is, that a frolick of yours during the Saturnalia, when the ſlaves are ſerved by their maſters, is, ſeriouſly, continued by them through the whole year, and through the whole courſe of their lives; accompanied too with ſome circumſtances, which ſtill further augment the abſurdity and ridicule. Your ſport only elevates for a few days thoſe whom fortune has thrown down, and whom ſhe too, in ſport, may really elevate for ever above you. But this nation gravely exalts thoſe, whom nature has ſubjected to them, and whoſe inferiority and infirmities are abſolutely incurable. The women, though without virtue, are their maſters and ſovereigns.'
Ah! why do women, I write with affectionate ſolicitude, condeſcend to receive a degree of attention and reſpect from ſtrangers, different from that reciprocation of civility which the dictates of humanity and the politeneſs of civilization authoriſe between man and man? And, why do they not diſcover, when 'in the noon of beauty's power,' that they are treated like queens only to be deluded by hollow reſpect, till they are led to reſign, or not aſſume, their natural prerogatives? Confined then in cages like the feathered race, they have nothing to do but to plume themſelves, and ſtalk with mock majeſty from perch to perch. It is true they are provided with food and raiment, for which they neither toil nor ſpin; but health, liberty, and virtue, are given in exchange. But, where, amongſt mankind has been found ſufficient ſtrength of mind to enable a being to reſign theſe adventitious prerogatives; one who, riſing with the calm digni-
