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A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN By Mary Wollstonecraft
Published 1792. Source text in the public domain. This
edition © 1998 William J. Ball |
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[1] AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION |
| What are the problems she identifies in
this introduction? |
[2] After considering the
historic page, and viewing the living world with anxious solicitude, the most melancholy
emotions of sorrowful indignation have depressed my spirits, and I have sighed when
obliged to confess that either Nature has made a great difference between man and man, or
that the civilisation which has hitherto taken place in the world has been very partial. I
have turned over various books written on the subject of education, and patiently observed
the conduct of parents and the management of schools; but what has been the result?--a
profound conviction that the neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand
source of the misery I deplore, and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and
wretched by a variety of concurring causes, originating from one hasty conclusion. The
conduct and manners of women, in fact, evidently prove that their minds are not in a
healthy state; for, like the flowers which are planted in too rich a soil, strength and
usefulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flaunting leaves, after having pleased a
fastidious eye, fade, disregarded on the stalk, long before the season when they ought to
have arrived at maturity. One cause of this barren blooming I attribute to a false system
of education, gathered from the books written on this subject by men who, considering
females rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring
mistresses than affectionate wives and rational mothers; and the understanding of the sex
has been so bubbled by this specious homage, that the civilised women of the present
century, with a few exceptions, are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to
cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect. |
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[3] In a treatise,
therefore, on female rights and manners, the works which have been particularly written
for their improvement must not be overlooked, especially when it is asserted, in direct
terms, that the minds of women are enfeebled by false refinement; that the books of
instruction, written by men of genius, have had the same tendency as more frivolous
productions; and that, in the true style of Mahometanism, they are treated as a kind of
subordinate beings, and not as a part of the human species, when improvable reason is
allowed to be the dignified distinction which raises men above the brute creation, and
puts a natural sceptre in a feeble hand. |
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[4] Yet, because I am a
woman, I would not lead my readers to suppose that I mean violently to agitate the
contested question respecting the quality or inferiority of the sex; but as the subject
lies in my way, and I cannot pass it over without subjecting the main tendency of my
reasoning to misconstruction, I shall stop a moment to deliver, in a few words, my
opinion. In the government of the physical world it is observable that the female in point
of strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of Nature; and it does
not appear to be suspended or abrogated in favour of woman. A degree of physical
superiority cannot, therefore, be denied, and it is a noble prerogative! But not content
with this natural preeminence, men endeavour to sink us still lower, merely to render us
alluring objects for a moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under
the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their
hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow-creatures who find amusement in their
society. |
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[5] I am aware of an obvious
inference. From every quarter have I heard exclamations against masculine women, but where
are they to be found? If by this appellation men mean to inveigh against, their ardour in
hunting, shooting, and gaming, I shall most cordially join in the cry; but if it be
against the imitation of manly virtues, or, more properly speaking, the attainment of
those talents and virtues, the exercise of which ennobles the human character, and which
raises females in the scale of animal being, when they are comprehensively termed mankind,
all those who view them with a philosophic eye must, I should think, wish with me, that
they may every day grow more and more masculine. |
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[6] This discussion
naturally divides the subject. I shall first consider women in the gland light of human
creatures, who in common with men, are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties; and
afterwards I shall more particularly point out their peculiar designation. |
| Why focus on the middle class? |
[7] I wish also to steer
clear of an error which many respectable writers have fallen into; for the instruction
which has hitherto been addressed to women, has rather been applicable to ladies, if the
little indirect advice that is scattered through "Sandford and Merton" be
excepted; but, addressing my sex in a firmer tone, I pay particular attention to those in
the middle class, because they appear to be in the most natural state. Perhaps the seeds
of false refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak,
artificial beings, raised above the common wants and affections of their race, in a
premature unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption
through the whole mass of society! As a class of mankind they have the strongest claim to
pity; the education of the rich tends to render them vain and helpless, and the unfolding
mind is not strengthened by the practice of those duties which dignify the human
character. They only live to amuse themselves, and by the same law which in Nature
invariably produces certain effects, they soon only afford barren amusement. |
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[8] But as I purpose taking
a separate view of the different ranks of society, and of the moral character of women in
each, this hint is for the present sufficient; and I have only alluded to the subject
because it appears to me to be the very essence of an introduction to give a cursory
account of the contents of the work it introduces. |
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[9] My own sex, I hope, will
excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their
fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood,
unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human
happiness consists. I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of
mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart,
delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of
weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity, and that kind of love
which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt. |
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[10] Dismissing, then,
those pretty feminine phrases, which the men condescendingly use to soften our slavish
dependence, and despising that weak elegancy of mind, exquisite sensibility, and sweet
docility of manners, supposed to be the sexual characteristics of the weaker vessel, I
wish to show that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object of laudable
ambition is to obtain a character as a hurnan being, regardless of the distinction of sex,
and that secondary views should be brought to this simple touchstone. |
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[11] This is a rough sketch
of my plan; and should I express my conviction with the energetic emotions that I feel
whenever I think of the subject, the dictates of experience and reflection will be felt by
some of my readers. Animated by this important object, I shall disdain to cull my phrases
or polish my style. I aim at being useful, and sincerity will render me unaffected; for,
wishing rather to persuade by the force of my arguments than dazzle by the elegance of my
language, I shall not waste my time in rounding periods, or in fabricating the turgid
bombast of artificial feelings, which, coming from the head, never reach the heart. I
shall be employed about things, not words! and, anxious to render my sex more respectable
members of society, I shall try to avoid that flowery diction which has slided from essays
into novels, and from novels into familiar letters and conversation. |
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[12] These pretty
superlatives, dropping glibly from the tongue, vitiate the taste, and create a kind of
sickly delicacy that turns away from simple unadorned truth; and a deluge of false
sentiments and overstretched feelings, stifling the natural emotions of the heart, render
the domestic pleasures insipid, that ought to sweeten the exercise of those severe duties,
which educate a rational and immortal being for a nobler field of action. |
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[13] The education of women
has of late been more attended to than formerly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous
sex, and ridiculed or pitied by the writers who endeavour by satire or instruction to
improve them. It is acknowledged that they spend many of the first years of their lives in
acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are
sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves--the
only way women can in the world--by marriage. And this desire making mere animals of them,
when they marry they act as such children may be expected to act,--they dress, they paint,
and nickname God's creatures. Surely these weak beings are only fit for a seraglio! Can
they be expected to govern a family with judgment, or take care of the poor babes whom
they bring into the world? |
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[14] If, then, it can be
fairly deduced from the present conduct of the sex, from the prevalent fondness for
pleasure which takes place of ambition and those nobler passions that open and enlarge the
soul, that the instruction which women have hitherto received has only tended, with the
constituion of civil society, to render them insignificant objects of desire -- mere
propagators of fools! -- if it can be proved that in aiming to accomplish them, without
cultivating their understandings, they are taken out of their sphere of duties, and made
ridiculous and useless when the short-lived bloom of beauty is over,{1} I presume that
rational men will excuse me for endeavouring to persuade them to become more masculine and
respectable. |
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[15] Indeed the word
masculine is only a bugbear; there is little reason to fear that women will acquire too
much courage or fortitude, for their apparent inferiority with respect to bodily strength
must render them in some degree dependent on men in the various relations of life; but why
should it be increased by prejudices that give a sex to virtue, and confound simple truths
with sensual reveries? |
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[16] Women are, in fact, so
much degraded by mistaken notions of female excellence, that I do not mean to add a
paradox when I assert that this artificial weakness produces a propensity to tyrannise,
and gives birth to cunning, the natural opponent of strength, which leads them to play off
those contemptible infantine airs that undermine esteem even whilst they excite desire.
Let men become more chaste and modest, and if women do not grow wiser in the same ratio,
it will be clear that they have weaker understandings. It seems scarcely necessary to say
that I now speak of the sex in general. Many individuals have more sense than their male
relatives; and, as nothing preponderates where there is a constant struggle for an
equilibrium without it has naturally more gravity, some women govern their husbands
without degrading themselves, because intellect will always govern. |
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[17] NOTES |
| What is the point of this statement? |
[18] {1} A lively writer (I
cannot recollect his name) asks what business women turned of forty have to do in the
world? |
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[19] TO M.
TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD Late Bishop of Autun |
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[20] SIR,--Having read with
great pleasure a pamphlet which you have lately published, I dedicate this volume to
you--the first dedication that I have ever written, to induce you to read it with
attention; and, because I think that you will understand me, which I do not suppose many
pert witlings will, who may ridicule the arguments they are unable to answer. But, sir I
carry my respect for your understanding still farther; so far that I am confident you will
not throw my work aside, and hastily conclude that I am in the wrong, because you did not
view the subject in the same light yourself. And, pardon my frankness, but I must observe,
that you treated it in too cursory a manner, contented to consider it as it had been
considered formerly, when the rights of man, not to advert to woman, were trampled on as
chimerical--I call upon you, therefore, now to weigh what I have advanced respecting the
rights of woman and national education; and I call with the firm tone of humanity, for my
arguments, sir, are dictated by a disinterested spirit--I plead for my sex, not for
myself. Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of
every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were
to live on a barren heath. |
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[21] It is then an
affection for the whole human race that makes my pen dart rapidly along to support what I
believe to be the cause of virtue; and the same motive leads me earnestly to wish to see
woman placed in a station in which she would advance, instead of retarding, the progress
of those glorious principles that give a substance to morality. My opinion, indeed,
respecting the rights and duties of woman seems to flow so naturally from these simple
principles, that I think it scarcely possible but that some of the enlarged minds who
formed your admirable constitution will coincide with me. |
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[22] In France there is
undoubtedly a more general diffusion of knowledge than in any part of the European world,
and I attribute it, in a great measure, to the social intercourse which has long subsisted
between the sexes. It is true--I utter my sentiments with freedom--that in France the very
essence of sensuality has been extracted to regale the voluptuary, and a kind of
sentimental lust has prevailed, which, together with the system of duplicity that the
whole tenor of their political and civil government taught, have given a sinister sort of
sagacity to the French character, properly termed finesse, from which naturally flow a
polish of manners that injures the substance by hunting sincerity out of society. And
modesty, the fairest garb of virtue! has been more-grossly insulted in France than even in
England, till their women have treated as prudish that attention to decency which brutes
instinctively observe. |
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[23] Manners and morals are
so nearly allied that they have often been confounded; but, though the former should only
be the natural reflection of the latter, yet, when various causes have produced factitious
and corrupt manners, which are very early caught, morality becomes an empty name. The
personal reserve, and sacred respect for cleanliness and delicacy in domestic life, which
French women almost despise, are the graceful pillars of modesty; but, far from despising
them, if the pure flame of patriotism have reached their bosoms, they should labour to
improve the morals of their fellow-citizens, by teaching men, not only to respect modesty
in women, but to acquire it themselves, as the only way to merit their esteem. |
| What is her main argument? |
[24] Contending for the
rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not
prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of
knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with
respect to its influence on general practice. And how can woman be expected to co-operate
unless she knows why she ought to be virtuous? unless freedom strengthens her reason till
she comprehends her duty, and see in what manner it is connected with her real good. If
children are to be educated to understand the true principle of patriotism, their mother
must be a patriot; and the love of mankind, from which an orderly train of virtues spring,
can only be produced by considering the moral and civil interest of mankind; but the
education and situation of woman at present shuts her out from such investigations. |
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[25] In this work I have
produced many arguments, which to me were conclusive, to prove that the prevailing notion
respecting a sexual character was subversive of morality, and I have contended, that to
render the human body and mind more perfect, chastity must more universally prevail, and
that chastity will never be respected in the male world till the person of a woman is not,
as it were, idolised, when little virtue or sense embellish it with the grand traces of
mental beauty, or the interesting simplicity of affection. |
|
[26] Consider, sir,
dispassionately these observations, for a glimpse of this truth seemed to open before you
when you observed, "that to see one-half of the human race excluded by the other from
all participation of government was a political phenomenon that, according to abstract
principles, it was impossible to explain." If so, on what does your constitution
rest? If the abstract rights of man will bear discussion and explanation, those of woman,
by a parity of reasoning, will not shrink from the same test; though a different opinion
prevails in this country, built on the very arguments which you use to justify the
oppression of woman--prescription. |
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[27] Consider--I address
you as a legislator--whether, when men contend for their freedom, and to be allowed to
judge for themselves respecting their own happiness, it be not inconsistent and unjust to
subjugate women, even though you firmly believe that you are acting in the manner best
calculated to promote their happiness ? Who made man the exclusive judge, if woman partake
with him of the gift of reason? |
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[28] In this style argue
tyrants of every denomination, from the weak king to the weak father of a family; they are
all eager to crush reason, yet always assert that they usurp its throne only to be useful.
Do you not act a similar part when you force all women, by denying them civil and
political rights, to remain immured in their families groping in the dark? for surely,
sir, you will not assert that a duty can be binding which is not founded on reason? If,
indeed, this be their destination, arguments may be drawn from reason; and thus augustly
supported, the more understanding women acquire, the more they will be attached to their
duty--comprehending it--for unless they comprehend it, unless their morals be fixed on the
same immutable principle as those of man, no authority can make them discharge it in a
virtuous manner. They may be convenient slaves, but slavery will have its constant effect,
degrading the master and the abject dependent. |
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[29] But if women are to be
excluded, without having a voice, from participation of the natural rights of mankind,
prove first, to ward off the charge of injustice and inconsistency, that they want reason,
else this flaw in your NEW CONSTITUTION will ever show that man must, in some shape, act
like a tyrant, and tyranny, in whatever part of society it rears its brazen front, will
ever undermine morality. |
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[30] I have repeatedly
asserted, and produced what appeared to me irrefragable arguments drawn from matters of
fact to prove my assertion, that women cannot by force be confined to domestic concerns;
for they will, however ignorant, intermeddle with more weighty affairs, neglecting private
duties only to disturb, by cunning tricks, the orderly plans of reason which rise above
their comprehension. |
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[31] Besides, whilst they
are only made to acquire personal accomplishments, men will seek for pleasure in variety,
and faithless husbands will make faithless wives; such ignorant beings, indeed, will be
very excusable when, not taught to respect public good, nor allowed any civil rights, they
attempt to do themselves justice by retaliation. |
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[32] The box of mischief
thus opened in society, what is to preserve private virtue, the only security of public
freedom and universal happiness? |
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[33] Let there be then no
coercion established in society, and the common law of gravity prevailing, the sexes will
fall into their proper places. And now that more equitable laws are forming your citizens,
marriage may become more sacred; your young men may choose wives from motives of
affection, and your maidens allow love to root out vanity. |
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[34] The father of a family
will not then weaken his constitution and debase his sentiments by visiting the harlot,
nor forget, in obeying the call of appetite, the purpose for which it was implanted. And
the mother will not neglect her children to practise the arts of coquetry, when sense and
modesty secure her the friendship of her husband. |
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[35] But, till men become
attentive to the duty of a father, it is vain to expect women to spend that time in their
nursery which they, " wise in their generation," choose to spend at their glass;
for this exertion of cunning is only an instinct of nature to enable them to obtain
indirectly a little of that power of which they are unjustly denied a share; for, if women
are not permitted to enjoy legitimate rights, they will render both men and themselves
vicious to obtain illicit privileges. |
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[36] I wish, sir, to set
some investigations of this kind afloat in France; and should they lead to a confirmation
of my principles when your constitution is revised, the Rights of Woman may be respected,
if it be fully proved that reason calls for this respect, and loudly demands JUSTICE for
one-half of the human race. |
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[37] I am, Sir, Yours
respectfully, M. W. |
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[38] A VINDICATION OF THE
RIGHTS OF WOMAN |
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[39] NOTE |
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[40] When I began to write
this work, I divided it into three parts, supposing that one volume would contain a full
discussion of the arguments which seemed to me to rise naturally from a few simple
principles; but fresh illustrations occurring as I advanced, I now present only the first
part to the public. |
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[41] Many subjects,
however, which I have cursorily alluded to, call for particular investigation, especially
the laws relative to women, and the consideration of their peculiar duties. These will
furnish ample matter for a second volume, which in due time will be published, to
elucidate some of the sentiments and complete many of the sketches begun in the first. |
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[42] CHAPTER I THE RIGHTS
AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED |
| How does she describe the roles of reason
and passion in human affairs? |
[43] In the present state
of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most
simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To
clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions, and the answers will probably
appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reasoning is built; though, when entangled
with various motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or
conduct of men. |
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[44] In what does man's
pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear as that a half is
less than the whole, in Reason. |
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[45] What acquirement
exalts one being above another? Virtue, we spontaneously reply. |
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[46] For what purpose were
the passions implanted? That man by struggling with them might attain a degree of
knowledge denied to the brutes, whispers Experience. |
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[47] Consequently the
perfection of our nature and capability of happiness must be estimated by the degree of
reason, virtue, and knowledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws which
bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge and virtue naturally flow,
is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively. |
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[48] The rights and duties
of man thus simplified, it seems almost impertinent to attempt to illustrate truths that
appear so incontrovertible; yet such deeply rooted prejudices have clouded reason, and
such spurious qualities have assumed the name of virtues, that it is necessary to pursue
the course of reason as it has been perplexed and involved in error, by various
adventitious circumstances, comparing the simple axiom with casual deviations. |
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[49] Men, in general, seem
to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they can scarcely
trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind must be strong that resolutely forms its
own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which makes many men shrink
from the task, or only do it by halves. Yet the imperfect conclusions thus drawn, are
frequently very plausible, because they are built on partial experience, on just, though
narrow, views. |
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[50] Going back to first
principles, vice skulks, with all its native deformity, from close investigation; but a
set of shallow reasoners are always exclaiming that these arguments prove too much, and
that a measure rotten at the core may be expedient. Thus expediency is continually
contrasted with simple principles, till truth is lost in a mist of words, virtue, in
forms, and knowledge rendered a sounding nothing, by the specious prejudices that assume
its name. |
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[51] That the society is
formed in the wisest manner, whose constitution is founded on the nature of man, strikes,
in the abstract, every thinking being so forcibly, that it looks like presumption to
endeavour to bring forward proofs; though proof must be brought, or the strong hold of
prescription will never be forced by reason; yet to urge prescription as an argument to
justify the depriving men (or women) of their natural rights, is one of the absurd
sophisms which daily insult common sense. |
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[52] The civilisation of
the bulk of the people of Europe is very partial; nay, it may be made a question, whether
they have acquired any virtues in exchange for innocence, equivalent to the misery
produced by the vices that have been plastered over unsightly ignorance, and the freedom
which has been bartered for splendid slavery. The desire of dazzling by riches, the most
certain pre-eminence that man can obtain, the pleasure of commanding flattering
sycophants, and many other complicated low calculations of doting self-love, have all
contributed to overwhelm the mass of mankind, and make liberty a convenient handle for
mock patriotism. For whilst rank and titles are held of the utmost importance, before
which Genius "must hide its diminished head," it is, with a few exceptions, very
unfortunate for a nation when a man of abilities, without rank or property, pushes himself
forward to notice. Alas ! what unheard-of misery have thousands suffered to purchase a
cardinal's hat for an intriguing obscure adventurer, who longed to be ranked with princes,
or lord it over them by seizing the triple crown! |
|
[53] Such, indeed, has been
the wretchedness that has flowed from hereditary honours, riches, and monarchy, that men
of lively sensibility have almost uttered blasphemy in order to justify the dispensations
of Providence. Man has been held out as independent of His power who made him, or as a
lawless planet darting from its orbit to steal the celestial fire of reason; and the
vengeance of Heaven, lurking in the subtile flame, like Pandora's pent-up mischiefs,
sufficiently punished his temerity, by introducing evil into the world. |
| What was Rousseau's argument against
society? |
[54] Impressed by this view
of the misery and disorder which pervaded society, and fatigued with jostling against
artificial fools, Rousseau became enamoured of solitude, and, being at the same time an
optimist, he labours with uncommon eloquence to prove that man was naturally a solitary
animal. Misled by his respect for the goodness of God, who certainly--for what man of
sense and feeling can doubt it !--gave life only to communicate happiness, he considers
evil as positive, and the work of man; not aware that he was exalting one attribute at the
expense of another, equally necessary to divine perfection. |
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[55] Reared on a false
hypothesis, his arguments in favour of a state of nature are plausible, but unsound. I say
unsound; for to assert that a state of nature is preferable to civilisation, in all its
possible perfection, is, in other words, to arraign supreme wisdom; and the paradoxical
exclamation, that God has made all things right, and that error has been introduced by the
creature, whom He formed, knowing what He formed, is as unphilosophical as impious. |
|
[56] When that wise Being
who created us and placed us here, saw the fair idea, He willed, by allowing it to be so,
that the passions should unfold our reason, because He could see that present evil would
produce future good. Could the helpless creature whom He called from nothing break loose
from His providence, and boldly learn to know good by practising evil, without His
permission? No. How could that energetic advocate for immortality argue so inconsistently?
Had mankind remained for ever in the brutal state of nature, which even his magic pen
cannot paint as a state in which a single virtue took root, it would have been clear,
though not to the sensitive unreflecting wanderer, that man was born to run the circle of
life and death, and adorn God's garden for some purpose which could not easily be
reconciled with His attributes. |
|
[57] But if, to crown the
whole, there were to be rational creatures produced, allowed to rise in excellence by the
exercise of powers implanted for that purpose; if benignity itself thought fit to call
into existence a creature above the brutes,{1} who could think and improve himself, why
should that inestimable gift, for a gift it was, if man was so created, as to have a
capacity to rise above the state in which sensation produced brutal ease, be called, in
direct terms, a curse? A curse it might be reckoned, if the whole of our existence were
bounded by our continuance in this world; for why should the gracious fountain of life
give us passions, and the power of reflecting, only to imbitter our days and inspire us
with mistaken notions of dignity? Why should He lead us from love of ourselves to the
sublime emotions which the discovery of His wisdom and goodness excites, if these feelings
were not set in motion to improve our nature, of which they make a part,{2} and render us
capable of enjoying a more godlike portion of happiness? Firmly persuaded that no evil
exists in the world that God did not design to take place, I build my belief on the
perfection of God. |
|
[58] Rousseau exerts
himself to prove that all was right originally: a crowd of authors that all is now right:
and I, that all will be right. |
|
[59] But, true to his first
position, next to a state of nature, Rousseau celebrates barbarism, and apostrophising the
shade of Fabricius, he forgets that, in conquering the world, the Romans never dreamed of
establishing their own liberty on a firm basis, or of extending the reign of virtue. Eager
to support his system, he stigmatises, as vicious, every effort of genius; and, uttering
the apotheosis of savage virtues, he exalts those to demi-gods, who were scarcely
human--the brutal Spartans, who, in defiance of justice and gratitude, sacrificed, in cold
blood, the slaves who had shown themselves heroes to rescue their oppressors. |
| What was Rousseau's mistake? She criticizes
him throughout her book. Note her other criticisms as well. |
[60] Disgusted with
artificial manners and virtues, the citizen of Geneva, instead of properly sifting the
subject, threw away the wheat with the chaff, without waiting to inquire whether the evils
which his ardent soul turned from indignantly, were the consequence of civilisation or the
vestiges of barbarism. He saw vice trampling on virtue, and the semblance of goodness
taking the place of the reality; he saw talents bent by power to sinister purposes, and
never thought of tracing the gigantic mischief up to arbitrary power, up to the hereditary
distinctions that clash with the mental superiority that naturally raises a man above his
fellows. He did not perceive that regal power, in a few generations, introduces idiotism
into the noble stem, and holds out baits to render thousands idle and vicious. |
|
[61] Nothing can set the
regal character in a more contemptible point of view, than the various crimes that have
elevated men to the supreme dignity. Vile intrigues, unnatural crimes, and every vice that
degrades our nature, have been the steps to this distinguished eminence; yet millions of
men have supinely allowed the nerveless limbs of the posterity of such rapacious prowlers
to rest quietly on their ensanguined thrones.{3} |
|
[62] What but a
pestilential vapour can hover over society when its chief director is only instructed in
the invention of crimes, or the stupid routine of childish ceremonies? Will men never be
wise?--will they never cease to expect corn from tares, and figs from thistles? |
| How is the power of kings corrupting to
them? |
[63] It is impossible for
any man, when the most favourable circumstances concur, to acquire sufficient knowledge
and strength of mind to discharge the duties of a king, entrusted with uncontrolled power;
how then must they be violated when his very elevation is an insuperable bar to the
attainment of either wisdom or virtue, when all the feelings of a man are stifled by
flattery, and reflection shut out by pleasure! Sure it is madness to make the fate of
thousands depend on the caprice of a weak fellow-creature, whose very station sinks him
necessarily below the meanest of his subjects ! But one power should not be thrown down to
exalt another--for all power inebriates weak man; and its abuse proves that the more
equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in
society. But this and any similar maxim deduced from simple reason, raises an outcry--the
Church or the State is in danger, if faith in the wisdom of antiquity is not implicit; and
they who, roused by the sight of human calamity, dare to attack human authority, are
reviled as despisers of God, and enemies of man. These are bitter calumnies, yet they
reached one of the best of men,{4} whose ashes still preach peace, and whose memory
demands a respectful pause, when subjects are discussed that lay so near his heart. |
|
[64] After attacking the
sacred majesty of kings, I shall scarcely excite surprise by adding my firm persuasion
that every profession, in which great subordination of rank constitutes its power, is
highly injurious to morality. |
|
[65] A standing army, for
instance, is incompatible with freedom; because subordination and rigour are the very
sinews of military discipline; and despotism is necessary to give vigour to enterprises
that one will directs. A spirit inspired by romantic notions of honour, a kind of morality
founded on the fashion of the age, can only be felt by a few officers, whilst the main
body must be moved by command, like the waves of the sea; for the strong wind of authority
pushes the crowd of subalterns forward, they scarcely know or care why, with headlong
fury. |
| How does this extend to soldiers? |
[66] Besides, nothing can
be so prejudicial to the morals of the inhabitants of country towns as the occasional
residence of a set of idle superficial young men, whose only occupation is gallantry, and
whose polished manners render vice more dangerous, by concealing its deformity under gay
ornamental drapery. An air of fashion, which is but a badge of slavery, and proves that
the soul has not a strong individual character, awes simple country people into an
imitation of the vices, when they cannot catch the slippery graces, of politeness. Every
corps is a chair of despots, who, submitting and tyrannising without exercising their
reason, become dead-weights of vice and folly on the community. A man of rank or fortune,
sure of rising by interest, has nothing to do but to pursue some extravagant freak; whilst
the needy gentleman, who is to rise, as the phrase turns, by his merit, becomes a servile
parasite or vile pander. |
|
[67] Sailors, the naval
gentlemen, come under the same description, only their vices assume a different and a
grosser cast. They are more positively indolent, when not discharging the ceremonials of
their station; whilst the insignificant fluttering of soldiers may be termed active
idleness. More confined to the society of men, the former acquire a fondness for humour
and mischievous tricks; whilst the latter, mixing frequently with well-bred women, catch a
sentimental cant. But mind is equally out of the question, whether they indulge the
horse-laugh, or polite simper. |
| And to the clergy? |
[68] May I be allowed to
extend the comparison to a profession where more mind is certainly to be found,--for the
clergy have superior opportunities of improvement, though subordination almost equally
cramps their faculties? The blind submission imposed at college to forms of belief serves
as a novitiate to the curate, who must obsequiously respect the opinion of his rector or
patron, if he mean to rise in his profession. Perhaps there cannot be a more forcible
contrast than between the servile dependent gait of a poor curate and the courtly mien of
a bishop. And the respect and contempt they inspire, render the discharge of their
separate functions equally useless. |
|
[69] It is of great
importance to observe that the character of every man is, in some degree, formed by his
profession. A man of sense may only have a cast of countenance that wears off as you trace
his individuality, whilst the weak, common man has scarcely ever any character, but what
belongs to the body; at least, all his opinions have been so steeped in the vat
consecrated by authority, that the faint spirit which the grape of his own vine yields,
cannot be distinguished. |
|
[70] Society, therefore, as
it becomes more enlightened, should be very careful not to establish bodies of men who
must necessarily be made foolish or vicious by the very constitution of their profession. |
|
[71] In the infancy of
society, when men were just emerging out of barbarism, chiefs and priests, touching the
most powerful springs of savage conduct, hope and fear, must have had unbounded sway. An
aristocracy, of course, is naturally the first form of government. But, clashing interests
soon losing their equipoise, a monarchy and hierarchy break out of the confusion of
ambitious struggles, and the foundation of both is secured by feudal tenures. This appears
to be the origin of monarchical and priestly power, and the dawn of civilisation. But such
combustible materials cannot long be pent up; and, getting vent in foreign wars and
intestine insurrections, the people acquire some power in the tumult, which obliges their
rulers to gloss over their oppression with a show of right. Thus, as wars, agriculture,
commerce, and literature, expand the mind, despots are compelled to make covert corruption
hold fast the power which was formerly snatched by open force.{5} And this baneful lurking
gangrene is most quickly spread by luxury and superstition, the sure dregs of ambition.
The indolent puppet of a court first becomes a luxurious monster, or fastidious
sensualist, and then makes the contagion which his unnatural state spread, the instrument
of tyranny. |
|
[72] It is the pestiferous
purple which renders the progress of civilisation a curse, and warps the understanding,
till men of sensibility doubt whether the expansion of intellect produces a greater
portion of happiness or misery. But the nature of the poison points out the antidote; and
had Rousseau mounted one step higher in his investigation, or could his eye have pierced
through the foggy atmosphere, which he almost disdained to breathe, his active mind would
have darted forward to contemplate the perfection of man in the establishment of true
civilisation, instead of taking his ferocious flight back to the night of sensual
ignorance. |
|
[73] NOTES |
|
[74] {1} Contrary to the
opinion of the anatomists, who argue by analogy from the formation of the teeth, stomach,
and intestines, Rousseau will not allow a man to be a carniverous animal. And, carried
away from nature by a love of system, he disputes whether man be a gregarious animal,
though the long and helpless state of infancy seems to point him out as particularly
impelled to pair, the first step towards herding. |
|
[75] {2} What would you say
to a mechanic whom you had desired to make a watch to point out the hour of the day, if,
to show his ingenuity, he added wheels to make it a repeater, etc., that perplexed the
simple mechanism; should he urge - to excuse himself - had you not touched a certain
spring, you would have known nothing of the matter, and that he should have amused himself
by making an experiment without doing you any harm, would you not retort fairly upon him,
bu insisting that if he had not added those needless wheels and springs, the accident
could not have happened? |
|
[76] {3} Could there be a
greater insult offered to the rights of man than the beds of justice in France, when an
infant was made the organ of the detestable Dubois? |
|
[77] {4} Dr. Price. |
|
[78] {5} Men of abilities
scatter seeds that grow up and have a great influence on the forming opinion; and when
once the public opinion preponderates, through the exertion of reason, the overthrow of
arbitrary power is not very distant. |
|
[79] CHAPTER II THE
PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED |
| What is wrong with the way that women are
brought up and educated? |
[80] To account for, and
excuse the tyranny of man, many ingenious arguments have been brought forward to prove,
that the two sexes, in the acquirement of virtue, ought to aim at attaining a very
different character; or, to speak explicitly, women are not allowed to have sufficient
strength of mind to acquire what really deserves the name of virtue. Yet it should seem,
allowing them to have souls, that there is but one way appointed by Providence to lead
mankind to either virtue or happiness. |
|
[81] If then women are not
a swarm of ephemeron triflers, why should they be kept in ignorance under the specious
name of innocence? Men complain, and with reason, of the follies and caprices of our sex,
when they do not keenly satirise our headstrong passions and grovelling vices. Behold, I
should answer, the natural effect of ignorance ! The mind will ever be unstable that has
only prejudices to rest on, and the current will run with destructive fury when there are
no barriers to break its force. Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the
example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed
cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile
kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be
beautiful, everything else is needless, for at least twenty years of their lives. |
|
[82] Thus Milton describes
our first frail mother; though when he tells us that women are formed for softness and
sweet attractive grace, I cannot comprehend his meaning, unless, in the true Mahometan
strain, he meant to deprive us of souls, and insinuate that we were beings only designed
by sweet attractive grace, and docile blind obedience, to gratify the senses of man when
he can no longer soar on the wing of contemplation. |
|
[83] How grossly do they
insult us who thus advise us only to render ourselves gentle, domestic brutes ! For
instance, the winning softness so warmly and frequently recommended, that governs by
obeying. What childish expressions, and how insignificant is the being--can it be an
immortal one?--who will condescend to govern by such sinister methods?
"Certainly," says Lord Bacon, "man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and
if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature!" Men,
indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner, when they try to secure the
good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood. Rousseau
was more consistent when he wished to stop the progress of reason in both sexes, for if
men eat of the tree of knowledge, women will come in for a taste; but, from the imperfect
cultivation which their understandings now receive, they only attain a knowledge of evil.
Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women,
it is but a civil term for weakness. For if it be allowed that women were destined by
Providence to acquire human virtues, and, by the exercise of their understandings, that
stability of character which is the firmest ground to rest our future hopes upon, they
must be permitted to turn to the fountain of light, and not forced to shape their course
by the twinkling of a mere satellite. Milton, I grant, was of a very different opinion;
for he only bends to the indefeasible right of beauty, though it would be difficult to
render two passages which I now mean to contrast, consistent. But into similar
inconsistencies are great men often led by their senses: |
|
[84] To whom thus Eve with
perfect beauty adorn'd My author and disposer, what thou bid'st
Unargued I obey; so God ordains.
God is thy law thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise. |
|
[85] These are exactly the
arguments that I have used to children; but I have added, your reason is now gaining
strength, and, till it arrives at some degree of maturity, you must look up to me for
advice,--then you ought to think, and only rely on God. Yet in the following lines Milton
seems to coincide with me, when he makes Adam thus expostulate with his Maker: |
|
[86] Hast Thou not made me
here Thy substitute, And these inferior far beneath me set ?
Among equals what society Can sort, what harmony or true delight ?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due
Given and received; but in disparity
The one intense, the other still remiss
Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek fit to participate
All rational delight-- |
|
[87] In treating therefore
of the manners of women, let us, disregarding sensual arguments, trace what we should
endeavour to make them in order to co-operate, if the expression be not too bold, with the
Supreme Being. By individual education, I mean, for the sense of the word is not precisely
defined, such an attention to a child as will slowly sharpen the senses, form the temper,
regulate the passions as they begin to ferment, and set the understanding to work before
the body arrives at maturity; so that the man may only have to proceed, not to begin, the
important task of learning to think and reason. |
|
[88] To prevent any
misconstruction, I must add, that I do not believe that a private education can work the
wonders which some sanguine writers have attributed to it. Men and women must be educated,
in a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they live in. In every age
there has been a stream of popular opinion that has carried all before it, and given a
family character, as it were, to the century. It may then fairly be inferred, that, till
society be differently constituted, much cannot be expected from education. It is,
however, sufficient for my present purpose to assert that, whatever effect circumstances
have on the abilities, every being may become virtuous by the exercise of its own reason;
for if but one being was created with vicious inclinations, that is positively bad, what
can save us from atheism? or if we worship a God, is not that God a devil? |
|
[89] Consequently, the most
perfect education, in my opinion, is such an exercise of the understanding as is best
calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart. Or, in other words, to enable the
individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it independent. In fact, it is a
farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own
reason. This was Rousseau's opinion respecting men; I extend it to women, and confidently
assert that they have been drawn out of their sphere by false refinement, and not by an
endeavour to acquire masculine qualities. Still the regal homage which they receive is so
intoxicating, that until the manners of the times are changed, and formed on more
reasonable principles, it may be impossible to convince them that the illegitimate power
which they obtain by degrading themselves is a curse, and that they must return to nature
and equality if they wish to secure the placid satisfaction that unsophisticated
affections impart. But for this epoch we must wait--wait perhaps till kings and nobles,
enlightened by reason, and, preferring the real dignity of man to childish state, throw
off their gaudy hereditary trappings; and if then women do not resign the arbitrary power
of beauty--they will prove that they have less mind than man. I may be accused of
arrogance; still I must declare what I firmly believe, that all the writers who have
written on the subject of female education and manners, from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have
contributed to render women more artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise
have been; and consequently, more useless members of society. I might have expressed this
conviction in a lower key, but I am afraid it would have been the whine of affectation,
and not the faithful expression of my feelings, of the clear result which experience and
reflection have led me to draw. When I come to that division of the subject, I shall
advert to the passages that I more particularly disapprove of, in the works of the authors
I have just alluded to; but it is first necessary to observe that my objection extends to
the whole purport of those books, which tend, in my opinion, to degrade one-half of the
human species, and render women pleasing at the expense of every solid virtue. |
|
[90] Though, to reason on
Rousseau's ground, if man did attain a degree of perfection of mind when his body arrived
at maturity, it might be proper, in order to make a man and his wife one, that she should
rely entirely on his understanding; and the graceful ivy, clasping the oak that supported
it, would form a whole in which strength and beauty would be equally conspicuous. But,
alas ! husbands, as well as their helpmates, are often only overgrown children,--nay,
thanks to early debauchery, scarcely men in their outward form,--and if the blind lead the
blind, one need not come from heaven to tell us the consequence. |
|
[91] Many are the causes
that, in the present corrupt state of society, contribute to enslave women by cramping
their understandings and sharpening their senses. One, perhaps, that silently does more
mischief than all the rest, is their disregard of order. |
|
[92] To do everything in an
orderly manner is a most important precept, which women, who, generally speaking, receive
only a disorderly kind of education, seldom attend to with that degree of exactness that
men, who from their infancy are broken into method, observe. This negligent kind of
guesswork--for what other epithet can be used to point out the random exertions of a sort
of instinctive common sense never brought to the test of reason?--prevents their
generalising matters of fact; so they do to-day what they did yesterday, merely because
they did it yesterday. |
|
[93] This contempt of the
understanding in early life has more baneful consequences than is commonly supposed; for
the little knowledge which women of strong minds attain is, from various circumstances, of
a more desultory kind than the knowledge of men, and it is acquired more by sheer
observations on real life than from comparing what has been individually observed with the
results of experience generalised by speculation. Led by their dependent situation and
domestic employments more into society, what they learn is rather by snatches; and as
learning is with them in general only a secondary thing, they do not pursue any one branch
with that persevering ardour necessary to give vigour to the faculties and clearness to
the judgment. In the present state of society a little learning is required to support the
character of a gentleman, and boys are obliged to submit to a few years of discipline. But
in the education of women, the cultivation of the understanding is always subordinate to
the acquirement of some corporeal accomplishment. Even when enervated by confinement and
false notions of modesty, the body is prevented from attaining that grace and beauty which
relaxed half-formed limbs never exhibit. Besides, in youth their faculties are not brought
forward by emulation; and having no serious scientific study, if they have natural
sagacity, it is turned too soon on life and manners. They dwell on effects and
modifications, without tracing them back to causes; and complicated rules to adjust
behaviour are a weak substitute for simple principles. |
| How does the example of soldiers support
her case? |
[94] As a proof that
education gives this appearance of weakness to females, we may instance the example of
military men, who are, like them, sent into the world before their minds have been stored
with knowledge, or fortified by principles. The consequences are similar; soldiers acquire
a little superficial knowledge, snatched from the muddy current of conversation, and from
continually mixing with society, they gain what is termed a knowledge of the world; and
this acquaintance with manners and customs has frequently been confounded with a knowledge
of the human heart. But can the crude fruit of casual observation, never brought to the
test of judgment, formed by comparing speculation and experience, deserve such a
distinction ? Soldiers, as well as women, practise the minor virtues with punctilious
politeness. Where is then the sexual difference, when the education has been the same? All
the difference that I can discern arises from the superior advantage of liberty which
enables the former to see more of life. |
|
[95] It is wandering from
my present subject, perhaps, to make a political remark; but as it was produced naturally
by the train of my reflections, I shall not pass it silently over. |
|
[96] Standing armies can
never consist of resolute robust men; they may be well-disciplined machines, but they will
seldom contain men under the influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous
faculties; and as for any depth of understanding, I will venture to affirm that it is as
rarely to be found in the army as amongst women. And the cause, I maintain, is the same.
It may be further observed that officers are also particularly attentive to their persons,
fond of dancing, crowded rooms, adventures, and ridicule.{1} Like the fair sex, the
business of their lives is gallantry; they were taught to please, and they only live to
please. Yet they do not lose their rank in the distinction of sexes, for they are still
reckoned superior to women, though in what their superiority consists, beyond what I have
just mentioned, it is difficult to discover. |
|
[97] The great misfortune
is this, that they both acquire manners before morals, and a knowledge of life before they
have from reflection any acquaintance with the grand ideal outline of human nature. The
consequence is natural. Satisfied with common nature, they become a prey to prejudices,
and taking all their opinions on credit, they blindly submit to authority. So that if they
have any sense, it is a kind of instinctive glance that catches proportions, and decides
with respect to manners, but fails when arguments are to be pursued below the surface, or
opinions analysed. |
|
[98] May not the same
remark be applied to women? Nay, the argument may be carried still further, for they are
both thrown out of a useful station by the unnatural distinctions established in civilised
life. Riches and hereditary honours have made cyphers of women to give consequence to the
numerical figure; and idleness has produced a mixture of gallantry and despotism into
society, which leads the very men who are the slaves of their mistresses to tyrannise over
their sisters, wives, and daughters. This is only keeping them in rank and file, it is
true. Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind
obedience; but as blind obedience is ever sought for by power, tyrants and sensualists are
in the right endeavour to keep woman in the dark, because only want slaves, and the latter
a plaything. The sensualist, indeed, has been the most dangerous of tyrants, and women
have been duped by their lovers, as princes by their ministers, whilst dreaming that they
reigned over them. |
|
[99] I now principally
allude to Rousseau, for his character of Sophia is undoubtedly a captivating one, though
it appears to me grossly unnatural. However, it is not the superstructure, but the
foundation of her character, the principles on which her education was built, that I mean
to attack; nay, warmly as I admire the genius of that able writer, whose opinions I shall
often have occasion to cite, indignation always takes place of admiration, and the rigid
frown of insulted virtue effaces the smile of complacency which his eloquent periods are
wont to raise when I read his voluptuous reveries. Is this the man who, in his ardour for
virtue, would banish all the soft arts of peace, and almost carry us back to Spartan
discipline? Is this the man who delights to paint the useful struggles of passion, the
triumphs of good dispositions, and the heroic flights which carry the glowing soul out of
itself? How are these mighty sentiments lowered when he describes the pretty foot and
enticing airs of his little favourite! But for the present I waive the subject, and
instead of severely reprehending the transient effusions of overweening sensibility, I
shall only observe that whoever has cast a benevolent eye on society must often have been
gratified by the sight of humble mutual love not dignified by sentiment, or strengthened
by a union in intellectual pursuits. The domestic trifles of the day have afforded matters
for cheerful converse, and innocent caresses have softened toils which did not require
great exercise of mind or stretch of thought; yet has not the sight of this moderate
felicity excited more tenderness than respect ?--an emotion similar to what we feel when
children are playing or animals sporting;{2} whilst the contemplation of the noble
struggles of suffering merit has raised admiration, and carried our thoughts to that world
where sensation will give place to reason. |
|
[100] Women are therefore
to be considered either as moral beings, or so weak that they must be entirely subjected
to the superior faculties of men. |
|
[101] Let us examine this
question. Rousseau declares that a woman should never for a moment feel herself
independent, that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made
a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter
companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself. He carries the arguments, which he
pretends to draw from the indications of nature, still further, and insinuates that truth
and fortitude, the corner-stones of all human virtue, should be cultivated with certain
restrictions, because, with respect to the female character, obedience is the grand lesson
which ought to be impressed with unrelenting rigour. |
|
[102] What nonsense ! When
will a great man arise with sufficient strength of mind to puff away the fumes which pride
and sensuality have thus spread over the subject? If women are by nature inferior to men,
their virtues must be the same in quality, if not in degree, or virtue is a relative idea;
consequently their conduct should be founded on the same principles, and have the same
aim. |
|
[103] Connected with man
as daughters, wives, and mothers, their moral character may be estimated by their manner
of fulfilling those simple duties; but the end, the grand end, of their exertions should
be to unfold their own faculties, and acquire the dignity of conscious virtue. They may
try to render their road pleasant; but ought never to forget, in common with man, that
life yields not the felicity which can satisfy an immortal soul. I do not mean to
insinuate that either sex should be so lost in abstract reflections or distant views as to
forget the affections and duties that lie before them, and are, in truth, the means
appointed to produce the fruit of life; on the contrary, I would warmly recommend them,
even while I assert, that they afford most satisfaction when they are considered in their
true sober light. |
|
[104] Probably the
prevailing opinion that woman was created for man, may have taken its rise from Moses'
poetical story; yet as very few, it is presumed, who have bestowed any serious thought on
the subject ever supposed that Eve was, literally speaking, one of Adam's ribs, the
deduction must be allowed to fall to the ground, or only be so far admitted as it proves
that man, from the remotest antiquity, found it convenient to exert his strength to
subjugate his companion, and his invention to show that she ought to have her neck bent
under the yoke, because the whole creation was only created for his convenience or
pleasure. |
|
[105] Let it not be
concluded that I wish to invert the order of things. I have already granted that, from the
constitution of their bodies, men seemed to be designed by Providence to attain a greater
degree of virtue. I speak collectively of the whole sex; but I see not the shadow of a
reason to conclude that their virtues should differ in respect to their nature. In fact,
how can they, if virtue has only one eternal standard? I must therefore, if I reason
consequentially, as strenuously maintain that they have the same simple direction as that
there is a God. |
|
[106] It follows then that
cunning should not be opposed to wisdom, little cares to great exertions, or insipid
softness, varnished over with the name of gentleness, to that fortitude which grand views
alone can inspire. |
|
[107] I shall be told that
woman would then lose many of her peculiar graces, and the opinion of a well-known poet
might be quoted to refute my unqualified assertion. For Pope has said in the name of the
whole male sex: |
|
[108] Yet ne'er so sure
our passion to create, As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate. |
|
[109] In what light this
sally places men and women I shall leave to the judicious to determine. Meanwhile, I shall
content myself with observing, that I cannot discover why, unless they are mortal, females
should always be degraded by being made subservient to love or lust. |
|
[110] To speak
disrespectfully of love is, I know, high treason against sentiment and fine feelings; but
I wish to speak the simple language of truth, and rather to address the head than the
heart. To endeavour to reason love out of the world would be to out-Quixote Cervantes, and
equally offend against common sense; but an endeavour to restrain this tumultuous passion,
and to prove that it should not be allowed to dethrone superior powers, or to usurp the
sceptre which the understanding should very coolly wield, appears less wild. |
|
[111] Youth is the season
for love in both sexes; but in those days of thoughtless enjoyment provision should be
made for the more important years of life, when reflection takes place of sensation. But
Rousseau, and most of the male writers who have followed his steps, have warmly inculcated
that the whole tendency of female education ought to be directed to one point--to render
them pleasing. |
| How does the education of women encourage
them to be unfaithful? |
[112] Let me reason with
the supporters of this opinion who have any knowledge of human nature. Do they imagine
that marriage can eradicate the habitude of life? The woman who has only been taught to
please will soon find that her charms are oblique sunbeams, and that they cannot have much
effect on her husband's heart when they are seen every day, when the summer is passed and
gone. Will she then have sufficient native energy to look into herself for comfort, and
cultivate her dormant faculties? or is it not more rational to expect that she will try to
please other men, and, in the emotions raised by the expectation of new conquests,
endeavour to forget the mortification her love or pride has received? When the husband
ceases to be a lover, and the time will inevitably come, her desire of pleasing will then
grow languid, or become a spring of bitterness; and love, perhaps, the most evanescent of
all passions, gives place to jealousy or vanity. |
|
[113] I now speak of women
who are restrained by principle or prejudice. Such women, though they would shrink from an
intrigue with real abhorrence, yet, nevertheless, wish to be convinced by the homage of
gallantry that they are cruelly neglected by their husbands; or, days and weeks are spent
in dreaming of the happiness enjoyed by congenial souls, till their health is undermined
and their spirits broken by discontent. How then can the great art of pleasing be such a
necessary study? it is only useful to a mistress. The chaste wife and serious mother
should only consider her power to please as the polish of her virtues, and the affection
of her husband as one of the comforts that render her task less difficult, and her life
happier. But, whether she be loved or neglected, her first wish should be to make herself
respectable, and not to rely for all her happiness on a being subject to like infirmities
with herself. |
|
[114] The worthy Dr.
Gregory fell into a similar error. I respect his heart, but entirely disapprove of his
celebrated Legacy to his Daughters. |
|
[115] He advises them to
cultivate a fondness for dress, because a fondness for dress, he asserts, is natural to
them. I am unable to comprehend what either he or Rousseau mean when they frequently use
this indefinite term. If they told us that in a pre-existent state the soul was fond of
dress, and brought this inclination with it into a new body, I should listen to them with
a half-smile, as I often do when I hear a rant about innate elegance. But if he only meant
to say that the exercise of the faculties will produce this fondness, I deny it. It is not
natural; but arises, like false ambition in men, from a love of power. |
|
[116] Dr. Gregory goes
much further; he actually recommends dissimulation, and advises an innocent girl to give
the lie to her feelings, and not dance with spirit, when gaiety of heart would make her
feet eloquent without making her gestures immodest. In the name of truth and common sense,
why should not one woman acknowledge that she can take more exercise than another? or, in
other words, that she has a sound constitution; and why, to damp innocent vivacity, is she
darkly to be told that men will draw conclusions which she little thinks of? Let the
libertine draw what inference he pleases; but, I hope, that no sensible mother will
restrain the natural frankness of youth by instilling such indecent cautions. out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and a wiser than Solomon hath said that the
heart should be made clean, and not trivial ceremonies observed, which it is not very
difficult to fulfil with scrupulous exactness when vice reigns in the heart. |
|
[117] Women ought to
endeavour to purify their heart; but can they do so when their uncultivated understandings
make them entirely dependent on their senses for employment and amusement, when no noble
pursuits set them above the little vanities of the day, or enables them to curb the wild
emotions that agitate a reed, over which every passing breeze has power? To gain the
affections of a virtuous man, is affectation necessary? Nature has given woman a weaker
frame than man; but, to ensure her husband's affections, must a wife, who, by the exercise
of her mind and body whilst she was discharging the duties of a daughter, wife, and
mother, has allowed her constitution to retain its natural strength, and her nerves a
healthy tone,--is she, I say, to condescend to use art, and feign a sickly delicacy, in
order to secure her husband's affection? Weakness may excite tenderness, and gratify the
arrogant pride of man; but the lordly caresses of a protector will not gratify a noble
mind that pants for and deserves to be respected. Fondness is a poor substitute for
friendship! |
|
[118] In a seraglio, I
grant, that all these arts are necessary; the epicure must have his palate tickled, or he
will sink into apathy; but have women so little ambition as to be satisfied with such a
condition? Can they supinely dream life away in the lap of pleasure, or the languor of
weariness, rather than assert their claim to pursue reasonable pleasures, and render
themselves conspicuous by practising the virtues which dignify mankind? Surely she has not
an immortal soul who can loiter life away merely employed to adorn her person, that she
may amuse the languid hours, and soften the cares of a fellow-creature who is willing to
be enlivened by her smiles and tricks, when the serious business of life is over. |
|
[119] Besides, the woman
who strengthens her body and exercises her mind will, by managing her family and
practising various virtues, become the friend, and not the humble dependent of her
husband; and if she, by possessing such substantial qualities, merit his regard, she will
not find it necessary to conceal her affection, nor to pretend to an unnatural coldness of
constitution to excite her husband's passions. In fact, if we revert to history, we shall
find that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful
nor the most gentle of their sex. |
|
[120] Nature, or, to speak
with strict propriety, God, has made all things right; but man has sought him out many
inventions to mar the work. I now allude to that part of Dr. Gregory's treatise, where he
advises a wife never to let her husband know the extent of her sensibility or affection.
Voluptuous precaution, and as ineffectual as absurd. Love, from its very nature, must be
transitory. To seek for a secret that would render it constant, would be as wild a search
as for the philosopher's stone, or the grand panacea; and the discovery would be equally
useless, or rather pernicious, to mankind. The most holy band of society is friendship. It
has been well said, by a shrewd satirist, "that rare as true love is true friendship
is still rarer." |
|
[121] This is an obvious
truth, and, the cause not lying deep, will not elude a slight glance of inquiry. |
|
[122] Love, the common
passion, in which chance and sensation take place of choice and reason, is, in some
degree, felt by the mass of mankind; for it is not necessary to speak, at present, of the
emotions that rise above or sink below love. This passion, naturally increased by suspense
and difficulties, draws the mind out of its accustomed state, and exalts the affections;
but the security of marriage, allowing the fever of love to subside, a healthy temperature
is thought insipid only by those who have not sufficient intellect to substitute the calm
tenderness of friendship, the confidence of respect, instead of blind admiration, and the
sensual emotions of fondness. |
|
[123] This is, must be,
the course of nature. Friendship or indifference inevitably succeeds love. And this
constitution seems perfectly to harmonise with the system of government which prevails in
the moral world. Passions are spurs to action, and open the mind; but they sink into mere
appetites, become a personal and momentary gratification when the object is gained, and
the satisfied mind rests in enjoyment. The man who had some virtue whilst he was
struggling for a crown, often becomes a voluptuous tyrant when it graces his brow; and,
when the lover is not lost in the husband, the dotard, a prey to childish caprices and
fond jealousies, neglects the serious duties of life, and the caresses which should excite
confidence in his children are lavished on the overgrown child, his wife. |
|
[124] In order to fulfil
the duties of life, and to be able to pursue with vigour the various employments which
form the moral character, a master and mistress of a family ought not to continue to love
each other with passion. I mean to say that they ought not to indulge those emotions which
disturb the order of society, and engross the thoughts that should be otherwise employed.
The mind that has never been engrossed by one object wants vigour,--if it can long be so,
it is weak. |
|
[125] A mistaken
education, a narrow uncultivated mind, and many sexual prejudices, tend to make women more
constant than men; but, for the present, I shall not touch on this branch of the subject.
I will go still further, and advance, without dreaming of a paradox, that an unhappy
marriage is often very advantageous to a family, and that the neglected wife is, in
general, the best mother. And this would almost always be the consequence if the female
mind were more enlarged; for, it seems to be the common dispensation of Providence, that
what we gain in present enjoyment should be deducted from the treasure of life,
experience; and that when we are gathering the flowers of the day, and revelling in
pleasure, the solid fruit of toil and wisdom should not be caught at the same time. The
way lies before us, we must turn to the right or left; and he who will pass life away in
bounding from one pleasure to another, must not complain if he acquire neither wisdom nor
respectability of character. |
|
[126] Supposing, for a
moment, that the soul is not immortal, and that man was only created for the present
scene,--I think we should have reason to complain that love, infantine fondness, ever grew
insipid and palled upon the sense. Let us eat, drink, and love, for to-morrow we die,
would be, in fact, the language of reason, the morality of life; and who but a fool would
part with a reality for a fleeting shadow ? But, if awed by observing the improbable
powers of the mind, we disdain to confine our wishes or thoughts to such a comparatively
mean field of action, that only appears grand and important, as it is connected with a
boundless prospect and sublime hopes, what necessity is there for falsehood in conduct,
and why must the sacred majesty of truth be violated to detain a deceitful good that saps
the very foundation of virtue? Why must the female mind be tainted by coquettish arts to
gratify the sensualist, and prevent love from subsiding into friendship, or compassionate
tenderness, when there are not qualities on which friendship can be built? Let the honest
heart show itself, and reason teach passion to submit to necessity; or, let the dignified
pursuit of virtue and knowledge raise the mind above those emotions which rather embitter
than sweeten the cup of life, when they are not restrained within due bounds. |
|
[127] I do not mean to
allude to the romantic passion, which is the concomitant of genius. Who can clip its wing?
But that grand passion not proportioned to the puny enjoyments of life, is only true to
the sentiment, and feeds on itself. The passions which have been celebrated for their
durability have always been unfortunate. They have acquired strength by absence and
constitutional melancholy. The fancy has hovered round a form of beauty dimly seen; but
familiarity might have turned admiration into disgust, or, at least, into indifference,
and allowed the imagination leisure to start fresh game. With perfect propriety, according
to this view of things, does Rousseau make the mistress of his soul, Eloisa, love St.
Preux, when life was fading before her; but this is no proof of the immortality of the
passion. |
|
[128] Of the same
complexion is Dr. Gregory's advice respecting delicacy of sentiment, which he advises a
woman not to acquire, if she have determined to marry. This determination, however,
perfectly consistent with his former advice, he calls indelicate, and earnestly persuades
his daughters to conceal it, though it may govern their conduct, as if it were indelicate
to have the common appetites of human nature. |
|
[129] Noble morality! and
consistent with the cautious prudence of a little soul that cannot extend its views beyond
the present minute division of existence. If all the faculties of woman's mind are only to
be cultivated as they respect her dependence on man; if, when a husband be obtained, she
have arrived at her goal, and meanly proud, rests satisfied with such a paltry crown, let
her grovel contentedly, scarcely raised by her employments above the animal kingdom; but,
if struggling for the prize of her high calling, she look beyond the present scene, let
her cultivate her understanding without stopping to consider what character the husband
may have whom she is destined to marry. Let her only determine, without being too anxious
about present happiness, to acquire the qualities that ennoble a rational being, and a
rough inelegant husband may shock her taste without destroying her peace of mind. She will
not model her soul to suit the frailties of her companion, but to bear with them; his
character may be a trial, but not an impediment to virtue. |
|
[130] If Dr. Gregory
confined his remark to romantic expectations of constant love and congenial feelings, he
should have recollected that experience will banish what advice can never make us cease to
wish for, when the imagination is kept alive at the expense of reason. |
|
[131] I own it frequently
happens, that women who have fostered a romantic unnatural delicacy of feeling, waste
their {3} lives in imagining how happy they should have been with a husband who could love
them with a fervid increasing affection every day, and all day. But they might as well
pine married as single, and would not be a jot more unhappy with a bad husband than
longing for a good one. That a proper education, or, to speak with more precision, a
well-stored mind, would enable a woman to support a single life with dignity, I grant; but
that she should avoid cultivating her taste, lest her husband should occasionally shock
it, is quitting a substance for a shadow. To say the truth, I do not know of what use is
an improved taste, if the individual be not rendered more independent of the casualties of
life; if new sources of enjoyment, only dependent on the solitary operations of the mind,
are not opened. People of taste, married or single, without distinction, will ever be
disgusted by various things that touch not less observing minds. On this conclusion the
argument must not be allowed to hinge; but in the whole sum of enjoyment is taste to be
denominated a blessing? |
|
[132] The question is,
whether it procures most pain or pleasure? The answer will decide the propriety of Dr.
Gregory's advice, and show how absurd and tyrannic it is thus to lay down a system of
slavery, or to attempt to educate moral beings by any other rules than those deduced from
pure reason, which apply to the whole species. |
|
[133] Gentleness of
manners, forbearance and long-suffering, are such amiable Godlike qualities, that in
sublime poetic strains the Deity has been invested with them; and, perhaps, no
representation of His goodness so strongly fastens on the human affections as those that
represent Him abundant in mercy and willing to pardon. Gentleness, considered in this
point of view, bears on its front all the characteristics of grandeur, combined with the
winning graces of condescension; but what a different aspect it assumes when it is the
submissive demeanour of dependence, the support of weakness that loves, because it wants
protection; and is forbearing, because it must silently endure injuries; smiling under the
lash at which it dare not snarl. Abject as this picture appears, it is the portrait of an
accomplished woman, according to the received opinion of female excellence, separated by
specious reasoners from human excellence. Or, they {4} kindly restore the rib, and make
one moral being of a man and woman; not forgetting to give her all the "submissive
charms." |
|
[134] How women are to
exist in that state where there is neither to be marrying nor giving in marriage, we are
not told. For though moralists have agreed that the tenor of life seems to prove that man
is prepared by various circumstances for a future state, they constantly concur in
advising woman only to provide for the present. Gentleness, docility, and a spaniel like
affection are, on this ground, consistently recommended as the cardinal virtues of the
sex; and, disregarding the arbitrary economy of nature, one writer has declared that it is
masculine for a woman to be melancholy. She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle,
and it must jingle in his ears whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused. |
|
[135] To recommend
gentleness, indeed, on a broad basis is strictly philosophical. A frail being should
labour to be gentle. But when forbearance confounds right and wrong, it ceases to be a
virtue; and, however convenient it may be found in a companion--that companion will ever
be considered as an inferior, and only inspire a vapid tenderness, which easily
degenerates into contempt. Still, if advice could really make a being gentle, whose
natural disposition admitted not of such a fine polish, something towards the advancement
of order would be attained; but if, as might quickly be demonstrated, only affectation be
produced by this indiscriminate counsel, which throws a stumbling-block in the way of
gradual improvement, and true melioration of temper, the sex is not much benefited by
sacrificing solid virtues to the attainment of superficial graces, though for a few years
they may procure the individuals regal sway. |
|
[136] As a philosopher, I
read with indignation the plausible epithets which men use to soften their insults; and,
as a moralist, I ask what is meant by such heterogeneous associations, as fair defects,
amiable weaknesses, etc. ? If there be but one criterion of morals, but one architype for
man, women appear to be suspended by destiny, according to the vulgar tale of Mahomet's
coffin; they have neither the unerring instinct of brutes, nor are allowed to fix the eye
of reason on a perfect model. They were made to be loved, and must not aim at respect,
lest they should be hunted out of society as masculine. |
|
[137] But to view the
subject in another point of view. Do passive indolent women make the best wives? Confining
our discussion to the present moment of existence, let us see how such weak creatures
perform their part ? Do the women who, by the attainment of a few superficial
accomplishments, have strengthened the prevailing prejudice, merely contribute to the
happiness of their husbands? Do they display their charms merely to amuse them ? And have
women who have early imbibed notions of passive obedience, sufficient character to manage
a family or educate children? So far from it, that, after surveying the history of woman,
I cannot help agreeing with the severest satirist, considering the sex as the weakest as
well as the most oppressed half of the species. What does history disclose but marks of
inferiority, and how few women have emancipated themselves from the galling yoke of
sovereign man? So few that the exceptions remind me of an ingenious conjecture respecting
Newton-- that he was probably a being of superior order accidentally caged in a human
body. Following the same train of thinking, I have been led to imagine that the few
extraordinary women who have rushed in eccentrical directions out of the orbit prescribed
to their sex, were male spirits, confined by mistake in female frames. But if it be not
philosophical to think of sex when the soul is mentioned, the inferiority must depend on
the organs; or the heavenly fire, which is to ferment the clay, is not given in equal
portions. |
|
[138] But avoiding, as I
have hitherto done, any direct comparison of the two sexes collectively, or frankly
acknowledging the inferiority of woman, according to the present appearance of things, I
shall only insist that men have increased that inferiority till women are almost sunk
below the standard of rational creatures. Let their faculties have room to unfold, and
their virtues to gain strength, and then determine where the whole sex must stand in the
intellectual scale. Yet let it be remembered, that for a small number of distinguished
women I do not ask a place. |
|
[139] It is difficult for
us purblind mortals to say to what height human discoveries and improvements may arrive
when the gloom of despotism subsides, which makes us stumble at every step; but, when
morality shall be settled on a more solid basis, then, without being gifted with a
prophetic spirit, I will venture to predict that woman will be either the friend or slave
of man. We shall not, as at present, doubt whether she is a moral agent, or the link which
unites man with brutes. But should it then appear that like the brutes they were
principally created for the use of man, he will let them patiently bite the bridle, and
not mock them with empty praise; or, should their rationality be proved, he will not
impede their improvement merely to gratify his sensual appetites. He will not, with all
the graces of rhetoric, advise them to submit implicitly their understanding to the
guidance of man. He will not, when he treats of the education of women, assert that they
ought never to have the free use of reason, nor would he recommend cunning and
dissimulation to beings who are acquiring, in like manner as himself, the virtues of
humanity. |
|
[140] Surely there can be
but one rule of right, if morality has an eternal foundation, and whoever sacrifices
virtue, strictly so called, to present convenience, or whose duty it is to act in such a
manner, lives only for the passing day, and cannot be an accountable creature. |
|
[141] The poet then should
have dropped his sneer when he says: |
|
[142] If weak women go
astray, The stars are more ill fault than they |
|
[143] For that they are
bound by the adamantine chain of destiny is most certain, if it be proved that they are
never to exercise their own reason, never to be independent, never to rise above opinion,
or to feel the dignity of a rational will that only bows to God, and often forgets that
the universe contains any being but itself and the model of perfection to which its ardent
gaze is turned, to adore attributes that, softened into virtues, may be imitated in kind,
though the degree overwhelms the enraptured mind. |
|
[144] If, I say, for I
would not impress by declamation when Reason offers her sober light, if they be really
capable of acting like rational creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like
the brutes who are dependent on the reason of man, when they associate with him; but
cultivate their minds, give them the salutary sublime curb of principle, and let them
attain conscious dignity by feeling themselves only dependent on God. Teach them, in
common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to render them more pleasing,
a sex to morals. |
|
[145] Further, should
experience prove that they cannot attain the same degree of strength of mind,
perseverance, and fortitude, let their virtues be the same in kind, though they may vainly
struggle for the same degree; and the superiority of man will be equally clear, if not
clearer; and truth, as it is a simple principle, which admits of no modification, would be
common to both. Nay the order of society, as it is at present regulated, would not be
inverted, for woman would then only have the rank that reason assigned her, and arts could
not be practised to bring the balance even, much less to turn it. |
|
[146] These may be termed
Utopian dreams. Thanks to that Being who impressed them on my soul, and gave me sufficient
strength of mind to dare to exert my own reason, till, becoming dependent only on Him for
the support of my virtue, I view, with indignation, the mistaken notions that enslave my
sex. |
|
[147] I love man as my
fellow; but his sceptre, real or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an
individual demands my homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man.
In fact, the conduct of an accountable being must be regulated by the operations of its
own reason; or on what foundation rests the throne of God? |
| How does her argument tie into the study of
politics? |
[148] It appears to me
necessary to dwell on these obvious truths, because females have been insulated, as it
were; and while they have been stripped of the virtues that should clothe humanity, they
have been decked with artificial graces that enable them to exercise a short-lived
tyranny. Love, in their bosoms, taking place of every nobler passion, their sole ambition
is to be fair, to raise emotion instead of inspiring respect; and this ignoble desire,
like the servility in absolute monarchies, destroys all strength of character. Liberty is
the mother of virtue, and if women be, by their very constitution, slaves, and not allowed
to breathe the sharp invigorating air of freedom, they must ever languish like exotics,
and be reckoned beautiful flaws in nature. |
|
[149] As to the argument
respecting the subjection in which the sex has ever been held, it retorts on man. The many
have always been enthralled by the few; and monsters, who scarcely have shown any
discernment of human excellence, have tyrannised over thousands of their fellow-creatures.
Why have men of superior endowments submitted to such degradation? For, is it not
universally acknowledged that kings, viewed collectively, have ever been inferior, in
abilities and virtue, to the same number of men taken from the common mass of mankind--
yet have they not, and are they not still treated with a degree of reverence that is an
insult to reason? China is not the only country where a living man has been made a God.
Men have submitted to superior strength to enjoy with impunity the pleasure of the moment;
women have only done the same, and therefore till it is proved that the courtier, who
servilely resigns the birthright of a man, is not a moral agent, it cannot be demonstrated
that woman is essentially inferior to man because she has always been subjugated. |
|
[150] Brutal force has
hitherto governed the world, and that the science of politics is in its infancy, is
evident from philosophers scrupling to give the knowledge most useful to man that
determinate distinction. |
|
[151] I shall not pursue
this argument any further than to establish an obvious inference, that as sound politics
diffuse liberty, mankind, including woman, will become more wise and virtuous. |
|
[152] NOTES |
|
[153] {1} Why should women
be censured with petulant acrimony because they seem to have a passion for a scarlet coat?
Has not an education placed them more on a level with soldiers than any other class of
men? |
|
[154] {2} Similar feelings
has Milton's pleasing picture of paradisiacal happiness ever raised in my; yet, instead of
envying the lovely pair, I have with concious dignity or satanic pride turned to hell for
sublimer objects. In the same style, when viewing some noble monument of human art, I have
traced the emanation of the Deity in the order I admired, till, descending from that giddy
height, I have caught myself contemplating the grandest of all human sights; for fancy
quickly placed in some solitary recess an outcast of fortune, rising superior to passion
and discontent. |
|
[155] {3} For example, the
herd of Novelists. |
|
[156] {4} Vide Rousseau
and Swedenborg. |
|
[157] CHAPTER III THE SAME
SUBJECT CONTINUED |
|
[158] Bodily strength from
being the distinction of heroes is now sunk into such unmerited contempt that men, as well
as women, seem to think it unnecessary; the latter, as it takes from their feminine
graces, and from that lovely weakness, the source of their undue power; and the former,
because it appears inimical to the character of a gentleman. |
|
[159] That they have both,
by departing from one extreme run into another, may easily be proved; but first it may be
proper to observe that a vulgar error has obtained a degree of credit, which has given
force to a false conclusion, in which an effect has been mistaken for a cause. |
|
[160] People of genius
have very frequently impaired their constitutions by study or careless inattention to
their health, and the violence of their passions bearing a proportion to the vigour of
their intellects, the sword's destroying the scabbard has become almost proverbial, and
superficial observers have inferred from thence that men of genius have commonly weak, or,
to use a more fashionable phrase, delicate constitutions. Yet the contrary, I believe,
will appear to be the fact; for, on diligent inquiry, I find that strength of mind has in
most cases been accompanied by superior strength of body,--natural soundness of
constitution,--not that robust tone of nerves and vigour of muscles, which arise from
bodily labour, when the mind is quiescent, or only directs the hands. |
|
[161] Dr. Priestley has
remarked, in the preface to his biographical chart, that the majority of great men have
lived beyond forty five. And considering the thoughtless manner in which they have
lavished their strength when investigating a favourite science, they have wasted the lamp
of life, forgetful of the midnight hour; or, when lost in poetic dreams, fancy has peopled
the scene, and the soul has been disturbed, till it shook the constitution by the passions
that meditation had raised,--whose objects, the baseless fabric of a vision, faded before
the exhausted eye,--they must have had iron frames. Shakespeare never grasped the airy
danger with a nerveless hand, nor did Milton tremble when he led Satan far from the
confines of his dreary prison. These were not the ravings of imbecility, the sickly
effusions of distempered brains, but the exuberance of fancy, that " in a fine frenzy
" wandering, was not continually reminded of its material shackles. |
|
[162] I am aware that this
argument would carry me further than it may be supposed I wish to go; but I follow truth,
and still adhering to my first position, I will allow that bodily strength seems to give
man a natural superiority over woman; and this is the only solid basis on which the
superiority of the sex can be built. But I still insist that not only the virtue but the
knowledge of the two sexes should be the same in nature, if not in degree, and that women,
considered not only as moral but rational creatures, ought to endeavour to acquire human
virtues (or perfections) by the same means as men, instead of being educated like a
fanciful kind of half being--one of Rousseau's wild chimeras.{1} |
|
[163] But if strength of
body be with some show of reason the boast of men, why are women so infatuated as to be
proud of a defect ? Rousseau has furnished them with a plausible excuse, which could only
have occurred to a man whose imagination had been allowed to run wild, and refine on the
impressions made by exquisite senses; that they might forsooth have a pretext for yielding
to a natural appetite without violating a romantic species of modesty, which gratifies the
pride and libertinism of man. |
|
[164] Women, deluded by
these sentiments, sometimes boast of their weakness, cunningly obtaining power by playing
on the weakness of men; and they may well glory in their illicit sway, for, like Turkish
bashaws, they have more real power than their masters; but virtue is sacrificed to
temporary gratifications, and the respectability of life to the triumph of an hour. |
| How does the mistreatment of women hold
back society as a whole? |
[165] Women, as well as
despots, have now perhaps more power than they would have if the world, divided and
subdivided into kingdoms and families, were governed by laws deduced from the exercise of
reason; but in obtaining it, to carry on the comparison, their character is degraded, and
licentiousness spread through the whole aggregate of society. The many become pedestal to
the few. I, therefore, will venture to assert that till women are more rationally
educated, the progress of human virtue and improvement in knowledge must receive continual
checks. And if it be granted that woman was not created merely to gratify the appetite of
man, or to be the upper servant who provides his meals and takes care of his linen, it
must follow that the first care of those mothers or fathers who really attend to the
education of females should be, if not to strengthen the body, at least not to destroy the
constitution by mistaken notions of beauty and female excellence; nor should girls ever be
allowed to imbibe the pernicious notion that a defect can, by any chemical process of
reasoning, become an excellence. In this respect I am happy to find that the author of one
of the most instructive books that our country has produced for children, coincides with
me in opinion. I shall quote his pertinent remarks to give the force of his respectable
authority to reason.{2} |
|
[166] But should it be
proved that woman is naturally weaker than man, whence does it follow that it is natural
for her to labour to become still weaker than nature intended her to be? Arguments of this
cast are an insult to common sense, and savour of passion. The divine right of husbands,
like the divine right of kings, may, it is to be hoped, in this enlightened age, be
contested without danger; and though conviction may not silence many boisterous
disputants, yet, when any prevailing prejudice is attacked, the wise will consider, and
leave the narrow-minded to rail with thoughtless vehemence at innovation. |
|
[167] The mother who
wishes to give true dignity of character to her daughter must, regardless of the sneers of
ignorance, proceed on a plan diametrically opposite to that which Rousseau has recommended
with all the deluding charms of eloquence and philosophical sophistry, for his eloquence
renders absurdities plausible, and his dogmatic conclusions puzzle, without convincing,
those who have not ability to refute them. |
| How is the physical development of women
stunted? |
[168] Throughout the whole
animal kingdom every young creature requires almost continual exercise, and the infancy of
children, conformable to this intimation, should be passed in harmless gambols that
exercise the feet and hands, without requiring very minute direction from the head, or the
constant attention of a nurse. In fact, the care necessary for self-preservation is the
first natural exercise of the understanding as little inventions to amuse the present
moment unfold the imagination. But these wise designs of nature are counteracted by
mistaken fondness or blind zeal. The child is not left a moment to its own
direction--particularly a girl and thus rendered dependent. Dependence is called natural. |
|
[169] To preserve personal
beauty--woman's glory--the limbs and faculties are cramped with worse than Chinese bands,
and the sedentary life which they are condemned to live, whilst boys frolic in the open
air, weakens the muscles and relaxes the nerves. As for Rousseau's remarks, which have
since been echoed by several writers, that they have naturally, that is, from their birth,
independent of education, a fondness for dolls, dressing, and talking, they are so puerile
as not to merit a serious refutation. That a girl, condemned to sit for hours together
listening to the idle chat of weak nurses, or to attend at her mother's toilet, will
endeavour to join the conversation, is, indeed, very natural; and that she will imitate
her mother or aunts, and amuse herself by adorning her lifeless doll, as they do in
dressing her, poor innocent babe! is undoubtedly a most natural consequence. For men of
the greatest abilities have seldom had sufficient strength to rise above the surrounding
atmosphere; and if the pages of genius have always been blurred by the prejudices of the
age, some allowance should be made for a sex, who, like kings, always see things through a
false medium. |
|
[170] Purposing these
reflections, the fondness for dress, conspicuous in woman, may be easily accounted for,
without supposing it the result of a desire to please the sex on which they are dependent.
The absurdity, in short, of supposing that a girl is naturally a coquette, and that a
desire connected with the impulse of nature to propagate the species, should appear even
before an improper education has, by heating the imagination, called it forth prematurely,
is so unphilosophical, that such a sagacious observer as Rousseau would not have adopted
it, if he had not been accustomed to make reason give way to his desire of singularity,
and truth to a favourite paradox. Yet thus to give a sex to mind was not very consistent
with the principles of a man who argued so warmly, and so well, for the immortality of the
soul. But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis !
Rousseau respected --almost adored virtue--and yet he allowed himself to love with sensual
fondness. His imagination constantly prepared inflammable fuel for his inflammable senses;
but, in order to reconcile his respect for self-denial, fortitude, and those heroic
virtues, which a mind like his could not coolly admire, he labours to invert the law of
nature, and broaches a doctrine pregnant with mischief, and derogatory to the character of
supreme wisdom. |
|
[171] His ridiculous
stories, which tend to prove that girls are naturally attentive to their persons, without
laying any stress on daily example, are below contempt. And that a little miss should have
such a correct taste as to neglect the pleasing amusement of making O's, merely because
she perceived that it was an ungraceful attitude, should be selected with the anecdotes of
the learned pig.{3} |
|
[172] I have, probably,
had an opportunity of observing more girls in their infancy than J. J. Rousseau. I can
recollect my own feelings, and I have looked steadily around me; yet, so far from
coinciding with him in opinion respecting the first dawn of the female character, I will
venture to affirm, that a girl, whose spirits have not been damped by inactivity, or
innocence tainted by false shame, will always be a romp, and the doll will never excite
attention unless confinement allows her no alternative. Girls and boys, in short, would
play, harmlessly together, if the distinction of sex was not inculcated long before nature
makes any difference. I will go further, and affirm, as an indisputable fact, that most of
the women, in the circle of my observation, who have acted like rational creatures, or
shown any vigour of intellect, have accidentally been allowed to run wild, as some of the
elegant formers of the fair sex would insinuate. |
|
[173] The baneful
consequences which flow from inattention to health during infancy and youth, extend
further than is supposed-- dependence of body naturally produces dependence of mind; and
how can she be a good wife or mother, the greater part of whose time is employed to guard
against or endure sickness? Nor can it be expected that a woman will resolutely endeavour
to strengthen her constitution and abstain from enervating indulgences, if artificial
notions of beauty, and false descriptions of sensibility, have been early entangled with
her motives of action. Most men are sometimes obliged to bear with bodily inconveniences,
and to endure, occasionally, the inclemency of the elements; but genteel women are,
literally speaking, slaves to their bodies, and glory in their subjection. |
|
[174] I once knew a weak
woman of fashion, who was more than commonly proud of her delicacy and sensibility. She
thought a distinguishing taste and puny appetite the height of all human perfection, and
acted accordingly. I have seen this weak sophisticated being neglect all the duties of
life, yet recline with self-complacency on a sofa, and boast of her want of appetite as a
proof of delicacy that extended to, or, perhaps, arose from, her exquisite sensibility;
for it is difficult to render intelligible such ridiculous jargon. Yet, at the moment, I
have seen her insult a worthy old gentlewoman, whom unexpected misfortunes had made
dependent on her ostentatious bounty, and who, in better days, had claims on her
gratitude. Is it possible that a human creature could have become such a weak and depraved
being, if, like the Sybarites, dissolved in luxury, everything like virtue had not been
worn pressed by precept, a poor substitute, it is of mind, though it serves as a fence
against vice? |
|
[175] Such a woman is not
a more irrational monster than some of the Roman emperors, who were depraved by lawless
power. Yet, since kings have been more under the restraint of law, and the curb, however
weak, of honour, the records of history are not filled with such unnatural instances of
folly and cruelty, nor does the despotism that kills virtue and genius in the bud, hover
over Europe with that destructive blast which desolates Turkey, and renders the men, as
well as the soil, unfruitful. |
|
[176] Women are everywhere
in this deplorable state; for, in order to preserve their innocence, as ignorance is
courteously termed, truth is hidden from them, and they are made to assume an artificial
character before their faculties have acquired any strength. Taught from their infancy
that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its
gilt cage, only seeks to adore its prison. Men have various employments and pursuits which
engage their attention, and give a character to the opening mind; but women, confined to
one, and having their thoughts constantly directed to the most insignificant part of
themselves, seldom extend their views beyond the triumph of the hour. But were their
understanding once emancipated from the slavery to which the pride and sensuality of man
and their short-sighted desire, like that of dominion in tyrants, of present sway, has
subjected them, we should probably read of their weaknesses with surprise. I must be
allowed to pursue the argument a little further. |
|
[177] Perhaps, if the
existence of an evil being were allowed, who, in the allegorical language of Scripture,
went about seeking whom he should devour, he could not more effectually degrade the human
character, than by giving a man absolute power. |
|
[178] This argument
branches into various ramifications. Birth, riches, and every extrinsic advantage that
exalt a man above his fellows, without any mental exertion, sink him in reality below
them. In proportion to his weakness, he is played upon by designing men, till the bloated
monster has lost all traces of humanity. And that tribes of-men, like flocks of sheep,
should quietly follow such a leader, is a solecism that only a desire of present enjoyment
and narrowness of understanding can solve. Educated in slavish dependence, and enervated
by luxury and sloth, where shall we find men who will stand forth to assert the rights of
man, or claim the privilege of moral beings, who should have but one road to excellence?
Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long in freeing itself from,
and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished. |
|
[179] Let not men then in
the pride of power, use the same arguments that tyrannic kings and venal ministers have
used, and fallaciously assert that woman ought to be subjected because she has always been
so. But, when man, governed by reasonable laws, enjoys his natural freedom, let him
despise woman, if she do not share it with him; and, till that glorious period arrives, in
descanting on the folly of the sex, let him not overlook his own. |
|
[180] Women, it is true,
obtaining power by unjust means, by practising or fostering vice, evidently lose the rank
which reason would assign them, and they become either abject slaves or capricious
tyrants. They lose all simplicity, all dignity of mind, in acquiring power, and act as men
are observed to act when they have been exalted by the same means. |
| What is the revolution she calls for? |
[181] It is time to effect
a revolution in female manners--time to restore to them their lost dignity--and make them,
as a part of the human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world. It is
time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners. If men be demi-gods, why let us
serve them! And if the dignity of the female soul be as disputable as that of animals--if
their reason does not afford sufficient light to direct their conduct whilst unerring
instinct is denied--they are surely of all creatures the most miserable ! and, bent
beneath the iron hand of destiny, must submit to be a fair defect in creation. But to
justify the ways of Providence respecting them, by pointing out some irrefragable reason
for thus making such a large portion of mankind accountable and not accountable, would
puzzle the subtilest casuist. |
|
[182] The only solid
foundation for morality appears to be the character of the Supreme Being; the harmony of
which arises from a balance of attributes,--and, to speak with reverence, one attribute
seems to imply the necessity of another. He must be just, because He is wise; He must be
good, because He is omnipotent. For to exalt one attribute at the expense of another
equally noble and necessary, bears the stamp of the warped reason of man--the homage of
passion. Man, accustomed to bow down to power in his savage state, can seldom divest
himself of this barbarous prejudice, even when civilisation determines how much superior
mental is to bodily strength; and his reason is clouded by these crude opinions, even when
he thinks of the Deity. His omnipotence is made to swallow up, or preside over His other
attributes, and those morals are supposed to limit His power irreverently, who think that
it must be regulated by His wisdom. |
|
[183] I disclaim that
specious humility which, after investigating nature, stops at the Author. The High and
Lofty one, who inhabiteth eternity, doubtless possesses many attributes of which we can
form no conception; but Reason tells me that they cannot dash with those I adore--and I am
compelled to listen to her voice. |
|
[184] It seems natural for
man to search for excellence, and either to trace it in the object that he worships, or
blindly to invest it with perfection, as a garment. But what good effect can the latter
mode of worship have on the moral conduct of a rational being? He bends to power; he
adores a dark cloud, which may open a bright prospect to him, to burst in angry, lawless
fury, on his devoted head--he knows not why. And, supposing that the Deity acts from the
vague impulse of an undirected will, man must also follow his own, or act according to
rules, deduced from principles which he disclaims as irreverent. Into this dilemma have
both enthusiasts and cooler thinkers fallen, when they laboured to free men from the
wholesome restraints which a just conception of the character of God imposes. |
|
[185] It is not impious
thus to scan the attributes of the Almighty: in fact, who can avoid it that exercises his
faculties? For to love God as the fountain of wisdom, goodness, and power, appears to be
the only worship useful to a being who wishes to acquire either virtue or knowledge. A
blind unsettled affection may, like human passions, occupy the mind and warm the heart,
whilst, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, is forgotten. I shall
pursue this subject still further, when I consider religion in a light opposite to that
recommended by Dr. Gregory, who treats it as a matter of sentiment or taste. |
| What is the dilemma faced by women? |
[186] To return from this
apparent digression. It were to be wished that women would cherish an affection for their
husbands, founded on the same principle that devotion ought to rest upon. No other firm
base is there under heaven--for let them beware of the fallacious light of sentiment; too
often used as a softer phrase for sensuality. It follows then, I think, that from their
infancy women should either be shut up like Eastern princes, or educated in such a manner
as to be able to think and act for themselves. |
|
[187] Why do men halt
between two opinions, and expect impossibilities? Why do they expect virtue from a slave,
from a being whom the constitution of civil society has rendered weak, if not vicious? |
|
[188] Still I know that it
will require a considerable length of time to eradicate the firmly rooted prejudices which
sensualists have planted; it will also require some time to convince women that they act
contrary to their real interest on an enlarged scale, when they cherish or affect weakness
under the name of delicacy, and to convince the world that the poisoned source of female
vices and follies, if it be necessary, in compliance with custom, to use synonymous terms
in a lax sense, has been the sensual homage paid to beauty:--to beauty of features; for it
has been shrewdly observed by a German writer, that a pretty woman, as an object of
desire, is generally allowed to be so by men of all descriptions; whilst a fine woman, who
inspires more sublime emotions by displaying intellectual beauty, may be overlooked or
observed with indifference, by those men who find their happiness in their gratification
of their appetites. I foresee an obvious retort--whilst man remains such an imperfect
being as he appears hitherto to have been, he will, more or less, be the slave of his
appetites; and those women obtaining most power who gratify a predominant one, the sex is
degraded by a physical, if not by a moral necessity. |
|
[189] This objection has,
I grant, some force; but while such a sublime precept exists, as, "Be pure as your
heavenly Father is pure"; it would seem that the virtues of man are not limited by
the Being who alone could limit them; and that he may press forward without considering
whether he steps out of his sphere by indulging such a noble ambition. To the wild billows
it has been said, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed." Vainly then do they beat and foam, restrained by the power that
confines the struggling planets in their orbits, matter yields to the great governing
Spirit. But an immortal soul, not restrained by mechanical laws and struggling to free
itself from the shackles of matter, contributes to, instead of disturbing, the order of
creation, when, co-operating with the Father of spirits, it tries to govern itself by the
invariable rule that, in a degree, before which our imagination faints, regulates the
universe. |
| What effect does the dependency of women
have on the family? |
[190] Besides, if women be
educated for dependence, that is, to act according to the will of another fallible being,
and submit, right or wrong, to power, where are we to stop? Are they to be considered as
vicegerents allowed to reign over a small domain, and answerable for their conduct to a
higher tribunal, liable to error? It will not be difficult to prove that such delegates
will act like men subjected by fear, and make their children and servants endure their
tyrannical oppression. As they submit without reason, they will, having no fixed rules to
square their conduct by, be kind, or cruel, just as the whim of the moment directs; and we
ought not to wonder if sometimes, galled by their heavy yoke, they take a malignant
pleasure in resting it on weaker shoulders. |
|
[191] But, supposing a
woman, trained up to obedience, be married to a sensible man, who directs her judgment
without making her feel the servility of her subjection, to act with as much propriety by
this reflected light as can be expected when reason is taken at secondhand, yet she cannot
ensure the life of her protector; he may die and leave her with a large family. |
|
[192] A double duty
devolves on her; to educate them in the character of both father and mother; to form their
principles and secure their property. But, alas! she has never thought, much less acted
for herself. She has only learned to please {4} men, to depend gracefully on them; yet,
encumbered with children, how is she to obtain another protector--a husband to supply the
place of reason? A rational man, for we are not treading on romantic ground, though he may
think her a pleasing docile creature, will not choose to marry a family for love, when the
world contains many more pretty creatures. What is then to become of her? She either falls
an easy prey to some mean fortune-hunter, who defrauds her children of their paternal
inheritance, and renders her miserable; or becomes the victim of discontent and blind
indulgence. Unable to educate her sons, or impress them with respect,--for it is not a
play on words to assert, that people are never respected, though filling an important
station, who are not respectable,--she pines under the anguish of unavailing impotent
regret. The serpent's tooth enters into her very soul, and the vices of licentious youth
bring her with sorrow, if not with poverty also, to the grave. |
|
[193] This is not an
overcharged picture; on the contrary, it is a very possible case, and something similar
must have fallen under every attentive eye. |
|
[194] I have, however,
taken it for granted, that she was well disposed, though experience shows, that the blind
may as easily be led into a ditch as along the beaten road. But supposing, no very
improbable conjecture, that a being only taught to please must still find her happiness in
pleasing; what an example of folly, not to say vice, will she be to her innocent
daughters! The mother will be lost in the coquette, and, instead of making friends of her
daughters, view them with eyes askance, for they are rivals--rivals more cruel than any
other, because they invite a comparison, and drive her from the throne of beauty, who has
never thought of a seat on the bench of reason. |
|
[195] It does not require
a lively pencil, or the discriminating outline of a caricature, to sketch the domestic
miseries and petty vices which such a mistress of a family diffuses. Still she only acts
as a woman ought to act, brought up according to Rousseau's system. She can never be
reproached for being masculine, or turning out of her sphere; nay, she may observe another
of his grand rules, and, cautiously preserving her reputation free from spot, be reckoned
a good kind of woman. Yet in what respect can she be termed good? She abstains, it is
true, without any great struggle, from committing gross crimes; but how does she fulfil
her duties? Duties! in truth she has enough to think of to adorn her body and nurse a weak
constitution. |
|
[196] With respect to
religion, she never presumed to judge for herself; but conformed, as a dependent creature
should, to the effects of a good education ! These the virtues of man's helpmate !{5} |
| What is the alternative picture she draws? |
[197] I must relieve
myself by drawing a different picture. |
|
[198] Let fancy now
present a woman with a tolerable understanding, for I do not wish to leave the line of
mediocrity, whose constitution, strengthened by exercise, has allowed her body to acquire
its full vigour; her mind, at the same time, gradually expanding itself to comprehend the
moral duties of life, and in what human virtue and dignity consist. |
|
[199] Formed thus by the
discharge of the relative duties of her station, she marries from affection, without
losing sight of prudence, and looking beyond matrimonial felicity, she secures her
husband's respect before it is necessary to exert mean arts to please him and feed a dying
flame, which nature doomed to expire when the object became familiar, when friendship and
forbearance take place of a more ardent affection. This is the natural death of love, and
domestic peace is not destroyed by struggles to prevent its extinction. I also suppose the
husband to be virtuous; or she is still more in want of independent principles. |
|
[200] Fate, however,
breaks this tie. She is left a widow, perhaps without a sufficient provision; but she is
not desolate! The pang of nature is felt; but after time has softened sorrow into
melancholy resignation, her heart turns to her children with redoubled fondness, and
anxious to provide for them, affection gives a sacred heroic cast to her maternal duties.
She thinks that not only the eye sees her virtuous efforts from whom all her comfort now
must flow, and whose approbation is life; but her imagination, a little abstracted and
exalted by grief, dwells on the fond hope that the eyes which her trembling hand closed,
may still see how she subdues every wayward passion to fulfil the double duty of being the
father as well as the mother of her children. Raised to heroism by misfortunes, she
represses the first faint dawning of a natural inclination, before it ripens into love,
and in the bloom of life forgets her sex--forgets the pleasure of an awakening passion,
which might again have been inspired and returned. She no longer thinks of pleasing, and
conscious dignity prevents her from priding herself on account of the praise which her
conduct demands. Her children have her love, and her brightest hopes are beyond the grave,
where her imagination often strays. |
|
[201] I think I see her
surrounded by her children, reaping the reward of her care. The intelligent eye meets
hers, whilst health and innocence smile on their chubby cheeks, and as they grow up the
cares of life are lessened by their grateful attention. She lives to see the virtues which
she endeavoured to plant on principles, fixed into habits, to see her children attain a
strength of character sufficient to enable them to endure adversity without forgetting
their mother's example. |
|
[202] The task of life
thus fulfilled, she calmly waits for the sleep of death, and rising from the grave, may
say--"Behold, Thou gavest me a talent, and here are five talents." |
|
[203] I wish to sum up
what I have said in a few words, for I here throw down my gauntlet, and deny the existence
of sexual virtues, not excepting modesty. For man and woman, truth, if I understand the
meaning of the word, must be the same; yet the fanciful female character, so prettily
drawn by poets and novelists, demanding the sacrifice of truth and sincerity, virtue
becomes a relative idea, having no other foundation than utility, and of that utility men
pretend arbitrarily to judge, shaping it to their own convenience. |
|
[204] Women, I allow, may
have different duties to fulfil; but they are human duties, and the principles that should
regulate the discharge of them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same. |
|
[205] To become
respectable, the exercise of their of their understanding is necessary, there is of
character; I mean bow to the authority slaves of opinion. |
|
[206] In the superior
ranks of life how seldom do we meet with a man of superior abilities, or even common
acquirements? The reason appears to me clear, the state they are born in was an unnatural
one. The human character has ever been formed by the employments the individual, or class,
pursues; and if the faculties are not sharpened by necessity, they must remain obtuse. The
argument may fairly be extended to women; for, seldom occupied by serious business, the
pursuit of pleasure gives that insignificancy to their character which renders the society
of the great so insipid. The same want of firmness, produced by a similar cause, forces
them both to fly from themselves to noisy pleasures, and artificial passions, till vanity
takes place of every social affection, and the characteristics of humanity can scarcely be
discerned. Such are the blessings of civil governments, as they are at present organised,
that wealth and female softness equally tend to debase mankind, and are produced by the
same cause; but allowing women to be rational creatures, they should be incited to acquire
virtues which they may call their own, for how can a rational being be ennobled by
anything that is not obtained by its own exertions? |
|
[207] NOTES |
|
[208] {1} "Researches
into abstract and speculative truths the principles and axioms of sciences,--in short,
everything which tends to generalise our ideas,--is not the proper province of women,
their studies should be relative to points of practice; it belongs to them to apply those
principles which men have discovered- and it is their part to make observations which
direct men to the establishment of general principles. All the ideas of women, which have
not the immediate tendency to points of duty should be directed to the study of men, and
to the attainment of those agreeable accomplishments which have taste for their object-
for as to works of genius they are beyond their capacity neither have they sufficient
precision or power of attention to succeed in sciences which require accuracy- and as to
physical knowledge, it belongs to those only who are most active, most inquisitive, who
comprehend the greatest variety of objects; in short, it belongs to those who have the
strongest powers, and who exercise them most, to judge of the relations between sensible
beings and the laws of nature. A woman who is naturally weak, and does not carry her ideas
to any great extent, knows how to judge and make a proper estimate of those movements
which she sets to work, in order to aid her weakness; and these movements are the passions
of men. The mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her levers move
the human heart. She must have the skill to incline us to do everything which her sex will
not enable her to do herself, and which is necessary or agreeable to her; therefore she
ought to study the mind of man thoroughly, not the mind of man in general, abstractedly,
but the dispositions of those men to whom she is subject either by the laws of her country
or by the force of opinion. She should learn to penetrate into their real sentiments from
their conversation, their actions, their looks and gestures. She should also have the art,
by her own conversation, actions, looks, and gestures, to communicate those sentiments
which are agreeable to them without seeming to intend it. Men will argue more
philosophically about the human heart- but women will read the heart of men better than
they. It belongs to women--if I may be allowed the expression--to form an experimental
morality, and to reduce the study of man to a system Women have most wit, men have most
genius- women observe, men reason. From the Concurrence of both we derive the clearest
light and the most perfect knowledge which the human mind is of itself capable of
attaining. In one word, from hence we acquire the most intimate acquaintance, both with
ourselves and others, of which our nature is capable; and it is thus that art has a
constant tendency to perfect those endowments which nature has bestowed. The world is the
book of women." -- ROUSSEAU'S Emilius. |
|
[209] I hope my readers
still remember the comparison which I have brought forward between women and officers. |
|
[210] {2} "A
respectable old man gives the following sensible account of the method he pursued when
educating his daughter: 'I endeavoured to give both to her mind and body a degree of
vigour which is seldom found in the female sex. As soon as she was sufficiently advanced
in strength to be capable of the lighter labours of husbandry and gardening I employed her
as my constant companion. Selene--for that was her name--soon acquired a dexterity in ill
these rustic employments which I considered with equal pleasure and admiration. If women
are in general feeble both in body and mind it arises less from nature than from
education. We encourage a vicious indolence and inactivity which we falsely call delicacy.
Instead of hardening their minds by the severer principles of reason and philosophy, we
breed them to useless art which terminate in vanity and sensuality. In most of the
countries which I had visited they are taught nothing of an higher nature than a few
modulations of the voice or useless postures of the body; their time is consumed in sloth
or trifles and tribulations become the only pursuit capable of interesting them. We seem
to forget that it is upon the qualities of the female sex that our own domestic comforts
and the education of our children must depend. And what are the comforts or the education
which a race of being corrupted from their infancy and unacquainted with all the duties of
life are fitted to bestow? To touch a musical instrument with useless skill to exhibit
their cultural or affected graces to the eyes of indolent and debauched young men, to
dissipate their husband's patrimony in riotous and unnecessary expenses these are the only
arts cultivated by women in most of the polished nations I had seen. And the consequences
are uniformly such as may be expected to proceed from such polluted sources -- private and
public servitude. |
|
[211] "'But Selene's
education was regulated by different views, and conducted upon severer principles--if that
can be called severity which opens the mind to a sense of moral and religious duties, and
most effectually it arms it against the inevitable evils of life.'" --Mr. Day's
Sandford and Merton, vol. iii. |
|
[212] {3} "I once
knew a young person who learned to write before she learned to read, and began to write
with her needle before she could use a pen. At first, indeed she took it into her head to
make no letter than the O: this letter she was constantly making of all sizes and always
the wrong way. Unluckily one day as she was intent on this employment, she happened to see
herself in the looking-glass; when, taking a dislike to the constrained attitude in which
she sat while writing she threw away her pen like another Pallas and determined against
making the O any more. Her brother was also equally averse to writing; it was the
confinement however and not the constrained attitude that most disgusted him."
--Rousseau's Emililus. |
|
[213] {4} "In the
union of the sexes, both pursue one common object, but not in the same manner. From their
diversity in this particular, arises the first determinate difference between the moral
relations of each. The one should be active and strong the other passive and weak; it is
necessary the one should have both the power and the will and that the other should make
little resistance. |
|
[214] "This principle
being established it follows that woman is expressly formed to please the man: if the
obligation be reciprocal also and the man ought to please in his turn it is not so
immediately necessary his great merit is in his power and he pleases merely because he is
strong. This I must confess is not one of the refined maxims of love; it is however one of
the laws of nature prior to love itself. |
|
[215] "If woman be
formed to please and be subjected to man, it is her place, doubtless, to render herself
agreeable to him instead of challenging his passion. The violence of his desires depends
on her charms is by means of these she should urge him to the exertion of those powers
which nature hath given him. The most successful method of exciting them, is, to render
such exertion necessary by resistance; as in that case self-love is added to desire and
the one triumphs in the victory which the other is obliged to acquire. Hence arise the
various modes of attack and defence between the sexes the boldness of one sex and the
timidity of the other- and in a word that bashfulness and modesty with which nature hath
armed the weak in order to subdue the strong." --Rousseau's Emilius. |
|
[216] I shall make no
other comment on this ingenious passage than just to observe that it is the philosophy of
lasciviousness. |
|
[217] {5} "O how
lovely, exclaims Rousseau, speaking of Sophia, is her ignorance! Happy is he who is
destined to instruct her! She will never pretend to be the tutor of her husband but will
be content to be his pupil. Far from attempting to subject him to her taste she will
accommodate her self to his. She will be more estimable to him than if she was learned he
will have a pleasure in instructing her. --Rousseau's Emilius. |
|
[218] I shall content
myself with simply asking how friendship can subsist when love expires between the master
and his pupil. |
| What are the causes? |
[219] CHAPTER IV
OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH WOMAN IS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES |
|
[220] That woman is
naturally weak, or degraded by a concurrence of circumstances, is, I think, clear. But
this position I shall simply contrast with a conclusion, which I have frequently heard
fall from sensible men in favour of an aristocracy: that the mass of mankind cannot be
anything, or the obsequious slaves, who patiently allow themselves to be driven forward,
would feel their own consequence, and spurn their chains. Men, they further observe,
submit everywhere to oppression, when they have only to lift up their heads to throw off
the yoke; yet, instead of asserting their birthright, they quietly lick the dust, and say,
"Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Women, I argue from analogy, are
degraded by the same propensity to enjoy the present moment, and at last despise the
freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to struggle to attain. But I must be more
explicit. |
|
[221] With respect to the
culture of the heart, it is unanimously allowed that sex is out of the question; but the
line of subordination in the mental powers is never to be passed over.{1} Only
"absolute in loveliness," the portion of rationality granted to woman is,
indeed, very scanty; for denying her genius and judgment, it is scarcely possible to
divine what remains to characterise intellect. |
|
[222] The stament of
immortality, if I may be allowed the phrase is the perfectibility of human reason; for,
were man created perfect, or did a flood of knowledge break in upon him, when he arrived
at maturity, that precluded error, I should doubt whether his existence would be continued
after the dissolution of the body. But, in the present state of things, every difficulty
in morals that escapes from human discussion, and equally baffles the investigation of
profound thinking, and the lightning glance of genius, is an argument on which I build my
belief of the immortality of the soul. Reason is, consequentially, the simple power of
improvement; or, more properly speaking, of discerning truth. Every individual is in this
respect a world in itself. More or less may be conspicuous in one being than another; but
the nature of reason must be the same in all, if it be an emanation of divinity, the tie
that connects the creature with the Creator; for, can that soul be stamped with the
heavenly image, that is not perfected by the exercise of its own reason?{2} Yet outwardly
ornamented with elaborate care, and so adorned to delight man, " that with honour he
may love,"{3} the soul of woman is not allowed to have this distinction, and man,
ever placed between her and reason, she is always represented as only created to see
through a gross medium, and to take things on trust. But dismissing these fanciful
theories, and considering woman as a whole, let it be what it will, instead of a part of
man, the inquiry is whether she have reason or not. If she have, which, for a moment, I
will take for granted, she was not created merely to be the solace of man, and the sexual
should not destroy the human character. |
|
[223] Into this error men
have, probably, been led by viewing education in a false light; not considering it as the
first step to form a being advancing gradually towards perfection;{4} but only as a
preparation for life. On this sensual error, for I must call it so, has the false system
of female manners been reared, which robs the whole sex of its dignity, and classes the
brown and fair with the smiling flowers that only adorn the land. This has ever been the
language of men, and the fear of departing from a supposed sexual character, has made even
women of superior sense adopt the same sentiments.{5} Thus understanding, strictly
speaking, has been denied to woman; and instinct, sublimated into wit and cunning, for the
purposes of life, has been substituted in its stead. |
|
[224] The power of
generalizing ideas, of drawing comprehensive conclusions from individual observations, is
the only acquirement, for an immortal being, that really deserves the name of knowledge.
Merely to observe, without endeavouring to account for anything, may (in a very incomplete
manner) serve as the common sense of life; but where is the store laid up that is to
clothe the soul when it leaves the body? |
|
[225] This power has not
only been denied to women; but writers have insisted that it is inconsistent, with a few
exceptions, with their sexual character. Let men prove this, and I shall grant that woman
only exists for man. I must, however, previously remark, that the power of generalizing
ideas, to any great extent, is not very common amongst men or women. But this exercise is
the true cultivation of the understanding; and everything conspires to render the
cultivation of the understanding more difficult in the female than the male world. |
|
[226] I am naturally led
by this assertion to the main subject of the present chapter, and shall now attempt to
point out some of the causes that degrade the sex, and prevent women from generalizing
their observations. |
| What role does government play? |
[227] I shall not go back
to the remote annals of antiquity to trace the history of woman; it is sufficient to allow
that she has always been either a slave or a despot, and to remark that each of these
situations equally retards the progress of reason. The grand source of female folly and
vice has ever appeared to me to arise from narrowness of mind; and the very constitution
of civil governments has put almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the
cultivation of the female understanding; yet virtue can be built on no other foundation.
The same obstacles are thrown in the way of the rich, and the same consequences ensue. |
|
[228] Necessity has been
proverbially termed the mother of invention; the aphorism may be extended to virtue. It is
an acquirement, and an acquirement to which pleasure must be sacrificed; and who
sacrifices pleasure when it is within the grasp, whose mind has not been opened and
strengthened by adversity, or the pursuit of knowledge goaded on by necessity? Happy is it
when people have the cares of life to struggle with, for these struggles prevent their
becoming a prey to enervating vices, merely from idleness. But if from their birth men and
women be placed in a torrid zone, with the meridian sun of pleasure darting directly upon
them, how can they sufficiently brace their minds to discharge the duties of life; or even
to relish the affections that carry them out of themselves? |
|
[229] Pleasure is the
business of woman's life, according to the present modification of society; and while it
continues to be so, little can be expected from such weak beings. Inheriting in a lineal
descent from the first fair defect in nature--the sovereignty of beauty--they have, to
maintain their-power, resigned the natural rights which the exercise of reason might have
procured them, and chosen rather to be short-lived queens than labour to obtain the sober
pleasures that arise from equality. Exalted by their inferiority (this sounds like a
contradiction), they constantly demand homage as women, though experience should teach
them that the men who pride themselves upon paying this arbitrary insolent respect to the
sex, with the most scrupulous exactness are most inclined to tyrannise over, and despise
the very weakness they cherish. Often do they repeat Mr. Hume's sentiments, when,
comparing the French and Athenian character, he alludes to women,--"But what is more
singular in this whimsical nation, say I to the Athenians, is,' that a frolic of yours
during the saturnalia, when the slaves are served by their masters, is seriously continued
by them through the whole year, and through the whole course of their lives, accompanied,
too, with some circumstances, which still further augment the absurdity and ridicule. Your
sport only elevates for a few days those whom fortune has thrown down, and whom she too,
in sport, may really elevate for ever above you. But this nation gravely exalts those whom
nature has subjected to them, and whose inferiority and infirmities are absolutely
incurable. The women, though without virtue, are their masters and sovereigns." |
|
[230] Ah! why do women--I
write with affectionate solicitude-- condescend to receive a degree of attention and
respect from strangers different from that reciprocation of civility which the dictates of
humanity and the politeness of civilisation authorise between man and man? And why do they
not discover, when "in the noon of beauty's power," that they are treated like
queens only to be deluded by hollow respect, till they are led to resign, or not assume,
their natural prerogatives? Confined, then, in cages like the feathered race, they have
nothing to do but to plume themselves, and stalk with mock majesty from perch to perch. It
is true they are provided with food and raiment, for which they neither toil nor spin; but
health, liberty, and virtue are given in exchange. But where, amongst mankind, has been
found sufficient strength of mind to enable a being to resign these adventitious
prerogatives--one who, rising with the calm dignity of reason above opinion, dared to be
proud of the privileges inherent in man? And it is vain to expect it whilst hereditary
power chokes the affections, and nips reason in the bud. |
|
[231] The passions of men
have thus placed women on thrones, and till mankind become more reasonable, it is to be
feared that women will avail themselves of the power which they attain with the least
exertion, and which is the most indisputable. They will smile--yes, they will smile,
though told that: |
|
[232] In beauty's empire
is no mean, And woman, either slave or queen, Is quickly scorned when not adored |
|
[233] But the adoration
comes first, and the scorn is not anticipated. |
|
[234] Louis XIV, in
particular, spread factitious manners, and caught, in a specious way, the whole nation in
his toils; for, establishing an artful chain of despotism, he made it the interest of the
people at large individually to respect his station, and support his power. And women,
whom he flattered by a puerile attention to the whole sex, obtained in his reign that
prince-like distinction so fatal to reason and virtue. |
|
[235] A king is always a
king, and a woman always a woman.{6} His authority and her sex ever stand between them and
rational converse. With a lover, I grant. she should be so, and her sensibility will
naturally lead her to endeavour to excite emotion, not to gratify her vanity, but her
heart. This I do not allow to be coquetry; it is the artless impulse of nature. I only
exclaim against the sexual desire of conquest when the heart is out of the question. |
|
[236] This desire is not
confined to women. "I have endeavoured," says Lord Chesterfield, "to gain
the hearts of twenty women, whose persons I would not have given a fig for." The
libertine who, in a gust of passion, takes advantage of unsuspecting tenderness, is a
saint when compared with this cold-hearted rascal--for I like to use significant words.
Yet only taught to please, women are always on the watch to please, and with true heroic
ardour endeavour to gain hearts merely to resign or spurn them when the victory is decided
and conspicuous. |
|
[237] I must descend to
the minutiae of the subject. |
|
[238] I lament that women
are systematically degraded by receiving the trivial attentions which men think it manly
to pay to the sex, when in fact, they are insultingly supporting their own superiority. It
is not condescension to bow to an inferior. So ludicrous, in fact, do these ceremonies
appear to me that I scarcely am able to govern my muscles when I see a man with eager and
serious solicitude to lift a handkerchief or shut a door, when the lady could have done it
herself, had she only moved a pace or two. |
| Why does she want to see the
"distinction of sex confounded"? |
[239] A wild wish has just
flown from my heart to my head, I will not stifle it, though it may excite a horse-laugh.
I do earnestly wish to see the distinction of sex confounded in society, unless where love
animates the behaviour. For this distinction is, I am firmly persuaded, the foundation of
the weakness of character ascribed to woman; is the cause why the understanding is
neglected, whilst accomplishments are acquired with sedulous care; and the same cause
accounts for their preferring the graceful before the heroic virtues. |
|
[240] Mankind, including
every description, wish to be loved and respected by something, and the common herd will
always take the nearest road to the completion of their wishes. The respect paid to wealth
and beauty is the most certain and unequivocal, and, of course, will always attract the
vulgar eye of common minds. Abilities and virtues are absolutely necessary to raise men
from the middle rank of life into notice, and the natural consequence is notorious--the
middle rank contains most virtue and abilities. Men have thus, in one station at least, an
opportunity of exerting themselves with dignity, and of rising by the exertions which
really improve a rational creature; but the whole female sex are, till their character is
formed, in the same condition as the rich, for they are born-- I now speak of a state of
civilisation--with certain sexual privileges; and whilst they are gratuitously granted
them, few will ever think of works of supererogation to obtain the esteem of a small
number of superior people. |
| What about the upper classes? |
[241] When do we hear of
women who, starting out of obscurity, boldly claim respect on account of their great
abilities or daring virtues? Where are they to be found? "To be observed, to be
attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all
the advantages which they seek." True! my male readers will probably exclaim; but let
them, before they draw any conclusion, recollect that this was not written originally as
descriptive of women, but of the rich. In Dr. Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments I have
found a general character of people of rank and fortune, that, in my opinion, might with
the greatest propriety be applied to the female sex. I refer the sagacious reader to the
whole comparison, but must be allowed to quote a passage to enforce an argument that I
mean to insist on, as the one most conclusive against a sexual character. For if,
excepting warriors no great men of any denomination have ever appeared amongst the
nobility, may it not be fairly inferred that their local situation swallowed up the man,
and produced a character similar to that of women, who are localised--if I may be allowed
the word--by the rank they are placed in by courtesy? Women, commonly called ladies, are
not to be contradicted in company, are not allowed to exert any manual strength; and from
them the negative virtues only are expected, when any virtues are expected--patience,
docility, good humour, and flexibility -- virtues incompatible with any vigorous exertion
of intellect. Besides, by living more with each other, and being seldom absolutely alone,
they are more under the influence of sentiments than passions. Solitude and reflection are
necessary to give to wishes the force of passions, and to enable the imagination to
enlarge the object, and make it the most desirable. The same may be said of the rich; they
do not sufficiently deal in general ideas, collected by impassioned thinking or calm
investigation, to acquire that strength of character on which great resolves are built.
But hear what an acute observer says of the great. |
|
[242] "Do the great
seem insensible of the easy price at which they may acquire the public admiration; or do
they seem to imagine that to them, as to other men, it must be the purchase either of
sweat or of blood? By what important accomplishments is the young nobleman instructed to
support the dignity of his rank, and to render himself worthy of that superiority over his
fellow-citizens, to which the virtue of his ancestors had raised them? Is it by knowledge,
by industry, by patience, by self-denial, or by virtue of any kind. As all his words, as
all his motions are attended to, he learns an habitual regard to every circumstance of
ordinary behaviour, and studies to perform all those small duties with the most exact
propriety. As he is conscious how much he is observed, and how much mankind are disposed
to favour all his inclinations, he acts, upon the most indifferent occasions, with that
freedom and elevation which the thought of this naturally inspires. His air, his manner,
his deportment, all mark that elegant and graceful sense of his own superiority, which
those who are born to inferior station can hardly ever arrive at. These are the arts by
which he proposes to make mankind more easily submit to his authority, and to govern their
inclinations according to his own pleasure; and in this he is seldom disappointed. These
arts, supported by rank and pre-eminence, are, upon ordinary occasions, sufficient to
govern the world. Louis XIV during the greater part of his reign, was regarded, not only
in France, but over all Europe, as the most perfect model of a great prince. But what were
the talents and virtues by which he acquired this great reputation? Was it by the
scrupulous and inflexible justice of all his undertakings, by the immense dangers and
difficulties with which they were attended, or by the unwearied and unrelenting
application with which he pursued them? Was it by his extensive knowledge, by his
exquisite judgment, or by his heroic valour? It was by none of these qualities. But he
was, first of all, the most powerful prince in Europe. and consequently held the highest
rank among kings; and then, says his historian, 'he surpassed all his courtiers in the
gracefulness of his shape, and the majestic beauty of his features. The sound of his
voice, noble and affecting, gained those hearts which his presence intimidated. He had a
step and a deportment which could suit only him and his rank, and which would have been
ridiculous in any other person. The embarrassment which he occasioned to those who spoke
to him, flattered that secret satisfaction with which he felt his own superiority.' These
frivolous accomplishments, supported by his rank, and, no doubt too, by a degree of other
talents and virtues, which seems, however, not to have been much above mediocrity,
established this prince in the esteem of his own age, and have drawn, even from posterity,
a good deal of respect for his memory. Compared with these, in his own times, and in his
own presence, no other virtue, it seems, appeared to have any merit. Knowledge, industry,
valour, and beneficence trembled, were abashed, and lost all dignity before them." |
|
[243] Woman also thus
"in herself complete," by possessing all these frivolous accomplishments, so
changes the nature of things: |
|
[244] That what she wills
to do or say Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best;
All higher knowledge in her knowledge falls
Degraded. Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses discountenanced, and, like folly shows;
Authority and reason on her wait. |
|
[245] And all this is
built on her loveliness ! |
|
[246] In the middle rank
of life, to continue the comparison, men, in their youth, are prepared for professions,
and marriage is not considered as the grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on the
contrary, have no other scheme to sharpen their faculties. It is not business, extensive
plans, or any of the excursive flights of ambition, that engross their attention; no,
their thoughts are not employed in rearing such noble structures. To rise in the world,
and have the liberty of running from pleasure to pleasure, they must marry advantageously,
and to this object their time is sacrificed, and their persons often legally prostituted.
A man when he enters any profession has his eye steadily fixed on some future advantage
(and the mind gains great strength by having all its efforts directed to one point), and,
full of his business, pleasure is considered as mere relaxation; whilst women seek for
pleasure as the main purpose of existence. In fact, from the education, which they receive
from society, the love of pleasure may be said to govern them all; but does this prove
that there is a sex in souls? It would be just as rational to declare that the courtiers
in France, when a destructive system of despotism had formed their character, were not
men, because liberty, virtue, and humanity, were sacrificed to pleasure and vanity. Fatal
passions, which have ever domineered over the whole race ! |
|
[247] The same love of
pleasure, fostered by the whole tendency of their education, gives a trifling turn to the
conduct of women in most circumstances; for instance, they are ever anxious about
secondary things; and on the watch for adventures instead of being occupied by duties. |
|
[248] A man, when he
undertakes a journey, has, in general, the end in view; a woman thinks more of the
incidental occurrences, the strange things that may possibly occur on the road; the
impression that she may make on her fellow-travellers; and, above all, she is anxiously
intent on the care of the finery that she carries with her, which is more than ever a part
of herself, when going to figure on a new scene; when, to use an apt French turn of
expression, she is going to produce a sensation. Can dignity of mind exist with such
trivial cares? |
|
[249] In short, women, in
general, as well as the rich of both sexes, have acquired all the follies and vices of
civilisation, and missed the useful fruit. It is not necessary for me always to premise,
that I speak of the condition of the whole sex, leaving exceptions out of the question.
Their senses are inflamed, and their understandings neglected, consequently they become
the prey of their senses, delicately termed sensibility, and are blown about by every
momentary gust of feeling. Civilised women are, therefore, so weakened by false
refinement, that, respecting morals, their condition is much below what it would be were
they left in a state nearer to nature. Ever restless and anxious, their over-exercised
sensibility not only renders them uncomfortable themselves, but troublesome, to use a soft
phrase, to others. All their thoughts turn on things calculated to excite emotion and
feeling, when they should reason, their conduct is unstable, and their opinions are
wavering--not the wavering produced by deliberation or progressive views, but by
contradictory emotions. By fits and starts they are warm in many pursuits; yet this
warmth, never concentrated into perseverance, soon exhausts itself; exhaled by its own
heat, or meeting with some other fleeting passion, to which reason has never given any
specific gravity, neutrality ensues. Miserable indeed, must be that being whose
cultivation of mind has only tended to inflame its passions! A distinction should be made
between inflaming and strengthening them. The passions thus pampered, whilst the judgment
is left unformed, what can be expected to ensue ? Undoubtedly, a mixture of madness and
folly! |
|
[250] This observation
should not be confined to the fair sex; however, at present, I only mean to apply it to
them. |
|
[251] Novels, music,
poetry, and gallantry, all tend to make women the creatures of sensation, and their
character is thus formed in the mould of folly during the time they are acquiring
accomplishments, the only improvement they are excited, by their station in society, to
acquire. This overstretched sensibility naturally relaxes the other powers of the mind,
and prevents intellect from attaining that sovereignty which it ought to attain to render
a rational creature useful to others, and content with its own station; for the exercise
of the understanding, as life advances, is the only method pointed out by nature to calm
the passions. |
|
[252] Satiety has a very
different effect, and I have often been forcibly struck by an emphatical description of
damnation; when the spirit is represented as continually hovering with abortive eagerness
round the defiled body, unable to enjoy anything without the organs of sense. Yet, to
their senses, are women made slaves, because it is by their sensibility that they obtain
present power. |
|
[253] And will moralists
pretend to assert that this is the condition in which one-half of the human race should be
encouraged to remain with listless inactivity and stupid acquiescence? Kind instructors!
what were we created for? To remain, it may be said, innocent; they mean in a state of
childhood We might as well never have been born, unless it were necessary that we should
be created to enable man to acquire the noble privilege of reason, the power of discerning
good from evil, whilst we lie down in the dust from whence we were taken, never to rise
again. |
|
[254] It would be an
endless task to trace the variety of meannesses, cares, and sorrows, into which women are
plunged by the prevailing opinion, that they were created rather to feel than reason, and
that all the power they obtain must be obtained by their charms and weakness: |
|
[255] Fine by defect, and
amiably weak! |
|
[256] And, made by this
amiable weakness entirely dependent, excepting what they gain by illicit sway, on man, not
only for protection, but advice, is it surprising that, neglecting the duties that reason
alone points out, and shrinking from trials calculated to strengthen their minds, they
only exert themselves to give their defects a graceful covering, which may serve to
heighten their charms in the eye of the voluptuary, though it sink them below the scale of
moral excellence. |
|
[257] Fragile in every
sense of the word, they are obliged to look up to man for every comfort. In the most
trifling danger they cling to their support, with parasitical tenacity, piteously
demanding succour; and their natural protector extends his arm, or lifts up his voice, to
guard the lovely trembler--from what? Perhaps the frown of an old cow, or the jump of a
mouse; a rat would be a serious danger. In the name of reason, and even common sense, what
can save such beings from contempt; even though they be soft and fair. |
|
[258] These fears, when
not affected, may produce some pretty attitudes; but they show a degree of imbecility
which degrades a rational creature in a way women are not aware of--for love and esteem
are very distinct things. |
|
[259] I am fully persuaded
that we should hear of none of these infantine airs, if girls were allowed to take
sufficient exercise, and not confined in close rooms till their muscles are relaxed, and
their powers of digestion destroyed. To carry the remark still further, if fear in girls,
instead of being cherished, perhaps, created, were treated in the same manner as cowardice
in boys, we should quickly see women with more dignified aspects. It is true, they could
not then with equal propriety be termed the sweet flowers that smile in the walk of man;
but they would be more respectable members of society, and discharge the important duties
of life by the light of their own reason. " Educate women like men," says
Rousseau, "and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over
us." This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish them to have power over men; but
over themselves. |
|
[260] In the same strain
have I heard men argue against instructing the poor; for many are the forms that
aristocracy assumes. " Teach them to read and write," say they, " and you
take them out of the station assigned them by nature." An eloquent Frenchman has
answered them, I will borrow his sentiments. " But they know not, when they make man
a brute, that they may expect every instant to see him transformed into a ferocious beast.
Without knowledge there can be no morality." |
|
[261] Ignorance is a frail
base for virtue ! Yet, that it is the condition for which woman was organised, has been
insisted upon by the writers who have most vehemently argued in favour of the superiority
of man; a superiority not in degree, but offence; though, to soften the argument, they
have laboured to prove, with chivalrous generosity, that the sexes ought not to be
compared; man was made to reason, woman to feel: and that together, flesh and spirit, they
make the most perfect whole, by blending happily reason and sensibility into one
character. |
|
[262] And what is
sensibility? "Quickness of sensation, quickness of perception, delicacy." Thus
is it defined by Dr. Johnson. and the definition gives me no other idea than of the most
exquisitely polished instinct. I discern not a trace of the image of God in either
sensation or matter. Refined seventy times seven they are still material; intellect dwells
not there; nor will fire ever make lead gold ! |
|
[263] I come round to my
old argument: if woman be allowed to have an immortal soul, she must have, as the
employment of life, an understanding to improve. And when, to render the present state
more complete, though everything proves it to be but a fraction of a mighty sum, she is
incited by present gratification to forget her grand destination, nature is counteracted,
or she was born only to procreate and rot. Or, granting brutes of every description a
soul, though not a reasonable one the exercise of instinct and sensibility may be the step
which they are to take, in this life, towards the attainment of reason in the next; so
that through all eternity they will lag behind man, who, why we cannot tell, had the power
given him of attaining reason in his first mode of existence. |
|
[264] When I treat of the
peculiar duties of women, as I should treat of the peculiar duties of a citizen or father,
it will be found that I do not mean to insinuate that they should be taken out of their
families, speaking of the majority. "He that hath wife and children," says Lord
Bacon, "hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great
enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit
for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men." I say the same
of women. But the welfare of society is not built on extraordinary exertions; and were it
more reasonably organised, there would be still less need of great abilities, or heroic
virtues. |
|
[265] In the regulation of
a family, in the education of children, understanding, in an unsophisticated sense, is
particularly required-- strength both of body and mind; yet the men who, by their
writings, have most earnestly laboured to domesticate women, have endeavoured, by
arguments dictated by a gross appetite, which satiety had rendered fastidious, to weaken
their bodies and cramp their minds. But, if even by these sinister methods they really
persuaded women, by working on their feelings, to stay at home, and fulfil the duties of a
mother and mistress of a family, I should cautiously oppose opinions that led women to
right conduct, by prevailing on them to make the discharge of such important duties the
main business of life, though reason were insulted. Yet, and I appeal to experience, if by
neglecting the understanding they be as much, nay, more detached from these domestic
employments, than they could be by the most serious intellectual pursuit, though it may be
observed, that the mass of mankind will never vigorously pursue an intellectual object,{7}
I may be allowed to infer that reason is absolutely necessary to enable a woman to perform
any duty properly, and I must again repeat, that sensibility is not reason. |
|
[266] The comparison with
the rich still occurs to me; for, when men neglect the duties of humanity, women will
follow their example; a common stream hurries them both along with thoughtless celerity.
Riches and honours prevent a man from enlarging his understanding. and enervate all his
powers by reversing the order of nature, which has ever made true pleasure the reward of
labour. Pleasure enervating pleasure--is, likewise, within women's reach without earning
it. But, till hereditary possessions are spread abroad, how can we expect men to be proud
of virtue? And, till they are, women will govern them by the most direct means, neglecting
their dull domestic duties to catch the pleasure that sits lightly on the wing of time. |
|
[267] "The power of
the woman," says some author, "is her sensibility"; and men, not aware of
the consequence, do all they can to make this power swallow up every other. Those who
constantly employ their sensibility will have most; for example, poets, painters, and
composers.{8} Yet, when the sensibility is thus increased at the expense of reason, and
even the imagination, why do philosophical men complain of their fickleness? The sexual
attention of man particularly acts on female sensibility, and this sympathy has been
exercised from their youth up. A husband cannot long pay those attentions with the passion
necessary to excite lively emotions, and the heart, accustomed to lively emotions, turns
to a new lover, or pines in secret, the prey of virtue or prudence. I mean when the heart
has really been rendered susceptible, and the taste formed; for I am apt to conclude, from
what I have seen in fashionable life, that vanity is oftener fostered than sensibility by
the mode of education, and the intercourse between the sexes, which I have reprobated; and
that coquetry more frequently proceeds from vanity than from that inconstancy which
overstrained sensibility naturally produces. |
|
[268] Another argument
that has had great weight with me must, I think, have some force with every considerate
benevolent heart. Girls who have been thus weakly educated are often cruelly left by their
parents without any provision, and, of course, are dependent on not only the reason, but
the bounty of their brothers. These brothers are, to view the fairest side of the
question, good sort of men, and give as a favour what children of the same parents had an
equal right to. In this equivocal humiliating situation a docile female may remain some
time with a tolerable degree of comfort. But when the brother marries--a probable
circumstance-- from being considered as the mistress of the family, she is viewed with
averted looks as an intruder, an unnecessary burden on the benevolence of the master of
the house and his new partner. |
|
[269] Who can recount the
misery which many unfortunate beings, whose minds and bodies are equally weak, suffer in
such situations-- unable to work, and ashamed to beg? The wife, a cold-hearted,
narrow-minded woman--and this is not an unfair supposition, for the present mode of
education does not tend to enlarge the heart any more than the understanding--is jealous
of the little kindness which her husband shows to his relations; and her sensibility not
rising to humanity, she is displeased at seeing the property of her children lavished on
an helpless sister. |
|
[270] These are matters of
fact, which have come under my eye again and again. The consequence is obvious; the wife
has recourse to cunning to undermine the habitual affection which she is afraid openly to
oppose; and neither tears nor caresses are spared till the spy is worked out of her home,
and thrown on the world, unprepared for its difficulties; or sent, as a great effort of
generosity, or from some regard to propriety, with a small stipend, and an uncultivated
mind, into joyless solitude. |
|
[271] These two women may
be much upon a par with respect to reason and humanity, and, changing situations, might
have acted just the same selfish part; but had they been differently educated, the case
would also have been very different. The wife would not have had that sensibility, of
which self is the centre, and reason might have taught her not to expect, and not even to
be flattered by, the affection of her husband, led him to violate prior duties. She would
wish not to him merely because he loved her, but on account of his virtues; and the sister
might have been able to struggle for herself instead of eating the bitter bread of
dependence. |
|
[272] I am, indeed,
persuaded that the heart, as well as the understanding, is opened by cultivation, and by--
which may not appear so clear-- strengthening the organs. I am not now talking of
momentary flashes of sensibility, but of affections. And, perhaps, in the education of
both sexes, the most difficult task is so to adjust instruction as not to narrow the
understanding, whilst the heart is warmed by the generous juices of spring, just raised by
the electric fermentation of the season; nor to dry up the feelings by employing the mind
in investigations remote from life. |
|
[273] With respect to
women, when they receive a careful education, they are either made fine ladies, brimful of
sensibility, and teeming with capricious fancies, or mere notable women. The latter are
often friendly, honest creatures, and have a shrewd kind of good sense, joined with
worldly prudence, that often render them more useful members of society than the fine
sentimental lady, though they possess neither greatness of mind nor taste. The
intellectual world is shut against them. Take them out of their family or neighbourhood,
and they stand still; the mind finding no employment, for literature affords a fund of
amusement which they have never sought to relish, but frequently to despise. The
sentiments and taste of more cultivated minds appear ridiculous, even in those whom chance
and family connections have led them to love; but in mere acquaintance they think it all
affectation. |
|
[274] A man of sense can
only love such a woman on account of her sex, and respect her because she is a trusty
servant. He lets her, to preserve his own peace, scold the servants, and go to church in
clothes made of the very best materials. A man of her own size of understanding would
probably not agree as well with her, for he might wish to encroach on her prerogative, and
manage some domestic concerns himself; yet women, whose minds are not enlarged by
cultivation, or the natural selfishness of sensibility by reflection, are very unfit to
manage a family, for, by an undue stretch of power, they are always tyrannising to support
a superiority that only rests on the arbitrary distinction of fortune. The evil is
sometimes more serious, and domestics are deprived of innocent indulgences, and made to
work beyond their strength, in order to enable the notable woman to keep a better table,
and outshine her neighbours in finery and parade. If she attend to her children, it is in
general to dress them in a costly manner; and whether this attention arise from vanity or
fondness, it is equally pernicious. |
|
[275] Besides, how many
women of this description pass their days, or at least their evenings, discontentedly.
Their husbands acknowledge that they are good managers and chaste wives, but leave home to
seek for more agreeable--may I be allowed to use a significant French word--piquant
society; and the patient drudge, who fulfils her task like a blind horse in a mill, is
defrauded of her just reward, for the wages due to her are the caresses of her husband;
and women who have so few resources in themselves, do not very patiently bear this
privation of a natural right. |
|
[276] A fine lady, on the
contrary, has been taught to look down with contempt on the vulgar employments of life,
though she has only been incited to acquire accomplishments that rise a degree above
sense; for even corporeal accomplishments cannot be acquired with any degree of precision
unless the understanding has been strengthened by exercise. Without a foundation of
principles taste is superficial; grace must arise from something deeper than imitation.
The imagination, however, is heated, and the feelings rendered fastidious, if not
sophisticated, or a counterpoise of judgment is not acquired when the heart still remains
artless, though it becomes too tender. |
|
[277] These women are
often amiable, and their hearts are really more sensible to general benevolence, more
alive to the sentiments that civilise life, than the square-elbowed family drudge; but,
wanting a due proportion of reflection and self-government, they only inspire love, and
are the mistresses of their husbands, whilst they have any hold on their affections, and
the Platonic friends of his male acquaintance. These are the fair defects in Nature; the
women who appear to be created not to enjoy the fellowship of man, but to save him from
sinking into absolute brutality, by rubbing off the rough angles of his character, and by
playful dalliance to give some dignity to the appetite that draws him to them. Gracious
Creator of the whole human race! hast Thou created such a being as woman, who can trace
Thy wisdom in Thy works, and feel that Thou alone art by Thy nature exalted above her, for
no better purpose? Can she believe that she was only made to submit to man, her equal--a
being who, like her, was sent into the world to acquire virtue? Can she consent to be
occupied merely to please him--merely to adorn the earth--when her soul is capable of
rising to Thee? And can she rest supinely dependent on man for reason, when she ought to
mount with him the arduous steeps of knowledge? |
|
[278] Yet if love be the
supreme good, let woman be only educated to inspire it, and let every charm be polished to
intoxicate the senses; but if they be moral beings, let them have a chance to become
intelligent; and let love to man be only a part of that glowing flame of universal love,
which, after encircling humanity, mounts in grateful incense to God. |
|
[279] To fulfil domestic
duties much resolution is necessary, and a serious kind of perseverance that requires a
more firm support than emotions, however lively and true to nature. To give an example of
order, the soul of virtue, some austerity of behaviour must be adopted, scarcely to be
expected from a being who, from its infancy, has been made the weathercock of its own
sensations. Whoever rationally means to be useful must have a plan of conduct; and in the
discharge of the simplest duty, we are often obliged to act contrary to the present
impulse of tenderness or compassion. Severity is frequently the most certain as well as
the most sublime proof of affection; and the want of this power over the feelings, and of
that lofty, dignified affection which makes a person prefer the future good of the beloved
object to a present gratification, is the reason why so many fond mothers spoil their
children, and-has made it questionable whether negligence or indulgence be most hurtful;
but I am inclined to think that the latter has done most harm. |
|
[280] Mankind seem to
agree that children should be left under the management of women during their childhood.
Now, from all the observation that I have been able to make, women of sensibility are the
most unfit for this task, because they will infallibly, carried away by their feelings,
spoil a child's temper. The management of the temper, the first, and most important branch
of education, requires the sober steady eye of reason; a plan of conduct equally distant
from tyranny and indulgence: yet these are the extremes that people of sensibility
alternately fall into; always shooting beyond the mark. I have followed this train of
reasoning much further, till I have concluded, that a person of genius is the most
improper person to be employed in education, public or private. Minds of this rare species
see things too much in masses, and seldom, if ever, have a good temper. That habitual
cheerfulness, termed good humour, is perhaps, as seldom united with great mental powers,
as with strong feelings. And those people who follow, with interest and admiration, the
flights of genius; or, with cooler approbation suck in the instruction which has been
elaborately prepared for them by the profound thinker, ought not to be disgusted, if they
find the former choleric, and the latter morose; because liveliness of fancy, and a
tenacious comprehension of mind, are scarcely compatible with that pliant urbanity which
leads a man, at least, to bend to the opinions and prejudices of others, instead of
roughly confronting them. |
|
[281] But, treating of
education or manners, minds of a superior class are not to be considered, they may be left
to chance; it is the multitude, with moderate abilities, who call for instruction, and
catch the colour of the atmosphere they breathe. This respectable concourse, I contend,
men and women, should not have their sensations heightened in the hot-bed of luxurious
indolence, at the expense of their understanding; for, unless there be a ballast of
understanding, they will never become either virtuous or free: an aristocracy, founded on
property or sterling talents, will ever sweep before it the alternately timid and
ferocious slaves of feeling. |
|
[282] Numberless are the
arguments, to take another view of the subject, brought forward with a show of reason,
because supposed to be deduced from nature, that men have used morally and physically, to
degrade the sex. I must notice a few. |
|
[283] The female
understanding has often been spoken of with contempt, as arriving sooner at maturity than
the male. I shall not answer this argument by alluding to the early proofs of reason, as
well as genius, in Cowley, Milton, and Pope,{9} but only appeal to experience to decide
whether young men, who are early introduced into company (and examples now abound), do not
acquire the same precocity. So notorious is this fact, that the bare mentioning of it must
bring before people, who at all mix in the world, the idea of a number of swaggering apes
of men, whose understandings are narrowed by being brought into the society of men when
they ought to have been spinning a top or twirling a hoop. |
|
[284] It has also been
asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not attain their full growth and strength till
thirty; but that women arrive at maturity by twenty. I apprehend that they reason on false
ground, led astray by the male prejudice, which deems beauty the perfection of woman--mere
beauty of features 'and complexion, the vulgar acceptation of the word, whilst male beauty
is allowed to have some connection with the mind. Strength of body, and that character of
countenance which the French term a physionomic, women do not acquire before thirty, any
more than men. The little artless tricks of children, it is true, are particularly
pleasing and attractive; yet, when the pretty freshness of youth is worn off, these
artless graces become studied airs, and disgust every person of taste. In the countenance
of girls we only look for vivacity and bashful modesty; but, the spring tide of life over,
we look for soberer sense in the face, and for traces of passion, instead of the dimples
of animal spirits; expecting to see individuality of character, the only fastener of the
affections.{10} We then wish to converse, not to fondle; to give scope to our imaginations
as well as to the sensations of our hearts. |
|
[285] At twenty the beauty
of both sexes is equal; but the libertinism of man leads him to make the distinction, and
superannuated coquettes are commonly of the same opinion; for when they can no longer
inspire love, they pay for the vigour and vivacity of youth. The French, who admit more of
mind into their notions of beauty, give the preference to women of thirty. I mean to say
that they allow women to be in their most perfect state, when vivacity gives place to
reason, and to that majestic seriousness of character, which marks maturity or the resting
point. In youth, till twenty, the body shoots out, till thirty, the solids are attaining a
degree of density; and the flexible muscles, growing daily more rigid, give character to
the countenance; that is, they trace the operations of the mind with the iron pen of fate,
and tell us not only what powers are within, hut how they have been employed. |
|
[286] It is proper to
observe, that animals who arrive slowly at maturity, are the longest lived, and of the
noblest species. Men cannot, however, claim any natural superiority from the grandeur of
longevity; for in this respect nature has not distinguished the male. |
|
[287] Polygamy is another
physical degradation; and a plausible argument for a custom, that blasts every domestic
virtue, is drawn from the well-attested fact, that in the countries where it is
established, more females are born than males. This appears to be an indication of nature,
and to nature, apparently reasonable speculations must yield. A further conclusion
obviously presented itself; if polygamy be necessary, woman must be inferior to man, and
made for him. |
|
[288] With respect to the
formation of the fetus in the womb, we are very ignorant; but it appears to me probable,
that an accidental physical cause may account for this phenomenon, and prove it not to be
a law of nature. I have met with some pertinent observations on the subject in Foster's
Account of the Isles of the South Sea, that will explain my meaning. After observing that
of the two sexes amongst animals, the most vigorous and hottest constitution always
prevails, and produces its kind; he adds,--"If this be applied to the inhabitants of
Africa, it is evident that the men there, accustomed to polygamy, are enervated by the use
of so many women, and therefore less vigorous; the women, on the contrary, are of a hotter
constitution, not only on account of their more irritable nerves, more sensible
organisation, and more lively fancy; but likewise because they are deprived in their
matrimony of that share of physical love which, in a monogamous condition, would all be
theirs; and thus, for the above reasons, the generality of the children are born females. |
|
[289] "In the greater
part of Europe it has been proved by the most accurate lists of mortality, that the
proportion of men to women is nearly equal, or, if any difference takes place, the males
born are more numerous, in the proportion of 105 to 100." |
|
[290] The necessity of
polygamy, therefore, does not appear; yet when a man seduces a woman, it should, I think,
be termed a left-handed marriage, and the man should be legally obliged to maintain the
woman and her children, unless adultery, a natural divorcement, abrogated the law. And
this law should remain in force as long as the weakness of women caused the word seduction
to be used as an excuse for their frailty and want of principle; nay, while they depend on
man for a subsistence, instead of earning it by the exertion of their own hands or heads.
But these women should not, in the full meaning of the relationship, be termed wives, or
the very purpose of marriage would be subverted, and all those endearing charities that
flow from personal fidelity, and give a sanctity to the tie, when neither love nor
friendship unites the hearts, would melt into selfishness. The woman who is faithful to
the father of her children demands respect, and should not be treated like a prostitute;
though I readily grant that if it be necessary for a man and woman to live together in
order to bring up their offspring, nature never intended that a man should have more than
one wife. |
|
[291] Still, highly as I
respect marriage, as the foundation of almost every social virtue, I cannot avoid feeling
the most lively compassion for those unfortunate females who are broken off from society,
and by one error torn from all those affections and relationships that improve the heart
and mind. It does not frequently even deserve the name of error; for many innocent girls
become the dupes of a sincere, affectionate heart, and still more are, as it may
emphatically be termed, ruined before they know the difference between virtue and vice,
and thus prepared by their education for infamy, they become infamous. Asylums and
Magdalens are not the proper remedies for these abuses. It is justice, not charity, that
is wanting in the world! |
|
[292] A woman who has lost
her honour imagines that she cannot fall lower, and as for recovering her former station,
it is impossible; no exertion can wash this stain away. Losing, thus every spur, and
having no other means of support, prostitution becomes her only refuge, and the character
is quickly depraved by circumstances over which the poor wretch has little power, unless
she possesses an uncommon portion of sense and loftiness of spirit. Necessity never makes
prostitution the business of men's lives; though numberless are the women who are thus
rendered systematically vicious. This, however, arises in a great degree from the state of
idleness in which women are educated, who are always taught to look up to man for a
maintenance, and to consider their persons as the proper return for his exertions to
support them. Meretricious airs, and the whole science of wantonness, have then a more
powerful stimulus than either appetite or vanity; and this remark gives force to the
prevailing opinion, that with chastity all is lost that is respectable in woman. Her
character depends on the observance of one virtue, though the only passion fostered in her
heart is love. Nay, the honour of a woman is not made even to depend on her will. |
|
[293] When Richardson {11}
makes Clarissa tell Lovelace that he had robbed her of her honour, he must have had
strange notions of honour and virtue. For, miserable beyond all names of misery is the
condition of a being, who could be degraded without its own consent! This excess of
strictness I have heard vindicated as a salutary error. I shall answer in the words of
have more Leibnitz--" Errors are often useful; but it is commonly to remedy other
errors." |
|
[294] Most of the evils of
life arise from a desire of present enjoyment that outruns itself. The obedience required
of women in the marriage state comes under this description; the mind, naturally weakened
by depending on authority, never exerts its own powers, and the obedient wife is thus
rendered a weak indolent mother. Or, supposing that this is not always the consequence, a
future state of existence is scarcely taken into the reckoning when only negative virtues
are cultivated. For, in treating of morals, particularly when women are alluded to,
writers have too often considered virtue in a very limited sense, and made the foundation
of it solely worldly utility; nay, a still more fragile base has been given to this
stupendous fabric, and the wayward fluctuating feelings of men have been made the standard
of virtue. Yes, virtue as well as religion has been subjected to the decisions of taste. |
|
[295] It would almost
provoke a smile of contempt, if the vain absurdities of man did not strike us on all
sides, to observe how eager men are to degrade the sex from whom they pretend to receive
the chief pleasure of life; and I have frequently with full conviction retorted Pope's
sarcasm on them; or, to speak explicitly, it has appeared to me applicable to the whole
human race. A love of pleasure or sway seems to divide mankind, and the husband who lords
it in his little harem thinks only of his pleasure or his convenience. To such lengths,
indeed, does an intemperate love of pleasure carry some prudent men, or worn-out
libertines, who marry to have a safe bedfellow, that they seduce their own wives. Hymen
banishes modesty, and chaste love takes its flight. |
|
[296] Love, considered as
an animal appetite, cannot long feed on itself without expiring. And this extinction in
its own flame may be termed the violent death of love. But the wife, who has thus been
rendered licentious, will probably endeavour to fill the void left by the loss of her
husband's attentions; for she cannot contentedly become merely an upper servant after
having been treated like a goddess. She is still handsome, and, instead of transferring
her fondness to her children, she only dreams of enjoying the sunshine of life. Besides,
there are many husbands so devoid of sense and parental affection that, during the first
effervescence of voluptuous fondness, they refuse to let their wives suckle their
children. They are only to dress and live to please them, and love, even innocent love,
soon sinks into lasciviousness when the exercise of a duty is sacrificed to its
indulgence. |
|
[297] Personal attachment
is a very happy foundation for friendship; yet, when even two virtuous young people marry,
it would perhaps be happy if some circumstances checked their passion; if the recollection
of some prior attachment, or disappointed affection, made it on one side, at least, rather
a match founded on esteem. In that case they would look beyond the present moment, and try
to render the whole of life respectable, by forming a plan to regulate a friendship which
only death ought to dissolve. |
|
[298] Friendship is a
serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded on principle,
and cemented by time. The very reverse may be said of love. In a great degree, love and
friendship cannot subsist in the same bosom; even when inspired by different objects they
weaken or destroy each other, and for the same object can only be felt in succession. The
vain fears and fond jealousies, the winds which fan the flame of love, when judiciously or
artfully tempered, are both incompatible with the tender confidence and sincere respect of
friendship. |
|
[299] Love, such as the
glowing pen of genius has traced, exists not on earth, or only resides in those exalted,
fervid imaginations that have sketched such dangerous pictures. Dangerous, because they
not only afford a plausible excuse to the voluptuary, who disguises sheer sensuality under
a sentimental veil; but as they spread affectation, and take from the dignity of virtue.
Virtue, as the very word imports, should have an appearance of seriousness, if not of
austerity; and to endeavour to trick her out in the garb of pleasure, because the epithet
has been used as another name for beauty, is to exalt her on a quicksand; a most insidious
attempt to hasten her fall by apparent respect. Virtue and pleasure are not, in fact, so
nearly allied in this life as some eloquent writers have laboured to prove. Pleasure
prepares the fading wreath, and mixes the intoxicating cup; but the fruit which virtue
gives is the recompense of toil, and, gradually seen as it ripens, only affords calm
satisfaction; nay, appearing to be the result of the natural tendency of things, it is
scarcely observed. Bread, the common food of life, seldom thought of as a blessing,
supports the constitution and preserves health; still feasts delight the heart of man,
though disease and even death lurk in the cup or dainty that elevates the spirits or
tickles the palate. The lively heated imagination likewise, to apply the comparison, draws
the picture of love, as it draws every other picture, with those glowing colours, which
the daring hand will steal from the rainbow, that is directed by a mind, condemned in a
world like this, to prove its noble origin by panting after unattainable perfection, ever
pursuing what it acknowledges to be a fleeting dream. An imagination of this vigorous cast
can give existence to insubstantial forms, and stability to the shadowy reveries which the
mind naturally falls into when realities are found vapid. It can then depict love with
celestial charms, and dote on the grand ideal object--it can imagine a degree of mutual
affection that shall refine the soul, and not expire when it has served as a "scale
to heavenly"; and, like devotion, make it absorb every meaner affection and desire.
In each other's arms, as in a temple, with its summit lost in the clouds, the world is to
be shut out, and every thought and wish that do not nurture pure affection and permanent
virtue. Permanent virtue! alas! Rousseau, respectable visionary! thy paradise would soon
be violated by the entrance of some unexpected guest. Like Milton's it would only contain
angels, or men sunk below the dignity of rational creatures. Happiness is not material, it
cannot be seen or felt! Yet the eager pursuit of the good, which everyone shapes to his
own fancy, proclaims man the lord of this lower world, and to be an intelligential
creature, who is not to receive but acquire happiness. They, therefore, who complain of
the delusions of passion, do not recollect that they are exclaiming against a strong proof
of the immortality of the soul. |
|
[300] But leaving superior
minds to correct themselves, and pay dearly for their experience, it is necessary to
observe, that it is not against strong, persevering passions, but romantic wavering
feelings, that I wish to guard the female heart by exercising the understanding: for these
paradisiacal reveries are oftener the effect of idleness than of a lively fancy. |
|
[301] Women have seldom
sufficient serious employment to silence their feelings; a round of little cares, or vain
pursuits frittering away all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only
objects of sense. In short, the whole tenor of female education (the education of society)
tends to render the best disposed romantic and inconstant; and the remainder vain and
mean. In the present state of society this evil can scarcely be remedied, I am afraid, in
the slightest degree; should a more laudable ambition ever gain ground they may be brought
nearer to nature and reason, and become more virtuous and useful as they grow more
respectable. |
|
[302] But, I will venture
to assert that their reason will never acquire sufficient strength to enable it to
regulate their conduct, whilst the making an appearance in the world is the first wish of
the majority of mankind. To this weak wish the natural affections, and the most useful
virtues are sacrificed. Girls marry merely to better themselves, to borrow a significant
vulgar phrase, and have such perfect power over their hearts as not to permit themselves
to fall in love till a man with a superior fortune offers. on this subject I mean to
enlarge in a future chapter; it is only necessary to drop a hint at present, because women
are so often degraded by suffering the selfish prudence of age to chill the ardour of
youth. |
|
[303] From the same source
flows an opinion that young girls ought to dedicate great part of their time to
needlework; yet, this employment contracts their faculties more than any other that could
have been chosen for them, by confining their thoughts to their persons. Men order their
clothes to be made, and have done with the subject; women make their own clothes,
necessary or ornamental, and are continually talking about them; and their thoughts follow
their hands. It is not indeed the making of necessaries that weakens the mind; but the
frippery of dress. For, when a woman in the lower rank of life makes her husband's and
children's clothes, she does her duty, this is her part of the family business; but when
women work only to dress better than they could otherwise afford, it is worse than sheer
loss of time. To render the poor virtuous they must be employed, and women in the middle
rank of life, did they not ape the fashions of the nobility, without catching their ease,
might employ them, whilst they themselves managed their families, instructed their
children, and exercised their own minds. Gardening, experimental philosophy, and
literature, would afford them subjects to think of and matter for conversation, that in
some degree would exercise their understandings. The conversation of Frenchwomen, who are
not so rigidly nailed to their chairs to twist lappets, and knot ribands, is frequently
superficial; but, I contend, that it is not half so insipid as that of those Englishwomen
whose time is spent in making caps, bonnets, and the whole mischief of trimmings, not to
mention shopping, bargain-hunting, etc., etc.; and it is the decent, prudent women, who
are most degraded by these practices; for their motive is simply vanity. The wanton who
exercises her taste to render her passion alluring, has something more in view. |
|
[304] These observations
all branch out of a general one, which I have before made, and which cannot be too often
insisted upon, for, speaking of men, women, or professions, it will be found that the
employment of the thoughts shapes the character both generally and individually. The
thoughts of women ever hover round their persons, and is it surprising that their persons
are reckoned most valuable? Yet some degree of liberty of mind is necessary even to form
the person; and this may be one reason why some gentle wives have so few attractions
beside that of sex. Add to this, sedentary employments render the majority of women
sickly--and false notions of female excellence make them proud of this delicacy, though it
be another fetter, that by calling the attention continually to the body, cramps the
activity of the mind. |
|
[305] Women of quality
seldom do any of the manual part of their dress, consequently only their taste is
exercised, and they acquire, by thinking less of the finery, when the business of their
toilet is over, that ease, which seldom appears in the deportment of women, who dress
merely for the sake of dressing. In fact, the observation with respect to the middle rank,
the one in which talents thrive best, extends not to women; for those of the superior
class, by catching, at least, a smattering of literature, and conversing more with men, on
general topics, acquire more knowledge than the women who ape their fashions and faults
without sharing their advantages. With respect to virtue, to use the word in a
comprehensive sense, I have seen most in low life. Many poor women maintain their children
by the sweat of their brow, and keep together families that the vices of the fathers would
have scattered abroad; but gentlewomen are too indolent to be actively virtuous, and are
softened rather than refined by civilisation. Indeed, the good sense which I have met
with, among the poor women who have had few advantages of education, and yet have acted
heroically, strongly confirmed me in the opinion that trifling employments have rendered
woman a trifler. Man, taking her {12} body, the mind is left to rust; so that while
physical love enervates man, as being his favourite recreation, he will endeavour to
enslave woman:--and, who can tell, how many generations may be necessary to give vigour to
the virtue and talents of the freed posterity of abject slaves?{13} |
|
[306] In tracing the
causes that, in my opinion, have degraded woman, I have confined my observations to such
as universally act upon the morals and manners of the whole sex, and to me it appears
clear that they all spring from want of understanding. Whether this arise from a physical
or accidental weakness of faculties, time alone can determine; for I shall not lay any
great stress on the example of a few women {14} who, from having received a masculine
education, have acquired courage and resolution; I only contend that the men who have been
placed in similar situations, have acquired a similar character--I speak of bodies of men,
and that men of genius and talents have started out of a class, in which women have never
yet been placed. |
|
[307] {1} Into what
inconsistencies do men fall when thy argue without the compass of principles. Women, weak
women, are compared with angels; yet, a superior order of beings should be supposed to
possess more intellect than man; or, in what does their superiority consist? In the same
strain, to drop the sneer, they are allowed to possess more goodness of heart; piety, and
benevolence. I doubt the fact, though it be courteously brought forward, unless ignorance
be allowed to be the mother of devotion; for I am firmly persuaded that, on an average,
the proportion between virtue and knowledge, is more upon a par than is commonly granted. |
|
[308] {2} "The
brutes," says Lord Monboddo, "remain in the states in which nature has placed
them, except in so far as their natural instinct is improved by the culture we bestow upon
them." |
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[309] {3} Vide Milton. |
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[310] {4} This word is not
stricly just, but I cannot find a better. |
|
[311] {5} "Pleasure's
the portion of th' inferior kind; But glory, virtue, Heaven for man designed." |
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[312] After writing these
lines, how could Mrs. Barbauld write the following ignoble comparison? |
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[313] "To a Lady with
Some Painted Flowers |
|
[314] "Flowers to the
fair: to you these flowers I bring, And strive to greet you with an earlier spring.
Flowers, sweet, and gay, and delicate like you;
Emblems of innocence, and beauty too
With flowers the Graces bind their yellow hair
And flowery wreaths consenting lovers wear.
Flowers, the sole luxury which Nature knew,
In Eden's pure and guiltless garden grew.
To loftiers forms are rougher tasks assign'd;
The sheltering oak resists the stromy wind,
The tougher yew repels invading foes,
And the tall pine for future navies grows;
But this soft family, to cares unknown,
Were born for pleasure and delights alone.
Gay without toil, and lovely without art,
They spring to cheer the sense, and glad the heart.
Nor blush, my fair, to own you copy these;
Your best, you sweetest empire is -- to please." |
|
[315] So the men tell us;
but virtue, says reason, must be acquired by rough toils, and useful struggles with
worldly cares. |
|
[316] {6} And a wit always
a wit, might be added, for the vain fooleries of wits and beauties to obtain attention,
and make conquests, are much upon a par. |
|
[317] {7} The mass of
mankind are rather the slaves of their appetites than of their passions. |
|
[318] {8} Men of these
descriptions pour sensibility into their compositions, to amalgamate the gross materials;
and moulding them with passion, give to the inert body a soul; but in woman's imagination,
love alone concentrates these ethereal beams. |
|
[319] {9} Many other names
might be added. |
|
[320] {10} The strength of
an affection is, generally, in the same proportion as the character of the species in the
object beloved, lost in that of the individual. |
|
[321] {11} Dr. Young
supports the same opinion, in his plays, when he talks of the misfortune that shunned the
light of day. |
|
[322] {12} "I take
her body," says Ranger. |
|
[323] {13} "Supposing
that women are voluntary slaves -- slavery of any kind is unfavourable to human happiness
and improvement." --Knox's Essays. |
|
[324] {14} Sappho, Eloisa,
Mrs. Macauly, the Empress of Russia, Madame d'Eon, etc. These, and many more, may be
reckoned exceptions; and are not all heroes, as well as heroines, exceptions to general
rules? I wish to see women neither heroines nor brutes; but reasonable creatures. |
|
[Chapters V to XII and sections I through V of
chapter XIII omitted. B.B.] |
|
[325] CHAPTER XIII SOME
INSTANCES OF THE FOLLY WHICH THE IGNORANCE OF WOMEN GENERATES; WITH CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
ON THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT THAT A REVOLUTION IN FEMALE MANNERS MIGHT NATURALLY BE EXPECTED
TO PRODUCE. |
|
[326] SECTION VI |
| Note how she summarizes here arguments in
this section. |
[327] It is not necessary
to inform the sagacious reader, now I enter on my concluding reflections, that the
discussion of this subject merely consists in opening a few simple principles, and
clearing away the rubbish which obscured them. But, as all readers are not sagacious, I
must be allowed to add some explanatory remarks to bring the subject home to reason--to
that sluggish reason, which supinely takes opinions on trust, and obstinately supports
them to spare itself the labour of thinking. |
|
[328] Moralists have
unanimously agreed, that unless virtue be nursed by liberty, it will never attain due
strength--and what they say of man I extend to mankind, insisting that in all cases morals
must be fixed on immutable principles; and, that the being cannot be termed rational or
virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason. |
|
[329] To render women
truly useful members of society, I argue that they should be led, by having their
understandings cultivated on a large scale, to acquire a rational affection for their
country, founded on knowledge, because it is obvious that we are little interested about
what we do not understand. And to render this general knowledge of due importance, I have
endeavoured to show that private duties are never properly fulfilled unless the
understanding enlarges the heart; and that public virtue is only an aggregate of private.
But, the distinctions established in society undermine both, by beating out the solid gold
of virtue, till it becomes only the tinsel-covering of vice; for whilst wealth renders a
man more respectable than virtue, wealth will be sought before virtue; and, whilst women's
persons are caressed, when a childish simper shows an absence of mind--the mind will lie
fallow. Yet, true voluptuousness must proceed from the mind--for what can equal the
sensations produced by mutual affection, supported by mutual respect? What are the cold,
or feverish caresses of appetite, but sin embracing death, compared with the modest
overflowings of a pure heart and exalted imagination? Yes, let me tell the libertine of
fancy when he despises understanding in woman-- that the mind, which he disregards, gives
life to the enthusiastic affection from which rapture, short-lived as it is, alone can
flow! And, that, without virtue, a sexual attachment must expire like a tallow candle in
the socket, creating intolerable disgust. To prove this, I need only observe, that men who
have wasted great part of their lives with women, and with whom they have sought for
pleasure with eager thirst, entertain the meanest opinion of the sex. Virtue, true refiner
of joy!--if foolish men were to fright thee from earth, in order to give loose to all
their appetites without a check--some sensual wight of taste would scale the heavens to
invite thee back, to give a zest to pleasure! |
|
[330] That women at
present are by ignorance rendered vicious, is, I think, not to be disputed; and, that
salutary effects tending to improve mankind might be expected from a REVOLUTION in female
manners, appears, at least, with a face of probability, to rise out of the observation.
For as marriage has been termed the parent of those endearing charities which draw man
from the brutal herd, the corrupting intercourse that wealth, idleness, and folly, produce
between the sexes, is more universally injurious to morality than all the other vices of
mankind collectively considered. To adulterous lust the most sacred duties are sacrificed,
because before marriage, men, by a promiscuous intimacy with women, learned to consider
love as a selfish gratification--learned to separate it not only from esteem, but from the
affection merely built on habit which mixes a little humanity with it. Justice and
friendship are also set at defiance, and that purity of taste is vitiated which would
naturally lead a man to relish an artless display of affection rather than affected airs.
But that noble simplicity of affection, which dares to appear unadorned, has few
attractions for the libertine, though it be the charm, which by cementing the matrimonial
tie, secures to the pledges of a warmer passion the necessary parental attention; for
children will never be properly educated till friendship subsists between parents. Virtue
flies from a house divided against itself--and a whole legion of devils take up their
residence there. |
|
[331] The affection of
husbands and wives cannot be pure when they have so few sentiments in common, and when so
little confidence is established at home, as must be the case when their pursuits are so
different. That intimacy from which tenderness should flow, will not, cannot subsist
between the vicious. |
|
[332] Contending,
therefore, that the sexual distinction which men have so warmly insisted upon, is
arbitrary, I have dwelt on an observation, that several sensible men, with whom I have
conversed on the subject, allowed to be well founded; and it is simply this, that the
little chastity to be found amongst men, and consequent disregard of modesty, tend to
degrade both sexes; and further, that the modesty of women, characterised as such, will
often be only the artful veil of wantonness instead of being the natural reflection of
purity, till modesty be universally respected. |
|
[333] From the tyranny of
man, I firmly believe, the greater number of female follies proceed; and the cunning,
which I allow makes at present a part of their character, I likewise have repeatedly
endeavoured to prove, is produced by oppression. |
|
[334] Were not dissenters,
for instance, a class of people, with strict truth, characterised as cunning? And may I
not lay some stress on this fact to prove, that when any power but reason curbs the free
spirit of man, dissimulation is practised, and the various shifts of art are naturally
called forth? Great attention to decorum, which was carried to a degree of scrupulosity,
and all that puerile bustle about trifles and consequential solemnity, which Butler's
caricature of a dissenter brings before the imagination, shaped their persons as well as
their minds in the mould of prim littleness. I speak collectively, for I know how many
ornaments in human nature have been enrolled amongst sectaries; yet, I assert, that the
same narrow prejudice for their sect, which women have for their families, prevailed in
the dissenting part of the community, however worthy in other respects; and also that the
same timid prudence, or headstrong efforts, often disgraced the exertions of both.
oppression thus formed many of the features of their character perfectly to coincidence
with that of the oppressed half of mankind; for is it not notorious that dissenters were,
like women, fond of deliberating together, and asking advice of each other, till by a
complication of little contrivances, some little end was brought about? A similar
attention to preserve their reputation was conspicuous in the dissenting and female world,
and was produced by a similar cause. |
|
[335] Asserting the rights
which women in common with men ought to contend for, I have not attempted to extenuate
their faults; but to prove them to be the natural consequence of their education and
station in society. If so, it is reasonable to suppose that they will change their
character, and correct their vices and follies, when they are allowed to be free in a
physical, moral, and civil sense.{3} |
|
[336] Let woman share the
rights, and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when
emancipated, or justify the authority that chains such a weak being to her duty. If the
latter, it will be expedient to open a fresh trade with Russia for whips: a present which
a father should always make to his son-in-law on his wedding day, that a husband may keep
his whole family in order by the same means; and without any violation of justice reign,
wielding this sceptre, sole master of his house, because he is the only thing in it who
has reason:--the divine, indefeasible earthly sovereignty breathed into man by the Master
of the universe. Allowing this position, women have not any inherent rights to claim; and,
by the same rule, their duties vanish, for rights and duties are inseparable. |
|
[337] Be just then, O ye
men of understanding: and mark not more severely what women do amiss than the vicious
tricks of the horse or the ass for whom ye provide provender--and allow her the privileges
of ignorance, to whom ye deny the rights of reason, or ye will be worse than Egyptian
task-masters expecting virtue where Nature has not given understanding. |
|
[338] NOTES |
|
[339] {1} I once lived in
the neighbourhood of one of these men, a handsome man, and saw with surprise and
indignation women, whose appearance and attendance bespoke that rank in which females are
supposed to receive a superior education, flock to his door. |
|
[340] {2} I am not now
alluding to that superiority of mind which leads to the creation of ideal beauty, when
life, surveyed with a penetrating eye, appears a tragi-comedy, in which little can be seen
to satisfy the heart without the help of fancy. |
|
[341] {3} I had further
enlarged on the advantages which might reasonably be expected to result from an
improvement in female manners, towards the general reformation of society; but it appeared
to me that such reflections would more properly close the last volume. |