women.

bodily strength, and by the energy of their courage, they had yielded to the ascendant of weakness and beauty; but when their brains became muddled with a vain science, they were seized with pride, and women nearly lost their empire. The most unhappy age for them was the age of clerks and doctors, when the impertinent questions were started of the pre-eminence of men, and the inferiority of An alphabet of their malice, and the history of their imperfections, were drawn up; the existence of their soul was even called into question, and theologians themselves, in their confusion, seemed to forget that the relationship of Jesus Christ to the human race was but by means of his mother. These discussions produced this deplorable result, that the degradation of women became a system of moral polity, as the degradation of the people was made a system in politics. Our fathers for a long period confounded ignorance with innocence; and from this arose all their evils. They wished for simple women in the interest of husbands, and for an ignorant people in the interest of power. Women thus assimilated to the people, received, like the people, no sort of instruction. Everything was against them, science, legislation, theology; theology, which was then mistaken for religion, and which only exhibited to them virtue beneath the stripes of discipline and the austerities of penitence. Such was the fate of women. It was by depriving them of their soul, and delivering them up to those petty devotional practices, without morality, which stupify the mind, that they hoped to preserve them pure and immaculate. That their wives retained sufficient intelligence to give the lie to the foresight of their husbands, may be seen from the historiettes of Louis XI., of Boccaccio, of the queen of Navarre, &c. ; in them are illustrated the advantages of ignorance, of which the soirées of Bouchets, Pantagruel, &c., completed

the gothic picture. These licentious books, which are scarcely named at the present day, were at that period books read in good society, and quoted by ladies in their castles. That the people, for their part, caused to recoil upon its tyrants the weight of their prejudices and their ignorance, is written in letters of blood in every page of our history; the massacre of the Albigenses, of the Armagnacs, of St. Bartholomew, were the works imposed on fanaticism and on superstition. Ignorance believes all, superstition does not reason; fanaticism prostrates itself, and then rising says, Whom shall I strike? Woe, then, to kings who ground their power upon the degradation of their subjects! These kings may require crimes, they may demand blood, but it must be on the condition of never stopping in the career of crime or of blood; the tempest which they have raised must take its course. The more a people is ignorant, the more pleasure it takes in acts of ferocity; it is restrained by no reason—it is enlightened by no intelligence-it is arrested by no respect-it is an instrument which kills, until, from corpse to corpse, it arrives at last at the head which directs it.

CHAPTER V.

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS ACCORDING TO THE ABBÉ HENRY AND FENELON.

A WOMAN excites an insurrection among the people, arms princes, drives Mazarin from Paris; another woman turns the cannon of the Bastille against the king, who only re-enters his palace after he has seen the great Condé fly.

A few years passed

Thus began the age of Louis XIV. on, and the young prince appears surrounded by that brilliant court, all the names of which are chronicled in history. Amidst the splendour of festivities and the turmoil of wars, the reign of women is continued—the greatest poets, the greatest commanders, the greatest ministers, form the cortège of the great king. He fills Europe with the fame of his victories and of his amours, and Europe, dazzled, proclaims his age to be one of the four glorious epochs in the history of the human mind. Then was heard on a sudden, a supplicating voice, which implored a little commiseration in favour of women; mistresses, it is true, of the destinies of the country, but the education of whom, amongst so many prodigies, had been entirely forgotten. How surprising was the circumstance, that a simple ecclesiastic should accuse himself of a great paradox in stating, that girls ought to learn something else than the catechism, sewing, singing, dancing, dressing, speaking politely, and curtseying. And of what did this new instruction consist, which was to scandalize the age of the Sevignés, of the Coulanges, and of the Lafayettes? It comprised reading, writing, and accounts, the understanding matters sufficiently to be able to take counsel, and a little knowledge of medicine, to administer to the sick. This is what the respectable Abbé Henry believed necessary to be added to the talent of curtseying properly. Poetry, philosophy, history, morality; all that tends to enlarge the ideas, enlighten the conscience, and elevate the soul, were not to be thought of by women; such matters did not concern them, or might excite their vanity; yet, in making this concession to the great age, the Abbé added, as if suddenly enlightened, "It is said, women are not capable of studies, as if their souls were of a different kind from those of men; as if they had not, as well as us, reason

C

to guide them, a will to regulate, passions to combat; or as if it were easier for them than for us to fulfil these duties without learning anything."

To this religious voice was shortly added an almost divine voice. Fénelon had consecrated the first ten years of his career to the instruction of female Catholic children. He had read in the hearts of these young children all the secrets of another age. He had learnt from their innocence the art of directing their passions, and from their simplicity the art of forestalling them. This delightful study, while exhibiting to him women in their proper character, showed him at the same time the necessity of strengthening them, because they are weak; of enlightening them, because they are powerful. Thus was composed, in the presence of nature, the book De l'Education des Filles, a chef d'œuvre of delicacy, grace, and genius, of which the simple and maternal doctrine is but the love of Christ for little children. An inimitable model, because it is impressed with the soul of its author; a treasure of truth and wisdom; the best treatise on practical education yet given to the world; even after the second book of the Emile, which is entirely derived from it.

In the first chapter Fénelon lays down the principles: to the instruction recommended by the Abbé Henry, he superadded at the outset, Greek and Roman history, the history of France and its relations with other countries. He even goes so far as to consider the study of Latin reasonable, because it is the language of the church and of prayer; thus attacking the insensate doctrine, which causes to be addressed to God supplications unintelligible to those who pray, unless they have studied Horace and Virgil. Lastly, he allows the reading of works of eloquence, literature, and poetry. All these appear to him good, because they excite in the soul lively and sublime sentiments which lead to virtue.

It is true that heavy restrictions immediately follow ideas so novel. The principles being laid down, the author reflects upon the peculiarities of the age, and stops short. At first he thought of the destiny of women, according to the laws of nature; he now estimates it according to the position which they occupy in society; and this fatal point of view becomes the limit of the good which he wished to do. "We must be apprehensive," said he, "of engaging women in studies in which they might become opinionated, for they are neither to govern the state nor to make war.' A specious mode of reasoning, which carries with it its own refutation. Women, it is true, are neither to govern nor to carry on war; but if they rule those who command, what will be the consequence of their enlightenment or of their ignorance? This is the question which should have been examined; and in this point of view the opinion of Fénelon is altogether favourable to our cause. We will not say that women are our masters such a term would wound French delicacy; even our gallantry would not dare to adopt it; but we will say, with the great genius whom we have quoted, "that good is impossible without them; that they either ruin or elevate families; that they regulate all the details of domestic affairs, and, consequently, they decide upon all which most nearly concerns the whole human race."

;

The education of women is more important than that of men, since the latter is always their work. Such is the doctrine of Fénelon-such is the substance of his book. This book was written at the period when women possessed the greatest influence; when from their romantic throne they gave to society those polished and graceful manners which were to change the destinies of Europe; and yet, such was the power of prejudice, that in the presence of the most gallant court in the world, Fénelon was