Note 1 — Chapter XIX · Postscripta.
Reading edition
Paul (1 Tim. ii. 14), supposing him to have written the passage, uses the story simply to justify the subordination of woman to man, but a witty lady remarked to me that according to the story in Genesis no harm came to the world by Eve’s eating the fruit of knowledge. It was only by the man’s eating it that the thorns sprang up.