figure, their perſons, much would be done towards the attainment of purity of mind. But women only dreſs to gratify men of gallantry; for the lover is always beſt pleaſed with the ſimple garb that fits cloſe to the ſhape. There is an impertinence in ornaments that rebuffs affection; becauſe love always clings round the idea of home.
As a ſex, women are habitually indolent; and every thing tends to make them ſo. I do not forget the ſpurts of activity which ſenſibility produces; but as theſe flights of feelings only increaſe the evil, they are not to be confounded with the ſlow, orderly walk of reaſon. So great in reality is their mental and bodily indolence, that till their body be ſtrengthened and their underſtanding enlarged by active exertions, there is little reaſon to expect that modeſty will take place of baſhfulneſs. They may find it prudent to aſſume its ſemblance; but the fair veil will only be worn on gala days.
Perhaps there is not a virtue that mixes ſo kindly with every other as modeſty.—It is the pale moon-beam that renders more intereſting every virtue it ſoftens, giving mild grandeur to the contracted horizon. Nothing can be more beautiful than the poetical fiction, which makes Diana with her ſilver creſcent, the goddeſs of chaſtity. I have ſometimes thought, that wandering with ſedate ſtep in ſome lonely receſs, a modeſt dame of antiquity muſt have felt a glow of conſcious dignity when, after contemplating the ſoft ſhadowy landſcape, ſhe has invited with placid fervour the mild reflection of her ſiſters beams to turn to her chaſte boſom.
