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Reading.
Thoſe productions which give a wrong account of the human paſſions, and the various accidents of life, ought not to be read before the judgment is formed, or at leaſt exerciſed. Such accounts are one great cauſe of the affectation of young women. Senſibility is deſcribed and praiſed, and the effects of it repreſented in a way ſo different from nature, that thoſe who imitate it muſt make themſelves very ridiculous. A falſe taſte is acquired, and ſenſible books appear dull and inſipid after thoſe ſuperficial performances, which obtain their full end if they can keep the mind in a continual ferment. Gallantry is made the only intereſting
ſubject
