the genders, I will transcribe some very simple tables I once furnished for the use of my own pupils.

Of course, as a general rule, among all living creatures the males are masculine, and the females feminine; but there are reptiles, fishes, insects, and even wild birds and beasts, in which no distinction is made between the genders, which are decided only by the termination, thus :

eau, peau, vertu, glu, tribu.

All nouns which end in any consonant, except x, ion, eur, or son, preceded by a vowel. Consonant.

Exceptions. brebis, chair, clef, cour, cuiller,

cuisson, dent, boisson, dot, façon, faim, fin, fois, forêt, hart, leçon, main, mer, moisson, mort, mousson, nef, necit, part, rançon,

souris, tour, vis. Maman (mamma), ending with a consonant, is feminine as following the first general rule.

Finally, all trees, and all adjectives and verbs used as substantives, are masculine.

Feminine—All nouns ending in x, eur, and ion, or son, preceded by a vowel, are feminine.

Exceptions. choix, crucifix, prix, flux, re

flux. bonheur, cæur, cheur, dés

honneur,extérieur, honneur,

labeur, malheur, pleur. crompion, lampion, million,

bastion. poison, tison. athée, mausolée, trophée. arrêté, comté, comité, côté,

été, pâté, traité. foie, génie, incendie, parapluie. espace.

none.

These rules, with their exceptions, comprise almost, if not quite the entire language, and will be useful as a reference to the student.

One of the greatest benefits of a knowledge of foreign languages is the clear insight it gives you into the depths and beauties of your own. For instance, if we read the French translation of own, propre, we shall comprehend that speech in Henry IV.,

“Happy am I that have a man so bold

That dares do justice on my proper son.” It is evident that proper is here taken in its French, not its English, signification,

Thus each language constantly throws a light on all others, and gives us greater power and facility of expression. Italian is considered a remarkably easy language. Doubtless, the pronunciation is so; but the construction of this language, and its idiomatic tendencies (hardly exceeded by those of Spain), entitle it to a higher place than it generally holds, And then, with its sonorous yet soft and flowing words, its graceful phraseology, the memories of its departed greatness, its pre-eminence as the language of tenderness, it certainly is one of the most interesting studies in which a woman can indulge. But it should be studied with both French and English; and, probably, Piranesi's Grammar and Benelachi's Interlocutore will be found among the most useful elementary works. De Porquet's are also excellent.

It is not my purpose here to give a lesson in Italian, therefore I have said enough on this subject. I would only, in conclusion, remind you, that until you can think in a language, think your every-day thoughts in it, you are not really acquainted with it.

Music, heavenly art! is too universally studied, and too much much discussed by those whose knowledge, compared to mine, is like the light of the sun contrasted with a tallow candle, to need much notice from me. It is frequently, however, less pleasing in general society than it ought to be; not because girls knowmusic, but because they are ignorant of the rules of

common sense.

Pretension, in this as in everything into which it enters, destroys all beauty and distorts every grace. A girl who has made music only one part of her education will attempt in a drawing room to perform some impossibility of Liszt, or sing one of Grisi's most trying airs in Norma, because it is fashionable, without the smallest regard to her own capabilities, or the comparisons which Mrs. Malaprop would decide to be “odorous.” And, of course, every one feels that she fails—and her best friends do not desire she should do otherwise ; for who would wish a wife or a daughter, moving in private society, to have attained such excellence in music as involves a life's devotion to it.