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Having pre&longs;ented you with
&longs;everal ob&longs;ervations on Seduction, I think it
will not be mal apropos to con&longs;ider the question
in another point of view, and di&longs;cover
how a woman may be acce&longs;&longs;ary to her own
ruin---It is hardly worth while to contend
about the difference between the meaning
of the terms acce&longs;&longs;ary and principal. The
difference, in fact, is &longs;mall; but when a woman,
by her imprudence, expo&longs;es her&longs;elf,
&longs;he is acce&longs;&longs;ary; for though her heart may be
pure, her conduct is a tacit invitation to the
Seducer.

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EDUCATED in the &longs;chool of luxury and
pride, the female heart grows gradually torpid
to the fine feelings of &longs;en&longs;ibility—the
blu&longs;h of mode&longs;ty wears off—the charms of
elegant &longs;implicity fade by degrees—and the
continual hurry of di&longs;&longs;ipation &longs;uper&longs;edes the
improvement of &longs;erious reflection. Reflection
is a kind of relaxation from frolicking—
it encourages the progre&longs;s of virtue, and upholds
the heart from &longs;inking to depravity.

WE may lay it down as a principle, that
that conduct which will bear the te&longs;t of reflection,
and which creates a plea&longs;ure in the mind
from a con&longs;iou&longs;ne&longs;s of acting right, is virtuous:
And &longs;he who&longs;e conduct will not bear this
te&longs;t, is nece&longs;&longs;arily degenerating, and &longs;he is assenting
to her de&longs;truction

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LET a lady be liberal or even magnificent,
according to her circum&longs;tances or &longs;ituation
in life; but let the heart remain uncorrupt,
let her not be contaminated by wealth, ambition
or &longs;plendour. She may then take a
happy retro&longs;pect of her conduct—her heart
cannot upbraid her—and the &longs;uffrage of her
own mind is a convincing proof that &longs;he
has not &longs;trayed from the path of virtue.

HAPPY they who can thus reflect—who can
recal to view the &longs;cenes that are pa&longs;&longs;ed, and
behold their actions with reiterated satisfaction—
they become ambitious of excelling in
everything virtuous, becau&longs;e they are certain
of &longs;ecuring a continual reward: For as a
mighty river fertilizes the country through
which it pa&longs;&longs;es and encrea&longs;es in magnitude and

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force until it empty it&longs;elf into the ocean: So
virtue fertilizes or improves the heart, and
gathers &longs;trength and vigour by continual
progre&longs;&longs;ion, until it centre in the consummation
of its de&longs;ires.

DAZZLED by the glitter of &longs;plendour, and
unmindful of the real charms of economy
and &longs;implicity, the female heart &longs;ighs for the
enjoyment of fa&longs;hion, and flutters to join the
motley train of plea&longs;ure. But how is it deluded
by empty deceptions! Like the fruit
which &longs;prang up in the infernal regions,
beautiful to the eye, but which left upon the
ta&longs;te bitter a&longs;hes, and was followed by repentance—
A great quantity of this kind of
fruit pre&longs;ents it&longs;elf to my ra&longs;hly judging &longs;ex;
and it frequently happens that their hearts

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

have as little inclination to re&longs;i&longs;t the temptation,
as our general parent to refu&longs;e the
fatal apple.

WE do not rou&longs;e to our aid fortitude to
enable us to &longs;urmount the temptation, but
yield our&longs;elves to a kind of voluntary &longs;lavery.
Hence it is ob&longs;ervable, that a woman is often
unhappy in the mid&longs;t of plea&longs;ures—and petulent
without cau&longs;e—that &longs;he is trifling in
matters of the highe&longs;t importance; and the
mo&longs;t momentous concern is con&longs;idered futile,
as whim and caprice may chance to
dictate.

THE progre&longs;s of female luxury, however
flow it may appear, unle&longs;s timely checked,
works with infallible and de&longs;tructive advances.
The rule we at fir&longs;t adopted might

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perhaps an&longs;wer this check; for by the examination
there recommended, we behold the
dangers of a continuation of &longs;uch conduct—
Ruin and contempt, the invariable concommitants
of vice and immorality, proclaim
their denunciations on a pro&longs;ecution of it.

LET us examine the gradual &longs;teps, and
the con&longs;equence of female luxury.—A de&longs;ire
to be admired is the fir&longs;t. Behold a woman
&longs;urrounded by her wor&longs;hippers, receiving the
&longs;acrifice of adulation—what was given her
at fir&longs;t as compliment, &longs;he now demands as
her due. She finds her&longs;elf di&longs;appointed, and
is mortified. The fir&longs;t de&longs;ire &longs;till predominating,
&longs;he attaches her&longs;elf to the votaries
of pride, who direct their feet in the paths of
extravagance and irreligion. Thus &longs;unk

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into effeminacy and meanne&longs;s, &longs;he forfeits her
virtue rather than her pride. Thus terminates
the career of a woman, who&longs;e mind is
debilitated, and who&longs;e life is expended in
the pur&longs;uit of vanity.

IT is &longs;aid of &longs;ome &longs;pecies of American serpents,
that they have the power of charming
birds and &longs;mall animals, which they de&longs;tine
for their prey. The &longs;erpent is &longs;tretched underneath
a tree—it looks &longs;tedfa&longs;tly on the
bird—their eyes meet to &longs;eparate no more—
the charm begins to operate—the fascinated
bird flutters and hops from limb to limb,
till unable any longer to extend its wings,
it falls into the voracious jaws of its enemy:
This is no ill emblem of the fa&longs;cinating power
of plea&longs;ure. Surrounded with

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temptation, and embarra&longs;&longs;ed in her circum&longs;tances,
a woman of di&longs;&longs;ipation becomes le&longs;s tenacious
of her honour—and falls an ea&longs;y prey
to the fa&longs;cinating power of theSEDUCER.

HAVING traced to you, my dear Myra,
the ri&longs;e, advancement and termination of
plea&longs;ure and pride in the female heart, it appears
almo&longs;t unnece&longs;&longs;ary to remark that this
conduct cannot bear the te&longs;t of reflection and
&longs;erious examination. We may, however,
ob&longs;erve on the contrary, that a woman who
advances a few &longs;teps, often hurries on &longs;till
further to prevent thought. This bars the
way to a return to that conduct which can
give plea&longs;ure on recollection. She behaves
to her&longs;elf as the populace did formerly to
women &longs;u&longs;pected of witchcraft—they were

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tied neck and heels and thrown into the
river; if they &longs;wam they were hung for
witches—if they &longs;ank they were acquitted of
the crime, but drowned in the experiment:
So when we only &longs;u&longs;pect our hearts of an
errour, we plunge &longs;till deeper into the &longs;ea of
di&longs;&longs;ipation, to prevent the trial of that condu
ct which impartial rea&longs;on and judgment
would approve.

notwithstanding I give this in&longs;tance
as an encouragement for virtue; yet in all
tho&longs;e I have mentioned is a woman acce&longs;&longs;ary
to her ruin.

DO not imagine, my dear Myra, that I mean
to argue again&longs;t all plea&longs;ure—Many of us &longs;et
out on a principle of fal&longs;e delicacy and destru
ctive rival&longs;hip; we cannot behold a

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fine woman without wi&longs;hing to appear finer.
A laudable emulation in the conduct of all
women is extremely prai&longs;eworthy—it stimulates
them in the line of their duty—increa&longs;es
vivacity and good humour; and ambition,
thus directed and pur&longs;ued, I beg leave to designate
a female virtue, becau&longs;e it is productive
of the mo&longs;t happy con&longs;equences.

BUT it &longs;ometimes happens that particular
virtues loo&longs;e them&longs;elves in their neighbouring
vices, and this laudable emulation degererates
into de&longs;tructive rival&longs;hip.

A GENTEEL, hand&longs;ome woman, deservedly
&longs;hares the e&longs;teem and admiration of all
men; but why &longs;hould this e&longs;teem and admiration,
ju&longs;tly paid to merit, give us difquiet?
the an&longs;wer is ready. That de&longs;ire to

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be admired, &longs;o predominant in all females,
by degrees works it&longs;elf into the ruling passion,
and precludes from the mind the particular
virtue of emulation; for why a woman
who merits the love of the world, &longs;hould
draw on her the di&longs;approbation of many of
her own &longs;ex, can be accounted for, by no
other principle, than the mean, pitiful pa&longs;&longs;ion
of envy.

THIS may po&longs;&longs;ibly give ri&longs;e to defamation.
It is a&longs;toni&longs;hing how this practice prevails
among a few per&longs;ons—becau&longs;e it is known
by experience, to prove &longs;ubver&longs;ive of its very
intention.—The arrows of envy recoil upon
her&longs;elf.

HOW fooli&longs;h mu&longs;t that woman appear who
depreciates the merit of another, that &longs;he

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may appear unrivalled! She rai&longs;es up the
dykes of ill nature, and inundates the land
with a flood of &longs;candal, but unhappily
drowns her&longs;elf in the event.

I LEAVE it to the re&longs;ult of your observation,
my dear Myra, whether the woman
who is fir&longs;t to develope her &longs;tores of defamation,
and through fal&longs;e emulation, the fir&longs;t
to traduce a woman of real merit and virtue,
is not al&longs;o the fir&longs;t who becomes a scandal
to her&longs;elf, and con&longs;equently the fir&longs;t that
is contemned.

HOW oppo&longs;ite are the pur&longs;uits and rewards
of her who participates in every rational enjoyment
of life, without mixing in tho&longs;e
&longs;cenes of indi&longs;cretion which give pain on
recollection!—Who&longs;e chymical genius leads

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her to extract the poi&longs;on from the mo&longs;t luxuriant
flowers, and to draw honey even from
the weeds of &longs;ociety. She mixes with the
world &longs;eemingly indi&longs;criminately—and because
&longs;he would &longs;ecure to her&longs;elf that satisfa
ction which ari&longs;es from a con&longs;ciou&longs;ne&longs;s of
acting right, &longs;he views her conduct with an
eye of &longs;crutiny. Though her temper is free
and unre&longs;trained, her heart is previou&longs;ly secured
by the precepts of prudence—for prudence
is but another name for virtue. Her
manners are unruffled, and her di&longs;po&longs;ition
calm, temperate and di&longs;pa&longs;&longs;ionate, however
&longs;he may be &longs;urrounded by the temptations
of the world.

Adieu!

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