Blessing my natal and my mortal hour,
(My soul committed to the eternal power)
Inexorable death should smile, for I,

Who knew to LIVE, would never fear to DIE."

The question still recurs, Why the degradation of the female character? Why are they, or a very great proportion of them, reduced to mere cyphers in the scale of beings? Is it because they are devoid of those brilliant qualifications that shine so conspicuous in the sons of men? Those noble qualifications if not superior, are at least equal, in the female character; and nothing but the poison of false education, the wrong association of juvenile ideas, are the cause why the native genius and inherent endowments of females do not burst forth and shine with renovated splendor.

We might make a long deduction of examples, to prove the super-excellence of the female character, and that they have excelled in many of the departments of civil and savage society, and have eventually proved an ornament not only to their own sex, but to human nature. I refer the reader to the many volumes of female biography and works of female authors, to prove my arguments.

As a specimen of female energy, I might mention Semiramis, the consort of Ninus, the sovereign of the ancient and celebrated city of Nineveh. She was previously the wife of one of his officers, and distinguished herself so much by her heroic exploits, that the king not only married her, but left her his crown at his death.

"This ambitious princess being desirous, in her turn to render her name immortal, in a very few years built the city of Babylon, to such an amazing extent that it far exceeded Nineveh, its walls being of sufficient thickness to allow six chariots to go abreast.

"The quays, the bridge over the Euphrates, the hanging gardens, the prodigies of sculpture and architecture, the temple of Belus, which had in it a golden statue forty feet high, though they were not all works of Semiramis, yet they were much improved and embellished by her.

Time and space would fail me to mention the many female characters who have signalized themselves by their ingenious, heroic, and invincible achievements, from the reign of this

celebrated woman, to that of the empress Catharine of Russia; and with respect to philanthropy and munificence, they unquestionably abound more, far more among the female than the male part of society; and with reference to the finer feelings which adorn human nature, if we candidly consider them on an average, we shall be obliged to relinquish the palm in favour of women. Were I inclined, I could, perhaps, trace a line of tender feelings, benevolent emotions, in a direct course, through every clime, not excluding the most savage, from Eve, the mother of the human family, to the members which compose that intrinsically munificent institution, entitled the Widow's Society, and exclusively organized by a number of respectable ladies of New-York, for the support and protection of helpless and disconsolate widows and orphan children.

Yet those characters, who can, with impunity, forego the sacred delights peculiar to the philanthropist, and neglect to fulfil the cardinal duties peculiar to christianity, would feel condemnation if they neglected to attend a social ceremonial or sacramental meeting, intended for their personal benefit.— And they think, because they attend hypocritic rites and penal creeds, that they will of course, meet the approbation of the Deity, though they neglect the more important duties of hospitality and benevolence to their brethren-the progeny of Adam collectively.

There seems to be an evident declension in christian charity among many of the professed votaries of revealed religion; a selfish parsimonious disposition, utterly repugnant to the principles of moral rectitude, as well as incompatible with, and uncongenial to, evangelical religion. Can a selfish penurious man be a christian? Not with my views of christian. ity. How different is the pious philanthropist, whose delight is to bless, (were his power equal to his affection,) and circle the human family in one kind embrace.

"CHARITY, decent, modest, easy, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject mind,
Knows with just reins, and gentle hand, to guide
Between vile shame and arbitrary pride,

Not soon provok'd, she easily forgives;

And much she suffers, as she much believes.

Soft peace she brings wherever she arrives:
She builds our quiet, as she forms our lives;
Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even;
And opens in each heart a little heaven.

"Each other gift, which God on man bestows,
Its proper bounds and due restrictions knows;
To one fix'd purpose dedicates its power;
And finishing its act, exists no more.

Thus, in obedience to what Heaven decrees,
Knowledge shall fail, and prophecy shall cease;
But lasting charity's more ample sway,
Nor bound by time, nor subject to decay,
In happy triumph shall forever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.
May mutual love to mutual good provoke,

A three-fold cord that never can be broke;
To raise the helpless, and to soothe distress,
To bless the sick, the oppressed to redress;
To screen the orphan from the impending blow,
To ease the widow's heart of latent wo;
To cheer the faint, and gently to reprove
The stubborn heart, by offices of love.
Your gifts to these essential joy imparts,
And proves the gracious feelings of your hearts;
Your aid supports a drooping parent's age;
And still the widow's poignant woes assuage;
Your aid still sooths the way-worn orphan's grief,
And to her artless cries still yields relief;
For you my prayers to Heaven shall still be borne,
On the first breeze that hails the golden morn.
While those who view the orphan's dire distress,
Without kind pity, nor their woes redress,
Shall from their judge, on the eternal shore
Receive such pity as they gave before;
Professors who pretend to love the Lord,
Yet to his poor no succour will afford;
Their base pretensions are impertinence,
Hostile to reason and to common sense.

The female claim to mental equality is questioned, and their reasoning faculties depreciated, not only by Mahome

tans, but even by christians and philosophers; and many authors of the most respectable talents. The celebrated Lavater, the great physiognomist, has unequivocally asserted, "that women know not how to think; they perceive, and can associate ideas, but can go no further." How astonishing it is, that a man of Lavater's ingenuity and celebrity could believe or assert such a spurious and fallacious sentiment. Had he listened to the captivating brilliancy of the elocution of Aspasia, and ascertained the depth of her philosophy; the powers of whose mind struck with amazement and admiration even the eloquent Pericles; had he recog nized the sublime Corinna, contending with, and winning the prize from, the famous Pindar, of Thebes, by her verse; had he investigated with candour the ingenious, though abstruse writings of Wolstoncraft; had he been present in the councils in which queen Elizabeth presided; and in which she displayed political ingenuity superior to a majority of her predecessor and successor sovereigns; he would undoubtedly have been of a different opinion.

Indeed, I cannot help believing, that the contempt for the mental capacity of the sex, expressed by many learned authors, proceeds more from envy than ignorance; more from want of candid consideration, than from want of literary pene. tration.

Is it impossible to break asunder the adamantine fetters, with which custom has shackled their energetic minds? Why is not their natural equality established? Why is it that in the multiplicity of revolutions and counter-revolutions that have latterly taken place in the world, the scientific improvement of females, favourable to their intellectual emancipation, has not been effected. Even the few who have magnanimously passed the boundaries of male usurpation, have too often wasted their illustrious talents in chimerical and romantic, instead of beneficial and scientific composition. We have seen the works of women who were blest with super-eminent qualifications and superlative talents, (but too often on subjects of little use) clothed in the most sublime language.

A hundred thousand instances might be adduced, to show, how grievously the rights of women are infringed: though they themselves are not sensible of it: even in a religious point of view, how unjustly is the female mind shackled?

In ancient times, the prophetesses as well as prophets were allowed and encouraged to preach, or as it was then called prophesy; but in modern times, a holy and almost seraphic female, the favourite of heaven, and child of God; if her heavenly Father should move her by his spirit, to bear a testimony for him to his guilty creatures, the clergy are up in arms and unanimously say it shall not be so. Thus we see, even the will of heaven is counteracted by the tyranny of custom, except among the Quakers. But what makes this picture tenfold more degrading to human nature and insulting to common sense, is the peculiar contrast between the character and conduct of some ministers and some of the congregations. Here we see a youth sent to college with his two brothers, one to be instructed for an attorney at law, one for an officer in the army, and the other for a minister of religion; the juvenile preacher learns a smattering of Latin, how to write a sermon; and, forsooth, skips from the college to the pulpit, with his head full of elocution; but, alas! his heart full of emptiness this young manufactured parson assumes the gown and band for liberal wages; while the holy, and, perhaps, eloquent female we have just depicted is compelled to silence.

The liberality of sentiment manfested by the Society of Friends, in this respect, is truly admirable and worthy of imitation; and also, the appearance and apparel of their young women. How amiable, how modest, and how beautiful!

Among those discreet females, who ennoble human nature, we not only recognize the fair sex, but also the cherishing sex, who cherish the widow and orphan, clothe the naked, and feed the poor; the pious sex, who nurture their offspring as the candidates of heaven, and as sojourners on earth; they teach them to draw the sincere milk of the word with that of the breast. The pacific sex, who delight not in war nor the discord of nations or societies; the sympathetic sex, whose hearts melt at human woe, and who are precipitate to alleviate the sorrows of the children of affliction.

I remember that my mother and sisters, my wife and daughters were women, and that the God of Nature intended man to be their protector and defender; the ardent and indefatigable defender of the sex who are the votaries of virtue, humanity, and delicate sensibility.