tating this example with equal success. The masters themselves feel the beneficial influence of the presence of females in their schoolrooms, by its enabling them more effectually to control their own tempers. Again, in the "Edinburgh Journal" for September, 1845, there is an account of an asylum for the upper classes, conducted by a physician and his wife, where physical force is superseded by moral influence; and not only does the lady exercise a genial influence over the whole establishment at all times, but when the patients are too turbulent for others to control an appeal is made to her; and her influence is so great as to command invariable obedience. And so greatly is she loved and respected, that nothing delights the patients more than to find some opportunity of doing her some little service. These individual instances are only given as illustrations of a new application of a power extensively possessed, but long allowed to lie dormant or run to waste. If turbulent boys and madmen can be thus easily controlled by woman's influence, what may it not effect when society shall be based on the principle of moral influence when woman shall be allowed and incited to use this her mighty power in improving the condition of her race? Society has been organized in accordance with the views of man, on the principle of physical force; this he has found to be more easy to wield; at least, so he has thought and so he has acted. It is an essential principle of barbarism. Man in barbarian society is, therefore, preeminent and woman degraded; because the former possesses the greater physical power and animal energy. Amidst the turmoil of opposing physical forces and animalism, woman has not had physical force to maintain an equality of position, or such a degree of freedom, as is essential to the development of her peculiar excellences. Society is, at first, barbarian in its principles. The ancient Jews were a barbarous people, as the orientals have always been, and still are: and this is quite a sufficient reason why so little is said of woman in bible history. Much of barbarism still lingers among us; our laws have, to a great extent, been copied from those of the Romans (an essentially barbarous people), and woman is not free; she is degraded by dependence and subjection, and often marries those she cannot love for little else than to ensure a supply of daily bread; and haughty man pleads his right to domineer from "the curse," as it is termed, pronounced on woman immediately after the fall, as if that conferred on him the right to tyrannize, which he did not before possess. This is not Christianity. Christianity is intended to restore both man and woman from the effects of the fall to paradisiacal perfection and harmony. As this state gradually returns, woman will be elevated more and more in her social position, till she takes her proper sphere, where she will exercise extensively the most potent of all social influences, gentle yet omnipotent. Those who do not understand the nature of moral influence, can never appreciate the character of perfect woman, nor understand her proper duties or true position in our world. Man is too material in his notions, and we must wait till greater spirituality of thought is developed by him, ere we see him entertain just conceptions of woman, with the spiritual nature of her duties. To suppose that woman is merely a domestic animal, governed almost exclusively by "domestie instincts," is a great mistake. Most women will undoubtedly choose domestic duties when left perfectly free in her choice; but she will not choose to be, as she now is in the middle and lower ranks of society, a slave to them. Here in England she is forced into the domestic sphere of duties, and kept there by circumstances whether she will or no: in France she is forced out of it; men are the domestics. I ought not to dismiss this question without adding something more on woman's intellectual powers. In society we find a great many women who are superior in intellect to men with whom they are connected, engaged in the very duties which nature or custom has assigned to man. These may be considered by some as exceptions, though not rare ones. proper question is, Will woman's intellect be equal to man's, when both are equally perfected? I do not know any woman who advocates perfect equality in this respect. There are yet many instances on record of intellectual women, which point to a highly respectable position as attainable by females. A few instances must suffice. Our Madame de Staël, a French authoress of celebrity, whose talents were so early displayed that she is said "never to have been a child," from her twentieth year took an active part in literature, and an almost equally active part in politics. And so great was her influence in the political world, that on her opposing Napoleon's government in 1801, he thought it necessary to issue an order for her to quit Paris; and on her return she was again expelled. Her works amount to seventeen volumes. Lady Hester Stanhope, a near relative and great assistant to the celebrated William Pitt, was another female of strong intellect and "masculine" energy. An account of her may be seen in "Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, 23rd August, 1845, page 117. Mrs. Carter, an intimate of Dr. Johnson, and also of the most literary characters of that age, acquired the Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German languages. She was a translator and poetess. Anne Dacier, a French lady, who died 1720, "was deeply learned, and an eminent translator of the classics." The greater part of her life was spent in "literary labour," in conjunction with her husband. It is said, greatly to her honour, that though deeply learned, she in society carefully avoided any display of learning, and in all the relations of private life her conduct was exemplary. Olympia Tulvia Morata was one of the arliest and brightest ornaments of the Reformation. She could declaim in Latin, Converse in Greek, and was a critic in the most difficult classics. Lady Jane Grey, too, evinced great taste and capability for study; besides which, she anderstood Greek and Latin, with some modern languages. This was not from the example of most of the friends and relatives by whom she was surrounded-they were directly opposed to her in their tastes: to use her own language, "they never knew what true pleasure meant." But she had other greatness which I am inclined to admire more than learning,-she had great moral worth and fortitude, acting on the most trying occasions from motives of principle and duty. These are excellences in the female character which, when manifested, cannot be too highly valued and praised, but on which I shall not now dwell, or allusion might be made to Mrs. Judson, Elizabeth Fry, and others, whom I have never heard of as being learned, but who are eminently great in my eyes, more so than a large majority of men. Rosa Govona is another, vide "Edinburgh Journal," August 23, 1845. Salande, in a small work on Astronomy, enumerates a considerable number of females eminent as mathematicians and astronomers. Herschel's daughter assisted him greatly in his studies and calculations. Such facts are valuable, as proving that woman's intellect is not essentially and necessarily of such a contemptible order as some men seem to think. Yet they are not of themselves sufficient to decide that woman's mind is equal to that of man's. Greater mathematicians are to be found among the latter. The final questions are, Does not woman's moral excellences and moral influence compensate for the want of an equal amount of intellect with some men? And do not the duties of a moral nature, especially enjoined on her by the Creator, imply equality with man in regard to excellence of mental endowment? T. F. O. NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-I. "Max may the sterner virtues know, Determined justice, truth severe ; But female hearts with pity glow, And WOMAN holds affection dear; For guiltless woes her sorrows flow, And suffering vice compels her tear: Tis hers to soothe the ills below, pranks which PRIDE and PREJUDICE are continually playing with mankind; and it is no less strange to reflect that the victims are not unfrequently found amongst those who would wish to be thought the great and wise among men. In fact, if each of us could only be induced to take the trouble to examine well our own creed, and strike out from the tablet of our belief all such notions as have gained a place there through It is strange to contemplate the many the instrumentality of one or other of these And bid life's fairer views appear. To woman's gentle kind we owe What comforts and delights us here; They its gay hopes on youth bestow, And care they soothe, and age they cheer." CRABBE. passions, we should find ourselves much better and more rational beings through the process. Take an instance in point. Man has been told from his earliest years that he is mentally superior to woman. Pride jumped at such a flattering conclusion, and urged him forthwith to style himself" lord of the creation;" and Prejudice forbade him to inquire into the truthfulness of the claim, lest it should be found wanting. The point has, therefore, among many others, been deemed settled. Now, we object to the practice of adopting conclusions based upon no better grounds than mere assumption. We have, on more than one occasion, in these pages, pointed out the folly of such a course. And, before now dismissing the subject, we would recommend the following brief rules:-1st. Never reject anything merely because it is new. 2nd. Never put implicit reliance in a thing because it has the claim of antiquity on its side. We propose to apply these principles of investigation to the question now before us, and pledge ourselves to abide by the result. We shall, in the present paper, state our own convictions and our reasons for them; and if our opponents think we are in error, let them set resolutely to work to convince us that we are so. how strange that they should be known to the world only by their Jack-and-bean-stalk doings! But we may pass on. Others there are who jeeringly point to history, and ask to be introduced to the recorded actions and accomplishments of patriots and heroes in the female line. Leaving out scriptural record, where woman is ever found foremost in charity and all good works, we may dismiss this objection by saying, that many of the noblest and most heroic deeds which stand recorded on the world's life-history have been accomplished either by, or at the instigation of, woman. But the most frequent and, at first sight, most plausible argument is, that we seldom observe in woman any manifestation of those higher intellectual powers which are so common in man. Where, ask these objectors, are your female painters, sculptors, poets, writers of fiction, inventors, designers, &c.? Now, as this seems to be the stronghold of our adversaries, we shall devote more especial attention to it. Phrenologists have told us, and philosophers have failed to disprove the assertion, that the organs of the brain, the seat of the mind, is divided into three distinctive classes, each of them occupying a separate region, and each of them exercising a greater or lesser influence over their possessor, according to their relative preponderance or It has occurred to us, that certain "lords otherwise. These are usually denominated of the creation" must sometimes find them--(1) the HIGHER INTELLECTUAL, (2) the selves sorely puzzled at the position in which they place themselves: we mean those who, while under the influence of a certain prevalent epidemic, called LOVE, have fallen down before, and even worshipped at the feet of, beings whom, in their calmer senses, they consider far inferior to themselves! But we will not, so early in the scene, intro-entirety. Thus, when we speak of mental duce any "awkward insinuations." The grounds upon which woman's mental inferiority to man is alleged, seem neither to have been clearly defined nor understood. We have heard it sometimes argued, that as woman was designedly created weaker than man in physical strength, so she was intended to be inferior to him in mental power. This is unquestionably a very simple argument in more senses than one. If mental capabilities are to be judged by the standard of physical strength, what mighty achievements might be expected from giants! And MORAL, and (3) the SOCIAL groups or faculties. Thus, according to our development, in these several regions shall we exhibit intellectual greatness, as ordinarily expressed, moral power, or social virtues. These faculties, although thus distinguished, are all component parts of the mind in its power, we speak of them all conjointly. Now, it is well known that in women the social faculties, at least, preponderate, while the moral faculties are, at least, equal; the deficiency therefore being in the intellectual or perceptive faculties. The consideration of these facts will at once explain why the mental capabilities and achievements of women present themselves in different forms and under different aspects from those of men. To make this part of our subject more clear, we have prepared and affixed a scale, intended to represent the relative all we know or could desire concerning such a being pictured in his imagination, women. It is the mission of woman to cultivate and excel in the social virtues. Poets, authors, philosophers, divines, have all told s so again and again. Listen to a few of their testimonies. Crabbe says: "While the sterner sex disdains To soothe the woes they cannot feel, Woman will strive to heal his pains, And weep for those she cannot heal: Hers is warm pity's sacred glow, From all her stores she bears a part, And bids the spring of hope reflow, That languished in the fainting heart." Gibbon observes:-"In every age and antry the wiser, or, at least, the stronger, of the two sexes has usurped the powers of the state, and confined to the other the cares and pleasures of domestic life.” Maunder beautifully adds:-" Born to fel and inspire the tender affections, it is the fault of man if well-educated females become not the grace and ornament of society. Woman is the equal and companion of man-not the plaything of his caprice, nor the slave of his passions. When unpolluted by the breath of sensuality, and unattacked by the more insidious venom of seductive adiation, if in youth her mind has been properly directed, her character will stand forth in all the majesty of native dignity— in all the grace of virtuous simplicity. With well might the poet exclaim: Oh! she is all that soul can be, "Thus in extremes of cold and heat, In woman they compassion find: And in Mr. Ledyard's words, as quoted by Mungo Park, we find a full confirmation of the truths which the poet thus expressed. He says:-"To a woman I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship without receiving a decent answer. If I was hungry or thirsty, wet or sick, they did not hesitate, like men, to perform a genuine action. In so free and kind a manner did they contribute to my relief, that if I was dry I drank the sweetest draught, or if hungry, I ate the coarsest mouthful with a double relish." There is only one other social aspect in which we wish now to speak of woman, and that is in the intensity of her LOVE. It is here that she stands pre-eminent and unapproachable. Man may love ardently and honourably, but it is not in his nature, and therefore he cannot manifest that intense and enduring love which is woman's birthright, and, we hope, her pride. "I have seen all the woes of MEN-pain, death, Remorse, and worldly ruin; they are little, Weighed with the woe of woman, when forsaken By him she loved and trusted." But even poets must fail to depict the fulness of woman's love in its noblest mani festation-we mean in the house of adversity, affliction, and distress. It is then that she rises, as it were, out of herself, puts on the garb of a ministering angel of mercy," and sanctifies the solemn halls of death." But time and space both prevent us doing justice to our cause. Hour after hour could we adduce fresh instances of the influence of woman in promoting the social happiness and moral well-being of the human family. We think life would be unbearable without the presence of woman; and often have we sympathized with the exclamation of Campbell, when referring to Adam's position before the creation of Eve: "The world was sad! the garden was a wild! And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled." Let us not, then, decide hastily upon this question. Those who have had the advantage of a mother's instructions will not be likely to offer a sentence adverse to the mental claims of woman on the principles we have laid down. Think of a home without the presence of that being who, as "Light intellectual, and full of love," is ever making our cares her own, our pleasure hers, and our happiness the object of her life! Again, what startling facts could we place before the eyes of those who assert that literature owes nothing, or but little, to woman! Even not mentioning the poems of Mrs. Hemans, or the writings of Hannah More, Mrs. Opie, Miss Martineau, Mrs. Ellis, and a thousand others, look at the indirect or, rather we should say, unseen influence of How often do we find it recorded woman. in the lives of great authors that their wives, their sisters, or their mothers gave the last finishing stroke to works which have afterwards gained for themselves a high place on the pinnacle of fame! Therefore, although women are not to be expected, for the reasons we have stated, to shine in intellectual attainments equally with men, yet they are not to be denied "honourable mention" for that which they have accomplished. It should also be remembered that, as a general rule, they have not yet received those educational advantages which the male sex have. In fact, we want a more scrupulous attention and regard to female education, "To show us how divine a thing The conclusion, then, at which we arrive is, that in her sphere, and ever bearing in mind that diversity of power is no proof of inferiority, woman is in no way mentally inferior to man. She possesses equal mental energy and power, but manifests it according to the different position her divine Creator ordained her to occupy in the great drama of life. We feel that poetry is so closely associated with the subject of woman, that we have made no hesitation in freely borrowing from the poets, and we will now conclude as we began, by a poetic tribute to woman's greatness, goodness, and beauty: "Behold the fair creature, how gorgeously bright, Caressing, refreshing the glad infant hours. state. Engifted by nature, ennobled by birth, She comes to bring gladness and love upon earth. "Tis woman, the crown of creation's vast plan, 'Tis woman, the friend, wife, and help-meet of man." C. W., Jun. |