I have another scheme, my lord, proceeded Sir Charles--An hospital for
female penitents; for such unhappy women, as having been once drawn in,
and betrayed by the perfidy of men, find themselves, by the cruelty of
the world, and principally by that of their own sex, unable to recover
the path of virtue, when perhaps, (convinced of the wickedness of the men
in whose honour they confided,) they would willingly make their first
departure from it the last.
These, continued he, are the poor creatures who are eminently entitled to
our pity, though they seldom meet with it. Good nature, and credulity,
the child of good nature; are generally, as I have the charity to
believe, rather than viciousness, the foundation of their crime. Those
men who pretend they would not be the first destroyers of a woman's
innocence, look upon these as fair prize. But, what a wretch is he, who
seeing a poor creature exposed on the summit of a dangerous precipice,
and unable, without an assisting hand, to find her way down, would rather
push her into the gulf below, than convey her down in safety?
Speaking of the force put upon a daughter's inclinations in wedlock;
Tyranny and ingratitude, said Sir Charles, from a man beloved, will be
more supportable to a woman of strong passions, than even kindness from a
man she loves not: Shall not parents then, who hope to see their children
happy, avoid compelling them to give their hands to a man who has no
share in their hearts?
But would you allow young ladies to be their own choosers, Sir Charles?
said Mr.
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