accompliſh them, without cultivating their underſtandings, they are taken out of their ſphere of duties, and made ridiculous and uſeleſs when the ſhort-lived bloom of beauty is over[1], I preſume that rational men will excuſe me for endeavouring to perſuade them to become more maſculine and reſpectable.
Indeed the word maſculine is only a bugbear: there is little reaſon to fear that women will acquire too much courage or fortitude; for their apparent inferiority with reſpect to bodily ſtrength, muſt render them, in ſome degree, dependent on men in the various relations of life; but why ſhould it be increaſed by prejudices that give a ſex to virtue, and confound ſimple truths with ſenſual reveries?
Women are, in fact, ſo much degraded by miſtaken notions of female excellence, that I do not mean to add a paradox when I aſſert, that this artificial weakneſs produces a propenſity to tyrannize, and gives birth to cunning, the natural opponent of ſtrength, which leads them to play off thoſe contemptible infantine airs that undermine eſteem even whilſt they excite deſire. Do not foſter theſe prejudices, and they
- ↑ A lively writer, I cannot recollect his name, aſks what buſineſs women turned of forty have to do in the world?
