ous, and to ſave themſelves trouble, puniſh with ſeverity faults that the patient fortitude of reaſon might have prevented.
But fortitude preſuppoſes ſtrength of mind; and is ſtrength of mind to be acquired by indolent acquieſcence? by aſking advice inſtead of exerting the judgment? by obeying through fear, inſtead of practiſing the forbearance, which we all ſtand in need of ourſelves?—The concluſion which I wiſh to draw, is obvious; make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives, and mothers; that is—if men do not neglect the duties of huſbands and fathers.
Diſcuſſing the advantages which a public and private education combined, as I have ſketched, might rationally be expected to produce, I have dwelt moſt on ſuch as are particularly relative to the female world, becauſe I think the female world oppreſſed; yet the gangrene, which the vices engendered by oppreſſion have produced, is not confined to the morbid part, but pervades ſociety at large: ſo that when I wiſh to ſee my ſex become more like moral agents, my heart bounds with the anticipation of the general diffuſion of that ſublime contentment which only morality can diffuſe.
