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Title: Some Reflections Upon Marriage.

Author: Mary Astell

Release date: January 11, 2020 [eBook #61143]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed
        Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME REFLECTIONS UPON MARRIAGE. ***




Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed
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  _BOOKS_ _written by the same Author, and sold by_ _WILLIAM PARKER_, at
    the _King’s-Head_ in St. _Paul_’s Church-Yard.

  The Christian Religion, as Profess’d by a _DAUGHTER_ of the _Church of
    England_. The Third Edition.

  Shewing, the due Behaviour of _Women_, the _Vices_ they ought to
    _Shun_, and the _Virtues_ they ought to _Practice_. A Treatise very
    necessary, in _this degenerate Age_, to _confirm_ the Ladies in
    their _Religious Principles_, and to instruct them in what they
    ought to _believe_ and _practise_, in order to their _Eternal
    Salvation_.

A _Serious_ _PROPOSAL_ to the _LADIES_ for the Advancement of their
_true_ and _greatest_ Interest, Part I. The Fourth Edition.

A _Serious_ _PROPOSAL_ to the _LADIES_, Part II. Wherein a Method is
offered for the _Improvement_ of their _Minds_.

_LETTERS_ concerning the _LOVE_ of _GOD_, between the Author of the
_Proposal to the Ladies_, and Mr. _John Norris_: Wherein his late
Discourse, shewing, that it ought to be intire and exclusive of all
other Loves, is farther cleared and justified. The second Edition.

An _ENQUIRY_ after _WIT_: Wherein the trifling Arguing, and impious
Raillery of the late Earl of _Shaftsbury_, in his Letter concerning
_Enthusiasm_; and other profane Writers, are fully Answer’d and justly
Exposed. The Second Edition.

_MODERATION_ truly stated: Or a Review of a late Pamphlet, intitled,
_Moderation a Vertue_. With a Prefatory Discourse to Dr. _D’Avenant_,
concerning his late Essays on Peace and War. 4_to_.




                                  SOME
                              REFLECTIONS
                                  UPON
                               MARRIAGE.


                           With _ADDITIONS_.


                          The FOURTH EDITION.

[Illustration]

                               _LONDON_:

                  Printed for _WILLIAM PARKER_, at the
              _King_’s _Head_ in St. _Paul_’s Church-Yard.

                               M.DCC.XXX.

[Illustration]




                             ADVERTISEMENT.


_These Reflections being made in the Country, where the Book that
occasion’d them came but late to Hand, the_ Reader _is desir’d to excuse
their Unseasonableness as well as other Faults; and to believe, that
they have no other Design than to Correct some Abuses, which are not the
less because Power and Prescription seem to authorize them. If any is so
needlesly curious as to inquire from what Hand they come, they may
please to know, that it is not good Manners to ask, since the Title Page
does not tell them: We are all of us sufficiently Vain, and without
doubt, the celebrated Name of_ Author, _which most are so fond of, had
not been avoided but for very good Reasons: To name but one_; Who will
care to pull upon themselves an Hornet’s Nest? _’Tis a very great Fault,
to regard rather Who it is that speaks, than What is spoken; and either
to submit to Authority, when we should only yield to Reason; or if
Reason press too hard, to think to ward it off by Personal Objections
and Reflections. Bold Truths may pass while the Speaker is_ Incognito,
_but are seldom endur’d when he is known; few Minds being strong enough
to bear what contradicts their Principles and Practices, without
recriminating when they can_. _And though to tell the Truth be the most
Friendly Office, yet whoever is so hardy as to venture at it, shall be
counted an Enemy for so doing._

  The _PREFACE_ in the last Edition being extended to an uncommon
    Length, is now printed at the latter End, as an _APPENDIX_.




                               _ERRATA._


  Page 12. line 15. read _your_; p. 14. l. 5. r. _sufficient_; p. 21. l.
    10. dele _in that_; p. 97. l. 10. after _oppose_ add _to_; p. 130.
    1. 6. r. _Adulterer_;—l. 23. r. _humbled_; p. 131. l. 2. for _than_
    read _as_; p. 156. l. 14. for _was_ r. _is_.




                      _Books Sold by_ W. _PARKER_.


Archbishop _Sharp_’s Sermons. 4 Vols.

Bishop _Moor_’s Sermons. 2 Vols.

A Collection of above three hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and
Surgery, for the Use of all good Wives, tender Mothers, and careful
Nurses. By several Hands. The Fourth Edition: To which is added, a
second Part, containing a great Number of excellent Receipts, for
Preserving and Conserving of Sweet-Meats, _&c._

A Dissertation of the Extreme Folly and Danger of Infidelity; occasioned
by a late virulent Book, intitled, A Discourse on the Grounds and
Reasons of the Christian Religion. By _Thomas Curteis_, Rector of
_Wrotham_ in _Kent_. Second Edition. Pr. 2_s._

An Inquiry whether a general Practice of Virtue tends to the Wealth or
Poverty, Benefit or Advantage of a People? In which the Pleas offered by
the Author of the Fable of the Bees, or, Private Vices, Publick
Benefits, for the Usefulness of Vice and Roguery, are considered; with
some Thoughts concerning a Toleration of Publick Stews. By the late Mr.
_Bluett_. Pr. 2s. 6d.

The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Reverend and Learned _John
Wickliff_, D. D. Warden of _Canterbury_ Hall, and Publick Professor of
Divinity in _Oxford_, and Rector of _Lutterworth_ in _Leicestershire_,
in the Reign of King _Edward_ III. and _Richard_ the II.; together with
a Collection of Papers relating to the said History, never before
Printed. By _John Lewis_, M. A. Minister of _Margate_ in _Kent_.

The Church Catechism explained for the Use of the Diocese of St.
_Asaph_. By the Right Reverend Father in God _Will. Beveridge_, D. D.
late Bishop of St. _Asaph_. Sixth Edition.

The Faith and Practice of the Church of _England-Man_. The Ninth
Edition. Price 4d.

Principles of the _Cyprianic_ Age, with Regard to Episcopal Power and
Jurisdiction, asserted and recommended from the genuine Writings of St.
_Cyprian_ himself, and his Contemporaries.

[Illustration]




                                  SOME
                              REFLECTIONS
                                  UPON
                               MARRIAGE.


Curiosity, which is sometimes an Occasion of Good, but more frequently
of Mischief, by disturbing our own or our Neighbours Repose, having
induc’d me to read the Account of an unhappy Marriage, I thought an
Afternoon would not be quite thrown away in pursuing such _Reflections_
as it occasion’d. I am far from designing a Satire upon Marriage, as
some pretend, either unkindly or ignorantly, through want of
_Reflection_ in that Sense wherein I use the Word.

One wou’d have thought that Cardinal _Mazarine_, whose Dignity, Power
and Riches, render’d him so considerable in the Eyes of all _Europe_;
and who, like most great Ministers, aim’d at nothing so much as the
aggrandizing himself and his Family, and who wanted no Opportunities of
doing it, should have taken his Measures so justly as not to be
disappointed: At least, that a Fabrick rais’d with as much Art and Cost,
founded in the Oppression, and cemented with the Blood of the People,
should not so quickly have tumbled into the Dust after him. But so it
is, _Providence_, whether we think of it or no, overrules our Actions
and baffles our best-concerted Projects: So that unless we wilfully shut
our Eyes, we cannot but discern, that when _Men in_ Power and _Honour_
leave _GOD_ out of their Schemes, they _have no Understanding_, though
their natural Genius be ever so bright, _but are_ justly _compared to
the Beasts that perish_. The _Ignorant_ and _Foolish_ succeed quite as
well as the _Worldly-wise_, who _carry nothing away with them when they_
die, neither will their Riches and Glory descend as they intended. It is
only by generous and worthy Actions that we are rescued from Oblivion,
or from what is worse, being remembred with Contempt and Execrations: So
little Reason is there to envy any Man’s Wealth and Greatness, but much
to emulate their Wisdom and Vertue whose Views extend to a more durable
Felicity.

’Tis natural to well-turn’d Minds, when they hear of any Person eminent
in Wit and Beauty, adorn’d with Politeness and Address, to wish these
may be accompanied and supported by what is more valuable and lasting,
solid Sense and real Vertue. One grieves at any Imputation on such an
engaging Character, and if one cannot always find the favourite Person
fortunate, one labours for the Consolation of finding them discreet; and
even where their Conduct is not wholly blameless, Compassion and
Good-nature will take Place of Censure in a Noble, as well as in a
Christian Heart. We find out something to excuse, something to regret,
lamenting that such a Treasure should fall into unworthy Hands,
insensible of its Value, unskilful to preserve and improve it: We sigh,
we grieve, that any Person capable of being an Ornament to a Family, and
Blessing to the Age, should only serve as an unhappy Shipwreck to point
out the Misfortune of an ill Education and unsuitable Marriage, and the
inexpressible Danger of seeking Consolation and Relief, in any thing but
Innocence and Vertue.

They only who have felt it, know the Misery of being forc’d to marry
where they do not love; of being yok’d for Life to a disagreeable Person
and imperious Temper, where Ignorance and Folly (the Ingredients of a
Coxcomb, who is the most unsufferable Fool) tyrannizes over Wit and
Sense: To be perpetually contradicted for Contradiction-sake, and bore
down by Authority, not by Argument; to be denied one’s most innocent
Desires, for no other Reason but the absolute Will and Pleasure of a
Lord and Master, whose Follies a Wife, with all her Prudence, cannot
hide, and whose Commands she cannot but despise at the same Time that
she obeys them.

Or, suppose on the other Hand, she has married the Man she loves, heap’d
upon him the highest Obligations, by putting into his Power the Fortune
he coveted, the Beauty he profess’d to adore; how soon are the Tables
turn’d? It is her Part now to court and fawn; his real or pretended
Passion soon cools into Indifference, Neglect, or perhaps Aversion. ’Tis
well if he preserves a decent Civility, takes a little care of
Appearances, and is willing to conceal his Breach of Faith.

But shall a Wife retaliate? _GOD_ forbid! no Provocation, though ever so
great, can excuse the Sin, or lessen the Folly: It were indeed a
revenging the Injury upon herself in the most terrible Manner. The
_Italian_ Proverb shews a much better Way, _If you would be revenged of
your Enemies, live well_.

Devotion is the proper Remedy, and the only infallible Relief in all
Distresses; when this is neglected or turn’d into Ridicule, we run, as
from one Wickedness, so from one Misfortune, to another. Unhappy is that
Grandeur which is too great to be good, and that which sets us at a
Distance from true Wisdom. Even Bigotry, as contemptible as it is, is
preferable to profane Wit; for _that_ requires our Pity, but _this_
deserves our Abhorrence.

A Woman who seeks Consolation under Domestick Troubles from the Gaieties
of a Court, from Gallantry, Gaming, rambling in Search of odd
Adventures, childish, ridiculous and ill-natur’d Amusements, such as we
find in the unhappy Madam _M_——’s _Memoirs_, the common Methods of
getting rid of Time, that is, of our very Being, and keeping as much as
we can at a Distance from ourselves, will find these are very
insignificant Applications; they hardly skin the Wound, and can never
heal it, they even hurt, they make it fester, and render it almost
incurable.

What an ill Figure does a Woman make, with all the Charms of her Beauty,
and Sprightliness of her Wit, with all her good Humour and insinuating
Address, though she be the best Oeconomist in the World, the most
entertaining Company, if she remit her Guard, abate in the Severity of
her Caution, and Strictness of her Vertue? If she neglects those Methods
which are necessary to keep her, not only from a Crime, but from the
very Suspicion of one? She justifies the Injury her Husband has done
her, by publishing to the World, that whatever good Qualities she may
possess, Discretion, the Mistress of all the rest, is wanting: Though
she be really guiltless, she cannot prove her Innocence, the Suspicions
in her Prejudice are so strong. When she is censur’d, Charity, that
thinks no Evil, can only be silent; though it believes and hopes the
best, it cannot engage in her Defence, nor apologize for irregular
Actions.

An ill Husband may deprive a Wife of the Comfort and Quiet of her Life,
give occasion of exercising her Vertue, try her Patience and Fortitude
to the utmost, which is all he can do; it is herself only that can
accomplish her Ruin.

In vain we seek for Colours to varnish faulty Manners. An Advocate shews
the best Side of his Wit, but the worst of his Integrity when he has an
ill Cause to manage: But to what Purpose? He cannot impose on the
Judicious, his Colouring vanishes before their Eyes, and a good deal of
Malice, with a very little Sense, will find the Weakness of his
Arguments; so much the more suspected, by how much the more labour’d:
For Truth is plain and forcible, depending on her own Strength; she
requires no more than to be placed in a proper Light, nor condescends to
Art or Insinuations, unless in Compassion to the Weakness and Prejudice
of Mankind. Nor are they less mistaken in regard of Wit, which consists
not meerly in saying what is odd and out of the way; Fools do this
pretty often; but Wit consists in expressing good Sense in a surprising,
yet natural and agreeable Manner.

There are some Reasons, (for the Laws of _GOD_ and Man allow Divorces in
certain Cases) though not many, that authorize a Wife’s leaving her
Husband, but if any Thing short of absolute Necessity, from
irreclaimable Vice and Cruelty, prevails with her to break these sacred
and strongest Bonds, how is she expos’d to Temptations and Injuries,
Contempt, and the just Censure of the World. A Woman of Sense, one
shou’d think, could take but little Pleasure in the Courtship and
Flatteries of her Adorers, even when she is single: But for a married
Woman to admit of Love Addresses, is worse than Folly; it is a Crime so
ridiculous, that I will never believe a Woman of Sense can be guilty of
it. For what does a Man pretend when he whines and dangles after a
married Woman? Would he have her think he admires her, when he is
treating her with the last Contempt? or that he loves her, when he is
trying his Arts to gratify his brutal Passion, at the Price of all that
is dear to her? His fine Speeches have either no Meaning, or a
reproachful one; he affronts her Understanding as well as her Vertue, if
he fancies she cannot discern, or wants Spirit to resent the Insults.
She can look on him no otherwise than as the worst of Hypocrites, who
flatters to betray, and fawns that he may ruin; who is laying Snares to
entangle her in a Commerce founded on Injustice, and Breach of the most
sacred Vows, carried on by Dissimulation, Treachery, Lyes, and Deceit,
attended with Fear and Anxiety, Shame, Remorse, the bitter Stings of
Guilt, whose fatal Consequences cannot be foreseen, the least of which
is the blasting of her Honour. And why all this Mischief? Why, because
he professes to think her amiable, and with the blackest Treachery takes
Advantage of her Weakness, and the too good Opinion she has entertained
of him, to render her odious! to render her contemptible to himself, as
well as to the World.

Who would be that unhappy Person with all her Grandeur, Wit and Beauty,
who gave Occasion to these _Reflections_? Who would live so infamously,
and die so miserably? Whatever Apologies the Interested may invent, what
they call Gallantry will find a harsher Name with the Modest and
Discreet. Or else Gallantry, under whatever Form, must pass for a
scandalous Amusement, not to be allow’d among Persons of Vertue and
Honour. It is indeed ridiculous to talk of harmless Gallantry; there is,
there can be no such Thing: For besides the Umbrage and Scandal, a
Christian must be pure in Heart and Eyes; she who has vow’d her
Affections to one, and is his Property, cannot without Injustice, and
even Perjury, parcel them out to more.

It is in Distempers of the Mind as in those of the Body, a little Care
and Prudence will prevent what requires a long and difficult Regimen to
cure: Therefore in both Cases the Aphorism holds; _Resist the
Beginnings_; be early on our Guard. There was a Time when the most
abandon’d Sinner would have shrunk with Horror, at what by Degrees
becomes familiar, and, as they fancy, natural. The Sap is carry’d on
against Vertue as artfully as against a fortified Town, and the
Approaches are as methodical: But in this the Case is different, the
Besieged cannot fly; whereas Vertue is best secured by avoiding the
Enemy. They are sensible of this, and therefore nothing more common than
that silly Maxim, _That Vertue is not Vertue till it has been tried_.
This is a Mortar-piece that has done more Execution than all their other
Arts; for Self-confidence is always a Prelude to Destruction. The Wife
who listens to Admirers runs into Temptation, and sports upon a
Precipice. For, as a noble Lord, who knew the World perfectly well,
instructs his Daughter, she may as well play with Fire, as dally with
Gallantry. I can say nothing so well upon this Subject, as what is writ
by this noble Author, whom therefore I beg leave to transcribe:

“The _Extravagancies_ of the Age have made _Caution_ more necessary; and
by the same Reason that the too great Licence of ill Men, hath by
Consequence in many Things restrained the lawful Liberty of those who
did not abuse it, the unjustifiable Freedom of some of your Sex, have
involved the rest in the Penalty of being reduced. And though this
cannot so alter the Nature of Things, as to make that _Criminal_, which
in it self is _Indifferent_; yet if it maketh it _dangerous_, that alone
is insufficient to justify the _Restraint_. A _close Behaviour_ is the
fittest to receive _Vertue_ for its constant _Guest_, because there, and
there only, it can be secure. Proper _Reserves_ are the Outworks, and
must never be deserted by those who intend to keep the Place; they keep
off the Possibility not only of being _taken_, but of being _attempted_;
and if a Woman seeth Danger at never so remote a Distance, she is for
that Time to shorten her _Line_ of _Liberty_: She who will allow her
self to go to the _utmost Extents_ of every thing that is _lawful_, is
so very near going further, that those who lie at watch, will begin to
count upon her.

“Mankind, from the double Temptation of _Vanity_ and _Desire_, is apt to
turn every thing a _Woman_ doth to the _hopeful Side_; and there are few
who dare make an impudent Application, till they discern something which
they are willing to take for an _Encouragement_: It is safer therefore
to prevent such _Forwardness_, than to go about to _cure_ it: It
gathereth Strength by the first _Allowances_, and claimeth Right from
having been at any Time suffered with Impunity: Therefore nothing is
with more Care to be avoided, than such a kind of _Civility_ as may be
mistaken for _Invitation_.”

In the Time of Yore a _Knave_ was no more than a Servant, and possibly a
_Gallant_ might originally denote a well-dress’d Coxcomb, who had
nothing else to do but to make Parade of his Wit and Cloaths, and
perhaps of his Valour in Tournament, to gain the general Admiration of
the Ladies, and the Honour of openly professing with Respect and
Distance, his Veneration for some celebrated Beauty, or Woman of Merit.
But modern Gallantry is quite a different Business: The Gallant, the
fine Gentleman in Town, far superior to him upon the Road and all his
Undergraduates, in carrying on his Plot, in the artful Contrivance of
his Design, and Dexterity in executing it, happily combines the Cunning
of the Fox, and the Audacity of the Tyger. Cruel indeed! for he tears
the Fame, worries the Vertue, and compleats the Destruction of his
unhappy Prey. ’Tis well for him that Christianity as yet prevails among
us, for this obliges its Votaries to forgive the highest Injuries:
Should the Morality of the honest Heathen, which some are pleas’d to
profess, but not to practise, become the Fashion, or the old _English_
Spirit, which has done and suffered so much for Liberty and Property,
revive among us, alas! what would become of the _pretty Fellows_? Would
they not run the Risque of being taken for Wolves, or Savages, have a
Price set on their Heads, and be exterminated at any rate, that so among
rational Persons we might be esteem’d a civiliz’d Nation?

These Destroyers avoided, and better Care taken than usual in Womens
Education, Marriage might recover the Dignity and Felicity of its
original Institution; and Men be very happy in a married State, if it be
not their own Fault. The great Author of our Being, who does nothing in
vain, ordained it as the only honourable Way of continuing our Race; as
a Distinction between reasonable Creatures and meer Animals, into which
we degrade our selves, by forsaking the Divine Institution. _GOD_
ordained it for a Blessing, not a Curse: We are foolish as well as
wicked, when that which was appointed for mutual Comfort and Assistance,
has quite contrary Effect through our Folly and Perverseness. Marriage
therefore, notwithstanding all the loose Talk of the Town, the Satires
of antient, or modern Pretenders to Wit, will never lose its just Esteem
from the Wise and Good.

Though much may be said against this, or that Match; though the
Ridiculousness of some, the Wickedness of others, and the Imprudence of
too many, may provoke our Wonder, or Scorn, our Indignation or Pity; yet
Marriage in general is too sacred to be treated with Disrespect, too
venerable to be the Subject of Raillery and Buffoonery. None but the
Impious will pretend to refine on a Divine Institution, or suppose there
is a better Way for Society and Posterity. Whoever scoffs at this, and
by odious Representation would possess the married Pair with a frightful
Idea of each other, as if a Wife is nothing better than a Domestick
Devil, an Evil he must tolerate for his Conveniency; and an Husband must
of necessity be a Tyrant or a Dupe; has ill Designs on both, and is
himself a dangerous Enemy to the Publick, as well as to private
Families.

But upon what are the Satires against Marriage grounded? Not upon the
State it self, if they are just, but upon the ill Choice, or foolish
Conduct of those who are in it? and what has Marriage consider’d in it
self to do with these? When the Blame is laid where it ought to be, not
Marriage, but inordinate Passion, Rashness, Humour, Pride, Covetousness,
Inconstancy, unjust Suspicions, unnecessary Severity, and, in a Word, a
silly, vicious, imprudent Choice, or Conduct, ought to be arraign’d. For
why should Marriage be exclaim’d against when Men reap the Fruit of
their own Folly? If they will put an unequal Yoke upon their own Necks,
they have their Choice, who can they blame for it? If instead of a Help
and Comfort, their Courtship has procured them a Plague and Disgrace,
who may they thank but themselves: A Man can never be under any sort of
Obligation to marry against his Liking, but through some reigning Vice,
or want of Fortitude.

Could there be no happy Marriages, Arguments against Matrimony might
have their Weight with the Reasonable as well as the Licentious. But
since the Laws of _GOD_ and Man, founded upon Reason and Experience,
forbid a Temporary Contract, and engage the married Pair for Life, it is
not only possible, but highly probable, and not without many eminent
Instances, that there are and may be, happy Marriages; provided we act
reasonably in our Choice and Conduct, acquit our selves like wise Men
and Christians. So that all we have to say against Matrimony, seems only
to shew the Levity, or Impiety of our own Minds: It is no more than a
Flourish of Wit, and how prettily soever we may talk, it is but little
to the Purpose.

Is it the being tied to _One_ that offends us? Why this ought rather to
recommend it to us, and would really do so, were we guided by Reason,
and not by Humour or brutish Passion. He who does not make Friendship
the chief Inducement to his Choice, and prefer it before any other
Consideration, does not deserve a good Wife, and therefore should not
complain if he goes without one. Now we can never grow weary of our
Friends; the longer we have had them the more they are endear’d to us;
and if we have One well assur’d, we need seek no farther, but are
sufficiently happy in her. The Love of Variety in this and in other
Cases, shews only the ill Temper of our own Mind in that; for instead of
being content with a competent Share of Good, thankfully and chearfully
enjoying what is afforded us, and patiently bearing with the
Inconveniencies that attend it, we would set up our Rest here, and
expect Felicity where it is not to be found.

The Christian Institution of Marriage provides the best that may be for
Domestick Quiet and Content, and for the Education of Children; so that
if we were not under the Tie of Religion, even the Good of Society and
civil Duty, would oblige us to what Christianity requires: And since the
very best of us are but poor frail Creatures, full of Ignorance and
Infirmity, so that in Justice we ought to tolerate each other, and
exercise that Patience towards our Companions to Day, which we shall
give them occasion to shew towards us To-morrow; the more we are
accustom’d to any one’s Conversation, the better shall we understand
their Humour, be more able to comply with their Weakness, and less
offended at it. For he who would have every one submit to his Humours,
and will not in his Turn comply with them, (though we should suppose him
always in the right, whereas a Man of this Temper very seldom is so) is
not fit for a Husband, scarce fit for Society, but ought to be turn’d
out of the Herd as an unreasonable Creature.

There may indeed be Inconveniencies in a married Life; but is there any
Condition without them? And he who lives single, that he may indulge
Licentiousness and give up himself to the Conduct of wild and ungovern’d
Desires, (or indeed out of any other Inducement, than the Glory of _GOD_
and the Good of his Soul, through the Prospect he has of doing more
Good, or because his Frame and Disposition of Mind are more fit for a
single than a married Life) may rail as he pleases against Matrimony,
but can never justify his own Conduct, nor clear it from the Imputation
of Wickedness and Folly.

But if Marriage be such a blessed State, how comes it, may you say, that
there are so few happy Marriages? Now in answer to this, it is not to be
wonder’d that so few succeed; we should rather be surpriz’d to find so
many do, considering how imprudently Men engage, the Motives they act
by, and the very strange Conduct they observe throughout.

For pray, what do Men propose to themselves in Marriage? What
Qualifications do they look after in a Spouse? What will she bring? is
the first Enquiry: How many Acres? Or how much ready Coin? Not that this
is altogether an unnecessary Question, for Marriage without a
Competency, that is, not only a bare Subsistence, but even a handsome
and plentiful provision, according to the Quality and Circumstances of
the Parties, is no very comfortable Condition. They who marry for Love,
as they call it, find Time enough to repent their rash Folly, and are
not long in being convinc’d, that whatever fine Speeches might be made
in the Heat of Passion, there could be no _real Kindness_ between those
who can agree to make each other miserable. But tho’ an Estate is to be
consider’d, it should not be the _Main_, much less the only
Consideration; for Happiness does not depend on Wealth; That may be
wanting, and too often is, where This abounds. He who marries himself to
a Fortune only, must expect no other Satisfaction than that can bring
him; but let him not say that Marriage, but that his own covetous or
prodigal Temper, has made him unhappy. What Joy has that Man in all his
Plenty, who must either run from home to possess it, contrary to all the
Rules of Justice, to the Laws of _GOD_ and Man, nay, even in Opposition
to good Nature and good Breeding too, which some Men make more Account
of than of all the rest; or else be forc’d to share it with a Woman
whose Person or Temper is disagreeable, whose Presence is sufficient to
sour all his Enjoyments, so that if he has any Remains of Religion or
good Manners, he must suffer the Uneasiness of a continual Watch, to
force himself to a constrain’d Civility?

Few Men have so much Goodness as to bring themselves to a Liking of what
they loath’d, meerly because it is their Duty to like; on the contrary,
when they marry with an Indifferency, to please their Friends or
increase their Fortune, the Indifferency proceeds to an Aversion, and
perhaps even the Kindness and Complaisance of the poor abus’d Wife,
shall only serve to increase it. What follows then? There is no Content
at home, so it is sought elsewhere, and the Fortune so unjustly got, is
as carelesly squander’d; the Man takes a Loose, what should hinder him?
He has all in his Hands, and Custom has almost taken off that small
Restraint Reputation us’d to lay. The Wife finds too late what was the
Idol the Man adored, which her Vanity, perhaps, or it may be the
Commands and Importunities of Relations, would not let her see before;
and now he has got That into his Possession, she must make Court to him
for a little sorry Alimony out of her own Estate. If Discretion and
Piety prevail upon her Passions, she sits down quietly contented with
her Lot, seeks no Consolation in the Multitude of Adorers, since he whom
only she desir’d to please, because it was her Duty to do so, will take
no Delight in her Wit or Beauty: She follows no Diversion to allay her
Grief, uses no Cordials to support her Spirit, that may sully her Vertue
or bring a Cloud upon her Reputation; she makes no Appeals to the
mis-judging Croud, hardly mentions her Misfortunes to her most intimate
Acquaintance, nor lays a Load on her Husband to ease her self; but
would, if it were possible, conceal his Crimes, though her Prudence and
Vertue give him a thousand Reproaches without her Intention or
Knowledge; and retiring from the World, she seeks a more solid Comfort
than it can give her, taking Care to do nothing that Censoriousness, or
even Malice it self can misconstrue to her Prejudice. Now she puts on
all her Reserves, and thinks even innocent Liberties scarce allowable in
her disconsolate State; she has other Business to mind: Nor does she in
her Retirements reflect so much upon the Hand that administers this
bitter Cup, as consider what is the best Use she can make of it. And
thus indeed, Marriage, however unfortunate in other respects, becomes a
very great Blessing to her. She might have been exposed to all the
Temptations of a plentiful Fortune, have given up her self to Sloth and
Luxury, and gone on at the common rate, even of the better Sort, in
doing no Hurt, and as little Good: But now her kind Husband obliges her
to _Consider_, and gives Opportunity to exercise her Vertue; he makes it
necessary to withdraw from those Gaieties and Pleasures of Life, which
do more Mischief under the Shew of Innocency, than they could if they
appear’d attended with a Crime, discomposing and dissolving the Mind,
and making it uncapable of any manner of Good, to be sure of any thing
Great and Excellent. Silence and Solitude, the being forc’d from the
ordinary Entertainments of her Station, may perhaps seem a desolate
Condition at first, and we may allow her, poor weak Woman! to be
somewhat shock’d at it, since even a wise and courageous Man perhaps
would not keep his Ground. We would conceal (if we could) for the Honour
of the Sex, Mens being baffled and dispirited by a smaller matter, were
not the Instances too frequent and too notorious.

But a little Time wears off all the Uneasiness, and puts her in
possession of Pleasures, which till now she has unkindly been kept a
Stranger to. Affliction, the sincerest Friend, the frankest Monitor, the
best Instructor, and indeed, the only useful School that Women are ever
put to, rouzes her Understanding, opens her Eyes, fixes her Attention,
and diffuses such a Light, such a Joy into her Mind, as not only Informs
her better, but Entertains her more than ever her _Ruel_ did, though
crouded by the Men of Wit. She now distinguishes between Truth and
Appearances, between solid and apparent Good; has found out the
Instability of all earthly Things, and won’t any more be deceived by
relying on them; can discern who are the Flatterers of her Fortune, and
who the Admirers and Encouragers of her Vertue; accounting it no little
Blessing to be rid of those Leeches, who hung upon her only for their
own Advantage. Now sober Thoughts succeed to Hurry and Impertinence, to
Forms and Ceremony; she can secure her Time, and knows how to improve
it; never truly a happy Woman till she came, in the Eye of the World, to
be reckon’d Miserable.

Thus the Husband’s Vices may become an Occasion of the Wife’s Vertues,
and his Neglect do her a more real Good than his Kindness could. But all
injur’d Wives don’t behave themselves after this Fashion, nor can their
Husbands justly expect it. With what Face can he blame her for following
his Example, and being as extravagant on the one Hand, as he is on the
other? Though she cannot justify her Excesses to _GOD_, to the World,
nor to her Self, yet surely in respect of him they may admit of an
Excuse. For to all the rest of his Absurdities, (for Vice is always
unreasonable) he adds one more, who expects that Vertue from another
which he won’t practise himself.

But suppose a Man does not marry for Money, though for one that does
not, perhaps there are thousands that do; suppose he marries for Love,
an Heroick Action, which makes a mighty Noise in the World, partly
because of its Rarity, and partly in regard of its Extravagancy, what
does his marrying for Love amount to? There’s no great Odds between his
marrying for the Love of Money, or for the Love of Beauty; the Man does
not act according to Reason in either Case, but is govern’d by irregular
Appetites. But he loves her Wit perhaps, and this, you’ll say, is more
Spiritual, more Refin’d: Not at all, if you examine it to the Bottom.
For what is that which now a-days passes under the Name of Wit? A bitter
and ill-natur’d Raillery, a pert Repartee, or a confident talking at
all; and in such a multitude of Words, it’s Odds if something or other
does not pass that is surprizing, though every Thing that surprizes does
not please; some Things being wonder’d at for their Ugliness, as well as
others for their Beauty. True Wit, durst one venture to describe it, is
quite another Thing; it consists in such a Sprightliness of Imagination,
such a Reach and Turn of Thought, so properly express’d, as strikes and
pleases a judicious Taste. For though, as one says of Beauty, _’tis in
no Face, but in the Lover’s Mind_, so it may be said of some sorts of
Wit, it is not in him that speaks, but in the Imagination of his Hearer;
yet doubtless there is a true Standard-Wit, which must be allow’d for
such by every one who understands the Terms. I don’t say that they shall
all _equally_ like it; and it is this Standard-wit that always pleases,
the Spurious does so only for a Season.

Now what is it that strikes a judicious Taste? Not that, to be sure,
which injures the Absent, or provokes the Company, which poisons the
Mind under Pretence of entertaining it, proceeding from, or giving
Countenance to false Notions, to dangerous and immoral Principles. Wit
indeed is distinct from Judgment, but it is not contrary to it; ’tis
rather its Handmaid, serving to awaken and fix the Attention, that so we
may judge rightly. Whatever charms, does so because of its Regularity
and Proportion; otherwise, though it is Extraordinary and out of the
Way, it will only be star’d on like a Monster, but can never be lik’d.
And tho’ a Thought is ever so fine and new, ever so well express’d, if
it suits not with Decorum and good Manners, it is not just and fit, and
therefore offends our Reason, and consequently has no real Charms, nor
would afford us any Entertainment, if our Taste were not deprav’d.

But it must not be suppos’d that Womens Wit approaches those Heights
which Men arrive at, or that they indulge those Liberties the other
take. Decency lays greater Restraints on them, their Timorousness does
them this one, and perhaps this only Piece of Service, it keeps them
from breaking through these Restraints, and following their Masters and
Guides in many of their daring and masculine Crimes. As the World goes,
your Witty Men are usually distinguish’d by the Liberty they take with
Religion, good Manners, or their Neighbours Reputation: But, _GOD_ be
thank’d, it is not yet so bad, as that Women should form Cabals to
propagate Atheism and Irreligion[1]. A Man then cannot hope to find a
Woman whose Wit is of a Size with his, but when he doats on Wit, it is
to be imagin’d he makes Choice of that which comes the nearest to his
own.

Footnote 1:

  _This was wrote in the Beginning of the present Century._

Thus, whether it be Wit or Beauty that a Man’s in Love with, there are
no great Hopes of a lasting Happiness; Beauty, with all the Helps of
Art, is of no long Date; the more it is help’d, the sooner it decays;
and he, who only or chiefly chose for Beauty, will in a little Time find
the same Reason for another Choice. Nor is that sort of Wit which he
prefers, of a more sure Tenure; or allowing it to last, it will not
always please. For that which has not a real Excellency and Value in it
self, entertains no longer than that giddy Humour which recommended it
to us holds; and when we can like on no just, or on very little Ground,
’tis certain a Dislike will arise, as lightly and as unaccountably. And
it is not improbable that such a Husband may in a little Time, by ill
Usage, provoke such a Wife to exercise her Wit, that is, her Spleen on
him, and then it is not hard to guess how very agreeable it will be to
him.

In a word, when we have reckon’d up how many look no further than the
making of their Fortune, as they call it; who don’t so much as propose
to themselves any Satisfaction in the Woman to whom they plight their
Faith, seeking only to be Masters of her Estate, that so they may have
Money enough to indulge all their irregular Appetites; who think they
are as good as can be expected, if they are but, according to the
fashionable Term, _Civil Husbands_; when we have taken the Number of
your giddy Lovers, who are not more violent in their Passion than they
are certain to repent of it; when to these you have added such as marry
without any Thought at all, further than that it is the Custom of the
World, what others have done before them, that the Family must be kept
up, the antient Race preserv’d, and therefore their kind Parents and
Guardians choose as they think convenient, without ever consulting the
Young one’s Inclinations, who must be satisfied, or pretend so at least,
upon Pain of their Displeasure, and that heavy Consequence of it,
Forfeiture of their Estate: These set aside, I fear there will be but a
small Remainder to marry out of better Considerations; and even amongst
the Few that do, not one in a Hundred takes Care to deserve his Choice.

But do the Women never choose amiss? Are the Men only in Fault? That is
not pretended; for he who will be just, must be forced to acknowledge,
that neither Sex are always in the right. A Woman, indeed, can’t
properly be said to Choose; all that is allow’d her, is to Refuse or
Accept what is offer’d. And when we have made such reasonable Allowances
as are due to the Sex, perhaps they may not appear so much in Fault as
one would at first imagine, and a generous Spirit will find more
Occasion to Pity, than to Reprove. But sure I transgress——it must not be
suppos’d that the Ladies can do amiss! He is but an ill-bred Fellow who
pretends that they need Amendment! They are, no doubt on’t, always in
the right, and most of all when they take Pity on distressed Lovers!
Whatever they _say_ carries an Authority that no Reason can resist, and
all that they _do_ must needs be Exemplary! This is the Modish Language,
nor is there a Man of Honour amongst the whole Tribe, that would not
venture his Life, nay, and his Salvation too, in their Defence, if any
but himself attempts to injure them. But I must ask Pardon if I can’t
come up to these Heights, nor flatter them with the having no Faults,
which is only a malicious Way of continuing and increasing their
Mistakes.

Women, it’s true, ought to be treated with Civility; for since a little
Ceremony and out-side Respect is all their Guard, all the Privilege
that’s allow’d them, it were barbarous to deprive them of it; and
because I would treat them civilly, I would not express my Civility at
the usual rate. I would not, under Pretence of Honouring and paying a
mighty Deference to the Ladies, call them Fools, or what’s worse, to
their Faces; For what are all the fine Speeches and Submissions that are
made, but an abusing them in a well-bred Way? She must be a Fool with a
Witness, who can believe a Man, Proud and Vain as he is, will lay his
boasted Authority, the Dignity and Prerogative of his Sex, one Moment at
her Feet, but in Prospect of taking it up again to more Advantage; he
may call himself her Slave a few Days, but it is only in order to make
her his all the rest of his Life.

Indeed that mistaken Self-Love that reigns in the most of us, both Men
and Women, that over-good Opinion we have of ourselves, and Desire that
others should have of us, makes us swallow every Thing that looks like
Respect, without examining how wide it is from what it appears to be.
For nothing is in Truth a greater Outrage than Flattery and feign’d
Submissions; the plain _English_ of which is this, “I have a very mean
Opinion both of your Understanding and Vertue; you are Weak enough to be
impos’d on, and Vain enough to snatch at the Bait I throw; there’s no
Danger of your finding out my Meaning, or disappointing me of my Ends. I
offer you _Incense_, ’tis true, but you are like to pay for’t, and to
make me a Recompence for your Folly, in imagining I would give my self
this Trouble, did I not hope, nay, were I not sure, to find my own
Account in it. If for nothing else, you’ll serve at least as an Exercise
of my Wit; and how much soever you swell with my Breath, ’tis I deserve
the Praise for talking so well on so poor a Subject. We, who make the
Idols, are the greater Deities; and as we set you up, so it is in our
Power to reduce you to your first Obscurity, or to somewhat worse, to
Contempt; you are therefore only on your good Behaviour, and are like to
be no more than what we please to make you.” This is the Flatterer’s
Language aside, this is the true Sense of his Heart, whatever his
Grimace may be before the Company.

And if this be the true Meaning of honourable Courtship, what is meant
by that Jargon, that Profusion of Love and Admiration which passes for
Gallantry, when either of the Parties are married? Is it not the utmost
Scurrility, in that it supposes she is, or that he hopes to make her,
what good Manners forbids to name? And since he makes so free with the
Lady’s Honour, can she afford him a civiller Answer, than what her
Footman may deliver with a Crab-tree? But I correct my self,——this might
be the Air of a haughty _Roman_ Prude; our _British_ Beauties are far
more Gentle and Well-bred. And he who has the same Designs upon other
Mens Relations, is sometimes so civil as to bear with the Outrages
offer’d to his own.

Not but that ’tis possible, and sometimes Matter of Fact, to express our
selves beyond the Truth in Praise of a Person, and yet not be guilty of
Flattery; but then we must Think what we Say, and Mean what we Profess.
We may be so blinded by some Passion or other, especially Love, which in
Civil and Good-natur’d Persons is apt to exceed, as to believe some
Persons more deserving than really they are, and to pay them greater
Respect and Kindness than is in Strictness due to them. But this is not
the present Case; for our fine Speech-makers doat too much on themselves
to have any great Passion for another. Their Eyes are commonly too much
fix’d on their own Excellencies, to view another’s good Qualities
through a Magnifying-Glass; at least if ever they turn that End of the
Perspective towards their Neighbours, ’tis only in Respect and Reference
to themselves. They are their own Centres, they find a Disproportion in
every Line that does not tend thither, and in the next Visit they make,
you shall hear all the fine Things they had said, repeated to the new
Object, and nothing remembred of the former but her Vanity, or something
else as ridiculous, which serves for a Foil, or a Whet to Discourse. For
let there be ever so many Wits in the Company, Conversation would
languish, and they would be at a Loss, did not a little Censoriousness
come in at a Need to help them.

Let us then treat the Ladies as civilly as may be, but let us not do it
by Flattering them, but by endeavouring to make them such as may truly
deserve our hearty Esteem and Kindness. Men ought really for their own
Sakes, to do what in them lies to make Women Wise and Good, and then it
might be hoped they themselves would effectually Study and Practice that
Wisdom and Vertue they recommend to others. But so long as Men, even the
best of them, who do not outrage the Women they pretend to adore, have
base and unworthy Ends to serve, it is not to be expected that they
should consent to such Methods as would certainly disappoint them. They
would have their own Relations do well; it is their Interest: but it
sometimes happens to be for their Turn that another Man’s should not,
and then their Generosity fails them, and no Man is apter to find Fault
with another’s dishonourable Actions, than he who is ready to do, or
perhaps has done the same himself.

And as Men have little Reason to expect Happiness when they marry only
for the Love of Money, Wit, or Beauty, as has been already shewn, so
much less can a Woman expect a tolerable Life, when she goes upon these
Considerations. Let the Business be carried as prudently as it can be on
the Woman’s Side, a reasonable Man can’t deny that she has by much the
harder Bargain: because she puts her self intirely into her Husband’s
Power, and if the Matrimonial Yoke be grievous, neither Law nor Custom
afford her that Redress which a Man obtains. He who has Sovereign Power
does not value the Provocations of a Rebellious Subject; he knows how to
subdue him with Ease, and will make himself obey’d: But Patience and
Submission are the only Comforts that are left to a poor People, who
groan under Tyranny, unless they are Strong enough to break the Yoke, to
Depose and Abdicate, which, I doubt, would not be allow’d of here. For
whatever may be said against Passive-Obedience in another Case, I
suppose there’s no Man but likes it very well in this; how much soever
Arbitrary Power may be dislik’d on a Throne, not _Milton_, nor _B. H—_,
nor any of the Advocates of Resistance, would cry up Liberty to poor
_Female Slaves_, or plead for the Lawfulness of Resisting a private
Tyranny.

If there be a Disagreeableness of Humours, this, in my Mind, is harder
to be born than greater Faults, as being a continual Plague, and for the
most Part incurable. Other Vices a Man may grow weary of, or may be
convinced of the Evil of them, he may forsake them, or they him, but his
Humour and Temper are seldom, if ever, put off. Ill-nature sticks to him
from his Youth to his grey Hairs, and a Boy that’s Humorous and Proud,
makes a Peevish, Positive, and Insolent Old Man. Now if this be the
Case, and the Husband be full of Himself, obstinately bent on his own
Way, with or without Reason, if he be one who must be always Admir’d,
always Humour’d, and yet scarce knows what will please him; if he has
Prosperity enough to keep him from considering, and to furnish him with
a Train of Flatterers and obsequious Admirers; and Learning and Sense
enough to make him a Fop in Perfection; for a Man can never be a
compleat Coxcomb, unless he has a considerable Share of these to value
himself upon; What can the poor Woman do? The Husband is too Wise to be
Advis’d, too Good to be Reform’d, she must follow all his Paces, and
tread in all his unreasonable Steps, or there is no Peace, no Quiet for
her; she must Obey with the greatest Exactness, ’tis in vain to expect
any manner of Compliance on his Side, and the more she complies the more
she may; his fantastical Humours grow with her Desire to gratify them,
for Age increases Opinionatry in some, as well as it does Experience in
others. Of such sort of Folks as these it was that _Soloman_ spake, when
he said, _Seest thou a Man wise in his own Conceit, there is more hope
of a Fool than of him_; That is, the profligate Sinner, such a one being
always a Fool in _Solomon’s_ Language, is in a fairer Way of being
convinc’d of his Folly, and brought to Reason, than the Proud, Conceited
Man. That Man, indeed, can never be good at Heart, who is full of
Himself and his own Endowments: Not that it is necessary, because it is
not possible (humanly speaking) for one to be totally ignorant of his
own good Qualities, I had almost said, he _ought_ to have a modest Sense
of ’em, otherwise he can’t be duly thankful, nor make the Use of them
that is required, to the Glory of _GOD_, and the Good of Mankind; but he
views them in a wrong Light, if he discerns any Thing that may exalt him
above his Neighbours, make him over-look their Merit, or treat them with
Neglect or Contempt. He ought to behold them with Fear and Trembling, as
Talents which he has freely receiv’d, and for which he is highly
Accountable, and therefore they should not excite his Pride, but his
Care and Industry.

And if Pride and Self-conceit keep a Man who has some good Qualities,
and is not so bad as the most of his Neighbours, from growing better, it
for certain confirms and hardens the Wicked in his Crimes, it sets him
up for a Wit, that is, according to modern Acceptation, one who rallies
all that is serious, a Contemner of the Priests first, and then of the
Deity Himself. For Penitence and Self-condemnation are what his
Haughtiness cannot bear, and since his Crimes have brought upon him the
Reproaches of his own Mind, since he will not take the regular Way to be
rid of them, which is, by Humbling himself, and making his Peace with
Heaven, he bids Defiance to it, and wou’d, if he could, believe there is
no future State, no After-retribution, because he has too just Reason to
fear it.

If therefore it be a Woman’s hard Fate to meet with a disagreeable
Temper, and of all others, the Haughty, Imperious, and Self-conceited
are the most so, she is as unhappy as any Thing in this World can make
her. For when a Wife’s Temper does not please, if she makes her Husband
uneasy, he can find Entertainments Abroad; he has a hundred Ways of
relieving himself; but neither Prudence nor Duty will allow a Woman to
fly out: her Business and Entertainment are at home; and tho’ he makes
it ever so uneasy to her, she must be content, and make her best on’t.
She who elects a Monarch for Life, who gives him an Authority, she
cannot recall, however he misapply it, who puts her Fortune and Person
entirely in his Power, nay, even the very Desires of her Heart,
according to some learned Casuists, so as that it is not lawful to Will
or Desire any Thing but what he approves and allows, had need be very
sure that she does not make a Fool her Head, nor a Vicious Man her Guide
and Pattern; she had best stay till she can meet with one who has the
Government of his own Passions, and has duly regulated his own Desires,
since he is to have such an absolute Power over hers. But he who doats
on a Face, he who makes Money his Idol, he who is charm’d with vain and
empty Wit, gives no such Evidence, either of Wisdom or Goodness, that a
Woman of any tolerable Sense shou’d care to venture her self to his
Conduct.

Indeed, your fine Gentleman’s Actions are now a-days such, that did not
Custom and the Dignity of his Sex give Weight and Authority to them, a
Woman that thinks twice might bless her self, and say, Is this the Lord
and Master to whom I am to promise Love, Honour and Obedience? What can
be the Object of Love but amiable Qualities, the Image of the Deity
impress’d upon a generous and godlike Mind, a Mind that is above this
World, to be sure above all the Vices, the Tricks and Baseness of it; a
Mind that is not full of it self, nor contracted to little private
Interests, but which, in Imitation of that glorious Pattern it
endeavours to copy after, expands and diffuses it self to its utmost
Capacity in doing Good. But this fine Gentleman is quite of another
Strain, he is the Reverse of this in every Instance. He is, I confess,
very fond of his own Dear Person, he sees very much in it to admire; his
Air and Mien, his Words and Actions, every Motion he makes, declare it;
but they must have a Judgment of his Size, every whit as shallow, and a
Partiality as great as his own, who can be of his Mind. How then can I
Love? And if not Love, much less Honour. Love may arise from Pity, or a
generous Desire to make that Lovely which as yet is not so, when we see
any hopes of Success in our Endeavours of improving it; but Honour
supposes some excellent Qualities already, something worth our Esteem;
but, alas! there is nothing more contemptible than this Trifle of a Man,
this meer Out-side, whose Mind is as base and mean as his external Pomp
is glittering. His Office or Title apart, to which some ceremonious
Observance must be paid for Order’s sake, there’s nothing in him that
can command our Respect. Strip him of Equipage and Fortune, and such
Things as only dazle our Eyes and Imaginations, but don’t in any measure
affect our Reason, or cause a Reverence in our Hearts, and the poor
Creature sinks beneath our Notice, because not supported by real Worth.
And if a Woman can neither Love nor Honour, she does ill in promising to
Obey, since she is like to have a crooked Rule to regulate her Actions.

A Meer Obedience, such as is paid only to Authority, and not out of Love
and a Sense of the Justice and Reasonableness of the Command, will be of
an uncertain Tenure. As it can’t but be uneasy to the Person who pays
it, so he who receives it will be sometimes disappointed when he expects
to find it: For that Woman must be endow’d with a Wisdom and Goodness
much above what we suppose the Sex capable of, I fear much greater than
any Man can pretend to, who can so constantly conquer her Passions, and
divert her self even of Innocent Self-love, as to give up the Cause when
she is in the Right, and to submit her inlightned Reason, to the
imperious Dictates of a blind Will, and wild Imagination, even when she
clearly perceives the ill Consequences of it, the Imprudence, nay, Folly
and Madness of such a Conduct.

And if a Woman runs such a Risque when she marries prudently, according
to the Opinion of the World, that is, when she permits her self to be
dispos’d of to a Man equal to her in Birth, Education and Fortune, and
as good as the most of his Neighbours, (for if none were to marry, but
Men of strict Vertue and Honour, I doubt the World would be but thinly
Peopled) if at the very best her Lot is hard, what can she expect who is
Sold, or any otherwise betray’d into mercenary Hands, to one who is in
all, or most respects, unequal to her? A Lover who comes upon what is
call’d equal Terms, makes no very advantageous Proposal to the Lady he
courts, and to whom he seems to be an humble Servant. For under many
sounding Compliments, Words that have nothing in them, this is his true
Meaning; He wants one to manage his Family, an House-keeper, one whose
Interest it will be not to wrong him, and in whom therefore he can put
greater Confidence than in any he can hire for Money. One who may breed
his Children, taking all the Care and Trouble of their Education, to
preserve his Name and Family. One whose Beauty, Wit, or good Humour and
agreeable Conversation, will entertain him at Home when he has been
contradicted and disappointed Abroad; who will do him that Justice the
ill-natur’d World denies him; that is, in any one’s Language but his
own, sooth his Pride and flatter his Vanity, by having always so much
good Sense as to be on his Side, to conclude him in the Right, when
others are so ignorant, or so rude, as to deny it. Who will not be blind
to his Merit nor contradict his Will and Pleasure, but make it her
Business, her very Ambition to content him; whose Softness and gentle
Compliance will calm his Passions, to whom he may safely disclose his
troublesome Thoughts, and in her Breast discharge his Cares; whose Duty,
Submission and Observance, will heal those Wounds other Peoples
Opposition or Neglect have given him. In a word, one whom he can
intirely Govern, and consequently may form her to his Will and Liking,
who must be his for Life, and therefore cannot quit his Service, let him
treat her how he will.

And if this be what every Man expects, the Sum of his violent Love and
Courtship, when it is put into Sense, and rendred Intelligible, to what
a fine pass does she bring her self who purchases a Lord and Master, not
only with her Money, but with what is of greater Value, at the Price of
her Discretion! Who has not so much as that poor Excuse, Precedent and
Example; or if she has, they are only such as all the World condemns?
She will not find him less a Governor because she was once his Superior,
on the contrary, the Scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they
get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence. For,
as the wise Man long since observ’d, A Servant when he Reigns, is one of
those Things for which the Earth is disquieted, and which no body is
able to bear.

It is the hardest Thing in the World for a Woman to know that a Man is
not Mercenary, that he does not act on base and ungenerous Principles,
even when he is her Equal, because being absolute Master, she and all
the Grants he makes her are in his Power, and there have been but too
many Instances of Husbands, that by wheedling, or threatning their
Wives, by seeming Kindness, or cruel Usage, have persuaded, or forc’d
them out of what has been settled on them. So that the Woman has in
Truth no Security but the Man’s Honour and Good-nature, a Security that
in this present Age no wise Person would venture much upon. A Man enters
into Articles very readily before Marriage, and so he may, for he
performs no more of them afterwards than he thinks fit. A Wife must
never dispute with her Husband; his Reasons are now, no doubt on’t,
better than hers, whatever they were before; he is sure to persuade her
out of her Agreement, and bring her, it must be suppos’d, _Willingly_,
to give up what she did vainly hope to obtain, and what she thought had
been made sure to her. And if she shews any Refractoriness, there are
Ways enough to humble her; so that by Right or Wrong the Husband gains
his Will. For Covenants between Husband and Wife, like Laws in an
Arbitrary Government, are of little Force, the Will of the Sovereign is
All in All. Thus it is in Matter of Fact, I will not answer for the
Right of it; for if the Woman’s Reasons, upon which those Agreements are
grounded, are not just and good, why did he consent to them? Was it
because there was no other Way to obtain his Suit, and with an Intention
to annul them when it shall be in his Power? Where then is his
Sincerity? But if her Reasons are good, where is his Justice in obliging
her to quit them? He neither way acts like an equitable or honest Man.

But when a Woman marries unequally and beneath her self, there is almost
Demonstration that the Man is sordid and unfair; that instead of loving
her he only loves himself, trapans and ruins her to serve his own Ends.
For if he had not a mighty Opinion of himself, (which Temper is like to
make an admirable Husband) he would never imagine that his Person and
good Qualities could make Compensation for all the Advantages she quits
on his Account. If he had a real Esteem for her, or valued her
Reputation, he would not expose it, nor have her Discretion call’d in
Question for his sake; and if he truly lov’d her, he would not reduce
her to Straits and a narrow Fortune, nor so much as lessen her way of
Living to better his own. For since God has placed different Ranks in
the World, put some in a higher, and some in a lower Station, for Order
and Beauty’s sake, and for many good Reasons; though it is both our
Wisdom and Duty not only to submit with Patience, but to be thankful and
well-satisfied, when by his Providence we are brought low, yet there is
no manner of Reason for us to degrade our selves; on the contrary, much
why we ought not. The better our Lot is in this World, and the more we
have of it, the greater is our Leisure to prepare for the next; we have
the more Opportunity to exercise that God-like Quality, to taste that
Divine Pleasure, doing Good to the Bodies and Souls of those beneath us.
Is it not then ill Manners to Heaven, and an irreligious Contempt of its
Favours, for a Woman to slight that nobler Employment, to which it has
assign’d her, and thrust her self down to a meaner Drudgery, to what is
in the very literal Sense a caring for the Things of the World, a caring
not only to Please, but to Maintain a Husband?

And a Husband so chosen will not at all abate of his Authority and Right
to Govern, whatever fair Promises he might make before. She has made him
her Head, and he thinks himself as well qualified as the Best to act
accordingly, nor has she given him any such Evidence of her Prudence as
may dispose him to make an Act of Grace in her Favour. Besides, great
Obligations are what Superiors cannot bear, they are more than can be
return’d; to acknowledge were only to reproach themselves with
Ingratitude, and therefore the readiest Way is, not to own, but
over-look them, or rather, as too many do, to repay them with Affronts
and Injuries.

What then is to be done? How must a Man choose, and what Qualities must
incline a Woman to accept, that so our married Couple may be as happy as
that State can make them? This is no hard Question; let the Soul be
principally consider’d, and Regard had in the first place to a good
Understanding, a vertuous Mind; and in all other respects let there be
as much Equality as may be. If they are good Christians and of suitable
Tempers all will be well; but I should be shrewdly tempted to suspect
their Christianity who marry after any of those Ways we have been
speaking of. I dare venture to say, that they don’t act according to the
Precepts of the Gospel, they neither shew the Wisdom of the Serpent, nor
the Innocency of the Dove; they have neither so much Government of
themselves, nor so much Charity for their Neighbours; they neither take
such Care not to scandalize others, nor to avoid Temptations themselves,
are neither so much above this World, nor so affected with the next, as
they would certainly be, did the Christian Religion operate in their
Hearts, did they rightly understand, and sincerely practise it, or acted
_indeed_ according to the Spirit of the Gospel.

But it is not enough to enter wisely into this State, Care must be taken
of our Conduct afterwards. A Woman will not want being admonish’d of her
Duty; the Custom of the World, Oeconomy, every Thing almost reminds her
of it. Governors do not often suffer their Subjects to forget Obedience
through their want of demanding it; perhaps Husbands are but too forward
on this Occasion, and claim their Right oftner and more imperiously than
either Discretion or good Manners will justify, and might have both a
more chearful and constant Obedience paid them if they were not so
rigorous in exacting it. For there is a mutual Stipulation, and Love,
Honour, and Worship, by which certainly Civility and Respect at least
are meant, are as much the Woman’s Due, as Love, Honour and Obedience
are the Man’s. And being the Woman is said to be the weaker Vessel, the
Man should be more careful not to grieve or offend her. Since her Reason
is suppos’d to be less, and her Passions stronger than his, he should
not give Occasion to call that Supposition in Question by his pettish
Carriage and needless Provocations. Since he is the _Man_, by which very
word Custom would have us understand not only greatest Strength of Body,
but even greatest Firmness and Force of Mind, he should not play the
_little Master_ so much as to expect to be cocker’d, nor run over to
that Side which the Woman us’d to be rank’d in; for, according to the
Wisdom of the _Italians, Will you? Is spoken to sick Folks_.

Indeed Subjection, according to the common Notion of it, is not over
easy; none of us, whether Men or Women, but have so good an Opinion of
our own Conduct, as to believe we are fit, if not to direct others, at
least to govern our selves. Nothing but a sound Understanding, and
Grace, the best Improver of Natural Reason, can correct this Opinion,
truly humble us, and heartily reconcile us to Obedience. This bitter Cup
therefore ought to be sweetned as much as may be; for Authority may be
preserv’d and Government kept inviolable, without that nauseous
Ostentation of Power, which serves to no End or Purpose, but to blow up
the Pride and Vanity of those who have it, and to exasperate the Spirits
of such as must truckle under it.

Insolence is never the Effect of Power but in weak and cowardly Spirits,
who wanting true _Merit_ and Judgment to support themselves in that
Advantageous Ground on which they stand, are ever appealing to their
Authority, and making a Shew of it to maintain their Vanity and Pride. A
truly great Mind, and such as is fit to Govern, tho’ it may stand on its
Right with its Equals, and modestly expect what is due to it even from
its Superiors, yet it never contends with its Inferiors, nor makes use
of its Superiority but to do them Good. So that considering the just
Dignity of Man, his great Wisdom so conspicuous on all Occasions! the
Goodness of his Temper, and Reasonableness of all his Commands, which
make it a Woman’s Interest as well as Duty to be observant and obedient
in all Things; that his Prerogative is settled by an undoubted Right and
the Prescription of many Ages; it cannot be suppos’d, that he should
make frequent and insolent Claims of an Authority so well establish’d
and us’d with such Moderation, nor give an impartial By-stander (could
such an one be found) any Occasion from thence to suspect that he is
inwardly conscious of the Badness of his Title; Usurpers being always
most desirous of Recognitions, and busy in imposing Oaths, whereas a
Lawful Prince contents himself with the usual Methods and Securities.

And since Power does naturally puff up, and he who finds himself
exalted, seldom fails to think he _ought_ to be so, it is more suitable
to a Man’s Wisdom and Generosity, to be mindful of his great
Obligations, than to insist on his Rights and Prerogatives. Sweetness of
Temper and an obliging Carriage are so justly due to a Wife, that a
Husband who must not be thought to want either Understanding to know
what is fit, nor Goodness to perform it, can’t be suppos’d not to shew
them. For setting aside the Hazard of her Person to keep up his Name and
Family, with all the Pains and Trouble that attend it, which may well be
thought great enough to deserve all the Respect and Kindness that may
be; setting this aside, though ’tis very considerable, a Woman has so
much the Disadvantage in _most_, I was about to say, in _all_ Things,
that she makes a Man the greatest Compliment in the World when she
condescends to take him _for Better for Worse_. She puts her self
intirely in his Power, leaves all that is dear to her, her Friends and
Family, to espouse his Interests and follow his Fortune, and makes it
her Business and Duty to please him! What Acknowledgments, what Returns
can he make? What Gratitude can be sufficient for such Obligations? She
shews her good Opinion of him by the great Trust she reposes in him, and
what a Brute must he be who betrays that Trust, or acts any way unworthy
of it? Ingratitude is one of the basest Vices, and if a Man’s Soul is
sunk so low as to be guilty of it towards her who has so generously
oblig’d him, and who so intirely depends on him, if he can treat her
disrespectfully, who has so fully testified her Esteem of him, she must
have a Stock of Vertue which he should blush to discern, if she can pay
him that Obedience of which he is so unworthy.

Superiors indeed are too apt to forget the common Privileges of Mankind;
that their Inferiors share with them the greatest Benefits, and are as
capable as themselves of enjoying the supreme Good; that though the
Order of the World requires an _Outward_ Respect and Obedience from some
to others, yet the Mind is free, nothing but Reason can oblige it, ’tis
out of the Reach of the most absolute Tyrant. Nor will it ever be well
either with those who Rule or those in Subjection, even from the Throne
to every private Family, till those in Authority look on themselves as
plac’d in that Station for the Good and Improvement of their Subjects,
and not for their own Sakes; not as the Reward of their Merit, or that
they may prosecute their own Desires and fulfil all their Pleasure, but
as the Representatives of God, whom they ought to imitate in the Justice
and Equity of their Laws, in doing Good and communicating Blessings to
all beneath them: By which, and not by following the imperious Dictates
of their own Will, they become truly Great and Illustrious, and worthily
fill their Place. And the Governed for their Part, ceasing to envy the
Pomp and Name of Authority, should respect their Governors as placed in
_GOD_’s stead, and contribute what they can to ease them of their real
Cares, by a chearful and ready Compliance, with their good Endeavours,
and by affording them the Pleasure of Success in such noble and generous
Designs.

For, upon a due Estimate, Things are pretty equally divided; those in
Subjection, as they have a less Glorious, so they have an easier Task
and a less Account to give; Whereas he who Commands, has in a great
measure the Faults of others to answer for as well as his own. ’Tis
true, he has the Pleasure of doing more Good than a private Person can,
and shall receive the Reward of it when Time shall be no more, in
Compensation for the Hazards he runs, the Difficulties he at present
encounters, and the large Account he is to make hereafter. Which
Pleasure and Reward are highly desirable, and most worthy our Pursuit;
but they are Motives which such as Usurp on their Governors, and make
them uneasy in the due Discharge of their Duty, never propose. As for
those other little Things that move their Envy and Ambition, they are of
no Esteem with a just Considerer, nor will such as violently pursue,
find their Account in them.

But how can a Man respect his Wife when he has a contemptible Opinion of
her and her Sex? When from his own Elevation he looks down on them as
void of Understanding, full of Ignorance and Passion, so that Folly and
a Woman are equivalent Terms with him? Can he think there is any
Gratitude due to her whose utmost Services he exacts as strict Duty?
Because she was made to be a Slave to his Will, and has no higher End
than to Serve and Obey him? Perhaps we arrogate too much to our selves,
when we say this Material World was made for our Sakes: That its
Glorious Maker has given us the Use of it is certain; but when we
suppose any Thing to be made purely for our Sakes, because we have
Dominion over it, we draw a false Conclusion. As he who should say the
People were made for the Prince who is set over them, would be thought
to be out of his Senses as well as his Politicks. Yet even allowing that
_GOD_, who made every Thing in Number, Weight and Measure, who never
acts but for some great and glorious End, an End agreeable to His
Majesty; allowing that He created such a Number of Rational Spirits
merely to serve their Fellow Creatures, yet how are these Lords and
Masters help’d by the Contempt they shew of their poor humble Vassals?
Is it not rather an Hindrance to that Service they expect, as being an
undeniable and constant Proof how unworthy they are to receive it?

None of _GOD_’s Creatures, absolutely consider’d, are in their own
Nature contemptible; the meanest Fly, the poorest Insect has its Use and
Vertue. Contempt is scarce a Human Passion, one may venture to say it
was not in innocent Man, for till Sin came into the World, there was
nothing in it to be contemn’d. But Pride, which makes every Thing serve
its Purposes, wrested this Passion from its only Use, so that instead of
being an Antidote against Sin, it is become a grand Promoter of it,
nothing making us more worthy of that Contempt we shew, than when, poor,
weak, dependent Creatures as we are! we look down with Scorn and Disdain
on others.

There is not a surer Sign of a noble Mind, a Mind very far advanc’d
towards Perfection, than the being able to bear Contempt and an unjust
Treatment from one’s Superiors evenly and patiently. For inward Worth
and real Excellency are the true Ground of Superiority, and one Person
is not in reality better than another, but as he is more Wise and Good.
But this World being a Place of Trial, and govern’d by general Laws,
just Retributions being reserv’d for hereafter, Respect and Obedience
many times become due for Order’s sake, to those who don’t otherwise
deserve them. Now tho’ Humility keeps us from over-valuing our selves or
viewing our Merit through a false and magnifying _Medium_, yet it does
not put out our Eyes, it does not, it ought not to deprive us of that
pleasing Sentiment which attends our Acting as we ought to Act, which
is, as it were, a Foretaste of Heaven, our present Reward for doing what
is just and fit. And when a Superior does a mean and unjust thing, as
all Contempt of one’s Neighbour is, and yet this does not provoke his
Inferiors to refuse that Observance which their Stations in the World
require, they cannot but have an inward Sense of their own real
Superiority, the other having no Pretence to it, at the same Time that
they pay him an outward Respect and Deference, which is such a flagrant
Testimony of the sincerest Love of Order, as proves their Souls to be of
the highest and noblest Rank.

A Man therefore for his own sake, and to give Evidence that he has a
Right to those Prerogatives he assumes, should treat Women with a little
more Humanity and Regard than is usually paid them. Your whifling Wits
may scoff at them, and what then? It matters not, for they rally every
Thing though ever so sacred, and rail at the Women commonly in very good
Company. Religion, its Priests, and those its most constant and regular
Professors, are the usual Subjects of their manly, mannerly and
surprizing Jests. Surprizing indeed! not for the Newness of the Thought,
the Brightness of the Fancy, or Nobleness of Expression, but for the
good Assurance with which such Thread-bare Jests are again and again
repeated. But that your grave Dons, your learned Men, and, which is
more, your Men of Sense, as they would be thought, should stoop so low
as to make Invectives against the Women, forget themselves so much as to
jest with their Slaves, who have neither Liberty, nor Ingenuity to make
Reprizals; that they should waste their Time, and debase their good
Sense, which fits them for the most weighty Affairs, such as are
suitable to their profound Wisdom and exalted Understandings! to render
those poor Wretches more ridiculous and odious who are already in their
Opinion sufficiently contemptible, and find no better Exercise of their
Wit and Satire, than such as are not worth their Pains, though it were
possible to Reform them, this, this indeed may justly be wonder’d at!

I Know not whether or no Women are allow’d to have Souls; if they have,
perhaps it is not prudent to provoke them too much, lest, silly as they
are, they at last recriminate, and then what polite and well-bred
Gentleman, though himself is concern’d, can forbear taking that lawful
Pleasure, which all who understand Raillery must taste, when they find
his Jests who insolently began to peck at his Neighbour, return’d with
Interest upon his own Head? And indeed Men are too Humane, too Wise, to
venture at it, did they not hope for this Effect, and expect the
Pleasure of finding their Wit turn to such Account: For if it be lawful
to pry into a Secret, this is, without doubt, the whole Design of those
fine Discourses which have been made against the Women from our great
Fore-Fathers to this present Time! Generous Man has too much Bravery, he
is too Just and too Good to assault a defenceless Enemy, and if he did
inveigh against the Women, it was only to do them Service! For since
neither his Care of their Education, his hearty Endeavours to improve
their Minds, his wholesome Precepts, nor great Example could do them
good, as his last and kindest Essay, he resolv’d to try what Contempt
would do, and chose rather to expose himself by a seeming Want of
Justice, Equity, Ingenuity and Good-nature, than suffer Women to remain
such vain and insignificant Creatures as they have hitherto been
reckon’d; and truly, Women are some Degrees beneath what I have thus far
thought them, if they do not make the best Use of his Kindness, improve
themselves, and, like Christians, return it.

Let us see then what is their Part, what must they do to make the
Matrimonial Yoke tolerable to themselves as well as pleasing to their
Lords and Masters? That the World is an empty and deceitful Thing, that
those Enjoyments which appear’d so desirable at a Distance, which rais’d
our Hopes and Expectations to such a mighty Pitch, which we so
passionately coveted, and so eagerly pursued, vanish at our first
Approach, leaving nothing behind them but the Folly of Delusion, and the
Pain of disappointed Hopes, is a common Outcry; and yet, as common as it
is, though we complain of being deceiv’d this Instant, we do not fail of
contributing to the Cheat the very next. Though in reality it is not the
World that abuses us, ’tis we abuse our selves; it is not the Emptiness
of That, but our own false Judgments, our unreasonable Desires and
Expectations that torment us; for he who exerts his whole Strength to
lift a Straw, ought not to complain of the Burden, but of his own
disproportionate Endeavour which gives him the Pain he feels. The World
affords us all the Pleasure a sound Judgment can expect from it, and
answers all those Ends and Purposes for which it was design’d; let us
expect no more than is reasonable, and then we shall not fail of our
Expectations.

It is even so in the Case before us; a Woman who has been taught to
think Marriage her only Preferment, the Sum-Total of her Endeavours, the
Completion of all her Hopes, that which must settle and make her Happy
in this World, and very few, in their Youth especially, carry a Thought
steadily to a greater Distance; She who has seen a Lover dying at her
Feet, and can’t therefore imagine that he who professes to receive all
his Happiness from her, can have any other Design or Desire than to
please her; whose Eyes have been dazled with all the Glitter and Pomp of
a Wedding, and, who hears of nothing but Joy and Congratulation; who is
transported with the Pleasure of being out of Pupillage, and Mistress
not only of her self, but of a Family too: She who is either so simple
or so vain, as to take her Lover at his Word, either as to the Praises
he gave her, or the Promises he made for himself; in sum, she whose
Expectation has been rais’d by Courtship, by all the fine Things that
her Lover, her Governess and Domestick Flatterers say, will find a
terrible Disappointment when the Hurry is over, and when she comes
calmly to consider her Condition, and views it no more under a false
Appearance, but as it truly is.

I Doubt in such a View it will not appear over-desirable, if she regards
only the present State of Things. Hereafter may make amends for what she
must be prepar’d to suffer here, then will be her Reward, this is her
Time of Trial, the Season of exercising and improving her Vertues. A
Woman that is not Mistress of her Passions, that cannot patiently
submit, even when Reason suffers with her, who does not practise Passive
Obedience to the utmost, will never be acceptable to such an absolute
Sovereign as a Husband. Wisdom ought to Govern without Contradiction,
but Strength however will be obeyed. There are but few of those wise
Persons who can be content to be made yet wiser by Contradiction; the
most will have their _Will_, and it is right because it is theirs. Such
is the Vanity of Human Nature, that nothing pleases like an intire
Subjection; what Imperfections won’t a Man over-look where this is not
wanting! Though we live like Brutes, we would have Incense offer’d us,
that is only due to Heaven it self, would have an absolute and blind
Obedience paid us by all over whom we pretend Authority. We were not
made to Idolize one another, yet the whole Strain of Courtship is little
less than rank Idolatry: But does a Man intend to give, and not to
receive his Share in this Religious Worship? No such matter; Pride and
Vanity, and Self-love have their Designs, and if the Lover is so
condescending as to set a Pattern in the Time of his Addresses, he is so
just as to expect his Wife should strictly Copy after it all the rest of
her Life.

But how can a Woman scruple intire Subjection, how can she forbear to
admire the Worth and Excellency of the Superior Sex, if she at all
considers it! Have not all the great Actions that have been perform’d in
the World been done by Men? Have not they founded Empires and overturn’d
them? Do not they make Laws and continually repeal and amend them? Their
vast Minds lay Kingdoms waste, no Bounds or Measures can be prescrib’d
to their Desires. War and Peace depend on them; they form Cabals and
have the Wisdom and Courage to get over all the Rubs, the petty
Restraints which Honour and Conscience may lay in the Way of their
desired Grandeur. What is it they cannot do? They make Worlds and ruin
them, form Systems of universal Nature, and dispute eternally about
them; their Pen gives Worth to the most trifling Controversy; nor can a
Fray be inconsiderable if they have drawn their Swords in’t. All that
the wise Man pronounces is an Oracle, and every Word the Witty speaks, a
Jest. It is a Woman’s Happiness to hear, admire and praise them,
especially if a little Ill-nature keeps them at any time from bellowing
due Applauses on each other! And if she aspires no further, she is
thought to be in her proper Sphere of Action; she is as wise and as good
as can be expected from her!

She then who Marries, ought to lay it down for an indisputable Maxim,
that her Husband must govern absolutely and intirely, and that she has
nothing else to do but to Please and Obey. She must not attempt to
divide his Authority, or so much as dispute it; to struggle with her
Yoke will only make it gall the more, but must believe him Wise and
Good, and in all respects the best, at least he must be so to her. She
who can’t do this is no way fit to be a Wife, she may set up for that
peculiar Coronet the antient Fathers talk’d of, but is not qualified to
receive that great Reward which attends the eminent Exercise of Humility
and Self-denial, Patience and Resignation, the Duties that a Wife is
call’d to.

But some refractory Woman perhaps will say, how can this be? Is it
possible for her to believe him Wise and Good, who by a thousand
Demonstrations convinces her, and all the World, of the contrary? Did
the bare Name of Husband confer Sense on a Man, and the meer being in
Authority infallibly qualify him for Government, much might be done. But
since a wise Man and a Husband are not Terms convertible, and how loth
soever one is to own it, Matter of Fact won’t allow us to deny, that the
Head many times stands in need of the Inferior’s Brains to manage it,
she must beg leave to be excus’d from such high Thoughts of her
Sovereign, and if she submits to his Power, it is not so much Reason as
Necessity that compels her.

Now of how little Force soever this Objection may be in other respects,
methinks it is strong enough to prove the Necessity of a good Education,
and that Men never mistake their true Interest more than when they
endeavour to keep Women in Ignorance. Could they indeed deprive them of
their Natural good Sense at the same Time they deny them the true
Improvement of it, they might compass their End; otherwise Natural Sense
unassisted may run into a false Track, and serve only to punish him
justly, who would not allow it to be useful to himself or others. If
Man’s Authority be justly establish’d, the more Sense a Woman has, the
more Reason she will find to submit to it; if according to the Tradition
of our Fathers, (who having had _Possession_ of the Pen, thought they
had also the best _Right_ to it) Womens Understanding is but small, and
Man’s Partiality adds no Weight to the Observation, ought not the more
Care to be taken to improve them? How it agrees with the Justice of Men
we inquire not, but certainly Heaven is abundantly more Equitable than
to injoin Women the hardest Task, and give them the least Strength to
perform it. And if Men, learned, wise and discreet as they are, who
have, as is said, all the Advantages of Nature, and without Controversy,
have, or may have, all the Assistance of Art, are so far from acquitting
themselves as they ought, from living according to that Reason and
excellent Understanding they so much boast of, can it be expected that a
Woman who is reckon’d silly enough in her self, at least comparatively,
and whom Men take care to make yet more so; can it be expected that she
should constantly perform so difficult a Duty as intire Subjection, to
which corrupt Nature is so averse?

If the great and wise _Cato_, a _Man_, a Man of no ordinary Firmness and
Strength of Mind, a Man who was esteem’d as an Oracle, and by the
Philosophers and great Men of his Nation equal’d even to the Gods
themselves; If he, with all his Stoical Principles, was not able to bear
the Sight of a triumphant Conqueror, (who perhaps would have insulted,
and perhaps would not) but out of a Cowardly Fear of an Insult, ran to
Death, to secure him from it; can it be thought that an ignorant weak
Woman should have Patience to bear a continual Outrage and Insolence all
the Days of her Life? Unless you will suppose her a _very Ass_, but then
remember what the _Italians_ say, to quote them once more, since being
_very_ Husbands they may be presum’d to have some Authority in this
Case, _An Ass, though slow, if provok’d, will kick_.

We never observe, or perhaps make Sport, with the ill Effects of a bad
Education, till it comes to touch us home in the ill Conduct of a
Sister, a Daughter, or Wife. Then the Women must be blam’d, their Folly
is exclaim’d against, when all this while it was the wise Man’s Fault,
who did not set a better Guard on those, who, according to him, stand in
so much need of one. A young Gentleman, as a celebrated Author tells us,
ought above all Things to be acquainted with the State of the World, the
Ways and Humours, the Follies, the Cheats, the Faults of the Age he is
fallen into; he should by degrees be inform’d of the Vice in Fashion,
and warn’d of the Application and Design of those who will make it their
Business to corrupt him, should be told the Arts they use, and the
Trains they lay, be prepar’d to be Shock’d by some, and Caress’d by
others; warn’d who are like to oppose, who to mislead, who to undermine,
and who to serve him. He should be instructed how to know and
distinguish them, where he should let them see, and when dissemble the
Knowledge of them and their Aims and Workings. Our Author is much in the
right, and not to disparage any other Accomplishments which are useful
in their Kind, this will turn to more Account than any Language or
Philosophy, Art or Science, or any other Piece of Good-breeding and fine
Education that can be taught him, which are no otherwise excellent than
as they contribute to this, as this does above all Things to the making
him a wise, a vertuous and useful Man.

And it is not less necessary that a young Lady should receive the like
Instructions, whether or no her Temptations be fewer, her Reputation and
Honour however are to be more nicely preserv’d; they may be ruin’d by a
little Ignorance or Indiscretion, and then though she has kept her
Innocence, and so is secur’d as to the next World, yet she is in a great
measure lost to this. A Woman cannot be too watchful, too apprehensive
of her Danger, nor keep at too great a Distance from it, since Man,
whose Wisdom and Ingenuity is so much Superior to hers! condescends for
his Interest sometimes, and sometimes by way of Diversion, to lay Snares
for her. For though all Men are _Virtuosi_, Philosophers and
Politicians, in comparison of the ignorant and illiterate Women, yet
they don’t all pretend to be Saints, and ’tis no great Matter to them,
if Women, who were born to be their Slaves, be now and then ruin’d for
their Entertainment.

But according to the rate that young Women are Educated, according to
the Way their Time is spent, they are destin’d to Folly and
Impertinence, to say no worse, and, which is yet more inhuman, they are
blam’d for that ill Conduct they are not suffer’d to avoid, and
reproach’d for those Faults they are in a Manner forc’d into; so that if
Heaven has bestowed any Sense on them, no other Use is made of it, than
to leave them without Excuse. So much, and no more, of the World is
shewn them, than serves to weaken and corrupt their Minds, to give them
wrong Notions, and busy them in mean Pursuits; to disturb, not to
regulate their Passions; to make them timorous and dependant, and, in a
Word, fit for nothing else but to act a Farce for the Diversion of their
Governors.

Even Men themselves improve no otherwise than according to the Aim they
take, and the End they propose; and he whose Designs are but little and
mean, will be the same himself. Tho’ Ambition, as ’tis usually
understood, is a foolish, not to say a base and pitiful Vice, yet the
Aspirings of the Soul after true Glory are so much its Nature, that it
seems to have forgot it self, and to degenerate, if it can forbear; and
perhaps the great Secret of Education lies in affecting the Soul with a
lively Sense of what is truly its Perfection, and exciting the most
ardent Desires after it.

But, alas! what poor Woman is ever taught that she should have a higher
Design than to get her a Husband? Heaven will fall in of course; and if
she makes but an Obedient and Dutiful Wife, she cannot miss of it. A
Husband indeed is thought by both Sexes so very valuable, that scarce a
Man who can keep himself clean and make a Bow, but thinks he is good
enough to pretend to any Woman; no matter for the Difference of Birth or
Fortune, a Husband is such a Wonder-working Name as to make an Equality,
or something more, whenever it is obtain’d.

And indeed, were there no other Proof of Masculine Wisdom, and what a
much greater Portion of Ingenuity falls to the Men than to the Women’s
Share, the Address, the Artifice, and Management of an humble Servant
were a sufficient Demonstration. What good Conduct does he shew! what
Patience exercise! what Subtilty leave untry’d! what Concealment of his
Faults! what Parade of his Vertues! what Government of his Passions! How
deep is his Policy in laying his Designs at so great a Distance, and
working them up by such little Accidents! How indefatigable is his
Industry, and how constant his Watchfulness not to slip any Opportunity
that may in the least contribute to his Design! What a handsome Set of
Disguises and Pretences is he always furnish’d with! How conceal’d does
he lie! how little pretend, till he is sure that his Plot will take! And
at the same Time that he nourishes the Hope of being Lord and Master,
appears with all the Modesty and Submission of an humble and
unpretending Admirer!

Can a Woman then be too much upon her Guard? Can her Prudence and
Foresight, her early Caution, be reckon’d unnecessary Suspicion, or
ill-bred Reserve by any but those whose Designs they prevent, and whose
Interest it is to declaim against them? It being a certain Maxim with
the Men, though Policy or good Breeding won’t allow them to avow it
always, that the Women were made for their Sakes and Service, and are in
all respects their Inferiors, especially in Understanding; so that all
the Compliments they make, all the Address and Complaisance they use,
all the Kindness they profess, all the Service they pretend to pay, has
no other Meaning, no other End, than to get the poor Woman into their
Power, to govern her according to their Discretion. This is all pure
Kindness indeed, and therefore no Woman has Reason to be offended with
it; for, considering how much she is expos’d in her own, and how safe in
their Keeping, ’tis the wisest Thing she can do to put her self under
Protection! And then if they have a tolerable Opinion of her Sense, and
not their Vanity, but some better Principle disposes them to do
something out of the Way, and to appear more generous than the rest of
their Sex, they’ll condescend to dictate to her, and impart some of
their Prerogative, Books and Learning. ’Tis fit indeed, that she should
intirely depend on their Choice, and walk with the Crutches they are
pleas’d to lend her; and if she is furnished out with some Notions to
set her a prating, I should have said, to make her entertaining, and the
Fiddle of the Company, her Tutor’s Time was not ill bestowed: And it
were a diverting Scene to see her stript, like the _Jay_, of her
borrowed Feathers, but he, good Man, has not ill Nature enough to take
Pleasure in it! You may accuse him, perhaps, for giving so much
Encouragement to a Woman’s Vanity, but your Accusation is groundless,
Vanity being a Disease the Sex will always be guilty of; nor is it a
Reproach to them, since Men of Learning and Sense are over-run with it.

But there are few Women whose Understandings are worth the Management,
their Estates are much more capable of Improvement. No Woman, much less
a Woman of Fortune, is ever fit to be her own Mistress, and he who has
not the Vanity to think what much finer Things he could perform, had he
the Management of her Fortune; or so much Partiality and Self-love, as
to fancy it can’t be better bestow’d than in making his; will yet be so
honest and humble, as to think that ’tis fit she should take his
Assistance, as Steward at least. For the good Man aspires no further, he
would only take the Trouble of her Affairs off her Hand; and the Sense
of her Condescension and his great Obligations, will for ever secure him
against acting like a Lord and Master.

The Steps to Folly, as well as Sin, are gradual, and almost
imperceptible, and when we are once on the Decline, we go down without
taking Notice on’t; were it not for this, one could not account for
those strange unequal Marriages we too often see. For there was a Time,
no doubt, when a Woman could not have bore the very Thought of what she
has been afterwards betray’d into; it would have appear’d as shocking to
her, as it always does to other People; and had a Man been so impolitick
as to discover the least Intimation of such a Design, he had given her a
sufficient Antidote against it. This your wise Men are well satisfied
of, and understand their own Interest too well to let their Design go
bare-fac’d, for that would effectually put a Bar to their Success. So
innocent are they, that they had not the least Thought at first of what
their good Fortune afterwards leads them to! They would draw upon him,
(if they wear a Sword) or fly in her Face who should let fall the least
Hint that they had such Intentions; and this very Eagerness to avoid the
Suspicion, is a shrewd Sign that there is Occasion for’t.

But who shall dare to shew the Lady her Danger, when will it be
seasonable to give her friendly Notice? If you do it ere she is
resolv’d, though with all the Friendship and Tenderness imaginable, she
will hardly forgive the Affront, or bear the Provocation; you offer her
an Outrage by entertaining such a Thought, and ’tis ten to one if you
are not afterwards accus’d for putting in her Head what otherwise she
could ne’er have dreamt of. And when no direct Proof can be offer’d,
when matter of Prudence is the only Thing in Question, every Body has so
good an Opinion of their own Understanding, as to think their own Way
the best. And when she has her Innocence and fair Intentions to oppose
your Fears and Surmises, and you cannot pretend to wish her better than
she does her self, to be more disinterested and diligent in your
Watchfulness, or to see farther in what so nearly concerns her, what can
be done? Her Ruin is commonly too far advanc’d to be prevented, ere you
can in Good-breeding reach out a Hand to help her. For if the Train has
took, if she is intangled in the Snare, if Love, or rather a blind
unreasonable Fondness, which usurps the Name of that noble Passion, has
gain’d on her, Reason and Persuasion may as properly be urg’d to the
Folks in _Bethlem_, as to her. Tell her of this World, she is got above
it, and has no Regard to its impertinent Censures; tell her of the next,
she laughs at you, and will never be convinc’d that Actions which are
not expresly forbid can be Criminal, though they proceed from, and must
necessarily be reduc’d to ill Principles, though they give Offence, are
of ill Example, injure our Reputation, which, next to our Innocence, we
are obliged, as Christians, to take the greatest Care of; and, in a
Word, do more Mischief than we can readily imagine. Tell her of her own
Good, you appear yet more ridiculous, for who can judge of her Happiness
but her self? And whilst our Hearts are violently set upon any thing,
there is no convincing us that we shall ever be of another Mind. Our
Passions want no Advocates, they are always furnish’d with plausible
Pretences, and those very Prejudices, which gave rise to this
unreasonable Passion, will for certain give her Obstinacy enough to
justify and continue in it. Besides, some are so ill advis’d as to think
to support one Indiscretion with another; they would not have it thought
they have made a false Step, in once giving Countenance to that which is
not fit to be continued. Or perhaps the Lady might be willing enough to
throw off the Intruder at first, but wanted Courage to get above the
Fear of his Calumnies, and the longer she suffers him to buz about her,
she will find it the harder to get rid of his Importunities. By all
which it appears, that she who really intends to be secure, must keep at
the greatest Distance from Danger, she must not grant the _least_
Indulgence, where such ill Uses will be made of it.

And since the Case is so, That Woman can never be in Safety who allows a
Man Opportunity to betray her. Frequent Conversation does for certain
produce either Aversion or Liking, and when ’tis once come to Liking, it
depends on the Man’s Generosity not to improve it farther, and where can
one find an Instance that this is any Security? There are very many
indeed which shew it is none. How sensible soever a Woman may appear of
another’s Indiscretion, if she will tread in the same Steps, though but
for a little Way, she gives us no Assurance that she will not fall into
the same Folly; she may perhaps intend very well, but she puts it past
her Power to fulfil her good Intentions. Even those who have forfeited
their Discretion, the most valuable Jewel next to their Vertue, and
without which Vertue it self is but very weak and faint, ’tis like, were
once as well resolv’d as she; they had the very same Thoughts, they made
the same Apologies, and their Resentment would have been every whit as
great against those who could have imagined they should so far forget
themselves.

It were endless to reckon up the divers Stratagems Men use to catch
their Prey, their different Ways of insinuating, which vary with
Circumstances, and the Lady’s Temper, but how unfairly, how basely
soever they proceed, when the Prey is once caught, it passes for lawful
Prize, and other Men having the same Hopes and Projects, see nothing to
find Fault with, but that it was not their own good Fortune. They may
exclaim against it perhaps in a Lady’s Hearing, but it is only to keep
themselves from being suspected, and to give the better Colour to their
own Designs. Sometimes a Woman is cajol’d, and sometimes hector’d, she
is seduc’d to love a Man, or aw’d into a Fear of him: He defends her
Honour against another, or assumes the Power of blasting it himself; was
willing to pass for one of no Consequence till he could make himself
considerable at her Cost. He might be admitted at first to be _her
Jest_, but he carries on the Humour so far till he makes her _his_; he
will either entertain or serve her as Occasion offers, and some Way or
other gets himself intrusted with her Fortune, her Fame, or her Soul.
Allow him but a frequent and free Conversation, and there’s no manner of
Question but that his Ingenuity and Application, will, at one Time or
other, get the Ascendant over her.

And generally the more humble and undesigning a Man appears, the more
improbable it looks that he should dare to pretend, the greater Caution
should be us’d against him. A bold Address and good Assurance may
sometimes, but does not always, take. To a Woman of Sense an artificial
Modesty and Humility is a thousand times more dangerous, for he only
draws back to receive the more Encouragement, and she regards not what
Advances she makes towards him, who seems to understand himself and the
World so well as to be incapable of making an ill Use of them. Would it
not be unreasonable, and a Piece of Ill-breeding, to be shy of him who
has no Pretensions, or only such as are Just and Modest? What Hurt in a
Visit? Or what if Visits grow a little more frequent? The Man has so
much Discernment, as to relish her Wit and Humour, and can she do less
than be Partial to him who is so just to her? He strives to please and
to render himself agreeable, or necessary, perhaps, and whoever will
make it his Business, may find Ways enough to do it. For they know but
little of Human Nature, they never consulted their own Hearts, who are
not sensible what Advances a well-manag’d Flattery makes, especially
from a Person of whose Wit and Sense one has a good Opinion. His Wit at
first recommends his Flatteries, and these, in Requital, set off his
Wit; and she who has been us’d to this high-season’d Diet, will scarce
ever relish another Conversation.

Having got thus far, to be sure he is not wanting to his good Fortune,
but drives on to an Intimacy, or what they are pleas’d, now a-days,
though very unjustly, to call a Friendship; all is safe under this
sacred Character, which sets them above little Aims and mean Designs. A
Character that must be conducted with the nicest Honour, allows the
greatest Trusts, leads to the highest Improvements, is attended with the
purest Pleasures and most rational Satisfaction. And what if the
malicious World, envious of his Happiness, should take Offence at it,
since he has taken all due Precautions, such unjust and ill-natur’d
Censures are not to be regarded; for his Part the Distance that is
between them checks all aspiring Desires, but her Conversation is what
he must not, cannot want: Life is insipid, and not to be endur’d without
it; and he is too much the Lady’s Friend, has too just a Value for her,
to entertain a Thought to her Disadvantage.

Now if once it is come to this, _GOD_ help the poor Woman! for not much
Service can be done her by any of her Friends on Earth. That Pretender,
to be sure, will be the Darling, he will worm out every other Person,
though ever so kind and disinterested. For tho’ true Friends will
endeavour to please in order to serve, their Complaisance never goes so
far as to prove injurious; the beloved Fault is what they chiefly strike
at, and this the Flatterer always sooths; so that at last he becomes the
most acceptable Company, and they who are conscious of their own
Integrity, are not apt to bear such an unjust Distinction, nor is it by
this Time to any Purpose to remonstrate the Danger of such an Intimacy.
When a Man, and for certain much more when a Woman, is fallen into this
Toil, that is, when either have been so unwary and indiscreet as to let
another find out by what Artifices he may manage their Self-love, and
draw it over to his Party, ’tis too late for anyone who is really their
Friend, to break the Snare and disabuse them.

Neither Sex cares to deny themselves that which pleases, especially when
they think they may innocently indulge it; and nothing pleases more than
the being Admir’d and Humour’d. We may be told of the Danger, and shewn
the Fall of others, but though their Misfortunes are ever so often or so
lively represented to us, we are all so well assur’d of our own good
Conduct, as to believe it will bring us safe off those Rocks on which
others have been Shipwreck’d. We suppose it in our Power to shorten the
Line of our Liberty whenever we think fit, not considering that the
farther we run, we shall be the more unwilling to retreat, and unable to
judge when a Retreat is necessary. A Woman does not know that she is
more than half lost when she admits of these Suggestions; that those
Arguments she brings for continuing a Man’s Conversation, prove only
that she ought to have quitted it sooner; that Liking insensibly
converts to Love, and that when she admits a Man to be her Friend, ’tis
his Fault if he does not make himself her Husband.

And if Men, even the Modestest and the Best, are only in pursuit of
their own Designs, when they pretend to do the Lady Service; if the
Honour they would seem to do her, tends only to lead her into an
imprudent, and therefore a dishonourable Action; and they have all that
good Opinion of themselves as to take every thing for Encouragement, so
that she who goes beyond a bare Civility, though she meant no more than
Respect, will find it interpreted a Favour, and made ill Use of, (for
Favours, how innocent soever, never turn to a Lady’s Advantage) what
Shadow of a Pretence can a Woman have for admitting an Intimacy with a
Man, whose Principles are known to be Loose, and his Practices
Licentious? can she expect to be safe with him who has ruin’d others,
and by the very same Methods he takes with her? If an Intimacy with a
Man of a fair Character gives Offence, with a Man of an ill one, ’tis
doubly and trebly scandalous. And suppose neither her Fortune nor Beauty
can tempt him, he has his ill-natur’d Pleasure in destroying that Vertue
he will not practise, or if that can’t be done, in blasting the
Reputation of it at least, and in making the World believe he has made a
Conquest, though he has found a Foil.

If the Man be the Woman’s Inferior, besides all the Dangers formerly
mention’d, and those just now taken Notice of, she gives such a
Countenance to his Vices, as renders her in great measure, Partaker in
them; and, it can scarce be thought in such Circumstances, a Woman could
like the Man if she were not reconcil’d to his Faults. Is he her Equal,
and no unsuitable Match, if his Designs are fair, why don’t they Marry,
since they are so well pleas’d with each other’s Conversation, which in
this State only can be frequently and safely allow’d? Is he her Better,
and she hopes, by catching him, to make her Fortune, alas! the poor
Woman is neither acquainted with the World nor her self; she neither
knows her own Weakness, nor his Treachery, and though he gives her ever
so much Encouragement to this vain Hope, ’tis only in order to
accomplish her Ruin. To be sure the more Freedom she allows, the more
she lessens his Esteem, and that’s not likely to increase a real, though
it may a pretended Kindness; she ought to fly, if she would have him
pursue, the strictest Vertue and Reserve being the only Way to secure
him.

Religion and Reputation are so sure a Guard, such a Security to poor
defenceless Woman, that whenever a Man has ill Designs on her, he is
sure to make a Breach into one or both of these, by endeavouring either
to corrupt her Principles, to make her less strict in Devotion, or to
lessen her Value of a fair Reputation, and would persuade her, that less
than she imagines will secure her as to the next World, and that not
much Regard is to be given to the Censures of this. Or if this be too
bold at first, and will not pass with her, he has another Way to make
even her Love to Vertue contribute to its Ruin, by persuading her it
never shines as it ought, unless it is expos’d, and that she has no
Reason to boast of her Vertue unless she has try’d it. An Opinion of the
worst Consequence that may be, and the most mischievous to a Woman,
because it is calculated to feed her Vanity, and tends indeed to her
utter Ruin. For, can it be fit to rush into Temptations, when we are
taught every Day to pray against them? If the Trials of our Vertue
render it illustrious, ’tis such Trials as Heaven is pleas’d to send us,
not those of our own seeking. It holds true of both Sexes, that next to
the Divine Grace a modest Distrust of themselves is their best Security,
none being so often and so shamefully foil’d, as those who depend most
on their own Strength and Resolution.

As to the Opinion of the World, tho’ one cannot say ’tis always just,
yet generally it has a Foundation, great Regard is to be paid to it, and
very good Use to be made of it. Others _may_ be in Fault for passing
their Censures, but we certainly _are_ so, if we give them any the least
just Occasion. And since Reputation is not only one of the Rewards of
Vertue, that which always ought, and generally does attend it, but also
a Guard against Evil, an Inducement to Good, and a great Instrument in
the Hand of the Wife to promote the common Cause of Vertue; the being
Prodigal of the one, looks as if we set no great Value on the other, and
she who abandons her good Name, is not like to preserve her Innocence.

A Woman therefore can never have too nice a Sense of Honour, provided
she does not prefer it before her Duty; she can never be too careful to
secure her Character, not only from the Suspicion of a Crime, but even
from the Shadow of an Indiscretion. ’Tis well worth her while to
renounce the most Entertaining, and, what some perhaps, will call the
most Improving Company, rather than give the World a just Occasion of
Suspicion or Censure. For besides the Injury that is done Religion,
which enjoins us to avoid the very Appearance of Evil, and to do nothing
but what is of good Report, she puts her self too much in a Man’s Power,
who will run such a Risque for his Conversation, and expresses such a
Value for him, as cannot fail of being made use of to do her a Mischief.

Preserve your Distance then, keep out of the Reach of Danger, fly if you
would be safe, be sure to be always on the Reserve, not such as is
Morose and Affected, but Modest and Discreet, your Caution cannot be too
great, nor your Foresight reach too far; there’s nothing, or what is
next to nothing, a little Amusement and entertaining Conversation, lost
by this, but all is hazarded by the other. A Man understands his own
Merit too well to lose his Time in a Woman’s Company, were it not to
divert himself at her Cost, to turn her into a Jest, or something worse.
And where-ever you see great Assiduities, when a Man insinuates into the
Diversions and Humours of the Lady, liking and admiring whatever she
does, though at the same Time he seems to keep a due Distance, or rather
exceeds in the profoundest Respect; Respect being all he dare at present
pretend to: when a more than ordinary Deference is paid; when something
particular appears in the Look and Address, and such an Obsequiousness
in every Action, as nothing could engage a Man to, who never forgets the
Superiority of his Sex, but a Hope to be observ’d in his Turn: Then,
whatever the Inequality be, and how sensible soever he seems to be of
it, the Man has for certain his Engines at work, the Mine is ready to be
sprung on the first Opportunity, and ’tis well if it be not too late to
prevent the poor Lady’s Ruin.

To wind up this Matter; If a Woman were duly principled, and taught to
know the World, especially the true Sentiments that Men have of her, and
the Traps they lay for her under so many gilded Compliments, and such a
seemingly great Respect, that Disgrace would be prevented which is
brought upon too many Families; Women would Marry more discreetly, and
demean themselves better in a married State, than some People say they
do. The Foundation, indeed, ought to be laid deep and strong, she should
be made a good Christian, and understand why she is so, and then she
will be every thing else that is Good. Men need keep no Spies on a
Woman’s Conduct, need have no Fear of her Vertue, or so much as of her
Prudence and Caution, were but a due Sense of true Honour and Vertue
awaken’d in her; were her Reason excited and prepared to consider the
Sophistry of those Temptations which would persuade her from her Duty;
and were she put in a way to know that it is both her Wisdom and
Interest to observe it: she would then duly examine and weigh all the
Circumstances, the Good and Evil of a married State, and not be
surprized with unforeseen Inconveniencies, and either never consent to
be a Wife, or make a good one when she does. This would shew her what
Human Nature _is_, as well as what it _ought_ to be, and teach her not
only what she may justly expect, but what she must be content with;
would enable her to cure some Faults, and patiently to suffer what she
cannot cure.

Indeed nothing can assure Obedience, and render it what it ought to be,
but the Conscience of Duty, the paying it for GOD’S sake. Superiors
don’t rightly understand their own Interest when they attempt to put out
their Subjects Eyes to keep them Obedient. A blind Obedience is what a
Rational Creature should never pay, nor would such an one receive it,
did he rightly understand its Nature. For Human Actions are no otherwise
valuable, than as they are conformable to Reason; but a blind Obedience
is an Obeying _without Reason_, for ought we know, _against it_. _GOD_
himself does not require our Obedience at this rate; he lays before us
the Goodness and Reasonableness of his Laws, and were there any thing in
them whose Equity we could not readily comprehend, yet we have this
clear and sufficient Reason, on which, to found our Obedience, that
nothing but what’s just and fit, can be enjoin’d by a Just, a Wise, and
Gracious _GOD_; but this is a Reason will never hold in respect of Mens
Commands, unless they can prove themselves Infallible, and consequently
Impeccable too.

It is therefore very much a Man’s Interest, that Women should be good
Christians; for in this, as in every other Instance, he who does his
Duty, finds his own Account in it. Duty and true Interest are one and
the same Thing, and he who thinks otherwise is to be pitied for being so
much in the Wrong: But what can be more the Duty of the Head, than to
instruct and improve those who are under Government? She will freely
leave him the quiet Dominion of this World, whose Thoughts and
Expectations are plac’d on the next. A Prospect of Heaven, and that
only, will cure that Ambition which all generous Minds are fill’d with,
not by taking it away, but by placing it on a right Object. She will
discern a Time when her Sex shall be no Bar to the best Employments, the
highest Honour; a Time when that Distinction, now so much us’d to her
Prejudice, shall be no more; but, provided she is not wanting to her
self, her Soul shall shine as bright as the greatest Heroe’s. This is a
true, and indeed, the only Consolation; this makes her a sufficient
Compensation for all the Neglect and Contempt the ill-grounded Customs
of the World throw on her; for all the Injuries brutal Power may do her,
and is a sufficient Cordial to support her Spirits, be her Lot in this
World what it may.

But some sage Persons may, perhaps object, that were Women allow’d to
improve themselves, and not, amongst other Discouragements, driven back
by the wise Jests and Scoffs that are put upon a Woman of Sense or
Learning, a Philosophical Lady, as she is call’d by way of Ridicule;
they would be too wise, and too good for the Men: I grant it, for
vicious and foolish Men. Nor is it to be wonder’d that He is afraid he
should not be able to Govern them were their Understandings improv’d,
who is resolv’d not to take too much Pains with his own. But these, ’tis
to be hoped, are no very considerable Number, the Foolish at least; and
therefore this is so far from being an Argument against Womens
Improvement, that it is a strong one for it, if we do but suppose the
Men to be as capable of Improvement as the Women; but much more, if,
according to Tradition, we believe they have greater Capacities. This,
if any thing, would stir them up to be what they ought, and not permit
them to waste their Time and abuse their Faculties in the Service of
their irregular Appetites and unreasonable Desires, and so let poor
contemptible Women, who have been their Slaves, excel them in all that
is truly excellent. This would make them Blush at employing an immortal
Mind no better than in making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the
Lusts thereof, since Women, by a wiser Conduct, have brought themselves
to such a Reach of Thought, to such Exactness of Judgment, such
Clearness and Strength of Reasoning, such Purity and Elevation of Mind,
such Command of their Passions, such Regularity of Will and Affection,
and, in a Word, to such a Pitch of Perfection, as the Human Soul is
capable of attaining in this Life by the Grace of _GOD_; such true
Wisdom, such real Greatness, as though it does not qualify them to make
a Noise in this World, to found or overturn Empires, yet it qualifies
them for what is infinitely better, a Kingdom that cannot be mov’d, an
incorruptible Crown of Glory.

Besides, it were ridiculous to suppose, that a Woman, were she ever so
much improv’d, could come near the topping Genius of the Men, and
therefore why should they envy or discourage her? Strength of Mind goes
along with Strength of Body, and ’tis only for some odd Accidents which
Philosophers have not yet thought worth while to enquire into, that the
sturdiest Porter is not the wisest Man! As therefore the Men have the
Power in their Hands, so there’s no Dispute of their having the Brains
to manage it! Can we suppose there is such a Thing as good Judgment and
Sense upon Earth, if it is not to be found among them: Do not they,
generally speaking, do all the great Actions and considerable Business
of this World, and leave that of the next to the Women? Their Subtlety
in forming Cabals and laying deep Designs, their Courage and Conduct in
breaking through all Tyes, sacred and civil, to effect them, not only
advances them to the Post of Honour, and keeps them securely in it for
twenty or thirty Years, but gets them a Name, and conveys it down to
Posterity for some Hundreds; and who would look any further? Justice and
Injustice are administred by their Hands, Courts and Schools are fill’d
with these Sages; ’tis Men who dispute for Truth, as well as Men who
argue against it: Histories are writ by them; they recount each other’s
great Exploits, and have always done so. All famous Arts have their
Original from Men, even from the Invention of Guns, to the Mystery of
good Eating. And to shew that nothing is beneath their Care, any more
than above their Reach, they have brought _Gaming_ to an Art and
Science, and a more Profitable and Honourable one too, than any of those
that us’d to be call’d _Liberal_! Indeed, what is it they can’t perform,
when they attempt it? The Strength of their Brains shall be every whit
as conspicuous at their Cups, as in a Senate-House, and, when they
please, they can make it pass for as sure a Mark of Wisdom, to drink
deep, as to reason profoundly; a greater Proof of Courage, and
consequently of Understanding, to dare the Vengeance of Heaven it self,
than to stand the Raillery of some of the worst of their Fellow
Creatures!

Again, it may be said, If a Wife’s Case be as it is here represented, it
is not good for a Woman to marry, and so there’s an End of Human Race.
But this is no fair Consequence, for all that can justly be inferr’d
from hence, is, that a Woman has no mighty Obligations to the Man who
makes Love to her; she has no Reason to be fond of being a Wife, or to
reckon it a Piece of Preferment when she is taken to be a Man’s
Upper-Servant; it is no Advantage to her in this World; if rightly
manag’d it may prove one as to the next. For she who marries purely to
do good, to educate Souls for Heaven, who can be so truly mortified as
to lay aside her own Will and Desires, to pay such an intire Submission
for Life, to one whom she cannot be sure will always deserve it, does
certainly perform a more Heroick Action, than all the famous Masculine
Heroes can boast of, she suffers a continual Martyrdom to bring Glory to
_GOD_, and Benefit to Mankind; which Consideration, indeed, may carry
her through all Difficulties, I know not what else can, and engage her
to Love him who proves perhaps so much worse than a Brute, as to make
this Condition yet more grievous than it needed to be. She has need of a
strong Reason, of a truly Christian and well-temper’d Spirit, of all the
Assistance the best Education can give her, and ought to have some good
Assurance of her own Firmness and Vertue, who ventures on such a Trial;
and for this Reason ’tis less to be wonder’d at that Women marry off in
haste, for perhaps if they took Time to consider and reflect upon it,
they seldom would marry.

To conclude. Perhaps I’ve said more than most Men will thank me for; I
cannot help it, for how much soever I may be their Friend and humble
Servant, I am more a Friend to Truth. Truth is strong, and some time or
other will prevail; nor is it for their Honour, and therefore one would
think not for their Interest, to be partial to themselves and unjust to
others. They may fancy I have made some Discoveries, which, like _Arcana
Imperii_, ought to be kept secret; but, in good earnest, I do them more
Honour than to suppose their lawful Prerogatives need any mean Arts to
support them. If they have usurp’d, I love Justice too much to wish
Success and Continuance to Usurpations, which, though submitted to out
of Prudence, and for Quietness sake, yet leave everybody free to regain
their lawful Right whenever they have Power and Opportunity. I don’t say
that Tyranny _ought_, but we find in _Fact_, that it provokes the
Oppress’d to throw off even a lawful Yoke that fits too heavy: And if he
who is freely elected, after all his fair Promises, and the fine Hopes
he rais’d, proves a Tyrant, the Consideration that he was one’s own
Choice, will not render one more Submissive and Patient, but I fear,
more Refractory. For though it is very unreasonable, yet we see ’tis the
Course of the World, not only to return Injury for Injury, but Crime for
Crime; both Parties indeed are Guilty, but the Aggressors have a double
Guilt, they have not only their own, but their Neighbour’s Ruin to
answer for.

As to the Female Reader, I hope she will allow I’ve endeavoured to do
her Justice; not betray’d her Cause as her Advocates usually do, under
Pretence of defending it. A Practice too mean for any to be guilty of
who have the least Sense of Honour, and who do any more than meerly
pretend to it. I think I have held the Balance even, and not being
conscious of Partiality, I ask no Pardon for it. To plead for the
Oppress’d, and to defend the Weak, seem’d to me a generous Undertaking;
for though it may be secure, ’tis not always Honourable, to run over to
the strongest Party. And if she infers from what has been said, that
Marriage is a very happy State for Men, if they think fit to make it so;
that they govern the World, they have Prescription on their Side; Women
are too weak to dispute it with them, therefore they, as all other
Governors, are most, if not only, accountable for what’s amiss; for
whether other Governments in their Original, were or were not confer’d
according to the Merit of the Person, yet certainly in this Case, if
Heaven has appointed the Man to govern, it has Qualified him for it: So
far I agree with her: But if she goes on to infer, that therefore, if a
Man has not these Qualifications, where is his Right? That if he
misemploys, he abuses it? And if he abuses, according to modern
Deduction, he forfeits it, I must leave her there. A peaceable Woman,
indeed, will not carry it so far, she will neither question her
Husband’s Right, nor his Fitness to govern, but how? Not as an absolute
Lord and Master, with an arbitrary and tyrannical Sway, but as Reason
governs and conducts a Man, by proposing what is just and fit. And the
Man who acts according to that Wisdom he assumes, who would have that
Superiority he pretends to, acknowledged just, will receive no Injury by
any thing that has been offered here. A Woman will value Him the more
who is so wise and good, when she discerns how much he excels the rest
of his noble Sex; the less he requires, the more will he merit that
Esteem and Deference, which those who are so forward to exact, seem
conscious they don’t deserve. So then the Man’s Prerogative is not at
all infring’d, whilst the Woman’s Privileges are secured; and if any
Woman think her self injur’d, she has a Remedy in reserve, which few Men
will envy, or endeavour to rob her of, the Exercise and Improvement of
her Vertue Here, and the Reward of it Hereafter.

When I made these Reflections, I was of Opinion, that the Case of
married Women, in comparison of that of their Husbands, was not a little
hard and unequal. But as the World now goes, I am apt to think, that a
Husband is in no desirable Situation; his Honour is in his Wife’s
keeping, and what Man of Honour can be satisfied with the Conduct which
the Licentiousness of the Age not only permits, but would endeavour to
authorize as a Part of good Breeding? And what makes his Case the worse,
he must dissemble his Uneasiness, stifle his Resentments, and not dare
to take the proper Methods of preventing and curing the Disorder.

So great is our Corruption, that such as pretend to make a true Estimate
of Human Life, and very freely Satirize both Sexes for lesser Crimes,
are not asham’d to recommend this, prescribing a known Sin as a Cure for
what is not absolutely unlawful in it self, though very pernicious in
its Consequences, when carried to Excess.

Not that I would in any manner apologize for Gaming, which, when carried
to Excess, is ruinous to both Sexes, especially to Women; who, when
given to this Vice, disregard their Husbands, and Oeconomy, neglect the
Education of their Children, spend their Fortunes as much as they can,
and, which is not the least Inconveniency, when they lose to Men more
than they are able to pay, they give their Creditor Opportunity to make
insolent Demands. But sure, any Husband, who is not sunk to the lowest
Degree of Infamy, had rather his Wife should waste his Money at
_Quadrille_, than Intrigue with a _Colonel_. _If Sin you must_ (says an
admirable Author, whose Panegyricks are Satires, and his Satires
Panegyricks)

                ——_take Nature for your Guide,
            Love has some soft Excuse to sooth your Pride._

Can we read this excellent Advice of this very moral Satirist, without
remembring what the _Psalmist_ says of some of his Cotemporaries; _When
thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst unto him, and hast been Partaker
with the Adultery_? For, sure of all other Thieves he is the most
criminal, who (under Pretence of Friendship, perhaps) robs a Man of his
most valued Effects, deprives him of his Honour, and of the Quiet and
Comfort of his Life.

Nature and Love, as they, injuriously to both, miscall their brutal
Appetite, are very different from what our Author would represent them.
Variety by no Means answers the End of Nature in providing for
Posterity. And enough has been said, to shew, that such Professions of
Love are most abusive, and the Effect of their Passion the most
outrageous Injury that Hatred can produce: A Woman is never so
effectually _humble_, as the Scripture elegantly expresses it, than when
a Man obtains his Desires. And if she consents, she renders her self
despicable in his Eyes as well as in the Eyes of others. Thus the
_English_ Muse very truly sings:

            “_That wretched She, who yields to guilty Joys,
            “A Man may_ Pity, _but he_ MUST Despise.”

Whoever makes a true Estimate of Christianity, who does not profess it,
because as yet, ’tis the Religion of his Country, or for his Interest,
or some such worthy Motive; but upon full Conviction of its Divine
Authority, which he cannot want if he examines impartially, as a Matter
of this Consequence deserves; such a Man will find Christianity requires
the strictest Purity of Heart and Imagination, since in the thickest
Darkness our Thoughts, as well as our Actions, are manifest to our
Judge; and, that whoever looks upon a Woman to Lust after her, has
committed Adultery with her already in his Heart.

             _Horses and Bulls, and all the brutal Kind, }
           Range o’er the Field, to no one She confin’d, }
           They know not Love, for Love is in the Mind.  }
           These following Nature are exempt from Blame,
           Unconscious or of Guilt, Remorse and Shame._

             _But Man, unhappy Man! puts out his Light,
           Reason forsakes, to follow Appetite.
           Sinks down to Brute, and labours but in vain, }
           To be like them, without Remorse or Shame;    }
           To Guilt, inevitably follows Pain.            }
           No Deeds of Darkness are conceal’d by Night, }
           He sees Who dwells in everlasting Light,     }
           And ev’ry Thought is open to His Sight._     }

[Illustration]




                               APPENDIX.


The _Reflector_, who hopes _Reflector_ is not bad _English_, (now
_Governor_ is happily of the Feminine Gender) guarded against Curiosity
in vain: For a certain ingenuous Gentleman, as she is inform’d, had the
Good-nature to own these Reflections, so far, as to affirm that he had
the Original _MS._ in his Closet, a Proof she is not able to produce;
and so to make himself responsible for all their Faults, for which, she
returns him all due Acknowledgment. However, the Generality being of
Opinion, that a Man would have had more Prudence and Manners than to
have Publish’d such unseasonable Truths, or to have betray’d the _Arcana
Imperii_ of his Sex; she humbly confesses, that the Contrivance and
Execution of this Design, which is unfortunately accus’d of being so
destructive to the Government, (of the Men, I mean) is intirely her own.
She neither advis’d with Friends, nor turn’d over antient or modern
Authors, nor prudently submitted to the Correction of such as are, or
such as _think_ they are good Judges, but with an _English_ Spirit and
Genius, set out upon the Forlorn Hope, meaning no Hurt to any body, nor
designing any thing but the publick Good, and to retrieve, if possible,
the Native Liberty, the Rights and Privileges of the Subject.

Far be it from her to stir up Sedition of any sort: none can abhor it
more; and she heartily wishes, that our Masters would pay their Civil
and Ecclesiastical Governors the same Submission, which they themselves
exact from their Domestick Subjects. Nor can she imagine how she any way
undermines the Masculine Empire, or blows the Trumpet of Rebellion to
the Moiety of Mankind. Is it by exhorting Women, not to expect to have
their own Will in any thing, but to be intirely Submissive, when once
they have made Choice of a Lord and Master, though he happen not to be
so wise, so kind, or even so just a Governor as was expected? She did
not, indeed, advise them to think his Folly Wisdom, nor his Brutality,
that Love and Worship he promised in his Matrimonial Oath; for this
required a Flight of Wit and Sense much above her poor Ability, and
proper only to Masculine Understandings. However, she did not in any
manner prompt them to Resist, or to Abdicate the Perjur’d Spouse, though
the Laws of _GOD_, and the Land, make Special Provision for it, in a
Case, wherein, as is to be fear’d, few Men can truly plead Not Guilty.

’Tis true, through want of Learning, and of that Superior Genius which
Men, as Men, lay claim to, she was ignorant of the _Natural Inferiority_
of our Sex, which our Masters lay down as a Self-evident and Fundamental
Truth. She saw nothing in the Reason of Things, to make this either a
Principle or a Conclusion, but much to the contrary; it being Sedition
at least, if not Treason, to assert it in this Reign. For if by the
Natural Superiority of their Sex, they mean, that _every_ Man is by
Nature superior to _every_ Woman, which is the obvious Meaning, and that
which must be stuck to if they would speak Sense, it would be a Sin in
_any_ Woman, to have Dominion over _any_ Man, and the greatest Queen
ought not to command, but to obey, her Footman: because no Municipal
Laws can supersede or change the Law of Nature: So that if the Dominion
of the Men be such, the _Salique Law_, as unjust as _English Men_ have
ever thought it, ought to take Place over all the Earth, and the most
glorious Reigns in the _English_, _Danish_, _Castilian_, and other
Annals, were wicked Violations of the Law of Nature!

If they mean that _some_ Men are superior to _some_ Women, this is no
great Discovery; had they turn’d the Tables, they might have seen that
_some_ Women are superior to _some_ Men. Or had they been pleased to
remember their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, they might have known,
that _One_ Woman is superior to _All_ the Men in these Nations, or else
they have sworn to very little Purpose. And it must not be suppos’d,
that their Reason and Religion would suffer them to take Oaths, contrary
to the Law of Nature and Reason of Things.

By all which it appears, that our Reflector’s Ignorance is very
pitiable; it may be her Misfortune, but not her Crime, especially since
she is willing to be better inform’d, and hopes she shall never be so
obstinate as to shut her Eyes against the Light of Truth, which is not
to be charg’d with Novelty, how late soever we may be bless’d with the
Discovery. Nor can Error, be it as antient as it may, ever plead
Prescription against Truth. And since the only way to remove all Doubts,
to answer all Objections, and to give the Mind entire Satisfaction, is
not by _Affirming_, but by _Proving_, so that every one may see with
their _own_ Eyes, and judge according to the best of their _own_
Understandings; she hopes it is no Presumption to insist on this Natural
Right of Judging for her self, and the rather, because by quitting it,
we give up all the Means of Rational Conviction. Allow us then as many
Glasses as you please to help our Sight, and as many good Arguments as
you can afford to convince our Understandings: But don’t exact of us, we
beseech you, to affirm that we see such Things as are only the Discovery
of Men who have quicker Senses; or, that we understand, and know what we
have by Hear-say only; for to be so excessively Complaisant, is neither
to see nor to understand.

That the Custom of the World, has put Women, generally speaking, into a
State of Subjection, is not denied; but the Right can no more be prov’d
from the Fact, than the Predominancy of Vice can justify it. A certain
great Man, has endeavour’d to prove, by Reasons not contemptible, that
in the Original State of Things the Woman was the Superior, and that her
Subjection to the Man is an Effect of the Fall, and the Punishment of
her Sin: And, that ingenious Theorist Mr. _Whiston_, asserts, That
before the Fall there was a greater Equality between the two Sexes.
However this be, ’tis certainly no Arrogance in a Woman to conclude,
that she was made for the Service of _GOD_, and that this is her End.
Because _GOD_ made all Things for Himself, and a rational Mind is too
noble a Being to be made for the Sake and Service of any Creature. The
Service she at any Time becomes oblig’d to pay to a Man, is only a
Business by the Bye, just as it may be any Man’s Business and Duty to
keep Hogs; he was not Made for this, but if he Hires himself out to such
an Employment, he ought conscientiously to perform it. Nor can any thing
be concluded to the contrary from St. _Paul_’s Argument, 1 _Cor._ xi.
for he argues only for Decency and Order, according to the present
Custom and State of Things: Taking his Words strictly and literally,
they prove too much, in that, _Praying and Prophecying in the Church_
are allow’d the Women, provided they do it with their Head cover’d as
well as the Men; and no Inequality can be inferr’d from hence, neither
from the Gradation the Apostle there uses, that _the Head of every Man
is Christ, and that the Head of the Woman is the Man, and the Head of
Christ is_ _GOD_; it being evident from the Form of Baptism, that there
is no natural Inferiority among the Divine Persons, but that they are in
all Things Coequal. The Apostle, indeed, adds, that _the Man is the
Glory of_ _GOD_, _and the Woman the Glory of the Man_, _&c._ But what
does he infer from hence? He says not a Word of Inequality, or natural
Inferiority; but concludes, that a Woman ought to cover her Head, and a
Man ought not to cover his, and _that even Nature it self teaches_ us,
that _if a Man have long Hair it is a Shame unto him_. Whatever the
Apostle’s Argument proves in this Place, nothing can be plainer, than
that there is much more said against the present Fashion of Mens wearing
long Hair, than for that Supremacy they lay claim to. For by all that
appears in the Text, it is not so much a Law of Nature, that Women
should obey Men, as that Men should not wear long Hair. Now how can a
Christian Nation allow Fashions contrary to the Law of Nature, forbidden
by an Apostle, and declared by him to be a Shame to Men? Or if Custom
may make an Alteration in one Case, it may in another, but what then
becomes of the Nature and Reason of Things? Besides, the Conclusion the
Apostle draws from his Argument concerning Women, _viz._ that they
_should have Power on their Heads because of the Angels_, is so very
obscure a Text, that that ingenious Paraphrast, who pleads so much for
the _Natural Subjection_ of Women, ingenuously confesses, that he does
not understand it. Probably it refers to some Custom among the
_Corinthians_, which being well known to them, the Apostle only hints at
it, but which we are ignorant of, and therefore apt to mistake him. ’Tis
like, that the false Apostle whom St. _Paul_ writes against, had _led
Captive_ some of their rich and powerful, but _silly Women_, who having
as mean an Opinion of the Reason _GOD_ had given them, as any Deceiver
could desire, did not, like the noble-minded _Bereans, search the
Scriptures whether those things were so_, but lazily took up with having
Mens Persons in admiration, and follow’d their Leaders blindfold, the
certain Rout to Destruction. And it is also probable, that the same
cunning Seducer imploy’d these Women to carry on his own Designs, and
putting them upon what he might not think fit to appear in himself, made
them guilty of indecent Behaviour in the Church of _Corinth_. And
therefore St. _Paul_ thought it necessary to reprove them so severely,
in order to humble them; but this being done, he takes care in the
Conclusion to set the Matter on a right Foot, placing the two Sexes on a
Level, to keep Men, as much as might be, from taking those Advantages
which People who have Strength in their Hands, are apt to assume over
those who can’t contend with them. For, says he, _Nevertheless_, or
notwithstanding the former Argument, _the Man is not without the Woman,
nor the Woman without the Man, but all Things of_ _GOD_. The Relation
between the two Sexes is mutual, and the Dependance reciprocal, both of
them depending intirely upon _GOD_, and upon Him only; which, one would
think, is no great Argument of the natural Inferiority of either Sex.

Our _Reflector_ is of Opinion, that Disputes of this kind, extending to
Human Nature in general, and not peculiar to those to whom the Word of
_GOD_ has been reveal’d, ought to be decided by Natural Reason only.
And, that the Holy Scripture should not be interested in the present
Controversy, in which it determines nothing, any more than it does
between the _Copernican_ and _Ptolomean_ Systems. The Design of those
Holy Books being to make us excellent Moralists and perfect Christians,
not great Philosophers; and being writ for the Vulgar as well as for the
Learned, they are accommodated to the common way of Speech and the Usage
of the World; in which we have but a short Probation, so that it matters
not much what Part we act, whether of Governing or Obeying, provided we
perform it well with respect to the World to come.

One does not wonder, indeed, that when an Adversary is drove to a
Nonplus, and Reason declares against him, he flies to Authority,
especially to Divine, which is infallible, and therefore ought not to be
disputed. But Scripture is not always on their Side who make Parade of
it, and through their Skill in Languages, and the Tricks of the Schools,
wrest it from its genuine Sense to their own Inventions. And supposing,
not granting, that it were apparently to the Womens Disadvantage, no
fair and generous Adversary but would be asham’d to urge this Advantage:
Because Women, without their own Fault, are kept in Ignorance of the
Original, wanting Languages and other Helps to Criticise on the Sacred
Text, of which, they know no more, than Men are pleas’d to impart in
their Translations. In short, they shew their Desire to maintain their
Hypotheses, but by no means their Reverence to the Sacred Oracles, who
engage them in such Disputes. And therefore, the Blame be theirs, who
have unnecessarily introduc’d them in the present Subject, and who, by
saying, that the _Reflections_ were not agreeable to Scripture, oblige
the Reflector to shew, that those who affirm it must either mistake her
Meaning, or the Sense of Holy Scripture, or both, if they think what
they say, and do not find fault meerly because they resolve to do so.
For, had she ever writ any thing contrary to those sacred Truths, she
would be the first in pronouncing its Condemnation.

But what says the Holy Scripture? It speaks of Women as in a State of
Subjection, and so it does of the _Jews_ and _Christians_, when under
the Dominion of the _Chaldeans_ and _Romans_, requiring of the one as
well as of the other, a quiet Submission to them under whose Power they
liv’d. But will any one say, that these had a _Natural Superiority_ and
Right to Dominion? that they had a superior Understanding, or any
Pre-eminence, except what their greater Strength acquir’d? Or, that the
other were subjected to their Adversaries for any other Reason but the
Punishment of their Sins, and, in order to their Reformation? Or for the
Exercise of their Vertue, and because the Order of the World and the
Good of Society requir’d it?

If Mankind had never Sin’d, Reason would always have been obeyed, there
would have been no Struggle for Dominion, and Brutal Power would not
have prevail’d. But in the lapsed State of Mankind, and now, that Men
will not be guided by their Reason but by their Appetites, and do not
what they _ought_ but what they _can_, the Reason, or that which stands
for it, the Will and Pleasure of the Governor, is to be the Reason of
those who will not be guided by their own, and must take Place for
Order’s sake, although it should not be conformable to right Reason. Nor
can there be any Society great or little, from Empires down to private
Families, without a last Resort, to determine the Affairs of that
Society by an irresistable Sentence. Now unless this Supremacy be fix’d
somewhere, there will be a perpetual Contention about it, such is the
Love of Dominion, and let the Reason of Things be what it may, those who
have least Force or Cunning to supply it, will have the Disadvantage. So
that since Women are acknowledged to have least Bodily Strength, their
being commanded to Obey is in pure Kindness to them, and for their Quiet
and Security, as well as for the Exercise of their Vertue. But does it
follow, that Domestick Governors have more Sense than their Subjects,
any more than that other Governors have? We do not find that any Man
thinks the worse of his own Understanding, because another has superior
Power; or concludes himself less capable of a Post of Honour and
Authority, because he is not prefer’d to it. How much Time would lie on
Mens Hands, how empty would the Places of Concourse be, and how silent
most Companies, did Men forbear to censure their Governors, that is, in
effect, to think themselves wiser. Indeed, Government would be much more
desirable than it is, did it invest the Possessor with a superior
Understanding as well as Power. And if meer Power gives a Right to Rule,
there can be no such Thing as Usurpation; but a Highway-Man, so long as
he has Strength to force, has also a Right to require our Obedience.

Again, if absolute Sovereignty be not necessary in a State, how comes it
to be so in a Family? Or if in a Family why not in a State; since no
Reason can be alledged for the one that will not hold more strongly for
the other? If the Authority of the Husband, so far as it extends, is
sacred and inalienable, why not that of the Prince? The Domestick
Sovereign is without Dispute elected, and the Stipulations and Contract
are mutual; is it not then partial in Men to the last Degree, to contend
for, and practise that Arbitrary Dominion in their Families, which they
abhor and exclaim against in the State? For if Arbitrary Power is evil
in it self, and an improper Method of Governing Rational and Free
Agents, it ought not to be practis’d any where; nor is it less, but
rather more mischievous in Families than in Kingdoms, by how much
100,000 Tyrants are worse than one. What though a Husband can’t deprive
a Wife of Life without being responsible to the Law, he may, however, do
what is much more grievous to a generous Mind, render Life miserable,
for which she has no Redress, scarce Pity, which is afforded to every
other Complainant, it being thought a Wife’s Duty to suffer every thing
without Complaint. If _all Men are born Free_, how is it that all Women
are born Slaves? As they must be, if the being subjected to the
_inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will_ of Men, be the _perfect
Condition of Slavery_? And, if the Essence of Freedom consists, as our
Masters say it does, in having a _standing Rule to live by_? And why is
Slavery so much condemn’d and strove against in one Case, and so highly
applauded, and held so necessary and so sacred in another?

’Tis true, that _GOD_ told _Eve_ after the Fall, that _her Husband
should Rule over her_: And so it is, that he told _Esau_ by the Mouth of
_Isaac_ his Father, that he should _serve_ his _younger Brother_, and
should in Time, and when he was strong enough to do it, _break the Yoke
from off his Neck_. Now, why one Text should be a Command any more than
the other, and not both of them be Predictions only; or why the former
should prove _Adam_’s Natural Right to Rule, and much less every Man’s,
any more than the latter is a Proof of _Jacob_’s Right to Rule, and of
_Esau_’s to Rebel, one is yet to learn? The Text in both Cases
foretelling what would be; but neither of them determining what _ought_
to be.

But the Scripture commands _Wives_ to _submit themselves to their own
Husbands_. True; for which St. _Paul_ gives a Mystical Reason (_Eph._ v.
22, _&c._) and St. _Peter_, a Prudential and Charitable one (1 _Pet._
iii.) but neither of them derive that Subjection from the Law of Nature.
Nay, St. _Paul_, as if he foresaw and meant to prevent this Plea, giving
Directions for their Conduct to Women in general, 1 _Tim._ ii. when he
comes to speak of _Subjection_, he changes his Phrase from _Women_,
which denotes the whole Sex, to _Woman_, which in the New Testament is
appropriated to a Wife.

As for his not suffering Women to speak in the Church, no sober Person
that I know of pretends to it. That learned Paraphrast, indeed, who lays
so much Stress on the _Natural Subjection_, provided this Prerogative be
secur’d, is willing to give up the other. For he endeavours to prove,
that Inspir’d Women, as well as Men, us’d to speak in the Church, and
that St. _Paul_ does not forbid it, but only takes care that the Women
should signify their Subjection by wearing a Veil. But the Apostle is
his own best Expositor, let us therefore compare his Precepts with his
Practice, for he was all of a Piece, and did not contradict himself. Now
by this Comparison we find, that though he forbids Women to teach in the
Church, and this for several Prudential Reasons, like those he
introduces with an _I give my Opinion, and now speak I, not the Lord_,
and not because of any Law of Nature, or positive Divine Precept, for
that the Words _they are commanded_ (1 _Cor._ xiv. 24.) are not in the
Original, appears from the _Italick_ Character, yet he did not found
this Prohibition on any suppos’d want of Understanding in Woman, or of
Ability to teach; neither does he confine them at all Times to _learn in
Silence_. For the eloquent _Apollos_, who was himself a Teacher, was
instructed by _Priscilla_, as well as by her Husband _Aquila_, and was
improv’d by them both in the Christian Faith. Nor does St. _Paul_ blame
her for this, or suppose that she _usurp’d Authority over_ that great
_Man_; so far from this, that as she is always honourably mention’d in
Holy Scripture, so our Apostle, in his Salutations, _Rom._ xvi. places
her in the Front, even before her Husband, giving to her, as well as to
him, the Noble Title of, _his Helper in Christ Jesus_, and of one _to
whom all the Churches of the_ Gentiles had great Obligations.

But, it will be said perhaps, that in 1 _Tim._ ii. 13, _&c._ St. _Paul_
argues for the Woman’s Subjection from the Reason of Things. To this I
answer, that it must be confess’d, that this (according to the vulgar
Interpretation) is a very obscure Place, and I should be glad to see a
Natural, and not a Forc’d Interpretation given of it by those who take
it Literally: Whereas if it be taken Allegorically, with respect to the
Mystical Union between Christ and his Church, to which St. _Paul_
frequently accommodates the Matrimonial Relation, the Difficulties
vanish. For the Earthly _Adam_’s being _form’d_ before _Eve_, seems as
little to prove her Natural Subjection to him, as the living Creatures,
Fishes, Birds and Beasts being form’d before them both, proves that
Mankind must be subject to these Animals. Nor can the Apostle mean that
_Eve_ only sinned; or that she only was _Deceiv’d_, for if _Adam_ sinn’d
wilfully and knowingly, he became the greater Transgressor. But it is
very true, that the Second _Adam_, the Man Christ Jesus, _was first
form’d_, and then his Spouse the Church. He was not in any respect
_Deceiv’d_, nor does she pretend to Infallibility. And from this second
_Adam_, promis’d to _Eve_ in the Day of our first Parents Transgression,
and from Him only, do all their Race, Men as well as Women, derive their
Hopes of Salvation. Nor is it promis’d to either Sex on any other Terms
besides Perseverance in _Faith, Charity, Holiness and Sobriety_.

If the Learned will not admit of this Interpretation, I know not how to
contend with them. For Sense is a Portion that _GOD_ Himself has been
pleased to distribute to both Sexes with an impartial Hand, but Learning
is what Men have engross’d to themselves, and one can’t but admire their
great Improvements! For, after doubting whether there was such a Thing
as Truth, and after many hundred Years Disputes about it, in the last
Century an extraordinary Genius arose, (whom yet, some are pleased to
call a Visionary) enquir’d after it, and laid down the best Method of
finding it. Not to the general Liking of the Men of Letters, perhaps,
because it was wrote in a vulgar Language, and was so natural and easy
as to debase Truth to common Understandings, shewing too plainly, that
Learning and true Knowledge are two very different Things. “For it often
happens (says that Author) that Women and Children acknowledge the
Falsehood of those Prejudices we contend with, because they do not dare
to judge without Examination, and they bring all the Attention they are
capable of to what they read. Whereas on the contrary, the Learned
continue wedded to their own Opinions, because they will not take the
Trouble of examining what is contrary to their receiv’d Doctrines.”

Sciences, indeed, have been invented and taught long ago, and, as Men
grew better advis’d, new modelled. So that it is become a considerable
Piece of Learning to give an Account of the Rise and Progress of the
Sciences, and of the various Opinions of Men concerning them. But
Certainty and Demonstration are much pretended to in this present Age,
and being obtain’d in many Things, ’tis hoped Men will never Dispute
them away in that which is of greatest Importance, the Way of Salvation.
And because there is not any thing more certain than what is delivered
in the Oracles of _GOD_, we come now to consider what they offer in
Favour of our Sex.

Let it be premis’d, (according to the Reasoning of a very ingenious
Person in a like Case) that one Text for us, is more to be regarded than
many against us. Because that _One_ being different from what Custom has
established, ought to be taken with Philosophical Strictness; whereas
the _Many_ being express’d according to the vulgar Mode of Speech, ought
to have no greater Stress laid on them, than that evident Condescension
will bear. One Place then were sufficient, but we have many Instances
wherein Holy Scripture considers Women very differently from what they
appear in the common Prejudices of Mankind.

The World will hardly allow a Woman to say any thing well, unless, as
she borrows it from Men, or as assisted by them: But _GOD_ Himself
allows that the Daughters of _Zelophehad spake right_, and passes their
Request into a Law. Considering how much the Tyranny, shall I say, or
the superior Force of Men, keeps Women from Acting in the World, or
doing any thing considerable, and remembring withal the Conciseness of
the Sacred Story, no small Part of it is bestow’d in transmitting the
History of Women, famous in their Generations: Two of the Canonical
Books, bearing the Names of those great Women whose Vertues and Actions
are there recorded. _Ruth_ being call’d from among the _Gentiles_ to be
an Ancestor of the Messiah, and _Esther_ being rais’d up by _GOD_ to be
the great Instrument of the Deliverance and Prosperity of the _Jewish_
Church.

The Character of _Isaac_, though one of the most blameless Men taken
Notice of in the Old Testament, must give Place to _Rebecca_’s, whose
Affections are more reasonably plac’d than his, her Favourite Son being
the same who was _GOD_’s Favourite. Nor was the Blessing bestow’d
according to his, but to her Desire; so that if you will not allow, that
her Command to _Jacob_ superseded _Isaac_’s to _Esau_, his Desire to
give the Blessing to this Son, being evidently an Effect of his
Partiality; you must at least grant, that she paid greater Deference to
the Divine Revelation, and for this Reason, at least, had a Right to
oppose her Husband’s Design; which, it seems, _Isaac_ was sensible of,
when upon his Disappointment, he _trembled so exceedingly_. And so much
Notice is taken even of _Rebecca_’s Nurse, that we have an Account where
she died, and where she was buried.

_GOD_ is pleas’d to Record it among His Favours to the ingrateful
_Jews_, that He sent before them His Servants _Moses_, _Aaron_, and
MIRIAM; who was also a Prophetess, and instructed the Women how to bear
their Part with _Moses_ in his Triumphal Hymn. Is she to be blam’d for
her Ambition? And is not the High Priest _Aaron_ also, who has his Share
in the Reproof as well as in the Crime? nor could she have mov’d
Sedition if she had not been a considerable Person, which appears also
by the Respect the People paid her, in deferring their Journey till she
was ready.

Where shall we find a nobler Piece of Poetry than _Deborah_’s Song? Or a
better and greater Ruler than that renowned Woman, whose Government so
much excell’d that of the former Judges? And though she had a Husband,
she her self judged _Israel_, and consequently was his Sovereign, of
whom we know no more than the Name. Which Instance, as I humbly suppose,
overthrows the Pretence of _Natural Inferiority_. For it is not the bare
Relation of a Fact, by which none ought to be concluded, unless it is
conformable to a Rule, and to the Reason of Things: But _Deborah_’s
Government was conferr’d on her by _GOD_ Himself. Consequently the
Sovereignty of a Woman is not contrary to the Law of Nature; for the Law
of Nature is the Law of _GOD_, who cannot contradict Himself; and yet it
was _GOD_ who inspir’d and approv’d that great Woman, raising her up to
Judge and to Deliver His People _Israel_.

Not to insist on the Courage of that valiant Woman, who deliver’d
_Thebez_ by slaying the Assailant; nor upon the Preference which _GOD_
thought fit to give to _Sampson_’s Mother, in sending the Angel to her,
and not to her Husband, whose vulgar Fear she so prudently answer’d, as
plainly shews her superior Understanding: To pass over _Abigail_’s wise
Conduct, whereby she preserv’d her Family and deserved _David_’s
Acknowledgments, for restraining him from doing a rash and unjustifiable
Action; the Holy Penman giving her the Character of a _Woman of good
Understanding_, whilst her Husband has that of a Churlish and Foolish
Person, and a Son of _Belial_: To say nothing of the _wise Woman_ (as
the Text calls her) of _Tekoah_; or of her of _Abel_, who has the same
Epithet, and who by her Prudence delivered the City and appeas’d a
dangerous Rebellion: Nor of the Queen of _Sheba_, whose Journey to hear
the Wisdom of _Solomon_, shews her own good Judgment and great Share in
that excellent Endowment. _Solomon_ does not think himself too wise to
be instructed by his Mother, nor too great to record her Lessons, which,
if he had followed, he might have spared the Trouble of Repentance, and
been delivered from a great deal of that Vanity he so deeply regrets.

What Reason can be assign’d why the Mothers of the Kings of _Judah_, are
so frequently noted in those very short Accounts that are given of their
Reigns, but the great Respect paid them, or perhaps their Influence on
the Government, and Share in the Administration? This is not improbable,
since the wicked _Athaliah_ had Power to carry on her Intrigues so far
as to get Possession of the Throne, and to keep it for some Years.
Neither was there any Necessity for _Asa_’s removing his Mother (or
Grandmother) from being Queen, if this were merely Titular, and did not
carry Power and Authority along with it. And we find what Influence
_Jezabel_ had in _Israel_, indeed to her Husband’s and her own
Destruction.

It was a _Widow-Woman_ whom _GOD_ made choice of to sustain his Prophet
_Elijah_ at _Zarephah_. And the History of the _Shunamite_ is a noble
Instance of the Account that is made of Women in Holy Scripture. For
whether it was not the Custom in _Shunem_ for the Husband to dictate, or
whether her’s was conscious of her superior Vertue, or whatever was the
Reason, we find it is she who governs, _dwelling_ with great Honour and
Satisfaction _among her own People_. Which Happiness she understood so
well, and was so far from a troublesome Ambition, that she desires no
Recommendation to _the King or Captain of the Host_, when the Prophet
offer’d it, being already greater than they could make her. The Text
calls her a _Great Woman_, whilst her Husband is hardly taken Notice of,
and this, no otherwise, than as performing the Office of a Bailiff. It
is _her_ Piety and Hospitality that are Recorded, _She_ invites the
Prophet to _her House_; who converses with, and is entertained by _her_.
She gives her Husband no Account of _her_ Affairs any further, than to
tell him _her_ Designs, that he may see them executed. And when he
desires to know the Reason of her Conduct, all the Answer she affords
is, _Well_, or, as the Margin has it from the _Hebrew_, _Peace_. Nor can
this be thought assuming, since it is no more than what the Prophet
encourages, for all his Addresses are to _her_, he takes no Notice of
her Husband. His Benefits are conferr’d on _her_, ’tis _she_ and _her
Household_ whom he warns of a Famine, and ’tis _she_ who Appeals to the
King for the Restitution of _her House_ and _Land_. I would not infer
from hence, that Women, generally speaking, ought to govern in their
Families when they have a Husband; but I think this Instance and Example
is a sufficient Proof, that if by Custom or Contract, or the Laws of the
Country, or Birth-right, (as in the Case of Sovereign Princesses) they
have the supreme Authority, it is no Usurpation, nor do they act
contrary to Holy Scripture, nor consequently to the Law of Nature. For
they are no where, that I know of, forbidden to claim their just Right:
The Apostle, ’tis true, would not have them _usurp_ Authority, where
Custom and the Law of the strongest had brought them into Subjection, as
it has in these Parts of the World. Though in remoter Regions, if
Travellers rightly inform us, the Succession to the Crown is intail’d on
the Female Line.

_GOD_ Himself, who is _no Respecter of Persons, with whom there is
neither Bond nor Free, Male nor Female, but_ they _are all one in Christ
Jesus_, did not deny Women that Divine Gift the Spirit of Prophecy,
neither under the _Jewish_ nor Christian Dispensation. We have nam’d two
great Prophetesses already, _Miriam_ and _Deborah_; and besides other
Instances, _Huldah_ the Prophetess was such an Oracle, that the good
King _Josiah_, that great Pattern of Vertue, sends even the High Priest
himself to consult her, and to receive Directions from her in the most
arduous Affairs. _It shall come to pass_, saith the Lord, _that I will
pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh, and your Sons and your Daughters
shall Prophesy_, which was accordingly fulfill’d by the Mission of the
Holy _Ghost_ on the Day of _Pentecost_, as St. _Peter_ tells us. And,
besides others, there is mention of four Daughters of _Philip_, Virgins,
who did Prophesy. For, as in the _Old_, so in the _New Testament_, Women
make a considerable Figure; the Holy Virgin receiving the greatest
Honour that Human Nature is capable of, when the Son of _GOD_ vouchsafed
to be her Son, and to derive his Humanity from her only. And if it is a
greater Blessing _to hear the Word of_ _GOD_ _and keep it_, who are more
considerable for their Assiduity in this, than the Female Disciples of
our LORD? _Mary_ being Exemplary, and receiving a noble Encomium from
Him, for her Choice of the better Part.

It would be thought tedious to enumerate all the excellent Women
mentioned in the _New Testament_, whose humble Penitence and ardent
Love, as _Magdalen_’s; their lively Faith and holy Importunity, as the
_Syrophenician_’s; extraordinary Piety and Uprightness, as
_Elizabeth_’s; Hospitality, Charity and Diligence, as _Martha_’s,
_Tabitha_’s, _&c._ (see St. _Luke_ viii.); frequent and assiduous
Devotions and Austerities, as _Anna_’s; Constancy and Courage,
Perseverance and ardent Zeal, as that of the Holy Women who attended our
LORD to His Cross, when His Disciples generally forsook, and the most
Courageous had denied Him; are Recorded for our Example. Their Love was
stronger than Death, it followed our Saviour into the Grave. And, as a
Reward, both the Angel, and even the LORD Himself, appears first to
them, and sends them to preach the great Article of the Resurrection to
the very Apostles, who being, as yet, under the Power of the Prejudices
of their Sex, esteem’d the Holy Womens _Words as idle Tales, and
believed them not_.

Some Men will have it, that the Reason of our LORD’s appearing first to
the Women, was, their being least able to keep a Secret; a witty and
masculine Remark, and wonderfully Reverent! But not to dispute whether
those Women were Blabs or no, there are many Instances in Holy
Scripture, of Women who did not betray the Confidence repos’d in them.
Thus _Rahab_, though formerly an ill Woman, being converted by the
_Report_ of those Miracles, which, though the _Israelites saw_, yet they
_believed not in_ _GOD_, _nor put their Trust in his Word_, She
acknowledges the _GOD_ of Heaven, and, as a Reward of her faithful
Service, in concealing _Joshua_’s Spies, is, with her Family, exempted
from the Ruin of her Country, and also, has the Honour of being named in
the _Messiah_’s Genealogy. _Michal_, to save _David_’s Life, exposes her
self to the Fury of a Jealous and Tyrannical Prince. A Girl was trusted
by _David_’s grave Counsellors to convey him Intelligence in his Son’s
Rebellion; and when a Lad had found it out, and blab’d it to _Absalom_,
the King’s Friends confiding in the Prudence and Fidelity of a Woman,
were secur’d by her. When our LORD escaped from the _Jews_, he trusted
Himself in the Hands of _Martha_ and _Mary_. So does St. _Peter_ with
another _Mary_, when the Angel deliver’d him from _Herod_, the Damsel
_Rhoda_ too, was acquainted with the Secret. More might be said, but one
would think here is enough to shew, that whatever other great and wise
Reasons Men may have for despising Women, and keeping them in Ignorance
and Slavery, it can’t be from their having learnt to do so in Holy
Scripture. The Bible is for, and not against us, and cannot without
great Violence done to it, be urg’d to our Prejudice.

However, there are strong and prevalent Reasons which demonstrate the
Superiority and Pre-eminence of the Men. For in the first Place, Boys
have much Time and Pains, Care and Cost bestow’d on their Education,
Girls have little or none. The former are early initiated in the
Sciences, are made acquainted with antient and modern Discoveries, they
study Books and Men, have all imaginable Encouragement; not only Fame, a
dry Reward now a-days, but also Title, Authority, Power, and Riches
themselves, which purchase all Things, are the Reward of their
Improvement. The latter are restrain’d, frown’d upon, and beat, not
_for_, but _from_ the Muses; Laughter and Ridicule, that never-failing
Scare-Crow, is set up to drive them from the Tree of Knowledge. But if,
in spite of all Difficulties Nature prevails, and they can’t be kept so
ignorant as their Masters would have them, they are star’d upon as
Monsters, censur’d, envied, and every way discouraged, or, at the best,
they have the Fate the Proverb assigns them, _Vertue is prais’d and
starv’d_. And therefore, since the coarsest Materials need the most
Curing, as every Workman can inform you, and the worst Ground the most
elaborate Culture, it undeniably follows, that Mens Understandings are
superior to Womens, for, after many Years Study and Experience, they
become wise and learned, and Women are not Born so!

Again, Men are possessed of all Places of Power, Trust and Profit, they
make Laws and exercise the Magistracy, not only the sharpest Sword, but
even all the Swords and Blunderbusses are theirs, which by the strongest
Logick in the World, gives them the best Title to every Thing they
please to claim as their Prerogative: Who shall contend with them?
Immemorial Prescription is on their Side in these Parts of the World,
antient Tradition and modern Usage! Our Fathers, have all along, both
taught and practised Superiority over the weaker Sex, and consequently
Women are by Nature inferior to Men, as was to be demonstrated. An
Argument which must be acknowledged unanswerable; for, as well as I love
my Sex, I will not pretend a Reply to _such_ Demonstration!

Only let me beg to be inform’d, to whom we poor Fatherless Maids, and
Widows who have lost their Masters, owe Subjection? It can’t be to all
Men in general, unless all Men were agreed to give the same Commands; Do
we then fall as Strays, to the first who finds us? By the Maxims of some
Men, and the Conduct of some Women one would think so. But whoever he be
that thus happens to become our Master, if he allows us to be reasonable
Creatures, and does not meerly Compliment us with that Title, since no
Man denies our Readiness to use our Tongues, it would tend, I should
think, to our Master’s Advantage, and therefore he may please to be
advis’d to teach us to improve our Reason. But if Reason is only allow’d
us by way of Raillery, and the secret Maxim is, that we have none, or
little more than Brutes, ’tis the best way to confine us with Chain and
Block to the Chimney-Corner, which, probably, might save the Estates of
some Families and the Honour of others.

I Do not propose this to prevent a Rebellion, for Women are not so well
united as to form an Insurrection. They are for the most part wise
enough to love their Chains, and to discern how very becomingly they
fit. They think as humbly of themselves as their Masters can wish, with
respect to the other Sex, but in regard to their own, they have a Spice
of Masculine Ambition; every one would Lead, and none would Follow. Both
Sexes being too apt to Envy, and too backward in Emulating, and take
more Delight in detracting from their Neighbour’s Vertue, than in
improving their own. And therefore, as to those Women who find
themselves born for Slavery, and are so sensible of their own Meanness,
as to conclude it impossible to attain to any thing excellent, since
they are, or ought to be best acquainted with their own Strength and
Genius, She’s a Fool who would attempt their Deliverance or Improvement.
No, let them enjoy the great Honour and Felicity of their tame,
submissive and depending Temper! Let the Men applaud, and let them glory
in this wonderful Humility! Let them receive the Flatteries and Grimaces
of the other Sex, live unenvied by their own, and be as much belov’d as
one such Woman can afford to love another! Let them enjoy the Glory of
treading in the Footsteps of their Predecessors, and of having the
Prudence to avoid that audacious Attempt of soaring beyond their Sphere!
Let them Huswife or Play, Dress, and be pretty entertaining Company! Or,
which is better, relieve the Poor to ease their own Compassions, read
pious Books, say their Prayers, and go to Church, because they have been
taught and us’d to do so, without being able to give a better Reason for
their Faith and Practice! Let them not by any means aspire at being
Women of Understanding, because no Man can endure a Woman of Superior
Sense, or would treat a reasonable Woman civilly, but that he thinks he
stands on higher Ground, and, that she is so wise as to make Exceptions
in his Favour, and to take her Measures by his Directions; they may
pretend to Sense, indeed, since meer Pretences only render one the more
ridiculous! Let them, in short, be what is call’d _very_ Women, for this
is most acceptable to all sorts of Men; or let them aim at the Title of
_good devout_ Women, since some Men can bear with this; but let them not
judge of the Sex by their own Scantling: For the great Author of Nature
and Fountain of all Perfection, never design’d that the Mean and
Imperfect, but that the most Compleat and Excellent of His Creatures in
every Kind, should be the Standard to the rest.

To conclude; If that GREAT QUEEN who has subdued the Proud, and made the
pretended Invincible more than once fly before her; who has Rescued an
Empire, Reduced a Kingdom, Conquer’d Provinces in as little Time almost
as one can Travel them, and seems to have chain’d Victory to her
Standard; who disposes of Crowns, gives Laws and Liberty to _Europe_,
and is the chief Instrument in the Hand of the Almighty, to pull down
and to set up the great Men of the Earth; who conquers every where for
others, and no where for her self but in the Hearts of the Conquer’d,
who are of the Number of those who reap the Benefit of her Triumphs;
whilst she only reaps for her self the Lawrels of disinterested Glory,
and the Royal Pleasure of doing Heroically; if this Glory of her own
Sex, and Envy of the other, will not think we need, or does not hold us
worthy of, the Protection of her ever victorious Arms, and Men have not
the Gratitude, for her sake at least, to do Justice to her Sex, who has
been such a universal Benefactress to theirs: Adieu to the Liberties,
not of this or that Nation or Region only, but of the Moiety of Mankind!
To all the great Things that Women might perform, inspir’d by her
Example, encouraged by her Smiles, and supported by her Power! To their
Discovery of new Worlds for the Exercise of her Goodness, new Sciences
to publish her Fame, and reducing Nature it self to a Subjection to her
Empire! To their destroying those worst of Tyrants Impiety and
Immorality, which dare to stalk about even in her own Dominions, and to
devour Souls almost within View of her Throne, leaving a Stench behind
them scarce to be corrected even by the Incense of her Devotions! To the
Women’s tracing a new Path to Honour, in which none shall walk but such
as scorn to Cringe in order to Rise, and who are Proof both against
giving and receiving Flattery! In a Word, to those Halcyon, or, if you
will, _Millennium_ Days, in which the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed
together, and a Tyrannous Domination, which Nature never meant, shall no
longer render useless, if not hurtful, the Industry and Understandings
of half Mankind!


                               __FINIS.__

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  _BOOKS lately Printed for, and Sold by_ WILLIAM PARKER _at the_ King’s
    Head _in St._ Paul’_s_ Church-Yard.


                                _FOLIO._

A Compleat History of _England_, to the Death of King _William_ III.
with large Notes. Collected by the late Bishop _Kennet_. With the
Effigies of all the Kings, from the Originals: Engraven by the best
Masters. 3 Vols.

_Puffendorf_’s Law of Nature and Nations; in eight Books. Done into
_English_ by _Basil Kennet_, D. D. To which are added, all the large
Notes by Mr. _Barbeyrac_. The Fourth Edition, carefully corrected.

_Guillim_’s Display of Heraldry: The Sixth Edition, improv’d; with large
Additions of many hundred Coats of Arms, under their respective
Bearings; with good Authorities from the _Ashmolean_ Library, Sir
_George Mackenzie_, _&c._

The Natural History of _Northamptonshire_; with some Account of the
Antiquities. To which is annex’d, A Transcript of _Doomsday-Book_, so
far as it relates to that County. By _John Moreton_, M. A. Rector of
_Oxendon_ in the same County, and F. R. S.

The _Cambridge_ Concordance to the Holy Scriptures: Together with the
Books of _Apocrypha_; and the various Readings both of Texts and Margin,
in a more exact Method than has hitherto been extant. The fifth Edition,
very accurately corrected.

The Works of the famous _Nicholas Machiavel_, Citizen and Secretary of
_Florence_; newly and faithfully Translated into _English_. The Third
Edition, carefully corrected.

The Works of the most exemplary Christian Mr. _William Allen_,
consisting of thirteen distinct Tracts on several Subjects. With a
Sermon preached at his Funeral by Bishop _Kidder_: To which is prefix’d,
a Preface concerning the Author and his Writings; by _John Williams_,
late Bishop of _Chichester_.


                               _QUARTO._

Common-Place Book to the Bible.

_Littleton_’s Dictionary.

Religion of Nature delineated.

_Tournefort_’s compleat Herbal, 39 Numbers, to be continued. Price 1
_s._ each.

The History and Antiquities, Ecclesiastical and Civil, of the Isle of
_Thanet_ in _Kent_. By _J. Lewis_, M. A.

The History and Antiquities of the Abby and Church of _Feversham_ in
_Kent_; of the adjoining Priory of _Davington_ and _Maison-Dieu_ of
_Ospringe_, and Parish of _Bocton Subtus le Bleyne_, _&c._ By _J.
Lewis_, M. A.


                        _OCTAVO_ and _TWELVES_.

An Answer to the Dissenters Pleas for Separation: Or, an Abridgment of
the _London_ Cases. Wherein the Substance of those Books is digested
into one short and plain Discourse. The 6th Edition. By _Thomas Bennet_,
D. D. late Vicar of St. _Giles_’s _Cripplegate_.

Bishop _Bull_’s Sermons, with his Life. By Mr. _Nelson_, in 4 Vols.

The Book of Psalms made fit for the Closet; with Collects and Prayers
out of the Liturgy of the Church of _England_, _&c._ particularly
adapted, with Titles to each Psalm.

Dr. _Comber_’s short Discourses upon the whole Common-Prayer, designed
to inform the Judgment, and excite the Devotion of such as daily use the
same. The Fourth Edition.

Civil Policy, a Treatise concerning the Nature of Government. Wherein
the Reasons of the great Diversity to be observed in the Customs,
Manners, and Usages of Nations, are Historically explained, and Remarks
made upon the Changes of our _English_ Constitutions, and the different
Measures of our several Kings. By a Doctor of Physick.

Bishop _Cumberland_’s _Sanchoniatho’s Phœnician_ History.

—— _Origines Gentium Antiquisitione_: Or, Attempts for Discovering the
Times of the first Planting of Nations. In several Tracts.

  _N. B._ These two Pieces of Bishop _Cumberland_’s, contain a
    Confutation of the new Notion of Chronology advanced by Sir _Isaac
    Newton_.

_Drelincourt_’s Christian’s Defence against the Fears of Death; with
seasonable Directions how to prepare our selves to Die well. The 12th
Edition.

A Defence of Diocesan Episcopacy, in Answer to a Book of Dr. _David
Clarkson_, lately published, intituled _Primitive Episcopacy_. By _H.
Maurice_, D. D. The Second Edition.

Sir _John Floyer_’s Treatise of the Asthma. 3d Edit.

The Frauds of the _Romish_ Monks and Priests, set forth in eight
Letters. The 5th Edition. With Observations on a Journey to _Naples_:
Wherein the Frauds of the _Romish_ Monks and Priests are further
discovered. Lately written by a Gentleman in his Journey to _Italy_, and
published for the Benefit of the Publick. 2 Vols.

The Gentleman instructed in the Conduct of a virtuous and happy Life. In
Three Parts. Written for the Instruction of a young Nobleman. To which
is added: A Word to the Ladies. By way of Supplement to the First Part.

The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary: Or, A compleat System of
Horticulture. In 2 Vols. By _Philip Miller_, Gardener of the Botanick
Garden at _Chelsea_.

The genuine Use and Necessity of the two Sacraments: Namely, Baptism and
the Lord’s Supper; with our Obligations frequently to receive the
latter.

The History of _England_, faithfully extracted from authentick Records,
approved Manuscripts, and the most celebrated Histories of this Kingdom,
in all Languages, whether Ecclesiastical or Civil, with the Effiges of
the Kings and Queens. 5th Edition. 2 Vols.

_Olyff_’s Practical Exposition on the Church Catechism. 2 Vols.

Lawfulness of Infant Baptism improv’d from Scripture: With the Right
that the Infants of Christian Parents have to be Baptized. Wherein also
Mr. _Gale_s Reflections on Dr. _Wall_’s History of Infant Baptism are
examined and refuted, so far as they came in the Way of this Discourse;
and all the Objections and Arguments of other Antipædobaptists, that are
of any Weight, are taken off. By the Rev. Mr. _Owen_, Vicar of _Iford_
in _Sussex_.

Bishop _Potter_’s Discourse of Church Government; wherein the Rights of
the Church, and the Supremacy of Christian Princes are vindicated and
adjusted. Third Edition.

Pious Communicant: Containing whatever is necessary to persuade and
prepare us for that and all other Duties of Devotion, and prevent all
Scruples concerning them, _&c._

Father _Quesnel_’s Moral Reflections upon every Verse of the New
Testament, in order to make the Reading of it more profitable, and the
Meditation more easy. In four Vols.

  _N. B._ Those Gentlemen that have the First and Second Volumes, are
    desired speedily to send for the Third and Fourth, otherwise they
    will find it difficult to compleat them, there not being so many
    Printed of the two last as of the former Volumes.

Reflections upon Learning; wherein is shewn the Insufficiency thereof,
in its several Particulars, in order to evince the Usefulness and
Necessity of Revelation. The sixth Edition. By a Gentleman.

The Scripture Doctrine of Christ’s Divinity: or, The adorable Nature,
voluntary Subjection, and necessary Supremacy of the Son of God,
consider’d: In six Sermons; preach’d on several Occasions. By _Sam.
Johnson_, M. A. Vicar of _Great Torrington_, Rector of _Little
Torrington_.

  Where may be had _Gratis_, a _Catalogue_ of _Books_ (being Part of the
    Stock of two Booksellers who have lately left off Trade) which are
    to be sold very cheap unbound till _Michaelmas_ next, the Prices
    printed in the Catalogue afterward, at the former Prices.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES


 1. P. 89, changed “defin’d” to “destin’d”.
 2. All spelling errors were left uncorrected.
 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.





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