ollowed the plan the Greeks had laid down, and, by that
means, they surpassed all other nations.

When those great nations of antiquity abandoned their attention to the
useful parts of education, they soon sunk in national character. It so
happens, in this case, that the mode of education and the manners of a
people are so closely connected that it is difficult, from observation, to
know which is the cause, and which the effect. Youth, badly educated,
make bad men, and bad men neglect the education of their children;
they set them a wrong example: such is the case, when a government
does not interfere. How this is to be done with advantage is the
question.

Writers on political economy have, in general, considered female
education as making no part of the system; but surely, if the wealth
and happiness of mankind is the end in view, there can scarcely be a
greater object, for none is more nearly connected with it.

Let it be granted that, in the first instance, women are not educated
with any view to carry on those labours and manufactures, on which
wealth is considered as depending. Let all this be admitted, and that,
in an early state of life, they are of no importance in this respect; yet,
surely, when they become wives and mothers, when the economy of
the family, and the education of the younger children depend chiefly
on them, they are then of very great importance to society. Their
conduct, in that important situation, must be greatly influenced by
their education.

Female education ought then to be considered as one of the things, on
the conducting of which well the prosperity of a state does in a great
measure depend; it ought, therefore, to be attended to in the same
manner as the education of youth of the other sex.

In this case, also, so much depends on place and circumstances, [end
of page #99] that we shall follow the same rule as with male
education. It shall be treated of as for England, and with the different
ranks of society as they are; but there are some general rules not to be
forgotten, and which are applicable to all places and all countries.

The great error, in female education, does not consist in neglecting to
instil good principles; for that is, in most countries, for obvious
reasons, pretty well attended to; but good principles, without the
means of adhering to them, are of little avail. If a desire for dress, or
other enjoyments, that cannot be gratified fairly, and by the means of
w