Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/56

50 for cheerful convere, and innocent carees have oftened toils which did not require great exercie of mind or tretch of thought: yet, has not the ight of this moderate felicity excited more tendernes than repect? An emotion imilar to what we feel when children are playing, or animals porting, whilt the contemplation of the noble truggles of uffering merit has raied admiration, and carried our thoughts to that world where enation will give place to reaon.

Women are, therefore, to be conidered either as moral beings, or o weak that they mut be entirely ubjected to the uperior faculties of men.

Let us examine this quetion. Roueau declares that a woman hould never, for a moment, feel herelf independent, that he hould be governed by fear to exercie her natural cunning, and made a coquetih lave in order to render her a more alluring object of deire, a weeter companion to man, whenever he chooes to relax himelf. He carries the arguments, which he pretends to draw from the indications of nature, till further, and ininuates that truth and fortitude, the corner tones of all human virtue, hould be cultivated with certain retrictions, becaue, with repect to the female character, obedience is the grand leon which ought to be impreed with unrelenting rigour. What&ensp;