O F P U B E R T Y. 423 



rev^olt againft thofe odious feragllos, in which 

 the liberty and the alfe^tions of many women 

 are facriliced to the brutal paflion of a fingle 

 man. * Does this unnatural pre-eminence render 

 thefe tyrants of the human race more happy? 

 No ! Surrounded with eunuchs, and with wo- 

 men ufelefs to themfelves and to other men, 

 they are tormented with the conftant appear- 

 ance of that accumulated load of mifery they 

 have created. 



Marriage, therefore, as it is eftablillied among 

 us, and other nations who are direded by the 

 lights of reafon and revelation, is a ftate moll 

 conlbnant to the nature of man, and in wiiich 

 it is his duty to employ thofe new faculties he 

 acquires from puberty. By obihnately perlill- 

 ing in celibacy, thefe powers become trouble- 

 fome, and fometimes fatal. In either lex, too 

 long continency may give rife to difeafes, or 

 create irritations fo violent, that neither realon 

 nor religion may be able to counteradl the im- 

 petuofity of thofe pafFions they excite : And 

 thus man may be reduced to a level with the 

 brutes, which, under the influence of fuch fenla- 

 tions, become perfectly furious and ungovern- 

 able. 



In v/omen, the furor uterinus is the mofl vi- 

 olent cfied of this irritation. This difeai'e is a 

 Ipecics of madneik, which deranges their ideas, 

 and deprives them of all fenfe at fhamc. Both 

 the nature and the feat of this melancholy dii- 



tempcr 



