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N° 247.

Thursday, December 13.

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E are told by some ancient Authors, that Socrates was inftructed in Eloquence by a. Woman, whofe Name, if I am not mistaken, was Af pafia. I have indeed very often looked upon that Art as the most proper for the Female Sex, and I think the Univerfr ties would do well to confider whether they should not fill their Rhetorick Chairs with She Profeffors.

IT has been faid in the praise of fome Men, that they could talk whole Hours together upon any thing; but it must be owned to the Honour of the other Sex, that there are many among them who can talk whole Hours together upon nothing. I have known a Woman branch out into a long Extempore Differtation upon the Edging of a Petticoat, and chide her Servant for break

breaking a China Cup, in all the Figures of Rhetorick.

WERE Women admitted to plead in Courts of Judicature, I am perfuaded they would carry the Eloquence of the Bar to greater Heights than it has yet arrived at. If any one doubts this, let him but be present at thofe Debates which frequently arife among the Ladies of the British Fishery.

THE firft kind therefore, of Female Orators which I fhall take notice of, are those who are employed in ftirring up the Paffions, a part of Rhetorick in which Socrates his Wife had perhaps made a greater Proficiency than his above-mentioned Teacher.

THE fecond kind of Female Örators are those who deal in Invectives, and who are commonly known by the Name of the Cenforious. The Imagi nation and Elocution of this Set of Rhetoricians is wonderful. With what a Fluency of Invention, and Copioufnefs of Expreffion, will they enlarge upon every little Slip in the Behaviour of another? With how many different Circumstances, and with what Variety of Phrafes, will they tell over the fame Story? I have known an old La

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dy make an unhappy Marriage the Subject of a Month's Converfation. She blamed the Bride in one Place, pitied her in another; laughed at her in a third; wondered at her in a fourth; was angry with her in a fifth; and in fhort, wore out a Pair of Coach-Horfes in expreffing her Concern for her. At length, after having quite exhausted the Subject on this Side, fhe made a Vifit to the new married Pair, praised the Wife for the prudent Choice fhe had made, told her the unreasonable Reflections which fome malicious People had caft upon her, and defired that they might be better acquainted. The Cenfure and Approbation of this kind of Women are therefore only to be confider'd as Helps to Difcourfe.

A third kind of Female Orators may be comprehended under the Word Goffips. Mrs. Fiddle Faddle is perfectly accomplished in this fort of Eloquence; fhe launches out into Defcriptions of Christenings, runs Divifions upon an Head-Drefs, knows every Difh of Meat that is ferved up in her Neighbourhood, and entertains her Company a whole Afternoon together with the Wit of her little Boy, before he is able to speak. THE

THE Coquet may be looked upon as a fourth kind of Female Orator. To give her felf the larger Field for Difcourse, the hates and loves in the fame Breath, talks to her Lap-Dog or Parrot, is uneafy in all kinds of Weather, and in every Part of the Room: She has falfe Quarrels and feigned Obligations to all the Men of her Acquaintance; fighs when the is not fad, and laughs when she is not merry. The Coquet is in particular a great Mistress of that part of Oratory which is called Action, and indeed feems to speak for no other Purpose, but as it gives her an Opportunity of ftirring a Limb, or varying a Feature, of glancing her Eyes, or play ing with her Fan.

AS for News-mongers, Politicians, Mimicks, Story-tellers, with other Characters of that nature, which give Birth to Loquacity, they are as commonly found among the Men as the Women; for which Reafon I fhall pafs them over in Silence.

I have been often puzzled to affign a Cause why Women fhould have this Talent of a ready Utterance in fo much greater Perfection than Men. I have fometimes fancied that they have not a

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Retentive Power, the Faculty of fuppreffing their Thoughts, as Men have, but that they are neceffitated to speak every thing they think; and if fo, it would perhaps furnish a very strong Ar gument to the Cartefians, for the fupporting of their Doctrine, that the Soul always thinks. But as feveral are of Opinion that the Fair Sex are not altogether Strangers to the Arts of Diffembling, and concealing their Thoughts, I have been forced to relinquish that Opinion, and have therefore endeavoured to feek after fome better Reafon. In order to it, a Friend of mine, who is an excellent Anatomift, has promised me by the first Opportunity to diffect a Woman's Tongue, and to examine whether there may not be in it certain Juices which render it fo wonderfully voluble or flippant, or whether the Fibres of it may not be made up of a finer or more pliant Thread, or whether there are not in it fome particular Mufcles, which dart it up and down by fuch fudden Glances and Vibrations; or whether, in the laft Place, there may not be certain undifcovered Channels run ning from the Head and the Heart, to this little Inftrument of Loquacity, and

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