1796.) aa 
But my principal defen was to make 
“afew remarks on topographical hiftory 
in reference to fcenery, and as aiding the 
genius of poetry. This I beg permiffion 
to do in your next month’s Magazine ; 
when, though I mean not to crowd my 
letter with obfervations on this veryvin- 
genious Hiftory of Monmouthihire, I 
fhall, probably; be happy to avail myfelf 
of fome very beautiful views in this de- 
lighsful country. Your’s, refpeétfully,. 
Fuly 14, 1796. G.D. 

Remarks on A. B.’s STRICTURES 
ON THE TALENTS OF WOMEN. 
To the Editor of ive Montbly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE petty and unphilofophical conte ft 
refpecting fexual fuperiority, has, 
in this advanced age of reafom and 
fcience, become frivolous and unintereft- 
ing. Of all exclulWe pretenfions, there 
is none more abfurd and mifchievous, 
in its operation and confequences, than 
that of mind. ‘That ome half of the 
human {pecies, on a felf-ereéted throne, 
fhould prefcribe boumds to, and impofe 
intelleétual fetters on, the other half; and 
dictate to them to what purpofes they 
are to apply, and how far they are to be 
allowed to exercife, their common facul- 
ties, is not more intolerable than vain. 
How long, with fe€tarian inconfiftency, 
will man refufe the liberty he claims ; 
how long will he cherifh, with narrow 
policy and fuperititious veneration, the 
maxims of tyranny, and the inftitutions 
of barbarifm? Thefe idle difputes were 
entirely fuperfeded, the moment that an 
enlightened philofophy demonftrated, 
“That man (including the {pecies, without 
diftinétion of fex) was fimply a percep- 
tive being, incapable of receiving know- 
ledge through any other medium than that 
of the fenfes: that the actions and difpofi- 
tions of men are not the offspring of any ori- 
ginal bias that they bring into the world, 
in favour of one fentiment or charaéter 
rather than another, but flow entirely 
from the operation of circumftances, and 
events acting upon a faculty of receiv- 
ing fenfible impreffions: that all. our 
knowledge, all our ideas, every thing 
we poffefs as intelligent beings, comes 
from impreffion. All the minds that exift 
{et out trom abfolute ignorance. They 
received firft one impreflion and then a 
fecond. As the impreifions became more 
humerous, and more ftored by the help 
Defence of Female Talents. 
469 
of memory, and combined by the faculty 
of affociation, fo the experience increafed, 
sand with the experience, the knowledge, 
the wifdom, every thing that diftin- 
guiihes man from what we underftand by 
a  clodi, of ‘the valley.) ‘This, adds 
our author, is a fimple and incontrover- 
tible hiftory of intellectual being.  Al- 
lowing this fatement to be juft, from 
whence is derived the fanciful diftin¢étion 
between creatures fimilarly organized, 
endowed with a like number of fenfes or 
inlets to perception ? 
Affuredly, your correfpondent is won- 
derfully generous in granting, that wo- 
men have “ a right to the enjoyment of 
antelleétual pleafures’’—though this, he 
feems toimply, is to be fubjeét to fome 
limitations. The exiftence of the rigds 
is proved by capacity, and not to be 
yielded as a favour. “The argument 
upon which the fuperiority of man is 
grounded, is both novel and curious. 
“There have certainly been female 
writers, of very confiderable merit; but 
no evidence-has yet appeared, that they 
poffefs powers equal to'thofe of men. 
We have never yet feen a‘female Homer, 
or Virgil, or Bacon, or Newton. Great 
numbers of women have received a much 
better education than Shakfpeare ever 
enjoyed; and yet, I believe, we may 
venture to afk, whether the works of 
all the female authers who ever exifted, 
taken collectively, are equal in valie to 
the works of Shak{peare, an uneducated 
man?’? Admitting, for the fake of the 
hypothefis, thefe obfervations to be juft, 
is the fuperiority of a whole fpecies to 
be deduced from the example of a few 
andividuals formed by extraordinary cir- 
cumftances ? But we are willing to grant 
ftill more to A. B. and yet deny the con- 
clufion which he has fo fagacioufly and 
triumphantly inferred. 
We will allow, that, upon the aggre 
gate, from a fair calculation, the balance 
of intelleétual attainment would, probably, 
be found on theeide of the men. And. 
why ? Not from any occult and original 
difference in their conformation, but 
becaufe the education of women _ has 
been uniformly more perverted, as well as 
negleéted, than that of men. Their 
general inferiority, then, follows as a 
confequence from the principles already 
tated : nor is it neceffary to refer to re- 
mote and myfterious caufes what may be 
traced, with much greater facility, to 
fources obvioufly exifting and daily ob- 
ee ee 
* Godwin’s Political Juitice. 
ferved 

