liberty of mind is neceſſary even to form the perſon; and this may be one reaſon why ſome gentle wives have ſo few attractions beſide that of ſex. Add to this, ſedentary employments render the majority of women ſickly—and falſe notions of female excellence make them proud of this delicacy, though it be another fetter, that by calling the attention continually to the body, cramps the activity of the mind.
Women of quality ſeldom do any of the manual part of their dreſs, conſequently only their taſte is exerciſed, and they acquire, by thinking leſs of the finery, when the buſineſs of their toilet is over, that eaſe, which ſeldom appears in the deportment of women, who dreſs merely for the ſake of dreſſing. In fact, the obſervation with reſpect to the middle rank, the one in which talents thrive beſt, extends not to women; for thoſe of the ſuperior claſs, by catching, at leaſt, a ſmattering of literature, and converſing more with men, on general topics, acquire more knowledge than the women who ape their faſhions and faults without ſharing their advantages. With reſpect to virtue; to uſe the word in a comprehenſive ſenſe, I have ſeen moſt in low life. Many poor women maintain their children by the ſweat of their brow, and keep together families that the vices of the fathers would have ſcattered abroad; but gentle-women are too indolent to be actively virtuous, and are ſoftened rather than refined by civilization. Indeed, the good ſenſe which I have met with, among the poor women who have had few advantages of education, and yet have acted heroically, ſtrongly con-
