Parental affection, indeed, in many minds, is but a pretext to tyrannize where it can be done with impunity, for only good and wiſe men are content with the reſpect that will bear diſcuſſion. Convinced that they have a right to what they inſiſt on, they do not fear reaſon, or dread the ſifting of ſubjects that recur to natural juſtice: becauſe they firmly believe that the more enlightened the human mind becomes the deeper root will juſt and ſimple principles take. They do not reſt in expedients, or grant that what is metaphyſically true can be practically falſe; but diſdaining the ſhifts of the moment they calmly wait till time, ſanctioning innovation, ſilences the hiſs of ſelfiſhneſs or envy.
If the power of reflecting on the paſt, and darting the keen eye of contemplation into futurity, be the grand privilege of man, it muſt be granted that ſome people enjoy this prerogative in a very limited degree. Every thing now appears to them wrong; and not able to diſtinguiſh the poſſible from the monſtrous, they fear where no fear ſhould find a place, running from the light of reaſon, as if it were a firebrand; yet the limits of the poſſible have never been defined to ſtop the ſturdy innovator's hand.
Woman, however, a ſlave in every ſituation to prejudice, ſeldom exerts enlightened maternal affection; for ſhe either neglects her children, or ſpoils them by improper indulgence. Beſides, the affection of ſome women for their children is, as I have before termed it, frequently very brutiſh: for it eradicates every ſpark of humanity. Juſtice, truth, every thing is ſacrificed by
