Nay,
as another proof of the necessity of cultivating the female
understanding, it is but just to observe, that the affections seem
to have a kind of animal capriciousness when they merely reside in the
heart.
It is the irregular exercise of parental authority that first
injures the mind, and to these irregularities girls are more subject
than boys. The will of those who never allow their will to be
disputed, unless they happen to be in a good humour, when they relax
proportionally, is almost always unreasonable. To elude this arbitrary
authority girls very early learn the lessons which they afterwards
practise on their husbands; for I have frequently seen a little
sharp-faced miss rule a whole family, excepting that now and then
mamma's angry will burst out of some accidental cloud;- either her
hair was ill dressed,* or she had lost more money at cards, the
night before, than she was willing to own to her husband; or some such
moral cause of anger.
* I myself heard a little girl once say to a servant, 'My mama has
been scolding me finely this morning, because her hair was not dressed
to please her.' Though this remark was pert, it was just. And what
respect could a girl acquire for such a parent without doing
violence to reason?
After observing sallies of this kind, I have been led into a
melancholy train of reflection respecting females, concluding that
when their first affection must lead them astray, or make their duties
clash till they rest on mere whims and customs, little can be expected
from them as they advance in life.
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