neceſſary from habit even when it has ceaſed to amuſe.
But, till more equality be eſtabliſhed in ſociety, till ranks are confounded and women freed, we ſhall not ſee that dignified domeſtic happineſs, the ſimple grandeur of which cannot be reliſhed by ignorant or vitiated minds; nor will the important taſk of education ever be properly begun till the perſon of a woman is no longer preferred to her mind. For it would be as wiſe to expect corn from tares, or figs from thiſtles, as that a fooliſh ignorant woman ſhould be a good mother.
It is not neceſſary to inform the ſagacious reader, now I enter on my concluding reflections, that the diſcuſſion of this ſubject merely conſiſts in opening a few ſimple principles, and clearing away the rubbiſh which obſcured them. But, as all readers are not ſagacious, I muſt be allowed to add ſome explanatory remarks to bring the ſubject home to reaſon—to that ſluggiſh reaſon, which ſupinely takes opinions on truſt, and obſtinately ſupports them to ſpare itſelf the labour of thinking.
Moraliſts have unanimouſly agreed, that unleſs virtue be nurſed by liberty, it will never attain due ſtrength—and what they ſay of man I extend to mankind, inſiſting that in all caſes morals muſt be fixed on immutable principles; and, that the being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reaſon.
