crave leave to believe, they want that very first Principle which fhould fet them to learn, viz, the knowledge of their own ignorance: a fcience which fo grows with ftudy and confideration, that Socrates, after a long life spent in purfuit of wifdom, gave this as the fum of his learning, This only I know, that I know nothing. This proficiency feems much wanting to our Female talkers, who, in this feem to confute the common Maxim, and give what they have not, by making their ignorance vifible to others, tho' it be undifcernible to themfelves: and to fuch we may not unfitly apply the Sarcasm of Zeno to a talkative Youth; their ears are fallen into their tongue.

mour,

12. BUT befides this affuming fort of talkativeness, there is another ufually charged upon the Sex, a meer chatting, pratling huwhich maintains it felf at the coft of their neighbours, and can never want fupplies as long as there is any body within the reach of their obfervation. This I would fain hope is most the vice of the vulgar fort of Women, the Education of the Nobler fetting them above thofe mean entertainments. Yet when 'tis remembred that St. Paul, 1 Tim. 5. 13. makes tatling the effect of Idleness, it may not unreasonably be fear'd that where there is most of the Caufe, there will be fome of the Effect. And indeed it would puzzle one to conjecture, how

that round of formal Vifits among Perfons of Quality fhould be kept up without this. That their Vifits fhould be only a dumb fhew, none will fufpect among Women; and when the unfashionable themes of Housewifery, Piety, &c. are excluded, there will not remain many topicks of difcourfe, unless this be call'd in to fupply. And this indeed is a moft inexhauftible reserve, it having fo many fprings to feed it, that 'tis fcarce poffible it fhould fail. And when 'tis farther, confider'd, how apt a minister it is to Envy, Spleen, Revenge, and other feminine Paffions, we cannot fuppofe it can be unacceptable where any of thofe bear fway. But I believe it is not more frequently introduc'd by any thing, than the vanity of Wit, which has no where a more free and exorbitant range, than in cenfuring and deriding; nay, finds not only exercise, but triumph too, vain perfons feldom confidering the Infirmities or Follies of others, without fome Complacencies, and affuming reflexions on themselves; which how unagreeable it renders this liberty of talking to that Modefty we recommend, is obvious enough. And would God 'twere only oppofite to that; but it is no lefs fo to all the obligations of Juftice and Charity alfo, which are fcarce fo frequently violated by any thing, as by this licentioufnefs of the tongue.

C

13. THERE is yet another vice of it, for

B 2

which

which the female Sex has been generally accus'd, and that is revealing of fecrets; an infirmity prefum'd fo incident to them, that Ariftotle is faid to have made it one of the three things he folemnly repented of, that he had ever trufted a fecret with a Woman, But the greater the prejudicé is that they lie under in this refpect, the greater ought to be their caution, to vindicate not only their Perfons, but their Sex from the imputation, which is indeed extreamly reproachful: this blabbing humour being a fymptom of a loose, impotent foul, a kind of incontinence of the mind, that can retain nothing committed to it; but as if that also had it's Diabetic paffion, perpetual and almost infenfibly evacuating all. And indeed however we are willing to appropriate this to the Sex, yet the fault is owing only to this ill conftitution of the mind, which is oft-times no lefs vifible in men; as on the contrary, thofe Women, who by reafon and vertue have acquir'd a folidity and firmness of mind, are as fure repofitories of a fecret, as the moft mafculine confident: and fuch I have no intent to involve in this charge, but rather by propofing their example to the reft fhew that nature has put them under no fatal neceffity of being thus impotent. A fecret is no fuch unruly thing, but it may be kept in: they may take the Wife man's word for it, Ecclus. 19. 10. If thou hast heard a word,

a word, let it die with thee, and be bold, it will not burst thee.

14. THIS is a piece of daring manliness, which they may affect without breach of Modefty; would God they would take it in exchange for that virile Boldness, which is now too common among many even of the beft Rank. Such a degenerous Age do we now live in, that every thing feems inverted, even Sexes; whilft Men fall to the Effeminacy and Niceness of Women, and Women take up the Confidence, and the boldnefs of Men; and this too under the notion of good breeding. A Blush (tho' formerly reputed the colour of vertue) is accounted worfe manners than those things which ought to occafion it, and fuch as nothing but the fimplicity of a Country Girl can excufe. But the infirmity. for the moft part proves very corrigible; a few weeks of the Town Difcipline, wears off that piece of Rufticity, and advances them. to a Modifh Affurance. Nor is that defign'd to terminate in it felf, but it is to carry them on, 'till they arrive to a perfect Metamorphofis; their Gefture, their Language, nay fometimes their Habit too, being affectedly. mafculine; fo that what Tacitus fpeaks of Vitellius, in relation to his being a Prince, we may apply to them, and fay, that if others did not remember them to be Women, themselves could eafily forget it.

IS. YET

15. YET were this affectation confin'd only to the more innocent indifferent things, 'twere more tolerable; but alas! it extends farther, and there are women who think they have not made a fufficient efcape from their Sex, 'till they have affum'd the Vices of men too. A fober modeft Dialect. is too effeminate for them; a bluftring ranting ftile is taken up, and (to fhew them proficients in it) adorn'd with all the Oaths and Imprecations, their memory or invention can fupply: as if they meant to vindicate their Sex from the imputation of Timeroufnefs, by daring God Almighty. 'Tis true indeed, an Oath founds gratingly out of whatever mouth, but out of a Womans, it hath fuch an uncouth harfhnefs, that there is no noife on this fide Hell can be more amazingly odious. Yet this is a mufick this difcordant Age hath introduc'd, no former having, I think, ever heard it in places at all civiliz'd. So that the female fwearers want that poor fhadow of excuse the Men pretend to, it having been fo far from cuftomary, that the unwontedness could not but force them to fome industry and pains, e're they could acquire the habit, and fet up for female Hectors; an effay, wherein they have been very kind to the mafculine, by fhewing the world there can be fomething worse.

16. Tis faid there want not fome v who compleat the demonftration, by the other parallel