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THE

GENTLEMAN'S LIBRARY.

INTRODUCTIO N.

B

EING the other Night in the Company of fome Ladies of a polite Converfation, and the Mixture of Sexes turning, the Difcourfe upon the Raillery of each other, the brifk Florimel, and her witty Affociates, ran, hard upon the Mens want of Conduct. Celadon, who was the most indu'ftrious Advocate for the Party, with an obliging Smile and infinuating Air, faid, That he hop'd the Ladies now would not give his Sex the Opportunity of retorting that Reflection upon them, fince their Conduct, in

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every Stage of Life, was to be regulated by their Library: That if the Advice to a Daughter was too compendious to reform all their Errors, yet Three Volumes of Advice could not fail of correcting every faux pas. Florimel eafily perceiv'd the Malice of Celadon's Meaning, and ftriking in with his Irony, told him, She was not fo partial to the Petticoat, but that she would venture to confess, fhe believ'd, that many a Female Reader of thofe Leffons of Morality would ftill, through Indolence or Mifapprehenfion, remain unimprov'd, and ftick to the darling Indecorums of frail Nature, Custom, and Fashion That fhe wifh'd the fame Learned Lady, who had wrote fo happily for her own Sex, would have employ'd fome few Pages on thofe lordly Creatures, who priding in the Advantages of Nature and fuperior Endowments, think themselves above the Guidance of Precepts: That for her part, she had no fuch elevated Notions of their Capacities or Oeconomy; had seen them carry'd away by Caprice and Humour as much as weak Women, and believ'd could prove them as much the Subject of Poetic Satire. What fays Dryden?

Men are but Children of a larger Growth;
Our Appetites as apt to change as Theirs,
And fuch a Craving too, and full as vain:

And

And yet the Soul, fhut up in her dark Room, Viewing fo clear Abroad, at Home fees nothing; But like a Mole in Earth, bufy and blind, Works all her Folly up, and cafts it outwards, To the World's open View.

Celadon here interrupting her Progress in Quotations, told her, Frailty was fo confpicuous and epidemical, that he did not care to put her to the Trouble of farther Proofs; nor had any Thoughts of entring into a Debate with her, to affert the Men free from Faults, either in Conduct or Principles That he would rather chufe to impeach them of Infirmity, but that it might be fear'd the Profecution would fooner harden than convert. Not that he difputed, but by artful Methods, and apt Infinuations, Virtue, Prudence, Justice, and Conduct, like the mechanical Parts of Life, might be taught and made acceptable: That as only a dull and impenetrable Ear could find no Charms, no Senfation in Mufic; fo only Abfence of Reason, and stubborn Ignorance, could refift the Harmony of Virtue feelingly recommended: For that Libertinifm, which fome wild young Fellows, for want of more happy Education, mistake for Liberty, fubjects them to harder Tyrants than their dreaded Tutors and Mafters; even to their own vicious Inclinations, which,

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