to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and ſhould they be beautiful, every thing elſe is needleſs, for, at leaſt, twenty years of their lives.
Thus Milton deſcribes our firſt frail mother; though when he tells us that women are formed for ſoftneſs and ſweet attractive grace, I cannot comprehend his meaning, unleſs, in the true Mahometan ſtrain, he meant to deprive us of ſouls, and inſinuate that we were beings only designed by ſweet attractive grace, and docile blind obedience, to gratify the ſenſes of man when he can no longer ſoar on the wing of contemplation.
How grossly do they inſult us who thus adviſe us only to render ourſelves gentle, domeſtic brutes! For inſtance, the winning ſoftneſs ſo warmly, and frequently, recommended, that governs by obeying. What childish expreſſions, and how inſignificant is the being—can it be an immortal one? who will condeſcend to govern by ſuch ſiniſter methods! 'Certainly, ſays Lord Bacon, 'man is of kin to the beaſts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his ſpirit, he is a baſe and ignoble creature!' Men, indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphiloſophical manner when they try to ſecure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a ſtate of childhood. Rouſſeau was more conſiſtent when he wiſhed to ſtop the progreſs of reaſon in both ſexes, for if men eat of the tree of knowledge, women will come in for a taſte; but, from the imperfect cultivation which their underſtandings now receive, they only attain a knowledge of evil.
