288 Education. 



as we mention our eyes or our hands." Such are 

 her ideas of the decency and the moral tendency 

 of breaking down all distinctions in the ordinary 

 intercourse of the sexes ! It may be pronounced, 

 that all history and experience are directly opposed 

 to this doctrine, and prove, that Miss Wollstone- 

 craft was as ignorant of human nature, as she 

 was inimical to true virtue. Let us take a retro- 

 spect of those countries and ages, in which the 

 intercourse of the sexes, with respect to violations 

 of what are commonly called the laws of decorum, 

 came nearest to the point of freedom here recom- 

 mended. In the ancient gymnastic exercises, it is 

 well known, that the young women were obliged 

 to run, to wrestle, to throw quoits, &c. and, in 

 these exercises, to appear naked, as well as the 

 men; and at their feasts and sacrifices, they were 

 also obliged to dance, in the same state of perfect 

 nudity, amidst crowds of male spectators. What 

 was the consequence of these proceedings ? Ac- 

 cording to the doctrine of that bold reformer, whose 

 sentiments are under consideration, such freedom 

 in exposing the naked limbs, and those parts of 

 the body which are generally concealed, ought to 

 have " laid the axe at the root of corruption/' and 

 rendered the people who indulged in these habits, 

 the most virtuous in the world, with regard to the 

 intercourse of the sexes. But was this really the 

 consequence? Directly the reverse! The exercises 

 in question were converted into occasions of wan- 

 tonness and libertinism, so gross and flagitious, 

 that they became subjects of universal complaint, 

 and filled even pagans w r ith horror. 



The truth is, whenever the intercourse of the 

 sexes has been most guarded, and the fences o( 

 delicacy and modesty most carefully kept up, there 

 the highest degree of virtue and order has invar'w 

 ably prevailed. It is so far from being a corrupt 



