into one universal reason, are cast at our intelligence in their sharp and crude forms, without modifying them, without even seeking to render their union possible; their union, which alone could constitute a reasonable education. It would appear as if a religious and a worldly life were the two champions in a deadly conflict. Whichever be the conqueror, the man who adopts it is no more than a mutilated incomplete being; the deplorable remains of passions or of superstitions.

The perfect man is he who at the same time leads a social and a religious life; with a powerful hand he puts an end to the strife of the two adversaries, and giving to each his place, he advances with a firm step in the ways of God, and in the light of reason. But in order that this light, so rare in the present day, should be diffused in the world, it must shine in our educations; it can only arrive at the multitude mixed with the first emotions of our lives, and beneath the irresistible influence of a mother. It is the sacred lamp which the laborious wife of Virgil lighted in the night for her work near the cradle of her child.

Mention is made in the Paradise Lost of a lion, the creation of which is not yet terminated; one sees him half emerging from the earth, his eye sparkles, his mane is agitated, but his body is an inert immoveable mass, which still adheres to the earth, while impatiently waiting for the last spark to leap out.

Sublime image of the human race, it has only the head living; the rest has not even motion. Cause the light to penetrate into it, snatch the lion from nothingness, and let him take possession of his empire.

CHAPTER VII.

SOCIAL SCALE.

"Partout ou les peuples ont des mœurs elles ont regné."

BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE.

IN barbarous times women were slaves or servants. At the first glimmerings of civilisation they became our housekeepers, then our companions.

At a later period they were less restricted to their houses, and were more closely united to the world by their agreeable talents, and to their husbands by the developement of their intellect.

Lastly, when society, having arrived at a more perfect state of civilisation, without losing its courteous forms, recognised the rights of men, woman assumed her position in the state; she was at once a housekeeper, a companion, and a citizen.

Thus the place which women occupy in society shows us the history of the civilisation of the world.

The savage epoch.

The epoch of Homer.

The Greek and Roman republics.

The middle ages.

The age of Louis XIV.

And our own, the age of regeneration, when women may raise themselves to the highest position, by the simple fulfilment of their duties as wives and mothers of families.

CHAPTER VIII.

EDUCATION OF THE WIFE BY THE HUSBAND.

"Il y a dans les affections profondes du cœur quelque chose de pur et de desinteressé qui annonce l'excellence et la dignité de l'ame humaine."

ANCILLON, de l'Immortalité.

THE last chapter but one will doubtless give rise to numerous protestations. More than one mother of a family, more than one directress of a school, indignant at my irreverence, will accuse me of errors, or even of bad faith. Such or such a liberal institution will be cited where young girls exercise their rhetoric and their logic, as at college, and could, if required, take their degrees at a university. I shall be overpowered by their knowledge, dazzled by their talents, and after all, what will this have proved? a very insignificant circumstance, that there is nothing exceeding the vanity of the scholars, unless it be the vanity of the masters, and of parents.

It is a fact that the instruction of women is ameliorated; but what has this instruction produced up to the present time? Let us examine this question. My first observation bears upon the method of teaching; it has been supposed that the education of women would be perfected by giving it the scholastic forms of the education of men. Here lies the error. These forms are only convenient for the professor, for they dispense with the necessity of instruction, and of exertion of the intellect. With a few words, he imparts an impulsion to the knowledge of his pupil, as motion is imparted to a machine by pushing a

spring the machine repeats the names, the dates, the facts; repeats, in a word, judgments rather learnt than understood, but which appear to belong to the pupil, and give him the aspect of a prodigy. And yet the soul slumbers, all its faculties are forgotten or mistaken; imagination, morality, poetry, the sentiment of the beautiful, our celestial guides, are benumbed, and die beneath the mechanical developement of memory.

My second observation turns altogether on the things which are learnt. A young girl marries-what have you taught her—and what ought she to have been taught in order to assure our happiness and her own? This question so simple, is yet a new question. It appears, at least, that no one has dared to ask it; since no one has thought of resolving it. It is a light which is wanting in all our treatises on education, and which I would wish to extend over every page of this book.

We educate our daughters in vanity and in innocence ; we then give them to a husband, who destroys their innocence and cultivates their vanity; thus vanity alone remains, and here begins its active and disastrous influence. It tells woman that beauty merits homage, that happiness consists in luxury, that fortune gives everything, consideration, and well-being, and that fortune must be acquired. That which vanity inculcates, the woman wills, and the man executes it. Such is the way of the world-repose, health, and even conscience, are often sacrificed to this object. The best years of life are employed in attaining it, after which, those who have best succeeded, become disgusted, and complain with bitterness of the futility of their labours.

Such was not the case in the early periods of history; girls were ignorant even of their power; they were brought up in innocency, and especially in humility: in receiving a

husband they considered that they received a master, as at the present day they believe they receive a lover, and this condition of mind prepared them wonderfully for obedience. Then it was, that the husband commenced the education of his wife-taught her how to regulate the domestic affairs, and gave a direction to her mind and character.

A great philosopher, Xenophon, has transmitted these. details to us in a special treatise of domestic economy. He shows us a young couple deliberating on their duties in order to divide their labours and their pleasures; but, in the first place, sacrificing to the gods, invoking their assistance, and asking of them to be enlightened, the one to be able to counsel well, the other to obey worthily.

But these lessons of ancient wisdom would be inapplicable to our age. With us life is more intellectual, society is more general; education should, therefore, be more extended. For women to reign in the interior of their houses; for them to establish in them order and economy; this is only a part of their mission. Besides the duties of a prudent housekeeper, the exigencies and the elegancies of the world are to be considered; other times have rendered other modes of life necessary. This is what those persons cannot see, who are unceasingly regretting gothic manners, or patriarchal virtues. These good people have not even perceived that the age of Louis XIV. substituted for the isolation of families, the life of society, or, in other terms, the life of the salons. Thus our relations are extended, manners are more polished, new duties have arisen to modify former duties, and from out of all this has originated a more perfect civilization, in which women are called upon to play the part of legislators, by means of the irresistible influence which they exercise over their husbands and their children; all the opinions of men are formed in the family.