To render women truly uſeful members of ſociety, I argue that they ſhould be led, by having their underſtandings cultivated on a large ſcale, to acquire a rational affection for their country, founded on knowledge, becauſe it is obvious that we are little intereſted about what we do not underſtand. And to render this general knowledge of due importance, I have endeavoured to ſhew that private duties are never properly fulfilled unleſs the underſtanding enlarges the heart; and that public virtue is only an aggregate of private. But, the diſtinctions eſtabliſhed in ſociety undermine both, by beating out the ſolid gold of virtue, till it becomes only the tinſel-covering of vice; for whilſt wealth renders a man more reſpectable than virtue, wealth will be ſought before virtue; and whilſt women's perſons are careſſed, when a childiſh ſimper ſhews an abſence of mind—the mind will lie fallow. Yet, true voluptuouſneſs muſt proceed from the mind—for what can equal the ſenſations produced by mutual affection, ſupported by mutual reſpect? What are the cold, or feveriſh careſſes of appetite, but ſin embracing death, compared with the modeſt overflowings of a pure heart and exalted imagination? Yes, let me tell the libertine of fancy when he deſpiſes underſtanding in woman—that the mind, which he diſregards, gives life to the enthuſiaſtic affection from which rapture, ſhort-lived as it is, alone can flow! And, that, without virtue, a ſexual attachment muſt expire, like a tallow candle in the ſocket, creating intolerable diſguſt. To prove this, I need only obſerve, that men who have waſted great part of their
