The wanton who exercises her taste to render her passion alluring, has
something more in view.
These observations all branch out of a general one, which I have
before made, and which cannot be too often insisted upon, for,
speaking of men, women, or professions, it will be found that the
employment of the thoughts shapes the character both generally and
individually. The thoughts of women ever hover round their persons,
and is it surprising that their persons are reckoned most valuable?
Yet sonic degree of liberty of mind is necessary even to form the
person; and this may be one reason why some gentle wives have so few
attractions beside that of sex. Add to this, sedentary employments
render the majority of women sickly- and false notions of female
excellence make them proud of this delicacy though it be another
fetter, that by calling the attention continually to the body,
cramps the activity of the mind.
Women of quality seldom do any of the manual part of their dress,
consequently only their taste is exercised, and they acquire, by
thinking less of the finery, when the business of their toilet is
over, that ease, which seldom appears in the deportment of women,
who dress merely for the sake of dressing. In fact, the observation
with respect to the middle rank, the one in which talents thrive best,
extends not to women; for those of the superior class, by catching, at
least, a smattering of literature, and conversing more with men, on
general topics, acquire more knowledge than the women who ape their
fashions and faults without sharing their advantages.
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