"
Absolute, uncontroverted authority, it seems, must subsist
somewhere: but is not this a direct and exclusive appropriation of
reason? The RIGHTS of humanity have been thus confined to the male
line from Adam downwards. Rousseau would carry his male
aristocracy still further, for he insinuates, that he should not
blame those, who contend for leaving woman in a state of the most
profound ignorance, if it were not necessary, in order to preserve
her chastity, and justify the man's choice in the eyes of the
world, to give her a little knowledge of men, and the customs
produced by human passions; else she might propagate at home
without being rendered less voluptuous and innocent by the exercise
of her understanding: excepting, indeed, during the first year of
marriage, when she might employ it to dress, like Sophia. "Her
dress is extremely modest in appearance, and yet very coquettish in
fact: she does not make a display of her charms, she conceals
them; but, in concealing them, she knows how to affect your
imagination. Every one who sees her, will say, There is a modest
and discreet girl; but while you are near her, your eyes and
affections wander all over her person, so that you cannot withdraw
them; and you would conclude that every part of her dress, simple
as it seems, was only put in its proper order to be taken to pieces
by the imagination." Is this modesty? Is this a preparation for
immortality? Again.
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