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generous, when they are slaves of injustice?
Chapter XIII
There are many follies in some degree peculiar to women - sins against reason of commission as well as of omission - but all flowing from ignorance or prejudice. I shall only point out such as appear to be particularly injurious to their moral character. And in animadverting on them, I wish especially to prove that the weakness of mind and body, which men have endeavoured, impelled by various motives, to perpetuate, prevents their discharging the peculiar duty of their sex; for when weakness of body will not permit them to suckle their children, and weakness of mind makes them spoil their tempers, is woman in a natural state? SECTION I One glaring instance of the weakness which proceeds
from ignorance first claims attention, and calls for severe reproof. In
this metropolis a number of lurking leeches infamously gain a subsistence
by practising on the credulity of women, pretending to cast nativities,
to use the technical phrase; and many females who, proud of their rank
and fortune, look down on the vulgar with sovereign contempt, show by this
credulity that the distinction is arbitrary, and that they have not sufficiently
cultivated their minds to rise above vulgar prejudices. I must be allowed to expostulate seriously with the ladies who follow these idle inventions; for ladies, mistresses of families, are not ashamed to drive in their own carriages to door of the cunning man. [1] And if any of them should use this work, I entreat them to answer to their own hearts the following questions, not forgetting that they are in presence of God: Do you believe that there is but one God, and that He is powerful, wise, and good? Do you believe that all things were created by Him, and that all beings are dependent on Him? Do you rely on His wisdom, so conspicuous in His works, and your own frame, and are you convinced that He has ordered things which do not come under the cognisance of your senses, in the same perfect harmony, to fulfil His designs? Do you acknowledge that the power of looking into futurity, I seeing things that are not, as if they were, is an attribute of the Creator? And should He, by an impression on the minds His creatures, think fit to impart to them some event hid the shades of time yet unborn, to whom would the secret revealed by immediate inspiration? The opinion of ages will answer this question - to reverend old men, to people distinguished for eminent piety. The oracles of old were thus delivered to the service
of the God who was supposed to inspire them. Say not that such questions are an insult to common
sense, it is your own conduct, O ye foolish women! which throws an odium
on your sex. Probably you would not understand me were I to
attempt to show you that it would be absolutely inconsistent with the grand
purpose of life, that of rendering human creatures wise and virtuous; and
that, were it sanctioned by God, it would disturb the order established
in creation; and if it be not sanctioned by God, do you expect to hear
truth? Perhaps, however, you devoutly believe in the devil, and imagine, to shift the question, that he may assist his votaries; but, if really respecting the power of such a being, an enemy to goodness and to God, can you go to church after having been under such an obligation to him? From these delusions to those still more fashionable deceptions, practised by the whole tribe of magnetisers, the transition is very natural. With respect to them, it is equally proper to ask women a few questions. Do you know anything of the construction of the human frame? if not, it is proper that you should be told what every child ought to know, that when its admirable economy has been disturbed by intemperance or indolence, I speak not of violent disorders, but of chronical diseases, it must be brought into a healthy state again, by slow degrees, and if the functions of life have not been materially injured, regimen, another word for temperance, air, exercise, and a few medicines, prescribed by persons who have studied the human body, are the only human means, yet discovered, of recovering that inestimable blessing health, that will bear investigation. Do you then believe that these magnetisers, who, by hocus pocus tricks, pretend to work a miracle, are delegated by God, or assisted by the solver of all these kind of difficulties - the devil? Do they, when they put to flight, as it is said, disorders that have baffled the powers of medicine, work in conformity to the light of reason? or, do they effect these wonderful cures by supernatural aid? By a communication, an adept may answer, with the
world of spirits. A noble privilege, it must be allowed. Some of the ancients
mention familiar demons, who guarded them from danger by kindly intimating,
we cannot guess in what manner, when any danger was nigh; or, pointed out
what they ought to undertake. Yet the men who laid claim to this privilege,
out of the order of nature, insisted that it was the reward, or consequence,
of superior temperance and piety. I am not conversant with the technical terms, or initiated into the arcana, therefore I may speak improperly; but it is clear that men who will not conform to the law of reason, and earn a subsistence in an honest way, by degrees, are very fortunate in becoming acquainted with such obliging spirits. We cannot, indeed, give them credit for either great sagacity or goodness, else they would have chosen more noble instruments, when they wished to show themselves the benevolent friends of man. It is, however, little short of blasphemy to pretend to such powers! From the whole tenor of the dispensations of Providence,
it appears evident to sober reason, that certain vices produce certain
effects; and can anyone so grossly insult the wisdom of God, as to suppose
that a miracle will be allowed to disturb His general laws, to restore
to health the intemperate and vicious, merely to enable them to pursue
the same course with impunity? The mentioning of the name of Christ, after such
vile impostors, may displease some of my readers - I respect their warmth;
but let them not forget that the followers of these delusions bear His
name, and profess to be the disciples of Him, who said, by their works
we should know who were the children of God or the servants of sin. Is He a man that He should change, or punish out
of resentment? Here an awful stop is put to our inquiries. To suppose only that an all-wise and powerful Being,
as good as He is great, should create a being foreseeing, that after fifty
or sixty years of feverish existence, it would be plunged into never-ending
woe - is blasphemy. On what will the worm feed that is never to die? on
folly, on ignorance, say ye - I should blush indignantly at drawing the
natural conclusion could I insert it, and wish to withdraw myself from
the wing of my God! On such a supposition, I speak with reverence, He would
be a consuming fire. I know that many devout people boast of submitting
to the will of God blindly, as to an arbitrary sceptre or rod, on the same
principle as the Indians worship the devil. In other words, like people
in the common concerns of life, they homage to power, and cringe under
the foot that can crush them. And, if thus we respect God, can we give credit
to mysterious insinuations, which insult His laws? can we believe, though
it should stare us in the face, that He would work a miracle to authorise
confusion by sanctioning an error? SECTION II Another instance of that feminine weakness of character,
often produced by a confined education, is a romantic twist of the mind,
which has been very properly termed sentimental. These are the women who are amused by the reveries of the stupid novelists, who, knowing little of human nature, work up stale tales, and describe meretricious scenes, all retailed in a sentimental jargon, which equally tend to corrupt the taste, and draw the heart aside from its daily duties. I do not mention the understanding, because never having been exercised, its slumbering energies rest inactive, like the lurking particles of fire which are supposed universally to pervade matter. Females, in fact, denied all political privileges,
and not allowed, as married women, excepting in criminal cases, a civil
existence, have their attention naturally drawn from the interest of the
whole community to that of the minute parts, though the private duty
of any member of society must be very imperfectly performed when not connected
with the general good. But, confined to trifling employments, they naturally
imbibe opinions which the only kind of reading calculated to interest an
innocent frivolous mind inspires. This observation is the result of experience; for I have known several notable women, and one in particular, who was a very good woman - as good as such a narrow mind would allow her to be, who took care that her daughters (three in number) should never see a novel. As she was a woman of fortune and fashion, they had various masters to attend them, and a sort of menial governess to watch their footsteps. From their masters they learned how tables, chairs, etc., were called in French and Italian; but as the few books thrown in their way were far above their capacities, or devotional, they neither acquired ideas nor sentiments, and passed their time, when not compelled to repeat words, in dressing, quarrelling with each other, or conversing with their maids by stealth, till they were brought into company as marriageable. Their mother, a widow, was busy in the meantime
in keeping up her connections, as she termed a numerous acquaintance, lest
her girls should want a proper introduction into the great world. With respect to love, Nature, or their Nurses, had taken care to teach them the physical meaning of the word; and, as they had few topics of conversation, and fewer refinements of sentiment, they expressed their gross wishes not in very delicate phrases, when they spoke freely, talking of matrimony. Could these girls have been injured by the perusal of novels? I almost forgot a shade in the character of one of them; she affected a simplicity bordering on folly, and with a simper would utter the most immodest remarks and questions, the full meaning of which she had learned whilst secluded from the world, and to speak in her mother's presence, who governed with a hand; they were all educated, as she prided herself, in a most exemplary manner, and read their chapters before breakfast, never touching a silly novel. This only one instance; but I recollect many other
women not led by degrees to proper studies, and not permitted to choose
for themselves, have indeed been overgrown children; or have obtained,
by mixing in the world, a little of what is termed common sense; that is,
a distinct manner of seeing common occurrences, as they stand detached;
but what deserves name of intellect, the power of gaining, general or abstract,
or even intermediate ones, was out of the question. When, therefore, I advise my sex not to read such flimsy works, it is to induce them to read something superior; for I coincide in opinion with a sagacious man, who, having a daughter and niece under his care, pursued a very different with each. The niece, who had considerable abilities, had, before she left to his guardianship, been indulged in desultory reading. Her he endeavoured to lead, and did lead to history and moral essays; but his daughter, whom a fond weak mother had indulged, and who consequently was averse to everything like fornication, he allowed to read novels; and used to justify his conduct by saying, that if she ever attained a relish for reading them, he should have some foundation to work upon; and that erroneous opinions were better than none at all. In fact, the female mind has been so totally neglected, that knowledge was only to be acquired from this muddy source, till from reading novels some women of superior talents learned to despise them. The best method, I believe, that can be adopted to correct a fondness for novels is to ridicule them: not indiscriminately, for then it would have little effect; but, if a judicious person, with some turn for humour, would read several to a young girl and point out both by tones, and apt comparisons with pathetic incidents and heroic characters in history, how foolishly and ridiculously they caricatured human nature, just opinions might substituted instead of romantic sentiments. In one respect, however, the majority of both sexes resemble, and equally show a want of taste and modesty. Ignorant women, forced to be chaste to preserve their reputation, allow their imagination to revel in the unnatural and meretricious scenes sketched by the novel writers of the day, slighting as insipid the sober dignity, and matron graces of history, [2] whilst men carry the same vitiated taste into life, and fly for amusement to the wanton, from the unsophisticated charms of virtue, and the grave respectability of sense. Besides, the reading of novels makes women, and particularly ladies of fashion, very fond of using strong expressions and superlatives in conversation; and, though the dissipated artificial life which they lead prevents their cherishing any strong legitimate passion, the language of passion in affected tones slips for ever from their glib tongues, and every trifle produces those phosphoric bursts which only mimic in the dark the flame of passion. SECTION III Ignorance and the mistaken cunning that nature sharpens in weak heads as a principle of self-preservation, render women very fond of dress, and produce all the vanity which such a fondness may naturally be expected to generate, to the exclusion of emulation and magnanimity. I agree with Rousseau that the physical part of
the art of pleasing consists in ornaments, and for that very reason I should
guard girls against the contagious fondness for dress so common to weak
women, that they may not rest in the physical part. Yet, weak are the women
who imagine that they can long please without the aid of the mind, or,
in other words, without the moral art of pleasing. A strong inclination for external ornaments ever appears in barbarous states, only the men not the women adorn themselves; for where women are allowed to be so far on a level with men, society has advanced, at least, one step in civilisation. The attention to dress, therefore, which has been
thought a sexual propensity, I think natural to mankind. But I ought to
express myself with more precision. So far is this first inclination carried, that
even the hellish yoke of slavery cannot stifle the savage desire of admiration
which the black heroes inherit from both their parents, for all the hardly
earned savings of a slave are commonly expended in a little tawdry finery.
And I have seldom known a good male or female servant that was not particularly
fond of dress. Their clothes were their riches; and, I argue from analogy,
that the fondness for dress, so extravagant in females, arises from the
same cause - want of cultivation of mind. Besides, various are the paths to power and fame
which by accident or choice men pursue, and though they jostle against
each other, for men of the same profession are seldom friends, yet there
is a much greater number of their fellow-creatures with whom they never
clash. Before marriage it is their business to please
men; and after, with a few exceptions, they follow the same scene with
all the persevering pertinacity of instinct. Even virtuous women never
forget their sex in company, for they are for ever trying to make themselves
agreeable. Is it then surprising, that when the sole ambition of woman centres in beauty, and interest gives vanity additional force perpetual rivalships should ensue? They are all running the same race, and would rise above the virtue of mortals, if they did not view each other with a suspicious and even envious eye. An immoderate fondness for dress, for pleasure,
and for sway, are the passions of savages; the passions that occupy those
uncivilised beings who have not yet extended the dominion of the mind,
or even learned to think with the energy necessary to concatenate that
abstract train of thought which produces principles. Yet let it be proved that they ought to obey man implicitly, and I shall immediately agree that it is woman's duty to cultivate a fondness for dress, in order to please, and a propensity to cunning for her own preservation. The virtues, however, which are supported by ignorance must ever be wavering - the house built on sand could not endure a storm. It is almost unnecessary to draw the inference. If women are to be made virtuous by authority, which is a contradiction in terms, let them be immured in seraglios and watched with a jealous eye. Fear not that the iron will enter into their souls - for the souls that can bear such treatment are made of yielding materials, just animated enough to give life to the body.
The most cruel wounds will of course soon heal, and they may still people the world, and dress to please man - all the purpose! which certain celebrated writers have allowed that they were created to fulfill. SECTION IV Women are supposed to possess more sensibility,
and even humanity, than men, and their strong attachments and instantaneous
emotions of compassion are given as proofs; but the clinging affection
of ignorance has seldom anything noble in it, and may mostly be resolved
into selfishness, as well as the affection of children and brutes. I have
known many weak women whose sensibility was entirely engrossed by their
husbands; and as for their humanity, it was very faint indeed, or rather
it was only a transient emotion of compassion. But this kind of exclusive affection, though it degrades the individual, should not be brought forward as a proof of the inferiority of the sex, because it is the natural consequence of confined views; for even women of superior sense, having their attention turned to little employments, and private plans, rarely rise to heroism, unless when spurred on by love! and love, as an heroic passion, like genius, appears but once in an age. therefore agree with the moralist who asserts, "that women have seldom so much generosity as men"; and that their narrow affections, to which justice and humanity are often sacrificed, render the sex apparently inferior, especially, as they are commonly inspired by men; but I contend that the heart would expand as the understanding gained strength, if women re not depressed from their cradles. I know that a little sensibility, and great weakness, will produce a strong sexual attachment, and that reason must cement friendship; consequently, I allow that more friendship is to be found in the male than the female world, and that men have a higher sense of justice. The exclusive affections women seem indeed to resemble Cato's most unjust love for his country. He wished to crush Carthage, not to save Rome, but to promote its vain-glory; and, in general, it is to similar principles that humanity is sacrificed, for genuine duties support each other. Besides, how can women be just or generous, when they are slaves of injustice? SECTION V As the rearing of children, that is, the laying
a foundation of sound health both of body and mind in the rising generation,
has justly been insisted on as the peculiar destination of woman ignorance
that incapacitates them must be contrary to the order of things. I have sometimes compared the struggles of these poor children, who ought never to have felt restraint, nor would, had they been always held in with an even hand, to the despairing plunges of a spirited filly, which I have seen breaking on a strand: its feet sinking deeper and deeper in the sand every time it endeavoured to throw its rider, till at last it sullenly submitted. I have always found horses, animals I am attached
to, very tractable when treated with humanity and steadiness, so that I
doubt whether the violent methods taken to break them, do not essentially
injure them; I am, however, certain that a child should never be thus forcibly
tamed after it had injudiciously been allowed to run wild: for every
violation of justice and reason, in the treatment of children, weakens
their reason. One striking instance of the folly of women must
not be omitted. In short, speaking of the majority of mothers, they leave their children entirely to the care of servants; or, because they are their children, treat them as if they were little demi-gods though I have always observed, that the women who thus idolise their children, seldom show common humanity to servants, or feel the least tenderness for any children but their own. It is, however, these exclusive affections, and an individual manner of seeing things, produced by ignorance, which keep women for ever at a stand, with respect to improvement, and make many of them dedicate their lives to their children only to weaken their bodies and spoil their tempers, frustrating also any plan of education that a more rational father may adopt. for unless a mother concur, the father who restrains will ever be considered as a tyrant. But, fulfilling the duties of a mother, a woman
with a sound constitution, may still keep her person scrupulously neat,
and assist to maintain her family, if necessary, or by reading and conversation
with both sexes, indiscriminately, improve her mind. But, visiting to display finery, card-playing, and balls, not to mention the idle bustle of morning trifling, draw women from their duty to render them insignificant, to render them pleasing, according to the present acceptation of the word, to every man but their husband. For a round of pleasures in which the affections are not exercised, cannot be said to improve the understanding, though it be erroneously called seeing the world. yet the heart is rendered cold and averse to duty, by such a senseless intercourse, which becomes necessary from habit even when it has ceased to amuse. But, we shall not see women affectionate till more equality be established in society, till ranks are confounded and women freed, neither shall we see that dignified domestic happiness, the simple grandeur of which cannot be relished by ignorant or vitiated minds; nor will the important task of education ever be properly begun till the person of a woman is no longer preferred to her mind. For it would be as wise to expect corn from tares, or figs from thistles, as that a foolish ignorant woman should be a good mother. SECTION VI 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. 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. 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. Yet, true voluptuousness must proceed from the
mind - for what can equal the sensations produced by mutual affection,
supported by mutual respect? 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.
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. 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. 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. Were not dissenters, for instance, a class of people,
with strict truth, characterised as cunning? 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] 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. 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. NOTES [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. RETURN TO TEXT [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. RETURN TO TEXT [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. RETURN TO TEXT | BACK TO CHAP. TWELVE | | RETURN TO TOP | | GO TO LIBRARY | |
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