ARM. It is insulting our sex too grossly to limit our intelligence to the power of judging of a skirt, of the make of a garment, of the beauties of lace, or of a new brocade. BÉL. We must rise above this shameful condition, and bravely proclaim our emancipation. TRISS. Every one knows my respect for the fairer sex, and that, if I render homage to the brightness of their eyes, I also honor the splendor of their intellect. PHIL. And our sex does you justice in this respect: but we will show to certain minds who treat us with proud contempt, that women also have knowledge; that, like men, they can hold learned meetings--regulated, too, by better rules; that they wish to unite what elsewhere is kept apart, join noble language to deep learning, reveal nature's laws by a thousand experiments; and, on all questions proposed, admit every party, and ally themselves to none. TRISS. For order, I prefer peripateticism. PHIL. For abstractions, I love platonism. ARM. Epicurus pleases me, for his tenets are solid. BÉL. I agree with the doctrine of atoms; but I find it difficult to understand a vacuum, and I much prefer subtile matter. TRISS. I quite agree with Descartes about magnetism. ARM. I like his vortices. PHIL. And I, his falling worlds. ARM. I long to see our assembly opened, and to distinguish ourselves by some great discovery. TRISS. Much is expected from your enlightened knowledge, for nature has hidden few things from you. PHIL. For my part, I have, without boasting, already made one discovery; I have plainly seen men in the moon. BÉL. I have not, I believe, as yet quite distinguished men, but I have seen steeples as plainly as I see you. ARM. In addition to natural philosophy, we will dive into grammar, history, verse, ethics, and politics. PHIL. I find in ethics charms which delight my heart; it was formerly the admiration of great geniuses: but I give the preference to the Stoics, and I think nothing so grand as their founder.