The ſhameleſs behaviour of the proſtitutes, who infeſt the ſtreets of London, raiſing alternate emotions of pity and diſguſt, may ſerve to illuſtrate this remark. They trample on virgin baſhfulneſs with a ſort of bravado, and glorying in their ſhame, become more audaciouſly lewd than men, however depraved, to whom this ſexual quality has not been gratuitouſly granted, ever appear to be. But theſe poor ignorant wretches never had any modeſty to loſe, when they conſigned themſelves to infamy; for modeſty is a virtue not a quality. No, they were only baſhful, ſhame-faced innocents; and loſing their innocence, their ſhame-facedneſs was rudely bruſhed off; a virtue would have left ſome veſtiges in the mind, had it been ſacrificed to paſſion, to make us reſpect the grand ruin.
Purity of mind, or that genuine delicacy, which is the only virtuous ſupport of chaſtity, is near akin to that refinement of humanity, which never reſides in any but cultivated minds. It is ſomething nobler than innocence; it is the delicacy of reflection, and not the coyneſs of ignorance!
The reſerve of reaſon, which, like habitual cleanlineſs, is ſeldom ſeen in any great degree, unleſs the ſoul is active, may eaſily be diſtinguiſhed from ruſtic ſhyneſs or wanton ſkittiſhneſs; and, ſo far from being incompatible with knowledge, it is its faireſt fruit. What a groſs idea of modeſty had the writer of the following remark! 'The lady who aſked the queſtion whether women may be inſtructed in the modern ſyſtem of botany, conſiſtently with female delicacy?—was accuſed of ridiculous prudery: neverthe-
