could not with more ease have kept their vertue than loft it. Certainly fuch are the Horrours and fhames that precede those first Guilts, that they muft commit a rape upon themselves, (force their own reluctancies and averfions) before they can become willing prostitutes to others. This their Seducers feem well to understand, and upon that score are at the pains of fo many preparatory courtings, fuch expence of prefents too; as if this were fo uncouth a crime, that there were no hope to introduce it, but by a confederacy of fome more familiar vices, their Pride or Covetoufnefs.

19. THE beft way therefore to countermine thofe Stratagems of Men, is for Women to be fufpiciously vigilant even of the firft approaches. He that means to defend a Fort, muft not abandon the Out-works; and fhe that will fecure her Chastity, muft never let it come to too close a fiege, but repel the very first and most remote infinuations of a Tempter. Therefore when we fpeak of Modefty in our present notion of it, we are not to oppofe it only to the groffer act of Incontinency; but to all those misbehaviours, which either discover, or may create any inclination to it; of which fort is all Lightnefs of carriage, wanton glances, obfcene difcourfe; things that fhew a Woman fo weary of her honour, that the next comer may reasonably C

expect

expect a furrender, and confequently be invited to the Affault. Indeed they are fuch, that one would rather think them the refult of many acts, than merely the Prologue to one; and that nothing but a cuftom of private fin, could fupply impudence enough to do what is fo publickly fcandalous: and where this is found in thofe of any confiderable Age, charity it self can scarce pafs a milder cenfure. Yet poffibly in thofe of the youngest fort they may at firft be taken up (as their drefs is) merely in imitation of others, embrac'd implicitly upon the authority of thofe, whofe examples govern the modes. When a poor girl, who has ftill fo much of the child, as to admire every thing that glitters, fees these things us'd by the gay people of the world, 'tis no wonder if the take thefe as part of their accomplishments, and, upon peril of that formidable calamity of being unfafhionable, conform to them. Which yet do's not fo much extenuate the guilt of those few feduc'd perfons, as it aggravates that of the feducers, and attefts the ftrange corruption of the age, that thofe things which the lefs harden'd fort of proftitutes were formerly asham'd of, fhould now pass into the frequency and avowedness of a fashion, become a part of Difcipline and Institution of Youth; as if vice now difdain'd to have any punies in it's School, and therefore by a prepofterous anticipation makes

it's pupils begin where they were wont to end; initiates them at firft into that shamelessnefs, which was wont to be the product only of a long habit. What the end will be of these Piqueerers in impudence, who thus put their vertue on the forlorn hope, is easy to divine. Yet is not this the only ftate of danger: they who keep their ranks, and tho' they do not provoke affaults, yet ftay to receive them, may be far enough from fafety. She that lends a patient ear to the praises of her Wit or Beauty, intends at firft perhaps only to gratify her vanity; but when fhe is once charm'd with that Sirens fong, bewitcht with that Flattery, fhe infenfibly declines to a kindness for that person that values her fo much: and when that fpark fhall be blow'd up by perpetual remonftrances of Paffion, and perhaps little Romantick artifices of pretending to die for her, with a thousand other tricks, which luft can fuggeft, 'twill, like the Naptha Naturalifts speak of, in a moment grow to an unquenchable flame, to the ruine both of her vertue and honour.

20. LET no woman therefore prefiume upon the innocence of her firft intentions; the may as well, upon confidence of a found conftitution, enter a pest-house, and converse with the plague, whofe contagion do's not more fubtlely infinuate it felf, than this fort of temptation. And as in that cafe she would

not stay to define what were the critical diftance, at which fhe might approach with fafety, but would run as far from it as fhe could; fo in this, it no lefs concerns her to remove her self from the poffibility of danger, and (how unfashionable foever it be to put on fuch a fevere Modefty, that her very looks fhould guard her, and difcourage the most impudent affailant. 'Tis faid of Philopamen that the Lacedæmonians finding it their intereft to corrupt him with money, they were yet fo poffeft with the reverence of his vertues, that none durft undertake to attack him; and fure 'twere not impoffible' for women to arrive at the fame fecurity: fuch an authority there is in Vertue, that where 'tis eminent, 'tis apt to controll all loose defires; and he must be not only luftful but sacrilegious, that attempts to violate fuch a Sanctuary.

21. BUT perhaps that Sex may fear, that by putting on fuch a ftrictnefs, they fhall lose the glory of their Beauty, which is now estimated by the number of those who court and adore them. To this in the first place I must say, that they are miferable Trophies to Beauty, that must be built on the ruines of Vertue and Honour; and fhe that to boast the length of her hair fhould hang her self in it, would but act the fame folly in a lower inftance.

22. BUT then fecondly, 'tis a great mistake

to

to think their Beauty fhall be lefs priz'd, fince 'tis incident to mans nature to esteem those things most that are at a distance, whereas an eafie and cheap defcent begets contempt. So long as they govern themselves by the exact rules of Prudence and Modesty, their luftre is like the Meridian Sun in it's clearness, which tho' lefs approachable, is counted more glorious; but when they decline from those, they are like that Sun in a cloud, which, tho fafelier gaz'd on, is not half fo bright. But befides these collateral advantages, 'tis certain that Modefty gives an immediate and direct improvement to Beauty; for tho' men for their own vicious ends with them fever'd, yet they cannot but think, they are the most amiable when united, and you fhall hear them often commend the afpect of that Modefty, which they would fain circumvent.

23. BUT in the third place, there is nothing but fuch a reservedness, that can indeed make their Beauty triumphant. Parly and Conqueft are the most distant things; and fhe that defcends to treat with an affailant, what ever he may tell her of his being her captive, 'tis but in order to the making her his; which when the once is, there is no state of fervitude half fo wretched, nothing in the world being fo flavishly abject as a prostitute Woman. For befides all the intereft of another life, which fhe bafely refigns, the facrifices all

that