be either the friend or ſlave of man. We ſhall not, as at preſent, doubt whether ſhe is a moral agent, or the link which unites man with brutes. But, ſhould it then appear, that like the brutes they were principally created for the uſe of man, he will let them patiently bite the bridle, and not mock them with empty praiſe; or, ſhould their rationality be proved, he will not impede their improvement merely to gratify his ſenſual appetites. He will not, with all the graces of rhetoric, adviſe them to ſubmit implicitly their underſtanding to the guidance of man. He will not, when he treats of the education of women, aſſert that they ought never to have the free uſe of reaſon, nor would he recommend cunning and diſſimulation to beings who are acquiring, in like manner as himſelf, the virtues of humanity.
Surely there can be but one rule of right, if morality has an eternal foundation, and whoever ſacrifices virtue, ſtrictly ſo called, to preſent convenience, or whoſe duty it is to act in ſuch a manner, lives only for the paſſing day, and cannot be an accountable creature.
The poet then ſhould have dropped his ſneer when he ſays,
"If weak women go aſtray,
The ſtars are more in fault than they."
For that they are bound by the adamantine chain of deſtiny is moſt certain, if it be proved that they are never to exerciſe their own reaſon, never to be independent, never to riſe above opinion, or to feel the dignity of a rational will that only bows to God, and often forgets that the univerſe con-
