With respect to the culture of the heart, it is unanimously
allowed that sex is out of the question; but the line of
subordination in the mental powers is never to be passed over.*
Only 'absolute in loveliness,' the
portion of rationality granted to woman, is, indeed, very scanty;
for, denying her genius and judgment, it is scarcely possible to
divine what remains to characterize intellect.
* Into what inconsistencies do men fall when they argue without
the compass of principles. Women, weak women, are compared with
angels; yet, a superiour order of beings should be supposed to
possess more intellect than man; or, in what does their
superiority consist? In the same strain, to drop the sneer, they
are allowed to possess more goodness of heart, piety, and
benevolence. -- I doubt the fact, though it be courteously
brought forward, unless ignorance be allowed to be the mother of
devotion; for I am firmly persuaded that, on an average, the
proportion between virtue and knowledge, is more upon a par than
is commonly granted.
