The tenderness which a man will feel
for the mother of his children is an excellent substitute for the
ardour of unsatisfied passion; but to prolong that ardour it is
indelicate, not to say immodest, for women to feign an unnatural
coldness of constitution. Women as well as men ought to have the
common appetites and passions of their nature, they are only brutal
when unchecked by reason: but the obligation to check them is the duty
of mankind, not a sexual duty. Nature, in these respects, may safely
be left to herself; let women only acquire knowledge and humanity, and
love will teach them modesty.* There is no need of falsehoods,
disgusting as futile, for studied rules of behaviour only impose on
shallow observers; a man of sense soon sees through, and despises
the affectation.
* The behaviour of many newly married women has often disgusted
me. The seem anxious never to let their husbands forget the
privilege of marriage; and to find no pleasure in his society unless
he is acting the lover. Short, indeed, must be the reign of love, when
the flame is thus constantly blown up, without its receiving any solid
fewel!
The behaviour of young people, to each other, as men and women, is
the last thing that should be thought of in education. In fact,
behaviour in most circumstances is now so much thought of, that
simplicity of character is rarely to be seen: yet, if men were only
anxious to cultivate each virtue, and let it take root firmly in the
mind, the grace resulting from it, its natural exteriour mark, would
soon strip affectation of its flaunting plumes; because, fallacious as
unstable, is the conduct that is not founded upon truth!
Would ye, O my sisters, really possess modesty, ye must remember
that the possession of virtue, of any denomination, is incompatible
with ignorance and vanity! ye must acquire that soberness of mind,
which the exercise of duties, and the pursuit of knowledge, alone
inspire, or ye will still remain in a doubtful dependent situation,
and only be loved whilst ye are fair! The downcast eye, the rosy
blush, the retiring grace, are all proper in their season; but
modesty, being the child of reason, cannot long exist with the
sensibility that is not tempered by reflection.
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