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elf; exhaled by its own heat; or meeting with some other fleeting passion; to which reason has never given any specific gravity; neutrality ensues。 Miserable; indeed; must be that being whose cultivation of mind has only tended to inflame its passions!  A distinction should be made between inflaming and strengthening them。  The passions thus pampered; whilst the judgment is left unformed; what can be expected to ensue?  Undoubtedly; a mixture of madness and folly! This observation should not be confined to the FAIR sex; however; at present; I only mean to apply it to them。 Novels; music; poetry and gallantry; all tend to make women the creatures of sensation; and their character is thus formed during the time they are acquiring accomplishments; the only improvement they are excited; by their station in society; to acquire。  This overstretched sensibility naturally relaxes the other powers of the mind; and prevents intellect from attaining that sovereignty which it ought to attain; to render a rational creature useful to others; and content with its own station; for the exercise of the understanding; as life advances; is the only method pointed out by nature to calm the passions。 Satiety has a very different effect; and I have often been forcibly struck by an emphatical description of damnation; when the spirit is represented as continually hovering with abortive eagerness round the defiled body; unable to enjoy any thing without the organs of sense。  Yet; to their senses; are women made slaves; because it is by their sensibility that they obtain present power。 And will moralists pretend to assert; that this is the condition in which one half of the human race should be encouraged to remain with listless inactivity and stupid acquiescence?  Kind instructors! what were we created for?  To remain; it may be said; innocent; they mean in a state of childhood。  We might as well never have been born; unless it were necessary that we should be created to enable man to acquire the noble privilege of reason; the power of discerning good from evil; whilst we lie down in the dust from whence we were taken; never to rise again。 It would be an endless task to trace the variety of meannesses; cares; and sorrows; into which women are plunged by the prevailing opinion; that they were created rather to feel than reason; and that all the power they obtain; must be obtained by their charms and weakness; 〃Fine by defect; and amiably weak!〃 And; made by this amiable weakness entirely dependent; excepting what they gain by illicit sway; on man; not only for protection; but advice; is it surprising that; neglecting the duties that reason alone points out; and shrinking from trials calculated to strengthen their minds; they only exert themselves to give their defects a graceful covering; which may serve to heighten their charms in the eye of the voluptuary; though it sink them below the scale of moral excellence? Fragile in every sense of the word; they are obliged to look up to man for every comfort。  In the most trifling dangers they cling to their support; with parasitical tenacity; piteously demanding succour; and their NATURAL protector extends his arm; or lifts up his voice; to guard the lovely tremblerfrom what?  Perhaps the frown of an old cow; or the jump of a mouse; a rat; would be a serious danger。  In the name of reason; and even common sense; what can save such beings from contempt; even though they be soft and fair? These fears; when not affected; may be very pretty; but they shew a degree of imbecility; that degrades a rational creature in a way women are not aware offor love and esteem are very distinct things。 I am fully persuaded; that we should hear of none of these infantine airs; if girls were allowed to take sufficient exercise and not confined in close rooms till their muscles are relaxed and their powers of digestion destroyed。  To carry the remark still further; if fear in girls; instead of being cherished; perhaps; created; were treated in the same manner as cowardice in boys; we should quickly see women with more dignified aspects。  It is true; they could not then with equal propriety be termed the sweet flowers that smile in the walk of man; but they would be more respectable members of society; and discharge the important duties of life by the light of their own reason。  〃Educate women like men;〃 says Rousseau; 〃and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over us。〃  This is the very point I aim at。  I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves。 In the same strain have I heard men argue against instructing the poor; for many are the forms that aristocracy assumes。  〃Teach them to read and write;〃 say they; 〃and you take them out of the station assigned them by nature。〃  An eloquent Frenchman; has answered them; I will borrow his sentiments。  But they know not; when they make man a brute; that they may expect every instant to see him transformed into a ferocious beast。  Without knowledge there can be no morality! Ignorance is a frail base for virtue!  Yet; that it is the condition for which woman was organized; has been insisted upon by the writers who have most vehemently argued in favour of the superiority of man; a superiority not in degree; but essence; though; to soften the argument; they have laboured to prove; with chivalrous generosity; that the sexes ought not to be compared; man was made to reason; woman to feel:  and that together; flesh and spirit; they make the most perfect whole; by blending happily reason and sensibility into one character。 And what is sensibility?  〃Quickness of sensation; quickness of perception; delicacy。〃  Thus is it defined by Dr。 Johnson; and the definition gives me no other idea than of the most exquisitely polished instinct。  I discern not a trace of the image of God in either sensation or matter。  Refined seventy times seven; they are still material; intellect dwells not there; nor will fire ever make lead gold! I come round to my old argument; if woman be allowed to have an immortal soul; she must have as the employment of life; an understanding to improve。  And when; to render the present state more complete; though every thing proves it to be but a fraction of a mighty sum; she is incited by present gratification to forget her grand destination。  Nature is counteracted; or she was born only to procreate and rot。  Or; granting brutes; of every description; a soul; though not a reasonable one; the exercise of instinct and sensibility may be the step; which they are to take; in this life; towards the attainment of reason in the next; so that through all eternity they will lag behind man; who; why we cannot tell; had the power given him of attaining reason in his first mode of existence。 When I treat of the peculiar duties of women; as I should treat of the peculiar duties of a citizen or father; it will be found that I do not mean to insinuate; that they should be taken out of their families; speaking of the majority。  〃He that hath wife and children;〃 says Lord Bacon; 〃hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises; either of virtue or mischief。  Certainly the best works; and of greatest merit for the public; have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men。〃 I say the same of women。  But; the welfare of society is not built on extraordinary exertions; and were it more reasonably organized; there would be still less need of great abilities; or heroic virtues。  In the regulation of a family; in the education of children; understanding; in an unsophisticated sense; is particularly required:  strength both of body and mind; yet the men who; by their writings; have most earnestly laboured to domesticate women; have endeavoured by arguments dictated by a gross appetite; that satiety had rendered fastidious; to weaken their bodies and cramp their minds。  But; if even by these sinister methods they really PERSUADED women; by working on their feelings; to stay at home; and fulfil the duties of a mother and mistress of a family; I should cautiously oppose opinions that led women to right conduct; by prevailing on them to make the discharge of a duty the business of life; though reason were insulted。  Yet; and I appeal to experience; if by neglecting the understanding they are as much; nay; more attached from these domestic duties; than they could be by the most serious intellectual pursuit; though it may be observed; that the mass of mankind will never vigorously pursue an intellectual object; I may be allowed to infer; that reason is absolutely necessary to enable a woman to perform any duty properly; and I must again repeat; that sensibility is not reason。 The comparison with the rich still occurs to me; for; when men neglect the duties of humanity; women will do the same; a common stream hurries them both along with thoughtless celerity。  Riches and honours prevent a man from enlarging his understanding; and enervate all his powers; by reversing the order of nature; which has ever made true pleasure the reward of labour。 Pleasureenervating pleasure is; likewise; within woman's reach without earning it。  But; till hereditary possessions are spread abroad; how can we expect men to be proud of virtue?  And; till they are; women will 

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