dren only to weaken their bodies and ſpoil their tempers, fruſtrating alſo any plan of education that a more rational father may adopt; for unleſs a mother concurs, the father who reſtrains will ever be conſidered as a tyrant.
But, fulfilling the duties of a mother, a woman with a ſound conſtitution, may ſtill keep her perſon ſcrupulouſly neat, and aſſiſt to maintain her family, if neceſſary, or by reading and converſations with both ſexes, indiſcriminately, improve her mind. For nature has ſo wiſely ordered things, that did women ſuckle their children, they would preſerve their own health, and there would be ſuch an interval between the birth of each child, that we ſhould ſeldom ſee a houſeful of babes. And did they purſue a plan of conduct, and not waſte their time in following the faſhionable vagaries of dreſs, the management of their houſehold and children need not ſhut them out from literature, nor prevent their attaching themſelves to a ſcience with that ſteady eye which ſtrengthens the mind, or practiſing one of the fine arts that cultivate the taſte.
But, viſiting to diſplay finery, card-playing, and balls, not to mention the idle buſtle of morning trifling, draw women from their duty to render them inſignificant, to render them pleaſing, according to the preſent acceptation of the word, to every man, but their huſband. For a round of pleaſures in which the affections are not exerciſed, cannot be ſaid to improve the underſtanding, though it be erroneouſly called ſeeing the world; yet the heart is rendered cold and averſe to duty, by ſuch a ſenſeleſs intercourſe, which becomes
