These observations all branch out of a general one, which I have
before made, and which cannot be too often insisted upon, for,
speaking of men, women, or professions, it will be found that the
employment of the thoughts shapes the character both generally
and individually. The thoughts of women ever hover round their
persons, and is it surprising that their persons are reckoned
most valuable? Yet sonic degree of liberty of mind is necessary
even to form the person; and this may be one reason why some
gentle wives have so few attractions beside that of sex. Add to
this, sedentary employments render the majority of women sickly
-- and false notions of female excellence make them proud of this
delicacy though it be another fetter, that by calling the
attention continually to the body, cramps the activity of the
mind.
