the evident partiality of the laws to man. Still too many females fall a sacrifice to infamy, without being guilty of any crime, but that of trusting to the honor of some villain:—and yet it is gravely proposed to subject every woman to dependance on that honor, as a remedy for the evil! Infatuation never put forth a more gross absurdity. Impudence never advanced a more daring violation of reason.
How is prostitution to be diminished by reducing the world into a general brothel? Suppose, by some singular chance, a male and female Shelley happened to meet each other, entangled by a variety of other engagements—the male Shelley with a wife and children—the female Shelley with a husband and family. Of course, they would recognise each other immediately as the "loveliest specimens" of "creation." That "love is inevitably consequent upon loveliness," is an article of the new code. Of course, the female Shelley must love the male Shelley; and the male the female! The female must at once abandon all previous love and regard for her first husband, and transfer them to the "lovelier object." The memory of all past endearments must pass away, to make room for new sensations. Her children must be abandoned, as well as her
