that if "they have been seduced to deviate from the paths of virtue, pregnancy is generally the natural consequence of the illicit amour:" on the contrary, it is my opinion, that when once they have submitted to fornication, instead of pregnancy being the consequence, four out of five of these pitiable outcasts launch into the iniquity and hardships of prostitution; and even allowing what is suggested, that pregnancy is the general result of the first amour, the next inquiry is, what becomes of them after their confinement-do they return to servitude? Alas! who would receive the unhappy exile from her family and friends, whose very name is only lisped to be reproached? Can she pursue any useful occupation-to whom could she ap"ply to give her employment? Her character forfeited, destitute of friends, and, as it were, lost to the whole world, the unhappy female is at last compelled to resort to the

vices of debauchery and lewdness for subsistence, in pursuits inimical to her health, and which, from the delicate texture of her frame, frequently bring on speedy dissolution; or if she should happen to survive the impetuous shock her constitution must sustain, how deplorable that precarious existence she drags out, exposed to the hardships and sufferings of inclement seasons, subjected to the insults and capricious conduct of the dregs of human nature! But the detail is past the power of my pen competently to describe in all its force and reality-too shocking for recollection to dwell upon; but such as ought to act as a conspicuous beacon, to caution others to avoid that levity and self-confidence which have proved of such ruinous consequences to thousands of their fellow creatures. And here I cannot avoid giving an extract from the pathetic Hervey; an extract replete with important

advice, and breathing sentiments that cannot be too strenuously adhered to by all those females who value their own peace of mind, and are jealous of the mischievous effects which that self-confidence too often leads to.

Our

"Harbour not, on any consideration, the betrayer of your virtue. Be deaf, inflexibly deaf, to every beguiling solicitation. If it obtrude into the unguarded heart; give it entertainment, no, not for a moment. To parley with the enemy, is to open a door for destruction. safety consists in flight: and, in this case, suspicion is the truest prudence; fear, the greatest bravery. Play not on the brink of the precipice. Flutter not round the edges of the flame. Dally not with the stings of death. But reject, with a becoming mixture of solicitude and abhorrence, the very first insinuations of ini

quity, as cautiously as the smarting sore shrinks even from the softest hand."

The next objection I have to combat is, that "the doors of this Asylum are for ever shut against all, unless they depart from every trace of modesty, and descend into those acts of lewdness that will render them capable, by dint of practice, of the greatest duplicity; then, when disease overtakes them, and they can no longer administer to the sinful gratifications of others, they can have immediate access to this promising Asylum.”

Would the opponent of the Asylum have its doors opened for pregnant women, or for all servants out of employ ment? He should recollect that the advocates of this system defend it upon the principle of receiving those whose hearts recoil at their manner of life; and that,

without some medium similar to this Institution, it is not possible for them to procure a situation. And can it be supposed that any young woman, when in the first temptation to gratify her sensual inclinations, would, from the knowledge she had of the existence of the Society, be at all influenced in her conduct? As well might this objection be urged against innumerable charitable and other institutions of the first respectability and usefulness, and particularly against benefit societies, as nurseries for indolence and perjury; nay, poor-houses themselves might, with equal consistency, be objected to, as incentives to drunkenness, extravagance, and vice of every complexion as every parishioner, however iniquitous and despicable his former life may have been, whatever injurious consequences society may have sustained from his debaucheries, or the burthens he may