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sex; but always in the presence of a professor or deputy, till they come
to dress themselves, which is at five years old. And if it be found that
these nurses ever presume to entertain the girls with frightful or
foolish stories, or the common follies practised by chambermaids among
us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the city, imprisoned for a
year, and banished for life to the most desolate part of the country.
Thus the young ladies are as much ashamed of being cowards and fools as
the men, and despise all personal ornaments, beyond decency and
cleanliness: neither did I perceive any difference in their education
made by their difference of sex, only that the exercises of the females
were not altogether so robust; and that some rules were given them
relating to domestic life, and a smaller compass of learning was enjoined
them: for their maxim is, that among peoples of quality, a wife should be
always a reasonable and agreeable companion, because she cannot always be
young. When the girls are twelve years old, which among them is the
marriageable age, their parents or guardians take them home, with great
expressions of gratitude to the professors, and seldom without tears of
the young lady and her companions.

In the nurseries of females of the meaner sort, the children are
instructed in all kinds of works proper for their sex, and their several
degrees: those intended for apprentices are dismissed at seven years old,
the rest are kept to eleven.

The meaner families who have children at these nurseries, are obliged,
besides their annual pension, which is as low as possible, to return to
the steward of the nursery a small monthly share of their gettings, to be
a portion for the child; and therefore all parents are limited in their
expenses by the law. For the Lilliputians think nothing can be more
unjust, than for people, in subservience to their own appetites, to bring
children into the world, and leave the burthen of supporting them on the
public. As to persons of quality, they give security to appropriate a
certain sum for each child, suitable to their condition; and these funds
are always managed with good husbandry and the most exact justice.

The cottagers and labourers keep their children at home, their business
being only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their education
is of little consequence to the public: but the old and diseased among
them, are supported by hospitals; for begg