Her character depends on the observance of one virtue,
though the only passion fostered in her heart- is love. Nay, the
honour of a woman is not made even to depend on her will.
When Richardson* makes Clarissa tell Lovelace that he had robbed her
of her honour, he must have had strange notions of honour and
virtue. For, miserable beyond all names of misery is the condition
of a being, who could be degraded without its own consent! This excess
of strictness I have heard vindicated as a salutary error. I shall
answer in the words of Leibnitz- 'Errors are often useful; but it is
commonly to remedy other errors.'
* Dr. Young supports the same opinion, in his plays, when he talks
of the misfortune that shunned the light of day.
Most of the evils of life arise from a desire of present enjoyment
that outruns itself. The obedience required of women in the marriage
state comes under this description; the mind, naturally weakened by
depending on authority, never exerts its own powers, and the
obedient wife is thus rendered a weak indolent mother. Or, supposing
that this is not always the consequence, a future state of existence
is scarcely taken into the reckoning when only negative virtues are
cultivated. For, in treating of morals, particularly when women are
alluded to, writers have too often considered virtue in a very limited
sense, and made the foundation of it solely worldly utility; nay, a
still more fragile base has been given to this stupendous fabric,
and the wayward fluctuating feelings of men have been made the
standard of virtue.
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