lic affections, they ſhould be ſent to ſchool to mix with a number of equals, for only by the joſtlings of equality can we form a juſt opinion of ourſelves.
To render mankind more virtuous, and happier of courſe, both ſexes muſt act from the ſame principle; but how can that be expected when only one is allowed to ſee the reaſonableneſs of it? To render alſo the ſocial compact truly equitable, and in order to ſpread thoſe enlightening principles, which alone can meliorate the fate of man, women muſt be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is ſcarcely poſſible unleſs they are educated by the ſame purſuits as men. For they are now made ſo inferiour by ignorance and low deſires, as not to deſerve to be ranked with them; or, by the ſerpentine wrigglings of cunning they mount the tree of knowledge, and only acquire ſufficient to lead men aſtray.
It is plain from the hiſtory of all nations, that women cannot be confined to merely domeſtic purſuits, for they will not fulfil family duties, unleſs their minds take a wider range, and whilſt they are kept in ignorance they become in the ſame proportion the ſlaves of pleaſure as they are the ſlaves of man. Nor can they be ſhut out of great enterpriſes, though the narrowneſs of their minds often make them mar, what they are unable to comprehend.
The libertiniſm, and even the virtues of ſuperiour men, will always give women, of ſome deſcription, great power over them; and theſe weak women, under the influence of childiſh
