DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18731#0237
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Here I intreat the attention of my auditors
to their own ebfervations, for character being
continually before us, we judge for ourfelves
with fuflicient certainty. To fee bending
beneath the weight of his burden, a Aim
fpindlefhanks, whofe form fcarce indicates
ftrength enough to fupport his knot, is evi-
dently out of character for a porter, as it is to
fee a Hercules employed in meafuring a yard
of gauze.
As character is moft confpicuous at matu-
rity, we fliall here pay attention to thofe of
its branches which we before obferved might
be referred to the fexes, the natural inclina-
tions, and the habits of mankind.
The difbincTt character of the Sexes is fuffi-
ciently obvious, and perfectly correfpondent
to the bias of their minds; in the female fex,
we permit an earlier and more lively fenfe of
danger, becaufe their form is lefs calculated for
refinance and combat: whereas fimilar alarms
would be offenfive in a man, whofe bolder
nature is fupported by fuperior ftrength. On
the fame principle, the graces of an elegant
woman, are inconfiftent with the figure of a
man. When a man affumes the foftnefs and
delicacy which belongs to the other fex, he
contradicts the courfe of nature, and becomes
a juft object of ridicule; as whefi a woman
Here I intreat the attention of my auditors
to their own ebfervations, for character being
continually before us, we judge for ourfelves
with fuflicient certainty. To fee bending
beneath the weight of his burden, a Aim
fpindlefhanks, whofe form fcarce indicates
ftrength enough to fupport his knot, is evi-
dently out of character for a porter, as it is to
fee a Hercules employed in meafuring a yard
of gauze.
As character is moft confpicuous at matu-
rity, we fliall here pay attention to thofe of
its branches which we before obferved might
be referred to the fexes, the natural inclina-
tions, and the habits of mankind.
The difbincTt character of the Sexes is fuffi-
ciently obvious, and perfectly correfpondent
to the bias of their minds; in the female fex,
we permit an earlier and more lively fenfe of
danger, becaufe their form is lefs calculated for
refinance and combat: whereas fimilar alarms
would be offenfive in a man, whofe bolder
nature is fupported by fuperior ftrength. On
the fame principle, the graces of an elegant
woman, are inconfiftent with the figure of a
man. When a man affumes the foftnefs and
delicacy which belongs to the other fex, he
contradicts the courfe of nature, and becomes
a juft object of ridicule; as whefi a woman