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or the occasional superiority might alarm pride; but, as the truth is, this "mortal omnipotence" is at last but an insect in the breeze; and though a creature which by its will, its wit, or its caprices, is sometimes able to shake us, soul and body, it nevertheless, from instant to instant, is dependant upon ourselves for the minutest succour.

§3.-Let us consider female influence under the several aspects in which it presents itself;— and first, as acting upon society at large. The supremacy of women is quite as much general and public, as it is domestic and individual: it spreads along the innumerable lines of social intercourse, exerting itself, not merely over manners, but, which is often to be regretted, over modes of thinking. We see around the sex an almost-Chinese prostration-of mind as well as body: their approval it is that stamps social reputation,-their favour, and their favour alone, that is supposed to confer happiness. Nothing, foorsooth, is right, but what bears the stamp of their approbation; and theirs alone is the great catholic creed of manners, any deviation from which is heresy. And women have no

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notion of other merit or qualifications than such as they themselves please to dictate,—having been early taught to feel their own consequence, more than what is due to their creature, Man(2),

§ 4. But in the connubial state do women exercise the most unlimited power. Female influence, in its action merely over manners and conventionalisms, might seem somewhat on the surface; but such is by no means its narrow bounds: mediately, if not directly, it is an agent in every possible direction. The wife controls her husband, and he acts upon others, and upon the state at large, according to his sphere in life.

Within the whole circle of deception, there is perhaps no creature so completely beguiled as manya modern husband;—we can all, in our private circles, point to a score of instances. Such a being is but an appendage to another—nothing of himself; he is a slave, and a slave of the worst kind-fooled to the bent of another's will. Free agency is a thing quite gone from him, and, if mere confinement makes not captivity, he suffers a loss of liberty at his own hearth. He

is under a charm-loving, as Shakspeare phrases it, with an "enraged affection." Let the dear enchantress cry for the moon, she should have it from its sphere, were it possible. He would have the world from its axis, to give it her: no one can be richer than she in his promises: she, who but she, the cream of all his care!

"Dilige, et dic quicquid voles.”

Women there are affectionate enough—it may be, devoted-in their character as wives; but then, it is at their husbands' peril to be happy by other means than such as in their wisdom they please to prescribe. Regents of the heart, they take care to govern it most absolutely: and thus it happens (as Phædrus said long ago) that “men are sure to be losers by the women, as well when they are the objects of their love, as when they he under their displeasure!"

In right of marriage, Englishwomen become endowed with many and great privileges-privileges that are growing in number and importance every day. Clairs greater than were ever before awarded, are now alowed them in Law and in Equity: over pecuniary matters they

have no small control, and are always at full liberty to plunge into wanton expenditure, leaving their husbands the responsible parties.

In short, the ceremony of wedlock, with its present obligations, more than restores any natural inequality between the sexes. No longer are women cyphers beyond the sphere of domestic life: they are parceners of our power. They are not, it is true, suffered as yet to dispute the prizes of ambition, but they partake largely of its reward; they have the lion's share-they divide, where they do not monopolise the spoil!

Were it not for difference of dress and person, one might almost mistake the wife for the husband in this country (3). Her will is not carried in his pocket, as is wisely arranged elsewhere:"he pays the bills indeed, but my lady gives the treat." And while she is spending money with both hands, and with a zeal that would lighten the bags of a loan-monger, he has to sell his woods and lands, borrow, or beg!

Slily and unperceived does the foot of female authority slip itself in: the wedge is easily driven home. This is a species of power that never exists long without favouring itself;-let an as

is under a charm-loving, as Shakspeare phrases it, with an "enraged affection." Let the dear enchantress cry for the moon, she should have it from its sphere, were it possible. He would have the world from its axis, to give it her: no one can be richer than she in his promises: she, who but she, the cream of all his care!

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'Dilige, et dic quicquid voles."

Women there are affectionate enough-it may be, devoted-in their character as wives; but then, it is at their husbands' peril to be happy by other means than such as in their wisdom they please to prescribe. Regents of the heart, they take care to govern it most absolutely: and thus it happens (as Phædrus said long ago) that "men are sure to be losers by the women, as well when they are the objects of their love, as when they lie under their displeasure!" baklass

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