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CHAPTER II.

INTELLECT IN WOMAN.

"Well I know, in the prime end Of nature, her th' inferior; in the mind And inward faculties, which most excel."

MILTON.

§ 1.-THE true sphere of woman is a point, the importance of which can scarcely be overrated; and there are respects in which should be distinctly understood what it is not, as well as what it is. Now, although woman be, in common with man, distinguished by the possession of reason, yet is not the sphere of genius hers: she can claim neither its properties nor its privileges, and intellectual excellence is still less her province than it is her peculiarity.

Power of mind is sexual: that vigour of genius which distinguishes man is rarely to be found in the opposite sex; in a word, woman is a creature less intellectual than man. If we regard

CHAPTER II.

INTELLECT IN WOMAN.

"Well I know, in the prime end Of nature, her th' inferior; in the mind And inward faculties, which most excel."

MILTON.

§ 1.—THE true sphere of woman is a point, the importance of which can scarcely be overrated; and there are respects in which should be distinctly understood what it is not, as well as what it is. Now, although woman be, in common with man, distinguished by the possession of reason, yet is not the sphere of genius hers: she can claim neither its properties nor its privileges, and intellectual excellence is still less her province than it is her peculiarity.

Power of mind is sexual: that vigour of genius which distinguishes man is rarely to be found in the opposite sex; in a word, woman is a creature less intellectual than man. If we regard

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