THE FRIEND OF WOMEN. Too much good or too much evil has always been ascribed to women: man, submissive to the empire of beauty, sees in them the queens of the universe, and the masterpieces of nature; whilst the morose and melancholy man looks upon them as so many Pandoras,* to whom they impute all * Pandora, was a celebrated and lovely woman, made by all the gods, in the following manner. Prometheus, the son of Japetus, one of the Titans, having animated some statues that he had formed of clay, with fire (which, by the assistance of Minerva, he had stolen from Heaven), irritated Jupiter in such a manner, that he chained him to Mount Caucasus, by means of Vulcan, B the ills that afflict the human race. It is thus that spite, or love, blinding men, has been the reason of their addressing to them eitherridiculous eulogiums or unjust lampoons. Every one speaks of this sex according to the disposition of his heart; and the most where a vulture perpetually gnawing his liver, which growing every day as it was consumed, made his torment everlasting. The other gods, unwilling to suffer Jupiter alone to create man, all agreed to form a perfect woman, who should be endowed with gifts by them and the goddesses. Pallas, therefore, gave her wisdom; Venus, beauty and the art of pleasing; Apollo, the knowledge of music; Mercury eloquence; and Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments-and thence came the name of Pandora, which is composed of two Greek words, which mean all gifts. Jupiter, after this, under pretence of bestowing upon her some endowment, as the other gods had done, gave her a box, with orders to carry it to Prometheus. Epimetheus, his brother, imprudently opened it; and, in a moment, all the evils of Nature which it contained were spread over the earth, and which, from that fatal moment, have never ceased to afflict the human raceHope, alone, remained in the box. This was the cause of the iron age. vicious men are those who are most disposed to paint them in odious colours. Whatever opposition we meet with in the different opinions of men with regard to women, the lively interest with which they regard them is always the principal. Every thing which this lovely half of the human race does, has a right to interest us-their gestures, carriage, tone of voice, and smallest movements, charm us. Neither is it required, to be able to judge fairly of them, that we ought to be quite uninterested with regard to them; such a disposition would render a man deserving of pity and, happily, is but seldom met with: but we should not be agitated by violent passions; and whoever only sees women through the clouds of a mad passion, or the black vapours of jealousy, can only form a very false idea of them. It is, then, neither enthusiastic lovers, nor discontented husbands, whom we should consult upon this important subject: |