Out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaketh; and a wiser than Solomon hath said, that
the heart should be made clean, and not trivial ceremonies observed,
which it is not very difficult to fulfill with scrupulous exactness
when vice reigns in the heart.
Women ought to endeavour to purify their heart; but can they do so
when their uncultivated understandings make them entirely dependent on
their senses for employment and amusement, when no noble pursuit
sets them above the little vanities of the day, or enables them to
curb the wild emotions that agitate a reed over which every passing
breeze has power? To gain the affections of a virtuous man is
affectation necessary? Nature has given woman a weaker frame than man;
but, to ensure her husband's affections, must a wife, who by the
exercise of her mind and body whilst she was discharging the duties of
a daughter, wife, and mother, has allowed her constitution to retain
its natural strength, and her nerves a healthy tone, is she, I say, to
condescend to use art and feign a sickly delicacy in order to secure
her husband's affection? Weakness may excite tenderness, and gratify
the arrogant pride of man; but the lordly caresses of a protector will
not gratify a noble mind that pants for, and deserves to be respected.
Fondness is a poor substitute for friendship!
In a seraglio, I grant, that all these arts are necessary; the
epicure must have his palate tickled, or he will sink into apathy; but
have women so little ambition as to be satisfied with such a
condition? Can they supinely dream life away in the lap of pleasure,
or the languor of weariness, rather than assert their claim to
pursue reasonable pleasures and render themselves conspicuous by
practising the virtues which dignify mankind? Surely she has not an
immortal soul who can loiter life away merely employed to adorn her
person, that she may amuse the languid hours, and soften the cares
of a fellow-creature who is willing to be enlivened by her smiles
and tricks, when the serious business of life is over.
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