/ 
94 
founded, inconfiftent and contrary quali- 
ties are abfurdly expected: for principle, 
itis attempted to fubftitute rule and dog- 
ma, while prejudice is combated only by 
other prejudices, equally, if not ftill 
mcre pernicious. ‘The majority of hu- 
man beings have yet to learn, notwith- 
ftanding a daily and melanchcly .expe- 
rience, the dangerous tendency of every 
4pecies of impofition and falfehood: one 
erroneous idea, entangling itfelf with 
others, from the nature of affociation and 
mind, is fufficient to deftroy the whole 
character, nay more, to poifon a com- 
munity. Not an aétion nor a thought 
can be entirely unconfequential ; nothing 
is ftationary 3 truth or error rapidly and 
inceflantly propagates itfelf. 
Sexual diftin€tions refpeéting chaftity, 
an important branch of temperance, have 
ferved but to increafe the tide of profli- 
gacy, and have been the fruitful fource 
of the greater part of the infelicity and 
corruption of fociety. ‘* Deflroy love 
and friendfhip,” fays Hume, ** what re-— 
mains im the world worth accepting?” 
To infit upon the tendency which li- 
bertinifm and grofs fenfuality muft have 
to blunt the finer fenfibilities, and vitiate 
the delicacy of tafte, which 1s favourable 
to the production of thefe affeétfons, 
would be unneceffary. One of the prin- 
cipal caufes which feems to have given 
rife to the prefent diffolure and venal 
motives by which the intercourfe of the 
{exes is influenced, is perhaps the depen- 
dence for which women are uniformly 
educated. Upon the general enfeebling 
effects of this fyftem I fhall not infift; its 
gbvious confequences are fufficient for 
my prefent purpofe. The greater pro- 
portion of young women are trained up 
by thoughtlefs parents, in eafe and lux- 
ury, with no other dependence for their 
future fupport than the precarious chance 
of eftablifhing themfelves by marriage : 
for this purpofe (the men beft know 
why) elaborate attention is paid to exter- 
nal attraétions and accomplifhments, to 
the neglect of more ufeful and folid ac- 
quirements. “ A young girl,” fays Rouf- 
fean, “* muft be trained up for a hufoand, 
like an Eaftern beauty fora harem :’” and 
he was right; while they have but oze 
means (every rule admits of individual 
exceptions) not merely of gratifying the 
heart (fenfibility and nature will here al- 
ways exert their honeft arts) but of fatif- 
fying their pride, their ambition, the 
laudable defire of diftin€tion, even of pro- 
curing a fubfiftence, or barely the means 
of exifting. If, thus fituated, women 
Improvements fuggefied in Female Education. 
[ March, 
marry from mercenary and venal mo- 
tives (the worft kind of proftitution) with 
little delicacy or feleétion, is it reafonable 
to condemn them? if mifery, difguft, or 
infidelity refult from fuch conneétions, 
ought it to be matter of furprife? Sup- 
pofing they fail in this /o/e method of 
procuring for themfelves an eftablith- 
ment, and fuch failures are frequent in 
this expenfive and profligate age, what 
is the confequence? Muft we rigidly 
purfue and cenfure thefe innocent and 
helplefs vi€tims to barbarous prejudice, 
fhould they prefer the flowery paths of 
pleafure, for which their education has 
been in ‘a great meafure preparatory, to 
the almoft equally degrading alternative 
of fervile occupation, or the more fpe- 
cious, but not lefs galling fituation of 
companion, or humble martyr to the ca- 
‘price of a fellow-being, not unfrequently 
rendered callous and defpotic by profpe- 
rity and indulgente? One of the world’s 
maxims, with a view to counteraét other 
notions, equally falfe and pernicious, is, 
that a woman having once deviated from 
‘chaftity is to be confidered as irreclaimable. 
To demonftrate the truth of this phi- 
lofophjc and merciful adage, great care 
is taken to bar up every avenue againft 
the return of this frail, unfortunate be- 
ing, who, driven from the fociety and 
countenance of the virtuous and re- 
{oectable, is-reduced to affociate with 
thofe whofe habitual vices render them 
little calculated to affift her in regain- 
ing the path from which fhe has wan- 
dered. By thefe wife and humane me- 
Z 
thods, the tender, affeétionate heart, be- 
trayed, perhaps, by its own amtable fuf- 
ceptibility, and artlefs credulity, is pre- 
cip'tated by defpair into real depravity. 
The numbers of women who are thus 
thrown into a flate of abandoned profligacy 
are almoft incalculable and incredibie ;: 
while the univerfal contagion {preads 
through every rank, ftrikes at the root not 
only of the {weeteft and moit affeéting fe- 
licities of life, but of the order and well-— 
being of focietv. Men, fatiated with 
beauty, marry merely for wealth and 
convenience; while domeftic happinefs, 
and the tender confidence, and aifeéting 
endearments, of virtuous love, are al- 
moft as obfolete as the maxims of chi- 
valry. In their ftead,a heartlefs, mind- 
lefs intercourfe its fubftituted, the infi- 
pidity of which is its leaft evil. 
I am aware, that the abfurd diftinc- 
tion alluded to, is deeply entangled with 
the fyftem of property, and is one of 
thofe evils flowing from feudal infitu- 
tIORS 35 
