his own preſence, no other virtue, it ſeems, appeared to have any merit. Knowledge, induſtry, valour, and beneficence, trembled, were abaſhed, and loſt all dignity before them.'
Woman alſo thus 'in herſelf complete,' by poſſeſſing all theſe frivolous accompliſhments, ſo changes the nature of things
'That what ſhe wills to do or ſay
Seems wiſeſt, virtuouſeſt, diſcreeteſt, beſt;
All higher knowledge in her preſence falls
Degraded. Wiſdom in diſcourſe with her
Loſes diſcountenanc'd, and, like Folly, ſhows;
Authority and Reaſon on her wait.'
And all this is built on her lovelineſs!
In the middle rank of life, to continue the compariſon, men, in their youth, are prepared for profeſſions, and marriage is not conſidered as the grand feature in their lives; whilſt women, on the contrary, have no other ſcheme to ſharpen their faculties. It is not buſineſs, extenſive plans, or any of the excurſive flights of ambition, that engroſs their attention; no, their thoughts are not employed in rearing ſuch noble ſtructures. To riſe in the world, and have the liberty of running from pleaſure to pleaſure, they mull marry advantageouſly, and to this object their time is ſacrificed, and their perſons often legally proſtituted. A man when he enters any profeſſion has his eye ſteadily fixed on ſome future advantage (and the mind gains great ſtrength by having all its efforts directed to one point) and, full of his buſineſs, pleaſure is conſidered as mere relaxation; whilſt women ſeek for pleaſure as the main purpoſe of exigence, In fact, from the education,
