that would not have a Shilling left at the Year's End, tho' she had
Fifty Thousand Pounds coming in? All Women consult not what is
befitting their Quality: What many of them want is to be maintain'd
suitably to their Merit, their own Worth, which with great Sincerity
they think inestimable and which consequently no Price can be equal
to. The Motive therefore of these Women is no other, than what I have
call'd it, their Vanity, the undoubted Offspring of Self-liking, a
palpable Excess, an extravagant Degree of the Passion, that is able to
stifle the loudest Calls of Nature, and with a high Hand triumphs over
all other Appetites and Inclinations. What Sort of Education now do
you think the fittest to furnish and fill young Ladies with this high
Esteem for themselves and their Reputation, which, whilst it subsists
and reigns in them, is an ever-watchful and incorruptible Guardian of
their Honour? Would you mortify or flatter; lessen or increase in them
the Passion of Self-liking, in order to preserve their Chastity? In
short, which of the Two is it, you would stir up and cultivate in them
if you could, Humility or Pride?

Hor. I should not try to make them Humble, I own: And now I remember,
that in our Third Conversation, speaking of raising the Principle
Honour in both Sexes, you gave some plausible Reasons why [6] Pride
should be more encourag'd in Women than in Men. So much for the
Ladies. I shall now be glad to hear what you have to add further
concerning Honour, as it relates to Men only, and requires Courage.
When I took the Freedom to interupt you, you was saying Something of
Two Hundred Years ago.

[Footnote 6: Fable of the Bees part II. p. 126.]

Cleo. I was then going to put you in Mind, that Two Hundred Years ago