Macaulay has justly observed, that 'there is but one fault
which a woman of honour may not commit with impunity.' She then justly
and humanely adds- 'This has given rise to the trite and foolish
observation, that the first fault against chastity in woman has a
radical power to deprave the character. But no such frail beings
come out of the hands of nature. The human mind is built of nobler
materials than to be easily corrupted; and with all their
disadvantages of situation and education, women seldom become entirely
abandoned till they are thrown into a state of desperation, by the
venomous rancour of their own sex.'
But, in proportion as this regard for the reputation of chastity
is prized by women, it is despised by men: and the two extremes are
equally destructive to morality.
Men are certainly more under the influence of their appetites than
women; and their appetites are more depraved by unbridled indulgence
and the fastidious contrivances of satiety. Luxury has introduced a
refinement in eating, that destroys the constitution; and, a degree of
gluttony which is so beastly, that a perception of seemliness of
behaviour must be worn out before one being could eat immoderately
in the presence of another, and afterwards complain of the
oppression that his intemperance naturally produced. Some women,
particularly French women, have also lost a sense of decency in this
respect; for they will talk very calmly of an indigestion. It were
to be wished that idleness was not allowed to generate, on the rank
soil of wealth, those swarms of summer insects that feed on
putrefaction, we should not then be disgusted by the sight of such
brutal excesses.
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