The rewards they bestow are sweet, and ravishing, and indescribable.
"What were man without the fair? A wild beast of the forest; a rough and
untamed savage; a hungry lion bursting from his den. Without them, they
are gloomy, morose, unfeeling, and unsociable. To them they owe every
civilization, and every improvement. Did Amphion, from the rude and
shapeless stones, raise by his power a regular edifice, houses, palaces,
and cities? Did Orpheus by his lay humanize the rugged beasts and teach
the forests to listen? No, these are wild, unmeaning fables. It was
woman, charming woman, that led unpolished man forth from the forests
and the dens, and taught him to bend before thy shrine, humanity! See
how the face of nature changes! Where late the slough mantled, or the
serpent hissed among the briars and the reeds, all is pasture and
fertility. The cottages arise. The shepherds assume the guise of
gentleness and simplicity. They attire themselves with care, they braid
the garland, and they tune the pipe. Wherefore do they braid the
garland? Why are their manners soft and blandishing? And why do the
hills re-echo the notes of the slender reed? It is to win thy graces,
woman, charming woman!
"When nature formed a man, she formed a creature rational, and erect;
ten times more noble than the birds of the air, and the beasts of the
field.
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