"_Hinc illæ lachrymæ_," answered my opponent, "in _one_ sense the male sex is decidedly superior--I mean in strength; and were this employed in supporting the weak, instead of oppressing them, the female world would not be disposed to grudge men a supremacy of which they would themselves enjoy the happy fruits. But as to your nursery nonsense, an elder son is always told that he is as much above his younger brothers, as his sisters; and so he is, by the laws of primogeniture, which give him the estate. Yet I suppose that there are few such blockheads as to believe, that because a man happens to come into the world before his brethren, he is therefore invested with a patent of superior intellectual endowment. On the contrary, it often happens, that elder sons, satisfied with the gifts of fortune, take little trouble with their minds, and are, in point of cultivation, at the _tail_ instead of the _head_ of their Houses. Grammar rules prove nothing. They were made by _men_, and according to vulgar estimates of physical force; and as _to the world_, the most convincing proof in my eyes of its degeneracy in our day, is to be found in the impertinent neglect of women, so frequently observable in the _soi-disant_ men of fashion. To sum up the argument: the sexes differ from each other, but _difference_ implies nothing of better or worse, taller or shorter, wiser or less wise. They are _different_, and each beautifully adapted by the eternal Creator to fulfil the purposes for which it was designed. The man stronger, more active--made to encounter danger, and endure fatigue. The woman more delicate, more refined, formed to sooth by her tenderness, to watch over the helpless, comfort the unfortunate, and be the balm of human kind. In mental capacity Nature has dealt with impartial bounty, and the most splendid talents are to be found in that sex, which I grieve to add, too rarely exercise their powers. Rely upon it, that men are not less manly for sharing their privileges, nor women less feminine for profiting by the boon. The age of Chivalry is gone, and it would be well to restore it. "Look, my dear young gentleman, around you at Glenalta. Is Frederick less likely to attain the gold medal at his University, or is he less ardent in pursuit of game in the fields, because he loves his mother and sisters, and would be unwilling to enjoy any gratification in which they were not partakers? Turn your eyes upon the dear gentle trio of your fair cousins, and tell me are they less pleasing, less modest, less artless, and happy, because, with minds well stored, they can always find resources at home, for which others are vainly seeking abroad? Are they less elegant because they are independent, or less delicate because they neither shriek at a wasp, nor faint at the sight of a spider?"--