P. 170.-CONSEQUENCES OF MAKING HUMAN INSTEAD OF DIVINE APPROBATION THE RULE OF FEMALE MANNERS.

"The greater number of people (says M. Woolstoncraft) take their opinions on trust, to avoid the trouble of exercising their own minds, and these indolent beings naturally adhere to the letter rather than the spirit of a law, divine or human" Women," says some author I cannot recollect who, "mind not, what only heaven sees"-why indeed should they, it is the eye of man, that they have been taught to dread, and if they can only lull their Argus to sleep, they seldom think of heaven or themselves, because their reputation is safe; and it is reputation, not chastity and all its fair train that they are employed to keep safe from spot, not as a virtue, but to preserve their station in the world To prove the truth of this remark, I need only advert to the intrigues of married women, particularly in high life, and in countries where women are suitably married, according to their respective ranks by their parents.

If an innocent girl becomes a prey to-love, she is degraded for ever, though her mind was not polluted by those arts which married women under the convenient cloke of marriage practice, nor has she violated any duty, but the duty of respecting herself The married woman on the contrary breaks a most sacred engagement, and becomes a cruel mother, when she is a false and faithless wifeIf her husband has still an affection for her, the arts which she must practice to deceive him, will render her the most contemptible of human beings; and at any rate the contrivances necessary to preserve appearances, will keep her mind in that childish or vicious tumult, which destroys all its energy-besides in time, like those people who habitually take cordials to raise their spirits, she will want an intrigue to give life to her thoughts, having lost all relish for pleasures which are not highly seasoned by hope or fear.”

P. 167.-ON CHASTITY AND THE NECESSITY OF RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE.

"A christian has still nobler motives to excite her to preserve her chastity and acquire modesty, for her body

has been called the temple of the living God, of that God who requires more than modesty of mein-His eye searcheth the heart, and let her remember that if she hopes to find favour in the sight of purity itself, her chastity must be founded on modesty, and not on worldly prudence, or verily a good reputation will be her only reward; for that awful intercourse, that sacred communication, which virtue establishes between man and his Maker, must give rise to the wish of being pure as he is pure."

P. 175. "It is not sufficient to view ourselves, as we suppose we are viewed by others, although this has been ingeniously argued, as the foundation of our moral sentiments, because each by-stander may have his own prejudices, beside the prejudices of his age or country-We should rather endeavour to view ourselves, as we suppose that Being views us, who sees each thought ripen into action, and whose judgment never swerves from the eternal rule of right-Righteous are all his judgments, just as merciful."

PAGES 182 & 3-ON CONJUGAL FELICITY AND MATERNAL LOVE.

"The maternal solicitude of a reasonable affectionate woman, is very interesting, and the chastened dignity with which a mother returns the caresses, that she and her child receives from a father who has been fulfilling the serious duties of his station, is not only a respectable but a beautiful sight-So singular indeed are my feelings; and I have endeavoured not to catch factitious ones, that after having been fatigued with the sight of insipid grandeur, and the slavish ceremonies that with cumberous pomp, supplied the place of domestic affections, I have turned to some other scene to relieve my eye, by resting it on the refreshing green every where scattered by nature-I have then viewed with pleasure a woman nursing her children, and discharging the duties of her station, with perhaps merely a servant maid to take off. her hands the servile part of the houshold business-I have seen her prepare herself and children with only the Juxury of cleanliness, to receive her husband, who returning weary home in the evening, after performing the duties of the day, found smiling babes and a clean

hearth- My heart has loitered in the midst of the group, and has often throbbed with sympathetic emotion, when the scraping of the well known foot, has raised a pleasing tumult I declare so vulgar are my conceptions, that I know not what is wanted to render this the happiest, as well as the most respectable situation in the world, but a taste for literature, to throw a little variety and interest into social converse, and some superfluous money to give to the needy, and to buy books,"

P. 190. When poverty is more disgraceful than vice, is not morality cut to the quick."

DUTIES DONE BY DEPUTIES.

P. 191. "In the superior ranks of life, every duty is done by deputies, as if duties could ever be waved, and the vain pleasures which consequent idleness forces the rich to pursue, appear so enticing to the next rank, that the numerous scramblers for wealth, sacrifice every thing to tread on their heels."

P. 191. THE FOLLOWING QUESTION ANSWERED: WHAT HAVE WOMEN TO DO IN SOCIETY BUT TO LOITER WITH EASY GRACE?

Women in particular all want to be ladies; which is simply to have nothing to do, but listlessly to. go, they scarcely care where, for they cannot tell whatBut what have women to do in society I may be asked, but to loiter with easy grace? Surely you would not condemn them all to suckle fools, and chronicle small beer! Nowomen might study the art of healing, and be physicians as well as nurses-and midwifry decency seems to allot them, though I am afraid the word midwife in our dictionaries, will soon give place to accoucheur, and one proof of the delicacy of the sex, be effaced from the language*- -Business of various kinds they might likewise pursue, if they were educated in a more orderly manner, which might save many from common and legal

Custom cannot alter the nature of things, and certainly the attendance of men on such occasions, is both indelicate and immodest-COMPILER'S NOTE.

prostitution-Women would not then marry for a support, as men accept of places under government, and neglect the implied duties-nor would an attempt to earn their own subsistence, a most laudable one! sink them almost to the level of those poor abandoned creatures, who live by prostitution-for are not milliners and mantua-makers reckoned the next class-But as women educated like gentlewomen, are never designed for the humiliating situation which necessity sometimes forces them to fill; those situations are considered in the light of a degradation, and they know little of the human heart, who need be told, that nothing so painfully sharpens the sensibility, as such a fall in life-Some of these women might be restrained from marrying by a proper spirit of delicacy, and others may not have it in their power to escape in this pitiful way from servitude; is not that government then very defective, and very unmindful of one half of its members, that does not provide for honest, independent women, by encouraging them to fill respectable stations*-How many women thus waste life away, the prey of discontent, who might have practised as physicians, regulated a farm, managed a shop, and stood erect, supported by their own industry, instead of hanging their heads surcharged with the dew of sensibility, that consumes the beauty, to which it at first gave lustre How much more respectable is the woman who earns her bread by fulfilling any duty, than the most accomplished beauty! beauty did I say? so sensible am I of the beauty of moral loveliness, the harmonious propriety that attunes the passions of a well regulated mind, that I blush at making the comparison."

PAGES 169-199, &c. ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF PA

RENTAL AUTHORITY.

"Parental affection indeed in many minds is but a pretext to tyrannize, where it can be done with impunity;

*This complaint of M. Woolstoncraft brings to my recollection another, which I think may be made with justice-It is the shameful neglect of those of our fellow-creatures so much entitled to our pity, who in a state of derangement, are permitted to wander up and down in some countries, without protection or support, exposed to the insults and injuries of merciless mobs; and against whom either through fear or want of charity, almost every door is shut!

for only good and wise men are content, with the respect that will bear discussion-Convinced that they have a right to what they insist on, they do not fear reason, or dread the sifting of subjects that recur to natural justice, because they firmly believe that the more enlightened the human mind becomes, the deeper root will just and simple principles take-They do not rest in expedients, or grant that what is metaphysically true can be practically false; but disdaining the shifts of the moment, they calmly wait till time sanctioning innovatioun, silences. the hiss of selfishness or envy,

"I distinguish between the natural and artificial duty due to parentsThe parent who sedulously endeavours to form the heart, and enlarge the understanding of his child, has given that dignity to the discharge of a duty cominon to the whole animal world that only reason can give-this is that parental affection of humanity, which leaves instinctive natural affection far behind-such a parent acquires all the rights of the most sacred friendship, and his advice, even when his child. is advanced in life, demands serious considerationWith respect to marriage, though after one and twenty, a parent seems to have no right, to withold his consent; yet twenty years of solicitude call for a return, and the son ought at least to promise not to marry for two or three years, should the object of his choice not entirely meet with the approbation of his first friend-But respect for parents in general is a much more debasing principle; it is only a selfish respect for property-The father who is blindly obeyed, is obeyed only from sheer weakness, or from motives that degrade the human character-A great proportion of the misery that wanders in hideous forms around the world, is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents,* and still these are the people, who are most tenacious of what they term a natural right, though it be subsersive of the birth-right of man, the right of acting according to the direction of his own.

reason."

P. 201. "The indolent parent of high rank, may it is true extort a shew of respect from his child; and females on the continent, are particularly subject to the views of their families, who never think of consulting their incli

* Or from their abuse of authority.