality of the mind.
Respectful to her superiors, affable, cheerful, and
polite to her equals, and condescendingly kind
to her inferiors, Florella is universally esteemed,
beloved, and admired. Of the pleasing accomplishments
of music and dancing she is a consummate
mistress. Yet she is superior to the vain

arts of flattery, while the dignity of conscious
virtue raises her far above the affectation of false
modesty and diffidence. To please and oblige
those friends who are interested in her happiness,
and gratified by her performances, is her delight.
Nor does she think it necessary, by seigned excuses,
to delay the pleasure, which she is able to
afford; but willingly enhances that pleasure by a
ready and cheerful compliance. This she thinks
the best return she can make for their kind attention.
Though delighted with these amusements
herself, she, nevertheless, considers them
as amusements only; and assiduously cultivates
the more solid branches of her education. These,
she is wont to say, may render me useful and
happy, when the voice of music shall be brought
low, and when the sprightly limbs shall become
languid and inactive.

“How happy her parents in her filial duty and
affection! How rich the reward of their care
and expense in contributing to her improvements!
How happy Florella in their complacency and
love, and in the consciousness of deserving them!

“She was, not long since, addressed by a gentleman,
who was pleasing to her fancy; but,
determined never to indulge a sentiment of
partiality without the entire approbation of her
parents, she referred him to their decision.
For particular reasons, they disapproved of his
suit. She acquiesced without reserve, and immediately

dismissed him. Who would not rather
be a resembler of Florella, than a vain, imprudent,
and ruined Levitia?

“True, indeed, the acquirements and graces of
Florella are not attainable by every one; but the
virtues of discretion, modesty, and kindness are
within the reach of the humblest sphere, and
the most moderate abilities.”