- But, when man, governed by reasonable laws, enjoys his natural
freedom, let him despise woman, if she do not share it with him;
and, till that glorious period arrives, in descanting on the folly
of the sex, let him not overlook his own.
Women, it is true, obtaining power by unjust means, by practising or
fostering vice, evidently lose the rank which reason would assign
them, and they become either abject slaves or capricious tyrants. They
lose all simplicity, all dignity of mind, in acquiring power, and
act as men are observed to act when they have been exalted by the same
means.
It is time to effect a revolution in female manners- time to restore
to them their lost dignity- and make them, as a part of the human
species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is
time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners.- If men be
demi-gods- why let us serve them! And if the dignity of the female
soul be as disputable as that of animals- if their reason does not
afford sufficient light to direct their conduct whilst unerring
instinct is denied- they are surely of all creatures the most
miserable! and, bent beneath the iron hand of destiny, must submit
to be a fair defect in creation. But to justify the ways of Providence
respecting them, by pointing out some irrefragable reason for thus
making such a large portion of mankind accountable and not
accountable, would puzzle the subtilest casuist.
The only solid foundation for morality appears to be the character
of the supreme Being; the harmony of which arises from a balance of
attributes;- and, to speak with reverence, one attribute seems to
imply the necessity of another.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80