home from his studies at sixteen years of age, vices began to spring up in his heart like briars in a neglected ground, and that they multiplied, because there was no discreet hand to pluck them out." Those young persons who would be sorry to say the same from experience, and thus to lose the happy fruits of their early efforts in the service of God, ought to follow the advice of St. Francis of Sales, who counsels " a Christian to enter the world with great fear, to live in it with great watchfulness, and to guard against the poisonous infection of its air, by the strong antidotes of serious reflection and devout prayer." They should seriously reflect, before they leave school, on the graces they received during their residence there, and dwell particularly on the fruits that will be expected from those graces. It is to give them leisure for those reflections, and to dispose their minds, by prayer, for profiting of them, that, in several religious seminaries, a short retreat is appointed for those who have finished their studies, and are about to return home. That retreat is a last and very great grace annexed to their religious education, of which they should endeavour to profit, by giving their undivided attention to the means prescribed for going through it fervently, and endeavouring particularly to draw from the reflections of those few days, three very necessary dispositions for persons who are on the eve of entering the world. First, a holy fear of its dangers; because those dangers will never be sufficiently guarded against, if they be not sincerely dreadedsecondly, the utmost diffidence in their own strength, knowing that the least of those dangers to which they are about to be exposed, would be sufficient to overturn their good purposes, if they be left to themselves-lastly, a lively and firm confidence in God, who is just as well able to preserve them in the world, as he was to save Lot from the fire of Sodom, and the Hebrew children from the corruption of Babylon.

With regard to the line of conduct which young persons should pursue after their return home, it should be the result of serious reflection on that positive declaration of our Lord, that no one can serve two masters; that is, no one can conciliate the idle, useless pursuits of too many persons in the world, with the service of God; therefore,

they must expect to hear, on all sides, the maxims of the world, which are as corrupt and wicked as their author the Prince of darkness, without being influenced by any of them so far as to depart from the maxims of the gospel, on which they know they are to be judged. In a word, they must make an open profession of piety, and act consistently with that profession-that is, they must give that good example which the world itself expects from those who are well instructed. For this end, it would be advisable for young persons to call to mind that short rule for attaining eternal salvation, which their Catechism points out from the Scripture, viz. to avoid evil and do good. It is necessary to avoid evil, that is, sin, and all occasions of sin. It would be melancholy, indeed, if young persons left a seminary of piety, without that sincere horror of sin, which would urge them to avoid, with the utmost care, every thought, word, and action, evidently sinful; but the occasions of sin, unfortunately so numerous in the world, are much to be dreaded by youth, on account of their great inexperience, and consequent inability to detect the snares which are laid for them, or to discern the fatal end to which a flowery path so often leads. But however inexperienced they may be in many respects, they will require nothing more than the voice of conscience to decide that the following are dangerous occasions of sin, which every young lady should particularly resolve to avoid.

First, idleness, which the Scripture says has taught much evil. It is natural enough for young persons, immediately after leaving school, to indulge in a little relaxation from the strict order and regularity of system to which they had been accustomed: but it is a common artifice of the enemy to persuade them, that this relaxation may extend to their spiritual duties-that the Sacraments may be deferred, and whole days spent in absolute idlenesss. Those who listen to that suggestion, will soon experience its bad effects-a relish for idleness, and a disgust for occupation, will insensibly steal upon their hearts, and if they do not put a stop to the growing evil by early and punctual attention to their religious duties, and a speedy regulation of their time, they will soon feel the truth of St. Bernard's words, that " idleness is a sink of all temp

stations the mother of folly-the death of the soul, " and the receptacle of all evil."

The second occasion of sin to be avoided is, bad company, and indiscriminate friendships.-Bad company is so evidently injurious, that no young person, who fears God, should expose her salvation by voluntary associating with any one whose morals are known to be questionable. St. Teresa says of herself, that a vain female cousin, and another young person, engaged in all the vanities of the world, with whom she associated in her youth, effected such a change in her principles and conduct, as to leave no trace of the virtuous impressions she had received in the Convent, where she was educated. If bad company had such influence on that great Saint, who was distinguished from her early years by solid virtue, sound sense, and great abhorrence of the shadow of evil, how much more injurious will it prove to those young persons, whose natural character and dispositions render them less able to resist its influence? With respect to friendships, young persons are greatly exposed to contract them indiscreetly, being too often carried away by the external qualifications of those whom they choose for their friends. The Scripture says, Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be your counsellor that is, your friend and confidant. In fact, so many qualities are necessary on both sides to render a close intimacy, confidence, or strict friendship safe, or useful, between young persons in the world, that the best resolutions a young lady could make, on this head, are, to be extremely circumspect in selecting any one as a friend—to adhere to the great precept of charity, which requires, that every one should be loved for God's sake-and to be exact in treating all with affability and condescension; but, very few with familiarity and unreserve. She should never chuse a friend who does not fear and serve God; since friendship, without that foundation, must be injurious; and lastly, she should always give less confidence to the best and most deserving friend, than she does to her parents. Those should be the first friends of young persons, their only entire confidants, as well as their directors and advisers in the choice of any otherswithout their advice, nothing should be undertaken, and from them nothing should be concealed.

imbibed, had not completely lost its influence, nor the virtuous impressions made on them by a good education had been entirely effaced. However, those are graces due to none, and least deserved by those who most presumptuously depend on them. The danger of abusing so great an advantage as a religious education, should ever be present to the minds of those who receive it, and stimulate them to acquire such a store of virtue in their youth, as may strengthen them to resist the dangers they have to encounter in after life. The allurements of the world are dangerous to all, but are particularly to be dreaded for females, who seldom possess sufficient firmness to resist example, and who frequently from their cradle manifest a love of the world, of extravagance and show, with a passion for pleasure and endless varietydangerous propensities, that in some young persons appear quite destroyed, but afterwards prove to have been only dormant, from the absence of objects and occasions calculated to rouse them. It becomes their duty in particular, to remember their Creator in the days of their youth, before the time of affliction come; to endeavour to correct the faults inherent in their characters; to profit of the blessings of a religious education; to guard against inapplication while at school, and to avoid, at their departure, inconstancy, in the virtuous habits they have acquired.

Those being the great evils which sometimes tend to prevent the good effects of the best education, the object of this Work is to assist youth in guarding against themto lead them early into the path of piety, and enable them to persevere in that path during life. The young persons for whom The Ursuline Manual is expressly intended, will perceive that it is nothing more than a collection of their ordinary Devotions, with the addition of such spiritual exercises as they may require on extraordinary occasions; which will prevent the necessity of multiplying Prayer Books. The preparation for approaching the Sacraments, in particular, is explicit and detailed; to give them all the instruction they require for the due performance of such solemn duties; and to impress them with a just idea of their importance. The other abridged instructions comprised in this volume will, it is hoped,

refresh and invigorate the impressions already made, and from the brevity of their form be less easily forgotten than the more ample ones usually given on those important points.

As very few prayers enter into the system laid down for their conduct during the period of their education, for the purpose of leaving more leisure for attending to their studies and attaining the several ends for which they are placed at school, it becomes particularly incumbent on them to sanctify these studies, and not to allow whim or caprice to influence their conduct in the discharge or neglect of their school duties, lest the habits of sloth or indifference which they then indulge, may predispose their minds for much more serious omissions in the weighty avocations of after-life. Their principal efforts then should tend to the attainment of piety, and the acquiring of a certain solidity of character, which is founded on good sense, and directly opposite to the fickleness, affectation, and false timidity, which make many young ladies appear almost fools, whom nature did not intend for such.

Solid information and the improvement of their minds are the next objects to be kept in view. They should always recollect that, after the pleasures derived from virtue, those to be found in the pursuit of knowledge, are the purest and most worthy of a rational being. Study improves the memory, forms the judgment, and if dili gently and judiciously pursued, will give them such resources in their own minds, as will render them in after. life independent of idle visitors and conversations, with other still more dangerous amusements which a vacuity of mind renders necessary to some young ladies. In labouring to cultivate their minds, they should endeavour to imitate those great ornaments of their sex, whose knowledge kept pace with their sanctity-such as St. Catharine of Alexandria, St. Catharine of Sienna, &c. The example of the former, in particular, who is the Patroness. of many celebrated schools, should direct young persons in the pursuit of learning and also in the use to be made of mental acquirements. From her humility, meekness, diffidence in herself, and contempt for all worldly learning, when compared with the most trifling improvement in virtue, they will perceive the folly of setting great