Chap. XXV.] Educatioju 133 



cially during the latter half of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, certain extravagant and mischievous d()C- 

 trines relating to that sex have arisen within this 

 period, and obtained considerable currency. 

 These doctrines are the following, viz. " That 

 there is no difference between the powers and 

 tendencies of the male and female mind ; that 

 women are as capable of performing, and as fit 

 to perform, all the duties and offices of life, as 

 men; that their education should be the same 

 with that of the men ; in a word, that, except in 

 the business of love, all distinctions of sex should 

 be forgotten and confounded." These opinions, 

 if not wholly new, and peculiar to the last age, 

 have doubtless obtained a currency, within a few 

 years past, which they never before had, and 

 which has produced much interesting discussion, 

 and very sensible eilects in society. 



The most conspicuous advocate of these opi- 

 nions is the celebrated Mary Wollstonecraft, 

 whose ingenious vindication of the Rights of JVo- 

 man is universally known. In her principles on 

 this subject she has been followed by several of 

 her own sex, as well as by a few male writers. 

 To the former class belongs Mary Hays, who, in 

 her Novels and Philosophical Disquisitions, has en- 

 deavoured, with great art and plausibility, to re- 

 commend the principles of this mischievous 

 school. 



It cannot be denied, that a total mistake con- 

 cerning the capacity and importance of the female 

 sex has long held that part of our species under a 

 very degrading thraldom, and obscured the por- 

 tion of intellectual and moral excellence, which 



