own reaſon[1]? Yet outwardly ornamented with elaborate care, and ſo adorned to delight man, 'that with honour he may love[2],' the ſoul of woman is not allowed to have this diſtinction, and man, ever placed between her and reaſon, ſhe is always repreſented as only created to ſee through a groſs medium, and to take things on truſt. But, diſmiſſing theſe fanciful theories, and conſidering woman as a whole, let it be what it will, inſtead of a part of man, the inquiry is whether ſhe has reaſon or not. If ſhe has, which, for a moment, I will take for granted, ſhe was not created merely to be the ſolace of man, and the ſexual ſhould not deſtroy the human character.
Into this error men have, probably, been led by viewing education in a falſe light; not conſidering it as the firſt ſtep to form a being advancing gradually towards perfection[3]; but only as a preparation for life. On this ſenſual error, for I muſt call it ſo, has the falſe ſyſtem of female manners been reared, which robs the whole ſex of its dignity, and claſſes the brown and fair with the ſmiling flowers that only adorns the land. This has ever been the language of men, and the fear of departing from a ſuppoſed ſexual character, has made even women of ſuperiour
