The Second Dialogue Between _Horatio_ and _Cleomenes_. Horatio. I Believe I am within my Time. Cleo. By above Ten Minutes. Hor. When I came back in the Chair, I was thinking how artfully, all this Afternoon, you avoided saying any Thing of Honour, as it relates to the Fair Sex. Their Honour, you know, consists in their Chastity, which is a real Virtue in your own Sense, not to be practis'd without palpable Self-denial. To make a Vow of perpetual Virginity, and to be resolute enough, never to break it, is a Task not to be perform'd without the utmost Mortification to Flesh and Blood, especially in handsome clever Women that seem to be made for Love, as you and I have seen a great many in the Nunneries in _Flanders_. Self-liking or Pride have Nothing to do there; for the more powerfully that Passion operates in either Men or Women, the less Inclination they'll shew to be mew'd up in a Cloyster, where they can have None but their own Sex to converse with. Cleo. The Reason why I said Nothing of Honour as it relates to the fair Sex, was because we had spoke of it already in a former Conversation; by the same Token, that I told you then, that [5] _the Word Honour, I mean, the Sence of it, was very whimsical, and the Difference in the Signification so prodigious, according as the Attribute was either applied to a Man, or to a Woman, that neither shall forfeit their Honour, tho' each should be guilty, and openly boast of what would be the other's greatest Shame._ [Footnote 5: Fable of the Bees, part II. page 128.] Hor. I remember it, and it is true. Gallantry with Women, is no Discredit to the Men, any more than Want of Courage is a Reproach to the Ladies. But do you think this is an Answer to what I said? Cleo. It is an Answer to your Charge against me of making Use of an Artifice, which, I declare to you, never enter'd into my Head. That the Honour of Women in general, is allow'd to consist in their Chastity, is very true; the Words themselves have been made Use of as Synonimous even among the Ancients: But this, strictly speaking, ought only to be understood of Worldly Women, who act from Political Views, and at best from a Principle of Heathen Virtue. But the Women you speak of among the Christians, who, having vow'd a perpetual Virginity, debar themselves from sensual Pleasures, must be set on, and animated by a higher Principle than that of Honour. Those who can voluntarily make this Vow in good Humour and Prosperity, as well as Health and Vigour, and keep it with Strictness, tho' it is in their Power to break it, have, I own with you, a Task to perform, than which Nothing can be more mortifying to Flesh and Blood. Self-liking or Pride, as you say, have Nothing to do there. But where are these Women to be found? Hor. I told you; in the Religious Houses.