CHAPTER 12.
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION.
The good effects resulting from attention to private education will ever be
very confined, and the parent who really puts his own hand to the plow, will always,
in some degree be disappointed, till education becomes a grand national
concern. A man cannot retire into a
desert with his child, and if he did, he could not bringhimself
back to childhood, and become the proper friend and play-fellow of an infant or
youth. And when children are confined to
the society of men and women, they very soon acquire that kind of premature
manhood which stops the growth of every vigorous power of mind or body. In order to open their faculties they should
be excited to think for themselves; and this can only be done by mixing a
number of children together, and making them jointly pursue the same objects.
A child very soon contracts a benumbing indolence of mind, which he has
seldom sufficient vigour to shake off, when he only
asks a question instead of seeking for information, and then relies implicitly
on the answer he receives. With his
equals in age this could never be the case, and the subjects of inquiry, though
they might be influenced, would not be entirely under the direction of men, who
frequently damp, if not destroy abilities, by bringing them forward too
hastily: and too hastily they will
infallibly be brought forward, if the child could be confined to the society of
a man, however sagacious that man may be.
Besides, in youth the seeds of every affection should be sown, and the
respectful regard, which is felt for a parent, is very different from the
social affections that are to constitute the happiness of life as it advances. Of these, equality is the basis, and an
intercourse of sentiments unclogged by that observant seriousness which
prevents disputation, though it may not inforce
submission. Let a child have ever such
an affection for his parent, he will always languish to play and chat with
children; and the very respect he entertains, for filial esteem always has a
dash of fear mixed with it, will, if it do not teach him cunning, at least
prevent him from pouring out the little secrets which first open the heart to
friendship and confidence, gradually leading to more expansive
benevolence. Added to this, he will
never acquire that frank ingenuousness of behaviour,
which young people can only attain by being frequently in society, where they
dare to speak what they think; neither afraid of being reproved for their
presumption, nor laughed at for their folly.
Forcibly impressed by the reflections which the sight of schools, as they
are at present conducted, naturally suggested, I have formerly delivered my
opinion rather warmly in favour of a private education;
but further experience has led me to view the subject in a different
light. I still, however, think schools,
as they are now regulated, the hot-beds of vice and folly, and the knowledge of
human nature, supposed to be attained there, merely cunning selfishness.
At school, boys become gluttons and slovens, and,
instead of cultivating domestic affections, very early rush into the
libertinism which destroys the constitution before it is formed; hardening the
heart as it weakens the understanding.
I should, in fact, be averse to boarding-schools, if it were for no other
reason than the unsettled state of mind which the expectation of the vacations
produce. On these the children's
thoughts are fixed with eager anticipating hopes, for, at least, to speak with
moderation, half of the time, and when they arrive they are spent in total
dissipation and beastly indulgence.
But, on the contrary, when they are brought up at home, though theymay pursue a plan of study in a more orderly manner
than can be adopted, when near a fourth part of the year is actually spent in
idleness, and as much more in regret and anticipation; yet they there acquire
too high an opinion of their own importance, from being allowed to tyrannize
over servants, and from the anxiety expressed by most mothers, on the score of
manners, who, eager to teach the accomplishments of a gentleman, stifle, in
their birth, the virtues of a man. Thus
brought into company when they ought to be seriously employed, and treated like
men when they are still boys, they become vain and effeminate.
The only way to avoid two extremes equally injurious to morality, would be
to contrive some way of combining a public and private education. Thus to make men citizens, two natural steps
might be taken, which seem directly to lead to the desired point; for the
domestic affections, that first open the heart to the various modifications of
humanity would be cultivated, whilst the children were nevertheless allowed to
spend great part of their time, on terms of equality, with other children.
I still recollect, with pleasure, the country day school; where a boy
trudged in the morning, wet or dry, carrying his books, and his dinner, if it
were at a considerable distance; a servant did not then lead master by the
hand, for, when he had once put on coat and breeches, he was allowed to shift
for himself, and return alone in the evening to recount the feats of the day
close at the parental knee. His father's
house was his home, and was ever after fondly remembered; nay, I appeal to some
superior men who were educated in this manner, whether the recollection of some
shady lane where they conned their lesson; or, of some stile, where they sat
making a kite, or mending a bat, has not endeared their country to them?
But, what boy ever recollected with pleasure the years he spent in close
confinement, at an academy near London? unless indeed he should by chance
remember the poor scare-crow of an usher whom he tormented; or, the tartman, from whom he caught a cake, to devour it with the
cattish appetite of selfishness. At
boarding schools of every description, the relaxation of the junior boys is
mischief; and of the senior, vice.
Besides, in great schools what can be more prejudicial to the moral
character, than the system of tyranny and abject slavery which is established
amongst the boys, to say nothing of the slavery to forms, which makes religion
worse than a farce? For what good can be
expected from the youth who receives the sacrament of the Lord's supper, to
avoid forfeiting half-a-guinea, which he probably afterwards spends in some
sensual manner? Half the employment of
the youths is to elude the necessity of attending public worship; and well they
may, for such a constant repetition of the same thing must be a very irksome
restraint on their natural vivacity. As
these ceremonies have the most fatal effect on their morals, and as a ritual
performed by the lips, when the heart and mind are far away, is not now stored
up by our church as a bank to draw on for the fees of the poor souls in
purgatory, why should they not be abolished?
But the fear of innovation, in this country, extends to every thing. This is only a covert fear, the apprehensive
timidity of indolent slugs, who guard, by sliming it over, the snug place, which
they consider in the light of an hereditary estate; and eat, drink, and enjoy
themselves, instead of fulfilling the duties, excepting a few empty forms, for
which it was endowed. These are the
people who most strenuously insist on the will of the founder being observed,
crying out against all reformation, as if it were a violation of justice. I am now alluding particularly to the relicks of popery retained in our colleges, where the
protestant members seem to be such sticklers for the established church; but
their zeal never makes them lose sight of the spoil of ignorance, which
rapacious priests of superstitious memory have scraped together. No, wise in their generation, they venerate
the prescriptive right of possession, as a strong hold, and still let the
sluggish bell tingle to prayers, as during the days, when the elevation of the
host was supposed to atone for the sins of the people, lest one reformation
should lead to another, and the spirit kill the letter. These Romish
customs have the most baneful effect on the morals of our clergy; for the idle
vermin who two or three times a day perform, in the most slovenly manner a
service which they think useless, but call their duty, soon lose a sense of
duty. At college, forced to attend or evade public worship, they acquire an
habitual contempt for the very service, the performance of which is to enable
them to live in idleness. It is mumbled
over as an affair of business, as a stupid boy repeats his task, and frequently
the college cant escapes from the preacher the moment after he has left the
pulpit, and even whilst he is eating the dinner which he earned in such a
dishonest manner.
Nothing, indeed, can be more irreverent than the cathedral service as it is
now performed in this country, neither does it contain a set of weaker men than
those who are the slaves of this childish routine. A disgusting skeleton of the former state is
still exhibited; but all the solemnity, that interested the imagination, if it did
not purify the heart, is stripped off.
The performance of high mass on the continent must impress every mind,
where a spark of fancy glows, with that awful melancholy, that sublime
tenderness, so near a-kin to devotion. I
do not say, that these devotional feelings are of more use, in a moral sense,
than any other emotion of taste; but I contend, that the theatrical pomp which
gratifies our senses, is to be preferred to the cold parade that insults the
understanding without reaching the heart.
Amongst remarks on national education, such observations cannot be
misplaced, especially as the supporters of these establishments, degenerated
into puerilities, affect to be the champions of religion. Religion, pure source of comfort in this vale
of tears! how has thy clear stream been muddied by the dabblers, who have
presumptuously endeavoured to confine in one narrow
channel, the living waters that ever flow toward God-- the sublime ocean of
existence! What would life be without
that peace which the love of God, when built on humanity, alone can
impart? Every earthly affection turns
back, at intervals, to prey upon the heart that feeds it; and the purest
effusions of benevolence, often rudely damped by men, must mount as a free-will
offering to Him who gave them birth, whose bright image they faintly reflect.
In public schools, however, religion, confounded with irksome ceremonies
and unreasonable restraints, assumes the most ungracious aspect: not the sober austere one that commands
respect whilst it inspires fear; but a ludicrous cast, that serves to point a
pun. For, in fact, most of the good stories and smart things which enliven the
spirits that have been concentrated at whist, are manufactured out of the
incidents to which the very men labour to give a
droll turn who countenance the abuse to live on the spoil.
There is not, perhaps, in the kingdom, a more dogmatical
or luxurious set of men, than the pedantic tyrants who reside in colleges and
preside at public schools. The vacations
are equally injurious to the morals of the masters and pupils, and the
intercourse, which the former keep up with the nobility, introduces the same
vanity and extravagance into their families, which banish domestic duties and
comforts from the lordly mansion, whose state is awkwardly aped on a smaller
scale. The boys, who live at a great expence with the masters and assistants, are never
domesticated, though placed there for that purpose; for, after a silent dinner,
they swallow a hasty glass of wine, and retire to plan some mischievous trick,
or to ridicule the person or manners of the very people they have just been
cringing to, and whom they ought to consider as the representatives of their
parents.
Can it then be a matter of surprise, that boys become selfish and vicious
who are thus shut out from social converse? or that a mitre
often graces the brow of one of these diligent pastors? The desire of living in
the same style, as the rank just above them, infects each individual and every
class of people, and meanness is the concomitant of this ignoble ambition; but
those professions are most debasing whose ladder is patronage; yet out of one
of these professions the tutors of youth are in general chosen. But, can they be expected to inspire
independent sentiments, whose conduct must be regulated by the cautious
prudence that is ever on the watch for preferment?
So far, however, from thinking of the morals of boys, I have heard several
masters of schools argue, that they only undertook to teach Latin and Greek;
and that they had fulfilled their duty, by sending some good scholars to
college.
A few good scholars, I grant, may have been formed by emulation and
discipline; but, to bring forward these clever boys, the health and morals of a
number have been sacrificed.
The sons of our gentry and wealthy commoners are mostly educated at these
seminaries, and will any one pretend to assert, that the majority, making every
allowance, come under the description of tolerable scholars?
It is not for the benefit of society that a few brilliant men should be
brought forward at the expence of the multitude. It is true, that great men seem to start up,
as great revolutions occur, at proper intervals, to restore order, and to blow
aside the clouds that thicken over the face of truth; but let more reason and
virtue prevail in society, and these strong winds would not be necessary.
Public education, of every denomination, should be directed to form citizens;
but if you wish to make good citizens, you must first exercise the affections
of a son and a brother. This is the only
way to expand the heart; for public affections, as well as public virtues, must
ever grow out of the private character, or they are merely meteors that shoot
athwart a dark sky, and disappear as they are gazed at and admired.
Few, I believe, have had much affection for mankind, who did not first love
their parents, their brothers, sisters, and even the domestic brutes, whom they
first played with. The exercise of
youthful sympathies forms the moral temperature; and it is the recollection of
these first affections and pursuits, that gives life to those that are
afterwards more under the direction of reason.
In youth, the fondest friendships are formed, the genial juices mounting
at the same time, kindly mix; or, rather the heart, tempered for the reception
of friendship, is accustomed to seek for pleasure in something more noble than
the churlish gratification of appetite.
In order then to inspire a love of home and domestic pleasures, children
ought to be educated at home, for riotous holidays only make them fond of home
for their own sakes. Yet, the vacations,
which do not foster domestic affections, continually disturb the course of
study, and render any plan of improvement abortive which includes temperance;
still, were they abolished, children would be entirely separated from their
parents, and I question whether they would become better citizens by
sacrificing the preparatory affections, by destroying the force of
relationships that render the marriage state as necessary as respectable. But, if a private education produce
self-importance, or insulates a man in his family, the evil is only shifted,
not remedied.
This train of reasoning brings me back to a subject, on which I mean to
dwell, the necessity of establishing proper day-schools.
But these should be national establishments, for whilst school-masters are
dependent on the caprice of parents, little exertion can be expected from them,
more than is necessary to please ignorant people. Indeed, the necessity of a master's giving
the parents some sample of the boy's abilities, which during the vacation, is
shown to every visiter, is productive of more
mischief than would at first be supposed.
For they are seldom done entirely, to speak with moderation, by the child
itself; thus the master countenances falsehoods, or winds the poor machine up
to some extraordinary exertion, that injures the wheels, and stops the progress
of gradual improvement. The memory is
loaded with unintelligible words, to make a show of, without the
understanding's acquiring any distinct ideas: but only that education deserves
emphatically to be termed cultivation of mind, which teaches young people how
to begin to think. The imagination
should not be allowed to debauch the understanding before it gained strength,
or vanity will become the forerunner of vice:
for every way of exhibiting the acquirements of a child is injurious to
its moral character.
How much time is lost in teaching them to recite what they do not understand!
whilst, seated on benches, all in their best array, the mammas listen with
astonishment to the parrot-like prattle, uttered in solemn cadences, with all
the pomp of ignorance and folly. Such
exhibitions only serve to strike the spreading fibres
of vanity through the whole mind; for they neither teach children to speak
fluently, nor behave gracefully. So far
from it, that these frivolous pursuits might comprehensively be termed the
study of affectation: for we now rarely see a simple, bashful boy, though few
people of taste were ever disgusted by that awkward sheepishness so natural to
the age, which schools and an early introduction into society, have changed
into impudence and apish grimace.
Yet, how can these things be remedied whilst schoolmasters depend entirely
on parents for a subsistence; and when so many rival schools hang out their
lures to catch the attention of vain fathers and mothers, whose parental
affection only leads them to wish, that their children should outshine those of
their neighbours?
Without great good luck, a sensible, conscientious man, would starve before
he could raise a school, if he disdained to bubble weak parents, by practising the secret tricks of the craft.
In the best regulated schools, however, where swarms are not crammed
together many bad habits must be acquired; but, at common schools, the body,
heart, and understanding, are equally stunted, for parents are often only in
quest of the cheapest school, and the master could not live, if he did not take
a much greater number than he could manage himself; nor will the scanty
pittance, allowed for each child, permit him to hire ushers sufficient to
assist in the discharge of the mechanical part of the business. Besides, whatever appearance the house and
garden may make, the children do not enjoy the comforts of either, for they are
continually reminded, by irksome restrictions, that they are not at home, and
the state-rooms, garden, etc. must be kept in order for the recreation of the
parents; who, of a Sunday, visit the school, and are impressed by the very
parade that renders the situation of their children uncomfortable.
With what disgust have I heard sensible women, for girls are more
restrained and cowed than boys, speak of the wearisome confinement which they
endured at school. Not allowed, perhaps,
to step out of one broad walk in a superb garden, and obliged to pace with
steady deportment stupidly backwards and forwards, holding up their heads, and
turning out their toes, with shoulders braced back, instead of bounding, as
nature directs to complete her own design, in the various attitudes so
conducive to health. The pure animal
spirits, which make both mind and body shoot out, and unfold the tender
blossoms of hope are turned sour, and vented in vain wishes, or pert repinings, that contract the faculties and spoil the
temper; else they mount to the brain and sharpening the understanding before it
gains proportionable strength, produce that pitiful
cunning which disgracefully characterizes the female mind--and I fear will ever
characterize it whilst women remain the slaves of power!
The little respect which the male world pay to chastity is, I am persuaded,
the grand source of many of the physical and moral evils that torment mankind,
as well as of the vices and follies that degrade and destroy women; yet at
school, boys infallibly lose that decent bashfulness, which might have ripened
into modesty at home.
I have already animadverted on the bad habits which females acquire when
they are shut up together; and I think that the observation may fairly be
extended to the other sex, till the natural inference is drawn which I have had
in view throughout--that to improve both sexes they ought, not only in private
families, but in public schools, to be educated together. If marriage be the cement of society, mankind
should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes
will never deserve the name of fellowship, nor will women ever fulfil the peculiar duties of their sex, till they become
enlightened citizens, till they become free, by being enabled to earn their own
subsistence, independent of men; in the same manner, I mean, to prevent
misconstruction, as one man is independent of another. Nay, marriage will never be held sacred till
women by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions, rather
than their mistresses; for the mean doublings of cunning will ever render them
contemptible, whilst oppression renders them timid. So convinced am I of this truth, that I will
venture to predict, that virtue will never prevail in society till the virtues
of both sexes are founded on reason; and, till the affection common to both are
allowed to gain their due strength by the discharge of mutual duties.
Were boys and girls permitted to pursue the same studies together, those
graceful decencies might early be inculcated which produce modesty, without
those sexual distinctions that taint the mind. Lessons of politeness, and that
formulary of decorum, which treads on the heels of falsehood, would be rendered
useless by habitual propriety of behaviour. Not, indeed put on for visiters
like the courtly robe of politeness, but the sober effect of cleanliness of
mind. Would not this simple elegance of
sincerity be a chaste homage paid to domestic affections, far surpassing the
meretricious compliments that shine with false lustre
in the heartless intercourse of fashionable life? But, till more understanding preponderate in
society, there will ever be a want of heart and taste, and the harlot's rouge
will supply the place of that celestial suffusion which only virtuous
affections can give to the face.
Gallantry, and what is called love, may subsist without simplicity of
character; but the main pillars of friendship, are respect and confidence--esteem
is never founded on it cannot tell what.
A taste for the fine arts requires great cultivation; but not more than a
taste for the virtuous affections: and
both suppose that enlargement of mind which opens so many sources of mental
pleasure. Why do people hurry to noisy scenes and crowded circles? I should answer, because they want activity
of mind, because they have not cherished the virtues of the heart. They only, therefore, see and feel in the
gross, and continually pine after variety, finding every thing that is simple,
insipid.
This argument may be carried further than philosophers are aware of, for if
nature destined woman, in particular, for the discharge of domestic duties, she
made her susceptible of the attached affections in a great degree. Now women are notoriously fond of pleasure;
and naturally must be so, according to my definition, because they cannot enter
into the minutiae of domestic taste; lacking judgment the foundation of all
taste. For the understanding, in spite
of sensual cavillers, reserves to itself the
privilege of conveying pure joy to the heart.
With what a languid yawn have I seen an admirable poem thrown down, that a
man of true taste returns to, again and again with rapture; and, whilst melody
has almost suspended respiration, a lady has asked me where I bought my
gown. I have seen also an eye glanced
coldly over a most exquisite picture, rest, sparkling with pleasure, on a
caricature rudely sketched; and whilst some terrific feature in nature has
spread a sublime stillness through my soul, I have been desired to observe the
pretty tricks of a lap-dog, that my perverse fate forced me to travel
with. Is it surprising, that such a
tasteless being should rather caress this dog than her children? Or, that she should prefer the rant of
flattery to the simple accents of sincerity?
To illustrate this remark I must be allowed to observe, that men of the
first genius, and most cultivated minds, have appeared to have the highest
relish for the simple beauties of nature; and they must have forcibly felt,
what they have so well described, the charm, which natural affections, and
unsophisticated feelings spread round the human character. It is this power of looking into the heart,
and responsively vibrating with each emotion, that enables the poet to
personify each passion, and the painter to sketch with a pencil of fire.
True taste is ever the work of the understanding employed in observing
natural effects; and till women have more understanding, it is vain to expect them
to possess domestic taste. Their lively
senses will ever be at work to harden their hearts, and the emotions struck out
of them will continue to be vivid and transitory, unless a proper education
stores their minds with knowledge.
It is the want of domestic taste, and not the acquirement of knowledge,
that takes women out of their families, and tears the smiling babe from the
breast that ought to afford it nourishment. Women have been allowed to remain
in ignorance, and slavish dependence, many, very many years, and still we hear
of nothing but their fondness of pleasure and sway, their preference of rakes
and soldiers, their childish attachment to toys, and the vanity that makes them
value accomplishments more than virtues.
History brings forward a fearful catalogue of the crimes which their
cunning has produced, when the weak slaves have had sufficient address to
over-reach their masters. In France, and
in how many other countries have men been the luxurious despots, and women the
crafty ministers? Does this prove that
ignorance and dependence domesticate them?
Is not their folly the by-word of the libertines, who relax in their
society; and do not men of sense continually lament, that an immoderate
fondness for dress and dissipation carries the mother of a family for ever from
home? Their hearts have not been debauched by knowledge, nor their minds led
astray by scientific pursuits; yet, they do not fulfil
the peculiar duties, which as women they are called upon by nature to fulfil. On the
contrary, the state of warfare which subsists between the sexes, makes them
employ those wiles, that frustrate the more open designs of force.
When, therefore, I call women slaves, I mean in a political and civil
sense; for, indirectly they obtain too much power, and are debased by their
exertions to obtain illicit sway.
Let an enlightened nation then try what effect reason would have to bring
them back to nature, and their duty; and allowing them to share the advantages
of education and government with man, see whether they will become better, as
they grow wiser and become free. They
cannot be injured by the experiment; for it is not in the power of man to
render them more insignificant than they are at present.
To render this practicable, day schools for particular ages should be
established by government, in which boys and girls might be educated
together. The school for the younger
children, from five to nine years of age, ought to be absolutely free and open
to all classes.* A sufficient number of
masters should also be chosen by a select committee, in each parish, to whom
any complaint of negligence, etc. might be made, if signed by six of the
children's parents.
Ushers would then be unnecessary; for, I believe, experience will ever
prove, that this kind of subordinate authority is particularly injurious to the
morals of youth. What, indeed, can tend
to deprave the character more than outward submission and inward contempt? Yet, how can boys be expected to treat an
usher with respect when the master seems to consider him in the light of a
servant, and almost to countenance the ridicule which becomes the chief
amusement of the boys during the play hours?
But nothing of this kind could occur in an elementary day-school, where
boys and girls, the rich and poor, should meet together. And to prevent any of the distinctions of
vanity, they should be dressed alike, and all obliged to submit to the same
discipline, or leave the school. The
school-room ought to be surrounded by a large piece of ground, in which the
children might be usefully exercised, for at this age they should not be
confined to any sedentary employment for more than an hour at a time. But these relaxations might all be rendered a
part of elementary education, for many things improve and amuse the senses,
when introduced as a kind of show, to the principles of which dryly laid down,
children would turn a deaf ear. For
instance, botany, mechanics, and astronomy.
Reading, writing, arithmetic, natural history, and some simple
experiments in natural philosophy, might fill up the day; but these pursuits
should never encroach on gymnastic plays in the open air. The elements of religion, history, the
history of man, and politics, might also be taught by conversations, in the socratic form.
After the age of nine, girls and boys, intended for domestic employments,
or mechanical trades, ought to be removed to other schools, and receive
instruction, in some measure appropriated to the destination of each
individual, the two sexes being still together in the morning; but in the
afternoon, the girls should attend a school, where plain work, mantua-making, millinery, etc. would be their employment.
The young people of superior abilities, or fortune, might now be taught, in
another school, the dead and living languages, the elements of science, and
continue the study of history and politics, on a more extensive scale, which
would not exclude polite literature.
Girls and boys still together? I hear some readers ask: yes.
And I should not fear any other consequence, than that some early
attachment might take place; which, whilst it had the best effect on the moral
character of the young people, might not perfectly agree with the views of the
parents, for it will be a long time, I fear, before the world is so
enlightened, that parents, only anxious to render their children virtuous, will
let them choose companions for life themselves.
Besides, this would be a sure way to promote early marriages, and from
early marriages the most salutary physical and moral effects naturally
flow. What a different character does a
married citizen assume from the selfish coxcomb, who lives but for himself, and
who is often afraid to marry lest he should not be able to live in a certain
style. Great emergencies excepted, which
would rarely occur in a society of which equality was the basis, a man could
only be prepared to discharge the duties of public life, by the habitual
practice of those inferior ones which form the man.
In this plan of education, the constitution of boys would not be ruined by
the early debaucheries, which now make men so selfish, nor girls rendered weak
and vain, by indolence and frivolous pursuits.
But, I presuppose, that such a degree of equality should be established
between the sexes as would shut out gallantry and coquetry, yet allow
friendship and love to temper the heart for the discharge of higher duties.
These would be schools of morality--and the happiness of man, allowed to flow
from the pure springs of duty and affection, what advances might not the human
mind make? Society can only be happy and
free in proportion as it is virtuous; but the present distinctions, established
in society, corrode all private, and blast all public virtue.
I have already inveighed against the custom of confining girls to their
needle, and shutting them out from all political and civil employments; for by
thus narrowing their minds they are rendered unfit to fulfil
the peculiar duties which nature has assigned them.
Only employed about the little incidents of the day, they necessarily grow
up cunning. My very soul has often
sickened at observing the sly tricks practised by
women to gain some foolish thing on which their silly hearts were set. Not allowed to dispose of money, or call any
thing their own, they learn to turn the market penny; or, should a husband
offend, by staying from home, or give rise to some emotions of jealousy--a new
gown, or any pretty bauble, smooths Juno's angry
brow.
But these LITTLENESSES would not degrade their character, if women were led
to respect themselves, if political and moral subjects were opened to them; and
I will venture to affirm, that this is the only way to make them properly
attentive to their domestic duties. An active mind embraces the whole circle of
its duties, and finds time enough for all.
It is not, I assert, a bold attempt to emulate masculine virtues; it is
not the enchantment of literary pursuits, or the steady investigation of
scientific subjects, that lead women astray from duty. No, it is indolence and vanity –the love of
pleasure and the love of sway,that will reign
paramount in an empty mind. I say empty,
emphatically, because the education which women now receive scarcely deserves
the name. For the little knowledge they
are led to acquire during the important years of youth, is merely relative to
accomplishments; and accomplishments without a bottom, for unless the
understanding be cultivated, superficial and monotonous is every grace. Like the charms of a made-up face, they only
strike the senses in a crowd; but at home, wanting mind, they want
variety. The consequence is obvious; in
gay scenes of dissipation we meet the artificial mind and face, for those who
fly from solitude dread next to solitude, the domestic circle; not having it in
their power to amuse or interest, they feel their own insignificance, or find
nothing to amuse or interest themselves.
Besides, what can be more indelicate than a girl's coming out in the
fashionable world? Which, in other
words, is to bring to market a marriageable miss, whose person is taken from
one public place to another, richly caparisoned. Yet, mixing in the giddy circle under
restraint, these butterflies long to flutter at large, for the first affection
of their souls is their own persons, to which their attention has been called
with the most sedulous care, whilst they were preparing for the period that
decides their fate for life. Instead of
pursuing this idle routine, sighing for tasteless show, and heartless state,
with what dignity would the youths of both sexes form attachments in the
schools that I have cursorily pointed out; in which, as life advanced, dancing,
music, and drawing, might be admitted as relaxations, for at these schools
young people of fortune ought to remain, more or less, till they were of
age. Those, who were designed for
particular professions, might attend, three or four mornings in the week, the
schools appropriated for their immediate instruction.
I only drop these observations at present, as hints; rather, indeed as an
outline of the plan I mean, than a digested one; but I must add, that I highly
approve of one regulation mentioned in the pamphlet already alluded to (The
Bishop of Autun), that of making the children and
youths independent of the masters respecting punishments. They should be tried by their peers, which
would be an admirable method of fixing sound principles of justice in the mind,
and might have the happiest effect on the temper, which is very early soured or
irritated by tyranny, till it becomes peevishly cunning, or ferociously
overbearing.
My imagination darts forward with benevolent fervour
to greet these amiable and respectable groups, in spite of the sneering of cold
hearts, who are at liberty to utter, with frigid self-importance, the damning
epithet-- romantic; the force of which I shall endeavour
to blunt by repeating the words of an eloquent moralist. "I know not
whether the allusions of a truly humane heart, whose zeal renders every thing
easy, is not preferable to that rough and repulsing reason, which always finds
in indifference for the public good, the first obstacle to whatever would
promote it."
I know that libertines will also exclaim, that woman would be unsexed by
acquiring strength of body and mind, and that beauty, soft bewitching beauty!
would no longer adorn the daughters of men. I am of a very different opinion,
for I think, that, on the contrary, we should then see dignified beauty, and
true grace; to produce which, many powerful physical and moral causes would
concur. Not relaxed beauty, it is true,
nor the graces of helplessness; but such as appears to make us respect the
human body as a majestic pile, fit to receive a noble inhabitant, in the relics
of antiquity.
I do not forget the popular opinion, that the Grecian statues were not modelled after nature.
I mean, not according to the proportions of a particular man; but that
beautiful limbs and features were selected from various bodies to form an
harmonious whole. This might, in some
degree, be true. The fine ideal picture
of an exalted imagination might be superior to the materials which the painter
found in nature, and thus it might with propriety be termed rather the model of
mankind than of a man. It was not, however,
the mechanical selection of limbs and features, but the ebullition of an heated
fancy that burst forth; and the fine senses and enlarged understanding of the
artist selected the solid matter, which he drew into this glowing focus.
I observed that it was not mechanical, because a whole was produced--a
model of that grand simplicity, of those concurring energies, which arrest our
attention and command our reverence. For only insipid lifeless beauty is
produced by a servile copy of even beautiful nature. Yet, independent of these observations, I
believe, that the human form must have been far more beautiful than it is at
present, because extreme indolence, barbarous ligatures, and many causes, which
forcibly act on it, in our luxurious state of society, did not retard its
expansion, or render it deformed. Exercise and cleanliness appear to be not
only the surest means of preserving health, but of promoting beauty, the
physical causes only considered; yet, this is not sufficient, moral ones must
concur, or beauty will be merely of that rustic kind which blooms on the
innocent, wholesome countenances of some country people, whose minds have not
been exercised. To render the person
perfect, physical and moral beauty ought to be attained at the same time; each
lending and receiving force by the combination.
Judgment must reside on the brow, affection and fancy beam in the eye,
and humanity curve the cheek, or vain is the sparkling of the finest eye or the
elegantly turned finish of the fairest features; whilst in every motion that displays the
active limbs and well-knit joints, grace and modesty should appear. But this fair assemblage is not to be brought
together by chance; it is the reward of exertions met to support each other;
for judgment can only be acquired by reflection, affection, by the discharge of
duties, and humanity by the exercise of compassion to every living creature.
Humanity to animals should be particularly inculcated as a part of national
education, for it is not at present one of our national virtues. Tenderness for their humble dumb domestics,
amongst the lower class, is oftener to be found in a savage than a civilized
state. For civilization prevents that
intercourse which creates affection in the rude hut, or mud cabin, and leads
uncultivated minds who are only depraved by the refinements which prevail in
the society, where they are trodden under foot by the rich, to domineer over
them to revenge the insults that they are obliged to bear from their superiours.
This habitual cruelty is first caught at school, where it is one of the
rare sports of the boys to torment the miserable brutes that fall in their
way. The transition, as they grow up,
from barbarity to brutes to domestic tyranny over wives, children, and
servants, is very easy. Justice, or even
benevolence, will not be a powerful spring of action, unless it extend to the
whole creation; nay, I believe that it may be delivered as an axiom, that those
who can see pain, unmoved, will soon learn to inflict it.
The vulgar are swayed by present feelings, and the habits which they have
accidentally acquired; but on partial feelings much dependence cannot be
placed, though they be just; for, when they are not invigorated by reflection,
custom weakens them, till they are scarcely felt. The sympathies of our nature are strengthened
by pondering cogitations, and deadened by thoughtless use. Macbeth's heart
smote him more for one murder, the first, than for a hundred subsequent ones,
which were necessary to back it. But,
when I used the epithet vulgar, I did not mean to confine my remark to the
poor, for partial humanity, founded on present sensations or whim, is quite as
conspicuous, if not more so, amongst the rich.
The lady who sheds tears for the bird starved in a snare, and execrates the
devils in the shape of men, who goad to madness the poor ox, or whip the
patient ass, tottering under a burden above its strength, will, nevertheless,
keep her coachman and horses whole hours waiting for her, when the sharp frost
bites, or the rain beats against the well-closed windows which do not admit a
breath of air to tell her how roughly the wind blows without. And
she who takes her dogs to bed, and nurses them with a parade of
sensibility, when sick, will suffer her babes to grow up crooked in a
nursery. This illustration of my
argument is drawn from a matter of fact.
The woman whom I allude to was handsome, reckoned very handsome, by
those who do not miss the mind when the face is plump and fair; but her
understanding had not been led from female duties by literature, nor her
innocence debauched by knowledge. No,
she was quite feminine, according to the masculine acceptation of the word;
and, so far from loving these spoiled brutes that filled the place which her
children ought to have occupied, she only lisped out a pretty mixture of French
and English nonsense, to please the men who flocked round her. The wife, mother, and human creature, were
all swallowed up by the factitious character, which an improper education, and
the selfish vanity of beauty, had produced.
I do not like to make a distinction without a difference, and I own that I
have been as much disgusted by the fine lady who took her lap-dog to her bosom,
instead of her child; as by the ferocity of a man, who, beating his horse,
declared, that he knew as well when he did wrong as a Christian. This brood of
folly shows how mistaken they are who, if they allow women to leave their harams, do not cultivate their understanding, in order to
plant virtues in their hearts. For had
they sense, they might acquire that domestic taste which would lead them to
love with reasonable subordination their whole family, from the husband to the
house-dog; nor would they ever insult humanity in the person of the most menial
servant, by paying more attention to the comfort of a brute, than to that of a
fellow-creature.
My observations on national education are obviously hints; but I
principally wish to enforce the necessity of educating the sexes together to
perfect both, and of making children sleep at home, that they may learn to love
home; yet to make private support instead of smothering public affections, they
should be sent to school to mix with a number of equals, for only by the jostlings of equality can we form a just opinion of
ourselves.
To render mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes must act
from the same principle; but how can that be expected when only one is allowed
to see the reasonableness of it? To
render also the social compact truly equitable, and in order to spread those
enlightening principles, which alone can meliorate the fate of man, women must
be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible
unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men. For they are now made so inferiour
by ignorance and low desires, as not to deserve to be ranked with them; or, by
the serpentine wrigglings of cunning they mount the
tree of knowledge and only acquire sufficient to lead men astray.
It is plain from the history of all nations, that women cannot be confined
to merely domestic pursuits, for they will not fulfil
family duties, unless their minds take a wider range, and whilst they are kept
in ignorance, they become in the same proportion, the slaves of pleasure as
they are the slaves of man. Nor can they
be shut out of great enterprises, though the narrowness of their minds often
make them mar what they are unable to comprehend.
The libertinism, and even the virtues of superior men, will always give
women, of some description, great power over them; and these weak women, under
the influence of childish passions and selfish vanity, will throw a false light
over the objects which the very men view with their eyes, who ought to enlighten
their judgment. Men of fancy, and those sanguine characters who mostly hold the
helm of human affairs, in general, relax in the society of women; and surely I
need not cite to the most superficial reader of history, the numerous examples
of vice and oppression which the private intrigues of female favourites have produced; not to dwell on the mischief that
naturally arises from the blundering interposition of well-meaning folly. For in the transactions of business it is
much better to have to deal with a knave than a fool, because a knave adheres
to some plan; and any plan of reason may be seen through much sooner than a
sudden flight of folly. The power which
vile and foolish women have had over wise men, who possessed sensibility, is
notorious; I shall only mention one instance.
Whoever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? Though in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection
which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of
her sex; and therefore he laboured to bring woman
down to her's.
He found her a convenient humble companion, and pride made him determine
to find some superior virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but did
not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly show how grossly
he was mistaken who called her a celestial innocent. Nay, in the bitterness of his heart, he
himself laments, that when his bodily infirmities made him no longer treat her
like a woman, she ceased to have an affection for him. And it was very natural that she should, for
having so few sentiments in common, when the sexual tie was broken, what was to
hold her? To hold her affection whose
sensibility was confined to one sex, nay, to one man, it requires sense to turn
sensibility into the broad channel of humanity: many women have not mind enough
to have an affection for a woman, or a friendship for a man. But the sexual weakness that makes woman
depend on man for a subsistence, produces a kind of cattish affection, which
leads a wife to purr about her husband, as she would about any man who fed and
caressed her.
Men, are however, often gratified by this kind of fondness which is
confined in a beastly manner to themselves, but should they ever become more
virtuous, they will wish to converse at their fire-side with a friend, after
they cease to play with a mistress.
Besides, understanding is necessary to give variety and interest to
sensual enjoyments, for low, indeed, in the intellectual scale, is the mind
that can continue to love when neither virtue nor sense give a human appearance
to an animal appetite. But sense will
always preponderate; and if women are not, in general, brought more on a level
with men, some superior women, like the Greek courtezans
will assemble the men of abilities around them, and draw from their families
many citizens, who would have stayed at home, had their wives had more sense,
or the graces which result from the exercise of the understanding and fancy,
the legitimate parents of taste. A woman
of talents, if she be not absolutely ugly, will always obtain great power,
raised by the weakness of her sex; and in proportion as men acquire virtue and
delicacy: by the exertion of reason, they will look for both in women, but they
can only acquire them in the same way that men do.
In France or Italy have the women confined themselves to domestic life?
though they have not hitherto had a political existence, yet, have they not
illicitly had great sway? corrupting themselves and the men with whose passions
they played? In short, in whatever light
I view the subject, reason and experience convince me, that the only method of
leading women to fulfil their peculiar duties, is to
free them from all restraint by allowing them to participate the inherent
rights of mankind.
Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as men
become more so; for the improvement must be mutual, or the justice which one
half of the human race are obliged to submit to, retorting on their oppressors,
the virtue of man will be worm-eaten by the insect whom he keeps under his
feet.
Let men take their choice, man and woman were made for each other, though
not to become one being; and if they will not improve women, they will deprave
them!
I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex, for I know
that the behaviour of a few women, who by accident,
or following a strong bent of nature, have acquired a portion of knowledge
superior to that of the rest of their sex, has often been over-bearing; but
there have been instances of women who, attaining knowledge, have not discarded
modesty, nor have they always pedantically appeared to despise the ignorance which
they labored to disperse in their own minds.
The exclamations then which any advice respecting female learning,
commonly produces, especially from pretty women, often arise from envy. When they chance to see that even the lustre of their eyes, and the flippant sportiveness of
refined coquetry will not always secure them attention, during a whole evening,
should a woman of a more cultivated understanding endeavour
to give a rational turn to the conversation, the common source of consolation
is, that such women seldom get husbands. What arts have I not seen silly women
use to interrupt by FLIRTATION, (a very significant word to describe such a manoeuvre) a rational conversation, which made the men
forget that they were pretty women.
But, allowing what is very natural to man--that the possession of rare
abilities is really calculated to excite over-weening
pride, disgusting in both men and women--in what a state of inferiority must
the female faculties have rusted when such a small portion of knowledge as
those women attained, who have sneeringly been termed learned women, could be
singular? Sufficiently so to puff up the possessor, and excite envy in her
contemporaries, and some of the other sex.
Nay, has not a little rationality exposed many women to the severest
censure? I advert to well known-facts,
for I have frequently heard women ridiculed, and every little weakness exposed,
only because they adopted the advice of some medical men, and deviated from the
beaten track in their mode of treating their infants. I have actually heard this barbarous aversion
to innovation carried still further, and a sensible woman stigmatized as an
unnatural mother, who has thus been wisely solicitous to preserve the health of
her children, when in the midst of her care she has lost one by some of the
casualties of infancy which no prudence can ward off. Her acquaintance have observed, that this was
the consequence of new-fangled notions--the new-fangled notions of ease and
cleanliness. And those who, pretending
to experience, though they have long adhered to prejudices that have, according
to the opinion of the most sagacious physicians, thinned the human race, almost
rejoiced at the disaster that gave a kind of sanction to prescription.
Indeed, if it were only on this account, the national education of women is
of the utmost consequence; for what a number of human sacrifices are made to
that moloch, prejudice! And in how many ways are children destroyed
by the lasciviousness of man? The want
of natural affection in many women, who are drawn from their duty by the
admiration of men, and the ignorance of others, render the infancy of man a
much more perilous state than that of brutes; yet men are unwilling to place
women in situations proper to enable them to acquire sufficient understanding
to know how even to nurse their babes.
So forcibly does this truth strike me, that I would rest the whole tendency
of my reasoning upon it; for whatever tends to incapacitate the maternal
character, takes woman out of her sphere.
But it is vain to expect the present race of weak mothers either to take
that reasonable care of a child's body, which is necessary to lay the
foundation of a good constitution, supposing that it do not suffer for the sins
of its fathers; or to manage its temper so judiciously that the child will not
have, as it grows up, to throw off all that its mother, its first instructor,
directly or indirectly taught, and unless the mind have uncommon vigour, womanish follies will stick to the character
throughout life. The weakness of the
mother will be visited on the children!
And whilst women are educated to rely on their husbands for judgment,
this must ever be the consequence, for there is no improving an understanding
by halves, nor can any being act wisely from imitation, because in every
circumstance of life there is a kind of individuality, which requires an
exertion of judgment to modify general rules.
The being who can think justly in one track, will soon extend its
intellectual empire; and she who has sufficient judgment to manage her
children, will not submit right or wrong, to her husband, or patiently to the
social laws which makes a nonentity of a wife.
In public schools women, to guard against the errors of ignorance, should
be taught the elements of anatomy and medicine, not only to enable them to take
proper care of their own health, but to make them rational nurses of their
infants, parents, and husbands; for the bills of mortality are swelled by the
blunders of self-willed old women, who give nostrums of their own, without
knowing any thing of the human frame. It
is likewise proper, only in a domestic view, to make women, acquainted with the
anatomy of the mind, by allowing the sexes to associate together in every
pursuit; and by leading them to observe the progress of the human understanding
in the improvement of the sciences and arts; never forgetting the science of
morality, nor the study of the political history of mankind.
A man has been termed a microcosm; and every family might also be called a
state. States, it is true, have mostly
been governed by arts that disgrace the character of man; and the want of a
just constitution, and equal laws, have so perplexed the notions of the worldly
wise, that they more than question the reasonableness of contending for the
rights of humanity. Thus morality,
polluted in the national reservoir, sends off streams of vice to corrupt the
constituent parts of the body politic; but should more noble, or rather more
just principles regulate the laws, which ought to be the government of society,
and not those who execute them, duty might become the rule of private conduct.
Besides, by the exercise of their bodies and minds, women would acquire
that mental activity so necessary in the maternal character, united with the
fortitude that distinguishes steadiness of conduct from the obstinate
perverseness of weakness. For it is
dangerous to advise the indolent to be steady, because they instantly become
rigorous, and to save themselves trouble, punish with severity faults that the
patient fortitude of reason might have prevented.
But fortitude presupposes strength of mind, and is strength of mind to be
acquired by indolent acquiescence? By
asking advice instead of exerting the judgment?
By obeying through fear, instead of practising
the forbearance, which we all stand in need of ourselves? The conclusion which I wish to draw is
obvious; make women rational creatures and free citizens, and they will quickly
become good wives, and mothers; that is--if men do not neglect the duties of
husbands and fathers.
Discussing the advantages which a public and private education combined, as
I have sketched, might rationally be expected to produce, I have dwelt most on
such as are particularly relative to the female world, because I think the
female world oppressed; yet the gangrene which the vices, engendered by
oppression have produced, is not
confined to the morbid part, but pervades society at large; so that when I wish to see my sex become more
like moral agents, my heart bounds with the anticipation of the general
diffusion of that sublime contentment which only morality can diffuse.