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BEP(F.769.009
30 Jan 1769:22,23 (1740)
[In an essay "To the Young Ladies of Boston"]. . .
The following lines of Spencer are very applicable to the
subject.
The best, said he, that I can you advise,
Is to avoid th' occasion of the ill:
For when the cause whence evil doth arise,
Removed is, the effect surceaseth still.
. . . [Continues]
Plays, balls, and concerts, are agreable and amusing
entertainments; but will you gratify yourselves at the
expence of your reputation? For such certainly will be the
case when you are conducted to them by persons who are not
only strangers to you, but whose principal character is the
love of gallantry and intrigue. Nay, some of whom are
profest enemies to the country which gave you birth, and who
are even now endeavoring to rob you, your friends, relations
and country, of the invaluable blessings of the best
constituted government upon earth. Can you know this and yet
give them your hand at a ball? Impossible! Think of the
brave females of Corsica, and strive to emulate them in your
regard for your dear native country. Leave to the few, very
few daughters of interested and designing men, the pleasure
of gracing an assembly compos'd of such persons and their
slavish abetters--whose only merit consists in the mere
superficial ornaments of dress. . . [6 more lines, signed]
Your friend and well-wisher. Homosum. Dec. 10, 1768.
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