ESSAY CVIII.

ON WOMEN.

NAY, I will go farther, and declare that women have greater capabilities than the men, which I will undertake to prove. All the materials of our knowledge are derived from without, by means of our senses, but the organs of women are finer and more delicate than those of men, and, consequently, their perceptive faculty more facile and rapid, and if their perception be more quick they must be able to acquire knowledge faster than men can; and this evinces the great goodness of God; for their bodily frame being less robust and vigorous than that of the men, they, not only, cannot endure so much corporeal labour, but, also, are unable to apply so long and so intensely to mental exertions, because the mind and body are so linked together, that if the external frame is out of order the mental energies are depressed and cannot be called into full play; but nothing tries so much the

bodily constitution as strong and continued exercitations of the intellect; whence it seemed necessary, that women should be compensated for their inferiority to man in corporeal strength, by their higher capacity of acquiring knowledge, which is a much nobler and diviner privilege than the posses sion of mere brutal force and stupid strength, which must be always directed by intellect, as the machine is guided by the hand of the workman. As what I have advanced is incontrovertible, because built on the immu table and eternal basis of truth and reason, let me intreat my country-women to assert their right and title to intellectuality, and claim their privilege of attaining to that degree in the great scale of true and intrinsic consequence, which, only, a mind cultivated, refined, and strengthened can bestow. If the materials, or primitive principles of our knowledge are all derived, ab extra, by means of our senses, it follows, of course, that with a given quantity of cultivation those must acquire most knowledge, whose perceptive faculty is most powerful. But all our abstract knowledge, all that we gain by reflecting on

what we receive by the senses, comes from within, by the workings of our own minds, which shews the great necessity of early and extensive cultivation to put our minds in the state best qualified for such extertions. But hear the whole of this admirable doctrine in the words of it's great author.

"Considerons un homme au premier moment de son existence son ame èprouve d' abord differentes sensations, telles que la lumière, les couleurs, la douleur, le plaisir, le mouvement, le repos: voila ses premieres pensées. Suivons le dans les momens ou il commence à reflechir, sur ce que les sensa tions occasionnent en lui et nous le verrons se former des idees des differentes operations de son ame, telles qu'apercevoir, imaginer; voila ses secondes pensees. Ainsi, selon que les objets exterieurs agisent sur nous, nous recevous differentes idees par les sens, et selon que nous reflechissons sur les operations, que les sensations occasionnent dans notre âme, nous acquerons toutes les ideés, que nous n'aurions pu recevoir des choses exterieures. Les sensations et les operations de l'ame sont les materiaux de toutes nos con

naissanees; materiaux, que la reflexion met en œuvre, en cherchant, par des combinaisons les rapports, que les renferment. Mais tout le suces depend des circonstances par ou l'on passe. Les plus favorables sont celles, qui nous offrent en plus grand nombre des objets propres a exercer notre reflexion.' Les grandes circonstances ou se trouveut," ceux qui sont destinés à gouverner les hom mes sont, par exemple, une occasion de se faire des vues fort èxtendues, et celles, qui se repetent continuell-ement dans le grand monde, donnent cette sorte d'esprit, qu' on appelle naturel; parce que n'etant pas le fruit de l'etude, on ne sait pas remarquer les causes qui le produisent.

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"Concluons qu il n'y a point d'idees qui ne soient acquises; les premieres viennent immediatement des sens; les autres sont dues à l' experience, et se multiplient à proportion qu'on est plus capable de reflechir." a

From all which it appears, that, as we get all our primitive principles of knowledge from our sensations; and all our abstract knowledge by combining our simple ideas from the workings of our own minds, and

as the perceptive faculty of women is more acute and lively than that of the men, and as the quantity of knowledge gained by any individual depends, entirely, upon the intensity of labour bestowed in cultivating the mind, women are, more especially, called . on to pay all possible attention to the improving, and enlarging, and invigorating their understanding, that they might assist in accelerating the progressive march' of the hu man intellect, toward a higher degree of perfection; an object the contemplation of which makes every thinking and benevolent being exult with joy and gratitude to the Giver of all good. And, here, let not any shallow, contracted, and prejudiced vaga bonds affect to look wisely, and, with a frigid shake of the head observe, that all this is very fine in theory, and speculation, but comes to nothing, when we attempt to reduce it to practice; but practice is the thing, we prefer, a little practice before all the theory in the world. Mighty well, ye gentlemen sages, but no man in his senses will allow reptiles, whose understandings never took the range of a jack-day's obser