ing the matrimonial tie, ſecures to the pledges of a warmer paſſion the neceſſary parental attention; for children will never be properly educated till friendſhip ſubſiſts between parents. Virtue flies from a houſe divided againſt itſelf—and a whole legion of devils take up their reſidence there.
The affection of huſbands and wives cannot be pure when they have ſo few ſentiments in common, and when ſo little confidence is eſtabliſhed at home, as muſt be the caſe when their purſuits are ſo different. That intimacy from which tenderneſs ſhould flow, will not, cannot ſubſiſt between the vicious.
Contending, therefore, that the ſexual diſtinction which men have ſo warmly inſiſted upon, is arbitrary, I have dwelt on an obſervation, that ſeveral ſenſible men, with whom I have converſed on the ſubject, allowed to be well founded; and it is ſimply this, that the little chaſtity to be found amongſt men, and conſequent diſregard of modeſty, tend to degrade both ſexes; and further, that the modeſty of women, characterized as ſuch, will often be only the artful veil of wantonneſs inſtead of being the natural reflection of purity, till modeſty be univerſally reſpected.
From the tyranny of man, I firmly believe, the greater number of female follies proceed; and the cunning, which I allow makes at preſent a part of their character, I likewiſe have repeatedly endeavoured to prove, is produced by oppreſſion.
Were not diſſenters, for inſtance, a claſs of people, with ſtrict truth characterized as cun-
