There is one rule relative to behaviour that, I think, ought to
regulate every other; and it is simply to cherish such an habitual
respect for mankind as may prevent us from disgusting a
fellow-creature for the sake of a present indulgence. The shameful
indolence of many married women, and others a little advanced in life,
frequently leads them to sin against delicacy. For, though convinced
that the person is the band of union between the sexes, yet, how often
do they from sheer indolence, or, to enjoy some trifling indulgence,
disgust?
The depravity of the appetite which brings the sexes together, has
had a still more fatal effect. Nature must ever be the standard of
taste, the gauge of appetite- yet how grossly is nature insulted by
the voluptuary. Leaving the refinements of love out of the question;
nature, by making the gratification of an appetite, in this respect,
as well as every other, a natural and imperious law to preserve the
species, exalts the appetite, and mixes a little mind and affection
with a sensual gust. The feelings of a parent mingling with an
instinct merely animal, give it dignity; and the man and woman often
meeting on account of the child, a mutual interest and affection is
excited by the exercise of a common sympathy. Women then having
necessarily some duty to fulfil, more noble than to adorn their
persons, would not contentedly be the slaves of casual lust; which
is now the situation of a very considerable number who are,
literally speaking, standing dishes to which every glutton may have
access.
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