if her perſon, and was there ever a perſon, though formed with Mediciſan ſymmetry, that was not ſlighted? be neglected, ſhe will make herſelf amends by endeavouring to pleaſe other men. Noble morality! But thus is the underſtanding of the whole ſex affronted, and their virtue deprived of the common baſis of virtue. A woman muſt know, that her perſon cannot be as pleaſing to her huſband as it was to her lover, and if ſhe be offended with him for being a human creature, ſhe may as well whine about the loſs of his heart as about any other fooliſh thing.—And this very want of diſcernment or unreaſonable anger, proves that he could not change his fondneſs for her perſon into affection for her virtues or reſpect for her underſtanding.
Whilſt women avow, and act up to ſuch opinions, their underſtandings, at leaſt, deſerve the contempt and obloquy that men, who never inſult their perſons, have pointedly levelled at the female mind. And it is the ſentiments of theſe polite men, who do not wiſh to be encumbered with mind, that vain women thoughtleſsly adopt. Yet they ſhould know, that inſulted reaſon alone can ſpread that ſacred reſerve about the perſon, which renders human affections, for human affections have always ſome baſe alloy, as permanent as is conſiſtent with the grand end of exiſtence—the attainment of virtue.
The Baroneſs de Stael ſpeaks the ſame language as the lady juſt cited, with more enthuſiaſm. Her eulogium on Rouſſeau was accidentally put into my hands, and her ſentiments, the ſentiments of too many of my ſex, may ſerve as the text for
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