high an opinion of the benefits they confer : they view them in too ftrong a light; and expect more in return, than reafon or juftice will warrant. This is peculiarly the cafe with little minds; and most unhappy is that man, who is under the neceffity of receiving favours from fuch. A whole life of gratitude is not fufficient to return their obligations; which, in the general, infolence and contempt fully cancel. The great mind, as it finds the most satisfactory: delight in obliging, is never hurt more, than when its kindneffes are repeatedly mentioned; it enjoys greater pleasure from the noble reflection on the good it does, than from the selfish pride of the return it receives. And he who is fo fortunate as to have favours conferred by men of fuch minds, will never fail in gratitude; for he will never meet with vanity and infolence; and vanity and infolence are the bane of gratitude.”

NUMBER LXV.

And one falfe fep entirely damns her fame.

To the VISITOR.

Rowe.

SIR,

HOUGH the most exquifite delights,

Tand the highest gratifications arife from

the fair fex, it is too certain that we often treat their characters with difrefpect, and cenfure them with a feverity, which our own conduct will by no means juftify. Perhaps that pecullar delicacy, with which we conceive the fe.. male virtue is to be preserved, and that unforgiving aufterity, with which we look upon their once blasted reputation, may arise from a sense of the superior fatisfactions they afford; from a confeffion of the excellence and utility of their amiable and tender endearments. Conscious how necessary their affectionate and pleafing fociety is to foften the rough journey of life; we are jealous of the minutest stain, which may leffen them in our esteem, and deprive us of the comforts flowing from their virtuous friendship. This however is the best apology, whether true or falfe, that we can offer to the

fair sex, for condemning so grofly liberties in them which we ourselves indulge fo licentioufly.

I do not mean, on any account, to plead for fuch liberties on their fide; virtue is the diftinguishing excellence of a woman; and the, who can live eafy, under the lofs of it, deserves as little estimation as she will find. But while we think ourselves above cenfure, and perhaps without blame, in our conftant pursuit of unlawful pleafures, and in our continued gratification of fenfual appetites, fhall we either condemn to everlafting infamy the woman, who (by what means I enquire not) hath unhappily made a falfe step, and been fubdued by that paffion, whofe ftrength and univerfality ought much to alleviate its guilt (at least in our judgment)? or fhall we suppose, that the, who hath once been led into the path of evil, is fo much, fò totally corrupted, as to have no fingle ray of virtue yet remaining in her mind, to enlighten her in her return, and to fhew her the foulnefs of indulged vice ?—It were to be wifhed, that the men who judge thus, would inform us, in what particulars they fuppofe the female mind to differ from their own; and upon what principles they conclude that the women have lefs fenfibility, ge nerosity, refolution, and virtue than the men. For my part, I verily believe, if the matter were brought to the teft, and examples on either fide

produced, it would perplex the most fagacious lawyer to make an equitable decifion.

I know, that the men are very fond of believing that the fofter sex are more prone to love; fhall I fay, more prompt, than their own: the men of pleasure, who converse with the miferable part of the fex, may believe this; the men of virtue, who are happy in their acquaintance with women of a different fort, will univerfally proclaim the contrary. And let me obferve, that the man of pleasure is no adequate judge; fince the prostitute for hire is compelled to an affectation of luft, which poffibly her heart at the fame time abhors; a heart, which often is compelled to affume the greatest gaiety when oppreft with the deepest distress.-But fuppofing the paffion equally ftrong on both fides, fhall the man find no taint on his reputation, no prejudice in his connections, from an acknowledged and continual gratification of his defires; and fhall the woman, (to enflame whofe affections poffibly all methods have been used) fhall fhe be the conftant mark of unforgiving reproach; and never be allowed to recover her character by a series of the most blameless conduct? furely we act here not only with great inconfistence, but with a cruelty ill-becoming our mutual humanity.

t

However, the lovely part of the creation, whofe caufe we thus far have undertaken to plead,

may

may and ought to learn one leffon, and that of high importance, under the prefent circumftances: Which is, " that fince fo fatal, and almost irremediable, is the lofs of reputation, they can never be too careful of their conduct, or too delicate in their behaviour. They fhould confider, that with their virtue, they will lofe all things valuable; and therefore fhould arm themfelves against the softnesses of nature, and the artifices of feduction. While they remember, that not only the preservation of virtue, but the appearance too, is always neceffary. Many women, truly virtuous, lofe their reputation, by not attending fufficiently to those appearances, which their own innocence leads them to esteem indifferent; but which the severity of censure will conftrue into criminal."

To fhew us, that a woman is capable of the highest virtue, who hath unhappily wandered from the fair and happy path; as well as to teach us more lenity to the fex, and to inspire us with defires to forward every fcheme calculated to aid the reformation of the more wretched amongst them; I fhall conclude with an account of the behaviour of Madam de la Valiere, the first miftrefs of Lewis the XIV th. "His connection (Lewis's), fays my historian, with Madam de la Valiere, always continued, notwithstanding the frequent infidelities he was guilty of. Thefe infidelities coft him but little trouble;