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2 26 SOPHIA ON THE EDUCATION OF TODNG LADIES. June 12, 

 ♦the. education of women has never been made the fub- 

 ieft of ferious inquiry by any of the myriads of fcrib- 

 blers that have infefted the republic of letters fince the 

 days of the famed philofophers of Greece to this mo- 

 ment. Turn Over the whole papers of that niofl. excel- 

 lent periodical work upon manner?, the Speftator, 

 and you will find nothing but flriftures upon the un- 

 happy eonfequences of a bad education of the fex, but 

 not one fyllable of ferious good fenfe on the fubje£V of 

 amendment. The fame remark is applicable to the 

 paper called the World, the ConnoilTeur, Adventurer, 

 Rambler, and fo down to the Mirror, and Obferver of 

 the prefent day. Dt. Gregory indeed left a letter to 

 }iis daughters, which was publifhed fome years ago, 

 and contains lome good hints for the conduft of young 

 ladies, rather in the line of Chefierfieldian addrefs, than 

 to dired parents how to render their daughters pious, 

 virtuous, atiiiable, and properly accomplifhed for the 

 commerce of tlie world, in fubordination to the duties 

 of a wife, mother, and companion. Dean Swift's fa- 

 mous letter to a young lady on her marriage, though it 

 is by far the moll capital thing I ever faw upon the 

 fubje£l, yet it proceeds ' upon what I hope I fhall be 

 able to prove is a falfe pofition ; ^ 1%at women are in- 

 capahle of becoming truly aihd logically learned, or of ap- 

 plying the fruits ofjludy to the ujeful purpofes offociety. 

 Let us confider for a few minutes, Mr. Editor, the 

 eonfequences that have arifen from the barbarous edu- 

 cation of women in all ages as playthings, or houfe- 

 keepers for gentlemen of fortune, or for mechanics, and 

 we ftiall be able to fee at 2, glance, that the whole code 

 of female education muft be changed, before Dean 

 Swift's affertion can be verified, or that it can be prov- 

 ed, that it would not be infinitely better, that women in 

 the prefent Hate of civilized fociety, fhould have, in al- 

 ( mod every refpedl, an as truly learned inftitution as men, 

 in the higher ranks, -r-and in the lower ranks, he fitted for 

 !:he pradice of fuch of the fine or mechanical arts as are 



