Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/26

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INTRODUCTION.

maſculine women; but where are they to be found? If by this appellation men mean to inveigh againſt their ardour in hunting, ſhooting, and gaming, I ſhall moſt cordially join in the cry; but if it be againſt the imitation of manly virtues, or, more properly ſpeaking, the attainment of thoſe talents and virtues, the exerciſe of which ennobles the human character, and which raiſe females in the ſcale of animal being, when they are comprehenſively termed mankind;—all thoſe who view them with a philoſophical eye muſt, I ſhould think, wiſh with me, that they may every day grow more and more maſculine.

This diſcuſſion naturally divides the ſubject. I ſhall firſt conſider women in the grand light of human creatures, who, in common with men, are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties; and afterwards I ſhall more particularly point out their peculiar deſignation.

I wiſh alſo to ſteer clear of an error which many reſpectable writers have fallen into; for the inſtruction which has hither been addreſſed to women, has rather been applicable to ladies, if the little indirect advice, that is ſcattered through Sanford and Merton, be excepted; but, addreſſing my ſex in a firmer tone, I pay particular attention to thoſe in the middle

claſs,