late prior duties. She would wiſh not to love him merely becauſe he loved her, but on account of his virtues; and the ſiſter might have been able to ſtruggle for herſelf inſtead of eating the bitter bread of dependence.
I am, indeed, perſuaded that the heart, as well as the underſtanding, is opened by cultivation; and by, which may not appear ſo clear, ſtrengthening the organs; I am not now talking of momentary flaſhes of ſenſibility, but of affections. And, perhaps, in the education of both ſexes, the moſt difficult taſk is ſo to adjuſt inſtruction as not to narrow the underſtanding, whilſt the heart is warmed by the generous juices of ſpring, juſt raiſed by the electric fermentation of the ſeaſon; nor to dry up the feelings by employing the mind in inveſtigations remote from life.
With reſpect to women, when they receive a careful education, they are either made fine ladies, brimful of ſenſibility, and teeming with capricious fancies; or mere notable women. The latter are often friendly, honeſt creatures, and have a ſhrewd kind of good ſenſe joined with worldly prudence, that often render them more uſeful members of ſociety than the fine ſentimental lady, though they poſſeſs neither greatneſs of mind nor taſte. The intellectual world is ſhut againſt them; take them out of their family or neighbourhood, and they ſtand ſtill; the mind finding no employment, for literature affords a fund of amuſement which they have never ſought to reliſh, but frequently to deſpiſe. The ſentiments and taſte of more cultivated minds appear ridiculous, even in thoſe whom chance and
