32 On Religion as a Branch 
nefs ; but which humanizes and invigo- 
rates the well regulated mind, and pro- 
duces conftancy, heroifm, and virtue. 
I wifh not to make profelytes, neither, 
though firmly convinced of the fuperiority 
of the religion that I profefs ; tora treatife 
on education is not a difquifition on reli- 
gion, or on the comparative merit of fec- 
taries. But I wifh that every parent 
fhould be convinced of the neceflity of 
early fixing in the mind a reverence for 
religion in general. The outlines of all 
religions, and the foundation of all feéts 
(I {peak of Chriftian feéis), are the fame: 
in teaching thefe, therefore, they allagree. 
And as every parent, I fuppofe, profefles 
what he really believes to be true, it is 
furcly his duty to impre{s the fame, which 
he regards as the truth, on the mind of his 
child. Hehas thus done his part. The 
matured reafon will afterwards judge for 
itfelf, with regard to particulars ; but the 
general impreffion will ever be retained. 
All parents who have religion, will, I 
truft, make their children joint partners in 
the reafonable hopes that it offers ; and 
will not leave it to the induitry of each to 
fearch for the feed and fow it too: the 
harveft may ripen too.late to be gathered 
mn. 
Nearly allied to a fenfe of religion, are 
the virtues of courage and chaftity. Mi- 
litary ardor, the fympathy of numbers, is 
not always to be miftaken for courage. 
Civil courage is more neceflary, and more 
difficult of acquifition. Why then fhould 
it not be taught? And what can ferve, 
like the promifes of religion, to infpire 
con{cious re&titude with due confidence? 
It is in the confidence of confcious recti- 
tude that real courage confifts; a virtue 
as requifite to one fex as to the other. 
Men, it is allowed, ought not to be flaves 
of public opinion ; in its ftead this inward 
conviction of rectitude fhould be the ftand.. 
ard of their actions. But, to public 
opinion woman, it is fuppofed, fhould not 
dare to be indifferent.—Why ?—Becaule 
the very fcanty portion of education that is 
ufually beftowed on women, and their 
confeguent unfteadinefs of mind, leave 
them deftitute of any fixed rule of conduct. 
Bat public opinion is a very variable and 
wncertain ftandard, particularly with re- 
gard to the female fex. Scarcely are vir- 
tue and vice more oppofite, than the pub- 
lic fentiment refpecting the conduct and 
manners of women in different countries, 
and at different periods. Let them then 
be furnifhed with a determinate invari- 
able guide, and they will no longer need 
.as prudence to avoid. 
of Female Education. [Auguft t, 
to be the wavering flaves of public opi« 
nion ; nor will they be in danger of offend- 
ing againft it ; no public takes offence at 
virtue. 
Religion is this guide. Religion alone 
can provide fuch a fteady and certain 
ftandard. 
Prudence*, fays the fait author of 
Praétical Education, is a fufficiént fafe- 
guard to chaitity, that is, the dread of pub. 
lic cenfure. But prudence is of two kinds: 
there may be prudente to conceal, as well 
By prudence, a 
woman may indulge in the fin, and efcape 
the fhame. With impudence fhe may 
brave the fhame; and with talents, as 
too maiy examples prove, fhe may do it 
too fuccefsfully; but here public opinion is 
fet afide and no rule remains. The pru- 
dent /enfualift, the female Tartuffe, ftill 
regards the approbation of the world; and 
fhe wears a perpetual veil of falfehood, 
behind which fhe hides the deficiency of 
truth, and honour, and virtue. 
My profeffion, which admits me into 
the moit fecret recefles of female diffimu- 
lation, has given me opportunities of dif- 
covering what Mils E’s innocence could 
not have imagined, and that would not 
have been fufpeéted by a man devoted to 
literature and to his family, as her father 
appears to be. I have known chaffe pat- 
terns of virgin prudence, whofe perfons 
have been for more than twenty years at 
the difpofal of men endowed with inge- 
nuity to obtain, and honour to conceal, the 
favour. 
Chaftity is a virtue of no common va- 
lue to a ftate, and it fhould be suarded 
with no common care. Early religious 
inftru€tions will fow the feeds of virtue in 
the vigorous and duétile mind of youth. 
The plant that arifes will be a much more 
effectual prefervative againft licentiou& 
ne{s, than any penal ftatute againft adul- 
tery, that the excellent intentions of my 
Lord Aukland and the Right Reverend 
Prelates can introduce, or that their inge- 
nuity can devife. 
Perhaps thefe hints may not be with- 
out fome ufe, to a work fo nearly perfe& 
as that which I have been confidering. 
My intrufion on fo large a portion of your 
time demands an apology, but I truft 
the importance of the fubje&t will plead - 
my excufe. Perhaps I may ferve to 
awaken the attention of fome among the 

* See Letters for Literary Ladies, where the 
fubje& is elegantly difcuffed with regard to 
married women. 
multitude 
