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CHAPTER II
THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL
CHARACTER DISCUSSED
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. 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. 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. 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: 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. 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: 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
— 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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: Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create, As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The worthy Dr. Gregory fell into a similar error. I
respect his heart, but entirely disapprove of his celebrated Legacy to his
Daughters. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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."
This is an obvious truth, and, the cause not lying
deep, will not elude a slight glance of inquiry. 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. 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. 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. 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 .ouch 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. I own it frequently happens, that women who have
fostered a romantic unnatural delicacy of feeling, waste their3
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? 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. 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, they4 kindly restore the rib,
and make one moral being of a man and woman; not forgetting to give her all the
"submissive charms." 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The poet then should have dropped his sneer when he
says: If weak women go astray, The stars are more ill fault than they. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 3 For
example, the herd of Novelists. 4 Vide
Rousseau and Swedenborg. |