§ 12.-In conclusion, we would make a brief, and we hope not altogether vain, appeal to themselves. We implore them to remember, that as they have far more to receive than to grant, it would be more becoming to deserve respect ere they demand it. When they can once appreciate themselves and the opposite sex, they cannot fail to learn, that their true and only empire is that soft dominion which affection generates and confirms. They have to teach themselves to become more deserving and less assuming, and they will then be more what God and nature designed that they should be. In Woman, weakness itself is the true charter of power; it is an absolute attraction, and by no means a defect; it is the mysterious tie between the sexes, a tie as irresistible as it is captivating, and begetting an influence peculiar to itself—in short, all independence is unfeminine: the more dependant that sex becomes, the more will it be cherished. Wherefore, let all those forget ambition that ever knew it its moral danger is to them no less than its worldly folly, for "where female ambition leads the van, the main body of vices are NOTES.-CHAPTER I. (1) A low estimate of female pretensions is certainly not the fault of the present day. Women are, perhaps, sometimes in danger of being spoilt, but they cannot complain that they are too little valued. Their powers are too highly rated: their natural defects are overlooked, and the consideration in which they are held, the influence they possess, and the confidence placed in their judgment, are in some instances disproportionate with their real claims. MRS. SANDFOrd. (2) The clique of fine ladies, and the clique of dandies, still exist; and these are the donors of social reputation: we may say, as the Irishman said of the thieves, "They are mighty generous with what does not belong to them." Being without character themselves, we may judge of the merits which induce them to give a character to others. BULWER'S England. (3) I have seen women in England (says a Danish lady) give parties and receive guests, as if the master of the house were not in existence. They seemed all in pursuit of variety, and not unfrequently appeared to dissipate their pin-money-which, to us, would be little fortunes, without thought or care. Our husbands take care to claim the natural superiority of their sex; but though we do not participate in the advantages of English women, and have • Leikre nemen voi tue she who by tearing, by weeding by free inter any stage whatever, seeks sowary z ene ter turand, ita consent or acquiescence arts no less pulty a repost e to her duty of wyn beteta, sus she would have done had she drives to compliance by the menaces and weapons of an Amazon-Graasz < People sometimes wonder to see some men rise fast to eminent dignities. They do not ascend by degrees, but fly from the lowest to the middle, and from that to the highest. “For what reason?" will people say; "What has he done?" The solution of all this is, that some powerful Woman protects him. The same complaints will be made a thousand years hence, if the world continues so long; and as a private man is not able to reform this confusion, prudence may permit him to make use of it.— Observe that I do not say it would be right to do so. BAYLE. In a government which requires that particular regard be paid to its tranquillity, it is absolutely necessary to shut up the women, for their intrigues would prove fatal to their husbands, :—— In monarchies women are subject to very little restraint: there each courtier avails himself of their charms and passions to advance his own fortunes.-MONTESQUIEU. (7) Women are, by law, supposed to be under the control of their nearest male relatives, prior to marriage; and, in a case of seduction, a father is obliged to sue for the loss of his daughter's services. After marriage the fiction is continued: she is a femme couverte, an infant under the care of a protector, whose power is declared to extend " to everything not criminal, or not entirely inconsistent with the wife's happiness." (8) Even women who have no connexion with the political hemisphere, are seen to be inspired by the passion communicated from their superiors-imbibe the quintessence of political attachment and antipathy-and by the ardour with which they copy the only part of their model which they have the means of emulating, show that it is not through want of ambition that they are left behind in the race.-GISBORNE. Nor reigns Ambition in bold man alone, YOUNG. (9) We find the manners more pure, in the several parts of the East, in proportion as the confinement of women is more strictly observed.—MONTESQUIEU. (10) Josephus, the Jewish historian, mentions one of their laws which makes female testimony inadmissible:-" But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex.”—B. iv. ch. 8. (11) Let us pause to express our utter contempt for the man who would strike a woman! A blow is a reason for |
