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THE GUARDIAN.

339

unjuſt proceedings, and nobody is out of counte nance for doing what every body practiſes, though at the ſame time there is no one who is not con

vinced in his own judgment of the errors in which he goes on with the multitude.

My cor

reſpondent, who writes me the following letter, has put together a great many points which would deferve ſerious conſideration, as much as things which at firſt appearance bear a weightier aſpect. He recites almoſt all the little arts that are uſed

in the way to matrimony, by the parents of young women.

There is nothing more com

mon than for people, who have good and wor

thy characters, to run, without reſpect to the laws of gratitude, into the moſt exorbitant de mands for their children, upon no other founda tion than that which ſhould incline them to the

quite contrary, the unreſerved affection of the

lover. I ſhall at this time, by inſerting my cor refpondent's letter, lay ſuch offences before all

parents and daughters reſpectively, and reſerve the particular inſtances to be conſidered in fu ture precautions. · TO NESTOR IRONSIDE, ESQ.

“ Sir ,

' I have for ſome time retired myſelf from the town and buſineſs to a little feat, where

a pleaſant champain country, good roads, and healthful air, tempt me often abroad ; and being

a ſingle man, have contracted more acquaintance than is ſuitable to my years, or agreeable to the intentions of retirement I brought down with me

hither. Among others, I have a young neigh Z 2