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Article FEMALE CHARACTER ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Character
But the study of elegant literature and the fine arts , as they give softness and sensibility to the heart , and richness and delicacy to the imagination , seem admirably adapted to produce those gentle and amiable qualities which in my opinion constitute a genuine feminine character . I would , therefore , lead my fair disciples who thirst after
improvement to the Cas . talian Spring , and advise them to repose in the bosoms ofthe Muses . Every thing that embellishes society belongs almost exclusively to the female character ; she smooths the rugged brow of stoicism , and converts what would be ferocity . into firmness . Under her plastic touch the starch pedant assumes the unaffected manners ofthe well-educated gentleman ; and the boisterous effervescence of the roaring bacchanal is refined by her influence into the generous effusions of rational conviviality .
If , however , some ardent female spirit , " instinct ( as Milton would have . said ) with fire and nitre , " be impelled by the fervour of her mind to soar into the regions of metaphysics , or is ambitious of distinguishing herself amidst the tumult of contending factions , let her be gazed at , and admired if you please , as a splendid meteor , but never let her be held up as an archetype for general imitation . It has
• been observed with great propriety , that some knowledge of medicine was necessary to the female character , as in the capacity of a mother she would have frequent occasions of exercising it . . For an instance , with respect to children , who would be able to judge of the predisposing- symptoms with such accuracy as a mother ? Who would watch over the operations of the remedy with such unremitting solicitude r Or , who would administer it with so much care and tenderness ? Under whose superintendence , therefore , would it be likely to produce such beneficial effects .
.. Having now pointed out what I conceive to be the kind of knowledge best adapted to form the female mind so as to direct its influence in society , I shall proceed to consider the possessor of . it placed in that situation where the qualities and dispositions she has imbibed will be brought into action . First , as a Wife , to give stability to her husband ' s attachment ; < md , secondly , as a Mother , to be exerted in forming the early habits and dispositions of her children ; particularly in giving her girls that system of education the excellent effects of which she will so happily have proved from her own experience .
wnen the mmd of a virtuous woman is properly cultivated , she need not be deterred from entering into the conjugal state by apprehensions of not securing the permanent attachment of her husband ; for she has that within her which must in the highest degree exalt and refine enjoyment . Every beauty and grace she possesses being beheld through the medium of those amiable dispositions and eleo-ant mental lishments with which she is endowed will
accomp , appear with an expression that will diffuse over them the charm of perpetual novelty ; and the enraptured possessor of her person will be astonished that although he has contemplated them so frequently , yet he VOL , III , B b
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Female Character
But the study of elegant literature and the fine arts , as they give softness and sensibility to the heart , and richness and delicacy to the imagination , seem admirably adapted to produce those gentle and amiable qualities which in my opinion constitute a genuine feminine character . I would , therefore , lead my fair disciples who thirst after
improvement to the Cas . talian Spring , and advise them to repose in the bosoms ofthe Muses . Every thing that embellishes society belongs almost exclusively to the female character ; she smooths the rugged brow of stoicism , and converts what would be ferocity . into firmness . Under her plastic touch the starch pedant assumes the unaffected manners ofthe well-educated gentleman ; and the boisterous effervescence of the roaring bacchanal is refined by her influence into the generous effusions of rational conviviality .
If , however , some ardent female spirit , " instinct ( as Milton would have . said ) with fire and nitre , " be impelled by the fervour of her mind to soar into the regions of metaphysics , or is ambitious of distinguishing herself amidst the tumult of contending factions , let her be gazed at , and admired if you please , as a splendid meteor , but never let her be held up as an archetype for general imitation . It has
• been observed with great propriety , that some knowledge of medicine was necessary to the female character , as in the capacity of a mother she would have frequent occasions of exercising it . . For an instance , with respect to children , who would be able to judge of the predisposing- symptoms with such accuracy as a mother ? Who would watch over the operations of the remedy with such unremitting solicitude r Or , who would administer it with so much care and tenderness ? Under whose superintendence , therefore , would it be likely to produce such beneficial effects .
.. Having now pointed out what I conceive to be the kind of knowledge best adapted to form the female mind so as to direct its influence in society , I shall proceed to consider the possessor of . it placed in that situation where the qualities and dispositions she has imbibed will be brought into action . First , as a Wife , to give stability to her husband ' s attachment ; < md , secondly , as a Mother , to be exerted in forming the early habits and dispositions of her children ; particularly in giving her girls that system of education the excellent effects of which she will so happily have proved from her own experience .
wnen the mmd of a virtuous woman is properly cultivated , she need not be deterred from entering into the conjugal state by apprehensions of not securing the permanent attachment of her husband ; for she has that within her which must in the highest degree exalt and refine enjoyment . Every beauty and grace she possesses being beheld through the medium of those amiable dispositions and eleo-ant mental lishments with which she is endowed will
accomp , appear with an expression that will diffuse over them the charm of perpetual novelty ; and the enraptured possessor of her person will be astonished that although he has contemplated them so frequently , yet he VOL , III , B b