"Over his female in due awe,
"Nor from that right to part an hour,
"Smile she, or lour:.

"So shall he least confusion draw
"On his whole life, not sway'd

"By female usurpation, or dismay'd."

but it is absurd, it is impious to suppose, that God ordained any thing contrary to reason and to nature; and it is both unreasonable, and unnatural, nay, it is impossible, that any ignorant man can rule over an enlightened woman; a stupid brute of a husband may fancy, that he is the master, but he has only the resemblance of power; intellect must, always, govern, either directly, by open authority, and enjoin'd command, or indirectly, by that irresistible influence and controul, which understanding must ever have over ignorance, which mind, always, exercises over body.. We might, as well, attempt to stop the Sun in it's course, as endeavour to subject women invariably to the domination of men; for, in the multitudinous combinations of circumstances, it must often happen, that a man shall marry a woman, whose intellect, and knowledge, are

much superior to his own acquirements, and understanding, and when this event takes place, the authority, and sway mnst, inevitably, accrue to the female; this attempt, therefore, is unjust and impossible, and if it were possible, it would be foolish; neither man or woman were made to exercise, or to submit to blind and arbitrary domination; they are required to bow down only to the commands of reason, and to obey her calls; but if reason be made paramount to every other consideration, there can be no dispute about who shall rule, because a fixed standard will be erected, by whose decision every doubt will be cleared up, and every uncertainty made to vanish. From what has been said, therefore, we may be allowed to draw this conclusion, that if women know their own interest, they will immediately begin to cultivate their minds, and, thereby, evince that, in all the great and essential qualifications of mankind, all that lift them up towards and shew that they were derived from God, they are endowed with the same high and mighty capacities as are the men; and, that, “in a few years, it will be as difficult to

find an idle, frivolous, foolish, gossiping, scandalous, dressing,, trifling, painted, feathered, be-jewelled female, as it is now to discover an independent courtier, an intelligent military machine, a polished seaman, an erudite physician, a respectable apothecary, or a very refined gentleman in the purlieus of Broad St. Giles. Having combated thus much in favour of the female sex, I shall beg leave to conclude this essay, in the words of one, who was himself a great admirer of the women, and never was detected uttering any such rascally sentiments as these which I flatter myself I have effectually refuted in this and the preceding essays:

"May my song soften, as Thy daughters I, "Britannia! hail! for beauty is their own; "The feeling heart, simplicity of life; "And elegance and taste, the faultless form, "Shap'd by the hand of Harmony; the cheek "Where the live crimson thro' the native white "Soft shooting o'er the face diffuses bloom, "And every nameless grace; the parted lip, "Like the red rose-bud moist with morning dew, "Breathing delight; and under flowing jet, "Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown,

"The neck slight-shaded, or the swelling breast, "The look resistless, piercing to the soul, "And by the soul inform'd, when drest in love, She sits high smiling in the conscious eye."

ESSAY CXI.

ON WOMEN.

I WOULD rather incur the censure of being tedious and dull, so that I was, thoroughly, intelligible, than by aiming at elegance to sacrifice perspicuity at the shrine of conciseness. I have undertaken, to prove, in my essays devoted to the service of the fair sex, that virtue and intellect, alone, ought to claim their chief and paramount attention. In order to shew this, let us examine a few of the ob jects, which principally engage the interest of women, and we shall see, that in comparison with the pure and lasting delights of understanding and goodness, they are lighter than dust in the balance, of less avail, than the

chaff, which is borne along, by each brecze that blows. Pleasure seems to be thought the business of most women; that is, a continued round of dissipation, an incessant scheming to enervate the body and corrupt. the mind. But to a debilitated frame and a perverted intellect, what can give comfort, or impart satisfaction ?

"Pleasures are few, and fewer we enjoy ; "Pleasure, like quicksilver, is bright and coy "We strive to grasp it with our utmost skill, "Still it eludes us, and it glitters still. "If seiz'd, at last, compute your mighty gains, "What it is but rank poison in your veins ?"

The proof, that, what is called, pleasure produces no happiness is, that they are continually, hunting after something new; no sooner, is what they wished for, the last moment, obtained, but they are tired, discard it and seek something else equally, capable of bestowing the permanency of bliss. But. our happiness cannot consist in that, which disgusts us the moment we possess it.→ What, save this pursuit of delight, which they can, never, gain, leads our belles te every resort of fashionable folly?