IV. I would again call upon my coLintrywomen

with the moil earnefl concern^ and befcech them to iconiider this fubjecl as of more particular imporiance 10 themfelves than even to the men.— While wo- man is confidered as a refpeflable nioral agent, train- ing along with ourfelves for endiefs improvement j then, and only then, will (he be confidered by lord- ly man as his equal ;-— then, and only then, will fhe be allowed to have any rights, and thofe rights be refpeded. Strip women of this prerogative, and they become the drudges of man's indolence, or the pampered playthings of liis idle hours, fubjeci to his caprices, and flaves to his mean paflions. Soon will their prefent empire of gallantry be over. It is a refinement of manners v;hich fprang from Chriflianity ; and when Chriftianity is forgotten, this artificial diadem will be taken from their heads, and unlels they adopc the ferocious fentim.ents of their Gallic neighbour;;, and join in the general uproar, they will link into the ififignincance of the women in the turbulent republics of Greece, wheie they are never feen in the bufy haunts of *Tnen, if we except four or five, w-ho, during the pourfe of as many centuries, emerged from the general obfcurity, and appear in the hilioric page, by their uncoramon talents, and by the facrifice of Vvhat my fair country v^omen ftill hold to be the ornament of their fex. I would remind them, that they have it in thtir power to retain their prelent honourable llation in fociety. They are our early inftru(itors 5 and while mothers in the
refpettable
iJHAP, IV* THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33^
refpe^lable ftations of life continued to inculcate on the tender minds of their Tons a veneration for the precepts of R.cIigion, their pliant children, receiving their initrudions along with the affec- tionate careiles of their mothers, got impreifions which long retained their force, and which pro- tected them from the impulfes of youthful paffions, till ripening years fitted their minds for liftening to fcrious inllru£lion from their public teachers. Sobriety and decency of manners were then no liar on the character of a youth, and he was thought capable of flruggling for independence, or pre-eminence, fit either for fupporting or de- fending the iiiate, although he was neither a toper nor a rake. 1 believe that no man who has feen thirty or forty yearg of life will deny that the manners of youth are fadly changed in this refpeft. And, without prefuiTiing to fay that this has pro- ceeded from the negle6t, and almoll total ceifa- tion of the moral education of the nurfery, I think myfelf well warranted, from my own obiervation, to fay that this education and the fober manners of young men have quitted us together.
Some will call this prudery, and croaking. But I am almod tranfcribing from Cicero, and from Quintilian. Cornelia, Aurelia, Attia, and other ladies of the firft rank, are praifed by Cicero only for their eminence in this refpecl ; but not becaufe they vv^ere (ingular, Ouintilian fays, that in the time immediately prior to his own, it had been the general pra£lice of the ladies of rank to fuper- intend the moral education both of fons and daughters. But of late, fays he, they are fo engag- ed in continual and corrupting amufements, fuch as the fhows of gladiators, horfe-racing, and deep play, that they have no time, and have yielded their places to Greek governeires and tutors, out
call" s
33^ THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. FV,
caftsof a nation more fubdued by their own vices
than by the Roman arms 1 dare fay this was
laughed at, as croaking about the corruption of the age. But what was the confequence of all this? — The Romans became the mofl abandoned vokiptuaiies, and, to preferve their mean plea- fures, they crouched as willing Haves to a fuccef- lion of the vilefl tyrants that ever difgraced hu- manity.
What a noble fund of felf-eftimation would our fair partners acquire to themfeives, if, by reform- ing the manners of the young generation, tiiey (hould be the means of reftoring peace to the world ! They have it in their pouuer, by the re- newal of the good old cuftom of early inilruc- tion, and perhaps dill more, by impreiling on the minds of their daughters the fame fentiments, and obliging them to refpe£t fobriety and decency in the youth, and pointedly to withhold their fmiles and civilities from all who tranlgrefs thefe in the fmaileil degree. This is a method of proceeding that will mo ft certainly be vidorious. Then indeed will the women be the faviours of their country. While therefore the German fair have been re- peatedly branded with having welcomed the French invaders*, let our ladies ftand up for the honour of free-born Britons, by turning agaiuR the pretended ealighteners of the world, the arms which nature has put into their hands, and which thofe proiiigates have prefumptuouily expeded to
* I have met with this charge in many places ; and one book in particular, written by a Pruflian General Officer, who was m the country over-run by tne French troop7, gives a detail of the coudud of the women that Is very remarkable. He idfo fays, that infidelity has become very prevalent among the ladles in the higher circles. Indeed this melancholy account is to be found in many paiTages of the private correfpondence of the Illaminatl.
employ
CHAP. IV, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 33^
employ in extending their influence over mankind. The empire of beaut}^ is but fhort, but the em- pire of virtue is durable ; nor is there an indance to be met with of its decline. If it be yet podible to reform the world, it is poilible for the fair. By the conditution of human nature, they muft al- ways appear as the ornament of human life, and be the objects of fondnefs and affe£lion ; fo that if any thing can make head againft the felfifh and overbearing difpofitions of man, it is his refpedful regard for the fex. But mere fondnefs has but lit- tle of the rational creature in it, and we fee it har- bour every day in the bread that is filled with the meanefl and mofl turbulent pallions. No where is it fo llrong as in the harems of the eaft; and as long as the women afl^ nothing of the men but fondnefs and admiration, they will get nothing clfe — they will never be refpedled. But let them roufe themfelves, afTert their dignity, by fliewing their own elevated fentiments of human nature, and by afting up to this claim, and they may then command the world.