As they submit without reason,
they will, having no fixed rules to square their conduct by, be
kind, or cruel, just as the whim of the moment directs; and we ought
not to wonder if sometimes, galled by their heavy yoke, they take a
malignant pleasure in resting it on weaker shoulders.
But, supposing a woman, trained up to obedience, be married to a
sensible man, who directs her judgment without making her feel the
servility of her subjection, to act with as much propriety by this
reflected light as can be expected when reason is taken at second
hand, yet she cannot ensure the life of her protector; he may die
and leave her with a large family.
A double duty devolves on her; to educate them in the character of
both father and mother; to form their principles and secure their
property. But, alas! she has never thought, much less acted for
herself. She has only learned to please* men, to depend gracefully
on them; yet, encumbered with children, how is she to obtain another
protector- a husband to supply the place of reason? A rational man,
for we are not treading on romantic ground, though he may think her
a pleasing docile creature, will not choose to marry a family for
love, when the world contains many more pretty creatures. What is then
to become of her? She either falls an easy prey to some mean
fortune-hunter, who defrauds her children of their paternal
inheritance, and renders her miserable; or becomes the victim of
discontent and blind indulgence.
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