Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/66

60 Suppoing, for a moment, that the oul is not immortal, and that man was only created for the preent cene,—I think we hould have reaon to complain that love, infantile fondnes, ever grew inipid and pallid upon the ene. Let us eat, drink, and love, for to-morrow we die, would be, in fact, the language of reaon, the morality of life; and who but a fool would part with a reality for a fleeting hadow? But, if awed by oberving the improvable powers of the mind, we disdain to confine our wihes or thoughts to uch a comparatively mean field of action; that only appears grand and important, as it is connected with a boundles propect and ublime hopes, what neceity is there for falehood in conduct, and why mut the sacred majety of truth be violated to detain a deceitful good that aps the very foundation of virtue? Why mut the female mind be tainted by coquetih arts to gratify the enualit, and prevent love from ubiding into friendhip, or compaionate tendernes, when there are not qualities on which friendship can be built? Let the honet heart hew itelf, and reaon teach paion to submit to neceity; or, let the dignified puruit of virtue and knowledge raie the mind above thoe emotions which rather imbitter than weeten the cup of life, when they are not retrained within due bounds.

I do not mean to allude to the romantic paion, which is the concomitant of genius.—Who can clip its wing? But that grand paion not proportioned to the puny enjoyments of life, is only true to the entiment, and feeds on itelf. The paions which have been celebrated for their&ensp;