PREFACE. THIS Volume, commenced some years ago, in the form of Lectures, addressed to Pupils in a Female Seminary, is chiefly the labour of thought and experience. As a Teacher, the Author felt the necessity of a work on this important branch of science, adapted to the instruction of her own sex, and sought to draw from her own resources, as well as from the records of History and Biography, such illustrations as might assist the mind in making a practical application of the leading facts of Mental Philosophy. This Work, is based on the Truth as we find it revealed in the Sacred Scriptures, and is not intended to enter into the intricate disquisitions of the Metaphysical schools. The Author, has not, however, been negligent in searching into the opinions of some of the best writers on this Branch of Science, and hopes, if not in perfect agreement, at least she will not be found in any great discordance with the sentiments of the wisest and the most esteemed. Truth, as it is found in Reason and Revelation is her object. With the strongest sentiments of affection for the Youth of her country, more especially those of her own sex, to whose instruction for the last fourteen years, she has devoted her time; to those, whose future |