the motive of action, is never to be found with ignorance; the ſportiveneſs of innocence, ſo pleaſing to refined libertines of both ſexes, is widely different in its eſſence from this ſuperiour gracefulneſs.
A ſtrong inclination for external ornaments ever appears in barbarous ſtates, only the men not the women adorn themſelves; for where women are allowed to be ſo far on a level with men, ſociety has advanced, at leaſt, one ſtep in civilization.
The attention to dreſs, therefore, which has been thought a ſexual propenſity, I think natural to mankind. But I ought to expreſs myſelf with more preciſion. When the mind is not ſufficiently opened to take pleaſure in reflection, the body will be adorned with ſedulous care; and ambition will appear in tattooing or painting it.
So far is the firſt inclination carried, that even the helliſh yoke of ſlavery cannot ſtifle the ſavage deſire of admiration which the black heroes inherit from both their parents, for all the hardly earned ſavings of a ſlave are commonly expended in a little tawdry finery. And I have ſeldom known a good male or female ſervant that was not particularly fond of dreſs. Their clothes were their riches; and, I argue from analogy, that the fondneſs for dreſs, ſo extravagant in females, ariſes from the ſame cauſe—want of cultivation of mind. When men meet they converſe about buſineſs, politics, or literature; but, ſays Swift, 'how naturally do women apply their hands to each others lappets and ruffles.' And very natural is it—for they have not any buſineſs
