These dangers of a too curious examination of one’s own person, are extremely well expressed by Ovid, in that part of his Metamorphosis where he describes Narcissus sitting near that clear silver fountain in which he contemplated himself: _Fons erat illimis, nitidis argenteus undis._ And the Poet relates, in a very lively manner, the astonishment of the Youth, at the sight of, as he thought, his own charms and perfections. ... _visæ correptus imagine formæ Adstupet ipse sibi._ That unexperienced Nuns should be led, by their disciplines, into faults of a similar kind, are therefore very natural apprehensions. Being thoroughly engaged in the contemplation of those beauties which they expose to light, it is no wonder that all their thoughts of a religious kind should vanish: and they even may very well in the issue, inchanted as they are by what they are beholding, intirely forget and neglect those pious exercises which they have purposely retired to their cell to perform. [123] _Quid turpius excogitari potest, sivè viro sivè fœminæ, quàm, lumbis & femoribus ad radios Solis apertis, seipsum diverberare?... Quis in edito & aperto loco, plenis comitiis, in conspectu hominum, lumbos natesque virgis cædere non pertimescat?_ This exhibition of nakedness to the rays of the Sun, the Poet Lafontaine observes, is only fit for the New World. He expresses this opinion in that Tale which has been above quoted, _The Pair of Spectacles_, when he attempts to express the objects which the Nuns exhibited to the sight of each other, and of the Abbess: “Niggardly and proud charms, which the Sun is allowed to see only in the New World, for this does not shew them to him.” _---- chiches & fiers appas Que le Soleil ne voit qu’au nouveau monde, Car celui-ci ne les lui montre pas._ However, notwithstanding the opinion of the Poet Lafontaine, it seems that an exhibition of charms and attractions, even superior to what takes place in the New World, is common in Russia; which is certainly a part of our Old World: the Reader may see in the accounts given by Travellers, that individuals of both Sexes, after some stay in the hot-baths and stoves in use in that Country, will rush out promiscuously together, stark-naked, playing, and delightfully rolling themselves in the snow. If Russia had been more visited by Travellers in the times of Cardinals Damian and Pullus, these two great Promoters of nakedness would have been supplied with facts much to the advantage of their doctrine.