* Still, however, to give a little mock
dignity to lust, he insists that man should not exert his strength,
but depend on the will of the woman, when he seeks for pleasure with
her.
* I have already inserted the passage, [see note to fifth
paragraph in chapter iii.].
'Hence we deduce a third consequence from the different
constitutions of the sexes; which is, that the strongest should be
master in appearance, and be dependent in fact on the weakest; and
that not from any frivolous practice of gallantry or vanity of
protectorship, but from an invariable law of nature, which, furnishing
woman with a greater facility to excite desires than she has given man
to satisfy them, makes the latter dependent on the good pleasure of
the former, and compels him to endeavour to please in his turn, in
order to obtain her consent that he should be strongest.* On these
occasions, the most delightful circumstance a man finds in his victory
is, to doubt whether it was the woman's weakness that yielded to his
superior strength, or whether her inclinations spoke in his favour:
the females are also generally artful enough to leave this matter in
doubt. The understanding of women answers in this respect perfectly to
their constitution: so far from being ashamed of their weakness,
they glory in it; their tender muscles make no resistance; they affect
to be incapable of lifting the smallest burthens, and would blush to
be thought robust and strong. To what purpose is all this? Not
merely for the sake of appearing delicate, but through an artful
precaution: it is thus they provide an excuse beforehand, and a
right to be feeble when they think it expedient.
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