I Have Everywhere Been Struck By One Characteristic Difference In
The Conduct Of The Two Sexes; Women, In General, Are Seduced By
Their Superiors, And Men Jilted By Their Inferiors:
Rank and
manners awe the one, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other;
ambition creeping into the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force
to the man's, for most men treat their mistresses as kings do their
favourites:
Ergo is not man then the tyrant of the creation?
Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim - How can I avoid
it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been
occasioned by the oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when
we feel forcibly.
But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality
so prevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind
and dull senses, than from an exuberance of life, which often
fructifies the whole character when the vivacity of youthful spirits
begins to subside into strength of mind.
I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants,
considering them as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a
kind of interregnum between the reign of the father and husband
which is the only period of freedom and pleasure that the women
enjoy. Young people who are attached to each other, with the
consent of their friends, exchange rings, and are permitted to enjoy
a degree of liberty together which 1 have never noticed in any other
country. The days of courtship are, therefore, prolonged till it be
perfectly convenient to marry:
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