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diff --git a/32299-h/32299-h.htm b/32299-h/32299-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59b93f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/32299-h/32299-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14684 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + + <title>Women of England, by Bartlett Burleigh James.</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align: center;} + h5,h6 {text-align: left;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + + .mid {text-align: center} + .note + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt; text-indent: 0;} + + td.chap {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + td.page {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .drama {margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .drama p {margin: 1em 0em 0em 0em; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + .drama p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .drama p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .drama p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .drama p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .drama p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + + p.author {text-align: right; margin-right:10%;} + p.index {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + margin: 2em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: center;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of England, Volume 9 (of 10), by +Burleigh James Bartlett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women of England, Volume 9 (of 10) + +Author: Burleigh James Bartlett + +Release Date: May 8, 2010 [EBook #32299] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF ENGLAND, VOLUME 9 (OF 10) *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, William Flis, Rénald Lévesque +and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<br /> +<h2>WOMAN</h2> + +<h3>In all ages and in all countries</h3> + + + + +<h1>WOMEN OF ENGLAND</h1> + +<h4>by</h4> + +<h3>BARTLETT BURLEIGH JAMES, Ph.D.</h3> + +<h4>Of Western Maryland College</h4> + + +<h4>THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS<br /> + +PHILADELPHIA</h4> + + +<center>Copyrighted at Washington and entered at Stationers' Hall, London,</center> + +<center>1907—1908</center> + +<center>and Printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons.</center> + + +<center>PRINTED IN U.S.A.</center> + +<p><a name="front" id="front"></a></p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/Front-9.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>CHARLES II. AND LADY CASTLEMAINE,<br /> +DUCHESS OF CLEVELAND<br /> +After the painting by W. P. Frith, R. A.<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +Pepys in his</i> Diary, <i>says: "Mr. Pierce, the surgeon tells<br /> +me that, though the king and my Lady Castlemaine are<br /> +friends again, she is not at White Hall, but at Sir D.<br /> +Harvey's whither the king goes to her; but she says she<br /> +made him ask her forgiveness upon his knees, and promise<br /> +to offend her no more so, and that indeed she hath nearly<br /> +hectored him out of his wits."</i></p> + +<br /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span></p> + +<h3>PREFACE</h3> + + +<p>It is no slight task to follow out the windings of a single +thread in the infinite weave of society and by loosing it +from the general mesh to show how dependent is the pattern +of life and custom upon its presence. Such a task +was presented in the endeavor to trace along from remotest +times to the present day the influence of woman upon the +life and character, the efforts and ideals, of that race which +has come to be known as English, although this name may +not properly be used until time has spun into the vista of +the past peoples as vigorous, if not influential, as the one +that stands, the inheritor of their virility, at the apex of +modern civilization, whose women, clasping hands throughout +the British Empire, form a splendid chain of hope for womankind in all the world.</p> + +<p>Whether or not continuity and sequence, relation and +effect, have been maintained in the retraversing of the +footsteps of woman in all ages of the history of those isles +where femininity has flowered in the most gracious blossoms, +it remains for the reader to say. Certain it is that +unaffected pleasure has been afforded the writer in his +attempt to draw aside the curtain that the muse of history +jealously employs to shut from view the inner sanctuary +in which she preserves those vital relics, the destruction +of which by some inconceivable iconoclast would bring +death to the world for lack of materials for reflection and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span> +inspiration. In treating of the prehistoric periods, although +the brush necessarily has been laid broadly upon the +canvas, fancy has been kept in the leash of fact, and +imagination given no more play than its legitimate function. +Still, the results of inquiry into the status of woman +at this far remote period furnish a fulcrum upon which to +rest the lever of investigation, in order to lift into view +the strata of undoubted history of the periods immediately subsequent.</p> + +<p>As fast as the widening of social interest afforded the +materials for use, the writer sought to employ them, until, +like a mountain rivulet, ever widening until it reaches the +plain, he found himself embarrassed by the wealth of fact +that told the marvellous story of the most notable emancipation +in the history of mankind,—the complete separation +of English woman from the trammels, inherent and +environmental, imposed upon the sex. If the successive +chapters disclose the philosophical relations of woman in +society, it will be because the reader has not failed to +grasp the fact that in any such theme as the one treated +mere continuity of subject matter would constitute a +chronicle and not a history; and that the writer, while +seeking not to make obtrusive the connective tissue, has +nevertheless given ample scope for the reflective mind to +see that which has ever been present to his own.</p> + +<p>As to the actual materials employed in constructing the +book, it is sufficient to say that no important writer upon +any period of the history of the British Isles or their +people has been overlooked, and that the passing over of +the political and constitutional phases in order to select the +purely social has been an endeavor much furthered by +the writers to whom reference is made in the body of the +work, and many others who could not be mentioned without +burdening the text. Each fibre of the thread of interest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span> +has been taken hold of at the point of its appearance, and +then not lost sight of until the end. So that if one is +interested in the subject of costume, he may find a full +and accurate description of dress from the time when tattooing +was deemed largely sufficient up to the period of +the present, when the variety of feminine attire baffles +description. But more serious subjects, such as woman's +rights, from the recognition of primal rights in her person +to the setting forth of the modern programme under that +description, are consecutively treated through the chapters.</p> + +<p>A debt of gratitude cannot be discharged, but some recognition +may be made of the author's sense of the service +rendered him in the writing of this work by Dr. John +Martin Vincent, associate professor of history in Johns Hopkins +University, whose courses in the social history of +England furnished the first incentive to range in that field +and a guide through the labyrinth of manners and customs +of the English people. Thanks are due to Mr. J.A. Burgan, +whose close and careful reading of the proof is not +the least factor in the presentation of the book free, as the +writer believes, of the errors that only eternal vigilance may exclude.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="sc">Bartlett Burleigh James.</span></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter I</h2> + +<h2>The Women of Prehistoric Britain</h2> +<!--Blank page #2 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> + + +<p>It is to the unpremeditated contributions of savage and +barbarous conditions of existence that we must look for +those primal elements of social order which became fundamental +in English life and character. Insomuch as those +contributions are intimately connected with woman's life +and work, they must be sought out and set in order if we +are to trace the development of the status of the women +of Britain. In doing this, the confines of history proper +must be disregarded and the inquiry commenced at the +earliest period at which the student of the geology of +Britain has been able to discover evidences of human occupancy +of the country. If a consecutive account of the +history of woman in Britain were intended, we should be +content to begin the story with the woman of the Neolithic +or Polished Stone Age, for to such remote times may be +traced the stream of life and institutions in England; but, +as we shall aim not solely at consecutiveness, but at completeness +as well in our record of woman's life in the British +Isles, it will be necessary to go back even further into the +geologic ages, when Britain was still a part of the mainland +and its inhabitants the same roving savage tribes that +wandered over all central Europe.</p> + +<p>From those barren ages of the Pleistocene era, which +were cut off from the Neolithic by great stretches of time +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> +that cannot be certainly calculated, and during which there +was a lapse in the human occupancy of the country, little +of value can be derived. Their chief worth for our purpose +is the picture which they present of the initial stage +of human organization, the study they afford of woman in +her relations to a thoroughly savage stage of society, an +era of hunting—that of the Paleolithic or Rough Stone Age, +when there was fixity neither of residence nor of relations, +and when man's contest with savage nature about him +was dependent in its issues upon the slight advantage +furnished him by the rude weapons that he fashioned from +flint flakes. During the Polished Stone era, when inhabitants +are next met with in Britain, the social organization +presented is that of the pastoral stage, which marks +a great advance over the hunting.</p> + +<p>In all the progressions of uncivilized life, woman is but +a part of the phenomena of her times, but in the history +of English civilization she appears as one of its most active +forces. These, then, are the two correlated views of +woman in the history of English life that will be constantly +held in mind during our whole study,—woman as a social +fact, and woman as a social factor; showing her as a +product, as affected by the customs, laws, or manners of +a given time, and again as an influencing factor in the +institutions or the manners of those times. Had her life +been as circumscribed as that of the women of a cultured +people, English civilization would not owe to woman the +recognition which is her due as a creative force in the arts, +in science, in literature, in religion, and in all the ever-widening +circle of human interests. An understanding +and estimate of her influence in these more conspicuous +relations will depend upon a proper appreciation of the English +home as the principal source of the English woman's +dignity and power. Much that has entered into the ideals +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> +of the English race can be fully accounted for only in the +light of home ideals. By such considerations, then, as +have been thus far set forth, we shall be guided in our +endeavor to tell the story of woman's life in the ages of Britain's history.</p> + +<p>The people of the earliest part of the Pleistocene age +had no real home life, nor was there any social organization +excepting that into which men were forced by the necessity +for mutual aid in the struggle with the forces of savage +nature. This element of self-protection was the only factor +that entered into the organized life of those earliest inhabitants +of Britain,—the people of the river-drift and the +caves. In this combat between savage man and savage +beast were produced the first instruments pointing to +civilization,—weapons for defence and offence.</p> + +<p>The life of woman among the men of the river-drift was +of the most debased order. The only employment of the +men was hunting the gigantic savage beasts that ranged +through the forests. While the males were in pursuit +of the rhinoceros, the lion, the hippopotamus, and the +great antlered deer that were a part of the fauna of the +whole of that section of the continent of Europe of which +Britain in those remote times formed a part, the females +roamed through the densely wooded forests whose only +clearings were those made by the ravages of fire. Clad +in the skins of beasts but little lower in the scale of +being than themselves, and with their naked offspring +about them, they wandered about in search of berries or, +with no better aids than sharpened sticks, dug up the roots +which they dried and stored for the days when the results +of the chase fell short of the needs of the people. On the +home-coming of the hunters to the place where, in their +nomadic wanderings, they had erected temporary shelters, +the women prepared the miserable meal. By skilfully +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> +rubbing together pieces of hard wood, a fire was soon +obtained; if fortune had attended the chase, the hastily +skinned animals were cut up with flint flakes, and the +meat was thrown upon the stones placed in the fire for +that purpose. There were no niceties of taste to be considered, +so the half-cooked and badly smoked flesh was +snatched from the fire and eaten with no more decorum +than might be found in the meals of the cave-hyena that, +under the shadows of night, skulked through the underbrush +and noisily devoured the remnants of the hunters' feast.</p> + +<p>On the day following the hunt, the women undertook +the arduous work of curing the skins of the slain animals. +In the initial stage of the process they used stone scrapers, +sharp of edge and probably set in bone handles. Hundreds +of these implements have been found. The women +acquired great dexterity in this, one of their customary +employments; and while the men lounged about, resting +from the fatigue of the hunt, or occupied themselves with +painting their bodies with ochre, or tracing, with a splinter +of stone, rude devices on pieces of polished reindeer antler, +the work of the women went industriously on.</p> + +<p>Men of such undisciplined natures as those of the people +of the river-drift could not exist together harmoniously; +very little, indeed, was necessary to embroil them in bitter +strife. Their women were a frequent cause of bloody encounters, +a circumstance which was due to the fact that +there was no permanence in the relations of the sexes; +such rights—seldom individual—to the women as were +vested in the men were always those acquired by brute +force, and held good only so long as the fancy or strength +of the men permitted. In such a promiscuous society +there was nothing to suggest the home of civilization. +To men, women simply represented their chief possession +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> +and were held by them in common, like other forms of property.</p> + +<p>Such an age was almost as barren of material utilities as +of moral conceptions; so that one looks in vain for evidence +of the knowledge of such arts as are commonly associated +with the life of women in savage societies. Basket work, +weaving, and spinning were occupations of which, it is +thought, the women of those times knew nothing. Pottery +was unknown; gourds served for drinking cups and +for the holding of liquids, and were used also for cooking. +Among the memorials of woman of these remote times +appears no trace of the charms and fetiches which usually +accompany the performance of domestic duties among +primitive races. Nothing lower in the scale of human +existence could be imagined than the lives of these women +of the river-drift, to whom nature made no appeal save +that of fear of its furious moods, to whom sex meant not +the possibilities of pure wifehood and motherhood, but +servitude to the demands of passion. When children were +not vigorous, or when for any reason their nurture became +irksome, they were ruthlessly slain, even by the mothers +themselves; and every woman knew that the lot of abandonment +was reserved for her when she could no longer +fulfil the hard conditions of her existence.</p> + +<p>In some respects, the life of the women of the cave-dwellers +of the later Pleistocene period was of a higher +order than that which we have just described—not that +there was any essential difference in the social grade of +the two peoples, but that the cave-dwellers had learned to +make better implements of the chase and to fashion more +effectively all their weapons and tools. The greater +security to life afforded by these improvements and the +greater assurance of subsistence led to more settled living, +and thereby afforded an opportunity to develop a social +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> +organization that should have for its basis something of +greater permanence than a temporary need. While it +would be hazardous, then, to assume too much in the way +of improvement in the life of the women of the cave-dwellers +over that of the women of the river-drift, yet it +should be borne in mind that in states of society such as +those represented by these remote inhabitants of Britain, +even a slight advance in the scale of living marks an epoch of progress.</p> + +<p>The cave-dwellers succeeded the people of the river-drift +as inhabitants of Britain, and the combined occupancy +of the country by these peoples covered a vast stretch of +time. It is very probable that their periods overlapped, +and that the later people were in part contemporary with +the former. Though the people of the river-drift and the +dwellers in caves may have avoided intermixture, as have +the Esquimaux and the American Indians, yet there is +nothing absolutely to preclude the idea that such race distinction +was observed during great periods of time. So +that all we have to say of the women of the cave-dwellers +may be equally applied to the women of the later times of the river-drift.</p> + +<p>The cave-dwellers, like their predecessors, were hunters. +For their dwellings they chose the caves from which they +had driven out the bear and the lion. These rude homes +the women hung about with the skins of the horse or the +wolf, and spread on the floor for couches the hides of these +or of other beasts that had fallen by the arrows of the +hunters or had been ensnared in their pitfalls. Here the +tribe remained until the scarcity of game or the assault of +enemies impelled it to migrate. Where there were no +caves, huts were constructed. These were framed with +the branches and trunks of trees and covered with skins and hides.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> + +<p>The woman of the cave-dwellers was a sturdy specimen +of her sex, and the long and arduous migrations in which +the burden of the work fell upon her shoulders were probably +borne with little sense of hardship. We can imagine +a tribe, travelling afoot, for as yet neither the horse nor +any other animal had been domesticated: the men with +their long fish spears across their backs, their stone +arrows hanging at their sides, and their bows in hand, +always alert for the wild beasts with which they waged a +relentless warfare; the women laden with all the paraphernalia +of their simple existence, many with a babe +slung at the back, and their naked, uncouth progeny following +or gambolling about them. The strange personal +appearance of both men and women would add to the +oddity of the scene in modern eyes, for their bodies were +painted in grotesque patterns, and, if the rigors of the +season made any covering necessary, a simple skin, laced +about them with reindeer sinews, sufficed for clothing. +On coming to a fresh hunting region, near to some body +of water or flowing stream, where the game would naturally +come to slake their thirst,—perhaps upon the grassy +plains that still extended over what is now the English +Channel and formed a part of the original land connection +with the continent,—they paused for another term of settled +residence. Again the caves were resorted to, or rudely +thatched huts were erected. If the wild beasts pressed +the wanderers too hard, they sometimes had recourse to +huts erected upon rough stone heaps in the midst of an oozy swamp.</p> + +<p>While the men gave themselves wholly to hunting, the +women went about their domestic pursuits. To them was +assigned the making of such scanty clothing as was imperatively +required in the cold season; for though the crude +carvings of the time invariably represent the hunters as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> +naked, it cannot be concluded from such evidence that +clothing was not worn at all. The extremely serviceable +reindeer sinews served the women for thread, and a thin +reindeer prong, pierced through at the thick end, made a +satisfactory needle. The skins were simply sewed together +at the edges, without shaping, but with apertures through +which to pass the head and arms. The women devised +many ornaments; these consisted of amulets and necklaces +made of bone, ivory, and shells, which, shaped and polished, +they painstakingly punctured and fastened together +in long strings for the decoration of their necks and arms. +Apparently, it was not customary to wear foot covering of +any kind, as the feet of such skeletons of this period as +have been found are so symmetrical as to preclude the +probability of constraint during growth. The men may +have worn some form of foot covering when engaged in +such exposed work as spearing the seal in the winter +season; but the women, who remained in shelter during +the severities of the winter, did not avail themselves of +any such protection. The fact that gloves were worn by +men seems to be established by some of the rude etchings +of the period, for in them such articles appear to be discernible.</p> + +<p>The sanitary condition of the homes of these hunting +tribes was of the worst description; the offal and refuse +were thrown at the very doors of the cave, there to decay +and poison the air. The caves themselves were smoke-begrimed +and foul, for house cleaning had not yet entered +into the economy of woman. While, by reason of their +simple, open-air life, they were a vigorous race, the ills to +which the cave-dwellers fell a prey, the injuries they suffered +in warfare or from the attacks of wild beasts, or the +diseases contracted through unsanitary living, must have +been sources of great dread to them, as they were without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> +any medical knowledge of which we have trace. When +the women, particularly, became too sick to perform their +allotted tasks, they were carried out to die or to become +the victims of savage beasts; but this was only one of the +inevitable phases of an existence that was replete with tragedies.</p> + +<p>From the evidence afforded by the great abundance of +arrow heads and spear points surviving from this period, +there is no doubt that the cave men were much given to +warfare. Aside from the natural pugnacity and ferocity +of savage races, which lead them to fight upon very little +provocation, there was with the cave-dwellers another +source of constant hostility. As has been stated with +reference to the river-drift people, the women were not +permanently attached to the men. It is just as true that +they were not permanently attached to their tribes, for +when, through disease or the ravages of wild beasts, the +women of any horde became greatly diminished in number, +their ranks were recruited by forays upon other tribes. +These attacks for the purpose of stealing the women of +their enemies were especially provocative of fierce conflicts, +as the depletion of its stock of women often seriously +crippled a tribe and sometimes even threatened its extinction. +Such forcible transfers of ownership must have +added greatly to the hardness of the woman's lot, for by +such means many mothers were permanently separated from their offspring.</p> + +<p>The weight of probability and of evidence seems to +leave little room for doubt that the early inhabitants of +Britain were cannibals. While there was no scarcity of +game as a rule, it is quite likely that these savage peoples, +as those of the same grade of culture in all times, when +experiencing the delirium of a victory over their enemies, +put to death by cruel tortures the unhappy captives that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> +fell into their hands, and then, to complete their triumph, +roasted and ate the flesh of the slain. Aside from the +deductive probability of the case, human bones dating +back to this period have been found along with the remains +of weapons and in association with the ashes of +camp fires; and in such cases the bones have invariably +been broken, in order to extract from them their marrow. +The story of the battle, the tortures, and the feast is eloquently +suggested by the silent memorials that have been +preserved through the lapse of ages. As we picture the +far-off scene of human savagery, the figure of woman flits +through the lights and shadows of the horrid orgy: for +she it was who prepared the gruesome repast; it was in +defence of her, perhaps, that the fierce battle was fought; +some of her own near of kin, it may be, she has been +forced to prepare for the unnatural appetites of her enemies. +Possibilities! but read in the light of the times, +they become probabilities, and probabilities furnish much of the data of history.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of woman's life is again brought before us +with startling vividness when we look upon the skull of a +woman of this remote race, as it lies in a cave, with a little +stone hatchet beside it, where it was ruthlessly cast after +the commission of a bloody crime; for in that skull is a +jagged hole into which fits the blade of the hatchet. The +scene, sketched from a remote past, might have been an +occurrence of yesterday, so close to us is it brought by the +silent witnesses; these and similar relics disclose the sad +lot of woman in that savage society.</p> + +<p>There are fuller evidences of the state of domestic resources +among the women of the cave-dwellers than with +those of the river-drift. The remains show, too, a greater +variety and adaptation; for while there is no clear proof +of the existence of pottery, yet the cave people appear not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> +to have lacked substitutes for it. Vessels for boiling meats +were probably fashioned of small stones cemented together, +and they had, also, vessels of hollowed wood. The +skulls of animals served well for drinking purposes, besides +which receptacles for holding liquids were made from the +skins of beasts. Water was heated by placing hot stones +in a vessel containing it, by which means the fluid could +be raised to any desired temperature. Long flint flakes +set in handles answered for knives; when rounded at the +edge, the same material made serviceable scrapers. +Spoons were constructed from pieces of reindeer antlers, +hollowed at the thick end, or if they were intended to +be used to scoop out the marrow from bones, the tapered +end was hollowed. For their food, the cave-dwellers, +though they possessed no domesticated animals, had +a wide choice of large and small game, birds, fish, reptiles, +and grubs; to these they added edible roots and berries.</p> + +<p>This almost indispensable domestic handicraft was not, +however, the limit of their achievement in designing. We +have seen that woman's thought and some of her activities +were applied to the production of merely decorative +objects. She had already acquired an appreciative taste +for the auxiliary attractions of personal adornment. The +art of designing certainly found a place in the occupations +of these cave-dwellers, and the most familiar animated +objects would be their necessary choice. Hence, we may +readily conceive that, in the moments of respite from the +chase, the rude artist of this age would make of the cave +passages a canvas for his work and thereon delineate the +animals whose importance to his existence rendered them +the most interesting objects. Nor, for this reason, would +his subject fail of appreciative criticism and of educational value.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> + +<p>It is impossible to state the nature or the extent of the +social organization among these people, but that there +must have been something of the sort there can be no +doubt. It seems equally plausible that there could have +been no recognition of law in the lives of these passionate +savages, excepting as the will of some more than ordinarily +forceful warrior was for the time so recognized. An +association of this kind admitted of the sloughing of the +groups whenever a difference of inclination or of interest +suggested such a course. Promiscuity undoubtedly remained +the characteristic form of the relation of the +sexes, the conditions of life admitting of no more enduring relations.</p> + +<p>The culture of the peoples of the river-drift and of the +caves signified little in British civilization, as these shadowy +tribes passed completely out of view. For a period of time +that could be expressed only in the term of vague geological +computation, the country remained devoid of inhabitants. +Meantime, changes were wrought in Britain's physical +features. The land became insular, although the subsidence +that gave rise to the English Channel was not yet +complete. In an indirect way, the earliest peoples may be +said to have passed on the elements of their culture; for, +while there was a lapse in the continuity of social development, +the Neolithic races that are next met with in Britain +became the inheritors of the culture of the ruder hunter +stages of society represented by the river-drift and cave peoples.</p> + +<p>The social grade of the Neolithic races was a great +advance over that of the peoples last considered. Instead +of bands of nomadic wanderers, we find a pastoral people +whose migrations were doubtless periodical and made only +in search of new pastures. Hunting did not form an important +part of their lives, for their food was supplied by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> +the flesh of domesticated animals and the cereals that they +raised for their own needs and, in the winter season, for those of their stock.</p> + +<p>Although caves continued to be used to some extent for +dwellings, they were not characteristic of the civilization +of the times. Man had become a home builder. The +evolution from the cave dwellings is seen in the style of +houses that were first constructed. They consisted of +pits dug to a depth of seven to ten feet, and about seven +feet wide at the base. These pits were roofed over with +a sort of thatch, filled in with imperfectly burnt clay. +They were built singly and in groups, and were sometimes +connected by a system of underground passages. Access +was had to these dwellings by a slanting, shaftlike entrance. +A pit village was usually stockaded to protect it +against the assaults of foes. Outside it were the arable +lands and the common pasture lands for the sheep and +goats; enclosing these, the forest stretched out in all directions.</p> + +<p>Looking down from one of the surrounding hilltops upon +such a village, it would have presented to the eye of the +observer the appearance of a number of round hillocks but +little higher than the ground level. Thin lines of smoke, +slowly ascending, would mark the places where the common +meals were in course of preparation. As the traveller +descended the hillside, his approach would be challenged +by gaunt, savage sheep dogs, from whose attacks he +would need to defend himself. As he passed out into the +clearing, he would be confronted by the men, some of them +tilling the soil, others acting as shepherds or swineherds. +Perhaps a field of golden wheat would lend its beauty to +the scene, Approaching the dwellings, the women would +be seen at their several employments; some busy cutting +up the meat and swinging it over the fires to roast, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> +boiling it in pots with herbs and roots to make a savory +stew, others mixing dough and spreading it upon flat +stones over hot embers to bake. Sitting about on the +rocks or squatting upon skins spread upon the ground, +other women would be found busily making pottery, +modelling the clay with their hands, and scratching upon +it lines, circles, and pyramids in various combinations, or +fashioning designs by pressing reindeer sinews into the +substance. Still others would be discovered busily spinning +and weaving flax and wool into fabrics for the clothing that +marked one of the advances of the Neolithic people. In +the distance would be heard the dull strokes of the stone +axes with which, in the depth of the wood, the men felled the tall timber.</p> + +<p>For the industries presented in this picture of a Neolithic +village, there were suitable implements. For all +domestic purposes, the art of pottery making had solved +the question of satisfactory vessels. These were generally +in two colors, either brown or black. The potter's +wheel had not yet been invented, so that the vessels lacked +the grace and uniformity of later work of the sort. Wheat +was ground by means of a mortar and pestle. Knives for +various uses, saws, and scrapers were all made of highly +polished and very keen-edged flint flakes. The great +superiority of their stone implements over those of earlier +races has given a name to the people, but the culture of +the Polished Stone Age reveals, as its most salient fact, +not this, but rather the domestication of animals and the +tilling of the soil. It is significant to note that these most +characteristic features of the Polished Stone Age denote +the advance of society in the arts of peaceful living. War +was prevalent enough, but human development had discovered +another line of advancement, and, by reason of +the increased incentives to peaceful living, war was not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> +usually undertaken simply for the pleasure of fighting. +Protection of flocks and herds, of cleared fields and settled +homes, became the chief occasion of the wars waged by the Neolithic people.</p> + +<p>In such a society as we have described, there is a +community of interest that tends to give stability to the +ties of relationship. The fairly settled state of life was +undoubtedly accompanied by a social organization of some +sort that could properly deal with the matters of individual +rights. The family had become evolved from the horde; +promiscuity had doubtless given place to polygamy, or, +under the exceptional conditions of a greater number of +men than of women, to polyandry. Neither of these +forms of marriage carried with it the idea of fixity and of family responsibility.</p> + +<p>A feature of the Neolithic age was its commerce. By a +system of intertribal traffic, the simple commodities of the +widely dispersed peoples of Europe became distributed +among the various tribes. By this means, many articles +not of domestic manufacture were added to the comfort of +the people of Britain. Thus, the women were enabled to +adorn themselves with jade beads that must have come +from the region of the Mediterranean Sea, and even with +gold ornaments from as distant points. These instances, +however, were exceptional, and are to be accounted for +in the same manner that we account for the most unlikely +things in the possession of the tribes of Central Africa—by +gradual hand-to-hand passage.</p> + +<p>There was probably an absence of religious ideas among +the predecessors of the Polished Stone races; but among the +remains of the latter are ample proofs of the prevalence +among them of such notions. Caves that once had served +them as residences were later used for places of burial, +the bodies being piled up with earth until the cavities were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> +completely filled. Accompanying human remains have been +found urns, supposedly for burning incense, personal ornaments, +implements, and weapons, placed there for the use +of the dead. If the people possessed religious conceptions +that led them to believe in an after life, there is no room +for doubt that religion had a place in the economy of their +living. The women of this time, then, could look forward +to something better than abandonment to starvation after +they became enfeebled by age or sickness, and they may +not have lacked religious associations in their everyday +life to give to it deeper meaning and interest.</p> + +<p>From the foregoing sketch of her life, it is very clear +that the condition of Neolithic woman, the range of her +ideas, and the elements of her comfort, were much in advance +of those of the woman of the Paleolithic period. +The contributions to her existence were indeed elements +of civilization, and formed the basis for all that the life of +the sex has come to be. In the realm of institutions, the +home was beginning to have a place and a meaning in +the life of the people. Religion, also, had come to widen the +horizon of life. Very crude, but real, elements of social progress were all these.</p> + +<p>The succeeding age—the Bronze—has been credited +with working as great a revolution in life and giving it +as great an impetus as did the invention of gunpowder in +the Middle Ages. It is certainly a fact that the invention +of this beautiful alloy was looked upon by the ancients +who lived close to its age as of incalculable importance in +its influence upon civilization—a judgment that is confirmed +by anyone who studies its abundant remains. Manufactures +and commerce were important interests of the times: +smelting furnaces and the smith's shop turned out beautiful +specimens of wares of all sort—shields, spears, arrow +tips, cups of graceful pattern, vessels for all purposes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> +ornaments, and the trimmings for the large boats made +necessary by a wide commerce, were all manufactured beyond +the needs of domestic consumption. The stimulated +inventiveness of the people added many new articles of comfort to their lives.</p> + +<p>The development of bronze was not original with the +people of Britain, but was introduced through an invasion +of bronze-using people. For this reason, the change made +in the life of the people was radical, instead of being, as on +the continent, a gradual process. The struggle that ensued +between the bronze users and the stone users was a +contest between an advanced civilization and one of a +lower order; and its issue was predetermined. The newcomers +became the controlling element in the country. +The tendency of the new order of things was toward individualism. +Personal ownership brought with it social +grades, so that it is impossible to make statements with +regard to the bronze people that apply equally to all the race.</p> + +<p>But we are concerned with the conditions of the times +only as the setting in which we are to study the life of +woman. In the Bronze Age, there was introduced into +her life nothing to be compared to the contributions made +thereto in the preceding age. While her horizon was +greatly broadened, and while she benefited by the improvements +in living,—better facilities, comforts, and +even luxuries,—yet the advance was along established +lines. We may surely believe that closer intercourse +with outside peoples brought a corresponding quickening +of thought and an appreciation of the merits of grades of +life higher than her own. There was no marked change +in the style of dwellings of the people of the Bronze Age +from those of the Neolithic period; but their furnishings +were better, and, instead of the skins of wild animals, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +those of domestic animals and, perhaps, woven and brightly +dyed fabrics now served for couches, and were hung about +the walls as a protection against dampness. The utensils +of the home were varied and ornamental, the conventional +patterns having given place to other, though still +simple, designs. In the homes of the wealthy, knives and +spoons and the finer grades of vessels were of bronze.</p> + +<p>The dress of the women had now become something +more than mere protection for the body. The skins of +animals might still suffice for the clothing of the poor, but +the rich man's attire consisted of well-bleached linens, +and, doubtless, woollen fabrics as well. The garments +made of these materials were probably dyed in rich colors, +as the principles of dyeing were well understood. We can +picture, then, a woman of the higher grade, dressed in a +tunic, with a mantle of contrasting color, her hair done up +in an elaborate coiffure and set off by a cap of goat or +sheep skin. Projecting from under this would appear +bronze hairpins, perhaps twenty inches in length, of ornamental +design; indeed, her coiffure was such an elaborate +affair that it is quite likely that she slept with it in a head +rest, similar to those which we know were used by the +lake-dwellers of Switzerland and are still used in Japan. +Pendent from her neck hung strings of beads and ornaments +made of bone, polished stone, bronze, and even +glass and gold. Her arms were weighted with bracelets, +and her legs were adorned with anklets.</p> + +<p>Spinning, weaving, the milking of the goats, the making +of curd and cheese, the modelling of pottery, the preparation +of the meals, assisting with the outdoor work, and the +care of her children, made up the round of woman's life in +those days. But there was another element that had +come to be a serious one in her existence, and that was +religion. Although the form of the prevailing religious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +belief is lost, yet we have evidence that it was elaborate +enough to call for special places for its observance. Indeed, +none of the remains of the Bronze Age are more +instructive, or present food for more fruitful speculation as +to the manner of life or the scope of mentality during that +era, than the curious tumuli that show how closely associated +in the common consciousness were religion and +death; for these mounds were probably places both of +worship and burial. These ideas still remain in such close +connection that the vicinity of a church, and indeed the +edifice itself, seems especially appropriate for the interment +of the dead or for the depositing of crematory urns. +Such religion as existed must have had its reflex influence +upon woman's life and have entered into its duties; it may +be that, as with the later Druids, she assisted in the public offices of worship. +<!--Blank page #22 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span>.</p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter II</h2> + +<h2>The Women of Ancient Britain</h2> +<!--Blank page #24 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> + + +<p>For our survey of the women of the different and, to a +considerable degree, distinct peoples of Britain, prior to +their being brought under the influence of Roman culture, +it will be convenient to take our stand at the beginning of +the period of real history, which for Britain may be conveniently +placed at the first century before Christ. A survey +of woman at that time would, in the nature of the case, +partake somewhat of the character of a composite picture. +Still, it would include all important particulars, even though +these might not, in all cases, be accurately assigned in +point of time, or even precisely as to race. So gradual +were the changes that were wrought in woman's existence +during the revolution that followed the introduction +of iron into the arts of Britain's life, that it will not be +difficult to speak with approximate accuracy.</p> + +<p>The data for our picture of the status and occupations of +the women at the time under consideration will need to be +drawn from archæological remains of different dates and of +widely different races, as well as from the confused and +often conflicting or even incredible accounts of early voyagers, +to which may be added the vague allusions of legendary lore.</p> + +<p>In considering the details of the life of woman during +the period under consideration, the most salient fact is not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> +the influx and partial merging of different peoples resulting +from the intercourse that had been opened up between +the Britons and the nations of the continent; nor is it the +impulse to civilization brought about by the use of iron +in the manufacture of a multitude of articles of general +convenience. Such influences and agencies were potent +in society, working the transformation that found its +expression, among other ways, in the lifting of woman +to the plane of civilization that was introduced by the +Romans; but, undoubtedly, the greatest contributing factor +to the life of the age, and so the most important one in +fixing the status of woman, was the trade relations that +were developed with Britain by the peoples of the South +and the remote East: the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the +Etruscans, the Greeks, and, later, the Romans. To the +Phoenicians, that nation of traders, must be given the credit +of the introduction into Britain of the higher products of +many of those peoples whose civilizations were of an advanced +type. It was the fleets of this enterprising people +that brought into Britain quantities of finely wrought implements +of various sorts: useful articles that greatly +increased the comfort of life, as well as those of ornament +and of dress. Among such imports were the jade beads +and ornaments which the British women held in especial +esteem; beads of glass, delicately marked and colored; +ornaments of gold, sometimes inlaid with enamel in pleasing +designs and colors; fine fabrics of different sorts; rings, +brooches, necklaces, armlets, leg bands, and wares of +many kinds. Such things not only added to the comfort +and the sense of luxury of the women, but, as object lessons +of art and elegance, they were in the highest degree +educative. They stimulated woman's imagination and +piqued her interest in regard to the women of those far +distant lands, with whom such articles were in ordinary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +use. We hear of travellers' tales, carried back by the +early voyagers to Britain, which, by their incredible coloring, +awakened the wonder of the Greeks; but probably as +much amazement and interest were aroused among the +Britons by the marvellous tales, told by the Phœnicians +and other traders, concerning the nations among which +were manufactured the articles brought by them to barter +for the metals, furs, woods, and other products of Britain. +In this way, a distorted knowledge of the outside world +and of the accomplishments of highly civilized peoples +came to be widely diffused among the more advanced of +the rude inhabitants of Britain. The arrival of a ship in +port was an event of absorbing interest; soon the women +of the coast settlements would be seen busily traversing +the narrow, winding paths by which the houses of a village +were connected, to gossip with their neighbors about +the latest bit of wonderful narrative picked up from the +oddly garbed foreign sailors concerning the mighty nations +of the remote parts of the earth, or to display some purchase—a +piece of cloth of fine web or of bright colors, a +chased fibula, a string of beads, or articles of like nature. +It would be difficult to exaggerate the effect upon the +mentality and the life interest of the simple-minded yet +keenly inquiring British women of the commerce which, +at first occasional, gradually became regular and expanding, +and by which Britain was brought out of its insular +separateness into the broad current of the world's progress.</p> + +<p>The population of Britain was large—as the Romans +found when they came into the country. The people +were collected into villages and towns which were ruled by +chieftains who were frequently at war with one another. +During such strife their women were hidden in caves or +pits covered with brush; this was a necessary protective +measure for the loss of its women was the severest blow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> +a people could suffer. This division of the tribes into +little warring factions was the cause of the country falling +readily a prey to the Romans.</p> + +<p>When we consider that the writers of the time had in +view different elements of the population, it is less difficult +to harmonize their conflicting statements. While there +are contrary statements made as to the agriculture of the +Romans, it seems to be a satisfactory reconciliation of +these statements to regard the less progressive northern +tribes as purely pastoral and the inhabitants of the other +parts of the island as agriculturalists as well as herdsmen. +After the Romans became established, wheat came to be +one of the chief articles of export. The producers harvested +this grain by cutting off the heads and storing +them in pits under the ground. These pits were protected +against frost. Each day the farmers took out the wheat +longest stored, and ground it into meal. The process of +removing the grain from the cob was, according to what +we know of it, similar to the method still in use down to +the seventeenth century in some parts of Britain. This +consisted of twirling in the fire several heads of wheat, +which the woman performing the operation held in her left +hand, while with a stick held in her right hand she beat +off the loosened grain at the very instant that the chaff +was consumed. The grain was then usually ground in a +hand mill, although there is reason to believe that water +mills also were used to some extent. The meal was then +mixed, and baked over the fire in little loaves, or flat cakes. +The whole process occupied but a couple of hours.</p> + +<p>The houses of the people, to which the women were +confined the greater part of the winter, were mean little +structures. They were circular in shape, and were made +of wattles or wood, and sometimes of stone. These +wigwam-like structures were roofed with straw, and had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> +as their sole external decoration the trophies of the chase +and the battlefield. A chief's house was triumphantly +adorned with the skulls of his enemies, nailed up against +the eaves of the porch, among the horns and bones of +beasts. Sometimes the heads of foes slain in battle were +embalmed, and furnished gruesome ornamentation for the +interior of the house. But notwithstanding these testimonials +of a savage nature, there were evidences of comfort +that had in them the indication of an approach to +civilization. The houses were connected by narrow, tortuous +paths, and were usually surrounded by a stockade as a protection against assault.</p> + +<p>The dress of the women differed according to the wealth +and the civilization of the various sections of the population. +The tribes of the east and southeast, who were +principally Celts, were the more civilized, while the Caledonians +of the north—the Picts, or painted men, as they +were commonly called—were far less advanced. The +women of the Celts were of great personal attractiveness. +They possessed a wealth of magnificent hair, were fair-complexioned +and of splendid physique. To these graces +of person they added fierce tempers; we are told that +when the husband of one of them engaged in an altercation +with a stranger, his wife would join strenuously +in the controversy, and with her powerful "snow-white" +arms, and her feet as well, deliver blows "with the +force of a catapult." These vigorous British women were +vain of their appearance and gay in their dress. Their +costume consisted of a sleeved blouse, which was ordinarily +confined at the waist; this garment partly covered +trousers, worn long and clasped at the ankles. A plaid of +bright colors was fastened at the shoulders with a brooch. +They wore nothing on their heads, but displayed their +hair fastened in a graceful knot at the neck.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> + +<p>They wove thin stuffs for summer wear, and felted +heavy druggets for winter; the latter were said to be prepared +with vinegar, and "were so tough that they would +turn the stroke of a sword." Some of their clothes are +described as "woven of gaudy colors and making a show." +They were versed in the art of using alternate colors in +the warp and woof so as to bring out the pattern of stripes +and squares. Diodorus says of some of their patterns +that the cloth was covered with an infinite number of little +squares and lines, "as if it had been sprinkled with +flowers," or was striped with cross bars, giving a checkered +effect. The colors most in vogue were red and crimson; +"such honest colors," says the Roman writer, "as a person +had no cause to blame, nor the world a reason to cry +out upon." Such were the fabrics with which the more +civilized of the British women arrayed themselves, and the +workmanship of which speaks volumes for their makers' +industry and skill. The women were inordinately fond of +ornaments, and had a plentiful supply from which to +select. Their attire was not complete unless it included +necklaces, bracelets, strings of bright beads,—made of glass +or a substance resembling Egyptian porcelain,—and that +which was regarded as the crowning ornament of every +woman of wealth—a torque of gold, or else a collar of the +same metal. A ring was at first worn on the middle finger, +but later it alone was left bare, all the other fingers being loaded with rings.</p> + +<p>Among the more primitive of the peoples of Britain, +skins continued to be worn, if, as among the Picts, clothing +were not dispensed with altogether. The women of +these fierce tribes were too proud of the intricate devices +in brilliant colors with which their bodies were tattooed to +hide them in any way. These, so Professor Elton is inclined +to think, were the people who introduced bronze +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> +into Britain. They made continual and fierce attacks +on their Celtic neighbors and carried off their women into +captivity. And it was because of these attacks that the +Anglo-Saxons were invited into Britain to champion the +cause of the people, after the departure of the Romans had +left the Britons to their own resources.</p> + +<p>A period of peculiar interest and uncertainty was that +of the Roman occupancy of the country, with its veneer of +civilization and the introduction of Christianity, all of +which was apparently swept aside by the conquering hordes +of Teutons who came into Briton and laid the foundations +for the English nation. It was a time of great changes in +the standards of life and tastes, as well as of the morals +of the British women. With the Romans came their inevitable +arts of conciliation after conquest. Then followed +the period of generous grants of public works—the +baths, the theatres, the arena; then the Roman villa superseded +the huts of the inhabitants. All was created under +the ægis of the great mistress of the nations, and included +strong fortifications. Civilization was advanced, but manliness +was degraded. Effeminacy reduced the sturdy +morals of the Briton to the plane of those of their conquerors. +The abominable usage of the women finds expression +in the bitter cry that the poet ascribes to the +noble British queen, Boadicea: "Me they seized and they +tortured, me they lashed and humiliated, me the sport of +ribald veterans, mine of ruffian violators."</p> + +<p>It is not a part of our work to even sketch the course of +the Roman invasion in its path of blood and fire across the +face of Britain, or the stubborn and sturdy opposition of +the natives, the subjugation and the revolt of tribes—notably +the Icenii, who cost the Romans seventy thousand +slain and the destruction of three cities, but whose final +conquest broke the backbone of opposition to the Roman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> +arms. All this is political history, and cannot concern us +excepting in the immense effect it had upon the women of +the land. It was they who bore the brunt of suffering, +degradation, and, too frequently, slavery and deportation—customary +incidents of the fierce spirit of the Roman conquests. +But in spite of the miseries their coming entailed +upon the people, the Roman rule had an admirable effect +upon the country in promoting peace, in establishing regard +for law, and in stimulating commerce. After they +had become accustomed to the Roman method of legal +procedure in the settlement of differences, the Britons +were no longer ready to fly at one another's throat on the +least provocation. The breaking up of their tribal distinctions +led to a greater consolidation of the people and removed +a cause of strife. But as the descendants of the +defenders of Britain's liberties grew up amid Roman conditions +of life that had permeated the whole population as +far as the northern highlands, where the people proved invincible +to the Roman arms, the habit of dependence upon +the Roman legions for protection enervated the people to +such an extent that they could interpose but faint resistance +to the next invaders of the country—the conquering Angles, Jutes, and Saxons.</p> + +<p>It is amid conditions of Roman conquest and control that +we are now to consider more in detail the status of the +British woman. Scattered along the borders of the woods, +between the pasture lands and the hunting lands, could be +found the homesteads of the Britons, before the rise of the +Roman city. Each of these edifices was large enough to +hold the entire family in its single room. They were built, +generally, of hewn logs, set in a row on end and covered +with rushes or turf. The family fire burned in the middle +of the room, and, circling it, sat the members of the household +at their meals. The same raised seat of rushes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> +served them at night for a couch. Under the prevailing +tribal custom, three families, or rather three generations +of the same family, from grandfather to grandson, occupied +each dwelling. After the third generation the family +was broken up, though all the members of it retained the +memory of their common descent. It is not clear whether +or not a strictly monogamous household was the type of +family life. Certainly it is probable that such was not +the case among the backward races of the interior. As to +the advanced sections of the population, against the statement +of contemporary observers that it was the practice +of the British women to have a plurality of husbands, +there is only the argument of improbability to be urged. +The custom of several families living under the one roof +and in the same room may have led the Romans into an erroneous conclusion.</p> + +<p>Little is known as to the laws of the Britons in regard +to the regulation of family. In the matter of divorce, if +the couple had several children, the husband took the +eldest and the youngest, and the wife the middle ones, +although the merits of such a peculiar division do not +appear. It would seem as if in the case of the youngest +child, at least, the mother was the proper custodian, or at +any rate the natural one. The pigs went to the man, and +the sheep to the woman; the wife took the milk vessels, +and the man the mead-brewing machinery. This was at +variance with the later custom of England, for well on +through the Middle Ages, both as a family employment +and a public industry, brewing was accounted woman's +occupation. To the husband went also the table and +ware. He took the larger sieve, she the smaller; he the +upper, and she the lower millstone of the corn mill. The +under bedding was his, and the upper hers. He received +the unground corn, she the meal. The ducks, the geese, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> +and the cats were her portion, while to his share fell the hens and one mouser.</p> + +<p>The slight estimation in which women were held as +compared with the value put upon men is indicated by the +fact that a woman was legally rated at half the worth of +her brother and one-third that of her husband. If a woman +engaged in a quarrel, she was fined a specific sum for each +finger with which she fought and for each hair she pulled from her adversary's head.</p> + +<p>Among the customs in which women were concerned, +those relating to marriage show that the assumption of +family responsibility was regarded as a permanent relation, +and their nature does not agree with Cæsar's description +of the loose ties of matrimony among the Britons. It +is entirely unlikely that the wives of the men were held +by them in common. As has been already stated, such +group marriages, if they existed, were localized among the +rudest of the races of the country, whose general civilization +had not elevated them to the point of appreciation of +pure family life. Such, perhaps, were the small dark +races descended from the Neolithic tribes and held in little +esteem by the Celts. Among the Celts it was customary +for the father of a bride to make a present of his own arms +to his son-in-law. As will be seen later by a description +of one of their dinners, the Celts preferred feasting to all +other occupations, and their festivities were accompanied +by the utmost conviviality. A wedding was an occasion +for the most extravagant feasting, all the relatives of the +contracting parties, to the third degree of kindred, assembling +to eat and drink to the happiness of the newly +wedded pair. The ceremony took place at the house of +the bridegroom, and the bride was conducted thither by +her friends. If the parties were rich, the pair made presents +to their friends at the marriage festival; but if they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> +were poor, the reverse was the case, and presents were +made to them by the guests. At the conclusion of the +feast, the bride and bridegroom were conducted to their +chamber by the whole company, with great merriment +and amid music and dancing. The next morning, before +rising, it was the rule for the husband to make his wife +a present of considerable value, according to his circumstances. +This was regarded as the wife's peculiar property.</p> + +<p>The wives of the ancient Britons had not only the usual +domestic duties to perform, but much of the outside work +as well. Being of robust constitution, leading lives of +simplicity and naturalness, maternity interfered but little +with the round of their duties. The period was not wholly +without its anxieties, however, as is shown by the custom +among British women of wearing a girdle that was supposed +to be conducive to the birth of heroes. The assumption +of these girdles was a ceremony accompanied with +mystical rites, and was a part of the Druidical ritual. The +newborn babe was plunged into some lake or river in order +to harden it, and as a test of its constitution; this was done +even in the winter season. The early British mother +always nursed her children herself, nor would she have +thought of delegating this duty to another. The first +morsel of food put into a male infant's mouth was on the +tip of the father's sword, that the child might grow up to +be a great warrior. As is frequently the case with primitive +peoples, the Britons did not give names to their children +until the latter had performed some feat or displayed +some characteristic which might suggest for them a suitable +name. It follows from this that all the names of the ancient +Britons that have been preserved to us are significant. +The youth were not delicately nurtured, and after passing +through the perils of childhood, when the care of a mother +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> +was imperative, it is probable that the mother had little to +do with the training of her boy. Accustomed almost from +infancy to the use of arms, as he grew older the boy added +to his training athletic ordeals and feats of daring. Among +the games to which he was accustomed was jumping +through swords so placed that it was extremely difficult to +leap quickly through them without being impaled. Youth +was democratic, and, without any distinction, the children +of the noble and the lowly, equally sordid and ill clad, +played about on the floor or in the open field.</p> + +<p>The Britons were noted for the warmth of their family +affection. The mother was sure of the dutiful regard of +her children and did not lack affectionate consideration +from her husband. The aged were treated with a reverence +in striking contrast to the heartlessness with which +in earlier times the old were deserted to die or were put +to death—a custom not unusual among primitive peoples. +It is pleasant to think of the British matron inculcating +into the minds of her children respect for age and the claims of relationship.</p> + +<p>The law of hospitality was sacred to the ancient Briton. +When a stranger sought entertainment at the home of one +of them, no questions were asked as to his identity or his +business, until after the meal. Indeed, it was frequently +the case that such arrivals were made the excuse for a +great feast, to which a number of friends were invited. +The women soon had the preparation under way, and in +due time the meat was roasting at the spit and the pot +swinging on the crane over a roaring fire. While the +mothers were employed in these occupations and in making +bread, their daughters poured the fresh milk into the +pitchers and filled the metal beakers and earthen jugs +with home-brewed beer and mead. While the men exchanged +stories of their hunting exploits and deeds of valor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> +in battle, the women carried on a constant buzz of suppressed +speculation and remark concerning the guests. +When the meal was ready, the women set it before the +men upon fresh grass or rushes. The bread was served +in wicker baskets. The guests and their hosts seated +themselves upon a carpet of rushes, or upon dog or wolf +skins placed near the open fireplace. While the men voraciously +seized the steaming joints and carved from them +long slices of meat, which they ate "after the fashion +of lions," the women plied them with the beakers of +foaming beverage, and the bards sang, to the music of +harps, the boastful exploits of some local chieftain. It +was a strange thing if the feast and conviviality did not +end in a fight over some question of precedence or disputed +statement. When such a combat did occur, it +was usually a contest to the death. Nor were the fierce-tempered +women passive during such encounters, but, +as we have seen, were ready to aid the men of their +family with frenzied attack. Such a feast as we have +described presented a weird and picturesque sight under +the flaming light of the torches made of rushes soaked in tallow.</p> + +<p>One of the favorite domestic employments of the British +women, though one which we may imagine fell largely to +the lot of the younger women and the girls, was the +making of the wickerware for which the ancient Britons +were famous. Baskets, platters, the bodies of chariots, +the frames of boats, and even the framework of the houses, +were made of this light and serviceable material. Withes +peeled and woven by the supple fingers of the young +British women into fancy baskets found a ready market +at Rome, and commanded high prices, being generally +esteemed as a rare work of ingenious art. During the +hours required to weave an article of this sort, the women +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> +would fall into a responsive song, picked up perhaps from some passing minstrel.</p> + +<p>Weaving, spinning, dyeing the fabrics thus made; the +milking of the cattle, the grinding of the meal; the making +of the garments for the family; the manufacture of pottery, +to which may be added a share of the outdoor work, were +some of the matters which made the life of the British +woman far from an idle one. And yet, with it all, the +young women found leisure to tarry at the spring for the +exchange of laughing remarks, as they dropped something +into its clear depth—as an offering to the divinity who +they fully believed resided therein and who held in keeping +their future and their fortunes—before they drew from +it the water for the bleaching of the linen that they had +already spread out in the sun.</p> + +<p>The religion of the Britons, before the introduction of +Christianity, was an elaborate system of superstitions +and of nature worship. It was in the hands of a priestly +order—the Druids. A mother was glad to resign her boy +to the training of this mystical brotherhood, if he showed +sufficient talent to warrant his reception therein. It is not +necessary to describe particularly the system. It was +made up of three orders, the Druids proper, the Bards, +and the Ovates. Over the whole order was an Archdruid, +who was elected for life. An order of Druidesses, also, +is supposed to have existed. When Suetonius Paulinus +landed at Anglesey in pursuit of the Druids (A.D. 56), +women with hair streaming down their backs, dressed in +black robes and with flaring torches in their hands, rushed +up and down the heights, invoking curses on the invaders +of their sacred precincts, greatly to the terror of the superstitious Roman soldiery.</p> + +<p>At some of their sacred rites the women appeared naked, +with their skin dyed a dark hue with vegetable stain. It +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> +was the custom of the Druids, who had the oversight of +public morals, to offer, as sacrifices to the gods, thieves, +murderers, and other criminals, whom they condemned +to be burned alive. Wickerwork receptacles, sometimes +made in the form of images, were filled with the miserable +wretches, and were then placed upon the pyre and consumed. +The prophetic women, standing by, made divinations +from the sinews, the flowing blood, or the quivering +flesh of the victims. The defeat of the Druids and the +felling of their sacred groves by the Romans gave the +death blow to the system, which under the influence of +Christianity completely disappeared.</p> + +<p>The diffusion of Roman civilization colored the beliefs of +the British women. The destruction of the native shrines +whither they used to resort to make a propitiatory offering +or to draw divinations for direction in some matter of +personal or domestic concern, and the establishment of the +fanes of Rome, which abounded throughout the country to +the limits of the Roman conquest, converted the local +deities into Roman divinities. Under new names, the old +gods of the woods and streams continued to receive the +homage of the Romanized British matrons and maidens.</p> + +<p>But with the introduction of Christianity and its extension +even into parts of the country where the sword of +Rome had failed to penetrate, there was a more radical +change wrought in the life of women. They have always +instinctively recognized the fact that the Christian religion +is their champion, and in its consolation the women of the +Britons found much to alleviate their common distress and +to elevate their status. In the trying hours that came +with the inroads of the fierce and barbarous Teutons, +when they were carried off by the savage Picts to a base +servitude, and when, after the reassertion of the Christian +religion among the English, the coming of the Danes next +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> +brought a fresh abasement for their sex, the Christian faith +was the sustaining and the reconstructive force of the lives +of the women of the country. With the advance of Christianity +passed the customs of pagan burial. The dead +were no longer cremated, nor were they buried in the +tumuli with the objects of their customary association +interred with them to be of service in the spirit world.</p> + +<p>One of the most apparent results of the Roman conquest, +in its relation to the domestic life of the people, +was the supersedence of the rude British dwellings by the +Roman villa. This open style of house, suited to the sunny +skies of Italy, had to undergo modifications to adapt it to +the more rigorous clime of Britain. About an open court, +which was either paved or planted in flower beds, the +rooms were arranged, all of them opening inwardly, and +some of them having an entrance to the outside as well. +These connected rooms were usually one story high, with +perhaps an additional story in the rear. The windows +were iron-barred. The front of the villa was adorned with +stucco and gaudily painted. In the homes of the wealthy, +the inner court became an elaborately pillared banquet +hall, with tessellated work in fine marble and with the +pavement figured in symbolical devices. In it were placed +the family shrines and statuary. Or else it was fitted up +with the baths which were such a feature of Roman life. +In later times, the walls blossomed out into decorations of +mythological subjects: the foam-born Aphrodite, Bacchus +and his panther steeds, Orpheus holding his dumb audience +enthralled by his melody, Narcissus at the fountain, +or the loves of Cupid and Psyche.</p> + +<p>The heating arrangements of these houses were ample +and convenient, and the edifices themselves were frequently +added to by succeeding generations. In the +country districts, the houses were provided with large +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> +storerooms, plentifully supplied with provisions, and were +garrisoned against the attack of enemies. The best of these +Roman-British houses were imposing structures of vast +dimensions. The women, when surrounded by the luxuries +of Roman life, gave themselves over to pleasure and +frequented the theatres and the public baths, and entertained +in lavish style. They generally adopted the graceful +Roman dress, and thus cleared themselves of the charge +of loudness, extravagance, and meanness of attire that the +earlier Roman writers brought against them. After the introduction +of Christianity, when Roman civilization had become +completely domesticated, it was no unusual thing for +a Roman to have a British wife, or for British matrons to +be found on the streets of Rome itself. The morals of the +people were not proof against the contamination of Roman +standards. The women, who were brought into closest +touch with the Roman populace, imbibed their views and +followed their example. Yet among the people who lived +the simpler life of the country districts, and to whom +Christianity most forcibly appealed, the standards of their +race were largely maintained. The manner of life of the +women of the wild northern tribes was, as we have seen, +unaffected by the Roman occupancy of the country. Finding +themselves unable to conquer these fierce people, the +Romans, for their own security, had stretched across the +country a great wall to facilitate defence; but they had +soon to protect their coasts from other warlike races, who, +first in piratical bands and then as migrating nations, +brought terror and annihilation to the native Britons. +<!--Blank page #42 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter III</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Anglo-Saxons</h2> +<!--Blank page #44 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> + + +<p>To attempt a portrayal of the miseries entailed upon +the women of the Britons by the forays of the barbarians, +which followed the withdrawal of the Romans from the +country, would be to rehearse the distresses which were +but usual to warfare at that period of the world's history. +We can pass over the savagery of human passions, inflamed +by the heat of strife, and come to the more congenial +and, indeed, the only important task of considering +the life of woman, not under the exceptional conditions of +war, but in the normal state of existence. Even during +the Roman occupancy of the country, the British women +had experienced the terrors of the barbarians. In spite of +the massive wall, the lines of forts, and the system of +trenches, by which that military people had sought to +arrest the inroads of the Picts and Scots, those unconquered +tribes of the north often swept with resistless force +far into the peaceful provinces, bringing desolation into +many homes and carrying off the women, to dispose of +them in the slave markets of the continent.</p> + +<p>More terrible still had been the descent upon the British +coasts of the piratical Saxon rovers, whose frequent incursions +had given to those tracts that were open to their +attacks the significant appellation of the "Saxon shore." +In spite of the measures of the Romans against these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> +marauding bands from over the seas, they were a source +of continual terror, especially to the women of the coast +settlements, to whom their name was a synonym of all +those distresses which forcible capture and enslavement imply.</p> + +<p>When the Roman forces withdrew, a danger that had +been occasional and limited to localities now became a +menace to the whole people. The invasions of the Picts +and Scots became so frequent, and their ravages so +dreadful, that the Britons, who for generations had been +dependent upon the arms of the Romans for protection, +felt unable to cope alone with the situation that faced +them. In their extremity they hit upon the expedient of +pitting barbarian against barbarian, hoping thus to gain +peace from the northern terror, and at the same time to +rid themselves of the menace of the pirates. To this end +the astute sea rovers were engaged to discipline the northern +hordes. But when these "men without a country" +had fulfilled their obligation, they preferred to remain in +the fertile and attractive island rather than return to their +own vast forest stretches and there seek to combat the +pressure that had set in motion the Germanic peoples.</p> + +<p>In this way began, in the fifth century, the conquest of +Britain by the Angles, the Jutes, and the Saxons: a conquest +as inevitable as it was beneficial; a conquest so +stern as practically to sweep from existence a whole +people, excepting the women, who were spared to become +the slaves of the conquerors, and such of the men +as were needed to fill servile positions. The conquest of +a Christian nation by a pagan one must have resulting +justification of the highest order, if it is not to be stamped +as one of the greatest calamities of history, and such justification +is amply afforded by the splendid history of the +English people. In the light of the achievements for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> +humanity that are presented by the record of the Anglo-Saxon +peoples, we need not take up the lament of a +Gildas over the woes of the Britons.</p> + +<p>The impact of the virile peoples of northern Europe +against the serried ranks of soldiery that circled the lines +of the great world empire was the irresistible impulse of +civilization to preserve and to further the march of the +race toward the goal that mankind in all its wholesome +periods has felt to be its unalterable destiny. The conquest +of Britain was a part of this great world movement. +Its striking difference as compared with the method and +the results of the barbarian conquests on the continent +lay in the fact that the new nationalities that there arose +in the path of the invaders were Latin, while the England +of Anglo-Saxon creation was essentially Teutonic. +Hardly a vestige of the Roman occupancy of the country +remains in language, in literature, in law, in custom, or in race.</p> + +<p>The independence of the English people of Roman influence, +and British as well, leads us to connect the customs, +habits, and, in a word, the status and the civilization +of their women, not with the antecedent line of British +life, but with the tribes of the German forests. Some influence +was exerted by the British women upon the life of +the Anglo-Saxons, but it was not sufficient to become an +influential factor in the crystallization of the new nation. +Some of the surviving customs, manners, and superstitions +of the English women are of undoubted British origin, and +remain as a part of the folklore of the English race as we +know it. There is no question that the life of the common +people was tinctured by superstitious beliefs and magic, +which even Christianity had failed completely to eradicate +from the faith of the British women. And this is true, too, +with matters of custom and, perhaps, of dress.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> + +<p>The status of the female sex among the Anglo-Saxons +is well set forth by Sharon Turner in his <i>History of the +Anglo-Saxons</i>. He says: "It is a well-known fact that +the female sex were much more highly valued and more +respectfully treated by the barbarous Gothic nations than +by the more polished states of the East. Among the +Anglo-Saxons they occupied the same important and independent +rank in society which they now enjoy."</p> + +<p>They were allowed to possess, to inherit, and to transmit +landed property; they shared in all social festivities; +they were present at the Witenagemot; they were permitted +to sue and could be sued in the courts of justice; +and their persons, their safety, their liberty, and their +property were protected by express laws.</p> + +<p>The dignity and the chastity of the women of the Germanic +tribes made a profound impression on the minds of +the Roman writers who had an opportunity for observing +them, and evoked from them the warmest tributes. They +remarked that the Germans were the only barbarians +content with one wife. Here, then, we find that of which +we have not been assured in our prior study of the women +of Britain—genuine monogamous marriages.</p> + +<p>Tacitus says: "A strict regard for the sanctity of the +matrimonial state characterizes the Germans and deserves +our highest applause. Among the females, virtue runs no +hazard of being offended or destroyed by the outward +objects presented to the senses, or of being corrupted by +such social gayeties as might lead the mind astray. Severe +punishments were ordered in case of infringement of this +great bond of society. Vice is not made the subject of wit +or mirth, nor can the fashion of the age be pleaded in excuse +for being corrupt or for endeavoring to corrupt others. +Good customs and manners avail more among these barbarians +than good laws among a more refined people." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> +Among the Teutons, whom Tacitus thus praises to the +discredit of his own people, there was no room for any +question of the elemental rights of woman, for among +them woman was more than loved, she was reverenced.</p> + +<p>As Sharon Turner observes, women were admitted into +the councils of the men; and the high position accorded +them is further shown by their prominence in the more +intellectual priestly class. The proportion of women to +men must have been ten to one. Their preponderance in +this influential order assured them of the preservation of +the regard in which their sex was held. Its best security, +however, lay in that instinctive feeling of the equality of +the sexes which is fundamental in the character of the +Anglo-Saxon and the Germanic family as a whole.</p> + +<p>We must not suppose that because the women of the +Anglo-Saxons had certain rights and were accorded a certain +superstitious reverence, as specially gifted in divination, +they were therefore the objects of chivalrous devotion +and were surrounded by æsthetic associations. The age +was a rude one, and the race was made up of uncouth +barbarians. The female grace of chastity was not the +result of high ideals, or of wise deductions from the sacredness +of the family relation in its bearing upon society; it +did not even have its basis in conspicuous moral motives; +but it was a natural characteristic of a people who had +lived under severe conditions which necessitated a constant +struggle for supremacy and relegated all weaknesses of +the flesh to a place of secondary importance. Had this +attribute sprung from any of those considerations which +at a later time gave rise to chivalry, there would be found +in the poetry of the time the evidences of a tender regard +for woman; her praise would have been sung in poems +of love; but there is a dearth of love songs in the verses of +this period. Love of a kind there was, but it was too +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span> +matter-of-fact and practical in its nature to effloresce into sentimentality.</p> + +<p>As marriage is the basal principle of the true family, it +will be proper to begin a consideration of the domestic +relations of the women of the Anglo-Saxons by glancing +at the circumstances, the significance, and the ceremonies +of their marriages. When the Anglo-Saxons had settled +in England, the primitive and barbarous custom of forcibly +carrying off a bride had probably been superseded by the +later form of obtaining a bride by purchase. While the +woman seems to have had no choice in the selection of a +husband, it is unreasonable to suppose that she did not +hold and express opinions; nor would it be venturesome +to assert that, despite her legal limitations, her voice in +the matter of her marriage was often a decisive one. +When the question was beset with especial difficulties, to +what better umpire could a considerate parent refer the +matter than to the bride herself?</p> + +<p>One of the laws regulating the disposition of marriageable +maidens was: "If one buys a maiden, let her be +bought with the price, if it is a fair bargain; but if there is +deceit, let him take her home again and get back the price +he paid." This was a sort of marriage with warranty. +But the law of Cnut took a more liberal view of the rights +of the girl; it says: "Neither woman nor maid shall be +forced to marry one who is disliked by her, nor shall she +be sold for money, unless (the bridegroom) gives something +of his own free will." By this law the woman was +given the decision of her destiny, and the purchase price +became a free gift. If a woman married below her rank, she +was confronted by the alternatives of losing her freedom or +giving up her husband. As the husband bought his wife, +so he might sell her and their children, though this was +rarely done. We need not, however, condemn too harshly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> +this absolute right that was vested in the head of a family +in the disposition of its members, as it was but a relic of a +usage common to all patriarchal societies, and which passed +away with the clearer view of the sovereignty of self and the claims of society.</p> + +<p>Before the marriage proper took place, there were held +the ceremonies of espousal. These consisted of fixing the +terms of the union, and entering upon agreements to be +carried into effect after the ceremony. In later times, the +first essential was the free consent of the persons to be +espoused. This was a step toward the right of the female +in the selection of a husband. Early espousals were customarily, +but not invariably, dependent upon the consent +of both parties. In some instances, the parents espoused +their children when but seven years of age. On arriving +at ten years of age, either of the parties could in theory +terminate the engagement at will; but if they did so between +the ages of ten and twelve, the parents of the one +breaking the contract were liable to damages. Beyond +twelve years, the child as well as its parents suffered the penalty.</p> + +<p>After the parties to the espousal, in the presence of +witnessing members of their respective families, had declared +their free consent to the contract that was to bind +them, the bridegroom promised to treat his betrothed well, +"according to God's law and the custom of society." +This declaration of a good purpose was ratified by his +giving a "wed," or security, that he would creditably fulfil +his intentions as expressed. The parents or guardians of +the girl received these assurances in her behalf. The +foster-lien was the next important matter. This was at +first paid at the time of the espousal, until some fathers +with attractive daughters found it to be a profitable investment +to have them repeatedly espoused for the sake of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span> +the foster-lien, but without any idea of consummating the +espousal. This practice made these precontracts decidedly +unpopular and led to their being modified by ecclesiastical +law that provided for the payment of the foster-lien after +marriage, in case it had been properly secured at the time +of betrothal. When these preliminaries were arranged to +the satisfaction of all concerned, the ceremony itself took +place. This consisted of "handfasting" and the exchange +of something, even if only a kiss, to bind the bargain. +Frequently this sentimental interchange was accompanied +on the part of the groom elect by the gift of an ox, a saddled +horse, or other object of value.</p> + +<p>This formal engagement was really a part of the marriage +and was regarded as beginning the wedded life. The +Church, however, favored an interval between the espousal +and the marriage. The ceremony of betrothment usually +took place in a church. If the man refused or neglected +to complete the espousal within two years, he forfeited +the amount of the foster-lien; if the woman were derelict +in this respect, she was required to repay the foster-lien +fourfold—later changed to twofold. It will be seen by +this that "engagements" among the Anglo-Saxons presumed +serious intentions, and that, in a breach of faith, +the woman was held more rigidly to account than the +man, whose fickleness was visited only by forfeiture of +the security he had advanced. The woman was further +required to return all the presents that she had received from her "intended."</p> + +<p>The marriage ceremony was much like that of the +espousal. The man and woman avowed publicly their +acceptance of each other as wife and husband. The +bridegroom was required to confirm with his pledge all +that he had promised at the espousal, and his friends +became responsible for his due performance. Though by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> +the customs of their times the young people were deprived +of experiencing the delights and uncertainties of +courtship, the girls were not to be denied the joys of a +wedding; and when the circumstances of the groom permitted, +the occasion was marked with gayety, music, +feasting, and festivities of all sorts. The morning after +the wedding, the husband, before they arose, presented to +his wife the <i>morgen gift</i>. This was a valuable consideration, +and corresponded to the modern marriage settlement. +The terms of the settlement were arranged before the +marriage, but the gift was not actually presented until +the marriage had been consummated.</p> + +<p>The rude conduct which accompanies a wedding in rough +communities at the present day, as well as the more innocent +but embarrassing pranks to which any newly wedded +couple may be subjected, find their counterpart in the +uncouth conduct and witticisms that were at one time a +part of the experiences of an Anglo-Saxon bride and +groom. As the bride, accompanied by her friends, was +conducted to her future home, where her husband, according +to custom, awaited her, the procession was sometimes +saluted by facetious youths with volleys of filth and refuse +of any sort, the especial target of their maliciousness being +the frightened and insulted bride herself. If the young +rowdies could succeed in spoiling her costume, they were +especially satisfied with themselves. Aside from the indignity +offered her, the loss of her costume was always a +serious matter to the bride, as in that time of scanty +wardrobes it represented a large part of her <i>trousseau</i>.</p> + +<p>The bridegroom, if such indignities were offered to his +spouse, invariably sallied forth with his friends to administer +condign punishment to the "jokers"; and as all freemen +in those days carried arms, bloodshed, bruises, and +broken bones resulted. Later, the law took cognizance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> +of the outrage and suppressed it. But such unpleasant +experiences were not permitted to spoil the marriage festivities; +the bride received the felicitations of her friends +and displayed her gifts—the latter being in evidence at all +weddings, because the making of gifts on the part of relatives +was not a thing of choice, but of compulsion.</p> + +<p>Among the convivial Anglo-Saxons the marriage would +have been considered a very tame affair without the +accompanying excesses of unrestrained feasting, drinking, +and mirth. The clergyman who had pronounced the benediction +at the nuptials came to the feast with a company +of his clerical friends. The wedding feast lasted for at +least three days, and was a time of gluttony and rioting. +On the first day, the festivities were opened by the clergy +rising and singing a psalm or other religious song. The +wandering gleemen, who were always present at these +feasts, then took up the singing; and as they proceeded, +to the clamorous approval of the drunken company, they +became less and less mindful of the proprieties of sentiment +and of action. The bride and groom were not obliged +to remain to the end of the revelry, but might avail themselves +of an opportunity to slip out from the hall. When +the company was surfeited with festivities, the more sober +of them formed a procession, with the clergy in the lead, +and with musical attendance conducted the bride and groom +to the nuptial couch. The bed was formally blessed by +the priest, the marriage cup was drunk by the bride and +the groom, and then the couple were left by their friends, +who returned to the hall and renewed their feasting. Even +Alfred the Great, good and wise as he was, could not +escape the customs of his times, and was compelled to +indulge in such excesses at his wedding that he never +quite recovered from an attack of illness he suffered in consequence.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> + +<p>Having noticed the rudeness to which the bride was +subjected, it is gratifying to mention a more pleasant bit +of waggery that was much in vogue, and that corresponds +more nearly to the wedding pranks of to-day. One of the +symbolic features of the wedding was the touching by the +bridegroom of the forehead of the bride with one of his +shoes. This signified that her father's right in her had +passed to her husband. But when the couple were conducted +to their nuptial couch by the bridal company, it +was quite likely, if the bride had a reputation for shrewishness, +that the shoe, which after the ceremony had been +placed on the husband's side of the bed, would be found +on the bride's side—a hint that the general conviction was +that the headship of the family would be found to be vested +in the wife. We can see from this that the custom of +throwing an old shoe after a bride to give her "good luck" +really signifies the wish that she may dominate the new establishment.</p> + +<p>The marriage of a girl was signalized by her being thereafter +allowed to bind her hair in folds about her head. Up +to that time she wore her hair loose. This custom, which +in earlier days signified a wife's subjection, came now to +denote the high dignity to which she had been raised; her +hair thus arranged was a crown of honor, and every girl +looked eagerly forward to the time when she might wear +a <i>volute</i>, as this style of hairdressing was called.</p> + +<p>The very practical Anglo-Saxon marriage bargains do +not partake much of the flavor of romance. We find +other evidences of the mercenary motives that pervaded +the marriage customs of the time. The idea of marriage +as the purchase of a wife, who in that relation became the +property of her husband, is further indicated by the fact +that unfaithfulness might be condoned by a money payment, +the <i>were</i>. An old law says: "If a freeman cohabit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +with the wife of a freeman, he must pay the <i>were</i>, and +obtain another woman with his own money and lead her +to the other." Indeed, the chastity of women was regulated +by a set price, according to their station. If the +woman in the case were of the rank of an earl's wife, the +culprit paid a fine of sixty shillings, and paid to the husband +five shillings; if the woman were unfree or below +age, he suffered imprisonment or mutilation. These citations +from the laws of the time are not made to show +regulations of morals, but to illustrate the fact that in the +case of free women offences could be satisfied by a money +payment, just as the husband in the first instance acquired +his rights over his wife by such a payment.</p> + +<p>Having considered with some detail the general regard +in which women were held and the customs of marriage, +it is now in place to say something about the methods of +dissolving the matrimonial tie. It must be borne in mind +that the period we are describing was one of rapid development. +After the introduction of Christianity the uncouth +barbarians rapidly became civilized, and new laws +were constantly being made to define the rights of individuals +in all relations. Thus, as marriage customs and +incidents underwent modification, so did the circumstances +of divorce. At first the husband could, at will, return his +wife to her parents; his power of repudiation was practically +unlimited. But such a condition could not long be +brooked, as the practice was a serious affront to the lady's +family. We read in the romance of Brut that Gwendoline +and her friends not only levied war on King Locrine for +repudiating her under the bewitchments of the beautiful +Estrild, but put both the king and his new bride to death. +When Coenwalch grievously insulted Penda, the king of +the Mercians, by putting aside his wife, Penda's sister, that +monarch at once declared war on the West Saxon king. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +Such grave disorders were incited by this unjust right of +the husband that, largely through the influence of the +clergy, limitations were put upon the practice. Naturally, +the first step was to require cause for the repudiation of a +wife. The causes advanced were usually frivolous or insufficient; +but when the bishops taught that "if a man +repudiated his wife, he was not to marry another in her +lifetime, if he wished to be a very good Christian," the +custom became less prevalent, especially as the second +wife was punished by excommunication. The right of +repudiation for cause was exercised by wives as well as +husbands. The case of Etheldrythe, the daughter of Anna, +the famous King of East Anglia, as cited by Thrupp, will +serve to illustrate the prevailing conditions of the wedded +state. "This young lady had the misfortune to be very +weak and very rich. She was consequently sought for as +a wife, by princes who cared nothing for her person, and +as a nun, by churchmen who cared as little for her soul. +She endeavored to please all parties. She took a vow of +virginity with permission to marry, and married with permission +to observe her vow. Her first husband, Tondebert, +Earl of Girvii, who probably obtained possession of +her land, did not trouble himself about her or her personal +property; and on his death, she retired to Ely. She subsequently +married Egfried, a son of the King of Northumbria, +a boy of about thirteen, whose friends desired her +estate. He, also, for some time willingly respected her +vow, but afterward attempted to compel her to do her duty +as a wife. She refused compliance with his wishes, and, +having succeeded in escaping from his kingdom, again took +up her residence in a monastery. There, in defiance of +her marriage vow, she emulated the strictest chastity +of the cloister while in the bonds of marriage. The clergy +applauded her conduct, and, no doubt, obtained possession +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> +of her estates. The king took a second wife; and all parties +appear to have been satisfied with what was, in truth, +a very discreditable transaction."</p> + +<p>After the decline of the right of repudiation, marriage +could be annulled by mutual consent, and the parties were +probably permitted to marry again. Legal divorces were +granted for adultery, and what the clergy called spiritual +adultery, which consisted of marriage to a godfather or a +godmother or anyone who was of spiritual kindred, as +such imagined relatives were called. To these causes +for divorce were added idolatry, heresy, schism, heinous +crimes, leprosy, and insanity. If either husband or wife +were carried off into slavery, or otherwise became unfree, +or were made a prisoner of war, the other had a right to +remarry after a certain time.</p> + +<p>To insure a decent interval between marriages, the +law stipulated that if a widow entered again into wedlock +within a year after the death of her former husband, she +should sacrifice the <i>morgen gift</i> and all the property she had +derived from him.</p> + +<p>At first, the childless wife had no interest in her husband's +property; at his death, the duty of caring for her +reverted to her own family. If she had children, she was +entitled to one-half of his estate, but this was in the nature +of a provision for the children. But as society improved, +the rights of widows came to be recognized. Women had +from the earliest times been permitted to hold and bequeath +property in their own right; the failure to recognize the +widow's interest in her deceased husband's estate arose +from her being regarded as having left her own family circle +and identified herself with that of her husband for his life +only; therefore, at his death she renewed her connection +with her own family, who assumed the care of her. In +the case of her children, they, being of his flesh and blood, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +had a natural interest in their father's property, while the +wife's relations with her husband were simply contractual. +A more just view prevailed in the time of Cnut, as is shown +by one of his laws, which provided that the widow not only +had a right to her settled property, but, whether she had +children or not, was entitled to one-third of whatever had +been acquired jointly by her and her husband during their +married life, "excepting his clothes and his bed." This +law did not abrogate the provision already stated, that the +widow forfeited everything in case she married within a year.</p> + +<p>About the time of Cnut's laws giving wider rights to +wives in the matter of property, there was passed a law +that recognized the wife's right to exclusive control of her +personal effects. Wardrobes had become much more extensive, +and the law took the view that a woman had a +right to a chest or closet of her own, wherein to keep her +clothing, her jewelry and ornaments, and all the little articles +dear to feminine fancy and personal to their possessor. +To this private receptacle her husband could not have +access without her leave. This curious law, making a +real advance in woman's legal status, arose out of the +predatory tendencies of the age.</p> + +<p>When a child was born in an Anglo-Saxon household in +the earliest days, the first thought was not, what shall it +be named, but, shall it be put to death? In those rude +times, the custom of exposure applied to the young and to +the very old. Life was a continual hardship, and food +was often extremely difficult to procure. Care for the +feeble implies a solicitude for life that was foreign to the experiences +of the men of that day. The weak and the +sickly were regarded as superfluous members of society. +If the infant were deformed, or not wanted for any reason, +it was either killed outright, exposed, or sold into slavery. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> +We like to believe that when the Anglo-Saxons settled in +Britain and found themselves under more comfortable conditions +of living than those to which they had been accustomed +in the inhospitable clime whence they came, with +its constant threat of famine, they discarded this dreadful +practice; but customs die slowly, and, as the parent had +absolute rights in the person of his child, sentiment against +the practice required time to become general. The rugged +Teuton, teeming with an overflowing vitality, had not +adopted the modern method of birth restriction as a solution +of the problem of sustenance. There was no Malthus +in the forests of Germany to discourse on the economic +effect of an overplus of population and to awaken inquiry +as to the best way to limit the human family within the +bounds of possible sustenance. It was a condition and not +a theory that faced the Teuton, and he met the situation +in the only way known to him. As the problem passed +away, the practice went also, though isolated cases of exposure +of infants continued down to the tenth century.</p> + +<p>In the form of exposing children of clouded birth, the +practice of infanticide grew with the lowering of morals; +but in the case of legitimate offspring the custom declined. +The Church imposed heavy penalties on those found guilty +of the practice. Fortunately for the infants so treated, +there was a prevailing superstition that to adopt one of +these foundlings brought good luck. The great prevalence +of the crime at some periods is shown by the rewards +offered by the different monarchs to those who would +adopt foundlings. All rights in the child passed to the +one who adopted it. The general willingness to adopt +such children led to many abuses. Mothers thus relieved +themselves of the duty of caring for their offspring, while +those to whom the children were committed often looked +upon them as so many units of labor, and made life very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> +hard for them. Homicide was frequently one of the effects +of the baleful practice, and generally occurred under conditions +that made it difficult to fix the guilt.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note, as Gummere points out, that +the barbaric custom of exposing infants "lies at the foundation +of the most exquisite myths—Lohengrin the swan-knight, +Arthur the forest foundling, and that mystic child +who in the prelude of our national epic, <i>Beowulf</i>, drifts in +his boat, a child of destiny, to the shores of a kingless land."</p> + +<p>Grimm quotes from a Danish ballad, where a mother +puts her babe in a chest, lays with it consecrated salt and +candles, and goes to the waterside:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Thither she goes along the strand</p> +<p>And pushes the chest so far from land,</p> +<p>Casts the chest so far from shore:</p> +<p>'To Christ the Mighty I give thee o'er;</p> +<p>To the mighty Christ I surrender thee,</p> +<p>For thou hast no longer a mother in me.'"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The custom of exposing illegitimate offspring shows a +retrogression from the standards of rugged chastity which +were characteristic of the earlier period of the Anglo-Saxon +settlement in Britain. In those times, as we have seen, +the German women were models of virtue; the slightest +departure from morality was viewed with horror and +visited with severe punishment. If the one guilty of misconduct +were married, she was shorn of her hair, the +greatest degradation to which she could be subjected, and +then driven naked from her husband's house, her own +relatives giving their countenance and aid to the husband +in thus banishing her. She was expelled from the village, +and not allowed to return. At a later date, such a woman, +married or unmarried, was made to strangle herself with +her own hands; her refusal to do so availed nothing, as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> +women of the neighborhood stripped off her garments to +the waist, and then with knives, whips, and stones hunted +her from village to village until death mercifully relieved her from further torture.</p> + +<p>In spite of such harsh penalties, the moral standard +could not be maintained at a high level. It is more than +likely that its decline was due in part to the women whom +the Northmen brought with them. When they touched +the shores of Britain, it was often after piratical voyages +that had taken them to the coasts of France, Spain, Italy, +and even Africa. When this was the case, they were +always accompanied by large numbers of female slaves +from these countries. Then, too, the greater part of the +British women were reduced to slavery by the new masters +of the country, and none of these were treated with +the consideration for their sex that was accorded the German +women. The repute of the women of the Anglo-Saxons +remained unimpaired, excepting as to particular +classes and particular times; the women not of Anglo-Saxon +origin were, perforce, the chief offenders against morality.</p> + +<p>The era of the Danish invasion was a time of almost +unbridled license. Female character could not withstand +the tide of immorality that came in with the new wave of +heathen invaders. The women whom the Vikings brought +with them were captives of the lowest grade, ravished +from their homes for the pleasure of their captors on their +long sea voyage. On their arrival they were made slaves +of the camp, following the army wearily in its marches +from place to place. This miserable degradation was +forced upon many pure English women by the brutal lords +of the sea. When the invaders settled down to live at +peace with the English, and, by amalgamation, to be absorbed +into the larger race, it was centuries before the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> +country recovered from the blight of immorality that had +fallen upon it; but, with its rare powers of recuperation, +Anglo-Saxon virtue reasserted its principles and caused its +conquerors to subscribe to them.</p> + +<p>Before considering the dress, the amusements, and the +employments of the women, a description of the Anglo-Saxon +house will serve to illustrate much of the common +life of the women. This was not evolved from that of +the Briton; it marks a departure in the architecture of the +country. Neither the rude houses of the poorer of the +Britons nor the villa of the Roman provincial appealed to +the forest nomads, who were accustomed to light, tentlike +structures that could be readily taken down and erected +elsewhere as their changing habitat directed.</p> + +<p>The Anglo-Saxon town of the earliest period was only +a cluster of wooden houses—a family centre constantly +added to by the increase and dividing of the household, +until the settlement assumed something of the proportions +of a town. Stone was not in favor with the Teutons for +their dwellings. They saw in it the relic of the demigods +of a remote past; stone masonry seemed supernatural, and +they called it "the giants' ancient work." The house of +the Teutons was probably a development of the ancient +burrow; as Heyn expresses the process of its evolution: +"Little by little rose the roof of turf, and the cavern under +the house served at last only for winter and the abode of +the women." The summer house of wattles, twigs and +branches, bound together by cords, and with a thatched +roof, a rough door, and no windows, seemed to serve these +unsettled people, whose surroundings abounded with the +materials for substantial edifices.</p> + +<p>The architecture of the Germans developed rapidly. +Soon there was a substantial hall, or main house, which +was the place of gathering and feasting and the sleeping +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span> +place of the men. The women slept, and we may say +dwelt, in the bower. Necessary outbuildings were supplied +in abundance. The floor of the hall was of hard +earth or of clay, perhaps particolored, and forming patterns +of rude mosaic. It was no uncommon thing for the +rough warrior to ride into the hall, and to stable there his +beloved steed, as will be seen from the following extract +from an English ballad of a later date, which is given us by Professor Child:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Kyng Estmere he stabled his steede</p> +<p>Soe fayre att the hall-bord;</p> +<p>The froth that came from his brydle bitte</p> +<p>Light in Kyng Bremor's beard."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Rows of benches were commonly placed outside of the +hall; the exterior walls and the roof were painted in striking +colors. Huge antlers fringed the gables; the windows, +lacking glass, were placed high up in the wall, and a hole +in the roof sufficed for the escape of smoke.</p> + +<p>Such was the early English hall, as it appears to us in +the ballads and stories of the times. The magnificent lace +and embroidered hangings with which were draped the +interior walls of the habitations of the nobility served the +double purpose of decoration and protection from the cold +draughts that came in through the numerous crevices. +Even the royal palace of Alfred was so draughty that the +candles in the rooms had to be protected by lanterns. +Benches and seats with fine coverings added comfort and +elegance to the hall. In front of these were placed stools, +with richly embroidered coverings, for the feet of the +great ladies. The tables in these Anglo-Saxon homes +were often of great beauty and costliness. In the reign of +King Edgar, Earl Aethelwold possessed a table of silver +that was worth three hundred pounds sterling. Many sorts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> +of candelabra, some of them of exquisite pattern and workmanship, +made of the precious metals and set with jewels, +were used to impart to these old halls the dim light that in +our fancy of the times becomes a feature of the romance of +the knightly homes of older England.</p> + +<p>Warm baths were essential to the comfort of the Anglo-Saxon; +to be deprived of them and of a soft bed was one +of the severe penances imposed by the Church. The +ladies' bower was perfumed with the scents and spices of India and the East.</p> + +<p>Though the houses still left much to be desired in the +way of architectural features as well as ordinary convenience, +the appointments and furnishings of a home of the +later Anglo-Saxon period showed a keen appreciation of creature comforts.</p> + +<p>The law of hospitality opened all doors to the wayfaring +freeman. When he wound his horn in the forest as he +approached the hall to protect himself from being set upon +as a marauder, he was welcomed to the warm fire, the +loaded table, and the guest bed, without question. In +later times, the traveller was permitted to remain to the +third night. The guest who came hungry, weary, and +dusty to one of these hospitable homes and received admittance +might esteem himself fortunate, for the women +of the time were well versed in the art of wholesome +cookery, and had at hand a plentiful variety of foods. +For their meats they might select from the choice cuts of +venison, beef, and lamb, besides pork, chicken, goat, and +hare. Birds and fish afforded greater variety. Of the +latter there were salmon, herring, sturgeons, flounders, +and eels; and of shellfish, crabs, lobsters, and oysters. +Horse flesh was in early use as a comestible, but later became +repugnant to taste, and was discountenanced by the +Church in the latter part of the eighth century.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> + +<p>To the meats was added a variety of warm breads, +made of barley meal and of flour. Eggs, butter, cheese, +and curds, with many sorts of vegetables, were to be +found on the tables; while figs, nuts, almonds, pears, and +apples were probably served by the women to the company +as they sat in discourse about the fire, or, stretched +at full length upon the floor, became absorbed in games +of chance. For the Germans were such inveterate +gamblers that money, goods, chattels, their wives, and +even their own liberty, were often risked by the casting of dice.</p> + +<p>The women were admitted to seats at the tables with +the men, the girls being engaged in serving the drinks, +which were as freely used then as now. Even after the +company were surfeited with food and the tables were +removed, drinking was kept up until the evening.</p> + +<p>The costumes of a people are of the greatest worth in +revealing to the student their grade of civilization and +their ideals. There can be no question but that taste in +dress is one of the best gauges by which to determine +whether at a particular time the people were serious +minded or frivolous, moral or immoral, swayed by high +aspirations or the prey of indolence and sensuous gratifications. +Just as truly can we arrive at the characteristics +of a race or a period by seeing the people at their play. +If we find them given to gladiatorial exhibitions, we shall +not err in concluding that they were a vigorous and war-like +people; if they are found at the bull fight, we may +safely adjudge them to be a brutalized and enervated race. +The Anglo-Saxon can safely be brought to this test. If the +dress of the women is a criterion of morals, then were +these people of early England exemplary; if the games in +vogue denote the race characteristics, then were they rude, but wholesome.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> + +<p>After the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, +there were evidently some changes made in their +garb, to indicate their abjuration of heathenism; for in the +Church council of 785 the complaint was made that "you +put on your garments in the manner of the pagans, whom +your fathers expelled from the world; an astonishing +thing, that you should imitate those whose life you always +hated." Change of style in dress was practically unknown +among the ladies of the Anglo-Saxon period of +English history. The illuminations of the old MSS., from +which all that is definitely known on the subject is +derived, show that the dress of the women remained +practically the same during the entire period.</p> + +<p>The costume of the women can be described with many +details. There was an undergarment, probably made of +linen, extending to the feet; it had sleeves that reached to +the wrists and were there gathered tightly in little plaits. +There was an absence of needlework of any sort, excepting +a simple bit of embroidery upon the shoulder. The +customary color of the garment was white. Over this +was worn the gown, which was slightly longer than the +undergarment, and reached quite to the ground. It was +bound about the waist by a girdle, by which it was sometimes +caught up and shortened. The sleeves are most +frequently pictured as extending to the wrist, and were +worn full. Sometimes, however, they reached to only the +elbow, and in some cases were wanting altogether. This +garment was prettily ornamented with embroidery, in +simple bands of sprigs, diverging from a centre. Another +form of dress that is represented seems to have been an +out-of-doors or travelling costume. It differed from the other +in being of heavier material, possibly of fine woollen goods, +and had sleeves that extended to the knees. It is possible +that this was a winter dress, and the other a summer one.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> + +<p>A mantle was worn about the shoulders. This, likewise, +was of a solid color, usually contrasting with that of +the gown. This garment appears to have been round or +oval in shape, with an aperture at one side, so that when +it was put on it hung much further down the back than in +front. The head was covered with a wimple, broad enough +to reach from the top of the forehead to the shoulders, +where it was generally wrapped about the neck in such a +way that the ends fell on the bosom. A less studied, but +more tasteful, way to wear it was to have it hang down on +one side as far as the knee; the effect of the contrasting +colors of the wimple, the mantle, and the gown was gratifying +to women of taste. The shoes were black, and of +simple style. They resembled the house slippers worn by +women to-day; but besides these low shoes, which came +only to the ankles, other shoes were worn, that reached +higher up the leg and appeared to have been laced much +as shoes now are. Stockings may or may not have been used.</p> + +<p>It will be seen from this description of the costume of +the Anglo-Saxon woman that it was modest, complete, and +in good taste. She was, however, proud of her attire, and +of the many ornaments that were worn with it. The +ornament in most general use was the fibula, or brooch. +This was of many styles: radiated, bird-shaped, cruciform, +square-shaped, annular, and circular. It was of gold, +bronze, or iron, and showed the greatest delicacy of workmanship. +It was worn on the breast, a little to one side, +so as to fasten the mantle. When we are reminded that +the Anglo-Saxons were highly skilled in the art of dyeing, +and that they had perfected the art of gilding leather, we +can readily see that a lady of quality, when dressed in her +blue, purple, or crimson costume of state, her girdle clasped +by a finely chased brooch of gold, whose fellow gleamed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> +in the folds of her mantle, might have invited comparison, +to advantage, with the most stylishly attired woman of +to-day. But when we add to her dress a mantle, not +only of rich colors, but embroidered in ornate design, with +heavy threads of pure gold; massive arm rings of the same +precious metal, of wonderfully beautiful pattern, and fastened +about her round white arm by delicate little chains; +and numerous strings of gold, amber, and glass beads, rich +in pattern and cunningly chased, the picture presented of +the Anglo-Saxon woman is altogether pleasing. The ornaments +of the women were not considered as mere matters +of adornment. To the pagan woman, her beads served as +a protection against supernatural foes. When Christianity +came in, the beads were blessed by a pious man and +continued to serve the same useful end.</p> + +<p>The bronze combs found everywhere in the graves of +the time show how careful the women of the day were to +keep in perfect order the long locks of which they were so +proud. From the graves have been recovered chatelaines, +of the fashion of those now in vogue, golden toothpicks, +ear spoons, and tweezers. These ornaments and toilet +requisites were in constant use in life; and in pagan times +they were interred with their owner, that they might still +be hers in the other world.</p> + +<p>The Anglo-Saxons understood the art of inlaying enamel, +and their colors were remarkably bright and enduring. +But the most striking evidence of proficiency in the jeweller's +art was their <i>cloisonné</i> ware. This art of the East +was spread by the barbarian invasions over the whole of +Europe; De Baye, in his <i>Industrial Arts of the Anglo-Saxons</i>, +calls it "the first æsthetic expression of the +Gothic nations," and says that it was not borrowed, but +was adapted from the East. He describes it as follows: +"This <i>cloisonné</i> work, set with precious stones in a kind +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> +of mosaic, and combined at times with the most delicate +filigree, is sufficiently characteristic to be remarkable in +every country where it has left traces." This beautiful +form of art penetrated Kent and the Isle of Wight, where +for some reason it became localized and assumed a particular +character. Some of the fibulæ that have been preserved +to us, and are to be found in the art collections of +England, are remarkable specimens of this beautiful craft.</p> + +<p>The love of English women for outdoor sports can be +traced to Anglo-Saxon times, and much of the wholesome +vigor of the race is due to those early pastimes. +However fond women may have been of fine ornaments, +then as now it was the privilege of the few to possess them; +but the national sports were enjoyed by all. Hunting, +hawking, boating, swimming, fishing, skating, were in great favor with the people.</p> + +<p>In the winter there were many long hours to be whiled +away indoors, and although spinning and weaving the +fabrics for the family wear, as well as their embroidery +and lace work, took up much of the time, the women still +had ample leisure to engage with the members of their +households and, perhaps, the passing guests in the many +simple games that delighted them. Chess was in marked +favor, and was played in much the same manner as now. +The exchange of witticisms and the guessing of conundrums +added much to the innocent mirth of a household +intent on making the long evenings pass as pleasantly as possible.</p> + +<p>There were itinerant purveyors of amusement who were +to be found at every feast and at many family firesides. +These were the wandering minstrels, or gleemen. Although +they were welcomed for the entertainment they furnished, +yet as a social class they were certainly in slight repute. +Their forms of entertainment were not limited to music. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +They presented a programme that included the performances +of trained animals, tricks of jugglery, feats of magic, +and other exhibitions of skill and daring. Along with the +gleemen went the glee maidens, who were the dancing +and acrobatic girls of the day. Dancing itself was a very +rudimentary performance, but the enthusiasm of the audience +was aroused by the acts of tumbling and contortion +that were introduced into it. Convinced that dancing alone +could not account for the bewitchment of Herod by the +daughter of his brother Philip's wife, the translators into +the vernacular of that Biblical circumstance say of Herodias +that she "tumbled" before Herod; and the illuminations +in a prayerbook of the time show Herodias in the act +of tumbling, with the assistance of a female attendant.</p> + +<p>Slight protection, either from law or custom, was +afforded women of the lower classes from gross insults. +Any female was likely to be stopped on the road and +partially or altogether denuded of her clothing, and then +sent on her way with taunts and jeers. But, despite the +coarseness of the Anglo-Saxon times, sentiment finally +made Itself felt for the correction of such manners. The +women were responsible for the diffusion of notions of greater refinement.</p> + +<p>While there was little deserving the name of education, +and even reading and writing were the accomplishments +of but a small part of the people, the monastic orders conserved +some notion of scholarship. Unfavorable as were +the times to productive thought, scholars of no mean ability +nevertheless flourished, and among men and women alike +there was a desire for learning. To his female scholars +the monk Anghelm dedicated his works: <i>De Laude Virginitatis</i>. +Certain Saxon ladies of leisure occupied themselves +with the study of Latin, which they came to read +and write with some ease. The literary antecedents +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span> +of the brilliant women of the sixteenth century are to be +found in that little group of studious women of the Anglo-Saxons, +of whom the Abbess Eadburga and her pupil +Leobgitha, with both of whom Saint Boniface corresponded +in Latin, were the most notable.</p> + +<p>The nuns were a class apart. The separation of the +monks and the nuns in the monastic establishments was +gradually brought about by Church regulations and the +rules of the orders. By the end of the seventh century the +separate monasteries had effected the separation of the men +and the women, and in the eighth century the erection of +double monasteries was forbidden. Long before this time, +however, the more earnest of the ladies in superintendence +of the monasteries had prohibited the admission of men to +the female side of the establishments, excepting such men +as the sainted Cuthbert and the venerable Bede. These +regulations were very strict and almost put an end to +the scandalous allegations about the religious establishments. +The charge that the priests resorted to the monasteries +for mistresses probably had no better foundation +than the fact that many of the priests continued to marry, +in spite of the rule of celibacy. Whatever truth there is +in the assertion that kings obtained their mistresses from +the ranks of the nuns must be laid to the civil interference +and claims of jurisdiction over religious institutions. But +while the headship of convents was frequently offered to +women of high rank and low morals, whom it was convenient +thus to get rid of, and in this way certain institutions +became debauched, the monastic system itself did +not become corrupt, and there were monasteries of notable purity and great worth.</p> + +<p>The story of Eadburga, the widow of Beorthric, King of +Kent, illustrates the hardships inflicted upon the monasteries, +through the assumption of royal personages to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +appoint their heads. Eadburga was a notable beauty, +and was renowned as well for her talents and her ambition. +She ruled her husband with a jealous tyranny, +removing from court by false accusation or by poisoning +all who stood in her path. The Earl Worr, a young man +of great personal charm, was one of those who exerted an +influence over her husband. On some occasion of public +hospitality she proffered him a cup of poisoned liquor; the +king, who was present, claimed his right of precedence, +and, after drinking from the cup, passed it to the earl, who +drained it. Both of them died, leaving the guilty queen +exposed to the wrath of the royal family. Eadburga fled +to the court of Charlemagne, where she was graciously +received, and after a time the king suggested to her that +she lay aside her widow's weeds and become his wife. She +showed so little tact as to say that she would prefer his +son. Charlemagne, piqued by her answer, said that had +she expressed a preference for him, it had been his purpose +to give her in marriage to his son; as it was, she +should marry neither of them. She remained at the court +until the king, scandalized by her wicked life, placed her +at the head of an excellent monastery. In this responsible +position, Eadburga behaved herself as badly as ever; +and as the result of an amour with a countryman of low +birth, she was expelled from the convent. This widow of +a monarch ended her career as a common beggar in the streets of Pavia.</p> + +<p>A very different class from the nuns, but, like them, a +distinct class in the social life of Anglo-Saxon times, +were the slaves. The least amiable trait of the women of +the times was their treatment of servants. Although +there were striking instances of kindly and considerate +regard for this class on the part of their mistresses, yet +the slight legal protection afforded them, and the rough, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span> +impetuous natures of the masters, made the existence of +the servile class miserable. It was not unusual for slaves +to be scourged to death; and for comparatively slight +offences they were loaded with gyves and fetters and +subjected to all kinds of tortures. On one occasion, the +maidservant of a bellmaker of Winchester was, for a slight +offence, fettered and hung up by the hands and feet all +night. The next morning, after being frightfully beaten, +she was again put in fetters. The following night, she +contrived to free herself, and fled for sanctuary to the +tomb of Saint Swithin. This was not an exceptional instance; +it illustrates the severity that was customarily meted out to serfs.</p> + +<p>The queens and other ladies of rank among the Anglo-Saxons +included some who were ornaments to the sex in +industry and intelligence as well as charity. Their influence +on politics for good or for evil was often the result of +their position as members of rival houses. Christianity was +often furthered by the alliance of a Christian princess to a +pagan king; Bertha, the daughter of a famous Frankish +king, was in this way instrumental in the introduction of +Christianity into England. Herself a Christian, she married +Ethelbert, King of Kent, on condition that she should +be permitted to worship as a Christian under the guidance +of a Frankish bishop named Lindhard. The condition was +observed, and Bertha had her Frankish chaplain with her +at court. She seems not to have made any attempt to +convert her husband; and he never disturbed her in her +religion. The pope was probably informed of the auspiciousness +of the outlook for the introduction of Christianity +into the Kentish kingdom, and, being still under the influence +of the impression made upon him by the flaxen-haired +Angles he had seen in the slave markets of Rome before +his elevation to the pontificate, he determined to make good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span> +the vow he had then registered to send missionaries to the +land of the boy slaves. Augustine was selected for the +mission, and on arriving, with his companions, in England, +after a great deal of trepidation for their personal safety, +they presented themselves at the court of the King of Kent +Ethelbert received them in the open air, with a great show +of pomp, and gave them his promise to interpose no hindrance +to their missionary endeavors among his people. +To Bertha must be ascribed the credit for the complaisance +of her husband and the opening that was made to restore +the Christian faith, which had perished with the Britons.</p> + +<p>Edith, the gentle queen of Edward the Confessor, was +noted alike for her skill with the needle and her conversance +with literature. Ingulf's <i>History</i>, though perhaps +not authentic, gives us a delightful picture of the simplicity +of her Anglo-Saxon court. "I often met her," says this +writer,—meaning Edith,—"as I came from school, and then +she questioned me about my studies and my verses; and +willingly passing from grammar to logic, she would catch me +in the subtleties of argument. She always gave me two +or three pieces of money, which were counted to me by +her hand-maiden, and then sent me to the royal larder to refresh myself."</p> + +<p>Ethelwyn, another royal lady, and a friend of Archbishop +Dunstan, was accustomed to decorate the ecclesiastical +vestments, and the art needlework of herself and her companions +became celebrated. On account of his well-known +skill in drawing and designing, Dunstan was frequently +called into the ladies' bower to give his views in such +matters. While they worked, he sometimes regaled them with music from his harp.</p> + +<p>These pleasing views of the character and the employments +of the royal ladies in Anglo-Saxon times, seen in +their simple pursuits, are more agreeable than the stories +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> +of those who were engaged in court intrigues, to relate +which would necessitate a history of the political movements +of the day. We shall later have ample opportunity +to see woman as an influence in affairs of thrones and +dynasties. For the present, it will suffice to regard royal +woman in the way in which she is prominently presented +to us in Anglo-Saxon annals—as the lady of refined domesticity.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter IV</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Anglo-Normans</h2> +<!--Blank page #78 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> + + +<p>A picture of the social life of England during the Norman +period is a picture of manners and customs in a state +of flux. But amid all the instability of the times, when +political institutions, laws, customs, and language were +inchoate, the tendencies were so marked that it is quite +possible to watch the emergence of a solidified people. +The two great social factors to be considered are the +baronial castles and the women of those castles. The +castle was the characteristic feature of the Anglo-Norman +period; its conspicuousness increased as time went on, +until, in the reign of Stephen, there were no less than +eleven hundred of these units of divided sovereignty scattered over the country.</p> + +<p>During the period of national unsettlement which followed +upon the Conquest, these frowning castles arose; +they owed their existence to the lack of adequate laws for +the safeguarding of life and of property, and to the absence +of the machinery of government for the enforcement +of law. But, principally, they represented the mutual +jealousies of the Norman barons, to whom had been apportioned +the lands of the Saxons—jealousies which found +a common attraction in an aversion to the centralizing of +power in the hands of any monarch who had ambitions to +be more than a superior overlord.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> + +<p>This social insecurity was intensified during the reign of +William by the danger of attack from the implacable Saxon +bands of warriors who had retired into the swamps and +from those fastnesses conducted a fierce guerrilla warfare +upon the Normans. So full of danger was the period, that +the closing of the castle for the evening was always an occasion +for serious prayer and commitment of the inmates to +Divine protection, as there was no knowing but that before +morning a besieging force might appear before the gates +and institute all the horrors of attack and beleaguerment.</p> + +<p>The elevation of woman to the plane of companionship +with her husband was largely due to the peculiar conditions +of the feudal state of society, of which the frowning +castle that crowned the many hilltops was the sinister +characteristic. Exposed as she was to the same dangers, +and sharing the responsibilities of her husband, there was no +room for a distinction of status to be drawn between them. +By reason of environment, wifely equality with her husband +was not a matter of theoretical but simply of practical +settlement. It was needful that the wife should be a +woman of courage and of resources. But while the matter +of sex did not constitute a badge of inferiority in the home +relations, the peculiar perils to which the women were +exposed constituted an appeal to manhood that evoked a +chivalrous response; and when life became less hard and +there was better opportunity for the expression of the +tenderer sentiments, this especial regard for woman rose +to the height of an exalted devotion.</p> + +<p>It would not be right to assume, however, that the +greater prominence and influence of woman outside of her +home was a sudden emergence from former conditions. In so +unsettled an era it became, however, a more general, more +pronounced feature. We may find an earlier indication of +the interest of the great lady in the affairs of her lord and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> +in the welfare of his dependants, as well as of the advance +of chivalrous sentiments, in the story of Lady Godiva. It +was in 1040 that Leofric, Earl of Mercia, was besought by +his wife, who was remarkable for her beauty and piety, to +relieve his tenantry of Coventry of a heavy toll. Probably +little inclined to grant her request, he imposed what +he may have thought impossible terms, when he consented +to her plea on condition that she would ride naked through +the town. To his amazement, doubtless, the Lady Godiva +accepted the condition; and Leofric faithfully carried out +his agreement. The lady, veiled only by her lovely hair, +rode through the streets; and to the honor of the good +people of Coventry, it is said that they kept within doors +and would not look upon their benefactress to embarrass +her. One person only is said to have peeped from behind +the curtain of his window, and the story runs that +he was struck blind, or, according to another version, had +his eyes put out by the wrathful people. This curious +person was the "Peeping Tom of Coventry," whose name has become proverbial.</p> + +<p>Society develops in strata, so that the elevation of the +women of the castles did not enable the women of the +hovels to profit by conditions out of the range of their lives. +The lower classes, or villains, which included the grades of +society styled, in the Anglo-Saxon period, the freemen +and the serfs, were the social antitheses of the society of +the castles. The women of the lower class benefited not +at all by the new dignity that was acquired by the women +of the castles during the feudal régime; in fact, they suffered +the imposition of new burdens and the exactions of a feudal +practice which took the form of tribute, based on the persistent +idea of the vassalage of their sex. The great middle +class, which was to play such an important part in the +social and industrial history of England, had not emerged +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> +as a separate section of the people of the country. But what +the lady of the Norman castle obtained for her class through +one phase of feudalism, the woman of the guild aided in +securing by another in the centuries which marked the rule +of the Angevin kings; and in both Norman and Angevin +times the influence of the Church was constantly on the side +of the womanhood of the country, and was probably a more +potent force than any other, for the exaltation of woman +was the one policy which proceeded on fixed principles.</p> + +<p>The castles too often degenerated into centres of rapine +and pillage; perpetual feuds led to constant forays, and no +traveller could be assured that he would not be set upon by +one of these robber barons and his band of retainers—little +better than remorseless banditti. But there were castles +of a better sort, nor were all knights recreant to their vows. +In assuming the obligations of his order, the newly vested +knight swore to defend the Church against attack by the +perfidious; venerate the priesthood; repel the injustices of +the poor; keep the country quiet; shed his blood, and if +necessary lose his life, for his brethren. Nothing was +said in the oath about devotion to women, nor was such a +thing at first contemplated as a part of the knight's office. +His office was a military one, and sentiment did not enter +into it. The chivalrous feature grew out of the circumstances +of the times—the unprotected situation of woman, +the fact that the knight who enlisted in the service of a +baron, and the baron as well, often had to leave the +women of their households dependent for protection upon +the opportune courtesy of other knights and lords. When +the country had become more orderly and manners had +softened, with the increased security given to life and +property and the better means of obtaining justice, this +chivalrous feature continued and became prominent in the +knightly character and office.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> + +<p>In the early times, when the life of the knight was of +the roughest, there were adventurous young women, +caught by the excitement it offered, who donned the +habiliments of the knight and plunged into the dangers of +his career. The story is told of the quarrel of two Norman +ladies, Eliosa and Isabella, both of them high-strung, loquacious, +and beautiful, and both dominating their husbands +by the forcefulness of their natures. But while Eliosa was +crafty and effected her ends by scheming, Isabella was +generous, courageous, sunny-tempered, merry, and convivial. +Each gathered about her a band of knights and +made war upon her adversary. Isabella led her knights +in person, and, armed as they were and as adept in the +use of her weapons, she advanced in open attack upon her +foe. Such incidents, though not usual, were yet in accord +with the spirit of the time.</p> + +<p>Every lady was trained in the use of arms for the needs +of her own protection when the occasion should arise. +Sometimes the practice of sword drill was carried on in +the privacy of the lady's apartment. Thus, it is related +of the Lady Beatrix—who, by reason of her expertness +and her intrepidity in the actual use of arms, gained for +herself the sobriquet <i>La belle Cavalier</i>—that the first knowledge +that her brother had of her martial proclivities was +when, through a crevice in the wall, he happened to observe +her throw off her robe, and, taking his sword out of +its scabbard, toss it up into the air and, catching it with +dexterity, go through all the drill of a knight with spirit +and precision; wheeling from right to left, advancing, retreating, +feinting, and parrying, until she at last disarmed +her imaginary foe. We read of the Knight of Kenilworth +that he made a round table of one hundred knights and +ladies, to which came, for exercise in arms, persons from +different parts of the land.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> + +<p>In such setting is found the life of the woman of the +day. But below whatever of chivalry was to be found in +this turbulent age, which extended from the coming of +William the Conqueror to the end of the reign of Stephen, +it was preëminently a rude, boisterous, and uncultured +era. The lack of uniformity of language was as much +opposed to the development of literature as was the general +unsettled condition of the times. Education, slight as +it was, had suffered a relapse, and it was not until the +twelfth century that anything like real literature was developed.</p> + +<p>As the castle was the characteristic feature of the time, +and within its walls will be found much of the matters of +interest relating to the women of the day, a description +of one of these domestic fortresses will make clearer the +customs of the times in so far as they relate to the women of the higher classes.</p> + +<p>The site selected for the ancient castle was always a +hilltop or knoll that lent itself to ready defence. The foot +of the hill was enclosed by a palisade and a moat; these +circumvallations frequently rendered successful assault impossible, +and the only recourse open to the attacking force +was a protracted siege. As the stranger on peaceful mission +bent approached one of these massive structures, +rearing its frowning walls in silhouette against the blue of +the sky, he could not fail to be impressed with the majesty +and grandeur of its walls and turrets. He would notice +the round-headed windows, with their lattice of iron and +the numerous slitlike openings which supplemented the +windows for the access of light and, as loopholes, played +an important part in the defence of the fortress. On +coming to the gateway, flanked on either side by bastions, +pierced to admit of the flight of arrows, the warden would +open to him, and he would be conducted into a courtyard, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> +whose sides were made by the walls of the hall, the chapel, +the stable, and the offices. Within the courtyard, he +would observe a garden of herbs and edible roots, and +also a fine display of flowers; perhaps, too, a small enclosure +in the nature of a cage, containing a number of +animals—the trained animal collection of the jongleurs, +who commonly attached themselves to the following of barons.</p> + +<p>On passing into the hall, he would be at once struck +by its absolute meagreness; a few stools, some seats in +the alcoves of the wall, a few forms, some cushions and +a sideboard, making its complement of furniture. The +abundance and beauty of the plate on the sideboard might +partially redeem in his eyes the barrenness of the place. +The minstrel's gallery in the rear of the hall would be +suggestive of the convivial uses of that portion of the +castle. No elaborate draperies would be seen; some strips +of dyed canvas upon the walls alone served to make up +for the lack of plaster, and to afford some protection from +damp and the spiders whose webs could be seen in the +ceiling corners. On passing out again into the courtyard, +he would observe the tokens of domestic pursuits in the +kitchen utensils and the dairy vessels upon benches, and +cloths hung upon poles above. Passing by the subsidiary +buildings, and ascending to the ladies' bower by the outside +staircase, he would find a few more evidences of comfort +than greeted him in the hall below. Instead of common +canvas, the walls would be draped with some embroidered +materials, cushions would be more plentiful, the touches of +femininity would be observed in various little elements +of comfort and adornment; but, with all this, he would find +it dreary enough. Should he return, however, to this +boudoir when the ladies were gathered for their afternoon's +sewing, the scene would make up in animation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> +what it lacked in attractiveness of surroundings. On +going into the bedchamber, a glance would reveal its contents. +Seats in the wall, a stool, a curiously shaped bed, +candelabra, and two projecting poles, the one for falcons +and the other for clothes, would complete the sum of its +furniture. The bed furnishings would consist of a drapery, +pendent from an odd roof, rather than a canopy, over the +bed. The bed would look to him comfortable enough, +with its quilted feathers and pillow attached, and, over +these, sheets of silk or of linen, and over all a coverlet of +haircloth, or of woollen fabric, lined with skins. One compartmented +bed fixture, with its curious divisions, was +thought to afford sufficient privacy for honored guests +of different sexes, who were all cared for in the same +chamber; if the number of the guests and of the household +was large, several bed fixtures or bedsteads might be +observed. The servants slept indiscriminately in the hall below.</p> + +<p>Such was the simplicity of the interior arrangements +and furnishings of the castle. But within these rooms, +devoid of many of the ordinary comforts of modern life +and altogether lacking in its luxuries, assembled women +who prided themselves on their noble estate and extraction; +here, too, were held many assemblies of state; kings +in their progresses through their kingdom tarried for entertainment, +bringing with them magnificent retinues. Feasts +and social functions called forth all the highbred graces of +the fair hostess and made the castle a scene of merriment +and of joyous conviviality. Here, too, were held orgies of +drunkenness and of depravity; intrigues smouldered within +these walls, to break out into an open flame of rebellion; +while dramas of noble self-abnegation and plightings of +faithful love were enacted there as well. Amid all these +scenes moved the lady of the castle.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> + +<p>A few of the typical views of castle life in which the +women figured conspicuously will serve to give a more +particular setting to the general idea of their status and +employments. While men gave themselves up to feats of +arms, the women had the task of hospitably entertaining +the guests who frequented the castles; in the interim of +these festivities and the exacting care of a host of servants, +they applied themselves assiduously to needlework, +and in no other way does the woman of the times +appear in so pleasant a light as when thus engaged. Her +facility in lace and embroidery work is not attested alone +by contemporary writers, but has come down to us in its +finest expression. The famous Bayeux tapestry, possibly +the most ingenious specimen of needlework that the world +has known, calls up the most interesting of the castle +scenes as related to woman. It is the expression of the +artistic and historical sense of Matilda, the wife of William +I. In some such lady's bower as has been described, +the fair queen assembled the ladies of her court, and the +Bayeux tapestry was created amid the interchange of +small talk, becoming more serious as at times the figures +of the pattern recalled some particular horror of personal +loss on the part of some of the ladies present, entailed by +the great battle whose glory was the central theme of their +labors. With womanly self-effacement, they had in mind +only those whose deeds were in this unique manner to +be handed down to posterity, and had no thought of the +monument to womanly devotion that they were erecting +for the honor of the sex. Every scene involved the perpetuation +of the memories and the valor of those who were +dear to them; and as the record passed into the embroidered +pattern, it was dwelt upon with words of glowing pride. +In some such way took shape the picture-history of the +event that found its consummation in the battle of Senlac. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span> +By its wealth and accuracy of detail, this monument of +woman's skill became a historical document of the first +order for the period to which it relates. But to the student +of the English woman its chief value must lie in its revelation +of the depth of the pride and devotion to husbands, +brothers, and lovers that it reveals—devotion to the living +and the dead alike, which is the secret of its reverent +accuracy, excluding as it does vainglorious exaggeration. +It thus becomes a memorial of deeds of valor and of defeat, +of triumph and of death; a monument to the Norman, but, +unwittingly, a monument to the defeated Saxon as well.</p> + +<p>We are reminded by this historic tapestry of the pathetic +story of Edith of the Swan's Neck. King Harold had been +slain on the battlefield by a Norman arrow which had +pierced his brain. His mother and the Abbot of Waltham +had successfully pleaded with Harold's victorious +rival for permission to bury the king within the abbey. +Two Saxon monks, Osgod and Ailrick, were deputed by +the Abbot of Waltham to search for and bring to the +abbey the body of their benefactor. Failing to identify on +the field of Senlac (Hastings) the bodies denuded of armor +and clothing, they applied to a woman whom Harold, before +he was king, had had for a companion, and begged her to +assist them in their search. She was called Edith, and +surnamed la belle an you de cygne. Edith consented to aid +the two monks, and readily discovered the body of him who had been her lover.</p> + +<p>The queen who conceived and furthered the execution +of the Bayeux tapestry was representative of the best +type of Norman womanhood. Her devotion to her husband +was proverbial, and his faithfulness to her has never +been questioned. Intrigues among persons who could not +brook the moral atmosphere of a court such as Matilda +maintained were common enough, and the envious breath +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span> +of scandal even sought to shake the confidence of her royal +husband in her; but all such attempts were unavailing. +Matilda became in every sense the consort of William, and +thus marked a forward step for the womanhood of the +country. Without such recognition of the wife of William +I., England would never have had the brilliant and +versatile Elizabeth or the wise and womanly Victoria to +number among the great examples of high worth which +make the list of England's notable women one of the chief +glories of her history. As the manners of the court affect +the standard of the nation, that the tone of the times was +not lower in an age of turbulence, when moral standards +were debased, must be to some extent accredited to the example of the queen.</p> + +<p>When Matilda died, the country was still rent by fierce +hatreds and passionate outbursts; the unplacated Saxon +had been little influenced by her. It was reserved for +another Matilda, the wife of Henry I., to aid in healing the +breach, and, by uniting the discordant elements, put the +country in a position for the development of those arts of +civilization which only can flourish in an atmosphere of +peace. When Matilda, then a <i>religieuse</i>, was adjudged by +the Church authorities not to have taken the veil, or to +have assumed the vows that would have severed her from +the world and committed her to a life of virginity, she +reluctantly heeded the clamor of the Saxon element of the +people, and yielded to the importunities of Henry to become +his wife and the country's queen. So was secured +to the land a queen in whose veins ran Saxon blood and +who had received an Anglo-Saxon education. Through +her influence, many salutary laws were enacted to relieve +the disabilities of the people. The wives and daughters of +the Saxons were secured from insult; the poor and honest +trader was assured equity in his business transactions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +and other matters of equal import owed their enactment +to the kindly disposed queen. In this manner were +allayed animosities which had continued to smoulder under +a sense of repeated injustices, and with the growth of +mutual confidence there came about an identity of aspiration +and effort on the part of the two elements of the +population. Intermarriage facilitated this happy tendency, +and the perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, modified +indeed by Norman admixture, did much for its furtherance. +Thus, the two peoples gradually fused into one nation. +That Matilda did much to secure this desirable end entitles +her to be regarded as the mother of reconciliation.</p> + +<p>The Norman ladies of rank came under the influence of +the queen, and it was not uncommon to find them, like +the Anglo-Saxon ladies, engaged in the profitable concerns +of the poultry yard and the dairy, instead of giving themselves +up to court intrigues. The two Matildas represent +the best element of the noble womanhood of the day; +neither of them was faultless, and the first was charged +with an act of vindictiveness toward a Saxon who spurned +her love that ill comports with the accepted estimate of her +amiability and worth; but while not impeccable, yet both +reflected in their lives the signal qualities which, when +illustrated in times adverse to them, ennoble the sex.</p> + +<p>Returning to the employments of the ladies of the castles, +the most typical of these as illustrating the manners +of the times, next to the industry of the bower, was the +hospitality of the hall. The hostess took her place beside +her lord, by virtue of her recognized equality of position, +and directed the movements of the servants, who were +kept busily employed passing around the dishes—the meat +being served upon the spits, from which the guests might +carve what they pleased. No forks were used at the +table, fingers answering every purpose. On very great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> +occasions the <i>pièce de résistance</i> was a boar's head, which +was brought into the hall with a fanfare of trumpets, the +guests greeting its appearance with noisy demonstrations. +Another delicacy, which a hostess was always pleased to +serve to persons of consequence, was peacock. The presence +of this bird was the signal for the nobility to pledge +themselves afresh to deeds of knightly valor. Cranes +formed another of the unusual dishes generally found at +these state banquets. As the dinner proceeded, the thirst +of the company was assuaged by copious draughts of ale +or mead and of spiced wines. That such festivities invariably +developed scenes of hilarity and disorder was in the +nature of the case, and it was not a strange thing to see +the valorous knights, under the mellowing influence of +too frequent potations, indulge in such disgraceful acts as +throwing bones about the room and at one another, until +these bone battles passed into more serious fracases. The +woman of refinement had reason to dread these carnivals +of gluttony and debauch; and when they became too offensive, +she sought the seclusion of her private apartments.</p> + +<p>All the while the minstrels played their instruments +and sang their songs, often improvising from incidents in +the careers of those present, or taking for a theme some +vaunting sentiment to which a cup-valorous knight gave +expression. No bounds of propriety were observed in the +theme or in its treatment by these paid entertainers.</p> + +<p>As the dishes were brought in, amid the rude songs and +coarse jests of these jongleurs, another company, even +more reprobate than they, gathered about the hall door +and sought to snatch the dishes out of the hands of the +servants. These were the <i>ribalds</i> or <i>letchers</i>—a set of +degraded hangers-on at the castle, lost to all self-respect +and ready for any base deed that might be required of +them. To them was allotted the refuse of the feast.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> + +<p>A vivid picture of a wedding banquet of the times is +afforded in a scene from the earlier career of Hereward, +the last of patriotic leaders of the Saxons. The daughter +of a Cornish chief had been affianced to one of her countrymen, +who was notoriously wicked and tyrannical; but she +herself had pledged her affections to an Irish prince. Hereward, +who was a guest in the country of Cornwall, became +an object of hatred to the Cornish bully, who picked a +quarrel with him and in the encounter was slain. This +awakened a spirit of vengeance among his fellows, and it +was only through the assistance of the young princess +that Hereward was enabled to escape from the prison +where he had been confined and to flee the country. He +carried with him a tender message from the lady to her +Irish suitor. In the latter's absence she was again betrothed +by her father, and sent a messenger to notify her +lover of the near approach of the wedding. He sent forty +messengers to her father to demand his daughter's hand +by virtue of a promise one time made to him. These +were put in prison. Hereward doubted the success of the +lover's embassage; and having dyed his skin and colored +his hair, he made his way, with three companions, to the +young lady's home, arriving there the day of the nuptial +feast. The next day, when she was to be conducted to her +husband's dwelling, Hereward and his companions entered +the hall, and, as strangers, came under especial observation. +He saw the eyes of the princess fixed upon him as +though she penetrated his disguise; and as if moved by the +recollections his presence awakened, she burst into tears.</p> + +<p>As was the custom of the times, the bride, in her wedding +costume, assisted by her maidens, served the cup to +the guests before she left her father's home; and the +harper, following, played before each guest as he was +served. Hereward had registered an oath not to receive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +anything at the hands of a lady until it was proffered by +the princess herself. So, when the cup was offered to +him by a maiden, he refused it with abruptness, and declined +to listen to the harper. His rude conduct raised a +tumult of excitement and indignation, whereupon the princess +herself approached him and offered the cup, which he +received with courtesy. The princess, entirely confirmed +in her suspicions as to his identity, threw a ring into his +bosom, and, turning to the company, craved indulgence +for the stranger, who was not acquainted with their customs. +The minstrel remained sullen, whereupon Hereward +seized his harp and played with such exquisite skill +as to awaken the astonishment of the company. As he +played and sang, his companions, "after the manner of +the Saxons," joined in at intervals; whereupon the princess, +to help him in his assumed character, presented him +the rich cloak which was the reward of the minstrel. +Suspicions as to his real character were not, however, +entirely allayed; and these were increased by his request +to the father of the bride for the release of the Irish messengers.</p> + +<p>Finding that he had endangered his safety and the success +of his plans by his indiscretion, Hereward slipped +away unobserved, and, with his companions, lay in ambush +the next day along the road by which he knew the +bride would be conducted by her father to her new home. +As the bridal procession passed, and with it the Irish prisoners, +Hereward rushed out upon the unsuspecting company; +and while his companions released the prisoners, he +seized the lady and bore her away in true knightly fashion. +It may well be believed that the bride was soon united in +wedlock to the husband of her choice.</p> + +<p>One other circumstance in the history of this man, +whose life was a series of bold undertakings, serves to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> +illustrate the superstitions of the times. When King William +had besieged the island of Ely, which was the headquarters +of Hereward and his large following of Saxon +warriors, and had failed to subdue them, he gave heed to +the counsel of one of his courtiers, to have recourse to a +celebrated witch for aid in the destruction of his foes. +Hereward, to spy upon his adversary and discover his +plans, disguised himself as a potter, and stopped at the +house of the old woman whose magic was to be used +against him; that night he followed her and another crone +out into the fields, where they engaged in their curious +rites. From their conversation he learned of the scheme +against him, which was to have a platform erected in the +marshes surrounding the island; the hag was to repeat +thrice her charm, when he and his followers would be destroyed. +Accordingly, when the platform was erected and +the besiegers drew as near as they could, expectantly awaiting +Hereward's destruction, he and his companions, under +the cover of the brush, crept close to the platform and, +taking advantage of the favorable direction of the wind, set +fire to the reeds. The witch, who was about to repeat +her charm for the third time, leaped from the platform in +terror, and was killed, while in the panic many of the +soldiers lost their lives by fire or by water. The scene +here depicted bears a remarkable similarity to the weird +rites of the ancient British Druidesses, and doubtless represents +a continuance of the mysteries of that order, which +came down in forms of magic and witchcraft through many centuries.</p> + +<p>This glimpse of the witchcraft that was to become more +prominent, or at least with which we become more familiar +at a later period, will suffice to show that the plane of +general intelligence was not yet high. Education was +limited to subjects that have no special interest for us +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> +to-day. Such as it was, it was accessible to the lower +classes as well as to the upper. There were schools connected +with the churches and the monasteries. Apparently, +there was no distinction in the subjects pursued by +the sexes, excepting in the case of the nobility, whose +sons were trained for the positions they were to occupy. +It would appear that some priests were so zealous for the +prosperity of their schools that they sought to entice scholars +from other schools to their own. A law to correct the +practice provided "that no priest receive another's scholar +without leave of him whom he had previously followed." +Latin was in the list of the studies pursued by the ladies, +but few could read in the vernacular.</p> + +<p>At that day there was the same tendency that is familiar +to-day,—to cast alleged feminine inconsistencies into +the form of adages. One of these proverbs is found in +the instructions of a baron who was counselling his son on +his going out from the paternal roof: "If you should know +anything that you would wish to conceal," says this generalizer +from a personal experience, "tell it by no means +to your wife, if you have one; for if you let her know it, +you will repent of it the first time you displease her."</p> + +<p>The amusements that were popular in the Anglo-Saxon +days continued during the Norman period, but hunting +and hawking, by reason of the stringent game laws, were +sports practically limited to the upper class. The lady +kept her falcons and knew well how to set them on the +quarry, and with the men she could ride in the hunt to +the baying of the hounds. It is interesting to note that +with women the usual method of riding was on a side-saddle; +seldom are they found seated otherwise in the +representations of riding scenes. Among all classes dancing +seems to have been in favor. The exercise was +more graceful and intricate than the dance of the Saxons. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +Among the young people of the lower classes it was the +chief amusement, and was attended by much mirth and +boisterousness. Games of chance were popular among +both sexes, and chess was a favorite pastime.</p> + +<p>The art of the Anglo-Saxon gleemen and maidens under +the Normans was represented by two classes of public +entertainers, the minstrels and the jongleurs. The minstrels +confined themselves for the most part to music and +poetry; while the jongleurs were the jugglers, tricksters, +and exhibitors of trained animals. But the distinction was +not sharply drawn, although in general the minstrels were +considered to afford a higher form of entertainment than +did the jongleurs. Both sexes were represented in these +bands of itinerant amusement purveyors. Companies of +them were more or less permanently attached to the retinues +of the great barons, for the whiling away of the +long evenings and the entertainment of the guests. The +sentiments of the songs and stories of these people were +full of suggestiveness and coarseness. The merry and +licentious lives of the disreputable traffickers in amusement +brought them under moral reprobation, even in that +rude age. They drew into their ranks many persons of +depraved life, who, when the times improved, contributed, +by their abandon, to create sentiment against all profligate +strollers. Yet these minstrels represented the beginnings +of music and of vernacular literature after the conquest of England.</p> + +<p>In the matter of dress there was a marked departure +from the Anglo-Saxon costume, which varied little. Just +as long as England was not in touch with continental ideas +and customs, the women of the country wore the costumes +of their ancestors. That dress is cosmopolitan never +entered into their conceptions, any more than it does into +those of any of the Eastern nations who in modern times +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> +have been brought suddenly into the stream of European +customs and manners. But with the coming of the Normans, +national conservatism yielded to comparison with +the fashions of other peoples, and fashion assumed the +sceptre that it has continued to wield over the English +woman. The changes in dress were at first slight, but by +the end of the twelfth century they had become sufficiently +marked to be the target of witticism and the subject of +satire. The foibles of the women were little regarded by +the writers of the time. The dress of the men was not +passed over in like silence, however; it drew from the +censors of the day the severest strictures on account of its +flaunting meagreness and its improprieties in the eyes of +its monkish critics. The same condemnation was visited +upon the practice of the men of dyeing their hair or otherwise +coloring it, wearing flowing locks, and painting their +faces. Such fashions were styled reprehensible and effeminate. +It would have been instructive to subsequent generations +if these censorious critics had not been so gallant +toward women, and had given to us the spicy descriptions +of feminine attire that, in their indignation, they have +afforded us of that of the men. Had they but realized that +it was the sex whose sins of dress they passed over so +lightly, with charity or indifference, that was to follow +the inconsequential wake of fashion into the wildest vagaries +of costume and adornment, they would have let the +men have their brief day, and massed their strictures +against those who were to elevate fashion to an art and +make of its following a devotion. As it is, for our knowledge +of the dress of the weaker sex we are dependent +upon the illuminations, whose brilliant coloring and faithfulness +of detail left little for the text to elucidate. That +the new styles were not received with approbation by the +clerical artists is clear enough from the caricatures and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> +exaggerations of them that appear in their drawings. The +inordinate length of the sleeves, reaching as they did, in a +long, mandolin-shaped pocket, to the knees of the wearer, +made them surely hideous enough to draw out the indignation +of those who had artistic sensibilities to be shocked.</p> + +<p>That the notion of fashionable dress as Satanic is very +old is shown by one of the representations of his infernal +majesty, where he is portrayed dressed in the height of +feminine fashion. One of the sleeves of his gown is short +and full, while the other, in caricature of the style of the +day, is so long that it has to be tied in a knot to get it out +of the way. The gown, also, being of impossible length and +fulness, is disposed of by the simple expedient of knotting.</p> + +<p>In the dress of Satan, as an exponent of the iniquity of +feminine attire, there also appears unmistakable evidence +of a tight bodice of stays, the lacing of which, after drawing +his majesty's waist into approved dimensions, hangs +carelessly down to view and terminates in a tag. As stays +were not commonly worn, and as a writer at a little later +time is found vehemently inveighing against them, it is +fair to conclude that their presence on Satan is to indicate, +in the eyes of the better element of the day, the indelicacy +and impropriety of their use. Ridiculous and unsightly +as were the long sleeves and other novelties of dress, the +particular displeasure with which they were regarded by +the element whose views the ecclesiastics reflected must +be attributed somewhat to their foreign origin. Although +they were introduced into the country by the Normans, +the long sleeves, at least, appear to have originated in +Italy. Down to the twelfth century, there was sufficient +conservatism remaining to deprecate the introduction of +foreign novelties, just as in Elizabeth's days the economists +strongly protested against bringing into the country "foreign gewgaws."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> + +<p>The girdle remained a part of the dress of the women, +although it was not so much in evidence as in the Anglo-Saxon +time. It was probably worn under the gown, and +in some cases may have been dispensed with. That queens +and princesses, however, wore very fine girdles, ornamented +with pearls and precious stones, is abundantly +attested by the contemporary writers.</p> + +<p>The mantle was the most changeful article of dress at +this period. Sometimes it was worn in the old way, being +put on by passing the head through an aperture made for +that purpose; but more often it was worn opening down +the front and fastened at the throat by an embroidered +collar clasped by a brooch. Again, it was fastened in a +similar way at the throat, but covered only one side of +the form, falling coquettishly over the shoulder and hanging +down the side. A particularly pleasing effect was obtained +by having it fasten at the throat by a collar, whose +rich, gold-embroidered border continued down the front to +the waist. Sometimes the garment was sleeveless, and +again it was worn with short sleeves, or sleeves long +and full. For winter wear, it covered the form entirely +and terminated in a hood. These mantles were often of +the finest imported textiles, embroidered in elegant figures +and with richly wrought borders, and were lined throughout with costly furs.</p> + +<p>The kerchief, like the mantle, quite lost its conventional +style in the period we are describing, and was often omitted +altogether. It was usually worn over the head, and hanging +down to the right breast, while the end on the left side +was gathered about the neck and thrown over the right +shoulder. Sometimes it was gathered in fulness upon the +head and bound there by a diadem, though otherwise worn +as just described. Toward the end of the twelfth century +it became much smaller, and was tied under the chin, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> +looking very much like an infant's cap. The women's +shoes were very much the same as those worn by the +Anglo-Saxons. It is quite likely that the stockings were +close-fitting and short, as was the style among the men.</p> + +<p>There were different ways of wearing the hair, but the +most usual was to have it parted in front and flowing +loosely down the back, with a lock on either side falling +over the shoulders and upon the breast; this was the style +for young girls especially. Another fashion was to have +it fall down the back in two masses, where it was wrapped +by ribbons and so bound into tails. Young girls never +wore a headdress of any sort. On reaching maturity, it +was usual for the women to enclose their hair in a net, +with a kerchief cap drawn tightly over it.</p> + +<p>The ornaments in use need no particular description, +because of their similarity to those worn during the +Anglo-Saxon period. Crowns were, of course, the chief +adornments of queens on state occasions; circlets of gold, +elegantly patterned, formed the diadems of the noble ladies; +and half-circlets of gold, connected behind, constituted the +distinctive headdress of women of wealth. Rings, armlets, +and necklaces, as well as the generally serviceable brooch, were in use.</p> + +<p>Turning from the fashions of the wealthy to the condition +of the poor, what a difference appears! The age was +one of sharp contrasts; for while gayety reigned in the +high circles of court and castle, wretchedness was more +usual in the hovels with their mud walls and thatched +roofs, to which nature may have added the gracious garniture +of herbs, mosses, and lichens. But it would be too +much to assume that the persons of humble estate were +not happy in their own way. Lacking the luxuries of the +table and the fine attire of the ladies of the castles, life +still had for them many elements of pure joy. But while +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +the women of the lower ranks would have contrasted well +in the matter of morals with the women of the nobility, +yet no more then than now was virtue the exclusive possession of any class.</p> + +<p>The monasteries were not only centres of culture, but +were also the great distributing centres of charity, the +nuns being looked upon as the especial friends of the poor. +We hear little of complaint against the character of these +houses at this time, and it is clear that the rules for their +direction had become efficacious for the establishing of a +discipline sufficiently rigid, on the whole, to ensure exemplary +character. Many penances and mortifications were +imposed on the nuns, besides others which were voluntarily +assumed. In a book of rules published at this time +appears the following, which seems to indicate that even +sunshine savored too much of worldliness for the occupants +of the religious houses: "My dear sisters, love your windows +as little as you may, and let them be small, and the +parlor's the narrowest; let the cloth in them be twofold, +black cloth, the cross white within and without." It may +be, however, that it was not too much sunlight that was +to be avoided, but men, who sought to converse with the +nuns at their windows. This indeed appears to be the +true meaning of the recommendation, as is indicated by +another enjoinment: "If any man become so mad and unreasonable +that he put forth his hand toward the window +cloth, shut the window quickly and leave him."</p> + +<p>Besides the nuns, whose office dedicated them to acts +of charity, many of the noble ladies found pleasure in +alleviating the afflictions of the poor. In their care of the +distressed they were incited to acts of humility by the very +high value that the Church placed upon the performance +of such deeds. Matilda, the good wife of Henry I., had +the training of the monastery in developing her benevolent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> +instincts, and set an example to the ladies of her court by +establishing the leper hospital of Saint Giles; there she +herself washed the feet of lepers, esteeming such lowly +service as done unto Christ. In a hard and cruel age, the +gentler sentiments common to womanly nature, especially +when under the influence of Christian feeling, poured themselves +out in a wealth of affection upon those who were +stricken and left helpless by the hardness of the times.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter V</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Middle Ages</h2> +<!--Blank page #104 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> + + +<p>There was an almost total lack of central authority or +of legal restraint throughout the land during the long conflict +between Stephen and Matilda, wife of the Count of +Anjou, whom the feudal party, in violation of their vows +to Henry I., refused to accept as queen; and to the other +terrors of war were added the depredations of a host of +mercenary soldiers brought over from the continent. To +quote the chronicler William of Newburgh: "In the olden +days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did that +which was right in his own eyes; but in England now it +was worse; for there was a king, but impotent, and every +man did what was wrong in his own eyes." The Petersborough +continuation of the <i>English Chronicle</i> gives as dark +a picture of the state of affairs: "They filled the land full +of castles and filled the castles full of devils. They took +all those they deemed had any goods, men and women, +and tortured them with tortures unspeakable; many thousands +they slew with hunger—they robbed and burned all +the villages, so that thou mightest fare a day's journey +nor ever find a man dwelling in a village nor land tilled. +Corn, flesh, and cheese there was none in the land. The +bishops were ever cursing them, but they cared naught +therefor, for they were all forcursed and forsworn and +forlorn.... Men said openly that Christ slept and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span> +His saints. Such and more than we can say we suffered +for our sins," Such grim experiences of unlicensed feudalism +did much for the social education of the English +people, and similar lawlessness was never repeated in the +history of the country. Out of the furnace through which +England passed, the English character emerged, purified +of some of its dross of Anglo-Saxon sluggishness and +Norman arrogance, and finely representative of the tempered +elements of both peoples. A sense of solidarity was awakened.</p> + +<p>The feudal system found its expression in various forms +of homage and of fealty, upon which it was founded. It +embraced, among many services and liabilities, some that +related to women. On the death of a tenant leaving an +heiress under fourteen years of age, the lord upon whose +lands the tenant had dwelt, and to whom he owed the +military and other services of his lower position, became +the guardian in chivalry to the maiden, and had charge of +her person and her lands until she was twenty-one—unless, +on reaching the age of sixteen, she availed herself +of her right to "sue out her livery" by the payment of a +half-year's income of her estate. Moreover, he was entitled +to dispose of her in marriage to any person of rank +equal to her own. In case the young lady did not approve +of the selection made for her, and rejected her guardian's +choice or married without his consent, she had to forfeit +to him a sum of money equal to what was called the value +of her marriage—a sum equal to what the lord might have +expected to receive if the marriage as planned by him had +taken place. During her wardship the lord had the right +to her land, and might assign or sell his guardianship over +her. These rights which the lord held over the person +and possessions of his ward applied, in the later feudal +period, equally to male and female.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> + +<p>Such was the relationship of the ward to her lord, and +the same system of knight service which gave him these +rights in orphaned minors gave him, as well, the right to +collect a fee upon the marriage of the daughters of any of +his tenants. Such a system, while it deprived the young +woman of absolute freedom in her selection of a husband, +did not of necessity work great hardship, as each fair +young woman had her knight dedicated to her by the +solemn vows of chivalry, from whom her troth, once +given, was not apt to be easily wrested. Upon the merits +of the system itself we are not called upon to pass judgment; +but certainly chivalry, which was its finest product, +was responsible for the introduction into the English +character of splendid ideals of womanhood, which found +expression in a deference amounting almost to worship.</p> + +<p>Yet the picture has a reverse side as well, and it is only +by considering both aspects of the age that its real meaning +as regards its effect upon the womanhood of the time +becomes clear. This other side of chivalry is well expressed +by Freeman, than whom no one is better qualified +to speak. He says: "The chivalrous spirit is, above all +things, a class spirit. The good knight is bound to endless +fantastic courtesies towards men and still more towards +women of a certain rank; he may treat all below that rank +with any degree of scorn or cruelty.... Chivalry +is short in its morals very much what feudalism is in law: +each substitutes purely personal obligations, obligations +devised in the interest of an exclusive class, for the more +homely duties of an honest man and a good citizen."</p> + +<p>The extravagant reverence and regard paid to women +of the higher ranks of society did not have a firm basis in +inherent moral principle either in them or in their worshippers, +so that it was an easy passage from idealized woman +to materialized woman. Life cannot long subsist on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> +perfervid products of a social imagination. As a revulsion +of noble minds from coarseness and as a protest against +tyranny and vice, chivalry fulfilled a high mission; but, +unfortunately, its exalted admiration of woman fell to a +physical appreciation of its subject. Not her womanhood, +but her graces of person came to evoke the passionate +devotion of the knight. An admiration fantastic and romantic, +expressing itself in all sorts of extravagance, a +worship of mere physical beauty—such was the nature of +chivalry in its later expression. Instead of an idol, woman became but a toy.</p> + +<p>In no respect was this sentimentality better illustrated +than in the nature of the knightly devotion of the time. +When not in the camp, the life of the knight was an idle +one, and was spent for the most part in sentimental +attendance upon ladies at court or castle. It was there +that his deeds of prowess won rewards rather more generously +than discreetly given by the lady to whom he had +pledged his devotion; so that, with all the circumstances +of outward respect for women, surpassing in ostentatious +display that shown by any other age, it is a painful fact +that in no other age was there such license in the association +of the sexes. It is a striking comment upon the manners +of the times that "gallantry" should have come to +signify both bravery and illicit love. Chastity was not +one of the ornaments of the age of chivalry.</p> + +<p>In curious contrast to the attitude of chivalry—a product +of the Church—toward women was that of the Church in +its official character and expression. The knight elevated +woman to the plane of angels, while the priest went to the +other extreme. Saint Chrysostom's definition of woman +as "a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable +calamity, a domestic peril, a deadly fascination, and a +painted ill," continued to be the orthodox view of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> +Church, Woman was to be avoided as a temptation by +all those who valued the security of their souls; and yet +it was the Church, more than any other social force, which +gave to woman the dignity and worth that she achieved.</p> + +<p>The Church stood for order and even for progress; it +summed up in itself all the knowledge and the culture of +the times. In the midst of the turmoil and dangers of war +and strife, it afforded to women the one haven to which +they might flee for security. But its protection was bought +at the price of authority over the lives and consciences of +its adherents. The lives of women were spent in a round +of narrow experience and of duty, and the feasts of the +Church, with their processions and ceremonials, furnished +to them merely an agreeable break in the monotony of +their existence. This was especially true of the lower +classes. In an age when belief in supernatural appearances +and interferences formed part of the common credence of +the masses, the emotional sensibilities of the women were +easily appealed to by the priests. By taking advantage +of this ignorance, the Church was enabled to hold in absolute +control the lives of the simple and credulous women. +Women did not hesitate to yield to the Church their freedom +of thought and of action, their minds and consciences +alike being at the disposal of their ecclesiastical directors; +but when the Church taught men to respect their wives, +and raised its voice and exerted its influence against the +tyranny which placed women in subjection to their male +relatives, it was indeed befriending them in a way that +hastened the acquirement by them of the real equality +which they now enjoy with the other sex.</p> + +<p>The relation of women and the Church was not without +its anomalies. This is shown curiously in the contrast +between the Mariolatry of the age and the attitude of the +Church toward the sex of which Mary was the exalted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> +type The women were not esteemed fit to receive the +Eucharist with uncovered hands; they were forbidden to +approach the altar; their married state was yet, in theory +at least considered a condition of sin, for, even among the +women of the laity, virginity and celibacy were regarded +as almost a state of especial sanctity. But the Church +was entirely consistent in its attitude toward women in +that it made no distinctions as to class or condition. Queen +Philippa, wife of Edward III., while on a visit to Durham +Cathedral, after having supped with the king, retired to +rest in the priory. The scandalized monks sought an +interview with the king and made vigorous protests, so +that the queen was obliged to rise, and, clad only in her +night apparel, sought accommodations in the castle, beseeching +Saint Cuthbert's pardon for having polluted the holy confines with her presence.</p> + +<p>Ecclesiastical law operated disastrously against women +in declaring for a celibate priesthood. In Anglo-Saxon +times the priests married; but the Council of Winchester, +in 1076, took a stand against the marriage of the clergy, +and forbade priests to take to themselves wives, although +it permitted the parish clergy who were already married +to continue in the marital state. In 1102, however, it was +declared that no married priest should celebrate mass, and +in 1215 the Lateran Council definitely pronounced against +marriage of priests. Many of the clergy had by no means +shown a docile spirit in relation to this invasion of what +they considered the domain of their personal rights; when +forced into submission, they evaded the ordinances by +taking concubines. Even in the fifteenth century, it was +not uncommon to find married priests. In the document +entitled <i>Instructions for Parish Priests</i>, those who were too +weak to live uprightly in the celibate state were counselled +to take wives. Concubinage, as a substitute for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> +interdicted marriage, continued to be practised down to +the sixteenth century, nor was this form of illicit living the +worst vice of the clergy. Debauchery spread throughout +the country, until in the sixteenth century it is said that +as many as one hundred thousand women fell under the +seductions of the priests, for whose particular pleasures +houses of ill fame were kept. From the laity, complaints +became general that their wives and daughters were not +safe from the advances of the priests. In 1536 the clergy +of the diocese of Bangor sent to Cromwell the following +remarkable plea against taking away their women from +them: "We ourselves shall be driven to seek our living +at all houses and taverns, for mansions upon the benefices +and vicarages we have none. And as for gentlemen and +substantial honest men, for fear of inconvenience, and +knowing our frailty and accustomed liberty, they will in +no wise board us in their houses." All the literature of +the Middle Ages leads to but one conclusion—that the clergy +were the great corrupters of domestic virtue among the +burgher and agricultural classes. The morals of the lords +and ladies of the upper strata of the aristocratic class were +of no higher grade; the offenders, however, were seldom +the priests, but the gallants of that privileged circle. The +lower rank of the aristocracy,—the knights and lesser +landholders,—which, with the decline of feudalism, came to +be more strongly defined as a separate class, appears +to have preserved the best moral tone of any of the classes of mediæval society.</p> + +<p>A great deal of light is thrown upon the manners and +thought of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by a body +of literature which arose during those centuries. The +estimation in which the classes of society were held is +indicated by one of these <i>fabliaux</i>. A party of knights +passed through a pleasant and shady meadow, in the midst +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> +of exquisite scenery; they were enchanted by the spot, +and wished for meat and wine that they might tarry there +and dine on the grass. There followed them a party of +clerks, whose feelings were also aroused by the beauty +of the place; and, in accord with the frivolous character +given them throughout the <i>fabliaux</i>, they exclaimed: +"Had we fair maidens here, how pleasant a spot for +play!" After they had passed on, there came a party of +villains, who, with their grosser ideas, thought not of the +beauty of the place at all, but proceeded to indulge themselves +in carnal pleasures and to use it for mean purposes.</p> + +<p>These <i>fabliaux</i> show us that Cupid disdained conventional +restraint then as now; for in them the marriage of +persons in different classes often furnishes a theme for +the story—this, too, notwithstanding the sharp caste distinctions +which existed. Usually, the maiden is possessed +of more beauty than wealth and belongs to the poor-knight +class; she is wedded to a peasant or villain who has become +wealthy. The husband turns out to be a brute; the lady is +crafty and cunning. He beats and abuses her, according to +the instincts of his boorish nature; she, on the other hand, +proves faithless as often as opportunity presents. The +writers never visit condemnation upon her, for her husband +is considered as undeserving of the possession of +such a prize. It is a curious commentary on the manner +of the times that upon the same manuscript, written by +the same person, appear <i>fabliaux</i> of this sort and stories +of holy women dying in defence of their chastity. This +contradiction runs throughout the literature of the period—the +praise of virtue and the narration of gross immorality +without an effort to condemn it. One of the most peculiar +facts of the age is the extreme to which was carried the +adoration of the Virgin and the strange things she is made +to do and to countenance, in the mythology of the Middle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +Ages—for so we must class most of the mediæval stories +of the saints and of the Virgin—to ardent and imaginative +temperaments the Virgin took the character of Venus, and +is frequently represented as the patroness of love. One +of the religious stories tells us that some young men, while +playing ball in front of a church, approached the porch of +the edifice, upon which was a beautiful statue of Our Lady. +One of them laid down his ring, which he had received +from his lady-love. Then, to his amazement, he saw the +image, which was "fresh and new," fix its eyes upon +the ring. He became enamored of it, and, after due obeisance, +he addressed Our Lady thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p class="i10">"I promise duly,</p> +<p>That all my life I'll serve thee truly;</p> +<p>For never saw I maiden fair</p> +<p>Whose beauty could with thine compare,</p> +<p>So courtly and so debonaire:</p> +<p>And she who gave this ring to me,</p> +<p>Though fair and sweet herself, than thee</p> +<p>A hundred times less fair, I trow,</p> +<p>Shall yield to thee her empire now.</p> +<p>'Tis true I've loved her long and well,</p> +<p>As many a fond caress can tell;</p> +<p>But now, forgotten and neglected,</p> +<p>Her meaner charms for thine rejected,</p> +<p>I give her ring—a lasting token</p> +<p>Of faith which never shall be broken,</p> +<p>Nor shared with maid or wife shall be</p> +<p>The love I proffer unto thee.'"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>With this address, he placed the ring upon the finger of +the image. Our Lady appeared flattered by the conquest +she had made, and bent the finger on which the ring had +been placed in order that it might not be withdrawn. +The lover was astounded by the miracle, and was advised +by his friends to retire from the world and to devote himself +to the adoration and service of the Blessed Virgin. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +Neglecting this advice, he allowed love to resume its place +and led to the altar the maiden who had given him the +ring. But Our Lady was not to be deprived of her adorer, +and when he laid himself upon the nuptial couch she immediately +threw him into a profound slumber, and when he +awoke he found her lying between him and his bride:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"She showed him straight her finger, where</p> +<p>Was still the ring he'd given her;</p> +<p>And well became her hand that ring</p> +<p>Upon her soft skin glittering.</p> +<p>'Instead of love, thou'st shown,' said she,</p> +<p>'But falseness and disloyalty.</p> +<p>And ill hast kept thy faith to me.</p> +<p>Behold the ring thou gavest, for token</p> +<p>And pledge of love fore'er unbroken,</p> +<p>And call'd me a hundred times more fair</p> +<p>Than ever earthly maidens were.</p> +<p>I have been ever true, but thou</p> +<p>Hast taken a meaner leman now;</p> +<p>Hast left for stinking nettle the rose,</p> +<p>Sweet eglantine for flower more gross.'"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>In the end, Our Lady forces him to leave his wife that +he may dedicate himself entirely to her service. In other +<i>fabliaux</i> and in the chronicles, Mary is represented under +the guise of the Lady Venus, who often appears in these +romances. In this adoration of the Virgin as a maiden impelled +by the same loves and hates as any mortal woman, +it is not difficult to see the spirit of chivalry in its sensual +expression. Surely, if every lady had her knight, the +Blessed Virgin, also, must have her devoted admirers; and +by the height of her position and greater worthiness as the +Queen of Heaven, by so much should she rise above any +other woman in her right to command such adorers.</p> + +<p>When we pass from the status of woman in the Middle +Ages to her occupations, the subject becomes narrowed, +not only by the lesser importance of the facts which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +merely illustrate rather than demonstrate her position, but +also because we shall exclude from our general consideration +the women of the manors, the nuns, and, in their +industrial capacities, the women of the guilds. These +important classes demand separate treatment.</p> + +<p>After the middle of the twelfth century, it is easier to +study the domestic manners of the people. We can, for +instance, obtain very precise information as to the style of +the dwellings in which they lived. There was a general +uniformity in the houses, however they might vary in +particulars. In the twelfth century, the hall continued to +be the main part of the dwelling. Adjoining it at one end +was the chamber, while at the other end might be found +the stable. The whole building stood in an enclosure consisting +of a yard in front and a garden in the rear, surrounded +by a hedge and ditch. The house had a door in +the front, and within, one door led to the chamber, and +another to the stable. The chamber, also, frequently had +a door leading out to the garden. There were usually +windows in the hall, the stable and the chamber being +lighted by openings in the partitions between them and +the hall, as well as by slits in the outer walls. The windows +themselves were commonly merely openings, which +might be closed by wooden shutters. There was usually +one such window in the chamber, besides those in the +hall, so that it was better lighted than the stable.</p> + +<p>From the <i>fabliaux</i> we can obtain very precise ideas of +the distribution of the rooms in the houses of the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries. Thus, in one of the <i>fabliaux</i>, an +old woman of mean condition of life is represented as visiting +a burgher's wife, who, from a feeling of vanity, takes +her into the chamber to show her the new bed, a very +handsome affair. Afterward, when this lady takes refuge +with the old dame, the latter conducts her from the hall to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +the chamber adjoining. The outer door of the chamber, +by which egress could be had from the house without +going through the hall, often figures in the stories as aiding +the escape of the lovers of guilty wives, on the unexpected +entrance of the husbands into the hall. It was in the +chamber that fireplaces and chimneys were first introduced into mediæval houses.</p> + +<p>As the grouping of the rooms upon the ground floor +made the house less compact and more susceptible to successful +attack, the custom arose of having upper chambers. +The upper room was called the solar, because it received +much light from the sun. At first it was but a small chamber, +approached from the outside. These outer stairs are +often referred to in the <i>fabliaux</i>, as in the <i>fabliau</i> of D'Estourmi, +where a burgher and his wife deceive three monks +of a neighboring abbey, who make love to the lady; she +conceals her husband in the upper chamber, to which he +goes by an outer staircase. The monks enter the hall, +and the husband sees from the upper room, through a +lattice, all that happens. In another <i>fabliau</i>, a lady uses +the solar as a hiding place for her husband, who has disguised +himself as a gallant in order to test his wife's faithfulness. +She penetrates his disguise, and, after closing +the door of the solar upon him, sends a servant to give +him a good beating, as an importunate suitor whom she +desires to cure of his annoying passion. The husband, +too mortified to reveal his identity and disclose his doubts +as to his wife, has no redress but to sustain his assumed +character and to escape down the outer stairs, pursued by +the servants. The chamber soon came to be the most +important part of the house, and frequently its name was +given to the whole dwelling, a house with a solar being +called an upper-storied chamber. The more considerable +manors and castles differed from the ordinary houses only +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> +in having a greater assemblage of rooms and more details +than were found in the smaller dwellings.</p> + +<p>Toward the fourteenth century, the rooms of houses +generally began to be numerous, and the houses were +often built around a court, the additions being chiefly to +the number of offices and chambers. Wood continued +to be the usual material for their construction. A new +apartment was added to the house—the parlor, so called +because it was the talking room. It was derived from +the religious houses, in which the parlor was the reception +room. As furniture was scanty, the rooms of the +mediæval house were almost bare. Chairs were very +few, and seats in the masonry of the wall continued for +centuries to be the principal accommodation of the kind; +benches for seats and places of deposit of personal or +household articles were usually made of a few boards laid +across trestles. In the thirteenth century, the beds in the +chamber came to be partitioned off by curtains, which +showed an advance in modesty, as it was customary to +sleep wholly undressed. Throughout the Middle Ages, +the comforts of the houses were quite primitive; even the +houses themselves were generally without architectural +grace and frequently very unsubstantial. When watchmen +were appointed in the towns, they were provided +with a "hook" with which to pull down a house when on +fire, if its proximity to others threatened their destruction. +As there was an absence of luxury in the houses +and their furnishings, much value was placed on plate, +which came to be a sign of wealth and social distinction. +Dress, also, aided in marking distinctions between the +wealthy and those in less fortunate circumstances, as did +the luxuries found upon the tables of the former.</p> + +<p>This fact of the general character of the discomforts of +living, without regard to rank or condition, gave occasion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> +for sumptuary laws—"the toe of the peasant pressed +closely on the heel of the lord, and the gulf that parted +them was the number of dishes upon their table, the quality +of the cloth they put on, and the kind of fur they might wear to keep off the cold."</p> + +<p>Glass began to be introduced into dwelling houses in the +time of Henry III., but was regarded as a great luxury. +Pipes for carrying the refuse water and slops from the +houses to sewers or cesspools were one of the great sanitary +reforms of the reign of Edward I. The same able +monarch made the use of baths popular among his people. +The floors of the houses continued to be covered with an +armful of hay, or a bundle of birch boughs or of rushes, +although during the fourteenth century some of the +wealthier farmers and persons of the trading classes and +the nobility had begun to use imported carpets and hangings. +Table linen and napkins were also coming into +service. The use of forks was confined to royalty.</p> + +<p>When the fine ladies went abroad in their vehicles or +were carried in their chairs, they had to plow through +streets deep with mire and filth; so much so, that it was +not unusual for coaches to stick fast and depend upon the +aid of some friendly teamster to extricate them. The +sanitation of the dwellings was little better than that of +the streets. The stench of the houses of the poor was so +great that the priests made it an excuse for failure to pay +parochial visits to them. The better class of houses were, +of course, kept much cleaner.</p> + +<p>The impression that food in the Middle Ages was coarse +and not elaborate is not borne out, as we have seen, by +the facts; for, from Anglo-Saxon times down, the people +were very fond of the table, and in the higher circles +elaborate banquets stood as one of the most usual resources +of a hospitality which had to make up for its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> +barrenness in other ways by the bounties of elaborate +feasts, so that we are quite prepared for Alexander Neckam's +list of kitchen requisites. This ecclesiastic of the +latter half of the twelfth century has left us a list of +the things to be found in a well-ordered kitchen. Besides +his list, we have the testimony of cookbooks of the time, +which give directions for making dishes that are both complicated +and toothsome. Indeed, the position of cook was +one of importance, and upon him often rested, in great +houses, the honor of the establishment.</p> + +<p>In this connection may be given some of the curious +injunctions of the Anglo-Saxon penitentials, which continued +to be quoted throughout the Middle Ages, becoming +superstitious beliefs after they had lost their ecclesiastical +character and undergone the changes which, with the lapse +of time, develop folklore. One of the oddest prescribed +that in case a "mouse fall into liquor, let it be taken out, +and sprinkle the liquor with holy-water, and if it be alive, +the liquor may be used, but if it be dead, throw the liquor +out and cleanse the vessel." Another said: "He who uses +anything a dog or mouse has eaten of, or a weasel polluted, +if he do it knowingly, let him sing a hundred psalms; and if +he knew it not, let him sing fifty psalms." These are but +samples of many superstitions with which the thought of +the Middle Ages was tinctured.</p> + +<p>A considerable treatise might be written upon the superstitions +of the English women; it would contain astonishing +disclosures as to the effect of the unreal world of +fairies, goblins, and the like upon woman's development +and status during the Middle Ages. She was undoubtedly +influenced in her daily life, in almost all her duties and +undertakings, by the terrors with which her superstitions +filled her. The legacy of a pagan system was slowly +thrown off, and, with all the credulity of the religion of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> +the times, it is to the credit of the Church that, by its +proscriptions as well as by its healthier teaching, superstition +in many of its forms lessened its hold upon the minds +of the people. And yet it was needful, if historical fact +denotes a social necessity, that these superstitions should +culminate in a belief in witchcraft, and woman, because of +her credulity, become the scapegoat of the gnomes and +witches which existed in her simple faith. Even so cultured +a person as Augustine, one of the most prominent +of the Church Fathers of his time, declared it to be insolent +to doubt the existence of fauns, satyrs, and suchlike +demoniac beings, which lie in wait for women and have +intercourse with them and children by them. It was this +belief which extended into a labyrinth of darkness and +superstition throughout the Middle Ages. The reasoning +of the Church was perfectly simple: if the miracles of the +Apostles and of Christ were of divine agency, then the +marvels performed by magicians before the astonished +eyes of the heathen were to be accredited to Satan. +The Church never doubted the existence of malignant +spirits, but bent its endeavors toward persuading the +people to give up converse with them. If a woman gave +herself over to Satan or any of his minions, the only +resource was to put her to death. Horrible as were the +witch burnings of the Middle Ages, the Church sincerely +believed that it was exorcising the Devil from the lives of +the people; and by the terrible examples it made of those +who were accounted as having sold themselves to the Evil +One, it believed it was placing a deterrent upon others +who might be minded to yield themselves to diabolical +possession. The Church was but sharing the universal +belief of the times, and, as the guardian of the spiritual +interests of mankind, it sought the purification of society +by severe measures which, it felt, were alone suited to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> +the gravity of the subject. From this belief in devil +possession arose a veritable system of Christian magic; +charms, amulets, exorcisms, abounded; thus, white magic was opposed to black magic.</p> + +<p>But when the belief in witchcraft led to papal promulgations +against it and against all who dared entertain doubts +upon the subject, and when it led also to the appointment +of tribunals for the trying of "witches," there was placed +in the hands of malice and ignorance a power from which +no woman, however exalted in rank or pure in character, +was secure, provided only she incurred the enmity of +someone bent upon effecting her ruin.</p> + +<p>The genesis of the belief lies even back of the prevailing +superstitions of the times, and is to be found in the +lower regard in which the female sex was held. As we +have said, chivalry did not cover with its ægis all women, +but only those of a certain class; in the Middle Ages, the +opinion held of women in general was not flattering to the +sex. The descriptions of witch trials and the processes +for the extortion of confessions; the indignities of many +sorts to which women were subjected; the horrors of a +system which virtually made one become an informer +upon her neighbor, lest she be anticipated by charges +preferred against herself; the whole dreary round of the +subject and its literature: all these are too uninviting to +permit of detail. It is sufficient for our purpose to say +that throughout Europe—for the delusion was so widespread—certainly +not less than a million persons were +burned, or otherwise put to death, as witches during the +Middle Ages. So great a holocaust had to be offered up +by women as a sin offering for their sex!</p> + +<p>The state of education had much to do with the manners +and opinions of the Middle Ages. In the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries there was a feeling of the necessity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> +for extending and improving education. There was spread +abroad a degree of popular instruction. It was not an +uncommon thing for ladies to be able to read and write. +Among the amusements of their leisure hours, reading +began to have a very much larger place than formerly. +Yet, popular literature—the tales, ballads, and songs—was +still communicated orally rather than in writing, +though books were more extensively circulated. Often +persons of wealth and culture had extensive libraries. +Excepting in the case of those who followed or desired to +follow the career of scholars, the women were less illiterate than the men.</p> + +<p>In considering the dress of the women of England during +the Middle Ages, the sumptuary laws passed for its regulation +are of interest in themselves as affording a view of +the dress of the several classes of society, and they also +serve to illustrate upon what simple lines the distinctions of society were drawn.</p> + +<p>In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Edward III., a +curious complaint was submitted to Parliament by the +Commons against general extravagance in the use of +apparel; whereupon an act was passed in regulation of +the matter. One of the provisions of this act, as it related +to women, prescribed that the wives and children of +the grooms and servants of the lords and of tradesmen +and artificers should not wear veils costing more than +twelvepence each. The wives and children of the tradesmen +and artificers themselves should wear no veils excepting +those made with thread and manufactured in the +kingdom; nor any kind of furs excepting those of lambs, +rabbits, cats, and foxes. The cloth for their dresses was +also to be of a prescribed kind. The wives and children +of esquires—gentlemen under the estate of knighthood—might +not wear cloth of gold, of silk, or of silver; nor any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> +ornaments of precious stones, nor furs of any kind; nor +any purfling or facings upon their garments; neither +should they use <i>esclaires</i>, <i>crinales</i>, or <i>trosles</i>—certain forms +of hairpins, and suchlike ornaments.</p> + +<p>In the case of knights of a certain income, their wives +and children were prohibited from wearing miniver or +ermine as linings for their garments or trimming for their +sleeves. The lower classes were restricted to blankets +and russets for their attire, and these were not to cost +more than twelvepence per yard, unless the income of +the man was above forty shillings. It is not probable +that these enactments were rigidly enforced, and when +Henry IV. came to the throne he found it necessary to +revive the prohibiting statutes of his predecessor. A number +of such sumptuary laws were passed during succeeding +reigns, but it is not probable that they were ever +really effective. Nor were the satires and witticisms of +the poets and other writers of the day more effectual than +legislation in correcting the extravagances and vices of +dress. Whether the poet or the moralist pointed their +shafts against them, the dames and the dandies of the +time continued to dress as pleased them.</p> + +<p>Some of these criticisms so sum up the dress of the day, +that to quote them is to see the fine lady attired in all her +bewildering array of beautiful stuffs. William de Lorris, +in his celebrated poem, the <i>Romance of the Rose</i>, has drawn +the character of Jealousy, and represents him as reproaching +his wife for her insatiable love of finery, which, he +tells her, is solely to make her attractive in the eyes of +her gallants. He then enumerates the parts of her dress, +consisting of mantles lined with sable, surcoats, neck +linens, wimples, petticoats, shifts, pelices, jewels, chaplets +of fresh flowers, buckles of gold, rings, robes, and rich +furs. Then he adds: "You carry the worth of one hundred +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> +pounds in gold and silver upon your head—such garlands, +such coiffures with gilt ribbons, such mirrors framed in +gold, so fair, so beautifully polished; such tissues and +girdles, with expensive fastenings of gold, set with precious +stones of smaller size; and your feet shod so primly, that +the robe must be often lifted up to show them." And in +a subsequent part of the poem the ladies are advised, +satirically, if their ankles be not handsome and their feet +small and delicate, to hide them by wearing long robes, +trailing upon the pavement. Those, on the contrary, +who were more favored in this respect were advised to +elevate their robes, as if it were to give access to air, +that the passer-by might see and admire their trim feet and ankles.</p> + +<p>Such were some of the adornments of the fine ladies of +the thirteenth century. It is instructive to turn to Chaucer's +Canterbury Tales and study the costumes of some of +the characters as they are interpreted by Strutt. This +will afford a view of the dress of typical persons in the +ordinary ranks of life. The Wife of Bath is drawn by +Chaucer at full length as a shameless woman, pert, loquacious, +and bold, whose favorite occupation is gossiping and +rambling abroad in search of fashionable diversions, in the +absence of her husband. She had the art of making fine +cloth. Her dress materials were expensive, for she had +kerchiefs, or head linen, which she wore on Sunday, so +fine that they were equal in value to ten pounds; and +her stockings were made of fine red scarlet cloth, and +"straightway gartered upon her legs"; her shoes were +also new, and to them she had a pair of spurs attached, +because she was to ride upon horseback; she wore a hat +as broad as a buckler or a target; and she herself informs +us that upon holidays she was accustomed to wear gay scarlet gowns.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> + +<p>The Carpenter's Wife, the heroine of the Miller's Tale, +has her dress partly described: the collar of her shift was +embroidered both before and behind with black silk; her +girdle was barred or striped with silk; her apron, bound +about her hips, was clean and white, and full of plaits. +The tapes of her white headdress were embroidered in the +same manner as the collar of her shift; her fillet, or headband, +was broad and was made of silk, and "set full high"; +probably meaning with a bow or topknot on the upper +part of her head. Attached to her girdle was a purse of +leather, tasselled or fringed with silk, and ornamented with +<i>latoun</i>—a kind of copper alloy of which ornaments were +made—in the shape of pearls. She wore a brooch or +fibula upon "her low collar," as broad, says the poet, as +the boss of a buckler; her shoes "were laced high upon her legs."</p> + +<p>In addition to these characters of Chaucer, it may be +added that the country Ale-Wife is thus described by a +contemporary writer: "She put on her fairest smocke; +her petticoat of a good broad red; her gowne of grey, +faced with buckram; her square-thrumed hat; and before +her she hung a clean white apron."</p> + +<p>The subject of public entertainment in the Middle Ages +brings to light curious practices. In the towns, the burghers +were not willing to entertain strangers gratuitously, notwithstanding +the Scriptural injunction to do so, reinforced +by the reminder that thereby some have entertained angels +unawares. The custom of offering entertainment to travellers +was, however, still practised in the country districts, +but the Anglo-Saxon notion of three days as a reasonable +limit for the tarrying of wayfarers seems still to have obtained. +Aside from the public inns, rich burghers opened +their homes, with their superior comforts, to royal personages +and to rich barons, for an honorarium. They +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> +frequently practised extortion upon their accidental guests, +and had arts to allure such to their homes. While having +the appearance of great exclusiveness, they nevertheless +employed persons to be on the watch for travellers. These +would approach such strangers, engage them in conversation, +and, on pretence of being from the same part of the +country, offer guidance and advice to the stranger, who +was usually glad to be directed to an "exclusive" place +for entertainment. In some of these places, as well as in +the public inns, the guest would be beguiled into contracting +gambling or other debts beyond his ability to pay in +money, whereupon his belongings were seized, although +their value might be greatly in excess of his obligation. +The manners and morals of the women in these private +places of entertainment were not always commendable.</p> + +<p>The tavern was the place of resort for a large part of the +middle class and practically all the lower class of mediæval +society. Even the women spent much of their time gossiping +and drinking in such places, where they found great +latitude for carrying out low intrigues. The tavern was, +in short, the great rendezvous for those who sought amusement +of any sort. It was the ordinary haunt of gamblers. +In one of the <i>fabliaux</i>, a young profligate is represented +as turning into a tavern before which the tavern boy is +calling out the price of the beverages on tap there. After +inquiring the price of the wines, and receiving the information +from the host, the latter goes on to enumerate the +attractions of his house: "Within are all sorts of comforts; +painted chambers, and soft beds, raised high with +white straw, and made soft with feathers; here within is +hostel for love affairs, and when bedtime comes you will +have pillows of violets to hold your head more softly; +and, finally, you will have electuaries and rose-water, to +wash your mouth and face." He orders a gallon of wine, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> +and immediately afterward a <i>belle demoiselle</i> makes her +appearance, for such in those times were reckoned among +the attractions of the tavern. It is soon arranged that she +shall share his apartment with him, and then a general +carousal ensues in which he loses all his money and has +to leave even his clothes in payment of his bill. These +alewives were looked upon as past masters in deceit, and +were heartily despised by those who did not fall into their +clutches. In a carved <i>miserere</i> in Ludlow Church, representing +Doomsday, one of these characters is depicted as +about to be cast into the jaws of hell, carrying with her +nothing but the finery of her enticement and her short ale +measure. The amusements of the times, excepting those +of a grosser order, or such as have already been mentioned +in the previous chapter, centred around the nobility and +persons of position; so that their consideration can be deferred +for the time being and be taken up in connection +with the sports and pastimes of the ladies of rank, as +treated in the chapter following. +<!--Blank page #128 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter VI</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Manors</h2> +<!--Blank page #130 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> + + +<p>The limited means of travel and communication caused +the lives of the women of the early English manors to be +secluded and, in a sense, protected the wives and daughters +of the titled nobility. The manor house was a world +to itself, a centre of law, of society, of industry, and, ofttimes, of culture.</p> + +<p>On account of the bad state of the roads and the lack of +the modern convenience of quick transmittal of information, +the turmoils and upheavals of the cities left the +manors unaffected by more than a ripple of their excitement. +The manor had its own social and administrative +system, which provided for the performance of duties by +the various elements of the manorial establishment. In +times of wide social disorder, the manor, by reason of its +isolation, was often subject to attack; then the courage +and fortitude of its female occupants were called forth to +the uttermost. Women whose names might otherwise +have passed into obscurity have been enrolled among +England's heroines by reason of just such circumstances; +one such, whose fame carries us back to the Wars of the +Roses, was Lady Joan Pelham, wife of Sir John Pelham, +Constable of Pevensey Castle. While Sir John was in +Yorkshire with the Lancastrian Duke Henry, fighting +against Richard II., Pevensey Castle was fiercely attacked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> +by Yorkist forces. The continuance of the siege brought +on a scarcity of provisions; in this strait, Lady Joan addressed +a letter to her husband, which, besides displaying +the courage of a noble English lady, has the additional +interest of being the earliest letter extant written by an +English woman of quality. It reads as follows:</p> + +<p>"<span class="sc">My Dere Lorde</span>:</p> + +<p>"I recommande me to yowr his Lordeshippe wyth heart +and body and all my pore myght, and wyth all this I think +zou, as my dere Lorde, derest and best yloved of all earth +lyche Lordes; I say for me and thanke yhow me der +Lorde, with all thys that I say before, off your comfortable +lettre, that ze send me from Pownefraite that com to me +on Mary Magdaleyn day; ffor by my trowth I was never +so gladd as when I herd by your lettre that ye was +stronge ynogh wyth the grace off God for to kepe you +fro the malyce of your ennemys. And dere Lorde iff it lyk +to your hyee Lordeshippe that als ye myght, that smythe +her off your gracious spede whych God Allmyghty contynue +and encresse. And my dere Lorde, if is lyk zow +for to know of my ffare, I am here by layd in a manner +off a sege, wyth the counte of Sussex, Sudray, and a green +parsyll off Kentte; so that I ne may nogth out, nor none +vitayles gette me, hot wyth my die hard. Wharfore my +dere if it lyk zow, by the awyse off zowr wyse counsel +for to sett remadye off the salvation off yhower castells +wt. stand the malyce off ther sehures foresayde. And +also that ye be fullyehe enformede off there grett malyce +wyker's in these schyres whyche yt haffes so dispytfful +wrogth to zow, and to zowl contell, to zhowr men, and +zuor tenaunts ffore this cuntree, have yai wastede for +grett whyle. Farewell my dere Lorde, the Holy Tryn +zow kepe fro zour ennemys and son send me gud tythyng +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> +off yhow. Ywryten at Pevensey in the castell, on Saynt +Jacobe day last past.</p> + +<center>"By yhowr awnn pore,</center> + +<p class="author"><span class="sc">"J. Pelham.</span></p> + +<p>"To my trew Lorde."</p> + +<p>While her position gave her equal rank with her husband, +it also laid upon the lady of the manor the cares +natural to her station. A great lady had always her +bodyguard of maidens, and the lord his following of pages, +these young people being thus provided for that they +might receive the training of gentility and courtesy which +were the essentials in the character of the noble persons +of the times. These maidens, who were intrusted to the +care of the lady of the manor, had to be trained in all +domestic accomplishments as well as in polite attainments. +It is singular that this custom of sending children from +home was often interpreted by foreigners as an evidence +of a lack of parental affection; and, indeed, it did at times +furnish a means of easy riddance of daughters whose +tempers were incompatible with those of their parents, or +whose self-will—or the selfish policy of the household—made +it desirable for the parents to sever the tie which +lacked the strength of affection. Thus, in 1469, Dame +Margaret Paston writes to her son, Sir John Paston, regarding +his sister Margery: "I wuld ye shuld purvey for +yur suster to be with my Lady of Oxford, or with my +Lady of Bedford, or in sume other wurshepfull place, +wher as ye thynk best, and I wull help to her fyndyng, +for we be eyther of us werye of other."</p> + +<p>It will be seen from this fashion of the times—more +particularly of the latter part of the Middle Ages—that a +knight's lady performed many of the functions of a mistress +of a boarding school. Those intrusted to her care, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> +regardless of their rank or station, were subjected to rigid +discipline and were required to perform the arduous duties +of the household. These tasks embraced the varied forms +of plain and fancy needlework, for every lady was expected +to be proficient in such matters; all wearing apparel +and fabrics of all sorts required for household use, and the +banners and altar cloths of the churches as well, were +made in the household. When the household was a large +one, the lady and her maidens were kept busily employed +in attending to its needs. It is, however, entirely probable +that the manufacture of the coarser materials and their +making into clothing were delegated to the servants, of +whom every manor had a large retinue. The designing +and making of the costumes of the wealthy—especially +those that were to be worn on court and other high occasions—were +given over to professional tailors, who were called "scissors."</p> + +<p>The round of domestic duty made daily drafts upon the +time of the wives. In every family of the higher class, the +lady of the household had to see to the provisioning as well +as to the clothing of its members and servitors. This was +not a simple matter, as the provisions had to be supplied +at the cost of great inconvenience, excepting in the case of +the products of the manor farms belonging to the estate. +The stewards' accounts are often a valuable source of +information as to the grade of living of the times.</p> + +<p>In view of the industry of the women in the manufacture +of textile fabrics, the poet's eulogy is deserved:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Of gold tissues, and cloth of silk;</p> +<p>Therefore say I, whate'er their ilk,</p> +<p>To all who shall this story find</p> +<p>They owe them all to womankind."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The limits of the manor formed the horizon of its women; +the men frequently had to make long journeys in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> +pursuit of their larger concerns, and were often in foreign +lands serving as soldiers or crusaders. But the lack of +variety in the lives of the women was more than compensated +for by the opportunities which were furnished them +by quiet and seclusion for the improvement of their minds +and the cultivation of those finer qualities of character +which are the basis of the refinement and good manners of +the cultivated English women of the present day. It is +not too much to say of the Middle Ages that without the +peculiar circumstances of manorial living, the culture, confidence, +self-containment, and initiative of the English +woman would not have become as they are—her predominant +characteristics. So effectual, indeed, were the conditions +of the times for seclusion, and so greatly were its +privileges appreciated, that it could be said of many a fine +lady, as was asserted of Lady Joan Berkeley, that she +never "humored herselfe with the vaine delightes of +London and other cities," and never travelled ten miles +from her husband's houses in Somerset and Gloucester.</p> + +<p>The life of the manors was not, however, a round of +tireless industry. The ruddy-cheeked, simple-minded English +women of the better class were possessed of a redundant +vitality and a fund of joyousness and humor which +sought and found expression in a variety of healthful outdoor +recreations, as well as indoor amusements. The +pleasing art of letter writing had come to hold a position +of interest in polite circles; for although the women may +not have been skilled with the quill, their letters were +nevertheless natural, simple, and sincere, and they were +fairly proficient in the art of reading. Their religious +duties occupied a part of each day, as did their visitation +of the homes of the dependants on the estate; for it was +the lady of the manor who was looked to by the poor for +herbal medicines and such delicacies as were supplied to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> +the sick. Great ladies sometimes recognized their duties +to the poor not only by giving individual doles, but by +founding almshouses. Nearly every lady of distinction +felt it incumbent upon her to do something for the relief +of suffering and distress. It is especially pleasing to know +that it was the women whose sensibilities were thus +touched, and who were first influenced by the idea of +social responsibility for the less fortunate classes of society. +The records of the times abound with instances of +benevolence in institutional forms. When it was impracticable +for her to be her own almoner, the lady employed +for the office a monk or a priest, and so associated her +charities with the Church, by the teachings of which her +impulses were trained. The saints' days were customarily +observed by especial and important contributions for the poor.</p> + +<p>Were it not for the manors, the Middle Ages would lack +almost altogether poetry and literature other than that of the +monkish chroniclers. Literature and poetry in this period +were chiefly centred around the women of the nobility. +It was probably due to the fondness of Henry I. for letters +that a literary taste was excited among his queens. The +earliest specimens existing of vernacular poetry are some +verses addressed to Henry's second spouse, Adeliza. Feminine +taste and royal patronage combined to free poetry +from the pollution of the minstrel and his circle of vulgar +auditors, to cause it to be cultivated by studious men and +women, whose tastes had become refined by the study of +the Latin classics, and who were themselves emulous of +gaining a literary reputation by the cultivation of the art of serious composition.</p> + +<p>Vernacular poetry, having the sanction and esteem of +the higher circles of life, came to be generally appreciated; +and the mind, which is naturally responsive to matters of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> +good taste, was willing to throw aside the incubus of low +stories, dependent for their interest upon prurient situations, +and to rise to the acceptance of literature whose +interest centred around persons and situations that made +their appeal by reason of worthiness or dignity. The +patronage of letters by the nobility led many, especially +ecclesiastics, to develop their talents in that direction. +Wace, a canon of Bayeux and a prolific rhymester, expressly +states that his works were composed for the "rich +gentry who had rents and money." Even the stormy +reign of Stephen seems to have been no impediment to +the cultivation of the literary taste which had its beginning +in the court of Henry I. and in the patronage of his queens. +The vernacular histories were either written or rendered +into the popular tongue, and in this way became the intellectual +property of the female world; they were not infrequently +inspired by the wish of some lady—a wish which +became the law of the lay or clerical writer.</p> + +<p>The story of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the unhappy queen +of Henry II., who in her later life frequently signed herself +"queen by the wrath of God," illustrates a phase +of domestic infelicity which was not without many parallels. +It also serves to show that, with the perfervid +sentiment of chivalrous devotion to women, it was easy +enough to forget the higher demands of faithfulness in the +real relations of life. This queen herself was not blameless, +and to an extent must be regarded as suffering the +penalties of her own indiscretions. The story is almost +too familiar to need reciting. She discovered that, although +ostensibly Henry's wife, the position was really filled by +one with whom the king had previously contracted marriage. +The family of Rosamond Clifford was as respectable +as and scarcely less illustrious than her own. During +a sojourn at Woodstock, the jealous eye of the queen had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> +observed the king following a silk thread through the +labyrinth of trees, by which means she came to knew of +her rival. The meeting of the two women can better be +imagined than described: the queen poured out a torrent +of reproaches and invectives, ending by offering to Rosamond +the cup of poison or a dagger, and did not leave the +place until the victim of her jealousy was no more.</p> + +<p>But the tragic death of Rosamond did not serve to enlist +for the queen the affections of her consort, nor did it tend +to promote her domestic peace. Never was a family so +torn by dissension and sin; her children were arrayed +against their father and one another, and all were opposed +to herself. Her husband added to her many troubles the +further shame of installing in her place the wife of his son. +Seeking release from a situation past all endurance, she +eloped from a castle in Aquitaine, intending to find an +asylum in the dominions of King Louis of France, her former +husband. She was captured by Henry's myrmidons and +thrown into prison, there to remain sixteen years until +liberated by her renowned son, Richard Cœur de Lion. +The sufferings of her life tempered her spirit and brought +her into reliance upon religion for her comfort and strength.</p> + +<p>Another example of the high courage and decision of +purpose which the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine furnished +in its later history is found at a subsequent period in another +Eleanor, the daughter of Edward II. This patient, +suffering wife, roused to indignant resistance of an unpardonable +indignity, exhibited the spirit of an undaunted +character. She had been married, at the tender age of +fifteen, to the stern Reynald II., Earl of Gueldres and +Zutphen. When the large dower she brought her husband +had been spent by him, he sought pretext for a +divorce from one with whom he could feel no sympathy; +but for this her blameless life furnished no excuse. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> +Although the countess was constantly surrounded by spies +and her every act and word reported to her lord, she +moved with stately dignity in the atmosphere of intrigue +and deceit. In default of any other plea, her husband +represented to the pope that she was afflicted with leprosy. +Arrayed solely in a tunic, and enveloping herself in a +capacious mantle, she made her way with majestic mien +into the council room of the palace, where the perfidious +lord was in consultation with his assembled nobles about +the details of the sinister purpose which he was seeking to +effect. With the words, "I am come, my beloved lord, +to seek a diligent examination respecting the corporeal +taint imputed to me," she threw aside the mantle, disclosing +the healthy texture of her skin, while a wave of emotion +passed over her, and her eyes suffused with tears. +"These," she continued, "are my children and yours; do +they too share in the blemish of their mother? But it may +come to pass that the people of Gueldres may yet mourn +our separation, when they behold the failure of our line." +Husband and nobles alike were profoundly affected by +so sublime an appeal, and the royal pair were reconciled; +but the male line of Reynald failed in his son, and +the crown passed to the female branch, as though the +almost predictive words of the noble English woman were destined to be fulfilled.</p> + +<p>Yet another daughter of fair France became the queen +of a Plantagenet. Richard II., the last Plantagenet, from +the date of his accession, was involved in constant struggles, +first with his Parliament, and then with Henry of +Lancaster. His first queen, Anne of Bohemia, died in +1394. Richard's thoughts were thereupon directed to the +necessity of choosing a second consort. He would consider +only Isabelle of Valois, daughter of Charles VI., who was +less than nine years old. The marriage was solemnized +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> +by proxy, and arrangements were made for the king to +repair to Calais and receive his child-bride at the hand of +Charles VI. The preliminaries having been completed, +the ceremony is thus recorded by Froissart:</p> + +<p>"On the morrow, the King of England visited the King of +France in his tent, where the kings sat apart at one table. +During the serving of dinner, the Duke de Bourbon said +many things to enliven the kings, and addressed the King +of England: 'Monseigneur, you ought to make good cheer; +you have all you desire and demand. You have, or will +have, your wife, she is about to be given to you.' The +French king then said: 'Bourbonnais, we could wish that +our daughter were of the age of our cousin of Saint-Pol, +although it should have cost us dearly, for our son of +England would have taken her more willingly.'</p> + +<p>"The King of England heard this and responded to the +French king: 'Father-in-law, our wife's age pleases us +well; we think less of that than we do of the affection +between us and our kingdoms, for with mutual friendship +and alliance, there is no king, Christian or other, who +could give umbrage to us.' The dinner was soon over, +and then the young Queen of England was brought into +the king's tent, accompanied by a great number of dames +and demoiselles, and given to the King of England, her +hand being held by her father, the King of France."</p> + +<p>This marriage brought nearly twenty years of peace +between France and England. The young queen was +carefully nurtured and educated by King Richard, whose +attachment to her soon grew very deep. Turbulent factions +disturbed Richard's rule, and Isabelle had always +before her the menace of a prison rather than the prospect +of a throne. Before leaving to quell a rebellion in Ireland, +Richard visited his "little queen," for thus she was popularly +styled, at Windsor Castle, to take farewell. This +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> +interview, at which it is said the young queen first realized +how deeply she loved the king, was to be their last. +Henry of Lancaster, taking advantage of Richard's absence +to gather a force to wrest the sceptre from him, met Richard +on his return, made him captive, and finally secured +his resignation of the crown in 1399. Simultaneously, the +young queen fell into Henry's power, and was moved +from castle to castle at the will of Henry. All this time +she was kept in ignorance of the fate of her husband, and +tortured by suspense and anxiety. Richard alive was too +serious a danger to Henry's supremacy, and, a plot to +restore him to his throne having failed, he was killed at +Pontefract Castle soon after, in a heroic struggle against the myrmidons of Henry.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the "little queen" had joined in the movement +against Henry, in the hope that her husband would recover +his crown and be restored to her, but she was soon again +a captive at Havering Bower. For some time the child-widow—she +was not yet thirteen—was kept in ignorance +of the death of Richard. Soon, however, she was importuned +by Henry IV. on behalf of Monmouth, his son, but, +faithful to the memory of Richard, she rejected with horror +the proposed union. Finally, all hope of the alliance being +destroyed, Henry consented to Isabella's return to her +parents. She had endeared herself to the hearts of the +English by her graces, and especially by her steadfast devotion to Richard.</p> + +<p>After Isabelle's return to France, Henry still persisted +in suing for her hand, but it was impossible to move her +determination. In 1406, it seemed that joy might yet +brighten the life of this unfortunate princess, for in that +year she was betrothed to her cousin, the young Charles +of Orléans, whom she married in 1409. The affection +of husband and wife appeared to offer every prospect +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> +of happiness, but she was permitted to enjoy her newly +found state for only a brief period, as she died during the +following year, a few hours after the birth of an infant +daughter. The memory of this sweet but unfortunate +princess is enshrined in the poetic tributes of the Duke of +Orléans, nor did the English fail to sing in ballads her praise.</p> + +<p>The origin of the Order of the Garter is traceable to the +spirit of chivalry; it was instituted by Coeur de Lion, and +in 1344 was revived by Edward III. Froissart appears to +credit the story which connects the revival of the order +to Edward's passion for the Countess of Salisbury, whose +garter he is said to have picked up and presented to her +in the presence of the court, with this exclamation: <i>Honi +soit qui mal y pense!</i> The chronicler gives us a full account +of the attachment of Edward for the countess, and places +in excellent light the integrity of her character. When +she was besieged in her husband's castle at Wark, Edward +advanced to her relief, compelling the Scots to retreat. +At the interview which followed, the king looked upon her +with such an air of profound thoughtfulness that she was +led to inquire: "Dear sire, what are you musing on? +Such meditation is not proper for you, saving your grace." +"Oh, dear lady!" replied the monarch; "you must know +that since I have been in this castle, some thoughts have +oppressed my mind that I was not before aware of." +"Dear sire, you ought to be of good cheer, and leave off +such pondering; for God has been very bountiful to you +in your undertakings." Whereupon the king replied with +more directness: "There be other things, O sweet lady, +which touch my heart, and lie heavy there, beside what +you talk of. In good truth, your beauteous mien and the +perfection of your face and behavior have wholly overcome +me; and my peace depends on your accepting my +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> +love, which your refusal cannot abate." "My gracious +liege," the countess exclaimed, "God of his infinite goodness +preserve you, and drive from your noble heart all +evil thoughts; for I am, and ever shall be, ready to serve +you; but only in what is consistent with my honor and your own."</p> + +<p>The first chapter of the Garter was graced by another +queen who adorns the history of England's women of +rank—Queen Philippa. She was attended by the principal +ladies of the court, who, with herself, were admitted +dame-companions of the order, and the wives of the knights +continued to enjoy this dignity during several succeeding reigns.</p> + +<p>In even the best homes of the Middle Ages we must +not expect to find the refinements which are regarded as +the commonplaces of modern life. The essence of refinement +is the same in all ages, and, while it involves manners, +these change with the standards and conventions of +different times. Much that is amusing, absurd, or even +disgusting, as we regard manners to-day, was entirely in +good form during the Middle Ages. It will be of interest +to notice some of the things which were regarded as commendable +in the deportment of the young ladies of the +aristocratic class of mediæval society, and what they were +cautioned to avoid. A <i>trouvère</i> of the thirteenth century, +named Robert de Blois, compiled a code of etiquette which +he put in French verse under the title, <i>Chastisement des +Dames</i>. The young ladies who would deport themselves +in an irreproachable manner must avoid talking too much, +and especially refrain from boasting of the attentions paid +to them by the other sex. They were recommended to +be discreet, and, in the freedom of games and amusements, +to leave no room for adverse criticism of their +actions. In going to church, they were not to trot or run, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +but to walk with due seriousness, with eyes straight before +them, and to salute <i>debonairely</i> all persons they met. They +were enjoined not to let men kiss them on the mouth, as +it might lead to too great familiarity; they were not to +look at a man too much unless he were an acknowledged +lover; and when a young woman had a lover, she was +not to talk too much of him. They were not to manifest +too much vanity in dress, and to be entirely delicate in +the matter of costume; nor were they to be too ready +in accepting presents from the other sex. The ladies are +particularly warned against scolding and disputing, against +swearing, against eating and drinking too freely at the +table. They were exhorted not to get drunk, a practice +from which, they were advised, much mischief might arise. +That the restrictions were, on the whole, sensible is apparent +from our statement of them, and the good sense of the +times receives special point from the rule of society which +recommended the ladies not to cover their faces when in +public, as a handsome face was made to be seen. An exception +is made in the case of ugly or deformed features, +which might be covered. Another rule was as follows: +"A lady who is pale-faced or who has not a good smell +ought to breakfast early in the morning, for good wine +gives them a very good color; and she who eats and +drinks well must heighten her color." Anise seed, fennel, +and cumin were recommended to be taken at breakfast to +correct an unsavory breath, and persons so affected were +told not to breathe in other persons' faces.</p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/bk9-1.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE,<br /> + +After the painting by A. Chevalier Taylor<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +The origin of the Order of the Garter is traceable to the spirit<br /> +of chivalry; it was instituted by Coeur de Lion, and in 1344 was<br /> +revived by Edward III. Froissart appears to credit the story<br /> +which connects the revival of the order to Edward's passion for<br /> +the Countess of Salisbury, whose garter he is said to have picked<br /> +up and presented to her in the presence of the court, with this<br /> +exclamation:</i> Honi soit qui mal y pense! <i>The chronicler gives<br /> +us a full account of the attachement of Edward for the countess,<br /> +and places in excellent light the integrity of her character.</i></p> + + +<p>A special set of rules was given for the lady's behavior +while in church, and if she could sing she was to do so +when asked and not require too much pressing. Ladies +were further recommended to keep their hands clean, to +cut their nails often, and not to suffer them to grow beyond +the finger or to harbor dirt. When passing the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> +houses of other people, ladies were not to look into them: +"for a person often does things privately in his house, +which he would not wish to be seen, if anyone should +come before his door." For the same reason a lady was +not to go into another person's house, or into another's +room, without coughing or speaking to give notice to the +inmates. The directions for a lady's behavior at the table +were also very precise. "In eating, you must avoid +much laughing or talking. If you eat with another (<i>i.e.</i>, +in the same plate, or of the same mess), turn the nicest +bits to him and do not go picking out the finest and largest +for yourself, which is not courteous. Moreover, no one +should eat greedily a choice bit which is too large or too +hot, for fear of choking or burning herself.... Each +time you drink, wipe your mouth well, that no grease go +into the wine, which is very unpleasant for the person +who drinks after you. But when you wipe your mouth +for drinking, do not wipe your eyes or nose with the tablecloth, +and avoid spilling from your mouth or greasing your +hands too much." Added to these directions for deportment, +particular emphasis was laid on the avoidance of +falsehoods, which suggests the prevalence of the vice.</p> + +<p>The modern "servant question" was not without its +counterpart in the Middle Ages. We find instances of +advice tendered upon the subject to the ladies of those +times. An early writer on domestic economy divided the +servants who might be found in a manorial establishment +into three classes: those who were employed on a sudden +and only for a certain work, and for these a previous bargain +should be made regarding their payment; those who +were employed for a certain time in a particular description +of work, as tailors, shoemakers, butchers, and others, +who always came to work in the house upon materials +provided there, or the harvest men for the gathering of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> +the crops; and domestic servants who were hired by the +year, these latter being expected to pay an absolute and +passive obedience to the lord and lady of the household +and any others who were set in authority over them.</p> + +<p>Naturally, it was the female servants who came under +the supervision of the lady of the house, and minute +directions are given for their ordering. She was to require +her maids to repair early in the morning to their +work; the entrance to the hall and all other places by +which people enter, or places in the hall where they tarry +to converse, were to be swept and made clean, "and that +the footstools and covers of the benches and forms be +dusted and shaken, and after this that the other chambers +be in like manner cleaned and arranged for the day." +After this, the pet animals were to be attended to and +fed. At midday the servants were to have their first +meal, which was to be bountiful, but "only of one meat +and not of several, or of any delicacies; and give them +only one kind of drink, nourishing but not heady, whether +wine or other; and admonish them to eat heartily, and to +drink well and plentifully, for it is right that they should +eat all at once, without sitting too long, and at one breath, +without reposing on their meal or halting, or leaning with +their elbows on the table; and as soon as they begin to +talk or to rest on their elbows, make them rise and remove +the table." After their "second labor" and on feast days +also—when seemingly the workday was not so long as +usual—they were to have another lighter repast, and in +the late evening, after all their duties were performed, +another abundant meal was served. It then devolved +upon the lady of the house or her deputy to see that the +manor was closed, and to take charge of the keys, preventing +anyone from going in or out; and then, having +had all the fires carefully "covered," she sent the servants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> +to bed and saw that their candles were extinguished to +prevent the risk of fire. The lady was always careful +as to whom she received into her house as servitors; +female servants who came to her as strangers were not +well regarded, and were not given trusts of importance, +and their characters, so far as was possible, were looked +into, as well as the circumstances of their leaving their former place of employment.</p> + +<p>The term "spinster," which is now confined to unmarried +women, was a term of consideration applied to all +women of the better class during the Middle Ages. It was +indicative of her superior rank, and was especially adhered +to by gentlewomen who married out of their station, as a +sign of their good birth and gentle breeding.</p> + +<p>The term "gentle blood," as now understood, means +only that some persons have the fortunate circumstance +of refined parentage or ancestry; but in the Middle Ages, +when the pride of gentle blood was one of the most distinguishing +characteristics of the prevailing feudal society, +it was seriously believed that through the whole extent +of the aristocratic classes there ran one blood, distinguishable +from the blood of all other persons. So strongly was +this view entertained, that it was commonly thought that +if a child of gentle blood should be stolen or abandoned in +infancy, and then bred up as a peasant or a burgher, +without knowledge of its origin, it would display, as it +grew toward manhood, unmistakable proofs of its gentle +origin, in spite of education and example. Whatever the +fallacy of this belief, its effect upon the ladies of superior +birth was to make them prize their station highly; but it +also created a spirit of haughtiness toward those who were +below their station, and a harshness in their relation to +their domestics which was not always conformable to the +graciousness and consideration which these very ladies +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> +often displayed where there was no question involving their caste.</p> + +<p>In considering the dress of the women of the Middle +Ages, we remarked upon the censure and sarcasm which +were passed upon the vanities into which women were led +by their devotion to the changing fashions of the day. +Every class of society was pervaded by a love of dress, +which expressed itself in the greatest extravagances and +absurdities. A knight of the fourteenth century compiled +for three young ladies, the daughters of a knight of Normandy, +a manuscript which contains advice and directions +for the regulation of their conduct through life. It contains +several very curious passages relative to dress: +"Fair daughters," says their mentor, "I pray you that +ye be not the first to take new shapes and guises of array +of women of strange countries." He then inveighs against +the wearing of superfluous quantities of furs as edging for +their gowns, their hoods, and their sleeves. After commenting +upon the sinfulness of useless fashions and their +effect upon the lower classes, he proceeds to portray the +absurdities into which the latter were led by aping their +betters, and suggests that the furs which they wore in +profusion had better at least be dispensed with in summer, +as they served only "for a hiding place for the fleas." +The knight whose daughters are thus counselled is unable +to deter them from falling into extravagances of attire, and +has recourse to the legend of a chevalier whose wife was +dead and who made application to a hermit to know if her +soul had gone to Paradise or to punishment. The holy +man, after long praying, fell asleep, and saw the soul of +the fair lady weighed in the balance; with Saint Michael +standing on one side and the Devil on the other. The +latter addressed Saint Michael and claimed the woman as +his own on the score that she had ten diverse gowns, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> +a less number than that would have sufficed to lose her +soul; besides which, with what she had wasted she might +have clothed two or three persons who for the lack of her +charity died of want. So saying, the fiend gathered up all +her gay attire, ornaments, and jewels, and cast them in +the balance with her evil deeds, which determined the +balance against her, and he bore her away to the lake of +fire. The same night, in order to deter his daughters from +painting their faces, the knight recounts a horrible legend +of a fine lady who was punished in hell because she had +"popped and painted her visage to please the sight of the world."</p> + +<p>It is not by such incidentals as dress, but by the enduring +qualities of character, that the women of the higher +circles of the English Middle Ages were able to make an indelible +impress upon the life and character of the nation. +And more especially may this be said of the women whose +lives were largely spent in the sheltered circle of a pure +domesticity,—the women of the manors. +<!--Blank page #150 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter VII</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Monasteries</h2> +<!--Blank page #152 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> + + +<p>In general, the routine of the nunnery was the same as +that of a monastery. There was the same rotation, hour +by hour, of sacred services, with monotonous regularity +and repetition; the only variety offered was that of labor +of one sort or another, with brief intervals for rest and +refreshment. The industry of the nuns usually took the +form of working in wool, for it devolved upon them to +make the clothing of the monks, who were associated with +the convents to perform the outdoor labor and to serve as +confessors for the female inmates. Great care was necessary +to prevent too close proximity of the nunneries and +monasteries and to limit the intercourse of the inmates of +the respective institutions to the bare necessities of their mutual dependence.</p> + +<p>The rules by which women were governed in the life of +the convent did not differ much from those for the men. +Some of these regulations were very rigorous: the inmates +were to have nothing of their own, nor were they allowed +to go out of the convent, and they were permitted the luxury +of a bath only in time of sickness. Continual silence, frequent +confessions, a spare diet, and hard labor were to be +endured uncomplainingly, on penalty of excommunication.</p> + +<p>In the fifth century, prohibitions were issued proscribing +the founding of any more monasteries for monks and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span> +nuns together and ordering the partitioning of those which +already existed. No man excepting the officiating clergy, +the bishop, and the steward of the convent was allowed +to enter within its walls; and, indeed, one of the rules enjoined +that the nuns were to make confession to the bishop +through the abbess. Under no pretext whatever were the +nuns to lodge under the roof of a monastery, nor was any +person who was not a monk or a cleric of high repute to be +allowed within the precincts of the convent on temporal +business; but in spite of the many rules by which they +were hedged about, in the eighth century nuns are found +admitted into the monasteries on the ground of the necessity +for their presence in sickness and similar emergencies.</p> + +<p>Besides the nuns, strictly so called, in the eighth and +subsequent centuries there were canonesses, who differed +from the nuns in retaining more of their secular character. +Their vows were not perpetual, and they confined their +labors chiefly to the instruction of the children of the nobles.</p> + +<p>Having cited some of the rules for the government of +those who committed themselves to the life of the nun, it +now remains to perform the delicate task of showing the +degree of success which attended the attempt to isolate a +class of unmarried women, that, by religious offices and +meditations, they might wholly dedicate their time and +their faculties to the cultivation of the Christian graces, +and serve as the benefactresses of the poor in giving alms +at the convent gate. The century that witnessed the +outbreak of the Reformation is commonly regarded as +exceptional for laxity of religious principle and perversion +of the institutional ideals of the Church; but, from the +eighth century, the ecclesiastical morality was of such a +low order as seriously to affect the moral tone of the +people and to invalidate the efficacy of the Church as a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> +teacher of religion. The celibacy which was enjoined +upon the clergy was largely responsible for this state of +affairs. It is unfortunately not true that the ages of faith, +so called, were ages of great moral purity. In spite of the +interdict of councils, priestly marriages were looked upon +as common events. The marriage of priests being under +the ban of the Church, concubinage was regarded as +almost a legitimate relationship, and carried less of stigma +than the proscribed marriages. It is not singular that such +impairment of moral ideas was not confined to the priests, +and that the same low moral tone invaded the convents, +many of whose inmates became the partners of the priests in their derelictions.</p> + +<p>"The known luxury and believed immoralities of the +wealthy monasteries" in England, says Sharon Turner, +"made a great impression on the public mind. Even +some of the clergy became ashamed of it, and contributed +to expose it, both in England and elsewhere." Nor was +the tone of morals outside the cloister of higher grade than +that of the monks. In 1212 a council commanded the +clergy not to have women in their houses, nor to suffer in +their cloisters assemblies for debauchery, nor to entertain +women there. Nuns were ordered to lie single. In England, +these and many other moral prohibitions were repeated +at various intervals, showing that, in spite of the +prevailing corruption, there was an appreciation of pure +ideals; and in its councils the Church took cognizance of +and endeavored to stem the rising tide of unchastity. +Thus, inquiries were made in 1252 as to whether the +clergy frequented the nunneries without reasonable cause, +and a year or two afterward an inquisition was made all +over England into the character and actions of the various +religious personages. The conduct of the nuns is frequently +alluded to in terms of the severest censure, while +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> +the ecclesiastics were enjoined not to frequent taverns or +public spectacles, or to resort to the houses of loose characters, +or to visit the nuns; they were not to play at dice +or improper games, nor to leave their property to their +children. The vices of the clergy were the unavoidable +consequence of the independence of their hierarchy from +civil control. The release of the clergy from secular +jurisdiction was productive of much personal depravity. +They had to fear their abbot only, and he was frequently +a mild censor of their morals. At a time when any profligate +woman of position might retire to a convent and, by +elevation or appointment, become abbess, it is not strange +that the moral tone of the convent was not determined by +the rules of the order, but by the standards which were actually established.</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of many instances of reprehensible conduct, +the nuns as a class did not break the vows that bound +them to chastity, and within the convent walls were found +many examples of women of illustrious character. In the +Anglo-Saxon times, women of the most admirable traits +are found in charge of convents; the names of some of the +abbesses of the seventh century, and earlier, are notable +as those of women of high rank as well as of high character. +Saint Werburga of Ely, the daughter of Wulfere, +King of Mercia, was made ruler over all the female religious +houses, and became the founder of several convents +of note. Her qualities and character were set forth in the following lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"In beaute amyable she was equall to Rachell,</p> +<p>Comparable to Sara in fyrme fidelyte,</p> +<p>In sadness and wysedom lyke to Abygaell:</p> +<p>Replete as Deibora with grace of prophecy,</p> +<p>Aeqyvalent to Ruth she was in humylyte,</p> +<p>In purchrytude Rebecca, lyke Hester in Colynesse,</p> +<p>Lyke Judyth in vertue and proued holynesse."</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> + +<p>But such examples of high worth among the abbesses, +while not exceptional in the early Middle Ages, are not +frequently met with in the closing centuries of the period.</p> + +<p>The position of the abbess was not one of honor only, +but of privilege; the cloister rule was relaxed for her—she +might go and come as she pleased, and see anyone whom +she wished to see. In the early times, she is even found +taking part in synods. Thus, in 649, the abbesses were +summoned to the council at Becanceld, in Kent, and the +names of five of them were subscribed to the constitutions +which were there made, while the name of not a single +abbot appears on the document. Coming down to much +later times, abbesses were summoned to attend or to send +proxies to the king's council which was held to grant "an +aid on the knighting the Prince of Wales." Also, they +were required to furnish military service by proxy. While +they were more amenable to the clergy than were the +monks, the abbesses were nevertheless tenacious of their +privileges. They were never ordained, nor did they ever +have the right to ordain others, although they claimed the +latter as one of their privileges.</p> + +<p>They were subject to deposition if they abused their +office. Not infrequently the nuns would carry their complaints +to the bishop, and seek from him redress for their +grievances. If the circumstances warranted his so doing, +the bishop would occasionally take the direction of the +nunnery into his own hands instead of appointing an +abbess, or else he might place it temporarily in the charge +of one or more of the nuns. All the affairs of the convent +were directed by the abbess—the tillage of the grounds +and4the repairs to the buildings, as well as the internal +ordering of the establishment and the discipline of its +inmates. Also, she was directed to assist, by her own +labor as far as she was able, in clothing herself. When a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> +nun became refractory, she might be consigned to punishment +outside of the convent. Thus, by the decree of a +council near Paris in the eighth century, it was ordered +that the bishop as well as the abbess might send a nun +to a penitentiary. The same council prescribed that an +abbess should not superintend more than one monastery +or quit its precincts more than once a year. One of the +rules which was at one time in force prohibited abbesses +from walking alone, thus placing them under the surveillance +of the sisterhood. But their powers varied according +to the period and the order with which they were connected.</p> + +<p>Through the necessities of their office, the abbesses +were brought into closer relationship with the outside +world than were the other nuns. Sometimes they were +made respondents in a suit at law with regard to the +estates of the convent, or to retain the property brought +to them by some one of the sisters, who, renouncing her +vows, sought to recover her possessions. In 1292 the +prioress of an abbey in Somersetshire had to answer in a +suit brought against her by a widow and two men in +regard to the right of common pasturage upon lands held +by the convent, and the case was decided against the religious +house; but both the prioress and the widow escaped +paying their respective costs in the case, on the plea of poverty.</p> + +<p>Not only were the abbesses sued, but they themselves +did not hesitate to institute legal proceedings in defence +of what they believed were their rights. In the reign of +Edward III., a prioress sued a sheriff for the recovery of a +pension granted during the reign of Henry III., which had +been allowed to lapse. The case was carried to the king's +court and won for the convent. Legal difficulties frequently +occurred over grants made to convents without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> +the observance of the set formalities. An abbess had a +great many secular duties, for all the money that came +into the establishment, or was paid out, had to be accounted +for by her. The entertainment which the convent +dispensed to those who, on one pretext or another, +claimed it, furnished another occasion for the intercourse +of the abbess with the outer world. Sometimes ladies +who were temporarily in want of a home repaired to a +convent and were there received. The bishops frequently +sent friends to the priory for entertainment; though such +persons were charges upon the hospitality of the institution, +they, as a rule, either paid for their entertainment +themselves or were provided for by their friends. It was +not unusual for visitors who came under the authority of +the bishop's order to bring with them a retinue of servants +and to remain a considerable time.</p> + +<p>During the time of Henry VIII., rigid inquiries were +made with regard to the regulations and the character of +the inmates of the monasteries, especially the abbots and +abbesses. The investigations with regard to the character +of the abbots and abbesses need not concern us, as we have +sufficiently noticed the looseness of conduct which prevailed +in many of the religious houses. Among the questions asked +were inquiries as to whether hospitality was maintained, +and especially toward the poor, whether Church anniversaries +were observed, whether proper records were kept, +whether any of the conventual property had been alienated, +whether the head of the house was given to sober +and modest conversation both toward the inmates and lay +persons, whether any of the inmates had been punished, +whether there had been any overlooking of the faults of a +brother or sister through favoritism, whether any novices +were received before reaching sufficient age because of +friendship and affection or the inducement of money or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> +any other ulterior reason. Besides these inquiries, which +were common to the abbots and abbesses, particular questions +were asked the latter, looking to the abandonment of +all ornaments and superfluities of dress and the keeping in +good repair of all the accessories of divine service. They +were asked whether the sisters attended divine worship at +the proper seasons, whether they taught the novices the +rule, whether they maintained proper oversight of them, +and whether they saw that they were engaged at proper +work. Also, the abbess was to report on the character of +the nuns as to whether she suspected any of incontinence, +whether any of them slept without the convent walls or +walked abroad, and, if so, in whose company. She was +asked whether the confessor or chaplain did his duty, and +whether she had found any "ancient, sad, and virtuous" +woman as mistress of the novices.</p> + +<p>Among the Gilbertine nuns, whom we may mention as +a typical order, there were three prioresses, one of whom +presided, the other two acting as coadjutors. It was the +duty of the presiding prioress to enjoin penance, grant all +the licenses or allowances, visit the sick, or see that they +were visited by one of her companions. The prioresses +cut, fitted, and superintended the manufacture of the +vestments of the sisters. It was the duty of the presiding +prioress to visit the sisters in the infirmary whenever +they asked for her presence, unless she were +detained by urgent duties. Other rules regulated her +conduct on festival days, when she was especially to use +diligence in inquiring after the order and religion of the house.</p> + +<p>The sub-prioress was under more rigid rules than those +which governed her superior; if, in the absence of the +prioress, she spoke of anything excepting labor, she confessed +having done so, in the chapter. If, in the absence +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span> +of the prioress, some other of the sisters failed to observe +silence, it was not she but the sub-prioress who was held +responsible and took the blame. She could not go to the +window of the gate without a "sage companion."</p> + +<p>When the cellaress assumed office, her duties were to +see what was owing to the different farmers and tax gatherers, +to receive the sums due from the collectors on the +nunnery estates, and to take account of all the sales of +the products of the lands of the convent. Also, she was +to see to the provisioning of the house, to pay the wages, +and to attend to the mowing of the hay and to the repairs to +the buildings. She might have associated with her a lay +sister, with whom she was at liberty to talk concerning +the business affairs of their office.</p> + +<p>Of the other convent officials, the precentrix had charge +of the library; the sacrist rose at night to ring the bell, +attended to the adornment of the church in the vigil of +Easter, lighted the lamp in the interval at lessons, had the +preparation of the coals for the censer, and performed +other duties of a like nature; and the duty of the mistress +of the novices was to see that those in her charge behaved +in an orderly manner. She was the disciplinarian of those +who had not taken the full vows of the order. If the +infirmaress desired anything, she had to indicate it by a +sign; when the want was of such a nature that it could +not be so indicated, the cellaress was summoned, for this +was the only official in whose presence the infirmaress +could speak. She never served in the kitchen when there +were any serious cases of sickness to need her attention. +There were other officials who performed special or occasional +duties, who need not be mentioned. All the servants +in a convent took an oath of fidelity not to reveal the secrets +of the house. They were brewers, bakers, kitcheners, +gardeners, shoemakers, and the like.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> + +<p>The confessor made periodical visits to the convent; and +if the prioress found it necessary that anyone should confess, +the latter was told to go to the place appointed, and +two "discreet sisters" sat apart from the window of the +confessional, where they could hold the nun under observation +and see how she behaved. The confessor also was +under supervision as to his conduct, for he was to "shun +talking vain and unnecessary things; nor ask who she +was, whence she came, and such things."</p> + +<p>The ceremony with regard to the taking of vows by the +nuns was threefold. The first was called the consecration +of the nun, and was made on solemn days, preferably +Epiphany or on the festivals of the Virgin. After the +Epistle was read, the virgin who was to be consecrated +came before the altar, dressed in white, carrying in her +right hand the religious habit and in her left an extinguished +taper. After the bishop had consecrated the habit, +he gave it to her, saying: "Take, girl, the robe which you +shall wear in innocence." After assuming this, the taper +in her hand was lighted, and she intoned the words: +"I love Christ, into whose bed I have entered." Then, +after the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed, the bishop said: +"Come, come, come, daughter, I will teach you the fear +of the Lord." The nun then prostrated herself before the +altar, and after the <i>Veni Creator</i> began, she arose. The +bishop then invested her with the veil and pronounced +a curse against all those who would disturb her holy +purpose. The second ceremony related to a nun who +was to make profession, but who had before been blessed, +and the third ceremony related to the consecration of a +nun who was not a virgin. Such, in brief, is a sketch +of the convent routine and exercises. It will now be +in place to take a more general view of the nun's environment.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> + +<p>As the hospitality of the convent was often extended to +strangers, it will not be without interest to give a list of +the contents of a chamber which was allotted to a "Dame +Agnes Browne" in the Priory of Minster, in Sheppey: +"Stuff given her by her friends:—A fetherbed, a bolster, +2 pyllows, a payre of blankatts, 2 corse coverleds, 4 pare +of shets good and badde, an olde tester and selar of +paynted clothes and 2 peces of hangyng to the same; a +square cofer carvyd, with 2 bed clothes upon the cofer, +and in the wyndow a lytill cobard of waynscott carvyd +and 2 lytill chestes; a small goblet with a cover of sylver +parcell gylt, a lytill maser with a brynne of sylver and +gylt, a lytill pese of sylver and a spore of sylver, 2 lytyll +latyn candellstyks, a fire panne and a pare of tonges, 2 +small aundyrons, 4 pewter dysshes, a porrenger, a pewter +bason, 2 skyllotts (a small pot with a long handle), a lytill +brasse pot, a cawdyron and a drynkyng pot of pewter."</p> + +<p>That, in the mind of the religious recluse, cleanliness +was not associated with godliness was due to the idea of +penance. Washing was regarded as a luxury not to be +indulged in excepting at infrequent intervals or by special +permission. This idea of ablutions was probably derived +at first in reaction from the public baths which were so +much in vogue among the Romans, and which were associated +in the public mind with luxury, and were often the +scenes of conduct quite at variance with the principles for +which the nuns stood. The licentiousness which centred +around these places brought them into such ill repute that +to the ascetic mind washing did not so much signify cleanliness +as sin. The virtue of dirt did not extend to the +abbesses, who were allowed to wash whenever it was +necessary and as frequently as they pleased. By a similar +process of deduction, the nuns remained untonsured. +In the early times, a woman whose hair was cut short +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> +was looked upon as a disreputable character, so that it +was repellent to conventional ideas of propriety to conform +to the practice of the monks in having the head shaved.</p> + +<p>The nuns were not always of the most serious disposition +and deportment, as is shown by the peculiar enjoinment +that they were not to look fixedly on any man, or to +romp or frolic with him; neither were they to allow any +man to see them unveiled, nor to embrace any man, either +an acquaintance or a stranger. The convivial nature of +some of the nuns is revealed by an order commanding +them not to "use the alehouse or the watercourses +where strangers daily resort, or bring in, receive, or +take any layman, religious or secular, into the chamber, +or any secret place, day or night, or with them in such +private places to commune, eat, or drink, without license +of your prioress." The monastery which is described by +Wriothesley as the most virtuous religious house in England, +Sion Monastery, was under an even stricter rule. +Conversation with secular persons was permitted only by +the license of the abbess from noon to vespers, and only +then on Sundays and the great feast days of the saints. +Sion Monastery was subjected to the further restriction +that the nuns might not receive their friends, but could +converse with them by sitting at appointed windows, in +the presence of the abbess. If any sister desired to be +seen by "her parents or honest friends," she might, by +the special permission of the abbess, open the window +occasionally during the year; but if she had the self-denial +to forego this privilege, a greater reward was assured her in the hereafter.</p> + +<p>Despite the criticism to which the monastic system of +the Middle Ages may justly be subjected, it would be +great remissness to fail in appreciation of the tremendous +work of civilization which was performed by its expositors. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +They were the centres of culture, as well as of benevolence; +in the convents, and also in the monasteries, +there could always be found a select library, which included +works of the classic authors, as well as books of +religion. The nuns, as a class, were well educated for +their time. They could read Latin, and were qualified to +direct the education of the novices who came under their +training. Even in the ninth century, some of the continental +convents had such high repute as educational +centres that children were sent long distances to get the +benefit of the opportunities they offered; and in this respect +England was no whit behind, for children were sent +from the continent to be educated in the schools established +by Theodorus and Hadrian. This fact is the more +to the credit of the English schools, as the tide had been +setting strongly in the other direction.</p> + +<p>The addition of literary and pedagogic duties to the religious +routine and manual labor of the convents made the +lives of the nuns extremely busy, for, in addition to their +reading theological and classical literature, they had the +duty of copying and embellishing manuscripts. It was +not unusual for a nun to become proficient in Latin versification +and to correspond in that language with others +of a similar literary taste and training. These women +were thus often highly qualified to teach the subjects +which were then included in polite education. For many +centuries theirs were the only schools for girls. The +suppression of the convents was, educationally, a disaster +to England. They were not merely schools for book learning, +but such little knowledge as was current in regard to +the treatment of various disorders and the care of the sick +was obtained in the convent schools. The general custom +of bleeding people for every form of illness, as well as to +prevent possible sickness, made necessary some kind of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> +bandage ready prepared to apply to the wound, and it was +a common practice for nuns to make such bandages and to +present them as gifts to friends. The convent pupils were +also taught the finer sorts of cooking, such as the preparation +of special dishes and the making of sweetmeats and +pastry. Needlework, as the most characteristic employment +of women of refinement, music, both vocal and +instrumental, and writing and drawing, entered into the curricula of the convents.</p> + +<p>The educational record of the various convents at the +time of their suppression shows that this act of Henry VIII., +whatever other justification it may have had, cannot be +supported on the ground that the convents were not performing +a useful service to society in the education of the +youth of the country. Gasquet, in his <i>Suppression of the +Monasteries</i>, says: "In the convents, the female portion +of the population found their only teachers, the rich as +well as the poor, and the destruction of the religious +houses by Henry was the absolute extinction of any systematic +education for women during a long period." Thus, +at Winchester Convent the list of ladies being educated +within the walls at the time of the suppression shows that +these Benedictine nuns were training the children of the +first families in the country. Carrow, in Norfolk, for +centuries gave instruction to the daughters of the neighboring +gentry; and as early as A.D. 1273 a papal prohibition +was obtained from Pope Gregory X., restraining the +nobility from crowding this monastery with more sisters +than its income would support. Again, we read of Mynchin +Buckland that it was a noted seminary for the daughters +of the families in its vicinity. Many families whose names +were the highest in the list of the English gentry of the +day owed to the convent systems all the accomplishments +which enabled them to shine brilliantly in their after life.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> + +<p>"Reading, writing, some knowledge of arithmetic, the art +of embroidery, music and French, 'after the scole of Stratford +atte Bowe,' were the recognized course of study, +while the preparation of perfumes, balsams, simples, and +confectionery was among the more ordinary departments +of the education afforded." There was as great +protest aroused among the laity against the suppression +of the convents as has been latterly witnessed in France +against the rigid enforcement of the law as to unregistered +schools, resulting in the closing of many schools +which were established on a religious foundation and taught by the nuns.</p> + +<p>Many pathetic pleas were addressed to Thomas Cromwell +in behalf of the convents at the time of the Reformation. +The abbess of the famous convent of Godstow, in +Oxfordshire, wrote to Cromwell as follows: "Pleaseth hit +your Honour with my moste humble dowyte, to be advertised, +that where it hath pleasyd your Lordship to be the +verie meanes to the King's Majestie for my preferment, +most unworthie to be Abbes of this the King's Monasterie +of Godstowe.... I trust to God that I have never +offendyd God's laws, neither the King's, wherebie this +poore monasterie ought to be suppressed." She then +continues in an earnest strain to set forth that the recommendation +for the suppression of her convent arose from +private malice on the part of her enemies, and closes with +a denial of the charges preferred, as follows: "And notwithstanding +that Dr. London, like an untrew man, hath +informed your Lordship that I am a spoiler and a waster, +your good Lordship shall know that the contrary is trew; +for I have 'not alienated one halporthe' of goods of this +monastery, movable or unmovable, but have rather incres'd +the same, nor never made lease of any farme or +peece of grounde belonging to this House, or thet hath +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> +been in times paste, alwaies set under Convent Seal for the wealthe of the House."</p> + +<p>The convents were charitable as well as educational +centres, although their benevolent methods would not +meet the approval of modern ideas as to wise almsgiving. +At the set time for the disbursement of alms, the mendicants +thronged the institution, and, by the liberality of the +donors, were encouraged to continue in a life of shiftlessness +and beggary. The disbursement of alms was really +regarded by the recipients not so much as an act of charity +as something which they had a right to expect.</p> + +<p>One of the best phases of conventual charity was its influence +in developing the benevolent tendencies of women +of position and means. The feudal system, as we have +seen, was largely a system of dependent relations, so that +those who were in the lowest social scale felt that they +had a right to the gifts of those who were above them. +By the inevitable working of the system, the lives of the +poor were interwoven into the lives of their betters. It +was a gracious work of the Church to teach those who +were in the fortunate places of life their responsibility +toward their less happily situated fellow creatures, and +the monastic almsgiving was a practical exemplification of +the spirit of the Gospel in so far as the customs and practices +of the times made possible a clear interpretation of +its benevolent teachings. Although charity was not organized, +and was dealt directly to the needy without investigation +of their claims on any other ground than actual and +manifest want, and thus was in violation of modern social +tenets and methods, it yet furnishes one of the most engaging +chapters of mediæval life. Modern benevolences, +however different from those of earlier times, nevertheless +derive their spirit and inspiration from the gracious +charities of the mediæval nuns.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> + +<p>Under the incentive of the example of the monasteries, +the great ladies recognized and frequently performed their +full duty toward their dependants. The Countess of Richmond +maintained a number of poor people within her own +walls. In the sixteenth century, Lady Gresham left, by +her will, tenements in the city, the rents of which were to +be used for the poor. The Countess of Pembroke built +an almshouse and procured for it a patent of corporation. +These are but a few of many illustrious examples of large +charities which serve to brighten the pages of mediæval history.</p> + +<p>In the Middle Ages, charity was a personal obligation. +With the elimination of personal service, charity came +increasingly to be dispensed by voluntary associations. +Of such organizations may be instanced the Sisters of +Charity and, in recent years, the various orders of deaconesses. +For although charity has gone outside the bounds +of the Church, its ministrations are directly traceable to +the convents, and it yet finds its most appropriate relations +and allies to be religion and the Church. +<!--Blank page #170 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter VIII</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Industrial Classes</h2> +<!--Blank page #172 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> + + +<p>The most remarkable fact of the twelfth century in +England was the growth of the towns. As has been +already observed in a previous chapter, the conquest of +Britain by the Normans modified the insularity of the +people and brought them into closer communication with +the people of the continent. One of the most marked +effects of this change was the introduction into the country +of skilled Norman craftsmen. The stimulating effect of +the influx of these specialized workmen was in result not +unlike the general awakening of trade and commerce +throughout Europe, at a later time, as the result of the Crusades.</p> + +<p>The expansion of England's industry was also favored +by the vigorous administrations of Henry I. and Henry II. +Another contributive factor was the decline in power of +the barons. Henry I. pitted the town against the castle +in order to counterbalance the vast influence which was +exerted by each. Henry's policy of limiting the independence +of the barons was furthered by the introduction +of scutage, by which the king was enabled to call to his +aid mercenary troops and did not have to rely wholly upon +the feudal forces. Then, too, the Assize of Arms restored +the national militia to its former importance. Such, in +brief, were the constitutional measures by which the towns +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> +were advantaged and their position as related to the castles +in a sense reversed. The liberty of the latter became +increasingly curtailed, while that of the former was correspondingly augmented.</p> + +<p>The town and the castle, however, were not antagonistic, +the interests of the former being furthered by the +protection of the latter. The monastery, also, aided the +town by attracting trade. There was little difference in +conditions of life between the town and the country; both +engaged in agriculture as well as in trade, and both were +governed by a royal officer, or, it might be, by some lord's +steward, while, of course, the houses were somewhat +more clustered in the town than in the country, and the +town possessed the merchant guild. It is impossible to +trace guilds to their origin, although Brentano seeks to fix +England as their birthplace. This is possible, however, +only by narrowing the definition of a guild to fit the English type.</p> + +<p>The earliest unmistakable mention of the merchant guild +is at the end of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth +century. Under Henry I., grants of merchant guilds appear +in royal town charters, and are frequently met with +during succeeding reigns. By such charters the original +voluntary associations became exclusive bodies, to which +trade was confined. The retail trade of the town was restricted +to members of the guild individually, while the +trade coming to the town was shared by them all collectively. +The burgesses generally found it to their interest +to become members of the guild, and all townsmen of +importance were traders. Ecclesiastics and women might +also be members of the guild, but they were, of course, +debarred from becoming burgesses.</p> + +<p>The exclusive tendencies which the merchant guild developed +made it really an oligarchy, and so there grew up +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> +in the towns an ever increasing population that did not +share the guild privileges. As the town and its trade +developed, the complexity of trade regulations made it a +convenience to have guilds with specialized functions, to +which the merchant guild might deputize its powers. It +was quite natural, too, that men working at the same +trade, and having social and neighborhood association, +should desire to have a guild which would represent their +distinctive interests. Thus the craft guild arose, not in +antagonism to the merchant guild, but as a special agent +of it. So, in the reign of Henry I., there came about the +associations of the weavers, cordwainers, and fullers. By +the end of the fourteenth century craft guilds were numerous, +and in some places the merchant guild was superseded +by them. In their composition the guilds were made up +of masters, journeymen, and apprentices, from whom were +elected the officers and assistances. Women were members +of these craft guilds, although they do not appear to +have taken part in the business administration. "The +charter of the Drapers speaks of both brethren and sistren, +and the list of members, as given on the occasions of +'cessments' shows women-members, both wives of corn-brethren, +independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers."</p> + +<p>The relation of the women to some of the guilds seems +to have been largely a social one. Thus, we read in the +rules of the Calendar Guild, a religious fraternity, that the +wives of guild members had gone to such extremes in +their entertainment of the guild as to cause it to be stipulated +that no woman should spend in excess of a certain +specified sum for hospitality toward the guilds; for these +guilds were formed for various purposes besides trade, and +were in the nature of friendly societies. In addition to +their commercial side, they were "associations for mutual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> +help and social and religious intercourse amongst the +people." The proportion of women in the membership +was always large. In her introduction to <i>English Guilds</i>, +Miss Toulmin Smith says that "scarcely five out of five +hundred were not formed equally of men and women.... +Even where the affairs were managed by a company of +priests, women were admitted as lay members, and they +had many of the same duties and claims upon the guilds as the men."</p> + +<p>Women's association with the guild was not a merely +nominal one, for they shared in all of its privileges and +contributed to all of its funds, although the payments +asked of them were sometimes smaller. The female as +well as the male members had a right to wear the livery +of the guild. Women were engaged in trade and even in +manufacture, and so had direct interest in the craft guilds, +aside from that which they would naturally feel through +the relations thereto of their husbands and brothers. In +the work of his trade a member was always allowed to +employ his wife, his children, and his maid, for the whole +household of the guild brother belonged to the guild. In +later times this led to the degeneration of the guilds into mere family monopolies.</p> + +<p>The fraternal feature of the craft guild reminds one of +the same features of the benevolent orders of the present +time. If a member of the guild, male or female, became +impoverished through mishap, they were cared for, and, if +need arose, were buried; dowerless daughters were provided +with marriage portions, or, in case they wished to +enter the religious life, they were provided with the means +to do so. Nor must we overlook the large influence which +the guilds exerted on the side of morality, attaching, as +they did, the greatest importance to the moral character of their members.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> + +<p>The great Drapers Company embraced in its membership +many women who trained apprentices and carried on +business, as did the male members. The rules of the +company provided that "every brother or sister of the fellowship +taking an apprentice shall present him to the +wardens, and shall pay 1¾." The craft guilds exerted +an admirable influence in the raising of woman to the same +plane of respect as that held by men. The equality which +was accorded them in these associations amounted to a +recognition of their intellectual and business capabilities +as being of the same order as those of the men. The +respect which was shown them is illustrated by a provision +of the same company to which we have just referred. +It was ordered that when a "sister" died she should be +interred with fullest honors; the best pall was to be thrown +over her coffin, and the fraternity were to follow her to +the grave "with every respectful ceremony equally as the +men." On the death of a male member of a guild, his +widow was privileged to carry on his trade as one of the +guild; and if a woman married a man of the same trade +who did not have the freedom of the guild, he acquired it +by virtue of the marriage; but should a woman marry a +man of another trade, she was thereby excluded from her +guild connection. Such were the relations of woman to +the guilds. But Brentano notes an exception to the rule +that a widow who married again a man of the same trade +conferred the freedom of the guild upon him: "The wife +of a poulterer may carry on the said mystery after the +death of her husband, quite as freely as if her sire were +alive; and if she marries a man not of the mystery, and +wishes to carry it on, she must buy the (right of carrying +on the) mystery in the above described manner; as she +would be obliged to buy the mystery, if her husband was +of the mystery and had not yet bought it; for the husband +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> +is not in the dominion of the wife, but the wife is in the dominion of the husband."</p> + +<p>The democratic nature of the guilds tended to lessen +class distinctions and to bring about a true fellowship on +the plane of equality. The associations, as has been +said, provided for their members with loving care, and followed +them with love to the grave: "the ordinances as +to this last act breathed the same spirit of equality among +her sons on which all her regulations were founded, and +which constituted her strength." In cases of insolvency +at death, the funerals of poor members were to be respected +equally with those of the rich. "The honor paid +to the dead was also associated with the duty of benevolence;" +thus, for instance, in the statutes of the fullers of +Lincoln, it is said: "When any of the brethren and sistren +die, the rest shall give a halfpenny each to buy bread to +be given to the poor, for the soul's sake of the dead." +The Grocers Company admitted women after marriage to +membership in their fraternity, and they "enter and are +looked upon as of the fraternity for ever, and are assisted +and made as one of us; and after the death of the husband, +the widow shall come to the dinner and pay 40d. if she is able."</p> + +<p>In the fourteenth century it was by no means unusual +for women, even though they were married, to carry on +successfully large commercial enterprises in their own +name and by their individual effort. In the <i>Liber Albus +of London</i>, which was compiled in the fourteenth century, +there occurs an ordinance relating to this subject: "and +where a woman <i>coverte de baron</i> follows craft within the +said city by herself apart, with which the husband in no +way intermeddles, such woman shall be bound as a single +woman as to all that concerns her said craft. And if the +husband and wife are impleaded in such case, the wife +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> +shall plead as a single woman in the Court of Record, +and shall have her law and other advantages by way of +plea just as a single woman. And if she is condemned, +she shall be committed to prison until she shall have made +satisfaction; and neither the husband nor his goods shall +in such case be charged or interfered with." It will be +seen from this that women were accorded wide liberty in +the conduct of business and, whether married or single, +preserved their independence of action and control of property. +The right that woman enjoyed before the courts +of being sued and of suing was, however, a negative one.</p> + +<p>The distresses to which women were subjected by the +peculiar form of liberty which they enjoyed is illustrated +by the following quotation from an enactment in the Statute +of Laborers in the reign of Edward III: "Every man +and woman of our realm of England, of what condition he +be, free or bond, able of body and within the age of threescore +years, not living in merchandise, not exercising any +craft nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor +proper land about whose tillage he may himself occupy, +and serving any other, if he be in convenient service (his +estate considered), be required to serve, he shall be +bounden to serve him which so shall him require.... +And if any such man or woman being so required to serve +will not the same do,... he shall be committed to +the next gaol, there to remain under strait keeping, till he +find surety to serve in the form aforesaid."</p> + +<p>All of the oppressive enactments regulating the wages +of laborers and fixing the maximum of the sum that they +were at liberty to accept affected women equally with +men. An enactment of Richard II. provided "that no +artificer, labourer, servant, nor victualler, man or woman, +should travel out of the hundred, rape, or wapentake +where he is dwelling, without a letter-patent under the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> +King's seal, stating why he is wandering, and that the +term for which he or she had been hired has been completed." +Otherwise the offender might be put in a pair of +stocks, which was to be provided in every town.</p> + +<p>The guild system, despite its attitude toward women, +was the beginning of the narrowing of her industrial +sphere. Prior to the importation of skilled laborers in +textile and other branches of industry, such activities were +identified with the homes of the people, not merely in that +the industry itself was conducted in them, but that the +product was limited to the needs of the household, the demands +of charity, and such surplus as was used in trade. +The guild broadened the meaning of industry to meet the +demands of a rising commercial system whose trade routes +became clearly established and extended throughout Europe +and into the East. So that, while the industry of +the women artificers became limited in that many things +which had largely occupied their hands became the settled +occupations of men, the products which still depended +mainly upon their industrial activity became much more +widely dispersed, and made them factors in the developing +industries to which England is so deeply indebted for her +trade supremacy. With the decline of guilds, there was +a return on a very large scale to the system of home +industry, when every farmstead and rural cottage became +a manufacturing centre. The development of the factory +system of the eighteenth century, upon the introduction +of improved machinery for manufacture, completely removed +industry from the home and created the modern factory town.</p> + +<p>It is not our purpose to do more than suggest the influence +which the guilds exerted in bringing woman into the +larger stream of English life by the definition of her legal +status which her industrial consequence and activities +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span> +made necessary. It has been already remarked that the +statutes of the times made her personally responsible before +the law as an industrial factor. In this way, woman +became increasingly regarded as a social integer rather +than as simply a domestic incident. This was a distinct +gain in the end, however crude the conception at first. +The complex questions of woman's social status are still +largely centred about the question of her industrial place. +The insistent claim of the sex that they shall be regarded +as worthy of a part in the world's work projects into the +discussion of the place that she shall occupy many other +questions concerning matters which are immediately involved. +It is not too much to say that all of the issues +which arose during the modern period, and together form +the specifications of the platform of "woman's rights," +find their beginning in this first responsible relation of +woman to the industry of the nation. Society is established +upon an economic basis, and so the problem of the +duties and responsibilities of woman in a public way +must be centred about industry. It will not do to criticise +the crudeness of the early legislation regarding +woman when she first stepped into the arena of associated +industry, and to remain oblivious to the fact that +the question of her industrial status is no more satisfactorily +determined after the lapse of centuries. It is true +that the question during these centuries became greatly +involved at times, as, for instance, at the period of the +great industrial revolution; but, with all the aspects which +the question assumes to-day and the problems which are +related to it, the crux of the matter is the same as it was +at the time of the rise of the guilds.</p> + +<p>The guild ordinances took the view of woman as an +industrial unit, without regard to her personal relations. +If she became a merchant and associated herself with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> +guild, she was under the same laws regarding financial +responsibility as was any other member. The fact that +she was a woman, or that she was married and had +children, did not constitute a plea in her behalf for different +treatment from that accorded a guild brother. If a +woman-merchant became a debtor, she had to answer in +court as any other merchant, and "an accyon of dette be +mayntend agenst her, to be conceyved aft' the custom +of the seid lite, w[^t] out nemyng her husband in the seid accyon."</p> + +<p>The legislation of the period generally recognized the +equality of the sexes in the matter of labor. An ordinance +of Edward IV., made in the borough of Wells, provided +that both male and female apprentices to burgesses should +themselves become burgesses at the expiration of their +term of service. Similar statutes relating to apprentices +in London likewise made no distinction between boys and +girls. The problems centring about woman's relation to +industry not having arisen, the fact of her employment +presented no serious difficulties. When the proclamation +of 1271, relating to the woollen industry, was issued, it +permitted "all workers of woolen cloths, male and female, +as well of Flanders as of other lands, to come to England +to follow their craft." Indeed, the women were less fettered +than the men in their industrial avocations, for, while by +the statute of 1363 the men were limited to the pursuit of +one craft, women were left free in the matter.</p> + +<p>In this connection, it is interesting to refer to the development +of the silk industry as a typical occupation of +woman. It is impossible to determine the time when "the +arts of spinning, throwing, and weaving of silk" were first +brought into England. We do know, however, that, when +first established, they were pursued by a company of +women called "silk women." The fabrics of their skill +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> +were in the many forms of laces, ribbons, girdles, and +other narrow goods. Toward the middle of the fifteenth +century, these women were greatly distressed by the Lombards +and other Italians, who imported into the country +the same sort of goods, and in such quantities that their +sale was hindered and the workers placed in danger of +starvation. This led to a reference of their complaint to +Parliament, with a statement of the grievances for which +they desired redress. This document bore the title: <i>The +petition of the silk women and throwesters of the craftes and +occupation of silk-work within the city of London, which be, +and have been, craftes of women within the same city of time +that no man remembereth the contrary</i>. The petition then +goes on to set forth "that by this business many reputable +families have been well supported; and young women kept +from idleness by learning the same business, and put into +a way of living with credit, and many have thereby grown +to great worship; and never any thing of silk brought into +this land, concerning the same craftes and occupations in +any wise wrought but in the raw silk alone, unwrought, +until now of late that divers Lombards and others, aliens +and strangers, with a view of destroying the silk-working +in this kingdom, and transferring the manufactories to foreign +countries, do daily bring into this land," etc. Then +follows a statement of the inferior grades of fabrics thus +introduced, which the complaint said was "to the great +detriment and utter destruction of the said craftes; which +is like to cause great idleness among the young gentlewomen +and other apprentices to the same craftes." The +petition that the importation of these goods should be prohibited +was granted, and we hear no more of these estimable +ladies and little of their infant industry. It was +then thought no disgrace for a lady of quality to conduct +such household manufactories.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> + +<p>The town-dwelling woman looked down upon her rural +sister, a fact that is not at all surprising when the difference +in the condition of the two classes of women is considered. +The town-dwelling woman had the privileges of +guild association and the liberties which it gave her, while +the woman in the agricultural districts was but a drudge. +The former were identified with manufactures and commerce, +while the latter were tied to the soil. Even after the +rise of copyhold tenure of land, the grievances of the agricultural +population were considerable, and of many sorts. +While the villains flocked to London to demand legal exemption +from the old labor obligations which went along +with such servile condition, the cottars claimed freedom +from labor rents for their homes, and the copyholders of +all kinds demanded that they should not be compelled to +grind at the lord's mill the corn which they raised for +their household needs. The rising tide of industrial revolution +represented a climax of centuries of grievance; and +when the revolt did come, it was as a demand for the +manumission of property held in villanage. There was +at the time hardly any personal servitude demanding such +strenuous measures for betterment. The popular agitation +seemed to be enlisted against class impositions, and so the following lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"When Adam delved and Eve span,</p> +<p>Who was then the gentleman?"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>became the slogan of the insurgents.</p> + +<p>It is not possible to ascertain how particular grievances +in Kent and Essex became identified with the general +movements of the peasantry south of the Thames and +in many parts of the midland. The vast movement, +however, extended throughout the agricultural districts, +and included burgesses of towns, rural priests, yeomen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> +and farm laborers. It is unlikely that a personal grievance +should have caused it, but it was precipitated by +such. The immediate occasion was the indignation which +was aroused at an outrage committed by one of the tax +collectors on the daughter of Wat the Tyler. As the indignation +which centred in the sentiment against this +act served to cement the feeling of injustice which was +prevalent among the peasantry, so it is probable that +the act itself was not a solitary instance, but only +one of many indignities which were suffered by the +peasantry at the hands of the representatives of those +above them. Although the insurrection soon came to an +end, and those who were responsible for it suffered the +severest penalties, nevertheless the various "statutes of +laborers" which from this date appear on the statute book +show that the day had gone by when the lords of manors +could require the personal services of tenants in return for +the lands they held; so that the one thousand five hundred +persons who were executed for this social uprising died as +a protest against grievances of the poor tenantry, which +were corrected by legislation.</p> + +<p>By the close of the fourteenth century the manorial +courts had lost much of their former vigor; and there were +frequent instances of villain tenants sending their daughters +to service beyond the bounds of the manors, in spite +of the requirement of a license so to do. Daughters were +also married without reference to the lord, or obtaining his +permission, or paying the fee. As a result of their extended +liberties, women as well as men deserted the +country in large numbers and resorted to the towns. The +population thus became much more mobile, and among +the people there was a wider degree of intelligence because +of this fact and of their more varied experience. +As women are the progenitors of the race, it is always +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> +important for the intelligence of a people that the mothers +shall not be stupid and inane creatures such as were for the +most part the women of the agricultural classes in England +during the greater part of the Middle Ages. They were +limited to the narrow confines of homes, humble indeed, +and yet homes which they could not feel were their own, +and they could not leave these habitations excepting under +conditions which were practically prohibitive. Their days +were spent in an unvarying monotony of domestic duties +and farm labor, which afforded no stimulus to the mind or +food for the soul. It is not strange that morals were as +depraved as manners were uncouth. In the imagination, +superstition took the place that was unoccupied by intelligence; +and the world of the peasant woman, who went +about her round of daily hardship, was peopled by a throng +of supernatural creatures, and her life spent in fear of +violation of some of those strange rules of conduct which +now form interesting matter for the student of folklore.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to exaggerate the hardship of the agriculturist +of the Middle Ages; and as she was an active +participant in such labors, besides having upon her the +burdens which commonly belong to the mother of a household, +the woman of the times had to bear duties much +beyond those of a woman in a similar grade of life in England +to-day. The great pestilences of the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries swept away so many lives that, for +two centuries and a half before the accession of Henry VII., +the growth of population was so slight as to be scarcely +calculable. The unsanitary condition of the homes in general +was greatly injurious to health; but this was especially +so of the homes of the humble, the women of which +had no ideas of cleanliness, either in person or surroundings. +The weekly shilling or ninepence of the agricultural +laborer must have been distressingly inadequate for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> +needs of the household. These included wheat or rye, +which formed the staple of living, the rent of the cottage, +the usual manor dues, the national tax, something for +clothing, medicine for the children, and occasional items +which would enter into a complete enumeration. Even if the +wife, as was frequently the case, had to bear the burden +of her own support by engaging in some form of industrial +activity in connection with her other duties, the wage of +the husband was barely enough to meet the needs of the +remainder of the family, and he had not a farthing left for +"rainy days," which were of frequent occurrence, or +for those common and extraordinary exactions which could +not be evaded. So rigidly were the taxes levied, even +upon the poorest, that every form of possession came +under tribute; thus, the pet lamb of a poor man, which +may have been the one source of joy to his children and +pleasure to his wife, appears in an inventory of Colchester +as amerced for sixpence. In the fifteenth century, to +which this entry refers, the master of a tenant was forbidden +by the Statutes of Laborers to assist him by relieving +his poverty; and even in case of illness of his wife or +children, the master could not legally furnish him aid. So +onerous was the income tax, levied to meet the expenses +of foreign wars, that it was not uncommon for bequests of +money to be made for the relief of the poor in paying it. +The laborer had attached to his cottage a small piece of +ground, which his wife and himself tilled; he might also +feed his goose or his sheep upon the manor waste, but +only on the sufferance of his master.</p> + +<p>By the end of the fifteenth century the lot of this class +of England's population became almost unendurable. The +women, who bore more than their share of the burden of +work in an attempt to provide the bare necessities of existence, +were bowed under a weight of misery which made +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> +that existence endurable only because they knew of none +better, or none which could possibly come within the +range of their narrow hopes. The wretched condition of +life among those whose possessions were so limited is well +summed up in the following quotation from an article by +Dr. Augustus Jessup in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, February, +1884; he says: such people "were more wretched in +their poverty, incomparably less prosperous in their prosperity, +worse clad, worse fed, worse housed, worse taught, +worse tended, worse governed," than the peasants of the +present day; "they were sufferers from loathsome diseases +their descendants know nothing of; the very beasts +of the field were dwarfed and stunted in their growth; the +death rate among children was tremendous; the disregard +of human life was so callous that we can hardly conceive +it; there was everything to harden, nothing to soften; +everywhere oppression, greed, and fierceness."</p> + +<p>Although wages were higher by the end of the century, +reaching fourpence a day, meat, cheese, and butter were +much dearer than at its beginning, so that it is doubtful if +the last of the century found the condition of the laborer +at all improved in this respect. As labor was suspended +on the holidays of the Church and for a half-day on the +eves of those holidays, and as the laborer was forbidden +to receive more than a half-day's wage every Saturday, +the men and women most anxious to work, even if they +could obtain constant employment, could not average more +than four and one-half profitable days per week. It is not +surprising that, for want of nutrition, there was throughout +the Middle Ages a wide prevalence of fever, the large +death rate of women and children from this cause affording +evidence of their physical weakness.</p> + +<p>The wage of women employed in agricultural labor in +the first half of the fourteenth century was at the rate of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> +a penny a day, although this was not uniform; and in +some parts of the kingdom they received considerably +more. Their duties on the farm consisted, in part, in +"dibbling beans, in weeding corn, in making hay, in assisting +the sheep shearers and washing the sheep, in filling +the muck carts with manure and in spreading it upon the +lands, in shearing corn, but especially in reaping stubble +after the ears of corn had been cut off by the shearers, +in binding and stacking sheaves, in thatching ricks and +houses, in watching in the fields to prevent cattle straying +into the corn, or, armed with a sling, in scaring birds from +the seed or ripening corn, and similar occupations. That +they might not fail of employment to fill up the measure +of the hours, there was the winding and spinning of wool +to stop a gap." But these were not the sole employments +of the wives and daughters of the mediæval farmer, for +they took their part in all farmwork together with their +husbands and fathers. After the "black death" had made +such terrible inroads upon the rural population of England, +a woman received a wage that seldom went below twopence +for a day's work; but this amount was diminished +by the effect of one of the Statutes of Laborers, which required +that every woman not having a craft—that is, not +a town dweller, nor possessed of property of her own—should +work on a farm equally with a man, and, like the +man, she should not leave the manor or the district in +which she customarily lived, to seek work elsewhere. It +was difficult for a woman of the agricultural classes to pass +out of the dreary sphere in which she lived, for it was +enjoined that if a girl before the age of twelve years—significant +of the time when she was supposed to be a +woman—put her hands to works of industry, she must +remain for the rest of her life an agricultural laborer, and +was not permitted to be apprenticed to learn a trade. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> +These regulations were, of course, very often honored in +the breach, but nevertheless they were frequently enforced.</p> + +<p>The poverty of the peasantry made it necessary for +them to make for themselves almost everything that +entered into the needs of their life,—their houses, their +clothing, their agricultural implements, and most of their +household articles. Flax was raised, and from it the +women manufactured the linen for the ladies of the hall; +from hemp they made the coarse sackcloth for their underclothing, +and they spun and wove the wool shorn from +the backs of their few sheep for their outer clothing. The +women of this class frequently could not afford an oven of +their own, and so the flour which was made from the grain +that was required to be ground at the lord's mill was also +baked in his oven. The simple medicines were brewed +by the housewife from the herbs which grew by the copse +side or on the commons or in the ditches. When the +manufacture of wool and flax was withdrawn to the towns, +the labor of the women was to that extent lightened, +although their income was correspondingly lessened.</p> + +<p>The condition of the very poor was pitiful in the extreme; +as there had been no opportunity for the laying up +of provision for old age, the only recourse for the women +and men alike, when indigency and age overtook them, +was to seek shelter in the almshouses which had been +founded for the decrepit and the destitute. Many yielded +to their "miserable cares and troubles," and died from +starvation. By the fifteenth century the monasteries had +ceased to be important centres for the dispensing of charity, +so that relief from destitution could not be looked for +from that source. The conventual orders, in common +with the rest of the nation, had become burdened with +debt through the wars at home and abroad. The numerous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> +regulations for the control of beggars, and the licenses +which were issued to regulate the practice, show the great +prevalence of real poverty and want during the whole of +the fifteenth century, although throughout the Middle Ages +mendicancy was familiar enough.</p> + +<p>Such was the condition of the women of the industrial +classes during the Middle Ages. The period that witnessed +the transition from the Middle Ages into modern times, the +breakup of feudalism, and the construction of society upon +a different basis, was, as transitional periods are apt to be, +one of peculiar stress. And as this period in England was +marked by severe wars, with all the blight and desolation +which they bring to a land, it was one of especial severity +upon those who had to bear the burden of such undertakings. +Not only was the standard of living brought low, +and the comforts of life reduced to the bare necessities, +but manners were as disastrously affected as was the +economy of the realm. Crime and violence stalked through +the country, seemingly under no restraint; and from the +prevalence of deeds of violence, it is very clear that law +was not only ineffectual, but that public sentiment was +not strong enough to create a better state of affairs. The +condition was not unlike that which prevailed in Ireland at +the beginning of the nineteenth century. Women were +the chief sufferers from the prevalent lawlessness. They +were seized at night, and, after being dishonored, were +compelled to go to the church, where the priest, under +threats and despite the protests of the victims, performed +the ceremony which linked them to their captors. It mattered +little if the woman happened to be already married, +as such proceedings were supposed by many to constitute +a sufficient divorce. Rent riots were of everyday occurrence, +and murders were not unusual. It was not altogether +the poor who were involved in such deeds of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> +violence, as there were among them agitators from the +upper classes, who not only urged them on, but themselves +took part in all such outrages. Often murders and +other forms of violence grew out of the practice of men of +quality having about them bands of retainers who were +frequently the roughest of characters, including men under +indictment for capital offences. No class was quite secure +from the disorderly elements of the population, but the +women of the country districts were more frequently the +sufferers than were their sisters of the towns.</p> + +<p>The great increase of sensuality, the low esteem in +which women were held, and the little regard they manifested +for their own characters, showed the decadence into +which the spirit of chivalry had fallen. Being a child of +feudalism, with the decay of that system it went into +eclipse. Nevertheless, chivalry contributed to English life +real benefits, apart from the elevation of women, and +these remained permanent factors in the character of the nation.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter IX</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Transition Period</h2> +<!--Blank page #194 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> + + +<p>The authorities upon whom we depend for information +as to the condition of the industrial classes—particularly +the agricultural—during the fifteenth century are in such +hopeless conflict that it is impossible to do more than +follow the views of some one of them, with such modifications +and checks as may be reasonably introduced from +the others. The picture already drawn of the utterly +miserable condition of the peasantry during that century +is not ratified by all the writers, and yet the interpretation +of the data, conflicting as it is, must lead to the conclusion +that the condition of that class of English society was far +from being roseate, and that, in the main, it would be +difficult to overdraw the misery which existed; but this +condition was ameliorated to some extent by the introduction +into rural districts of domestic manufactures, after the +decay of agriculture. The compensation that accrued to +the peasantry by a growth in the clothing trade counterbalanced, +in a measure, their other losses, while it also +brought the rural districts into industrial relation with the +towns and aided in bridging the chasm between the two. +The industry was of a nature to enlist the activities of the +women of the households and to bring them into contact +with the commercial life of the nation, in a lesser degree +than their sisters of the craft guilds, it is true, but still in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> +a way that had an important bearing upon the industrial history of the country.</p> + +<p>The Wars of the Roses, which had been so destructive +to the nobility, and the tendency of the crown to depend +upon the gentry as a balance to the power of the feudal +barons, aided in making more certain and rapid the advance +of the middle class. The style of living is a sure index of +the degree of prosperity; there was a great increase in the +number as well as in the size of the houses which ranked +in importance between the castle of the baron and the +cottage of the peasant. Also, we meet with a change for +the better in the equipment of such houses. Instead of a +few pieces of furniture, rude and primitive, it is not unusual +in the inventories of this time to find complete suits of +furniture for the various rooms of the house. All of the +country gentlemen and more prosperous burghers possessed +quantities of plate. The custom of having but one +bedroom, or two at most, and obliging guests and servants +to sleep in the great hall or in rude shacks temporarily +erected for their accommodation, was no longer common +in this class of society. With the increase of the number +of rooms in the houses, the importance of the hall diminished. +Town and country houses alike were now generally +built around an interior court, into which the rooms +looked, and the windows opening upon the street and +country were small and unimportant. This was not simply +an architectural change, but was due to the necessity +of studying security on account of the disturbed state of +society. Men were beginning to appreciate good houses, +and the women had greater resources in the way of +household utensils and furnishings, particularly in those +pertaining to the kitchen. The glittering rows of pewter +and plate were a source of great satisfaction to housewives, +and were largely depended upon to establish their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> +claim to social distinction. The art of making bricks, +which had been lost since the departure of the Romans +from Britain, was revived, and the establishment of brickkilns +stimulated building. By the end of the fifteenth +century, the domestic house was entirely differentiated +from the castle. The materials for dwellings were of the +sort readiest to hand. In the eastern counties, where clay +was more abundant than stone, bricks were commonly used, +while elsewhere the houses were built of stone or wood.</p> + +<p>The dwellings of the fifteenth century were commodious +and convenient. A typical country house may be described +as follows: a door on the ground floor led into the hall, +while a staircase on the outside led to the first floor +proper. Inside the door at the head of the stairs was to +be found a shorter staircase, which led to the floor on +which were situated the chambers. Passing into the hall, +the visitor would find himself in the most spacious apartment +of the house. It remained as it had been throughout +the Middle Ages, the public room, open to all who were +admitted within the precincts of the establishment. The +permanent furniture consisted chiefly of benches, and a +seat with a back to it, which was used by the superior +members of the family. In the hall there was usually at +least one table which was a fixture, but the other tables +continued to be made up from planks and trestles when +needed. Cushions and ornamental cloths to place over +the seats and backs of benches were in general use, and +on special occasions the tapestries, some of which had +been in the families for generations, were brought out, +though apparently they were not used on ordinary occasions. +The sideboard was one of the most familiar articles +of furniture, and upon it was arranged the plate, which +was in charge of the butler, and was intended as much +for display as for use. In the large mansions, as in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> +castles, the hall was not complete without the minstrels' +gallery and a dais; though inconveniently large, it was +well warmed and lighted, and the walls were often decorated +with stags' antlers on which to hang the men's hats +and caps, hunting horns and such accessories of the chase, +beside which were suspended arms and armor and fishing +nets; while on the sideboard might be found writing materials +and a book or two. The fresh rushes with which +the floor was strewn gave forth, when first placed, a refreshing +smell when crushed by the foot.</p> + +<p>The setting of the table was much the same as it had +been. Knives were not ordinarily placed upon it, because +of the custom of the times for each person to carry his +own knife. Salt was regarded with superstition, and it +was thought desirable that it should be placed upon the +table before other comestibles. There was little attempt +to keep the tiled floor clean except by strewing it with +rushes, and for guests or members of the household to +throw bones or other débris of the table upon the floor was +not looked upon as an offence against manners; indeed, +dogs were almost invariably present, and awaited, as customary, +their meals at the hands of the guests. However, +the directions for behavior at table instructed the person +not to spit upon the table, by which intimation it was delicately +hinted that the proper place upon which to expectorate +was the floor. Again, the guest is told that when he +makes sops in the wine, he must either drink all the wine +in the glass or else throw it on the floor. The uncleanliness +of the seats is also suggested by the instruction given +the learner in etiquette that he should always first look at +the seat before occupying it, to be sure there was nothing +dirty upon it. Table manners had lost some of their ceremony, +but had retained all of their rudeness. Forks were +not used to convey food to the mouth, fingers answering +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> +every purpose, but it was considered bad manners to eat +with a knife. Other rules for the table are curious +enough, but are also important as illustrating the manners +of the century. Some of them are too disgusting to mention; +others, not open to this objection, may be instanced. +The guest was directed not to dip his meat in the saltcellar +to salt it, but to take a little salt with his knife and put it +on his meat, not to drink with a dirty mouth, not to offer +another person the remains of his pottage, not to eat too +much cheese, and to take only two or three nuts when +they were placed before him. Still other rules are not +without point, such as not to roll one's napkin into a +cord or tie it into knots, and not to get intoxicated during dinner time!</p> + +<p>Let us now take a glance at the table service of a noble +dame of the period, where the extreme of etiquette may +be expected to prevail. The hunting horn having announced +that the meal awaits the guests, squires or pages +bear to them scented water for the customary ablutions. +This is served in delicately wrought ewers, placed in silver +basins. A further touch of delicacy to the repast is often +provided by perfumed herbs scattered over the rich damask +tablecloth. The guests are not inconvenienced by the +crowding of decorative vessels on the board. The numerous +courses are well served, for a superior domestic is +charged with this duty, and he is assisted by two varlets. +At the sideboard is a squire or page whose sole duty is to +serve the wines and drinking vessels; he too is assisted +by a varlet, who places them before the several guests. +None of these attendants are required to leave the hall, to +which the officers of the kitchen and the cellar bring the +dishes and the wines. During the meal the gallery is +occupied by the musicians, who, it is to be presumed, will +serve to enliven the formalities attendant on the scene. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> +The parlor was a more pretentious room than the hall, +and was ornamented with more care. While it was a +usual feature of town houses of the period, it had been +introduced so comparatively late that its final position in +the plan of the house had not become fixed; sometimes it +was upon the ground floor, and sometimes upon the floor +above, while the larger houses had several such apartments. +It had open recesses with fixed seats on each +side of the window, and the fireplace was smaller and +more comforting than those of the hall. When carpets +came into use, the parlor was the first room to be treated +to the luxury, and it had the additional distinction of being +the only room that contained a cupboard. An inventory +of the furniture of the parlor of a fifteenth-century house +includes the following: a hanging of worsted, red and +green; a cupboard of ash boards; a table and a pair of +trestles; a branch of latten, with four lights; a pair of andirons; +a pair of tongs; a form to sit upon, and a chair. It +will be seen from this list that the furnishings for a parlor +were not numerous, but they are suggestive of a degree of +comfort greatly in advance of that of prior centuries. This +paucity of household furniture did not arise so much from +the inability to procure it as from the insecurity of the +times. Margaret Paston, in a letter to her husband, written +in the reign of Edward IV., says: "Also, if ye be at home +this Christmas, it were well done ye should do purvey a +garnish or twain or pewter vessel, two basins and two +ewers, and twelve candlesticks, for ye have too few of +any of these to serve this place; I am afraid to purvey +much stuff in this place, till we be sure thereof."</p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/bk9-2.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>DINING IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY<br /> + +From a miniature of the period.<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +The hunting horn having announced that the meal awaits the<br /> +guests, squires or pages bear to them scented water for the<br /> +customary ablutions. This is served in delicately wrought ewers<br /> +placed in silver basins. . . . The guests are not inconvenienced<br /> +by the crowding of decorative vessels on the board. The numerous<br /> +courses are vell served, for a superior domestic is charged with<br /> +this duty, and he is assisted by two varlets. At the sideboard is a<br /> +squire or page whose sole duty is to serve the wines and drinking<br /> +vessels; he too is assisted by a varlet who places them before the<br /> +several guests. . . . During the meal the gallery is occupied<br /> +by musicians.</i></p> + +<p>Wall paintings had come into use in the houses of the +better sort, and the hardwood finishings of the parlor and +other important rooms displayed elaborate carvings and a +massiveness and dignity of scheme. Among the newer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> +styles of chairs was one of the folding sort, which exactly +resembled our camp stools. Griffins, centaurs, and the +like were patterns for candle and torch holders, which +were often of wrought iron of an elaborate design. The +branch of latten with four lights, mentioned in the inventory +quoted, referred to a sort of chandelier, holding four +candles, which was suspended from the centre of the ceiling +and was raised and lowered by means of a cord and pulley.</p> + +<p>As the people began to lose taste for the hall, on account +of its publicity, they gradually withdrew from it to +the parlors for many of the purposes to which the hall had +been originally devoted. The recess seat at the windows +was the favorite place for the female members of the +household when employed in needlework and other sedentary +occupations, and the apartment was commonly used +for the family meals. In a little treatise dating at the +close of the fifteenth century, one of the speakers is made to +say: "So down we came again into the parlor, and there +found divers gentlemen, all strangers to me; and what +should I say more, but to dinner we went." The table, +we are told, "was fair spread with diaper cloths, the cupboard +garnished with goodly plate." Also, the parlors relieved +the bedchambers of many of the uses to which +they had been put, and secured to them greater privacy. +Largely because of the lack of any other place, ladies had +been accustomed to receive their friends in their bedchambers, +but now the parlor was used for a reception room, +and there was spent much of the time which the female +part of the family had previously passed in the bower or the chamber.</p> + +<p>Young ladies of even the great families were brought up +very strictly by their mothers, who kept them constantly +at work and exacted from them an almost slavish respect. +It appears from the correspondence of the Paston family, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> +to which reference has been made, that the wife of Sir +William Paston, the judge, was a very harsh mother. +Jane Claire, a kinswoman, sent to John Paston, the lady's +eldest son, an account of the severe treatment of his sister +Elizabeth at Mrs. Paston's hands. The young lady was +of marriageable age, and a man by the name of Scroope +had been suggested as her husband. Jane Claire writes: +"Meseemeth he were good for my cousin, your sister, +without that ye might get her a better; and if ye can get +a better, I would advise you to labour it in as short time +as ye may goodly, for she was never in so great a sorrow +as she is now-a-days, for she may not speak with no man, +whosoever come, nor even may see nor speak with my +man, nor with servants of her mother's, but that she +beareth her on hand otherwise than she meaneth; and +she hath since Easter the most part been beaten once in a +week, or twice, and sometimes twice in a day, and her +head broken in two or three places. Wherefore, cousin, +she hath sent to me by friar Newton in great council, and +prayeth me that I would send to you a letter of her heaviness, +and pray you to be her good brother, as her trust is +in you." Elizabeth Paston's matrimonial desires were not +realized at this time, as she was transferred from the +household of her parents to that of the Lady Pole; this +was in accordance with the custom which we have already +noticed of sending away young ladies to great houses, +where they received their education and served to fill up +the measure of pride of the great lady to whose train they +were attached. The larger the number of such maidens a +lady could boast of, the greater was her importance; nor +did she hesitate to accept payment for the board of those +of whom she thus took charge, and from whom she derived +further profit by employing them at lace making or other suitable work.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> + +<p>Young ladies were taught to be very demure and formal +in their behavior in company, where they sat bolt upright, +with their hands crossed, or in other constrained attitudes. +In a poem, written about 1430, entitled <i>How the Good Wife +Taughte Hir Dougtir</i>, we have the rules which were enforced +upon girls for their conduct in society, and particularly +the advice which was tendered the girl with regard +to her marriage and her subsequent conduct. The love of +God and attendance upon church were enjoined, and in +the performance of the latter duty she was not to be deterred +by bad weather. She was to give liberally to alms, +and while in attendance upon divine service was to pray +and not to chatter. Courtesy was recommended in all of +the relations of life; and when the time came that she was +sought in marriage, she was told not to look upon her +suitor with scorn, whoever he might be, nor to keep the +matter a secret from her friends. She was not to sit close +to him, because "synne mygte be wrought," and a slander +be thereby raised, which, she is informed, is difficult to +still. She was counselled, when married, to love her husband +and answer him meekly; she was to be well mannered, +not to be rude, nor to laugh boisterously—or, to +give it as it is expressed in the poem, "but lauge thou +softe and myslde." Her outdoor conduct also was regulated +for her. She was not to walk fast, nor to toss her +head, nor to wriggle her shoulders; she was not to use +many words, nor to swear, for all such manners come to +evil. She was to drink only in moderation, "For if thou +be ofte drunke, it falle thee to schame." She was to +exercise due discretion in all of her relations with the +other sex, and to accept from them no presents. She was +herself to work and to see that those under her were kept +employed; to have faults set right at once, keep her own +keys, and to be careful whom she trusted. If her children +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> +gave her trouble and were not submissive, she must not +curse or scold them, but "take a smert rodde, and bete +them on a rowe til thei crie mercy." Besides all these +enjoinments, she was impressed with the duty of benevolence, +and was to act as physician to all those about her.</p> + +<p>The position of woman at this time was clearly defined. +Certainly the woman of the middle classes had taken her +proper place in society. She did not disdain to look after +the affairs of her establishment, nor was this regarded as +in any way derogatory to her dignity; and this was also +true of women in the highest rank. It is said that, as a +rule, the husband and wife were in full accord, and confided +in one another upon terms of equality. The wife +was careful of her charge at home, and heedful of her +husband's purse; she generally made her own as well as +her children's clothing, if the material were to be had. +No wife of to-day could show greater solicitude for the +comfort and well-being of her husband than did Dame +Paston, the wife of John Paston, who in 1449 wrote to +her husband a letter from which we may extract the following: +"And I pray you also, that ye be wel dyetyd of +mete and drynke, for that is the grettest helpe that ye +may have now to your helthe ward."</p> + +<p>The wife was the companion of her husband when he +was at home, and in his absence entertained his guests +with all the graces of hospitality. The duties of the day +did not leave her a great deal of time for leisure, for, +besides directing the conduct of the establishment and +looking after her maidens, teaching them the arts of +housewifery, spinning, weaving, carding wool and hackled +flax, embroidery, and garment making, there were the pet +birds and squirrels in cages to be looked after and fed. +But life was not all labor, nor were the maidens of the +household surfeited with instruction. In their periods of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> +relaxation, they danced, played chess and draughts, and +read the latest thing in romances with as keen interest as +the modern society girl evinces in the most recent novel. +To be informed in all such matters was essential to the +standards of culture of the day.</p> + +<p>One of the pleasantest features of the country life of +the period was the garden. The English women of to-day +are no fonder of outdoor recreation and exercise than were +their predecessors of the fifteenth century. Alone, or in +parties of their own sex, or with male company, they +wandered over the fields, gathering wild flowers and picnicking +in the woods, spreading upon the grass their lunch +of bread, wine, fish, and pigeon pies. They rode on horseback, +and went hunting, hawking, and rabbit chasing. +Their presence at the tournament gave it its greatest +interest, and the successful contestants considered the +awards that were made them by their ladies doubly valuable, +as indicating at once their prowess upon the field +and their conquests in that no less interesting sphere of +sentiment where Cupid bestows the favors.</p> + +<p>Perhaps at no other time in English history have ladies +shown such fondness for pets as in the fifteenth century. +There are frequent references to them in the literature of +the day, and they appear in many of the illustrations; +parrots, magpies, jays, and various singing birds are often +mentioned among domestic pets. Various kinds of small +animals were also tamed and kept in the house, either +loose or in cages, squirrels being especially in favor because +of their liveliness and activity. Gambling was one +of the most popular vices of the day. It was not until +after the middle of the fifteenth century that cards came +into very general use, but by the beginning of the following +century card playing had passed from the stage of fad +and become a passion. After the table was removed, one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> +of the servants would bring in a silver bowl full of dice +and cards, and the company would be invited to play. So +general and widespread was the practice that early in the +reign of Henry VIII. an attempt was made to restrict the +use of cards to the Christmas holidays. Women were +hardly less inveterate devotees of this and other games of +chance than the men, although it is not to be concluded that +they took such games as seriously or risked as large sums +as did the other sex. Dinner was served at noon, and the +games, along with dancing, usually occupied the time of +the leisure classes until supper, which seems to have been +served at six o'clock. There was, of course, no other +form of amusement that was so well adapted to polite +circles, or that could be participated in with as much +pleasure by the ladies, as dancing. Many new dances +had been introduced and become fashionable, and these +were much more lively than those of the earlier period, +some so spirited, indeed, as to scandalize the moralists of +the time. After supper the amusements were resumed, +and continued until a late hour, when a second, or, as it +was called, a "rere-supper," was served.</p> + +<p>After the members of the household and the guests +were surfeited with amusements, or the lateness of the +hour made sleep welcome, they retired to rest in the upper +chambers. These bedrooms were much more private than +they had formerly been. In the poem <i>Lady Bessy</i>, when +the Earl of Derby is represented as plotting with Lady +Bessy in aid of the Earl of Richmond, he tells her that he +will repair secretly to her chamber:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"'We must depart (separate), lady,' the earl said then;</p> +<p>Wherefore, keep this matter secretly,</p> +<p>And this same night, betwixt nine and ten,</p> +<p>In your chamber I think to be.</p> +<p>Look that you make all things ready,</p> +<p>Your maids shall not our councell hear,</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> +<p>For I will bring no man with me</p> +<p>But Humphrey Brereton, my true esquire.'</p> +<p>He took his leave of that lady fair,</p> +<p>And to her chamber she went full light,</p> +<p>And for all things she did prepare,</p> +<p>Both pen and ink, and paper white."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The bedstead now came to be much more ornamental +than in previous times. The canopy which had formerly +adorned the head of this article of furniture was now +usually enlarged so as to cover it entirely. It was often +decorated with the arms of the owner, with religious +emblems, flowers, or some other form of ornamentation. +The bed itself consisted of a hard mattress, and was often +made only of straw, although feather beds were used to +some extent throughout the century. Chaucer describes +a couch of unusual luxury as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Of downe of pure dovis white</p> +<p>I wol yeve him a fethir bed,</p> +<p>Rayid with gold, and right well cled</p> +<p>In fine blacke sattin d'outremere,</p> +<p>And many a pilowe, and every bere (pillow cover)</p> +<p>Of clothe of Raines to slepe on softe;</p> +<p>Him thare (need) not to turnen ofte."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>This description of a bed in the latter part of the fourteenth +century holds good for the succeeding century, +although the bed increased in luxuriousness of hangings. +Feather beds and bed covers are frequently mentioned in +the bequests of the times; by their description, they show +the increase in the comfort and richness of beds, and, by +their mention in wills, the value that was placed upon +them. With the increase of privacy which the bedchambers +afforded at this time, the practice of several people +sleeping in the same room was less general.</p> + +<p>The women of the manor house, who may be regarded +as succeeding the women of the castles, were notable for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> +their intelligence, purity, and good sense, as revealed to +us by the letters and literature of the times. Their features, +as depicted in illustrations, give evidence of refinement +and culture as well as beauty; to these attractions +was added that of graceful carriage. Although their +dresses fitted closely to the figure, tight lacing had not yet +become the custom. Paris was then, as now, the glass of +fashion for the women of Europe, and the English woman +considered her form to approach perfection the more nearly +as it conformed to the model established in France. At +this period, the ladies were given to similar extremes of +dress and adornment to those which have furnished an +indictment against them since fashion first held sway +over the feminine mind. All classes of society were influenced +by the all-important matter of style, and the women +of each grade of the social scale found their chief contentment +in copying the manners and dress of those above +them. Earlier we found occasion to notice, in brief, the +sumptuary legislation by which it was sought to limit extravagances +in fashion; but the laws have yet to be framed +which can serve permanently to control woman's desires. +So that we shall, perforce, have to continue our discussion +of the evolution—or as the moralists of the Middle Ages +would have expressed it, if they had possessed the facility +of verbal coinage which is common enough with us, the +"devilution"—of woman's attire, just as though law had +never attempted its regulation.</p> + +<p>The intricacies of the women's coiffure were many. +The practice of dyeing the hair or otherwise altering its +color is of ancient date. Among the Saxons and Normans +it seems to have been confined to the men, for during +those periods the women kept their heads so completely +covered that there was no inducement for them to resort +to such practices; but at the time of which we are now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> +treating the custom had some vogue among the ladies, +although it does not appear to have become general until +the reign of Elizabeth, when the ladies had reduced the +art to such a nicety that they were able to produce various +colors and, indeed, almost to change the substance of the hair itself:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Lees she can make, that turn a hair that's old,</p> +<p>Or colour'd, into a hue of gold."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>A religious writer of the fifteenth century, declaiming +against the various adornments of the hair and the arts +which were employed to stimulate its growth as well as +alter its color, and against the practice of wearing false +hair, says: "to all these absurdities, they add that of supplying +the defects of their own hair, by partially or totally +adopting the harvest of other heads." To point a moral, +he then gravely relates an anecdote to the effect that +during the time of a public procession at Paris, which had +drawn a great multitude of people together, an ape leaped +upon the head of a certain fine lady, and seizing her veil, +tore it from her head; with it came her peruke of false +hair, so that it was discovered by the crowd that her +beautiful tresses were not her own; thus, by the very +means to which she had resorted to attract the admiration +of the beholders, she received their contempt and ridicule.</p> + +<p>A preposterous form of headdress arose in the time of +Henry IV. and became more exaggerated throughout the +fifteenth century; this was styled the horned headdress. +It began with a heart-shaped headdress, which rose higher +on either side until, in the reign of Henry V., the points of +the heart had become veritable horns. This ungraceful +coiffure assumed all sorts of extravagant and absurd varieties. +It became a favorite mark for the shafts of the +satirists and the jests of the wits, to say nothing of themes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> +for sermons; but the fair ladies, invulnerable to all such +criticisms, were not to be deterred from indulging their pet +follies. One of the first references to the prevailing style +was that made by John de Meun in his poem called the +<i>Codical</i>: "If I dare say it without making them [that is, +the ladies] angry, I should <i>dispraise</i> their hosing, their +vesture, their girding, their head-dresses, their hoods +thrown back with their <i>horns</i> elevated and brought forward, +as if it were to wound us. I know not whether +they call them <i>gallowses</i> or <i>brackets</i>, that prop up the +horns which they think are so handsome; but of this I am +certain, that Saint Elizabeth obtained not Paradise by the +wearing of such trumpery." But this style of hair dress +was not made by the hair after all, but by the wimple, +which was raised on either side of the head and supported +by a frame or by pins. John de Meun flourished at the +beginning of the fourteenth century, and had he lived in +the fifteenth, when the horned headdress <i>par excellence</i>, +made up of prongs of hair protruding forward from the +forehead, was in vogue, he would have been still more +aghast. These horns were carefully constructed with the +aid of rolls of linen. Sometimes they had two long wings +on either side, and received the name of "butterflies." +The high, pointed cap which was worn was covered with +a piece of fine lawn, which hung to the ground, and the +greater part of which was tucked under the wearer's arm. +By a writer of the day we are told that the ladies of the +middle rank wore caps of cloth which consisted of several +breadths or bands twisted round the head, with two wings +on each side "like asses' ears." As one wanders through +the mazes of description of the hair dress of the period, he +is prepared to agree with the author to whom we have +just referred, that "it is no easy matter to give a proper +description in writing of the different fashions in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> +dresses of the ladies"; and so we shall submit the case +in terms of still another writer's description; Philip Stubbs +says: "Then followeth the trimming and tricking of their +heads, in laying out their hair to the show; which, of force, +must be curled, frizzled, and crisped, laid out in wreaths +and borders, and from one ear to another; and, lest it +should fall down, it is underpropped with forkes, wires, +and I cannot tell what; then, on the edges of their bolstered +hair, for it standeth crested round about their frontiers, +and hanging over their faces, like pendices or vailes, +with glass windows on every side, there is laide great +wreathes of gold and silver, curiously wrought, and cunningly +applied toe the temples of their heads; and, for +feare of lacking anything to set forth their pride withal, at +their hair thus wreathed and crested, are hanged bugles, I +dare not say bables, ouches, ringes of gold, silver, glasses, +and such other gew-gawes, which I, being unskillful in +woman's tearmes, cannot easily recompt." He then discusses +the "capital ornaments" upon the "toppes of these +stately turrets," which he informs us consisted of a French +hood, hat, cap, kerchief, and such like. He laments the +fact that to such excesses did the fashions go, and so +widely were the women influenced by them, "that every +artificer's wife almost will not stike to goe in her hat +of velvet every day; every merchant's wife, and meane +gentlewoman, in their French hoods; and every poor cottager's +daughter's daughter in her taffeta hat, or else wool +at least, well lined with silk, velvet, or taffeta." He adds +that they had other ornaments for the head, "made net-wise," +and which he says he believes were termed +"cawles," the object of this tinsel being to have the head +with its ornaments glisten and shine like a mass of gold. +He then dismisses with a word the "forked cappes" and +"such like apish toyes of infinite variety."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span> + +<p>Face painting, which came in direct derivation from the +tattooing of the ancient Britons, is a practice that at +the time of which we are writing was very prevalent in +England. It came under as vigorous arraignment by the +writers of the fifteenth century as did the ridiculous forms +of hair dress. The cosmetics in use were of many sorts, +and were usually injurious to the skin of the user.</p> + +<p>The dress of the women also fell under censure and +satire, although that of the men was even more strongly +reprobated by contemporary writers. It does not do to +accept too readily the strictures passed upon the dress of +any age without considering the source of the criticism. +Throughout the Middle Ages, the clergy found dress a convenient +topic for their moralizing, and there is no doubt +that the strictures were often excessive, although the +activity with which the matter was discussed indicates +the importance in which it then was held and also makes +it an important subject for our investigation as a determining +element in the study of the manners and customs +of the period as they relate to woman and reveal her to us.</p> + +<p>The great variety of fabrics, many of them imported, +which were in use enabled women to make a wide choice +in the selection of material for their clothing, while it also +afforded the women of the lower orders an opportunity for +almost as varied a display as was made by those in higher +ranks. In the reign of Henry IV., who revived the sumptuary +legislation of the kingdom with regard to dress, +Thomas Occliff, the poet, in rebuking the extravagances +of the times, speaks of those who walked about in gowns +of scarlet twelve yards wide, with sleeves reaching to the +ground and lined with fur, of value beyond twenty pounds, +and who, if they had been required to pay for what they +wore, would not have been able to buy enough fur to line +a hood; and he adds that the tailors must soon shape their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span> +garments in the open field for lack of room to cut them in +their houses. He mourns chiefly the extravagance of dress +on the part of the wealthy, because "a nobleman cannot +adopt a new guise, or <i>fashion</i>, but that a knave will follow his example."</p> + +<p>After the middle of the fifteenth century, the ladies +ceased to wear the long trains which they had formerly +affected, and substituted excessively wide borders of fur +or velvet. By the end of the century, the dress of the two +sexes was so nearly alike that it was difficult to distinguish +between them. The men wore skirts over their lower +clothing, their doublets were laced in front like a woman's +stays, and their gowns were open in the front to the girdle +and again from the girdle to the ground, where they trailed +slightly. At first, the ladies imitated the men, who wore +greatly padded trunks, by extending their garments from +the hips with foxes' tails and "bum rolls," as they were +called; but as they could not hope to keep pace with the +vast protuberance of the men's trunks, they introduced +the farthingales, which enabled them to appear as large as they pleased.</p> + +<p>Such were the manners and styles of the period with +which the Middle Ages closed and the modern era began. +They were not markedly different from those of the later +Middle Ages generally, but that was because fundamental +changes in society do not find their first expression in +matters which are superficial. The great revolution which +had been going on in the basic forms of society, through +peaceful processes as well as social upheavals and the +prowess of arms, had its reflux more in the morals than in +the manners of the age. Nevertheless, one cannot pursue +the theme of custom and manners throughout the mediæval +period without being conscious of a progress or development +significant of more than mere caprice. This, in fact, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span> +was the case. Any philosophic treatment of English +society during the Middle Ages would have to take cognizance +of manners and customs as indices of the growth of +political, constitutional, and religious principles; and in +this growth would appear the consistently developing status of woman.</p> + +<p>While it is difficult to fix upon any one fact as comprehending +the condition of women in English society at +the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the +new era, there is one which challenges attention. In +reaping the harvest of the narrow and bigoted times +through which she passed, woman found herself possessed +of one sort of fruitage, namely, public rights. The essential +equality of the woman and the man, which first +appeared in the castle, had become a general fact of English +society. Feudalism and its vassalage of the female +sex had disappeared, and the women of the industrial +classes, whatever their economic condition, became sovereigns +of themselves. The women of the towns, largely +through the instrumentality of the guilds, had established +precedents which marked the path of their progress as +"persons" before the law. Associated industry drew +them out of their homes, or at least out of the limited +sphere of home life, and placed in their hands the loom +and the spindle of the world's industry. "The candle" +of the goodwife "that went not out by night" no longer +burned for the provident industry of household needs, but +became a veritable torch to illumine the paths of England's +commerce and to add to that glory of civilization which +constitutes her commercial greatness.</p> + +<p>Out of the whole body of womankind, the Church had +chosen to select a class of women who were dedicated +to its service and who taught by their acts the responsibility +of the prosperous toward their needy brethren; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> +while this does not appear to have been a benefit to +women generally, but simply a training in charity for the +classes who were consecrated to that object, nevertheless +the influence of these chosen women upon their sex, in +awakening their keener sensibilities toward poverty and +distress, aided in placing upon the brow of woman the +queenly crown of compassion which has made her so +largely a ministering force in modern society.</p> + +<p>The elegance and refinement of the women of the +manors, as well as the stability and resourcefulness of +the wives of the wealthy burghers, already gave indication +of the development of the splendid type of modern English +society known as the country gentry and the no less +admirable class of the English tradespeople. Indeed, the +evolution of the middle class as a conservative force is one +of the greatest factors to be considered in mediæval study. +"Blue blood," once regarded as a peculiar strain of vital +fluid by which, through some mysterious means, the +upper stratum of society was marked off from the lower, +came to be detected in the veins of those whose only +pedigree was poverty and whose only claim upon the consideration +and respect of their fellows was real worth of +character. An aristocracy which could be repleted from +the plebeian ranks of the middle classes of society, upon +whose members titles were bestowed, not because of their +readiness to respond to the needs of the privy purse of a +monarch, but because they had assumed leading and important +positions in relation to England's honor and power, +was an aristocracy that did not become archaic or degenerate. +The equality of opportunity, which is the pride +and promise of modern society, had its beginnings in those +early days when the gate of emergence from lower class +conditions was so seldom opened far anyone to pass out to +where the ascent of Parnassus might quicken his ambition.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span> + +<p>Long after feudalism had ceased, however, it was difficult +to disabuse the minds of people of the idea that the +blood which flowed in the veins of a gentleman was different +from that of a peasant or a burgher. It is curious to +note one of the legendary explanations of the division of +blood as given by Alexander Barclay, a poet of the reign +of Henry VII. According to his story, while Adam was +occupied with his agricultural labors, Eve sat at home +with her children about her, when she suddenly became +aware of the approach of the Creator, and ashamed of the +number of her children, she hurriedly concealed those +which were less favored in appearance. Some she placed +under hay, some under straw and chaff, some in the +chimney, and some in a tub of draff; but such as were +fair and comely she kept with her. The Lord told her +that He had come to see her children, that He might promote +them in their different degrees. When she presented +them, according to age, one was ordained to be a king, +another a duke, and so on through the list of high dignities. +The maternal solicitude of Eve made her unwilling that +the concealed children should miss all the honors, and she +brought them forth from their hiding places. Their rough +and unkempt appearance, which was due to the nature of +their places of concealment, added to their unprepossessing +personalities, disgusted the Lord with them. "None," +He said, "can make a vessel of silver out of an earthen +pitcher, or goodly silk out of a goat's fleece, or a bright +sword out of a cow's tail; neither will I, though I can, make +a noble gentleman out of a vile villain. You shall all be +ploughmen and tillers of the ground, to keep oxen and +hogs, to dig and delve, and hedge and dike, and in this +wise shall ye live in endless servitude. Even the townsmen +shall laugh you to scorn; yet some of you shall be +allowed to dwell in cities, and shall be admitted to such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> +occupations as those of makers of puddings, butchers, +cobblers, tinkers, costard-mongers, hostlers, or daubers." +This, so the story informs us, was the beginning of servile +labor; and such a view of caste was no more displeasing +to the peasantry, who knew nothing better, than it was to +the baron, whose pride it pampered.</p> + +<p>A poem of the latter part of the fifteenth century gives +the wishes appropriate to the men and women of the different +ranks of French society. Those of the women are +most characteristic. Thus, the queen wishes to love God +and the king, and to live in peace; the duchess, to have +all the enjoyments and pleasures of wealth; the countess, +to have a husband who is loyal and brave; the knight's +lady, to hunt the stag in the green woods; the lady of +gentle blood also loves hunting, and wishes for a husband +valiant in war; the chamber maiden takes pleasure in +walking in the fair fields by the riversides; while the +burgher's wife loves, above all things, a soft bed at night, +with a good pillow and clean white sheets. This statement +of the characteristic desires of the various classes of +French women holds good as well for the English women of that period.</p> + +<p>The court of Burgundy, which, during the fifteenth century, +was notable for its pomp and magnificence and its +ostentatious display of wealth, was regarded as furnishing +the models of high courtesy and gentle breeding; and it +was the centre of literature and art. Circumstances had +brought the court of England into intimate connection with +it, so that England was more affected by Burgundy than +by any other part of Europe. The social character in England +and France, which, to some extent, had followed +parallel lines since the Norman conquest, now began to +diverge widely. The breakdown of feudalism in England, +where it had never been so fully developed as in France, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> +was not contemporaneous with French conditions in this +respect. Consequently, in the latter country, the chasm +between the lower and the upper strata of society grew +ever wider, the lower classes becoming more and more +miserable, and the upper more immoral. In England, as +we have seen, serfdom disappeared, or existed in name +only, and the relation between the country gentry and the +peasants became increasingly intimate and kindly. The +growth of commerce had spread wealth among the middle +classes and had added much to their social comfort. Although +social manners were still very coarse, the influence +of religious reformers, such as the Lollards, was being +felt in an improvement in the moral tone of the middle and +lower classes of society. Moreover, the discussion of great +social questions had become general among the people. +Even in the middle of the fourteenth century, the celebrated +poem of <i>Piers Plowman</i> took up such discussions, +and one of the tenets of the Lollards was the natural +equality of man. In England, conditions were ripe for the +advent of a new era, and in the fulness of time there came +forth the spirit of new learning, of new industry, of exploration, +of investigation, and of religious freedom, to lead +the English people into the inheritance for which they had +been prepared by those centuries over a part of which +hung such a pall as to secure for them the title of the Dark Ages.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter X</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Tudor Period</h2> +<!--Blank page #220 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> + + +<p>As the year has its seasons, marked by alternations of +active growth and recuperation for new development, so +likewise has history. If the Middle Ages were a time of +comparative dearth as viewed in the light of the modern +era, certainly there was ample vitality hidden in the quiet +forms and the mechanical fixity of the period. The season +of vernal glory for England, which opened with the reign +of Henry VIII. and found its climax in that of Elizabeth, +was glorious because the beauty and brilliancy which characterized +it were due to the splendid utilities which were +passed on to it from the Middle Ages. Art, literature, and +the pleasant pastimes of leisure—the affluence of prosperity—are +the efflorescence of a people's history, though the +absence of these graces and privileges of life may not +mean a dearth in any profound sense, for it may be that +their absence but indicates a lack of favoring conditions +for the root stock to put forth foliage and flower. The +simple form of social life which obtained during the Middle +Ages, as contrasted with the brilliancy of intellect and the +breadth of view of the modern era, does not denote any +important difference in the character of the great mass of +the English people, any more than it can be said of the +fallow land not under cultivation that it has less productivity +than the fields which by the waving grain give evidence of their fertile worth.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span> + +<p>The easy acceptance in modern times of the benefits of +inventions which greatly broaden the scope of living and +add immeasurably to its comfort shows how readily people +adjust themselves to advances in the conditions of life. +So that which we look upon as an era was not so considered +by the people who witnessed the stimulus which we +regard as the beginning of all modern intellectual and +social life. For this reason, we need not expect to discover +in the women of the early modern period any radical +difference from their sisters of preceding generations; +but we shall find that, with the change of environment +and the coming of a better state of life in general, womankind +was gradually and insensibly affected in ways of +permanent improvement. The opening up of new avenues +of human interest and the enlargement of old ones +increased the sphere of woman's life and influence; yet +had it not been for the status she had achieved already, +she would no more have entered prominently into the +blessings and privileges of the new era than did the women +of Greece generally benefit by the Golden Age of Pericles.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the +modern era population was increasing so slowly as to be +practically stationary, and, indeed, for generations past +there had been no appreciable increase. Even after the +favorable conditions of the reign of Henry VIII. became +general, population made comparatively slow progress. +Families were not so numerous, or the number of their +members so great, as compared with to-day. It was an +exception for a laborer to maintain his family in a cottage +to themselves. Farm work was commonly done under the +superintendence of country esquires, and the laborers lived +in the paternal cottage and remained single, marrying only +when by their providence they had managed to save +enough to enable them to enter upon some other career. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> +The competition of other countries, notably France, with +the industries of England proved disastrous to many forms +of England's industrial activities; and to the introduction +into the kingdom of a number of wares and merchandise +of foreign make was attributed the great number of idle +people throughout the realm. To counteract this condition, +Henry issued statutes for the encouragement of manufacturing. +One of these aimed to stimulate the linen +industry. In order that the men and women living in +idleness, which was styled "that most abominable sin," +might have profitable employment, it was ordained and +enacted that every person should sow one-quarter of an +acre in flax or hemp for every sixty acres he might have +under cultivation. The immediate purpose of the act was +to keep the wives and children of the poor at work in their +own houses, but it also indicated that the condition of +manufactures in England was not such as to encourage an enlarging population.</p> + +<p>The condition of the laboring classes during the reign of +Henry VIII. was not such as to excite general dissatisfaction; +indeed, there are evidences of a general state of +contentment among the people. The laws for the encouragement +of trade and the sumptuary legislation for the +regulation of wages and prices were economic measures +which may not stand the test of examination according to +modern ideas, but which nevertheless tended, on the +whole, to benefit those in whose behalf they were made. +Industry was the spirit of the times, and idleness was the +most abhorrent of vices. Men, women, and children, +alike, were to be trained in some craft or other, to prevent +their becoming public charges. The children of parents +who could afford the fees which were exacted for apprenticeship +were set to learn trades, and the rest were bound +out to agriculture; and if the parents failed to see to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224"></a>[pg 224]</span> +it that their children were started out in a career of labor, +the mayors or magistrates had authority to apprentice +such children, so that when they grew up they might not +be driven to dishonest courses by want or incapacity.</p> + +<p>Throughout the sixteenth century, all classes of society +appear to have had a reasonable degree of prosperity, according +to their several needs and stations. The country +gentlemen lived upon their landed estates, surrounded by +those evidences of solid comfort which give attractiveness +to such life. The income of the squire was sufficient to +afford a moderate abundance for himself and his family, +and between him and the commons there was not a wide +difference in this respect. Among all classes of the people +there was a spirit of liberality, open and free; the practicality +of the age was not inaccordant with generous hospitality. +To every man who asked it, there were free fare +and free lodging, and he might be sure of a bountiful board +of wholesome food. Bread, beef, and beer for dinner, and +a mat of rushes in an unoccupied corner of the hall, with a +billet of wood for a headrest, did not constitute luxurious +entertainment, but were regarded as elements of real comfort. +Nor was the generous hospitality proffered to strangers +often abused; the statutes of the times kept suspicious +characters under such close notice, and were so repressive +of predatory and vicious instincts, that there was little +occasion for alarm such as is felt by the modern housewife +in country districts along much-travelled roads. The hour +of rising, both summer and winter, was four o'clock; +breakfast was served at five, after which the laborers +went to their work and the gentlemen to their business. +Life lacked much of modern refinement, although it made +up for this lack in wholesomeness and heartiness. The +large number of beggars in the reign of Henry VIII. was +due in part to the suppression of the monasteries and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span> +drying up of those springs of charity, and the open-handed +hospitality which had encouraged begging while relieving +distress. Upon the assumption that there was no excuse +for an able-bodied vagrant, the penalties imposed upon +"sturdy beggars" were severe. Such, in brief, was the +state of English society at the beginning of the modern era.</p> + +<p>The influence of the Church was on the wane before the +rupture with the papacy was brought about by Henry VIII., +and the laity were beginning to assume the positions, liberties, +and privileges which had appertained to the clergy +as the one scholarly and dominant class of the kingdom. +Under the new conditions of liberty in which we find +woman, there was no room for the continuance of even +the forms of chivalry. Idealized woman no longer existed; +she had become practical. Having sought a position of +public activity, she had been recognized as possessing the +private rights of an individual of the same nature and of +similar status as man. It was no longer needful to go to +the convent to find the religious or intellectual types of +womankind, for religion, benevolence, and literature were +no longer identified only with the cloister. However disastrous +was the suppression of the monasteries to the little +bands of women who wore the habit of the <i>religieuse</i>, +women in general did not feel the upheaval nearly so +much as they did the other social changes, which were +not so radical, but were very much more influential in +their relation to the destiny of the sex as a whole.</p> + +<p>Although manners were very free, and nowhere more +so than among persons of the higher orders of society, +such coarseness is not the true criterion by which to gauge +the women of the day. Even if they did not hesitate to +use profanity, were adepts at coquetry of an undisguised +type, and were guilty of conduct which merited more than +the term "indiscreet," it must be borne in mind that they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> +were creatures of their times. While English society was +noted for its rudeness and coarseness, it was saved from +much of the effeminacy which poisoned the life of its +neighbors on the continent. The sixteenth century took +a more generous, complimentary, and true view of womankind. +In the Middle Ages, she suffered from the exaggerated +praise of the knight and the troubadour on the one +hand, and on the other from the contempt and contumely +of the ecclesiastic. From this equivocal position of being +at the same time an angel and a devil she was rescued by +the sanity and sincerity of the sixteenth century, and was +placed in her true position as a woman, possessed of essentially +the same characteristics as men, worthy of like +honor, and making appeal for no special consideration excepting +that which her sex evoked instinctively from men. +The modern idea had begun to prevail, and woman was no +longer either worshipped or shunned, but was welcomed +as a sharer of the common burdens and joys of life. To +continental observers it was marvellous that the English +woman should have the large amount of liberty that she +enjoyed; and Europeans not understanding the English +point of view were apt to construe such liberty as boldness. +Thus, one writer from abroad is found commenting +upon the sixteenth-century English woman as follows: +"The women have much more liberty than perhaps in any +other place; they also know well how to make use of it; for +they go dressed out in exceedingly fine clothes, and give +all their attention to their ruffs and stuffs to such a degree +indeed that, as I am informed, many a one does not hesitate +to wear velvet in the streets, which is common with +them, whilst at home perhaps they have not a piece of dry bread."</p> + +<p>Elizabeth Lamond's <i>Discourse of the Commonweal</i> recites +that there was more employment for the men and women +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span> +of the towns and cities when the wants of people were +more modest. The population of London, despite the attempts +made by Queen Elizabeth to prevent the influx of +foreigners and persons from the rural districts, increased +rapidly during her reign. On coming into the city, the +rustics soon wasted their small savings in the rioting and +revels which characterized the rough life of the metropolis. +Drinking, gambling, and all forms of license enticed the +husband from his home and destroyed the domestic felicity +which had been the characteristic of country living. +Country and town life were still widely separated by bad +roads and poor means of conveyance. The wives even of +the gentry knew, as a rule, nothing of city life, excepting +from the accounts which their husbands might bring back +to them from occasional jaunts to the metropolis; to all +such accounts they listened with wide-eyed wonder.</p> + +<p>The amusements of the women of the better sort, who +did not find their entertainment in the vices of the times, +took chiefly the form of spectacles, to which they readily +flocked. It mattered little whether it was a mask, a miracle +play, a church procession or a royal progress, a cock +fight or a bear baiting. The brutality of their sports no +more affected their feelings than do the revolting circumstances +of a bull fight shock the sensibilities of the women +of Spain's cultured circles. When any morning they might +see the heads of some unfortunates stuck on pikes and +gracing with their gruesome presence the city gate, it is +not surprising that the people were not repelled by brutal +exhibitions of a lesser sort. Nor did the forms of punishment +in use for malefactors of one kind or another +tend to soften the feelings of the women of the time. It +was no unusual thing for a woman convicted of being a +common scold to be seen going about the streets with her +face behind an iron muzzle clamped over her mouth, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span> +subject for the jeers and ribald mirth of coarse-minded +women no better than herself. Such characters were also +taken to the ducking stool and thoroughly doused in the +water. The punishment of thieves by branding and by +mutilation, and the punishment meted out to women whose +characters, even in that gross age, affronted public morals, +were of a public nature and matters of daily observation. +Nor was any woman quite sure that the gibbet, from +which she could at almost any time see the swaying form +of some unfortunate, might not next serve for the execution +of her own husband; for the number of capital offences +was large, and the inquiries of justice by no means lenient +on the side of the accused.</p> + +<p>The destruction of the monasteries brought about, in a +large measure, the dissolution of the educational system +of the realm. The sons of the poor husbandman, who +had been taught at the convent schools, and then passed +on through the universities, and thence had gradually +worked their way into the professions of religion or the +law, had the door of opportunity to a higher station +closed to them. The deprivation was more severe in the +case of girls, although it did not signify so much for them +in relation to their future—unless, indeed, it did so by debarring +from the profession of religion some who might +have entered it. The clergy tried to meet the educational +demands which were so suddenly thrown upon them, but +it was impossible for them to afford educational facilities +for the youth of either sex at schools without endowment +or adequate support. Elizabeth, with the wide view and +the sagacity which she showed with regard to all aspects +of her kingdom, evinced her recognition of the importance +of education by establishing one hundred free grammar +schools, whose number rapidly increased during her reign. +In the course of time, these schools fell under the control +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> +of the middle class and afforded education for their sons +and daughters. But in England there were certainly very +few, if any, women of the middle class who entered largely +into the benefits of the new learning which came in with +the Renaissance. The study of Latin and Greek and the +discussion of philosophy and science were confined to the +women of the leisure classes. The English universities in +the sixteenth century were closed to women; but such +lack was made up by private tutors, women of rank and +position thus having the benefit of the brightest minds of the age.</p> + +<p>The great awakening of intellectual life in England, in +common with the continental countries, showed itself +in activity in all departments of thought: poetry flourished, +theology caught the infection of the new spirit of liberty, +and the classics were studied with avidity as the springs +of the world's literature and learning. The invention of +the printing press let loose the floods of knowledge, and +the women of the higher classes were caught in the flow +of books and pamphlets, and their intellects were quickened +and their characters formed by these new sources of +inspiration and wisdom. Woman was no longer designated +as the daughter of the Church, which was formerly the +highest encomium that the condescension of the Church +could afford her. She now stood on her own independence +of character, possessed of an intellect and accorded the freedom of its use.</p> + +<p>The example of the Virgin Queen was held up to the +youth of England for their imitation. Elizabeth's education +had been most zealously cared for. To her remarkable +aptitude for learning she added a studious disposition. +At an early age she was an accomplished linguist; the +sciences were familiar to her, she "understood the principles +of geography, architecture, the mathematics, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> +astronomy." Her studies, save one, however, she regarded +rather in the light of pastime; to the exception—history—she +"devoted three hours a day, and read works +in all languages that afforded information on the subject." +Thus was her mind stored with the philosophy of history; +men and events in their ever changing relations were an +open book to her. Hence, when the responsibilities of +sovereignty devolved upon her she was resourceful and +prompt. Whether dealing with her ambitious subjects, or +receiving the wily ambassador of a foreign power, her poise could not be disturbed.</p> + +<p>With the example and influence of the Tudor princesses +before them, the women least needed the exhortation to +intellectual attainments. It was said by a foreign scholar +who visited England in the middle of the sixteenth century +that "the rich cause their sons and daughters to learn +Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, for, since this storm of heresy +has invaded the land, they hold it useful to read the Scriptures +in the original tongue." With all the profession of +knowledge which was assumed by the people of this age, +there went a great deal of pedantry. It became very tiresome +to listen to the conversations of select bodies of +the devotees of the new wisdom, who had touched but the +skirts of the garments of the Muses. The great number of +literary coxcombs and dilettanti who were scribbling Latin +verse and propounding philosophical theses, or pronouncing +upon new theological views, serves to impress one +with the superficiality of the learning of the day, so far as +is concerned the great body of its professed disciples, +while in contrast to these we are led to respect more profoundly +the genuine attainments of the brilliant group of +men and women who made the reign of Elizabeth illustrious +for its varied and almost matchless learning. In spite +of all the pretence to learning on the part of the great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span> +mass of women who had neither the taste nor the capacity +to drink deep at the Pyrenean spring, it must be said that +in no other period of English history has there been shown +such marked and general eagerness for knowledge as in +the sixteenth century, nor has any other period exhibited +such a galaxy of great women. The wide diffusion of a +love of literature is in striking contrast to the literary +dearth of the preceding centuries.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, a period of brilliant authorship +among women. The new learning had first to be imbibed +and become a part of the national thought before it could +express itself in literary products. Translations of the +classics and the works of the Church Fathers, with literary +correspondence and discussions in choice Latin prose, +as well as the composition of distiches in the same tongue, +with occasional instances of adventure into Greek and +Hebrew composition, summed up the literary labors of the +women of the times. As such matters possess little interest +to posterity, not many of these literary essays and +letters have been preserved; but such as have come down +to us mirror the intellect of the women of the age so creditably +as to invite comparison with the results of modern education for the sex.</p> + +<p>Lady Jane Grey may be cited as one of the women of +the day who became notable for learning and scholarship. +Of her, Fox writes: "If her fortune had been as good as +her bringing up, joined with fineness of wit, undoubtedly +she might have seemed comparable not only to the house +of the Vespasians, Sempronians, and the mother of the +Gracchi, yea, to any other women besides that deserve +of high praise for their singular learning, but also to the +University men, who have taken many degrees of the +Schools." The facility of this noble lady in Greek composition +was strongly commended by Roger Ascham. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span> +Her remarkable knowledge of the cognate tongues of the +East and of modern languages made her almost deserving +of the encomium which was passed upon Anna Maria van +Schurman, a Dutch contemporary, of whom it was said: +"If all the languages of the earth should cease to exist, +she herself would give them birth anew." The conversance +of the literary ladies of the sixteenth century with +the languages of the East, as well as with philosophy and +theology, and the really marvellous attainments of some +of them in these subjects, indicate a sound education, even +though an unserviceable one.</p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/bk9-3.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>AUDIENCE TO AN AMBASSADOR<br /> + +After the painting by Léon y Escosura<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +When the responsibilities of sovereignty devolved upon her she<br /> +was resourceful and prompt. Whether dealing with her ambitious<br /> +subjects, or receiving the wily ambassador of a foreign power, her<br /> +poise could not be distrubed.<br /> +<br /> +With the example and influence of the Tudor princesses before<br /> +them, the women least needed the exhortation to intellectual<br /> +attainments.</i></p> + +<p>Erasmus warmly commended the Princess Mary for her +proficiency in Latin, and in later years she translated +Erasmus's <i>Paraphrase of the Gospel of Saint John</i>. Udall, +Master of Eton, who wrote the preface to this work, complimented +her for her "over-painful study and labour of +writing," by which she had "cast her weak body in a +grievous and long sickness." The literary attainments +and linguistic versatility of Elizabeth herself, which made +her a criterion for her times, are well enough known to +need no especial notice here. She had the benefit of +instruction from Roger Ascham, with whom she read the +classics, and from Grindal, under whom she studied theology, +which was a favorite subject with her. In Italian, +Castiglione was her master, and Lady Champernon was +her first tutor in modern languages. She became familiar +with the works of the Greek and Latin authors by hearing +them read to her by Sir Henry Savil and Sir John Fortescue. +In this way she became intimately acquainted with +Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon, and herself translated one +of the dialogues of the latter, besides rendering two orations +of Isocrates from Greek into Latin.</p> + +<p>Among other studious and accomplished women of the +times, Sir Thomas More's daughters held a high place. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> +All of them were clever and applied themselves to abstruse +subjects; but Margaret, wife of William Roper, the +daughter who clung passionately to her father's neck when +he was being led off to execution, was the most brilliant of +this family of accomplished women. Sir Anthony Coke, +whose scholarship gave him the position of preceptor to +Edward VI., had the gratification of seeing his daughters +attract the attention of the most celebrated men of the +nation. One of them married Lord Burleigh, the treasurer +of the realm; another wedded Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord +keeper of the Great Seal, becoming in time the mother of +the famous Francis Bacon, the celebrated philosopher; +and as her second husband, the third had Lord Russell.</p> + +<p>Nothing delighted the brilliant women of the Elizabethan +era so much as to have themselves surrounded by great +writers, statesmen, and other celebrities. Stately magnificence +was maintained at many of the great houses, +and the presence of noted artists and celebrated authors +gave to such homes an intellectual atmosphere. One of +the centres of intellectual thought and literary life of her +time was the home of Mary Sidney, after she had become +the wife of Henry, Earl of Pembroke, and mistress of his +establishment at Wilton. Around her hospitable board +gathered poets, statesmen, and artists, drawn there not by +the rank of the hostess or to satisfy her pride by their +presence and fame, but because her cultivated intellect +made her a fit companion for the greatest intellectual personages +of the day. To have had the honor of entertaining, +as guests, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, besides the lesser +poets of the time, and to have been recognized by such literati +as worthy of their serious consideration because of her +undoubted gifts, not only reflected high compliment upon +the lady, but lasting credit upon her sex, and was one +of the many significant things of the Elizabethan era which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span> +indicated how wide open stood the door of intellectual progress +and equality of opportunity for the women of modern +times. Spenser celebrated the Countess of Pembroke as:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"The gentlest shepherdess that liv'd that day,</p> +<p>And most resembling in shape and spirit</p> +<p>Her brother dear."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Udall, the Master of Eton, speaks enthusiastically of the +great number of women in the noble ranks of society, +"not only given to the study of human sciences and +strange tongues, but also so thoroughly expert in the Holy +Scriptures that they were able to compare with the best +writers as well in enditeing and penning of Godly and +fruitful treatises to the instruction and edifying of realmes +in the knowledge of God, as also in translating good books +out of Latin or Greek into English for the use and commodity +of such as are rude and ignorant of the said tongues. +It was now no news in England to see young damsels in +noble houses and in the courts of princes, instead of cards +and other instruments of idle trifling, to have continually +in their hands either Psalms, homilies, and other devout +meditations, or else Paul's Epistles, or some book of Holy +Scripture matters, and as familiarly both to read and +reason thereof in Greek, Latin, French, or Italian as in +English. It was now a common thing to see young virgins +so trained in the study of good letters that they willingly +set all other vain pastimes at nought for learning's sake. +It was now no news at all to see Queens and ladies of +most high estate and progeny, instead of courtly dalliance, +to embrace virtuous exercises of reading and writing, and +with most earnest study both early and late to apply +themselves to the acquiring of knowledge, as well in all +other liberal artes and disciplines, as also most especially +of God and His holy word."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> + +<p>The doubts as to the utility of higher education for +women in general which trouble some minds at the +present day were not altogether unknown in the age of +Elizabeth. Ecclesiastics especially, even the more liberal, +were most prone to entertain doubts as to the advisability +of permitting women to have a free range through the +avenues of knowledge. It is probable that the middle +classes, to whom the opportunities of education were not +so general, felt the value of schools too highly to speculate +upon the utility of that which was not readily within their +grasp. Richard Mulcaster, who was the master of a school +founded by the Merchant Taylors Company in the parish +of St. Lawrence, Pultney, says: "We see young maidens +be taught to read and write, and can do both with praise; +we have them sing and playe: and both passing well, we +know that they learne the best and finest of our learned +languages, to the admiration of all men. For the daiely +spoken tongues and of best reputation in our time who +so shall deny that they may not compare even with our +kinde even in the best degree ... Nay, do we not see +in our country some of that sex so excellently well trained +and so rarely qualified either for the tongues themselves or +for the matter in the tongues: as they may be opposed by +way of comparison, if not preferred as beyond comparison, +even to the best Romaine or Greekish paragones, be they +never so much praised to the Germaine or French gentle-wymen +by late writers so well liked: to the Italian ladies +who dare write themselves and deserve fame for so +doing?... I dare be bould, therefore, to admit young +maidens to learne, seeing my countrie gives me leave and +her costume standes for me.... Some Rimon will +say, what should wymend with learning? Such a churlish +carper will never picke out the best, but be alway ready +to blame the worst. If all men used all pointes of learning +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> +well, we had some reason to alledge against wymend, but +seeing misuse is commonly both the kinds, why blame we +their infirmitie whence we free not ourselves." He then +contends that a young gentlewoman who can write well +and swiftly, sing clearly and sweetly, play well and finely, +and employ readily the learned languages with some +"logicall helpe to chop and some rhetoricke to brave," is +well furnished, and that such a one is not likely to bring +up her children a whit the worse, even if she becomes a +Loelia, a Hortensia, or a Cornelia. In discussing whether +or not girls should be taught by their own sex, he inclines +to the belief that this practice were advisable, but that +discreet men might teach girls to advantage. To use his +own words: "In teachers, their owne sex were fittest in +some respects, but ours frame them best, and, with good +regard to some circumstances, will bring them up excellently +well." In the higher circles, where cynicism +frequently assumes the forms of wisdom, it was not +universally agreed that women should have the widest +opportunities of education. In one of his discourses, +Erasmus, possibly the most accomplished of the schoolmen +of the time, opens to our view the opinion of the +Church as to female scholarship when he represents an +abbot as contending that if women were learned they +could not be kept under subjection, "therefore it is a +wicked, mischievous thing to revive the ancient custom of +educating them." A remark in one of Erasmus's letters +lays him open to the suspicion of sharing somewhat in +this view, for, in his description of Sir Thomas More, he +speaks of him as wise with the wise, and jesting with +fools—"with women especially, and his own wife among them."</p> + +<p>Besides the graver matters of study which claimed their +attention, the women of England were devoted to music, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span> +needlework, and dancing, which were the favorite fashionable +pastimes. Erasmus speaks of them as the most accomplished +in musical skill of any people. Early as the reign of +Henry VIII., to read music at sight was not an uncommon +accomplishment, while those who aspired to the technique +of the subject were students of counterpoint. Musical +literature was scanty; the principal instruments were the +lute, the mandolin, the clavichord, and the virginals.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding its literary flavor and its identity with +the great themes of modern knowledge, the age of Elizabeth +can hardly be called a serious one from the point of +view of the spirit and manners of the people. Amusement +was sought for its own sake, without regard to its character +or quality. The spirit of enjoyment was hearty and unrestrained, +and lacked discrimination and refinement. The +society of the age, like its culture, was a reflex of the +personality of the powerful queen, who stamped her character +and her tastes upon her people. The queen, as well +as her courtiers, could restrain herself upon occasion; but +neither she nor her subjects felt that there was any moral +or conventional need to place a check upon the expression +of their emotions, and in consequence their manners were +often unbecoming. It did not offend the sense of personal +dignity of Elizabeth to spit at a courtier, the cut or color +of whose coat displeased her, just as she might box his +ears or rap out at him a flood of profanity. When Leicester +was kneeling to receive his earldom, the dignity of the +occasion was entirely destroyed by the volatile queen +bending over to tickle his neck. As it was a case of like +queen, like people, a man who could not or who would +not swear was accounted "a peasant, a clown, a patch, an +effeminate person." The <i>sine qua non</i> for obtaining the +queen's favor was to be amusing. It mattered nothing at +all at whose expense, or how personal the witticism, or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> +how sensitive the one who was made the butt of amusement; +if the queen enjoyed it, and the boisterous laughter +of the court sycophants was evoked, the sufferer had to +appear gratified at the honor of his selection for his sovereign's +entertainment. Coarse manners were but the +expression of coarser morals; even men of the cleanest +characters and highest intelligence did not shrink from +any allusion, however gross, and felt no impulse to check +their words either in speech or in writing. Nor were +women a whit more regardful of the proprieties of expression. +Ascham blamed the degradation of English morals +in part on the custom of sending abroad young men to +Italy to finish their education, and alleged that the corruption +which they underwent at the "court of Circe" was +responsible for the spread of vicious manners in English +society. He writes: "I know divers that went out of England, +men of innocent life, men of excellent learning, who +returned out of Italy, not only with worse manners, but +also with less learning." He complains of the introduction +of Italian books translated into English, which were sold +in every shop of London, by which the morals of the +youth were corrupted, and whose venom was the more +insidious because they appeared under honest titles and +were dedicated to virtuous and honorable personages. As +there was no public opinion to censure the reading of the +women, or standards to control their conversation, they +did not feel the impropriety of acquainting themselves +with such works and of openly discussing them. Indeed, +the women of the nobility felt themselves freed from all the +restraints which the modest of the sex normally cherish for their protection.</p> + +<p>An illustration of the freedom of the manners of the +women is found in the correspondence of Erasmus, who, +on coming to England as a young man, was impressed by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span> +the prevalence of the custom of kissing. In a letter to a +friend in Holland, he says, in effect, that the women kiss +you on meeting you, kiss you on taking their leave; when +you enter their homes, you are greeted with kisses, and +are sped on your way by the same osculatory exercises; +and he adds, after you have once tasted the freshness of +the lips of the rosy English maidens, you will not want to +leave this delightful country. A further illustration of the +same thing is found in a manual of so-called English conversation, +published in 1589: a traveller on arriving at an +inn is instructed to discourse as follows with the chambermaid, +and her conventional replies are given: "My shee +frinde, is my bed made—is it good?" "Yea, sir, it is a +good feder-bed; the scheetes be very cleane." "Pull off +my hosen and warme my bed; drawe the curtines, and +pin them with a pin. My shee frinde, kisse me once, and +I shall sleape the better. I thank you, fayre mayden." +This suggestion of the manners obtaining in the English +inns is but an indication of a similar state of freedom +throughout the lower classes of society. For while the +glory of the Elizabethan age was found mostly at the top +of society, its coarseness pervaded all ranks.</p> + +<p>The rough manners of the age extended to the countenancing +of all sorts of brawls. There was nothing that +would collect a crowd sooner than two boys whose pugnacity +had led them from words to blows; the passers-by +considered such a scene fine sport, and gathered about the +young combatants to encourage them in their fighting. +Even the mothers themselves, far from punishing their +children for such conduct, encouraged it in them. Cock +fighting, bear baiting, wrestling, and sword play were +favorite pastimes. The girls delighted to play in the open +air, with little regard to grace or decorum; a game called +tennis ball was popular. The milkwomen had their dances, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span> +into which they entered with zest. Pets were in favor +with the ladies almost as much as in the former century, +and exploration into new countries had increased the variety +of them. In the prints of the times, ladies are often +represented with monkeys in attendance on them.</p> + +<p>With the great multiplicity of new fashions, in novelties +in customs and in costumes, in manners and even in morals, +there came into vogue, from the East, hot, or, as they +were called, "sweating baths." They became very common +throughout England, and the places where they were +to be gotten were commonly called "hothouses," although +their Persian name of <i>hummums</i> was also preserved. Ben +Jonson represents a character in the old play <i>The Puritan</i> +as saying in regard to a laborious undertaking: "Marry, it +will take me much sweat; I were better to go to sixteen +<i>hothouses</i>." They became the rendezvous of women, who +resorted to them for gossip and company. The rude manners +of the age were not conducive to the preservation of +these places from the illicit intrigues which made them +notorious, and caused the name "hothouse" to become a +synonym for "brothel." It was their acquired character +that probably led eventually to their disuse. They were +not necessarily vicious, and they furnished a convenience +for the sex, who did not have the shops and clubs of +to-day as places for meeting and the interchange of small +talk. It must be remembered that the taverns supplied +this need for the men, but, excepting in the case of the +lower orders of society, the women had no similar place +for such social intercourse as was secured to the men by +their tavern clubs. The hothouses were not simply bath +houses of the modern Turkish type, but were restaurants +as well. While seated in the steaming bath, refreshments +and lunch were served on tables conveniently arranged for +the purpose, and, after ablutions, the women remained as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> +long as they cared to, in conversation. The picnics which +had formerly taken place at the tavern were transferred to +the hot bath, each of the women carrying to the feast contributions +which were shared in common. This practice, +which began with the servant maids, passed to their mistresses +and on up the scale of society, and became fashionable +for the ladies of the higher circles. In the absence +of the modern newspaper, these places became the distributing +centres for the news of the day and the talk +of the town. The tavern served the same purpose for the men.</p> + +<p>Dancing was indulged in by all classes of society, and +the variety and curious names of the new styles which +were introduced during the Elizabethan era are well set +forth in the following quotation from a festal scene in +Haywood's <i>Woman Kilde with Kindnesse</i>:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +"J. SLIME.—I come to dance, not to quarrel. Come, what shall it be? +<i>Rogero</i>?</p> + +<p>JEM.—<i>Rogero</i>! no! we will dance the <i>Beginning of the World</i>.</p> + +<p>SISLY.—I love no dance so well as <i>John, Come Kiss Me Now</i>.</p> + +<p>NICH.—I that have ere now defer'd a cushion, call for the <i>Cushion-dance</i>.</p> + +<p>R. BRICK.—For my part, I like nothing so well as <i>Tom Tyler</i>.</p> + +<p>JEM.—No; we'll have the <i>Hunting of the Fox</i>.</p> + +<p>J. SLIME.—<i>The Hay</i>; <i>The Hay</i>! there's nothing like <i>The Hay</i>!</p> + +<p>NICH.—I have said, do say, and will say again—</p> + +<p>JEM.—Every man agree to have it as Nick says.</p> + +<p>ALL.—Content.</p> + +<p>NICH.—It hath been, it is now, and it shall be—</p> + +<p>SISLY.—What, Master Nicholas? What?</p> + +<p>NICH.—<i>Put on your Smock o' Monday.</i></p> + +<p>JEM.—So the dance will come cleanly off. Come, for God's sake agree +on something; if you like not that, put it to the musicians; or let me speak +for all, and we'll have <i>Sellengers Round</i>." +</p></blockquote> + +<p>The nuptial usages of the age included some curious +customs. Thus, we are told by Howe in his <i>Additions to +Stowe's Chronicle</i> that, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> +"It was the custome for maydes and gentlewomen to give +their favourites, as tokens of their love, little Handkerchiefs, +of about three or four inches square, wrought round about, +and with a button or a tassel at each corner, and a little +one in the middle, with silke and thread; the best edged +with a small gold lace, or twist, which being foulded up in +foure crosse foldes, so as the middle might be seene, +gentlemen and other did usually weare them in their +hattes, as favours of their loves and mistresses. Some +cost six pence a piece, some twelve pence, and the richest +sixteen pence." Handkerchiefs were the customary messengers +of Cupid; the present of a handkerchief with love +devices worked in the corners was a delicate expression of +the tender sentiment. Thus, in Haywood's <i>Fayre Mayde +of the Exchange</i>, Phyllis brings a handkerchief to the +Cripple of Fanchurch to be embroidered, and says:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Only this hankercher; a young gentlewoman</p> +<p>Wish'd me to acquaint you with her mind herein:</p> +<p>In one corner of the same, place wanton Love,</p> +<p>Drawing his bow, shooting an amorous dart—</p> +<p>Opposit against him an arrow in an heart;</p> +<p>In a third corner picture forth Disdain,</p> +<p>A cruel fate unto a loving vein;</p> +<p>In the fourth, draw a springing laurel-tree,</p> +<p>Circled about with a ring of poesy."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Wedding contracts in the times of the Tudors were +peculiar, not being regarded as binding unless there had +been an exchange of gold or the drinking of wine. In the +old play of <i>The Widow</i>, Ricardo artfully entices the widow +into a verbal contract, whereupon one of her suitors draws +hope for himself through the possibility of the engagement +being invalid because it lacked the observance of this +custom. He says: "Stay, stay—you broke no Gold between +you?" To which she answers: "We broke nothing, +Sir;" and on his adding: "Nor drank to each other?" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span> +she replies: "Not a drop, Sir." Whence he draws this +conclusion: "That the contract cannot stand good in Law." +The custom of throwing rice after a wedded couple is a +continuance of the practice in the sixteenth century of +throwing wheat upon the head of the bride as she came +from the church. Marriage was not considered irrevocable, +because, aside from the regular forms of divorce, it +was not unusual for a husband to sell his wife for a satisfactory +consideration. Even down to recent times, the +people in some of the rural districts of England could not +understand why a husband had not a right so to dispose of +his wife, provided he delivered her over with a halter +around her neck. Henry Machyn notes in his <i>Diary</i>, in +1553, the following: "Dyd ryd in a cart Checken, parson +of Sant Necolas Coldabbay, round abowt London, <i>for he +sold ys wyff</i> to a bowcher." When the contracting parties +were too poor to pay for the ceremony and the wedding +feast, and the expenses of the occasion were met by the +guests clubbing together, the occasion was termed a "penny wedding."</p> + +<p>One of the popular customs of the day was to observe +Mayday in the country districts by erecting a brightly +decorated Maypole, about which the young people danced +the simple rustic dances. It is not unusual to find people +to-day sighing for a return of the good old customs of +yore, and a favorite lament is the lapse of the observance +of Mayday in the old English manner. There was, doubtless, +some innocent amusement associated with this popular +holiday, and only the most captious Puritan could +object to it because of its derivation from the old Roman +festival of Flora; but, unfortunately, the manners of the +sixteenth century did not leave room for much of innocent +observance of sports and pastimes in the open air, so that, +in fact, the dances about the Maypole were too frequently +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span> +gross and unseemly. Charles Francis Adams, in his editing +of Morton's <i>Narrative</i>, in the Prince Society Publications, +in commenting upon the Merrie Mount incident in the early +settlement of New England, calls attention in a footnote to +the judgment of a contemporary writer as to the iniquities +which were practised in connection with what in the popular +imagination of the day was a wholesome and happy +pastime. The statement in the passage quoted by him of +the startling depravity which signalized the day throughout +rural England awakens the pertinent question as to what +was the moral state of the women of the rural population of +the country. The testimony of the manners and customs +of the day, and the effect upon England of the indescribable +profligacy of the peoples of France and Italy, force the unpleasant +conclusion, after making all extenuation for the +standards which then obtained, that the vice which in the +higher circles was as "the creeping thing that flieth" appeared +in the lower circles of society in all of its foulness.</p> + +<p>Life in the country was very delightful; buildings of +fanciful architecture were erected, the majority of them +still being of wood, the better sort plastered inside and the +walls hung with tapestry or wainscoted with oak, against +which stood out in bold relief the glittering gold and silver +plate, which not alone the nobles and gentry, but the merchants +and even the farmers and artisans, loved to possess. +But in spite of their love of plate, Venetian glassware, because +of its rarity, was preferred for drinking vessels. +The housewife of quality no longer had to strew rushes +upon the floor, for Turkish rugs were imported and used +by the wealthy. Beds were hung with the finest silk or +tapestry, and the tables were covered with linen. The +homes of all classes showed the increase in the comfort of +living. Even the poorest women could boast of chimneys +to their houses, and were no longer suffocated by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> +smoke which for egress depended upon a hole in the roof. +In 1589 a wise law was passed that no cottage should be +built on a tract of less than four acres of land, and that only +one family was to live in each cottage. Feather pillows +and beds took the place of straw pallets with a log of wood +for a headrest. The poorer homes, which could not afford +expensive rugs, were still strewn with sweet herbs, which, +however, were renewed and kept fresh, and the bedchambers +were made fragrant with flowers. The economy of the +kitchen was not the hard problem it had formerly been, for +in the time of Elizabeth, the period of which we are speaking, +the laboring classes could obtain meat in abundance. +The "gentry ate wheaten, and the poor barley bread; beer +was mostly brewed at home; wine was drunk in the richer +houses. Trade brought many luxuries to the English table; +spices, sugar, currants, almonds, dates, etc., came from the +East." Indeed, so many currants were imported into the +country that it is said that the people of the places from +whence they were shipped supposed that they were used +for the extraction of dye or else were fed to the hogs; but +the real explanation was the great fondness of the English +people for currants and raisins in their pastry. While they +were not gluttonous, the English then, as now, were fond of +the table, and gave much attention to eating and drinking.</p> + +<p>The old people of the age regretfully looked back over +their lives to former days, when, as they said, although the +houses were but of willow, Englishmen were oaken, but +now the houses were oaken and the Englishmen of straw. +The appearance of chimneys was not greeted as an improvement, +for the poor had never fared so well as in the +smoky halls of other days; they could not bear the thought +that their windows, which were formerly of wickerwork, +were now of glass, or that now, instead of sweet rushes, foreign +carpets were upon the floors of many houses; or that so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span> +many houses were being built of brick and stone, plastered +inside. It was regarded as a sure indication of a decline in +virility that the sons of the sturdy yeomen of a past generation +should crave comfortable beds hung with tapestry, and +use pillows—luxuries which once were thought suited only +for women in childbed. In the midst of an influx of new +comforts, there was a barrenness of things considered to-day +to be essential, and the absence of which was made the more +glaring by reason of the many comforts and luxuries with +which life was surrounded. "Good soap was an almost +impossible luxury, and the clothes had to be washed with +cow-dung, hemlock, nettles, and refuse soap, than which, in +Harrison's opinion, 'there is none more unkindly savor.'"</p> + +<p>A Dutch traveller, who in 1560 visited England and recorded +his impressions of the English home, introduces us +to a pleasant picture of the home life of the times, in the +following words: "The neat cleanliness, the exquisite +fineness, the pleasant and delightful furniture in every +point for household, wonderfully rejoiced me; their chambers +and parlors strawed over with sweet herbs, refreshed +me; their nosegays, finely intermingled with sundry sorts +of fragrant flowers in their bedchambers and privy rooms, +with comfortable smell cheered me up." The parlors were +freshened with green boughs and fresh herbs throughout +the summer, and with evergreens during the winter.</p> + +<p>During the reign of Elizabeth, the hours for meals were +the same as in the fifteenth century, although between the +first meal and dinner it was customary to have a small +luncheon, mostly composed of beverages, and called a +<i>bever</i>. A character in one of Middleton's plays says: "We +drink, that's mouth-hour; at eleven, lay about us for victuals—that's +hand-hour; at twelve, go to dinner—that's +eating-hour." Dinner was the most substantial meal of +the day, and its hearty character was commented upon by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> +foreign travellers in England. It was preceded by the +same ceremony of washing the hands as in former times, +and the ewers and basins used for the purpose were often +elaborate and showy. It must be remembered that at +table persons of all ranks used their fingers instead of +forks, and the laving of the hands during the meals was +important for comfort and cleanliness. After the introduction +of forks, the washing of hands during the meal, though +no longer so necessary as before, was continued as a polite +form for a while, although the after-meal washing appears +to have been discontinued. The pageantry and splendor +which attended feasting reached their greatest height in +the first half of the sixteenth century. The tables were +arranged around the side of the hall, some for the guests, +and others to hold the tankards, the ewers, and the dishes +of food; for it had not yet become the practice to put anything +on the table in setting it other than the plates, the +drinking vessels, the saltcellars, and the napkins. The +dresser, or the cupboard, was the greatest display article +of furniture in the hall of the houses of the higher orders of +society, who invested large amounts of money in vessels +of the precious metals and of crystal, which were sometimes +set with precious stones and were always of the +most beautiful patterns and of odd and elaborate forms. +To such lengths went personal pride in the appearance of +the dresser, that points of etiquette were raised by careful +housewives as to how many steps, or gradations on which +the rows of plate were placed above each other, members +of the different ranks of society might have on their cupboards. +Five for a princess of royal blood, four for noble +ladies of the highest rank, three for nobility under the +rank of duke, two for knights-bannerets, and one for persons +who were merely of gentle blood, was fixed as proper +form. Dinner was still served in three courses, without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> +any great distinction in the character of the dishes served +at each course. One of the writers of the times says: +"In number of dishes and changes of meat the nobility +of England do most exceed." "No day passes but they +have not only beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, coney, +capon, pig, or so many of them as the season yields, but +also fish in variety, venison, wildfowl, and sweets." As +there were but two full meals in the day, and as the households +of the nobility, including the many servants and retainers, +were large, and as it was the practice for the chief +servants to dine with the family and the guests, it will be +seen that a large and varied supply of food was needed. +The upper table having been served, the lower servants +were supplied, and what remained was bestowed upon the +poor, who gathered in great numbers at the gates of the +nobility to receive the leavings from their meals. It can be +seen that the labors of the women in supervising the +affairs of the household were onerous. Among gentlemen +and merchants, four, five, or six dishes sufficed, and if +there were no guests, two or three. Fish was the article +of greatest consumption among the poor, and could be +obtained at all seasons. Fowls, pigeons, and all kinds of +game were abundant and cheap. Butter, milk, cheese, +and curds were "reputed as food appurtenant to the inferior +sort." The very poor usually had enough ground +in which to raise cabbages, parsnips, carrots, pumpkins, +and such like vegetables, which constituted their principal +food, and of which both the raising and the preparation for +the table were largely the work of the women. Among the +lower classes, the various feasts of the year and the bridal +occasions were celebrated with great festivity, and it was +the custom for each guest to contribute one or more dishes.</p> + +<p>"Sham" is the keynote to an understanding of Elizabethan +society; the Virgin Queen herself, with all her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> +undoubted worth and abilities, was the embodiment of the +vanity and pretence of her age. Young unmarried women +loved "to show coyness in gestures, mince in words and +speeches, gingerliness in tripping on toes like young goats, +demure nicety and babyishness," and when they went +out, they had silk scarfs "cast about their faces, fluttering +in the wind, or riding in their velvet visors, with two holes +cut for the eyes." The visors here mentioned bring to +mind Hamlet's "God hath given you one face, and you +make yourself another; you jig, you amble, you lisp, you +nickname God's creatures, and make your wantonness +your ignorance." The general use of masks in public +places toward the close of Elizabeth's reign did not improve +the moral status of the higher classes. The pretentiousness +and the superficiality of the times are laid bare by Harrington, +the favorite godson of the queen, whose arraignment +is in unsparing terms: "We go brave in apparel that we +may be taken for better men than we be; we use much bombastings +and quiltings to seem better framed, better shouldered, +smaller waisted, and fuller thighed than we are; we +barb and shave oft to seem younger than we are; we use +perfumes, both inward and outward, to seem sweeter, +wear corked shoes to seem taller, use courteous salutations +to seem kinder, lowly obeisance to seem humbler, +and grave and godly communication to seem wiser and devouter than we be."</p> + +<p>The dress of the women of the Elizabethan era shows +the same extravagance that is apparent in all the exaggerated +social phases of the time. Philip Stubbs, who wrote +at the close of the sixteenth century a book entitled <i>The +Anatomy of Abuses</i>, appears to have been a choleric and +gloomy observer of current manners, but, with due allowance +for the spirit in which he writes, a very clear picture +can be gotten of the style and excesses of dress of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id="page250"></a>[pg 250]</span> +several classes of society. He affirms that no people in +the world were so hungry after new-fangled styles as +were those of his country. After having dilated on the +large amounts spent for dress, he digresses in order to +moralize, and adds that the fashionable attire of the day +is unsuited to the actual needs of the wearers' bodies and +"maketh them weak, tender, and infirm, not able to abide +such blustering storms and sharp showers as many other +people abroad do daily bear." It is curious to find him +harking back to the old days of which he had heard his +father and other sages speak, when all the clothes for the +household were made by the busy housewife, and coats +were of the same color as the wool when it was on the +sheep's back. In the abandonment of the household woollen +industry and the excessive use of imported fabrics, he +sees the reason for the many thousands in England who +were reduced to the necessity of begging bread. Starch, +which is now such a homely and universally helpful laundry +assistant, and to the expert use of which so much of +the freshness and smartness of women's attire is due, was +then first introduced. "There is a certain liquid matter +which they call starch," says this censorious critic of current +customs, "wherein the devil hath learned them to +wash and dive their ruffs; which, being dry, will then +stand stiff and inflexible about their necks." The ladies +of his day must have been more expert in the use of starch +than are their sisters to-day, as they introduced into it +coloring matter, so that it temporarily dyed the fabrics +red, blue, purple, and other colors, of which yellow seems +to have been the most esteemed.</p> + +<p>The yellow starch which was so much in use originated in +France, and was introduced into England by a Mrs. Turner, +a physician's widow, a vain and infamous woman, who +ended her career on the gallows in expiation of the murder +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span> +of Sir Thomas Overbury. Bulwer says that it is hard "to +derive the pedigree of the cobweb-lawn-yellow-starched +ruffs, which so disfigured our nation, and rendered them +so ridiculous and fantastical." It appears that when the +introducer of the custom was led to the gallows she was +conspicuous in a yellow ruff worn about her neck, and +after her execution the wearing of such ruffs rapidly declined. +Having said this much about the ruffs which were +a characteristic feature of the dress of the day of both men +and women, it may be well to add that starch was not +wholly depended upon for the support of these preposterous +neck dresses. Wire frames covered with silver or +silk thread were employed for the purpose. These ruffs +are often referred to in the literature of the period. Allusion +is made to them in the play of <i>Nice Valour</i>, by Beaumont +and Fletcher, where the madman says:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Or take a fellow pinn'd up like a mistress,</p> +<p>About his neck a ruff like a pinch'd lanthorn,</p> +<p>Which school-boys make in winter."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Stubbs also pays his respects to the gowns of the +women, which he says were no less "famous" than the +rest of their attire. A quotation will serve to give an idea +of the materials which were in use for dress goods and the +embellishments of women's gowns; "Some are of silk, +some of velvet, some of grograin, some of taffeta, some +of scarlet, and some of fine cloth of ten, twenty, or forty +shillings the yard; but, if the whole garment be not of +silk or velvet, then the same must be laid with lace two +or three fingers broad all over the gown, or else the most +part; or, if it be not so, as lace is not fine enough, now +and then it must be garded with gards of velvet, every +gard four or five fingers broad at the least, and edged with +costly lace; and, as these gownes be of divers colours, so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span> +are they of divers fashions, changing with the moon; for, +some be of the new fashion, some of the old; some +with sleeves, hanging down to their skirts, trailing on +the ground, and cast over their shoulders like cow-tails; +some have sleeves much shorter and cut up the arm, +drawn out with sundry colours, and pointed with silk ribbands, +and very gallantly tied with love-knots, for so they +call them." To these striking costumes were added capes +which reached down to the middle of the back, and which, +our author informs us, were "plaited and crested with +more knacks than he could express."</p> + +<p>It is impossible to do more than mention the absurdities +in general of women's attire and toilette during the eccentric +Elizabethan era. Ladies painted their faces and wore +false hair, as they had done in other ages, only with greater +refinements of hideousness; they stuffed their petticoats +with tow, and drew in their waists to incredible smallness +as compared with the vast expansiveness of their form +from the waist down, which was secured by the use of +farthingales. The way they tilted up their feet with long +cork soles made them amble much after the fashion of the +women of China with their bandaged feet. They wore +jewels and ornaments in great profusion, fine colored silk +hose, which had lately been introduced among the other +foreign "gewgaws" of the times, and exchanged with +their friends as valued presents embroidered and perfumed +gloves. In the light of the varied styles of the day, the +criticism, "Like a crow, the Englishman borrows his +feathers from all nations," was a true one.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the gayety and frivolity of the Elizabethan +age, the forces of reaction were hidden, but already +active; and the mutterings of discontent which were heard +presaged the social outbreak which was to lead a king to the block.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter XI</h2> + +<h2>Women of the Commonwealth Period</h2> +<!--Blank page #254 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> + + +<p>The great evil of Puritanism was the tendency to hypocrisy +which it produced among the people, by forcing upon +them the simulation of a virtue greater than they in reality +possessed. An affectation of piety which was carried to +fanatical extremes, and which affected men and women +alike and made them fall into stereotyped expressions and +cant utterances having a savor of religiosity, while barren +of the spirit of true devotion, was, to say the least, unwholesome +for the nation. But the very fact that the +pendulum had swung so far in the direction of primitive +austerity in life and in worship showed that behind the +hollow and insincere forms and words of Puritanism there +was a magnificent earnestness of purpose, such as had +been foreign to English life as a whole, although to be +found among the followers of Wyckliffe and the Lollards.</p> + +<p>As the spirit of Puritanism spread, its opponents, who +were styled the Libertines, became more defiant in their +attitude and less regardful of the strictures which the +narrow-minded bigots, as they styled the Puritans, cast +upon them. Thus, the women were divided by the extremes +of position occupied by the men. Drunkenness +among women of rank became very common. Intellectual +fervor declined and learning became superficial, while the +pet vices, inanities, and vain pomp of the reign of Elizabeth +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span> +lost much of their glitter and became mere prosaic and +gross immorality. While the women of the court indulged +in revelry, to the scandal of their sisters of the +middle classes, the latter, by their piety as well as by +their pious affectations, brought upon themselves coarse +witticisms, ribald mirth, and allegations of misconduct +under the guise of sanctity. So it happened that just +when the women of the middle classes were approaching in +position their sisters of the higher circles, by the ascent of +the class to which they belonged and by the recognition on +the part of the superior ranks of their worth as individuals +and their importance as a sound element of the nation, the +tendency toward a uniform equality, however remote its +realization, was rudely checked by an issue which sundered +the respective classes to the nethermost poles. It +then became but a question of which section of the nation +should administer its affairs and direct its destiny. When +the two opposing camps of aristocracy and democracy met +in conflict, King Charles was led to the gibbet, not because +the feeling of the people was so especially bitter against +him personally, as that he was the impersonation of an +aristocracy which had become so intrenched in power, +that, regardless of its acts, it claimed divine right to rule.</p> + +<p>The female sex, as a whole, was not held in high esteem +by the Puritans, however dear to them may have +been the women of their own households. By the gayety +and licentiousness of the brilliant era of Elizabeth, women +had forfeited the esteem of these stern censors of public +virtue, and were held up as snares in the way of the +righteous and as emissaries of Satan. It would be unjust +to the sound judgment of those earnest men of powerful +thought and tested standards even to suggest that they +did not make a distinction between woman in disgrace—as +they regarded the women in representative life about +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> +them—and woman in her normal and helpful relationship +to society, as illustrated in the Biblical types of exalted +womanhood. It was but natural that, at a time when the +social sin was the canker of society, woman should have +been looked upon in the light of the temptress in Eden. It +is only with such qualification that the characterization of +a writer on the period of the Commonwealth, whose description +is generally accurate, can be accepted: "Under +the Commonwealth, society assumed a new and stern +aspect. Women were in disgrace; it was everywhere +declared from the pulpit that woman caused man's expulsion +from Paradise, and ought to be shunned by Christians +as one of the greatest temptations of Satan. 'Man,' said +they, 'is conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity; it +was his complacency to woman that caused his first debasement; +let man not therefore glory in his shame; let +him not worship the fountain of his corruption.' Learning +and accomplishments were alike discouraged, and women +confined to a knowledge of cooking, family medicines, and +the unintelligible theological discussions of the day."</p> + +<p>The high tension which had been maintained during the +preceding reign was followed during those of James I. and +Charles I. by a mental inertia; and the intellectual life of +the people, which had resulted from the revival of learning +in the sixteenth century, languished and almost died of +inanition. Even among those men—the courtiers—who +amused themselves chiefly by the foibles of the other sex, +there was a morbid reaction against their associates in +frivolity. It was no longer customary to praise women +for their wit and repartee and to look upon them as brilliant, +or to regard their coarse jests as delicate humor; +instead of this, these men affected toward them great contempt, +and scoffed at all other men who manifested +respect for the sex. Whether among the nobility or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span> +among the Puritans, woman was wounded in the house of her friends.</p> + +<p>Amid the premonitory rumblings of civil strife and the +actual horrors of war, when the nation was rent asunder, +the matters of belief and of conduct were the burning +themes for thought and discussion; it was not possible to +maintain interest in intellectual concerns, even if there had +not been a reaction from the highly wrought state of mind +of the preceding era. That behind the Puritans' apparent +hatred of beauty and of the grace of intellect and of life +there was no real abandonment of the true principles +which underlie all permanent beauty and grace is sufficiently +shown by the production of that poet who sounded +deepest the reaches of philosophy and scaled highest the +ascents of poetic thought—the great Milton. He it was +who caught the deep significance of the movements of the +age, and brought them into harmony with the parable of +human history—a feat so mighty that it called forth the +highest flights of poetic fancy and sought the embodiment +of the best graces of language. It is not without interest +to note the absence of woman in the lofty theme of Milton, +saving only as she appears in the Puritanic conception of the temptress.</p> + +<p>Another of the Puritans, who in his way was as great +as Milton, Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, caught and set +forth in magnificent allegory the meaning of the Puritan +movement for the individual; but there is an absence of +woman in the story of the pilgrimage of Christian to the +Celestial City, excepting as she appears in the character +of the temptress, as at Vanity Fair. The Christian +Graces, who are represented as women, are not types +of the sex of the day, but are used to point the contrast +the more sharply between woman in ideal and woman +as the product of the times of the Puritans. It remained, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> +however, for the Puritans to refine the sex by the fires of +relentless criticism and to produce the severer, but much +nobler, Christian woman, who became the normal type, +not only for the middle classes, but, to an extent, for the +women of the higher circles as well.</p> + +<p>The state of society was not favorable for intellectual +expression on the part of woman, although it can hardly +be said that it retarded intellectual progress. The character +of the English woman was being affected in a way to +save it from becoming merely superficial and volatile, like +that of her French sister, and her intellect was being +sobered for literary production that should have worthier +qualities than mere brilliancy to recommend it. When the +women of the middle classes stepped out into the arena of +authorship, the value of the Puritan period as a corrective +of the frivolity and false standards for women which had +previously obtained becomes manifest in their writings.</p> + +<p>The loss of opportunities of education for the women of +the middle classes, which was a result of the dissolution +of the religious houses, had never quite been made good, +and even down to the second half of the seventeenth century +there was no adequate system of popular education. +In the case of the children of the nobility, suitable education +and training for their station in life could be obtained +only by sending them abroad to Italy, France, or Germany, +or by bringing foreign teachers into the country. Girls +were never sent abroad for their education; and in the +case of the daughters of middle-class society, all that was +regarded as needful was training in the practical affairs of +housewifery—to which, in the case of the Puritans, was +added inculcation of the Scriptures and the reading of other +devout books. The current opinion is well expressed in +the following citation from <i>The Art of Thriving</i>: "Let them +learne plaine workes of all kind, so they take heed of too +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> +open seeming. Instead of song and musick, let them learne +cookery and laundry, and instead of reading Sir Philip +Sydney's <i>Arcadia</i>, let them read the grounds of huswifery. +I like not a female poetesse at any hand: let greater personages +glory their skill in musicke, the posture of their +bodies, the greatnesse and freedome of their spirits, and +their arts in arraigning of men's affections at their flattering +faces: this is not the way to breed a private gentleman's daughter."</p> + +<p>Even if higher education for women were not recognized +as important in the seventeenth century—and the facilities +were not at hand, even if the sentiment had existed—it +would be captious criticism to construe this into a grievance +against the sex. In all that pertained to dignity and +real worth, the women of the Commonwealth, with all the +narrowness of their training, were much in advance of +womankind at the beginning of the modern era, and their +moral differentiation from the women of the same class +before the spread of Puritanism was most marked. Puritanism +was a distinct gain for woman, for through that +movement the process of raising women in the social scale +received great impetus. A comparison with the girls of +France of about the same period certainly shows that the +low state of education among the sex in England was not +in any wise peculiar to English conditions. Fénelon, in +referring to the neglect of the education of the girls of his +country, says: "It is shameful, but ordinary, to see +women who have acuteness and politeness, not able to +pronounce what they read; either they hesitate or they +intone in reading, when, instead, they should pronounce +with a simple and natural tone, but rounded and uniform. +They are still more deficient in orthography, whether in +the manner of composing their letters or in reading them when written."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> + +<p>The Civil War itself had a wide effect upon the state of +education among the people. Families in which education +had been fostered, with the turn of their fortunes found it +impossible to continue it; families whose fortunes had risen +by political changes felt their deficiency in this respect, +and affected to despise accomplishments of which they +themselves were destitute. Certain of the more enlightened +Puritan women pretended to apply themselves to the +study of Hebrew, on the ground that they looked upon it +as necessary to eternal salvation. Such pedantry brought +no credit to those who affected it, but only served to heap +odium upon the higher studies, which were now rejected +with contempt on all sides. How effectually interest in +education was suppressed by the civil disorders is shown +by a remark of a traveller who visited the country after +the Revolution. He says: "Here in England the women +are kept from all learning, as the profane vulgar were of +old from the mysteries of the ancient religions." It is +amusing to note the theories which had arisen with regard +to female education and which were used to extenuate its +lack. Some apologists for feminine ignorance gravely +asserted and led others to believe that the women of England +"were too delicate to bear the fatigues of acquiring +knowledge," besides being by nature incapable of doing +so, for, said they, "the moisture of their brain rendered it +impossible for them to possess a solid judgment, that +faculty of the mind depending upon a dry temperature." +But the unanswerable argument of all was that death and +sin had fallen upon the race of Adam solely in consequence +of the thirst which Eve had manifested for knowledge. In +the face of such contentions, it was not difficult to lead +people generally to accept the further conclusion as to the +disastrous consequences which would certainly come upon +society when woman became puffed up with her mental +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> +acquirements; the favorable opinion which she would then +have of herself would not harmonize with that obedience +to men for which she was created. Worthy of note is +the fact that these views extended in some circles to the +arresting of the progress of religious instruction, especially +that of a public nature. Evelyn, in his <i>Diary</i>, says that +while the saints inherited the earth under the Protectorate, +it was his invariable custom to devote his Sunday afternoons +to the catechising and instruction of his family; but, +he remarks, these wholesome exercises "universally +ceased in the parish churches, so as people had no principles, +and grew very ignorant of even the common points +of Christianity, all devotions being now placed in hearing +sermons and discourses of speculative and national things."</p> + +<p>There was a sterner side to the religious movement in +England than its relation to matters intellectual or even +moral. The Reformation under Henry VIII. had added +the names of certain women to those of the noble army of +martyrs of all the ages. To be false to conscience was to +be false to the very principles of their being, and both +Catholic and Protestant women became intensely strong +in their convictions and intolerant of those of others. The +Roman Church offered up its holocaust to the passions and +prejudices of the leaders of the Protestant movement, just +as the Roman Church in turn exacted the tribute of their +lives from many adherents of Protestantism. Woman was +looked upon as inferior to man and less capable of responsible +action, but in meting out persecutions there was no distinction +as to sex, the weaker suffering equally with the +stronger. The history of religious persecutions in England +is one of its least engaging chapters, and extends over a +long period. Puritan, Prelatist, and Catholic alike darkened +the annals of the times by deeds of violence. To +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> +recite the sufferings of women under the crossfires of persecution +would be at best an ungracious task; and as such +experiences form but a part of the history of the sex +during the period which we have broadly styled the period +of the Commonwealth, an instance or two of the sufferings +of notable women, irrespective of their party affiliations, +will suffice for citation.</p> + +<p>One of the most sorrowful of the judicial murders of +which a woman was the victim, which occurred during the +whole of this extended period, was that of Lady Lisle, +who, because of her sympathies with Monmouth's rebellion +against the king, was brutally executed, the specific +charge being the harboring of fugitives. The king's project +to hand over the nation to papacy nowhere aroused +such outbursts of indignation as among the Covenanters +of Scotland, who saw in it the destruction of all their hard-wrought-out +religious liberties, and the endangering of +their lives, besides the return of the nation to the chaos +from which it was emerging. The address of Lady Lisle +before her execution is an example of the sublimity to +which woman's character may rise under persecution, +when the spirit is buoyed by faith: "Gentlemen, Friends, +and Neighbors, it may be expected that I should say something +at my death, and in order thereunto I shall acquaint +you that my birth and education were both near this +place, and that my parents instructed me in the fear of +God, and I now die of the Reformed Protestant Religion; +believing that if ever popery should return into this nation, +it would be a very great and severe judgment.... +The crime that was laid to my charge was for entertaining +a Non-conformist Minister and others in my house; the +said minister being sworn to have been in the late Duke +of Monmouth's army." Continuing, she said: "I have +no excuse but surprise and fear, which I believe my Jury +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> +must make use of to excuse their verdict to the world. I +have been also told that the Court did use to be of counsel +for the prisoner; but instead of advice, I had evidence +against me from thence; which, though it were only by +hearing, might possibly affect my Jury; my defence being +such as might be expected from a weak woman; but such as +it was, I did not hear it repeated to the Jury, which, as I +have been informed, is usual in such cases. However, +I forgive all the world, and therein all those that have +done me wrong." Another victim of the same "Bloody +Assize" of Jeffreys, Mrs. Gaunt, of Wapping, pathetically +says: "I did but relieve an unworthy, poor, distressed family, and lo, I must die!"</p> + +<p>The age was the legatee of a spirit of venom and bigotry +which expressed itself in deeds of violence more distressing +than those incident to the religious wars. Deeds of blood, +when connected with the defence of convictions, have about +them something of the heroic, but there is absolutely no +ray of glory to fall upon and lighten the dreary records of +the war upon defenceless women charged with being +witches, which broke out with fresh virulence with the +increase of religious fervor under the Commonwealth. +The charges were many and specious, but a very common +form centred about the compassionate functions of women +as the ameliorators of human distress.</p> + +<p>The history of witchcraft is so intimately associated +with that of medicine, that to write an account of the one +involves a recital of the other. The utter lack of knowledge +of the anatomy of the human body and its functions, +which continued down to quite recent times, accounts for +the mystery and magic which surrounded the whole subject +of medicine, not only earlier than and during the +period of which we are speaking, but long subsequent +to it. The one who could successfully treat disease was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span> +regarded as in league with the powers of darkness. Until +the practice of medicine came to be established upon scientific +principles, the care of the sick largely devolved upon +women. Had it been men instead of women who performed +the crude but often sincere service of nurse and +physician, they would have come under the same ban +with the effects of which the practitioners of the other sex +were visited. It is not probable, however, that the public +odium would have gone to such lengths of violence in its expression.</p> + +<p>Among savage peoples, as the primitive tribes of Africa +and the American aborigines, the man who can dispel disease +by a fetich—the great medicine-man of a tribe—has +always been regarded with a feeling of combined jealousy, +suspicion, and fear; but, because of the occult powers he +is supposed to control, fear predominates and passes into +a form of reverence. Not so, however, in the case of +woman, of whom we write; she was looked upon as having +forfeited, to an extent, her claims upon humanity by her +original alliance with Satan, and, being outside of the pale +of God's grace, or sustaining only a permissive relationship +to it, it was deemed a pious, a safe, and a creditable +thing to mete out to her the divine dispensation of wrath. +Thus again, amid numerous instances of woman's suffering +as a penalty for her sex, we have the occurrence of +woman being persecuted unto death because of her compassion. +It was not regarded as despicable for the very +person who had been succored by her in the hour of sickness +to turn informant and declare that he or she had been +healed by diabolical agency, and, whether under the influence +of an honest hallucination, or simply actuated by a +malicious propensity, to declare that evil spirits had actually +been conjured up in human form and been seen by the eyes of the sufferer.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> + +<p>Women were not blameless in the matter of their reputation +for possessing occult knowledge and having diabolical +relations; for there were many women who, being +morally not beyond reproach, separated themselves from +society as they grew older, and resorted to medicinal +knowledge and magic for a living and to maintain in the +public eye the position of unenviable notoriety of which +they had become morbidly fond. It gratified such natures +to be reputed to possess the power—which even philosophers +ascribed to them—of, at certain seasons, turning +milk sour, making dogs rabid, and producing other such +freakish manifestations. They were considered to be able +not only to heal sickness, but to cause it; and the presence +in one's clothing of a pin whose irritant end was +pointed in the wrong direction was sufficient to make the +person believe that he was under a spell of witchcraft. If +a cow or a horse fell lame, it was the village witch who +did it; if a child developed as an imbecile, or anyone became +bereft of reason, it was laid at the door of the witch; +the failure of crops, a drought,—anything that interfered +with the comfort or convenience of a person or a community,—was +due to some such representative of Satan.</p> + +<p>As the number of happenings of this sort increased, or +there occurred an epidemic of disease, or a flood or famine +of especial virulence, the number of alleged witches correspondingly +increased; and so the persecution swelled in +volume, each wave of malevolence receding only to rise +in larger aspect on the next occasion of its arousing. Not +until the reign of Henry VIII. were there any enactments +against witchcraft in England; prior to the passage of these +acts, the persecution of a sorceress followed only upon an +accusation of poisoning. During some parts of the Middle +Ages the crime of poisoning was extensive, and certain +women were adepts in making the deadly potions. To such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> +abandoned characters resorted persons of state who desired +to make away with hated rivals, or the men and women of +the nobility who sought to hide or to further their intrigues +by the death of someone who stood in their way. As the +women who practised the arts of the poisoner were also +devotees of sorcery, the crime and the superstition came +to be thought of together. One reason for the detestation +of witches was the subtlety they displayed in concocting +poisons which slowly sapped the vitality of a person, +as if by a wasting illness. In 1541, conjuring, sorcery, +and witchcraft were placed in the list of capital offences. +Similar statutes were enacted during the succeeding reigns of Elizabeth and James I.</p> + +<p>The curious matter of demoniacal possession called forth +a great many books and pamphlets treating of its nature, +history, methods of repression, and the dispossession of +those under witches' spells. John Wier, a physician, +wrote a treatise, in the last half of the sixteenth century, +in which he described witches as but exaggerated types of +the perversity which is found in women generally. In the +easy subjection of the sex to malign influences he saw a +proof of its greater moral weakness.</p> + +<p>The seventeenth century was as prolific of cases of +persecution of women for demon possession as any of +those of the less enlightened period of mediævalism. In +1568, in a sermon before Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Jewell +said: "It may please your Grace to understand that +witches and sorcerers within these few last years are +marvellously increased within your Grace's realm. Your +Grace's subjects pine away even unto the death, their +colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, +their knees are bereft. I pray God they never practise +<i>further than upon the subjects</i>." The Bull of Innocent +VIII., in 1484, did not do more for the furtherance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> +of persecution of the unfortunates who came under suspicion +of using magic than did the declaration of Luther: +"I should have no compassion on these witches; I would +burn all of them." As upon the continent, so in England +reformers took up the persecution of witches with keen +zest, as a contest with the powers of darkness working +for the destruction of the peace and health of humanity +in an open and flagrant manner. The same spirit of +espionage which was one of the baleful effects of the +outbreaks of persecution during the Middle Ages attended +the persecution of witchcraft in England during the seventeenth +century. To save themselves from suspicion, persons +informed against others, and even members of a +household would give evidence leading to the trial of those +of their own kin. When an unfortunate fell under suspicion,—which +too frequently meant the animosity of an +evil-disposed person,—the minister would denounce her +by name from the pulpit, prohibit his parishioners from +harboring her or in any way giving her succor, and exhort +them to give evidence against her. The Puritans had +conned well the story of the Witch of Endor, and, with +their tendency to reproduce the Old Testament spirit, felt +that the existence of witches was an abomination in the +sight of the Lord, which would bring divine wrath upon +the community that sheltered them unless the sin were +purged from it by their death. In this they were but the +inheritors of the faith of the Church from the early ages, +and are liable to no more serious censure for their persecution +of witches than that which they merit for the +vindictive and splenetic spirit and the satisfaction in +barbarities and cruelty which too often they evinced.</p> + +<p>The persecutions attendant upon witchcraft are chargeable +to no one division of the Church more than to another, +for Protestant as well as Catholic, Puritan as well as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> +Prelatist, felt that in this work he was fulfilling the will +of God and safeguarding society. King James I., in his +<i>Demonology</i>, asks: "What can be the cause that there are +twentie women given to that craft where there is only one +man?" He gives as his reason for the disparity in numbers +the greater frailty of women, which he easily and +satisfactorily proves by reference to the fall of Eve, as +marking the beginning of Satan's dominance of the sex.</p> + +<p>In entering upon a crusade of persecution of witches, +the Puritans were in harmony with the enactments of the +sovereigns before the Commonwealth, and were in conformity +with the temper of the times and the universally +prevailing belief of the country. The austerity they assumed +toward the sex in general made it easy for them to +believe that particular characters, given over to vagabondage, +were by reason of their moral turpitude especial subjects +of Satan for the temptation of men. With them, the +persecution of witches was not solely a matter of superstition, +but of public morals as well. They were often +actuated by a sincere desire to raise the standard of morality, +and to preserve order and decency. That the women +rather than the men should have suffered for evil courses +was due, of course, to the conception that moral reprobation +is to be visited upon the weaker sex.</p> + +<p>In the second half of the seventeenth century the witchcraft +superstition became a veritable epidemic, and persecution +broke out in different sections of the country. +Hardly had the stories of the execution of witches in one +place ceased to be a nine days' wonder, when the tongues +of the people were busy with stories of similar occurrences +somewhere else. An angry sailor threw a stone at a boy; +and the boy's mother roundly cursed the assailant of her +offspring, and added the hope that his fingers would rot off. +When, two years later, something of the sort actually +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> +did happen, her imprecation was remembered against her, +and there was also brought to light the fact that a neighbor +with whom she was at odds had been seized with +severe pains and felt her bed rocking up and down. The +evidence was conclusive, the woman must be a witch; +such was the verdict, and death was her sentence. Two +women who lived alone, and, probably partly because of +their solitary existence, had developed irascible tempers +and demeanors which enlisted the hearty dislike of the +inhabitants of the fishing hamlet near by, were subjected +to the petty persecutions in which children instigated by +their parents are such adepts; finding existence too miserable +to care very much for their reputations, they endangered +their security by their attitude toward their +tormentors. At last, nobody would even sell them fish, +and their cursing and prophecies of evil for their enemies +became increasingly violent. In the order of nature, some +children were seized with fits, and, under the inspiration +of their elders, declared that they saw the two women +coming to torment them. After being eight years under +accusation, the women were brought to trial, and Sir Matthew +Hale, the presiding judge, after expressing his belief +that the Scriptures proved the reality of witchcraft, decided +against the unhappy women and condemned them to be +hanged. This occurred in 1664, and constituted the celebrated +witch trial of Bury St. Edmunds.</p> + +<p>These instances serve to illustrate the fate of a vast +number of hapless women during the seventeenth century; +it is said that during the sittings of the Long Parliament +alone, as many as three thousand persons were +executed on charges of witchcraft. Besides these unhappy +wretches, a great many more suffered the terrible fate +of mob violence. The frenzied populace were often +too impatient to await legal procedure, and stoned the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> +miserable women to death. In the minds of the great +majority of the people, such women were not human +beings at all, and so there was no cruelty in treating them +with the greatest violence possible. Indeed, such earnestness +of purpose against the adversaries of God could but +redound, they thought, to their eternal advantage. After +all, was it not a devil, who for the time being assumed +human form, that they were treating with such violence? +to-morrow, the same demon might be found in a dog or in +some other animal, or perhaps afflicting with cholera the +swine of some peasant, to his severe loss. A description +of a witch in the first half of the seventeenth century says: +"The devil's otter-hound, living both on land and sea, and +doing mischief in either; she kills more beasts than a +licensed butcher in Lent, yet is ne'er the fatter; she's but +a dry nurse in the flesh, yet gives such to the spirit. A +witch rides many times post on hellish business, yet if a +ladder do but stop her, she will be hanged ere she goes +any further." The penal statutes against witchcraft were +not formally repealed until 1751, when there was closed +for England one of the saddest chapters in the history of +human mistakes. The last judicial executions for witchcraft in England were in 1716.</p> + +<p>In pleasing contrast to the unhappy creatures who were +the victims of fanatical persecutions during the Commonwealth +period—the women executed for witchcraft—stand +the noble women who were developed by the stern +conditions of the Civil War—the heroines of internecine +strife. The domestic incidents of the Civil War form an +interesting commentary upon the character of the English +woman, as they reveal her in brave defence of castle or +homestead, patient in hardship, courageous in danger, and +fertile in resources to avert misfortune. Every important +family was ranged on one side or the other, and the line +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272"></a>[pg 272]</span> +of division often passed through households. To all other +issues which aroused human passion, or touched the +springs of human character and brought forth the reserve +heroism of human life, was added that issue which stirs +deepest the human heart,—the issue of religion. The +contest was not merely between king and people: it was +a contest as well between the people themselves as to the +form of religion they desired as the expression of their faith.</p> + +<p>Under such conditions women could not be kept out of +the turmoil and the strife; perhaps one of the important +ends which this distressful period brought about was the +crystallizing of the convictions of many women, who +otherwise would not have thought or felt deeply upon that +subject which is fundamental to the welfare of a nation +and the character of its people,—the subject of religion. +Royalists and Puritans, the women were arrayed on each +side. They followed the issues with an earnest alertness +born of an intelligent understanding of the causes involved +and their own vital relation to the contest in its results.</p> + +<p>One of the Puritan women who literally entered into +the fray was Mrs. Hutchinson. Her father, Sir Allen +Apsley, was governor of the Tower during Sir Walter +Raleigh's incarceration. It is probable that Mrs. Hutchinson +had some knowledge of medicine, because during the +siege of Nottingham she was actively engaged in dressing +the soldiers' wounds and furnishing them with drugs and +lotions suitable to their cases, and met with great success +in her rôle of physician even in the cases of those of some +who were dangerously wounded. But it was not solely in +the character of nurse and physician that she was so +active, for, in conjunction with the other women of the +town, after the departure of the Royalist forces, she aided +in districting the city for patrols of fifty, the courageous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span> +women thus taking an active share in the arduous duties +of the town's defence. This intrepid woman later appeared +in the character of peacemaker. The elections of 1660 +were of a violent character, on account of the ill feeling +between the Royalists of the town and the soldiers of the +Commonwealth. At the critical moment, Mrs. Hutchinson +arrived, and, being acquainted with the captains, +persuaded them to countenance no tumultuous methods, +whatever might be the provocation, but to make complaint +in regular form to the general and let him assume the +work of preserving the peace. This they consented to do; +and the townsmen were equally amenable to her wise +counsel, and contracted to restrain their children and servants +from endangering the peace of the people.</p> + +<p>Courage and initiative were not limited to the women +on one side of the contest, as is well illustrated by the +conduct of the Countess of Derby, who, in 1643, made a +remarkable defence of Latham House; the countess was of +French birth and had in her veins the indomitable spirit +of the Dutch, for she was a descendant of Count William +of Nassau. She was called upon either to yield up her +home or to subscribe to the propositions of Parliament, +and, upon her refusal to do either, was besieged in her +castle and kept in confinement within its walls, with no +larger range of liberty than the castle yard. Her estate +was sequestered, and she was daily affronted with mocking +and contemptuous language. When she was requested by +Sir Thomas Fairfax to yield up the castle, she replied with +quiet dignity that she wondered how he could exact such +a thing of her, when she had done nothing in the way of +offence to Parliament, and she requested that, as the +matter affected both her religion and her life, besides her +loyalty to her sovereign and to her lord, she might have a +week's consideration of the demand. She declined the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span> +proposition of Sir Thomas Fairfax to meet him at a certain +house a quarter of a mile distant from the castle for purposes +of conference, saying that it was more knightly that +he should wait upon her than she upon him. After further +parleyings failed of conclusion, she finally sent a message +that brought on a renewal of the siege. She said that she +refused all the propositions of the Parliamentarians, and +was happy that they had refused hers, and that she would +hazard her life before again making any overtures: "That +though a woman and a stranger, divorced from her friends +and robbed of her estate, she was ready to receive their +utmost violence, trusting in God for deliverance and protection."</p> + +<p>The siege dragged on wearily for six or seven weeks, at +the end of which time Sir Thomas Fairfax resigned his +post to Colonel Rigby. The castle forces amounted to +three hundred soldiers, while the besieging force numbered +between two and three thousand men. In the contest five +hundred of these were killed, while the countess lost but +six of her soldiers, who were killed through their own +negligence. The colonel manufactured a number of grenadoes, +and then sent an ultimatum to the countess, who +tore up the paper and returned answer by the messenger +to "that insolent" [Rigby] that he should have neither +her person, goods, nor house; and as to his grenadoes, she +would find a more merciful fire, and, if the providence of +God did not order otherwise, that her house, her goods, +her children, and her soldiers would perish in flames of +their own lighting, and so she and her family and defenders +would seal their religion and loyalty. The next morning +the countess caused a sally of her forces to be made, in +which they got possession of the ditch and rampart and a +very destructive mortar which had been used to bombard +the besieged. Rigby wrote to his superiors, begging +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> +assistance and saying that the length of the siege and the +hard duties it entailed had wearied all his soldiers, and that +he himself was completely worn out. In the meanwhile, +the Earl of Derby and Prince Rupert made their appearance, +and Rigby made a hurried retreat; in his endeavor +to escape the Royalist forces, he fell into an ambush and +received a severe punishment before he reached the town +of Bolton. Such were the deeds of women of spirit upon +each side of the civil conflict; and because of their elements +of character and loyalty to conviction, the women +of the better classes of England, irrespective of their affiliations, +mark a high point of progress in the sex toward the +goal of independence and individuality which the civil strife aided them to secure.</p> + +<p>The Society of Friends, or Quakers, was one of the +religious communities of the Commonwealth, whose members +suffered grievously on account of their religion. To the +lot of their women fell an abundant share of persecutions +and martyrdoms; they were scourged, and ill treated in +every conceivable way. Their lives, inoffensive and pure, +were a constant rebuke to those of the loose livers about +them. Although Charles II. had promised, on coming to +the throne, that he would befriend them, their miseries +were not greatly abated. The persecution of Quaker +women had continued from the middle of the sixteenth +century, when, in the west of England, Barbara Blangdon +was imprisoned for preaching, and other Quakeresses +were placed in the stocks by the Mayor of Evansham, +and also treated with other indignities. Throughout the +seventeenth century, cruel persecutions of women of the +Quaker persuasion were often repeated.</p> + +<p>With the Friends, the idea of the ministry of the Gospel +was broadened so as to include in its preachers and +teachers those who possessed the necessary gift, without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span> +regard to sex. Whatever may be individual opinion as to +woman's prerogative in this respect, there can be no +manner of doubt but that the advance in the status of +woman which was marked by the Society of Friends was +a real contribution to the times and a gift of permanent +value to the English women in general. Those women +who claimed the right to preach were as ready to suffer on +behalf of their ministry. They were scourged, and ill +treated in every possible way; Bridewell Prison opened to +receive many within its gloomy interior; but they remained +steadfast to the cardinal articles of their belief, +declaring: "As we dare not encourage any ministry but +that which we believe to spring from the influence of the +Holy Spirit, so neither dare we to attempt to restrain this +ministry to persons of any condition in life, or to the male +sex alone; but as male and female are one in Christ, we +hold it proper that such of the female sex as we believe +to be imbued with a right qualification of the ministry +should exercise their gifts for the general edification of the Church."</p> + +<p>Having considered the conditions which existed during +the period of the Commonwealth in England, and particularly +the rise of the Puritan spirit and its dominance, as +related to the women of the times, it now remains to bring +this period into connection with that of the Restoration, +which offers to it such a strong contrast. It is not conceivable +that, if the Puritan leaven had so thoroughly permeated +the mass of the English people as appeared to be +the case upon the surface of English society, there would +have been so sudden and radical a reaction upon the return +of Charles II. from his long sojourn abroad. That so +many who cried "crucify him" should now be found with +"all hail" upon their lips, that women who had assumed +the Puritan twang and pious demeanor should throw off +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span> +their assumed character and stand out in their true light +under the glare of a court that was brilliant with revelry, +is evidence of the futility of attempting to force ideals and +standards upon a people who have not been gradually +developed to the attainment of the qualities which they are commanded to assume.</p> + +<p>Even those women who could not abide the insufferable +weight of piety which spread over the period frequently +found it politic not to antagonize that which formed the +very atmosphere they had to breathe; but these women +were not shameless profligates because they could not +enter into the intense introspection and the outward circumspection +of the Puritan dame. When the return of +Charles II. brought to the front a code of manners which +revealed the real morals of the people, many women who +had walked "circumspectly," and were not under suspicion +of playing a part, did not any longer conceal their real +proclivities, but stood forth as women of pleasure. The +Countess of Pembroke, Lady Crawshaw, and Mrs. Hutchinson, +all ornaments of their sex during the Puritan régime, +were yet alive at the Restoration, and beheld with dismay +the shameless performances of their countrywomen.</p> + +<p>As marking an epoch, Puritanism is to be regarded as +having destroyed the last relics of medievalism. "Under +the Stuarts," says Creighton, "society became essentially +modern, and many of the institutions upon which the +comfort of modern life depends had their origin." +<!--Blank page #278 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter XII</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Restoration Period</h2> +<!--Blank page #280 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span> + + +<p>"I stood in the Strand and beheld it and blessed +God," wrote John Evelyn in his <i>Diary</i>, referring to the +magnificent pageantry with which Charles II., on returning +from his exile in France, was received by the London +populace. With this pious ejaculation, the courtly Royalist +welcomed the presence in England of that scion of the +house of Stuart whose reign of profligacy was to mark his +period as one of the most reprehensible in the history of +the country. It is little wonder that Charles was so affected +by the great demonstration in his honor that he +marvelled that he should have remained away from the +country so long when the people were languishing for his +return. The manner with which London threw off its +garb of Puritanical gray and manners grave, and donned +bright attire and assumed the airs of gayety and frivolity, +showed how insincere and superficial was the religious +seriousness which had been worn as suited to the temper +and times of the austere Protector.</p> + +<p>The change was not so sudden but that it had begun to +appear during the weak rule of the second Cromwell—Richard. +But the spontaneousness with which the people +welcomed Charles in all the towns through which he +passed on his way, and the abandonment and joyousness +which spread over the land, signalized one of the most +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> +important reactions which have occurred in public sentiment +and public morals of any age. Music, dancing, +revelry, and license suddenly wrenched the times from all +their wonted decorum, and in the flood tide of pleasure +and frivolity were borne away many who had long subsisted +upon their reputations for peculiar piety. Not only +did the leopard who had changed his spots, and the Ethiopian +his skin, for political purposes when the Civil War +bore the Puritans into power, return to their real markings, +but great numbers of those who had sustained their +Puritanical professions with greater or lesser degrees of +sincerity and earnestness caught the maddening thrill of +levity with which the very atmosphere seemed surcharged, +and rapidly passed down the gradations of character into recklessness and vice.</p> + +<p>The Royalists were well prepared for the change from +piety to profligacy, and hailed the advent of the light-hearted +monarch as a veritable release of souls in prison. +During the Commonwealth, the wretchedness of their +condition had wrought the widespread depravity which +existed among them. The uncertainty of their fortunes +and the necessity of often meeting together made them +<i>habitués</i> of the taverns, which were the centres for social +intercourse; and it may have been thus that the habit of +excessive drinking, so prevalent in this period, was contracted. +Upon the principle that no one gives serious +heed to the doings of a drunkard, abandoned and dissolute +habits were looked upon by the Royalist plotters as a +safeguard for themselves and a security to their plans:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Come, fill my cup, until it swim</p> +<p>With foam that overlooks the brim.</p> +<p>Who drinks the deepest? Here's to him.</p> +<p>Sobriety and study breeds</p> +<p>Suspicion in our acts and deeds;</p> +<p>The downright drunkard no man heeds."</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> + +<p>The very vices, however, which the Royalists acknowledged +having been led to cultivate by their "pride, poverty, +and passion" were imitated by the baser element +among the Puritans when the Cavaliers became triumphant. +Those who formerly had boasted that they "would +as soon cut a Cavalier's throat as swear an oath, and +esteem it a less sin," now assumed the rôle of sinners as +complacently as they had previously played the part of saints.</p> + +<p>A period of industrial depression subtracts, in the estimation +of the people, from the merits of a government, +however noble may be its policy; and for twenty years +previous to the Restoration the condition of the masses of +the people had steadily been growing worse, so that there +was a widespread longing for more provisions and less +piety. Before the Civil War, the state of the people had +reached high-water mark; so vast had been the increase +of England's commerce, owing to the strife among the +neighboring powers, that the revenue from customs had +almost doubled, and the blessings of prosperity were felt +among all classes. Sir Philip Warwick even asks us to +believe that there was scarcely any cobbler in London +whose wife did not include a silver beaker among the +furnishings of her modest sideboard. During the Commonwealth, +pauperism increased to an alarming extent, so +that at the time of the coming of Charles ten thousand +men and women were languishing in the debtors' prisons, +and thousands of others were living in continual dread of the sheriff's executions.</p> + +<p>The condition of English society at the coming of +Charles II. explains somewhat the tremendous outburst +of popular enthusiasm with which that event was greeted. +The people on the village green received him with morris +dances to the music of pipe and tabor, and with other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span> +rustic festivities which for so long a time had been banished +as sinful engagements. At some of the towns +through which the triumphal procession passed, young +damsels to the number of hundreds lined the way and +strewed flowers in the path of the king. The women +were especially noticeable for their active participation in +all the popular demonstrations. It was as if they had felt +so heavily the repression of the rigorous theocracy of +Cromwell that they were ready to accept to the fullest +the pledge of better times which the return of Charles +gave them, and to pass from fuller liberty into the wildest +license. The king himself, by his own example, lost no +time in establishing the new standards of conduct. Even +the reckless spirit of the Londoners was somewhat surprised +when it was bruited abroad that the king, who was +received as a Divine dispensation to a waiting people, had +slunk out of the palace the first night after his return, +under cover of darkness, in the furtherance of one of the +unsavory intrigues which made his life and his court +notorious in the annals of English history. The sensibilities +of the English people were not seriously shocked, +however,—we are speaking of the Royalist following and +not of the Puritans,—and in the rebound from the first +amazement at the revelation they received of the kingly +character, they were ready to follow his lead; and so English +social life during the reign of Charles was greatly +corrupted. As the key to the times is to be sought in the +tone of the court, the unwelcome task must be fulfilled in +the interests of history, as it relates to woman, of setting +forth the actual conditions which were instituted and prevailed +at the court of Charles II.</p> + +<p>The king came to England fresh from the court of +Louis XIV., and tainted by all the vices which made that +court infamous. For the first time, England became widely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> +affected by the gross iniquities which had for a long while +been a familiar fact of the noble circles of French society. +So long as England imported from France only its dress +goods, jewelry, and novelties, the influence exerted upon +it by its continental neighbor touched society in only a +superficial way; but when England's "Merrie Monarch" +brought over with him the low standard of French morals, +England paid tribute to France in a more serious way and +modelled its conduct after that of the more frivolous people. +The reign of Charles brings to view as the principal fact +of the times the personality of the monarch himself, not +because he was a strong man, but because he was so +thoroughly weak in his character and abandoned in his +conduct. We have nothing to do with political or constitutional +measures, but, in passing judgment upon the state +of society, we are constrained to say that the reign of +King Charles marked a distinct retrogression, and, in its +effect upon the status of woman, is notable for the distinction +it bestowed upon the courtesan class. The honoring +of such characters discounted greatly the gain for the +higher ideals of womanhood which had been secured by the Puritans.</p> + +<p>The woman whom Charles had signalized by his favor +immediately upon his entrance into London was known +simply as Barbara Palmer until, by the ratio of her decline +in morals, she was elevated in honors and received the +titles of Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland. +It needs not the saying that beauty and graces of +manner and of form were her chief recommendations to +the royal notice. This woman, who became notorious +throughout England,—and who, upon the retirement of +Clarendon, whose dismissal she had secured, stood upon +the balcony of the palace in her night attire to rain down +upon his head curses and vile epithets,—was the woman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span> +who, through her influence over Charles, occupied a commanding +position in England. Her amours before coming +under the royal notice absolve the king from responsibility +for her moral ruin, but the offence of thrusting her +before the English people and the contamination exerted +upon society by her presence and conduct at court are +what make up the indictment of womanhood against him. +Although many glimpses are afforded in the gossipy news of +the corrupt court of this courtesan's imperious domination +of Charles, nowhere is the story told more simply than by +Pepys in his <i>Diary</i>. He says: "Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, +tells me that, though the king and my Lady Castlemaine +are friends again, she is not at White Hall, but at Sir D. +Harvey's, whither the king goes to her; but she says she +made him ask her forgiveness upon his knees, and promise +to offend her no more so, and that indeed she hath nearly +hectored him out of his wits."</p> + +<p>Such incidents were not confined to the knowledge of +the court circles, but percolated all classes of society, and +not only furnished the newsmongers with racy scandal, +but set in a whirl the light heads of many foolish women +who without such incitement from court example might have remained models of virtue.</p> + +<p>Another of the king's favorites—and indeed one who +was, unlike the disagreeable countess, a favorite as well +with the English people, and whose name has not yet lost +its popularity—was Nell Gwynn. Pretty, witty, and open-hearted, +her face an index of the simplicity and purity of +character which the unfortunate circumstances of her birth +and bringing-up denied her, a veritable gem of womankind +lost amid the flotsam and jetsam of a coarse age, she is to +be regarded less as a sinner than as one sinned against, +although she herself, perhaps, seldom paused to reflect +upon the moral value of her actions.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame</p> +<p>Which, like the canker in a fragrant rose,</p> +<p>Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>It will not do to judge too harshly the character of one +whose whole conduct showed how essentially guileless and +gentle, as well as generous, were her instincts by the +rigorous standards which, however severe, are none too +exacting to be held up for women as representing the only +possible assurance of security for the status which they +have attained; but it is in no spirit of apology for her +wrong courses that all who undertake to discuss the life +of Nell Gwynn are irresistibly drawn to a recital of her +virtues rather than to a reprobation of her faults.</p> + +<p>The poor orange girl, who, according to some authorities, +first saw the light of day in a miserable coalyard +garret in Drury Lane, and whose tutelage was the vulgarity +of the London streets, and her training a barroom +where she entertained the patrons by the sweetness of +her voice, courtesan though she became in the court of +Charles II., yet numbered among her descendants Lord +James Beauclerk, Bishop of Hereford, who died in 1782. +Nor was she associated with religion merely in this remote +way, for she herself, as patroness of Chelsea Hospital, +and promoter of many charities and the dispenser of private +benefactions, may reasonably claim consideration. In +her own behalf as a woman instinct with all the virtues +saving one only,—the one she had never had an opportunity +to possess. The effect of Nell Gwynn's presence +at court upon the minds of the populace was in some +respects more insidious than that of the professional courtesan +Castlemaine, for, by the pleasing philosophy of her +winsome nature, the vices of the court became transmuted +into pure gold in the estimation of the young women who +were affected by her as their ideal.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span> + +<p>When the irascible temper of the Duchess of Cleveland +became too intolerable to be borne, the king's excitable +fancy was adroitly directed by the Duke of Buckingham, +English envoy to the court of France, to Mademoiselle de +Quéroualle, whom he planned to set up as a rival to her +in the king's affections, and thus to further his own ambitious +ends, which were antagonized by the duchess. Thus +to place in control of the king's volatile sentiments the +seductive French woman, who would represent the duke's +interests, seemed a veritable stroke of masterful politics of +a character not unworthy of Machiavel himself. It was +not difficult to persuade Louis that such a sentimental +alliance would cement Charles to the French interests; +and as the project would save her from a French convent, +mademoiselle was not found intractable. A decorous invitation, +so worded as to spare the blush of the lady's +modesty, was sent from the English court, and she was +forthwith despatched to the court of Charles to fulfil the +double rôles of courtesan and diplomat, which were so +often combined in the person of astute females. Her appearance +at court was hailed by Dryden, the court poet, in +some complimentary stanzas of indifferent worth. Evelyn +recorded in his <i>Diary</i> that he had seen "that famous +beauty, the new French Maid of Honor"; but adds: "In +my opinion, she is of a childish, simple, and baby face." +After the birth of a son to the king, who was created +Duke of Richmond and Earl of Marsh in England, Mademoiselle +de Quéroualle was made Duchess of Portsmouth. +At the same time, she was drawing a considerable pension +from Louis in recognition of her services to France. The +noble-minded English gentleman Evelyn records the extravagant +tastes of the duchess, whose control over the +king had become unbounded, in these words: "Following +his Majesty this morning through the gallery, I went with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span> +the few who attended him into the Duchess of Portsmouth's +dressing-room, within her bed-chamber, where she +was in her loose morning garment, her maids combing her, +newly out of her bed, his Majesty and the gallants standing +about her; but that which engaged my curiosity was +the rich and splendid furniture of this woman's apartment, +now twice or thrice pulled down and rebuilt to satisfy her +prodigality and expensive pleasures, while her Majesty's +does not exceed some gentlemen's wives' in furniture and +accommodations. Here I saw the new fabric of French +tapestry, for design, tenderness of work, and incomparable +imitation of the best paintings, beyond anything I had ever +beheld. Some pieces had Versailles, St. Germaines, and +other places of the French king, with huntings, figures, +and landscapes, exotic fowls, and all to the life rarely +done. Then the Japan cabinets, screens, pendule clocks, +great vases of wrought plate, tables, stands, chimney +furniture, sconces, branches, brasures, and all of massive +silver, and out of number; besides of his Majesty's best +paintings. Surfeiting of this, I dined at Sir Stephen Fox's, +and went contented home to my poor but quiet villa. +What contentment can there be in the riches and splendour +of this world, purchased with vice and dishonour!"</p> + +<p>"There was, in truth, little of contentment within those +sumptuous walls;" a weak queen helpless under the indignities +imposed upon her, a duchess burning with passionate +resentment, and light-hearted Nell Gwynn laughing +with amusement; a group of courtiers and courtesans with +little sense of honor, tossed about by conflicting emotions +of fear and jealousy, perplexity and heartaches; involved in +disgraceful intrigues and malicious conspiracies; attended +by all the demons which wait upon the mind that has sold +itself to sordidness and sin; mocked at by a troupe of perfidious +spirits of pride, avarice, and ambition—such was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> +the company within the palace walls that opened to receive +the woman who was to be, if possible, the most despicable +of them all, and certainly the most detested.</p> + +<p>In pleasing contrast to the fashionable and often brilliant +debauchees of the court of Charles II. may be placed the +Countess de Grammont, to whom the description of the poet Fletcher applies:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"A woman of that rare behaviour,</p> +<p>So qualified, that admiration</p> +<p>Dwells round about her; of that perfect spirit,</p> +<p>That admirable carriage,</p> +<p>That sweetness in discourse—young as the morning,</p> +<p>Her blushes staining his."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>She moved in the profligate sphere of the English court, +and later in that of France, without for a moment having +the brilliancy of her intellect, the acuteness of her wit, +or the whiteness of her character tarnished by vulgarity +of action or of word. Importuned by lovers of high degree +for alliances that were not regarded as compromising in +that gay atmosphere, and, when it was found futile to seek +to entice her into an equivocal position, as ardently sought +by the beaux for the honorable relation of wife, she held +them all at arm's length. Strong and resolute, she, like a +brilliant moth, circled about the passionate flame of the English +court without singeing her wings, neither did she seek, +by an adventitious flame of responsive passion, to draw on +to haplessness any of the courtiers who sought her with +ardent protestations of affection. Though light-hearted +and vivacious, she had none of the arts of a coquette; but +when the persistence of the Comte de Grammont convinced +her, in spite of the scepticism which her surroundings +created, and of his known character of frivolity, that +in him she might find a faithful and devoted husband, she +allowed her heart to hold sway of her destiny and yielded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> +herself in marriage to him. It had been better for her, +however, if she had remained a maid of honor than to +have become, by marriage to an unprincipled man, a wife +of dishonor. The exceptional worth of character, the +brilliancy of intellect, and the steadiness of purpose which +La Belle Hamilton exhibited, did not, in the eyes of the +voluptuous count, constitute a charm sufficient to wean +him from his evil courses to a life of consistency and of +uprightness. Her husband lived to an advanced age, yet +she survived him a brief while. Her brother has left us a +word picture of her at about the time of her introduction +to the court of Charles II., which, in connection with her +portrait by Sir Peter Lely, leaves no doubt of her matchless +charms. He says: "Her forehead was open, white, +and smooth; her hair was well set, and fell with ease into +that natural order which it is so difficult to imitate. Her +complexion was possessed of a certain freshness not to be +equalled by borrowed colours; her eyes were not large, +but they were lovely, and capable of expressing whatever +she pleased; her mouth was full of graces, and her contour +uncommonly perfect; nor was her nose, which was small, +delicate, and turned-up, the least ornament of so lovely a +face. She had the finest shape, the loveliest neck, and +most beautiful arms in the world; she was majestic and +graceful in all her movements; and she was the original +after which all the ladies copied in their tastes and air of dress."</p> + +<p>In reading the memoirs of the court of Charles II., one +is apt to overlook the fact that at the period there was a +queen in England. There was a time when the consort +of the king was not so styled; her position was a personal +one, as related to her husband, but she did not share the +honors of the throne. How strangely reversed since the +later Anglo-Saxon period, as contrasted with the reign of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span> +Charles II., had become the relation of the wife of the +monarch! for in these last times the full recognition was +tendered Catherine of Braganza to which her position as +consort of Charles gave her title—there was no question +as to there being a queen in England in the full meaning +of the term. But her personal relation to the king as her +husband was an equivocal one; perhaps once in a month +he might honor her with his presence at supper, and +occasionally absent himself from the enticements of his +mistresses. It was so from the very first; for, before +Catherine had landed in England, the intrigue of Charles II. +with the notorious Castlemaine was a matter of common +knowledge. The graceless king had the effrontery to include +Lady Castlemaine in the list of appointees for the +queen's following. The indignant bride had not yet learned +the futility of seeking to assert her rightful position, and, +haughtily declaring that she would return to her own +country rather than submit to such an indignity, drew her +pen across the name and swept Lady Castlemaine from +proximity to her person. In so doing she incurred the +deeper enmity of the female fury who ruled Charles with +an iron will and was for long years to be the queen's evil +genius. The queen was not brilliant, but she was in every +sense a woman; and when on a particular occasion, similar +to a present-day drawing room, Lady Castlemaine was +introduced by the king, the queen, who did not know her +and imperfectly caught the name, received her with grace +and benignity; but realizing in a moment who it was, she +became transformed, her urbanity disappeared, and, fully +alive to the insult which had been publicly offered her, she +was swept with a wave of passion: "She started from her +chair, turned as pale as ashes, then red with shame and +anger, the blood gushed from her nose, and she swooned +in the arms of her women." Lord Clarendon, who was a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span> +witness of the contest between the wife and mistress and +sought to prevent the king from becoming controlled by +the latter, finally absented himself from court; thereupon +the king wrote him a letter in which, after declaring his +purpose of making Lady Castlemaine a lady of his wife's +bedchamber, he added: "And whosoever I find to be my +Lady Castlemaine's enemy, I do promise upon my word +to be his enemy as long as I live." The king's missive +had its effect; and Lord Clarendon undertook to persuade +the queen to bear the indignity, although he had replied +to the king that it was "more than flesh and blood could +comply with," and reminded him of the difference between +the French and English courts: "That in the former, such +connections were not new and scandalous, whereas in +England they were so unheard of, and so odious, that the +mistress of the king was infamous to all women of honour."</p> + +<p>The king himself succeeded better in reconciling the +queen to the shameful situation than did his minister, for, +after several scenes between them, he treated her with +studied coldness and indifference, and in her presence +assumed an air of exceptional gayety toward all other +women. The unhappy queen finally acquiesced in a situation +which she could not improve, and suffered much +greater indignities than those which she had futilely resented. +There is little more of interest to add with regard +to this woman, whose position placed her first at court, +but who really was regarded by the king and his courtiers +as the most insignificant of its personages. She never +quite gave up the hope that she might win at least a share +of the affection which her husband bestowed upon others, +and to that end she eventually laid aside her retiring ways, +dressed décolleté, and gave magnificent balls, to which she +invited the fairest women of the nobility, thus seeking, by +humoring the fancy of her husband, to gain his love.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span> + +<p>The maids of honor at the court of Charles, who were +for the most part mistresses of the king and of the courtiers, +and the male sycophants, whose only pursuit in life +was intrigue, made a choice group of profligate spirits, +who, without any restraint, but with every encouragement +from their royal master, assiduously furthered the chief interest of their existence.</p> + +<p>There are not wanting those who utterly disparage the +morals of the Commonwealth, and affirm that both Cromwell +and his followers generally were guilty of as base +conduct as King Charles and his courtiers, and that the +only difference was that which exists between covert and +open practices of an evil nature. The fact remains, however, +that even down to the present day the English +people, and the American as well, are inheritors of the +spirit of the Puritans, to the great good of society. It was +the Puritans who taught reverence for the Sabbath and +made the Bible a common textbook of life; and although +they were strict and narrow in their views, earnestness +always is straitened in its bounds until it bursts them and +floods society with the power of the principles it advocates.</p> + +<p>The apologists for King Charles, who hold to the ancient +formula of the faith of the Fathers and of the Puritans,—that +woman from the days of Eden unto the present time +has stood for the downfall of man,—seek to enlist sympathy +for him by saying that in his various peccadilloes +the women seemed to be the aggressors. This plea, which +was advanced by his friendly contemporaries, who sought +to whitewash the outside of the sepulchre of the king's +character while leaving undisturbed the inward corruption, +is still gravely repeated by partisan historians to-day. Sir +John Reresby said: "I have since heard the King say they +would sometimes offer themselves to his embrace." It is +unfortunate that the integrity of the chivalrous king should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span> +have suffered such assaults; but as no other English monarch +seems to have been so desperately set upon to his destruction +by the women of his times, it may not be too great a +piece of temerity to put in a plea for the women of the +reign of the glorious Charles II. by suggesting the bare +possibility that all the moral probity was not possessed +alone by him who reigned King of England!</p> + +<p>We can much better accept the description of society +given by Clarendon. It is not, however, to be taken as +an index to the innate perversity of woman in wicked +ways, but as indicating the natural effect of the lowering +of the esteem in which the sex was held by the evil living +of men in the higher circles of society. Yet not all the +indictments which are brought forward by Clarendon +would be considered to-day as of a serious nature. He +comments: "The young women conversed without any +circumspection of modesty, and frequently met at taverns +and common eating-houses; they who were stricter and +more severe in their comportment became the wives of +the seditious preachers or of officers of the army. The +daughters of noble and illustrious families bestowed themselves +upon the divines of the time, or other low and +unequal matches. Parents had no manner of authority +over their children, nor children any obedience or submission +to their parents, but every one did that which was good in his own eyes."</p> + +<p>That the change in the feminine character was not simply +due to the unsettled state of society from the Civil +War, which undoubtedly did affect the standard of the +times, but was attributable more largely to the imported +French manners with which Charles made the nation +familiar, is beyond doubt. Peter Heylin, who had travelled +in France and published an account of his observations, +and who was led to pass severe strictures upon the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> +conduct of the French women, modified his gratulatory +expressions with regard to English women as follows: +"Our English women, at that time, were of a more retired +behaviour than they have been since, which made the confident +carriage of the French damsels seem more strange to +me; whereas of late the garb of our women is so altered, +and they have in them so much of the mode of France, as +easily might take off those misapprehensions with which +I was possessed at my first coming thither."</p> + +<p>It was not until after the death of the king, which +occurred on February 6, 1685, that the nation recovered +from the spell of debauchery through which it had passed, +and assumed its wonted sobriety. Seven days prior, +Evelyn wrote in his <i>Diary</i>: "I saw this evening such a +scene of profuse gaming, and the king in the midst of his +three concubines, as I had never before seen, luxurious +dallying and profaneness." After the death of Charles +and the proclamation of James II., he reverted again to +that scene and said: "I can never forget the inexpressible +luxury and profaneness, gaming and all dissoluteness, and, +as it were, total forgetfulness of God (it being Sunday +evening) which this day se'nnight I was witness to, the +king sitting and toying with his concubines—Portsmouth, +Cleveland, Mazarine, etc.—a French boy singing love +songs in that glorious gallery, whilst about twenty of the +great courtiers and other dissolute persons were at basset +round a large table, a bank of at least 2000 pounds in gold +before them, upon which two gentlemen who were with +me made reflexions with astonishment. Six days after was all in the dust!"</p> + +<p>Although the monarch who made England merry with +all sorts of frivolities had passed away, the influences of +his life did not quickly cease. One of the social changes +which came about in his reign was destined to become very +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> +widely extended and to have an important bearing upon +the structure of English society. This was the introduction +of women upon the stage. In discussing the amusements +of the English people in the several periods, we have as +yet said nothing with regard to the theatre, because it did +not relate to woman in an especial manner. The old +mediæval mystery and morality plays were given under +the auspices of the Church, and formed a part of the religious +instruction of a people who neither knew how nor +had the facilities to read. With the rise of the modern +drama and of such masterly interpreters of human passion +as the dramatists of the Elizabethan era, the stage was +secularized and the range of subjects and appeal was very much widened.</p> + +<p>In 1660, for the first time, women were engaged to perform +female characters. Before that time, they had been +prohibited from appearing on the stage; largely because +the female parts were usually—and especially in the beginning +of the popularity of the theatre—so vulgar and +obscene that it not only would have been highly disgraceful +for a woman to appear in such characters, but +the vulgarity was too great even for the countenance of +females in the audience without resorting to the expedient +of wearing masks. This practice led to shameful intrigues +and discreditable escapades which added to living the zest +which was craved by the women of the court who, thus +disguised, were <i>habituées</i> of the theatre. If it was thought +that by allowing women to take female parts in the plays +the tone of such characters might be improved, the ordinances +which permitted the practice certainly failed of +effect. D'Israeli, taking the æsthetic view of this innovation +of the time of Charles II., says: "To us there appears +something so repulsive in the exhibition of boys or men +personating female characters, that one cannot conceive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> +how they could ever have been tolerated as a substitute for +the spontaneous grace, the melting voice, and the soothing looks of a female."</p> + +<p>The absurdity which he suggests was aptly expressed +by a poet of the reign of Charles II., in a prologue which +was written as an introduction to the play in which appeared the first actress:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Our women are defective, and so sized,</p> +<p>You'd think they were some of the guard disguised</p> +<p>For to speak truth, men act, that are between</p> +<p>Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen;</p> +<p>With brows so large and nerve so uncompliant,</p> +<p>When you call Desdemona—enter giant."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Nell Gwynn is said first to have attracted the attention +of King Charles when she appeared in a humorous part at +the theatre; she was one of the earliest actresses to appear +<i>in propria persona</i>. As ungraceful as were the female +parts when taken by men, the innovation of women was +not received kindly by many critics of the stage. Thus +Pepys, in his <i>Diary</i>, is found lamenting the new custom: +"The introduction of females on the stage was the beginning +of a change ever to be regretted. Pride of birth, but +not insolence, is, to a certain extent, highly commendable, +and which had hitherto been the chief characteristic of the +old English aristocracy, who had kept themselves till now +almost universally free from stained alliances; but from +this time they became the patrons, and even the husbands, +of any lewd, babbling, painted, pawed-over thing +that the purlieus of the theatre could produce."</p> + +<p>Evelyn comments upon the theatre to the same effect, +and remarks that he very seldom attended it, because of +its godless liberty: "Foul and indecent women now (and +never till now) permitted to appear and act, who, inflaming +several young noblemen and gallants, become their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span> +misses, and to some their wives." He then instances +several of the nobility whom he says fell into such snares, +to the reproach of their families and the ruin of themselves +in both body and soul. He laments the fact that the +splendid products of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were +crowded off the stage to make room for the pasteboard +and tinsel of John Dryden and Thomas Shadwell. At the +time that Evelyn and Pepys were recording their comments +upon the tone of the stage, thousands were +living who well remembered the vehement denunciation of +plays by the sturdy old Puritan William Prynne, who was +rewarded for his ardent crusades against the iniquities of +the theatre by the snipping off of his ears. The condemnation +of the theatre was not confined to any party or +church, for Bishop Burnet is found vigorously denouncing +theatres, under the new conditions inaugurated by +Charles II., as "nests of prostitution."</p> + +<p>The depravity of the taste of the patrons of the theatres +had its influence upon the writers of the plays. Men whose +personal lives were unexceptionable did not scruple, when +writing pieces intended for representation upon the stage, +to introduce as much indecency as they possibly could, +knowing full well that unless their works were highly +seasoned they would never get a hearing. The manners +and tastes of the court of Charles II. established the standard +of the theatres during his reign; the depravity of +public sentiment and the general corruption of the times +were greatly increased by these mirrors of the manners and +life of the court. So utterly foul became the repute of the +stage, that, to quote from Sydney's <i>Social Life in England</i>, +"Every person who had the slightest regard for sobriety +and morality avoided a playhouse as he would have +avoided a house on the door of which the red cross bore +witness to the awful fact that the inmates had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span> +smitten by the pestilence which walketh in darkness and by +the sickness that destroyeth in noon-day. The indecorous +character of the stage inflicted much less injury than it +would have done had it been covered with a thin veil +of sentiment. Those dramatic representations, at which +women desirous of maintaining some reputation for modesty +deemed it incumbent upon them to wear masks, were, +as may be supposed, studiously avoided by those who +really were virtuous." The influence of the metropolis +did not extend over the kingdom as it does to-day, so that +outside of the tainted circles there were to be found social +spheres where the old gentility of the Elizabethan age was +maintained, although subjected to such sneers as were +directed against them by Dryden, who looked upon them +as unfortunate enough to have been bred in an unpolished +age, and still more unlucky to live in a refined one. "They +have lasted beyond their own, and are cast behind ours."</p> + +<p>Artificiality without any pretence to sincerity was the +spirit of the times of Charles II.; the maundering sentiments +and flagitious bearing of the actors upon the stage +were not different from the conduct of the buffoons who +masqueraded in titles and elegant attire at the court of the +king of revels. Foppery in speech and in dress and the +interlarding of conversation with French phrases found +favor among the court followers. It was regarded "as ill +breeding to speak good English, as to write good English, +good sense, or a good hand."</p> + +<p>Women as artists appeared earlier than women as +players. For several centuries they had been accustomed, +as a polite accomplishment, to illuminate manuscripts, and +indeed this for a long time was the only form of art worthy +of the name in England. There had developed, however, +considerable taste and skill in wood carving, as well as +further advancement of the ancient art of the goldsmith, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span> +which, as we have seen, was developed enough in Anglo-Saxon +times to constitute an English school. But art in +its more particular meaning was not found domestic to +England until the reign of Charles I. It was the influence +of the great school of Dutch artists that awakened in +England art instinct and created artistic talent. England's +art history may be dated from the time of Van Dyke's +residence in the country, at least in so far as it embraces +women. When Van Dyke was at the English court, Anne +Carlisle shared with him the royal patronage. The king's +fine taste in art matters had unerringly led him to fix his +favor upon this woman, and her works show the undoubted genius she possessed.</p> + +<p>The Puritan embroilment, which was destructive to all +forms of intellectual advancement as long as it kept the +nation in an unsettled state, had a repressive effect upon +art; but from the time of the Restoration the stream flowed +on with increasing depth and volume, and the list of England's +woman painters not only became creditable to the +country, but afforded another criterion by which to prove +the lofty possibilities of the sex. Mary Beale, a painter +in oil and in water-colors, who received high commendation +from the famous portrait painter Sir Peter Lely, was +a painstaking and industrious artist. Anne Killigrew, who +was maid of honor to the Duchess of York, in the brief +span of her life acquired a permanent reputation, not only +by her portraits, which included those of the Duke and +Duchess of York, but by her verses as well. These and +other women of talent were the precursors of the women +who did so much for the art history of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>In considering the place of woman in literature during +the period of which we are writing, it is well to keep in +mind the words of Lady Mary Wortley Montague: "We +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> +are permitted no books but such as tend to the weakening +and effeminating of our minds. We are taught to place +all our art in adorning our persons, while our minds are +entirely neglected." This opinion of woman has not yet +become obsolete, so that it is too much to expect to find, +in the seventeenth century, women of the highest literary +attainments, and certainly one need not look for women +among the creators of literary style and founders of English +literature. A literary woman is to some masculine +minds a matter of everlasting scorn. Such minds will not +be offended in the perusal of the literature of the seventeenth +century by finding women wielding the pen for the +instruction or the edification of elect circles of superior +intellects or to please the vulgar taste of the common +people. Excepting as writers of occasional verse or of +memoirs, the names of few female authors appear in the literary annals of the period.</p> + +<p>Amusement and not intellect was the contribution which +women were supposed to make to the times of Charles II., +and, excepting in matters reprehensible, there was often a +degree of simplicity about the amusements indulged in that +makes one wonder if such ingenuous entertainment does +not bespeak less design and craftiness in the natures of +those women than is usual to associate with plotters and +intriguers. Lady Steuart, one of the most noted court +beauties, found her chief diversion in sitting upon the +floor, with subservient courtiers about her, building card +houses. Lord Sunderland treated his visitors to an exhibition +of fire eating by the renowned Richardson, who +awakened the wonder of his beholders by his feats of +devouring brimstone on glowing coals, eating melted beer +glasses, and roasting a raw oyster upon a live coal held +upon his tongue. Such mountebanks and jugglers were +the successors of similar characters who wandered through +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span> +the country from castle to castle during the Middle Ages, +or became attached to some great lord's following. Other +forms of indoor amusements, which would hardly comport +with the gravity of the same high circles of society in the +nation in these latter times, may be stated. Pepys speaks +of one day going to the court, where he found the Duke +and Duchess of York, with all the great ladies, sitting +upon a carpet on the ground, playing: "I love my love +with an A, because he is so-and-so; and I hate him with +an A, because of this and that;" and he observed that +some of the ladies were mighty witty, and all of them +very merry. Blindman's-buff was a favorite game among +even older people; and Burnett says that at one time the +king, queen, and whole court "went about masked, and +came into houses unknown, and danced there with a great +deal of wild frolic. In all this they were so disguised that, +without being in the secret, none could distinguish them. +They were carried about in sedan chairs, and once the +queen's chairman, not knowing who she was, went from +her; so she was alone and much disturbed, and came to +Whitehall in a hackney coach (some say it was in a cart)."</p> + +<p>Scarcely a week passed by but that Whitehall was brilliantly +illuminated for a ball, at which the king, queen, +and courtiers danced the "bransle," which was a sort of +country dance, the "corant," swift and lively as a jig, and +in which only two persons took part, and other French +figures. Billiards and chess were played a great deal, and +gambling was a ruling passion of the day. All the great +women at court had their card tables, around which +thronged the courtiers, who won and lost enormous sums. +The passions which were aroused by gambling often led +to violent quarrels, and frequently these were settled by +duels, although duelling had been prohibited by the king +at the time of the Restoration.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304"></a>[pg 304]</span> + +<p>Many fantastic changes had taken place in women's +attire during the reign of Charles. During the Commonwealth, +Puritan sentiment, and proscription as well, had +reduced the dress of all classes to a remarkable uniformity. +The costume most common to women consisted of a gown +with a lace stomacher and starched kerchief, a sad-colored +cloak with a French hood, and a high-crowned hat. The +Geneva cloak was no fit covering for the courtesan, and +was instantly thrown aside that the butterfly which had +hidden in this demure chrysalis might emerge fluttering in +all its gay and brilliant colors. Loose and flowing draperies +of silk and satin took the place of woollen and cotton +gowns; the stiff ruff which in the reign of Elizabeth had +been facetiously styled "three steps to the gallows," because +the fashionables of her day would go to any length +to possess it in the most extravagant size and value, had, +under the Commonwealth, become much more circumspect +as to its appearance and circumference, and was +esteemed entirely too respectable to comport well with +the freedom of the reign of Charles. Then, too, the +artistic taste of the day, which ran to portrait painting, +had enhanced the estimate of ladies with regard to the +matter of their personal charms. So it was regarded +not only as artistic, but æsthetic, in a wider sense, to +run to realism. The word "run" is used advisedly, +for there was a veritable scramble to get rid of the formal +and, it must be conceded, ridiculous ruff. But when +the latter disappeared from the neck and shoulders, +there was nothing adapted to fulfil its functions, so +that, through a lamentable omission on the part of the +English women or their too hasty adoption of French +fashions, the shoulders and bosoms of the ladies were +given little consideration by the designers or the makers of their gowns.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> + +<p>But the head was not treated so indifferently as the +shoulders, for, when the plain top hat of the Puritan was +abandoned, the milliner already had something at hand to +compensate the ladies for their loss. Feathers of rare +plumage and rich color were employed in the widest profusion. +The hoods, too, underwent the general metamorphosis, +and emerged from their penitential gray into +"yellow bird's eye," and other tints as indescribable. The +new styles exposed their votaries to wide criticism. Many +pamphlets appeared whose straightforward titles showed +in what an undisguised manner the subject was to be +found treated within them. The general complaint was +that immodest dress was not confined to balls and chambers +of entertainment, but that women brazenly appeared in +similar costume at church, braving all criticism to satisfy +their morbid desire for observation. The mode of hair-dressing +of the period ran largely to ringlets, which, as +they appear in the portraits of the great ladies of the day, +seem at the present time stiff and unartistic. The art of +using cosmetics, which had lapsed during the Puritan +period, was actively revived, and it was not only the stage +beauties, but the court women as well, who used paint in +such profusion as almost to disguise their identity.</p> + +<p>It can easily be seen that a woman of the period must +have been a gorgeous spectacle in full dress, with painted +face adorned with black patches cut in designs of hearts, +Cupids, and occasionally even coaches and four, and with +her hair dressed in the prevailing mode, which was to +have "false locks set on wyres to make them stand at a +distance from the head, as fardingales made the clothes +stand out in Queen Elizabeth's reign." A woman thus +attired, leaning upon the arm of a gallant with head +adorned by the periwig worn by the men of the day, was +ready for any fashionable function. As hospitality on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span> +large and generous scale was a circumstance of the times, +it might be that she would pass into the hall, with its massive, +carved furniture, magnificent tapestries, sumptuous +furnishings, glittering crystal, elegant plate, and beautiful +wall paintings, to assume her position of mistress of a +household and do the honors at a table generous with its +viands and ample in all the varied range of English and +French cookery. In doing so, she would be governed by +the etiquette in whose precepts she had been schooled, +and of which the following is a sample: "<i>Instruction to +British Ladies When at Table</i>—A gentlewoman, being at +table, abroad or at home, must observe to keep her body +straight, and lean not by any means on her elbows, nor by +ravenous gesture disclose a voracious appetite. Talke not +when you have meate in your mouthe, and do not smacke +like a pig, nor eat spoone-meate so hot that the tears stand +in your eyes. It is very uncourtly to drink so large a +draughte that your breath is almost gone, and you are +forced to blow strongly to recover yourself; throwing down +your liquor as into a funnel, is an action fitter for a juggler +than a gentlewoman. In carving at your table, distribute +the best pieces first; it will appear very decent and comely +to use a forke; so touch no piece of meate without it."</p> + +<p>The table furnished an opportunity for many pleasant +passages of repartee, which, however, were apt to be +broader in their point and more undisguised in their language +than would be tolerated in any society of to-day +pretending to the least gentility. Here, too, was engendered +frequently the tender sentiment which gave rise to +proper attentions to ladies or to gallantry, according to the +character of the courtier and his lady-love. When gallantry +palled upon the satiated spirits of the courtiers, +to preserve their unsavory reputations they had nothing +more difficult to do than to stuff their pockets with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> +billets-doux, which they paraded in view of their fellows +as evidence of their successful intrigues. When love took +a more creditable form, and the lover in formal and open +fashion went to pay his addresses to his lady-love, he sallied +forth in the evening, accompanied by a band of fiddlers, +and serenaded her with some choice verses. After the +suitor was accepted and the marriage arranged for, little +of sentiment entered into it. There was no attempt to +hide the mercenary motives, which were frankly displayed. +Indeed, women's marriage portions were regarded by the +seventeenth-century writers as the cause of much wedded +misery and sin. It was argued that if these marriage portions +were dispensed with, marriage would be more likely +to be contracted upon the enduring basis of compatibility +and love; but among the nobility, monetary considerations +and questions of rank were usually regarded as sufficient +motives for marriage, unless passion swept aside +caution and led to a <i>mésalliance</i>. Gallants who serenaded +with dishonorable motives were generally treated roughly. +A life spent between a town residence and a country house, +with frequent attendance at court, comprised the ambitions +of the young nobility. Marriage was frequently regarded +simply as an incident which did not materially alter the +attitude of either of the contracting parties to the rest of the court personnel.</p> + +<p>The manners of the times of Charles II. were not the +manners of England sober, but of England intoxicated with +the new wine of French frivolity; and with the passing +away of the king who had led them to worship false gods, +the English people gradually returned to their habitual +steadiness. Yet, the dalliance with frivolity had effects to +be seen throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century, +in the superficiality of the era in regard to woman, +and, finally, in a stiff and artificial scheme of convention. +<!--Blank page #308 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span></p> + + + + +<h2>Chapter XIII</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Eighteenth Century</h2> +<!--Blank page #310 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span> + + +<p>The artificiality of eighteenth-century society was a +precursor of the practicality of that of the nineteenth. The +influences which had given shape to the society of the time +of the Stuarts had passed away, and the new influences +and forces were in operation. The result of the contest between +the Puritan and the sensualist had been a broadened +social apprehension; and into this new concept entered +harmoniously the catholicity of the worldly spirit and the +conservatism of the religious spirit. This was the society +which was productive of women of eminence in the arts +and literature, as well as of women untalented, but blessed +with a broader scope of life, more varied experience and +controlled natures, than those who had gone before them.</p> + +<p>Society as a whole indirectly profited by the English +dalliance with French manners. Corruption was but a +circumstance of the closer relationship, in social ways, of +England with the continent. Political animosities and +ambitions had more largely than anything else brought +England and the rest of Europe into contact, nor was the +contact by clashing at an end. A nation generally is not +greatly concerned in the projects of princes, so that, while +territorial aggrandizement or curtailment or similar benefits +or injuries resulted from the wars of England, the salient +fact as a social consideration is that the English people +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span> +were still further broadened from the provincialism which +the insularity of their country induced. At the beginning +of the eighteenth century, the women of England had +escaped the local and narrow spirit and separateness of +customs which threatened them from England's beginning, +and from which they were saved by recurrent and ever +more frequent contact with continental nations.</p> + +<p>English society, however, had not become so imbued with +the cosmopolitan spirit as to feel at ease in it as in a loose +garment; the people were straitened and formal. They +were lacking the versatility and adaptability which developed +in the nineteenth century, when, amongst women, +convention became settled custom, and custom the careful +promulgator of social laws. There were present all the +evidences of the finer sensibilities which give clear notions +in matters intellectual, and society in the last half of the +eighteenth century became thoroughly aroused to a social +consciousness with regard to the middle and lower classes. +The industrial revolution and the rise of the school of +classic economists brought forward great discussions which +had for their purpose the determination of the fundamental +basis of a nation's prosperity. Into this discussion women +entered as participants, but very much more largely as +interested subjects of the matters involved.</p> + +<p>The growth of England's industries, more than any other +single thing, contributed to the well-being of the masses of +English society, while at the same time it tended to make +sharper distinctions among them. The increase of ease +and comfort in living affected largely the character of +domestic life; and the wider scope of industry and sterner +demands for labor, which were the outcome of a desire to +participate largely in the benefits of the new industries, +gave opportunity to individual talent and application; while +the unfrugal and shiftless, or the unfortunate, experienced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span> +in proportionately greater degree the severity of living. +To mining, fishing, farming, sheep rearing, fruit cultivation, +weaving, seafaring,—the industries of England other +than manufactures,—were added during the seventeenth +century glass manufacture, cotton manufacture, and other +industries which were the foundation of England's material +greatness. This list was greatly augmented during the +eighteenth century, and the development of manufactures +of all sorts created the factory towns, which drew to them, +as into a vortex, the populations of the rural districts, and +created many problems of modern society in which female and child labor are involved.</p> + +<p>Among the women in everyday life, social habits were +easy and existence had many elements of contentment. +Gossip—which had become differentiated from scandal, +because of a wider variety of subjects to chatter about +than flagitious conduct, occupied a large proportion of the +time of the women. The public gardens and the promenades +of the cities, notably the capital, were as much +resorted to as during the reign of Charles, and there was +as keen an interest in the display of styles and the parade +of wealth by the women who rode in their carriages or +were carried in their sedan chairs as formerly there had +been in the conduct of the gilded set of the Restoration.</p> + +<p>Society as such had not as yet reached the coherence +which it knows to-day. It was much a matter of classes +or sections. The "democracy of aristocracy," which +makes a cross-section of all the social grades and includes +the wealthy, the noble born, the intellectual and the gifted +of all ranks of society, was a later development. It is +true that women of gifts did not have to rely upon patrons +for their reputation, but had direct access to the public +and were sustained by their own worth; nevertheless, the +pride of birth was still strong enough to make those who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span> +possessed it hold themselves far above even the most +gifted and talented of the sex who were not born within +the narrow circle of noble society. Yet it was no longer +simply the person garnished with titles of nobility who +attracted the popular eye and was singled out in the +crowd; for when women whose only claim to notice was +their saintliness of character and Christian service, or their +philanthropy, or their literary gifts, or their art attainments, +were seen in the places of general resort, they +attracted as much attention as did women of rank.</p> + +<p>The prosperous and well-domiciled woman of the middle +classes could rest in the comfortable feeling that the demarcations +of society no longer absolutely precluded the +possibility of her daughters' entering the ranks of those +famous for their signal worth of one sort or another; but +as yet the great movements of modern society had not +come into close touch with the lives of ordinary women. +Newspapers were published, but women seldom read them. +Philanthropy was making headway, but women had little +part in its movement, nor had they fully entered as yet +into their birthright in the realm of literature. In the rural +districts, their life was so contracted that a weekly newsletter, +passed from hand to hand, was the chief medium +of information as to the outside world; but even this was +not usually read by the womenfolk, who were content to +receive their news by hearsay. Unlike the women of the +aristocracy, the women of the middle classes did not become +beneficiaries to any large degree in the wider connections +of their husbands, because such connections were +for the most part of a business nature and not social. They +were women of mediocrity, and their rôle was domestic. +It was still thought unimportant to widen woman's +horizon beyond the elements of an education. To these, +in the case of the more prosperous, were added those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span> +accomplishments which are still looked upon by ignorant +persons with disdain, but which serve to bridge the chasms +of society by establishing tests of good breeding irrespective +of social birth; so that to reading, writing, geography, +and history there were added music, French, and Italian. +Such a curriculum, faithfully followed, prepared young +women to move in polite circles.</p> + +<p>The old cry of women's incapacity for intellectual attainments +of the same order as those of men is audible throughout +the eighteenth century. One writer, after speaking +of the regard in which the sex were held in England, discusses +the matter of their education and concludes that it +is not easy to comprehend the possibility of raising them +to a higher plane than that to which they had been lifted, +because of their natural incapacity for other than the +domestic and social functions which they so gracefully +fulfilled. To English people generally, it was a matter of +pride that their women received greater respect and were +held in greater affection than those of continental countries. +This was often remarked upon by foreign visitors, +one of whom observes that "among the common people +the husbands seldom make their wives work. As to the +women of quality, they don't trouble themselves about +it." The position of the wife in middle-class society has +been set before us by Fielding in a satire that has in it +much of truth: "The Squire, to whom that poor woman +had been a faithful upper-servant all the time of their +marriage, had returned that behavior by making what the +world calls a good husband. He very seldom swore at +her, perhaps not above once a week, and never beat her. +She had not the least occasion for jealousy, and was perfect +mistress of her time, for she was never interrupted +by her husband, who was engaged all the morning in +his field exercises, and all the evening with his bottle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span> +companions." Certainly home had come to have attached +to it a notion of greater sanctity than ever before, and +women were accorded their natural rights and position, +with the respect and deference in the tenderer relations of +life, which signified much more than the profuse chivalry +of the Middle Ages or the mock courtesy of the time of Charles II.</p> + +<p>The English people were above all domestic; and the +period, in its emphasis upon this phase of social life,—the +English home,—marks in a way the beginning of that conception +which is now regarded as being at the very foundation +of a secure society. While France was going on in +its iconoclastic way, destroying all things sacred in a mad +desire to seize for the Third Estate the rights which they +realized belonged to them, and the grasping of which was +to cause French history to be written in the blood and fire +of the great Revolution, the English, having passed out of +the social depravity of the reign of Charles II., became +eminently steady and conservative of those elements of +social progress which, in their case, unlike that of their +French neighbors, had already been secured for them by +progressive and largely peaceful measures.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that the term "old maid" +had now entered into the popular vernacular, although +"spinster," with its transferred meaning, was the more +respectful way of speaking of unmarried women. "An old +maid is now thought such a curse," says the author of the +<i>Ladies' Calling</i>, "as no Poetick Fury can exceed; looked +on as the most calamitous creature in nature. And I so far +yield to the opinion as to confess it to those who are kept +in that state against their wills; but sure the original of +that misery is from the desire, not the restraint, of marriage; +let them but suppress that once, and the other will +never be their infelicity. But I must not be so unkind to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span> +the sex as to think 'tis always such desire that gives them +an aversion to celibacy; I doubt not many are frightened +only with the vulgar contempt under which that state +lyes: for which if there be no cure, yet there is the same +armous against this which is against all other causeless +reproaches, viz., to contemn it."</p> + +<p>The esteem in which matrimony was held as the manifest +destiny of the fair sex is illustrated by all the social +manners of the day. Women had, however, the good +taste to conduct themselves without reproach, and not to +invite attention even while they most appreciated it. In a +word, the young women of the eighteenth century were +not coquettes, and with them modesty was not a lost art. +They were not masculine, and indeed might have been +regarded from the standards of to-day as prudes. But the +prudery of the British women excited the admiration of +foreigners, thoroughly satiated with the arts, the flaunting +manners, and the gilded charms of the young women of the European capitals.</p> + +<p>One foreigner is found recording his astonishment at the +diversity in the manner of walking of the ladies, and sees +in it an index of their characters; for, says he, when they +are desirous only of being seen, they walk together, for +the most part without speaking. He suggests that the +stiffness and formality of their demeanor when not thus +on dress parade are laid aside for greater naturalness. But +he says that, with all their care to be seen, they have no +ridiculous affectations. In former times, it was not customary +for young women to go about without the attendance +of some older person, and a girl so doing was brought +under suspicion as to her character; but in the eighteenth +century, young girls went about freely with their fellows +and without any other company, and a writer of the +period assures us that if a young girl went out with a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> +parent, unless such parent were as wild as herself, she +felt as though she was going abroad with a jailer. It was +not usual, however, for girls to go about unchaperoned.</p> + +<p>It would be an unwarranted assumption to suppose that +demureness was any deeper than demeanor in the maidens +of the eighteenth century, for the feminine character—and +not times and customs—determines the effectiveness of +the sex. Matters of custom and of dress signify little, and +yet the Solons who passed the act of 1770 to lessen the +potency of woman's charms appear to have been utterly +oblivious of the important consideration that these do not +rest in outward circumstance, but in inward grace. This +curious act prescribed: "That all women, of whatever age, +rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids, or +widows, that shall, from and after such Act, impose upon, +seduce, or betray into matrimony, any of his Majesty's +male subjects by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial +teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, +high-heeled shoes, etc., shall incur the penalty of the law +now enforced against witchcraft and like misdemeanours, +and that the marriage upon conviction shall stand null and +void." And this, too, just six years before the American Declaration of Independence!</p> + +<p>Allusion to this act proscribing aids to beauty leads +to the consideration of the matter of costume and adornment. +This can be summarized in the censure which was +called forth from an Italian visitor: "The ladies of England +do not understand the art of decorating their persons +so well as those of Italy; they generally increase the volume +of the head by a cap that makes it much bigger than +nature, a fault which should be always avoided in adorning +that part." After this observation, the writer passes +on to criticise the length of the ladies' skirts, affirming +that they wore their petticoats too short behind, unlike +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span> +the ladies of Italy and France, for—and we are indebted +to him for his explication of trains—these ladies "pattern +after the most graceful birds." By their failure to emulate +the peacock or the bird-of-paradise in the matter of their +splendid appendages, the English women are said to lose +"the greatest grace which dress can impart to a female." +He continues, saying: "In truth, not beauty, but novelty +governs in London, not taste, but copy. A celebrated +woman of five foot six inches gives law to the dress of +those who are but four feet two.... This is not the +case in Italy and France; the ladies know that the grace +which attends plumpness is unbecoming the slender; and +the tall lady never affects to look like a fairy; nor the +dwarf like the giantess, but each, studying the air and +mien which become her figure, appears in the most engaging +dress that can be made, to set off her person to the greatest advantage."</p> + +<p>Passing from the generalities of female dress and coming +to particular descriptions thereof, here is an account of the +costuming of the ladies who assembled at court to congratulate +his majesty George II. and his queen, Caroline, +on their nuptials: "The ladies were variously dressed, +though with all the richness and grandeur imaginable; +many of them had their heads dressed English, of fine +Brussels lace of exceeding rich patterns, made up on narrow +wire and small round rolls, and the hair pinned to +large puff-caps, and but a few without powder; some few +had their hair curled down on the sides; pink and silver, +white and gold, were the general knots worn. There was +a vast number of Dutch heads, their hair curled down in +short curls on the sides and behind, all very much powdered, +with ribbands frilled on their heads, variously disposed; +and some had diamonds set on ribbands on their +heads; laced tippets were pretty general, and some had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span> +ribbands between the frills; treble-lace ruffles were universally +worn, though abundance had them not tacked up. +Their gowns were either gold stuffs or rich silks, with +either gold or silver flowers, or pink or white silks, +with either gold or silver nets or trimmings; the sleeves to +the gowns were middling (not so short as formerly), and +wide, and their facings and robings broad; several had +flounced sleeves and petticoats and gold or silver fringe set +on the flounces; some had stomachers of the same sort as +the gown, others had large bunches of made flowers at +their breasts; the gowns were variously pinned, but in +general flat, the hoops French, and the petticoats of a +moderate length, and a little slope behind. The ladies +were exceedingly brilliant likewise in jewels; some had +them in their necklaces and ear-rings, others with diamond +solitaires to pearl necklaces of three or four rows; +some had necklaces of diamonds and pearls intermixed, +but made up very broad; several had their gown-sleeves +buttoned with diamonds, others had diamond sprigs in +their hair, etc. The ladies' shoes were exceeding rich, +being either pink, white, or green silk, with gold or silver +lace braid all over, with low heels and low hind-quarters and +low flaps, and abundance had large diamond shoe-buckles."</p> + +<p>The preposterous hooped petticoats which ladies wore +out of doors subjected them to the good-natured banter of +the wits of the time. One of these sallies, which appeared +about 1720, runs as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"An elderly lady, whose bulky squat figure</p> +<p>By hoop and white damask was rendered much bigger,</p> +<p>Without hood and bare-neck'd to the Park did repair</p> +<p>To show her new clothes and to take the fresh air;</p> +<p>Her shape, her attire, raised a shout in loud laughter:</p> +<p>Away waddles Madam, the mob hurries after.</p> +<p>Quoth a wag, then observing the noisy crowd follow,</p> +<p>'As she came with a hoop, she is gone with a hollow.'"</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg 321]</span> + +<p>The hoopskirt was the characteristic feature of eighteenth-century +styles, and it grew to such enormous proportions +as seriously to inconvenience the wearer and to +interfere with the cubic feet of space which a pedestrian +might reasonably claim as his right on a crowded thoroughfare. +But there were eighteenth-century styles which +were more reprehensible than the oft-caricatured hoop.</p> + +<p>There was a class of votaries of fashion, in contrast to +the mass of society, whose only notion of dress was display, +and toward the middle of the eighteenth century +these imported the most extravagant and immodest of +French styles. As they paraded the public gardens, to +which all classes resorted, the staid people were scandalized +by their appearance. T. Wright, in his <i>Caricature History +of the Georges</i>, says that "what was looked upon as the +<i>beau-monde</i> then lived much more in public than now, and +men and women of fashion displayed their weaknesses to +the world in public places of amusement and resort, with +little shame or delicacy. The women often rivalled the +men in libertinism, and even emulated them sometimes in +their riotous manners." Women of the town were greatly +in evidence, and a trustworthy traveller of the times affirms +that they were bolder and more numerous in London than +in either Paris or Rome. Not only at night, but in broad +daylight, they traversed the footpaths, selecting out of the +passers-by the susceptible for their enticement, particularly +directing themselves to foreigners. Archenholz says: +<i>On compte cinquante mille prostitueés à Londres, dans les +maîtresses en titre. Leurs usages et leur conduite déterminent +les différentes classes où il faut les ranger. La plus +vile de toutes habite dans les lieux publics sous la direction +d'une matrone qui les loge et les habille. Ces habits mêe +pour les filles communes, sont de soie, suivant l'usage que le +luxe a généralement introduit en Angleterre.... Dans</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span> +<i>la seule paroisse de Marybonne, qui est la plus grande et la +plus peuplée de l'Angleterre, on en comptoit, il y a quelques +années, treize mille, dont dix-sept cents occupoient des maisons +entières à elles seules</i>.</p> + +<p>Such a picture of social vice in the metropolis is a sad +commentary upon the tendency of the young women of +the country districts to drift to the city. The "lights o' +London" had already begun to possess that fascination +for the weak in morals, the light-headed and frivolous, +which has made them a wrecker's beacon on a rockbound +shore, luring to destruction untold hosts of inexperienced +country youth. Nor was the drift Londonward due altogether +to the fascination which the gay and pleasure-pandering +city possessed, for there were not wanting +methods of enticement such as are still employed, in spite +of legal penalties. The example of city dwellers of outward +respectability did not tend to elevate the moral tone +of those who came fresh from the country, with its purer +home life; for while the sanctity of the home was an +appreciable fact of the seventeenth century, it was much +less so in the metropolis and in the cities generally than it was in the country.</p> + +<p>A notorious fact that attracted the notice of continental +visitors to England was that lax morality prevailed +in many English families. Muralt, a Frenchman, even +asserts that he found it customary for husbands generally +to maintain mistresses and also to bring them to their +homes and place them on a footing with their wives. +This is doubtless an exaggerated statement of the case; +but when the king was not faultless, the people were apt +to pursue folly. Although no king after Charles II., except +George II., disgraced the nation by the profligacy +which he exhibited, yet Charles's successor, James II., +kept a mistress, as did most of the kings following him.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span> + +<p>Referring again to Fielding, we get what is probably a +truer picture of the times in this respect than could be +penned from the hasty observations of a traveller. A +young fellow who has led astray his landlady's daughter is +addressed by his uncle in the following manner: "Honour +is a creature of the world's making, and the world has +the power of a creator over it, and may govern and direct +it as they please. Now, you well know how trivial these +breaches of contract are thought; even the grossest make +but the wonder and conversation of the day. Is there a +man who afterwards will be more backward in giving you +his sister or daughter, or is there any sister or daughter +who would be more backward to receive you? Honour is +not concerned in these engagements." It need not be +supposed that such sentiments were general; but that +they were all too prevalent is manifested by the literature that mirrors the times.</p> + +<p>Drinking and swearing, the coarse associations of the +alehouse, the obscene jokes and sallies which were indulged +in freely in such places and made up a great part +of the conversation, were conducive to a very low moral +standard for men, and there was nothing in the times to +lead women to uphold higher ideals of conduct than those +which were imposed upon them by the male sex. Consequently, +they were accustomed to a lower standard than +would be tolerated to-day; but as libertinism was largely +concerned with the outcast element of society, the women +of the homes were not called upon to sacrifice integrity of +character for its satisfaction. So that the lower moral +standard was set up for men, and a woman who would +attempt at once to maintain her respectability and follow +such courses would very soon have found that difference +in standards for the sexes visited a stricter condemnation +upon her than upon the male delinquent.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span> + +<p>The testimony of foreigners to the chastity of the English +matron quite coincides with that which comes from +English sources. Le Blanc remarks: "Most of those who +among us pass for men of good fortune in amours would +with difficulty succeed in addressing an English fair. She +would not sooner be subdued by the insinuating softness +of their jargon than by the amber with which they are +perfumed." Another observer, of the same nationality, +speaking of the unassailability of the English woman, +attributes it to the insurmountable rampart which she had +in the love for her family, the care of her household, and +her natural gravity, and says that he does not know any +city in the world where the honor of husbands is in less +danger of deflection than in London.</p> + +<p>The social hypocrisy of the eighteenth century, as it +relates to woman, was due to the failure as yet to place +the sex in correct adjustment with the times. Instead of +considering her as having serious qualities and value other +than the realization of matrimony, everything that entered +into woman's life pointed in that one direction. The art +of pleasing was not cultivated as an opportunity of the +sex due to their special graces of spirit and of person, +which might legitimately be employed for their own sake +to make the world happier and brighter. There was not +afforded to men the restfulness and pleasure in the company +of women which would serve as a delightful foil to the practical +and anxious cares of their daily lives; nor were women +taught to believe in themselves as capable persons in the +spheres of life in which feminine personality, taste, and +touch best affect and mould civilization. Except in a few +notable cases, literature and art, to say nothing of science, +were outside of woman's sphere, because she neither believed +in herself nor was seriously regarded by men as a +factor in any of the wide relations of life other than those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> +which were involved in her sex. The arts of the toilette, +conversation, and deportment were all in which she was +considered to need to be adept. Where naturalness was +suppressed, it is not strange that the young women should +have been influenced by false standards; false modesty, +false sensitiveness, false ignorance, were depended upon +to give them the artlessness and innocence of deportment +which should recommend them to the blasé men of the times.</p> + +<p>The estimate in which the sex was held was not quietly +accepted by all women; although the new woman had not +appeared upon the horizon, there were not wanting women +who realized that their position was a humiliating one, and +who sought to create a sentiment for its betterment. +Mary Astell was one such, and the case as presented by +her shows the superficiality of the conventional routine of +a woman's life. She says: "When a young lady is taught +to value herself on nothing but her cloaths, and to think +she's very fine when well accoutred; when she hears say, +that 'tis wisdom enough for her to know how to dress herself, +that she may become amiable in his eyes to whom it +appertains to be knowing and learned; who can blame her +if she lays out her industry and money for such accomplishments, +and sometimes extends it farther than her misinformer +desires she should?... If from our infancy +we are nurs'd upon ignorance and vanity; are taught to +be proud and petulant, delicate and fantastick, humourous +and inconstant, 'tis not strange that the ill effects of this +conduct appear in all the future actions of our lives.... +That, therefore, women are unprofitable to most, and a +plague and dishonor to some men, is not much to be regretted +on account of the men, because 'tis the product of +their folly in denying them the benefits of an ingenuous +and liberal education, the most effectual means to direct +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span> +them into, and secure their progress in, the ways of virtue."</p> + +<p>A French writer criticised the Englishmen of the day +for their failure to avail themselves of the refining influence +of women, in whose graces, he affirmed, there could +be found constant charm and a certain sweetness peculiar +to the sex. He said that the conversation of the women +would polish and soften the manners of the men and enable +them to contract a manner and tone which would be +agreeable to both sexes; and he ascribed the bluntness of +the English character to this lack of the refining influence of female society.</p> + +<p>As women were left so largely to their own devices, +falling the comradeship of men, they gave themselves over +to the needle as the chief resource for idle hours. The +<i>Female Spectator</i> protested against this excessive needlework +on the part of women: "Nor can I by any means +approve of your compelling young ladies of fortune to +make so much use of the needle, as they did in former +days, and some few continue to do.... It always +makes me smile when I hear the mother of fine daughters +say: 'I always keep my girls at their needle;' one, perhaps, +is working her a gown, another a quilt for a bed, and a +third engaged to make a whole dozen shirts for her father. +And then, when she had carried you into the nursery and +shown you them all, add: 'It is good to keep them out of +idleness; when young people have nothing to do, they +naturally wish to do something they ought not,'" With +such a narrow circle of interest, it was not strange that +women who had leisure should have wasted it in frivolity.</p> + +<p>Gambling among women of fashion was more a result +of too much leisure and too little intellectual stimulus than +an indication of vicious propensities. <i>The Female Spectator</i>, +from which we have quoted, in an article in 1745, relating +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg 327]</span> +an account of the visit of a country lady to a London +friend, furnishes an illustration of the extent and effects of +the vice. The article recites that after knocking a considerable +time at the door of her friend's house,—the hour +was between eleven and twelve o'clock in the day,—a +footman, with his nightcap on and a general appearance of +having risen from the dead, responded to her inquiry for +her friend, in the interim of his yawns: "We had a racquet +here last night, and my lady cannot possibly be stirring +these three hours." The surprised visitor refrained from +asking any questions concerning this unintelligible answer, +and, after leaving her name, returned again at three +o'clock. She had the good fortune to be admitted, and +found her friend at her chocolate. She had a dish of this +in one hand, and with the other she seemed to have been +busy in sorting a large pile of guineas, which she had +divided in two heaps on the table before her. Rising, she +greeted her visitor with great civility, and expressed regret +at the latter's disappointment on first calling, saying, with +a smile, that when her friend had been a little longer in +town, she would lie longer in bed in the morning. She +then enlightened her as to the term "racquet," telling her +that when the number assembled for cards exceeded ten +tables the game was so styled; if fewer, it was called a +"rout"; and if there were but two tables, it was a "drum."</p> + +<p>It must always appear a curious and an unfortunate circumstance +that at the time of the great industrial awakening +in England in the last half of the eighteenth century, +when men, women, and children were losing their individuality +and becoming mere industrial units, representing +so many pounds of human energy to be added to a machine, +the women and children of the factories and of the hovels +of the factory towns cried piteously to the Church for bread +and received but a stone. And this was at a time when the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span> +social needs were so great and the sympathies of all other +classes seemed to be alienated by diversity of interest +from those who were called upon to toil for the making of +England's wealth. Professor Thorold Rogers, the painstaking +and acute investigator of England's industry, says +with regard to the lethargy which constituted a veritable +Dark Age for the English Church: "It is hard indeed to +see what there is to relieve the darkness of the picture +which the Anglican Church presents from the death of +Queen Anne to the time of the Evangelical Revival. Over +against the Anglican Church, formal, jealous of laymen, +fearful of schism or irregularity, should be set the nonconformist +churches." Although there was a great deal of +religious enthusiasm in the religious communities of the +Commonwealth, the principal branches of the Protestant +nonconformists soon became wedded to their own systems, +and, in a way, as narrow in their application of the principles +of the New Testament as the church from which +they had separated. It was not until the last quarter of +the seventeenth century that a movement began which +opened the way to lines of development which have been +going on ever since. The vast number of present-day +religious societies, whether in direct connection with the +Church or outside of its pale, may be traced in some ways +to the period just before and during the reign of William III.</p> + +<p>Then arose societies for the reformation of manners in +all parts of the kingdom. These societies represented the +early stirring of the spirit of reform which found its expression +in so many forms of activity in later times. They +resembled somewhat the modern societies for the correction +of social evils, such as societies for the prevention of +vice, or societies for preventing the corrupting of the youth. +It was all done under the impulse of religion, but was not +initiated by the Church; it was a lay movement. The first +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329"></a>[pg 329]</span> +distinctively women's movements in religious matters were +outside of the Church. The great preacher Whitfield +attracted the attention of the Countess of Huntingdon, +whose drawing rooms were thrown open for his preaching +and were filled by fashionable auditors. Other titled +women joined the countess, and among them was the +famous Duchess of Marlborough. The interest of noblewomen +in a movement essentially plebeian has its parallel +in the nineteenth century, when the Salvation Army enlisted +the interest and support of women of rank and title.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the countess in her loyal support of the +new evangelical movement brought her under the criticism +that is always encountered by a zeal which is not understood +by people generally. The Duchess of Buckingham +wrote to her: "I thank your Ladyship for the information +concerning the Methodist preachers; their doctrines are +most repulsive, and strongly tinctured with impertinence +and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavouring +to level all ranks and do away with all distinctions. +It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart +as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. +This is highly offensive and insulting, and I cannot but +wonder that your Ladyship should relish any sentiments +so at variance with high rank and good breeding." The +Countess of Suffolk on one occasion was so incensed at +a sermon of Whitfield in the Countess of Huntingdon's +drawing room, that she rushed out of the house in a passion, +under the impression that the discourse was a +personal attack. The attitude of the clergy generally to +the Methodist movement within the Church was one of indifference.</p> + +<p>The suffering among the wives of the inferior clergy, +who were impoverished and suffered under the defeat of +the endeavor to make their scanty resources meet the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page330" id="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> +demands of household expenses, the lack of opportunity +for educating their children, and their own loss of self-respect, +must have made their lives more miserable in +some ways than those of the wives of the potters, whose +sphere of existence and needs were much more limited. +One of the clergymen of this order plaintively sets forth +his pecuniary distress as follows: "Oh, my Lord, how +prettily and temperately may a wife and half a dozen children +be maintained with almost £30 per annum! What +an handsome shift will an ingenious and frugal divine +make, to take by turns and wear a cassock and a pair of +breeches another! What a primitive sight it will be to +see a man of God with his shoes out at the toes, and his +stockings out at heels, wandering about in an old russet +coat and tatter'd gown for apprentices to point at and +wags to break jest on! And what a notable figure will he +make in the pulpit on Sundays who has sent his <i>Hooker</i> and +<i>Stillingfleet</i>, his <i>Pearson</i> and <i>Saunderson</i>, his <i>Barrow</i> and +<i>Tillotson</i>, with many more fathers of the English Church, +into limbo long since to keep his wife's pensive petticoat +company, and her much lamented wedding ring!" Such a +picture belongs rather to the latter part of the eighteenth +century than to its beginning, for in its earlier days the +Church was prolific of quiet scholars and antiquaries, in +both parsonage and manse, living peaceful, comfortable, and cultured existences.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the Church of the eighteenth century +toward women is hardly one of record, as there was not +enough animation or interest displayed in social conditions—or, +indeed, during a part of the century, enough of intellectual +comprehension—to serve the Church for any discrimination +as to women's status. When the change of +attitude of the Church in respect to its indifference toward +that element of its body which before the Reformation, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id="page331"></a>[pg 331]</span> +and continuously since then, has been so serviceably employed +by the Roman Catholic Church did occur, it was +the High Church party which brought it about, and so +preserved for English Protestantism the work of women.</p> + +<p>Although the Church was indifferent to the great mission +that lay before it in the eighteenth century,—a mission +that had to be met by the raising up from the laity of men +and women who should stand for the spiritual rights of the +lower orders of society especially,—there was a notable +band of Christian philanthropic women who brightened the close of the century.</p> + +<p>By harnessing human compassion to social needs, the +distressed classes of society came to be lifted to that position +of betterment which is theirs to-day, largely through +agencies that owe their beginnings to the More sisters, +Elizabeth Fry, and Harriet Martineau. It is always +a pleasing task to turn to such women as these, exemplifying +as they do the attainments of the sex in those +peculiar and special ways which so well represent the +adaptations of women. The greatest woman who graced +the annals of helpfulness of the last half of the eighteenth +century in England was Hannah More. The beautiful devotion +of her long and honorable life to the cause of teaching, +and the widespread interest which, by her writings, she +attracted to the subject both in Europe and America, place +her at the source of one of the mighty streams of pervasive +influence that have ever permeated human society. +So great was her appreciation of the character and the +position of woman, that she was able to forecast well-nigh +everything that has been enunciated in modern times with +regard to the place of the sex in education and in society.</p> + +<p>Hannah More was born in 1745, in a little village near +Bristol. Her father, who was the village schoolmaster, +gave his five daughters educations adapted as near as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span> +might be to the peculiar talents of each. Three of the +girls opened a boarding school in Bristol, when the oldest +was only twenty years of age. This school soon became +fashionable and ultimately famous. It was to this institution +that the early labors of Hannah More were given, +and it was here that she attracted the attention of such +men as Ferguson the astronomer, the elder Sheridan, +Garrick the tragedian, Goldsmith, Reynolds, Burke, +and indeed nearly all men of eminence in intellectual and +state life. But her associations were not solely with the +fashionable world, by which she was petted and flattered, +for she turned her attention to labors for the poor and the +ignorant. She sought to do for the children who lived +amid the savage profligacy of the peasant class what +Madame de Maintenon sought to do for girls of the aristocratic +class in her country. Both alike aimed to offset the +perversion of character which threatened the girls of their +respective schools, from different sources, but to the same +end,—their destruction. Madame de Maintenon worked to +counteract the insidious infidelity that permeated the upper +walks of life—Hannah More, to counteract the practical +atheism of the lowest plane of life. The fundamental +principle of her educational system was the necessity of +Christian instruction. She recognized the close relationship +of education and religion, and gauged well the significance +of the historical fact of woman's debt to Christianity +for her elevation. The question which she asked was not +that of social utility, but that of personal character. She +saw too much of the utilitarian principle in its actual workings, +the reducing of human life to the plane of mechanism, +to permit her to base her educational efforts upon a utilitarian +foundation. She sought to cultivate that "sensibility +which has its seat in the heart rather than in the +nerves." Anything which detracted from modesty or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page333" id="page333"></a>[pg 333]</span> +delicacy, or tended to make a girl bold or forward, she +severely rebuked. She taught the wastefulness of expending +time upon the cultivation of a talent which one +does not possess, and held that excessive cultivation of +the æsthetic range of subjects contributes to a decline in +those more stable factors upon which is based the security +of states. Neither indelicate exposure of the person in +style of dress nor extravagance in dancing found favor at +her hands. Such were some of the views which were +entertained and promulgated by the woman who created +an epoch in the attitude of society toward her sex. She +taught the dignity of womanhood, from which the duties +of domesticity cannot detract, the performance of them as +a function of womankind being of all things honorable. +The pure common sense of Hannah More did for the women +of her time the service which had failed of performance by the Church.</p> + +<p>Passing from the theoretical to the practical part of +Hannah More's work, it is interesting to see her putting +into effect her philanthropic labors. The people among +whom she labored were destitute of almost everything +that makes life comfortable. Among the Mendip Hills, +out from Bristol, lived a wild, barbarous, lawless population, +compared with which the millers and the colliers of +the mines were mild and tractable. Among these people +Hannah More established her schools. Some of the children +had already had the schooling of the prison, and all +of them had been tutored in vice beyond comprehension +for persons so young. Hannah More's schemes were +regarded by many as visionary and impracticable, and received +opposition from sources where sympathy and helpfulness +were to be expected. Gradually, however, her +school work was extended until it covered an area of twenty-eight miles.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page334" id="page334"></a>[pg 334]</span> + +<p>In the Sunday schools the children received religious +instruction, and in the day schools they were taught to +spin flax and wool. No missionary bishop travelled more +constantly, no Methodist itinerant cultivated his circuit +district more assiduously, than did Hannah and her sister +Patty More their lay diocese. The many difficulties which +had to be overcome by them cannot be appreciated by +workers among the destitute to-day, with all the appliances +and books and methods which represent a century's +experience in such lines. Nothing of the sort was to hand +for these sisters; but Hannah More was an author as well +as a philanthropist, and the tales for the interest and instruction +of the children she wrote herself.</p> + +<p>While Hannah More lived and worked in the eighteenth +century, her life's service extended over into the nineteenth +century also. She was a contemporary of Miss +Mitford, Mary Carpenter, Mrs. Summerville, and Maria +Edgeworth. The eighteenth century brought forth the +women who were to carry into the nineteenth century +the elements of service for society, which were to be like +the seed sown in good ground and to bring forth the maximum fold of fruitage.</p> + +<p>The national system of education had not been developed +in the eighteenth century, making the acquirement +of an education somewhat dependent upon individual circumstances +as affected by personal ambitions. There was +nothing in the way of general education for women. But +the dawn of better things intellectually was shown by the +development of a group of women of literary comprehension +and productivity, who formed a set apart and yet +were in a real sense prophets in a wilderness, proclaiming +the democracy of letters. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu +writes very bitterly of the low esteem in which was held +the intellectuality of the sex, and in speaking of the study +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page335" id="page335"></a>[pg 335]</span> +of classics, says: "My sex is usually forbid studies of this +nature, and folly reckoned so much our proper sphere we +are sooner pardoned any excesses of that, than the least +pretensions to reading or good sense.... Our minds +are entirely neglected, and, by disuse of reflections, filled +with nothing but the trifling objects our eyes are daily +entertained with. This custom so long established and +industriously upheld makes it even ridiculous to go out of +the common road, and forces one to find as many excuses +as if it was a thing altogether criminal not to play the fool +in concert with other women of quality, whose birth and +leisure only serve to render them the most useless and +most worthless part of the creation. There is hardly a +creature in the world more despicable or more liable to +universal ridicule than a learned woman! These words +imply, according to the received sense, a tattling, impertinent, +vain, and conceited creature.... The Abbé +Bellegarde gives a reason for women's talking over much: +they know nothing, and every outward object strikes their +imagination and produces a multitude of thoughts, which, +if they knew more, they would know not worth thinking +of. I am not now arguing for an equality of the two sexes. +I do not doubt God and nature have thrown us into an +inferior rank; we are a lower part of the creation, we owe +obedience and submission to the superior sex, and any +woman who suffers her folly and vanity to deny this +rebels against the laws of the Creator, and indisputable +order of nature; but there is a worse effect than this, +which follows the careless education given to women of +quality—it's being so easy for any man of sense, that +finds it either his interest or his pleasure to corrupt them. +The common method is to begin by attacking their religion: +they bring a thousand fallacious arguments their +excessive ignorance hinders them from refuting; and, I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page336" id="page336"></a>[pg 336]</span> +speak now from my own knowledge and conversation +among them, there are more atheists among the fine ladies +than among the lowest sort of rakes." This bitter plaint +of a lady of quality, with its humiliating acknowledgment +of the inferiority of her sex and the hopelessness of that +inferiority, sounds very pathetic in the light of the present-day +estimate of woman and her acknowledged equality +with man in all matters, saving only in the exercise of the +public functions for which the advocates of the full programme +of woman's rights contend.</p> + +<p>It is not surprising that women of intellectual gifts grew +morbid under a sense of social inferiority; it is not strange +that they hid their light under a bushel, and were afraid +of acknowledging their talents or their aspirations, when +men regarded learning for their daughters "as great a +profanation as the clergy would do if the laity should +undertake to exercise the functions of the priesthood." +In matters intellectual, woman was negative. She must +not embarrass her superiors by displaying in their presence +indications of talent or evidences of learning; her +theories and opinions were not worthy of statement or +consideration in the presence of the male sex. Her gentility +was one of breeding, but it did not involve the brain. +Of necessity the intellectual development of woman in +such a mental atmosphere was slow. Her elevation was +dependent upon an awakening of thought in all departments +of life. There was lacking an incentive to intellectual +industry when the fruits of such toil might not be enjoyed.</p> + +<p>Under such adverse conditions, the names of the women +of exceptional intellectual gifts in the eighteenth century +constitute a roll of honor worthy to be inscribed in every +hall of learning devoted to the education of women. This +literary coterie included, besides Lady Mary Wortley +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page337" id="page337"></a>[pg 337]</span> +Montagu, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Parker, Mrs. +Vesey, Hannah More, Mrs. Chapone, Elizabeth Carter, and Miss Talbot.</p> + +<p>Lady Montagu was of an aggressive nature, and well +fitted to conquer difficulties rather than to despair in their +presence. She was a good classical scholar, a student +under Bishop Burnet, and was abreast of all the thought +of her time. She is credited, among other things, with +the courage to introduce the system of inoculation for +smallpox, having had her son so treated.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu was an insatiable devotee of +society, and abounded with a fund of mirth for the enlivenment +of the dullest company. In her correspondence, +amid a lively flow of chatter, she introduces discussions of +Dr. Middleton's <i>Life of Cicero</i> and other critical and historical +allusions relating to the classic authors, and evinces +familiarity with such literature. Again, she is found descanting +in a critical vein on the qualities of Warburton's +<i>Notes on Shakespeare</i>. Her observations upon English history +are appreciative of its distinguishing features. In +these remarks she says: "In some reigns, the kingdom +is in the most terrible confusion, in others it appears mean +and corrupt; in Charles II.'s time, what a figure we make +with French measures and French mistresses! But when +our times are written, England will recover its glory; such +conquests abroad, such prosperity at home, such prudence +in council, such vigor in execution, so many men clothed +in scarlet, so many fine tents, so many cannon that do not +so much as roar, such easy taxes, such flourishing trade! +Can posterity believe it? I wish our history, from its incredibility, +may not get bound up with fairy tales and +serve to amuse children, and make nursery maids moralize." +The same light touch and whimsical insight displayed +in this quotation are evidenced in all her writings. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page338" id="page338"></a>[pg 338]</span> +It matters not the subject—balls or books, flirtations or +syllogisms, the same delicate vein of humor runs throughout them.</p> + +<p>Miss Carter, the particular friend of Mrs. Montagu, frail +in health and devoted, a beauty, a wit, a brilliant conversationalist, +was yet of a much more retiring disposition +than was her friend. She created no Hillstreet and Portman +Square assemblies, although she was by no means a +recluse; and even if she did not have so strong a social +following as Mrs. Montagu, her presence possessed charm +for those who assembled about her. She had a wide acquaintance +with literature, and patronized the libraries extensively; +her linguistic accomplishments included French, +Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and, most rare acquirement +in those days, German. She was discriminating in her +literary tastes, and is found commenting upon German +books of fiction. She says that they are dangerous for +young people, for the reason that they possess the singular +art of sanctifying the passions. Mere sentimentality was +repugnant to her feelings, and she dismissed from her +attention a German book, with the expression: "A detestable +book, but I know of no other in German that is +exceptionable in the same horrid way."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Vesey was another literary character whose salon, +made thoroughly delightful, was frequented only by persons +of the greatest culture. Just how the name <i>bas-bleu</i> +came to be identified with the assembly which Mrs. Vesey +gathered about her is not known. One explanation which +was current at the time attributes the term to a foreign +gentleman who was invited to go to either Mrs. Montagu's +or Mrs. Vesey's, and was assured as to the informality of +the occasion by an acquaintance, who told him that full +dress was quite optional, and, in fact, he might go in blue +stockings if he was so minded. Other accounts do not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page339" id="page339"></a>[pg 339]</span> +agree with this; one lays the phrase at the door of Mr. +Benjamin Stillingfleet, the naturalist, who always wore +blue stockings; but it is asserted by Miss Carter's biographer +that Stillingfleet died before the name came into +vogue. Hannah More, in some whimsical lines, describes a <i>bas-bleu</i> assembly:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Here sober Duchesses are seen,</p> +<p>Chaste wits and critics void of spleen:</p> +<p>Physicians fraught with real science,</p> +<p>And Whigs and Tories in alliance;</p> +<p>Poets fulfilling Christian duties,</p> +<p>Just Lawyers, reasonable Beauties,</p> +<p>Bishops who preach and Peers who pray,</p> +<p>And Countesses who seldom play,</p> +<p>Learn'd Antiquaries who from college</p> +<p>Reject the rust and bring the knowledge;</p> +<p>And hear it, <i>age</i>, believe it, <i>youth</i>,—</p> +<p>Polemics really seeking truth;</p> +<p>And Travellers of that rare tribe</p> +<p>Who've seen the countries they describe."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The brilliant woman who gathered about her such a +representative gathering of celebrities as is suggested by +these lines—an assemblage in which Dr. Johnson could +discourse in one corner on moral duties, and Horace Walpole +amuse another group with his lively wit, while the +younger portion discussed the opera or the fashions—was +the daughter of Sir Thomas Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. +By her second marriage—with a relative, Mr. A. Vesey—she +resumed her maiden name. Prominent persons, other +than those mentioned, who were attracted to her salon were +Burke, Pulteney, Garrick, Lord Lyttleton, Dr. Burney, and Lord Monboddo.</p> + +<p>Women were not only given to shining in exclusive +social circles, but brilliant representatives of the sex were +keenly interested in the political trend of the times. The +Duchess of Marlborough was one of the most notable and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page340" id="page340"></a>[pg 340]</span> +politically active women of the age of Anne. This was a +time of ascendency in politics of the Dissenters, who are +described by Burton in his history of that age as a clog +upon the free movements of the complicated machinery of +British social and political life. Another of the famous +women at court was the Countess of Suffolk, who appears +in Swift's correspondence as Mrs. Howard. These women +were thoroughly informed as to the political movements of +their time, as is revealed by their correspondence; and +they, with others as noteworthy, often shaped state policy. +Among names which appear prominently in the political +movements of the century are those of the Countess of +Bristol, Mrs. Selwyn, who was one of the ladies of the +bedchamber to the queen of George II., Lady Hervey, and +the Duchess of Queensborough. The latter declared herself +so wearied of elections that, in all good conscience, +they ought to occur only once in an age. The Countess +of Huntingdon, the supporter of Whitfield, the Duchess of +Devonshire, and other women of position, had vital interest in public questions.</p> + +<p>The interest which English ladies took in politics was +a matter of constant surprise to foreigners, but it was +significant of the awakening to a sense of privilege which +led in the next century to the various female declarations +of rights, of which the most extreme was the claim to suffrage.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page341" id="page341"></a>[pg 341]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter XIV</h2> + +<h2>The Women of the Nineteenth Century</h2> +<!--Blank page #342 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page343" id="page343"></a>[pg 343]</span> + + +<p>At the opening of the nineteenth century, practically +unfettered opportunity extended in all directions before +women; but it was necessary for the century to spend its +force before they had fully availed themselves of the +privileges which were objected to only by those who still +descanted on woman's sphere as a purely domestic one. +The "woman question" is very modern, because woman +has so lately come to be seriously regarded as a factor in +the work of life. The changed conditions of the nineteenth +century resulted from those forces which were +operating for the larger liberty of the sex. Contributions +to the widening of the scope of their lives came from +many sources. Religion has been the evangel of woman; +but even it cannot claim that the modern woman, with +her versatility of touch and her multiform influence, is its +product. Law reluctantly acknowledged the rights of the +sex where it was futile to deny them; but it has sinned +too grievously in the years that are past to receive recognition +as a promoter of the new Renaissance, although it +cherishes the rights which woman has achieved, and is +to-day one of her most chivalrous defenders. Convention +is too unadaptive to do more than recognize adjustments +which have been otherwise brought about, but, as representing +the rules of society, it is promotive of the dignity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page344" id="page344"></a>[pg 344]</span> +and the rights of the sex to the extent that these dignities +and rights have been otherwise afforded.</p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/bk9-4.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>MRS. ELIZABETH FRY<br /> + +After the painting Mrs. E. M. Ward<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +Mrs Elizabeth Fry was a Quakeress of gentle birth; though the<br /> +mother of a large family, she made the condition of the social outcasts<br /> +her constant care. The moral and physical degradation and suffering<br /> +of the inmates of prisons particularly appealed to her compassionate<br /> +nature, and she set herself the task of alleviating their<br /> +condition. Her first visit to Newgate Prison was in 1813; she<br /> +entered the pandemonium where nearly two hundred women were<br /> +confined, among them some of the most degraded and desperate of<br /> +their sex. Mrs. Fry's sincere compassion, gentleness and purity<br /> +conquered these women. Though her name is chiefly associated<br /> +with the reform of prisons and prisoners, her philanthropy embraced<br /> +the promotion of ecucation of the needy, religious movements, the<br /> +cause of freedom, and private charity.</i></p> + +<p>Acknowledgment for the position which woman attained +during the last century is due not to any one of these +forces, but to all working together, although Nature must +be chiefly credited with having brought it about. The +great increase in population in England, and the excess of +the female portion, led women to ponder the question of +other spheres for their lives than solely the domestic. At +the same time, the complex nature of modern business +offered, to some extent, a practical solution of the problem. +While the question of woman's sphere was greatly +agitated, and was academically and forensically debated +pro and con, women themselves were practically settling +the matter at issue by accepting positions in commercial +life, with little regard to the censure of critics or the praise +of friends. The independence shown by women, their +self-assertiveness, indicated that their failure previously +to break into the outer world of affairs was not due to the +force of convention, but to the lack of opportunity. Their +excess in the population of the country afforded them +strong ground for the claim, which they practically made +in accepting the opportunities of business life,—that the +sphere of domesticity was not open to them all. It is not +a question as to whether woman is or is not in her sphere +outside of the home or the limited circle of æsthetic following; +for the time of theorizing is already past, and women +have become so identified with industry as to preclude the +possibility of a return to the narrower life. <i>Vestigia nulla +refrorsum</i> is the motto of woman to-day, and has been +from the early part of the nineteenth century. She is in +the line of progress, and following her manifest destiny. +The fears of the faint-hearted and the regrets of the conservative +cannot alter the established fact that the practical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page345" id="page345"></a>[pg 345]</span> +status which women achieved in the nineteenth century is +theirs, to be recognized and furthered.</p> + +<p>The views prevailing in the nineteenth century with +regard to matrimony were not greatly different from those +of the eighteenth: it was considered just as discreditable +to be an old maid, and marriage was the goal of existence +for young women; but there was a portion of the sex who +were willing to brave the aspersions cast upon them and +to remain single—when the opportunity to do otherwise +was not wanting—in order that they might follow careers +which offered to them greater interest or profit. It was +inevitable that such choice should lay them open to the +charge of unsexing themselves and of being recreant to +that <i>esprit de corps</i> of womankind which finds its common +interest in the achieving of matrimony. Women would +never have wrought out their independence of action if +there had not been a great widening of life's opportunities. +The ease of locomotion, abundant opportunities for education, +and the lightening of domestic labor by inventions, +were the important factors which made it possible for +women to step out into the avenues of active business. +The middle-class women, who were thrust out into the +arena of life, were still the women who best preserved +the pure idea of marriage. They were not subjected to the +temptations which assailed those in the higher and the +lower ranks of society, and, being less affected by tradition, +they wrought out for themselves independent ideals. +The marriage of convenience of the higher ranks and the +marriage of necessity of the lower were not the forms +which were common to the middle-class women. Unaffected +by either of these influences, they regarded well +the character of the men to whom they were to plight +their troth, and were not disposed to pass over the weaknesses +of suitors. Marriages were no longer contracted at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page346" id="page346"></a>[pg 346]</span> +the early ages of fifteen and sixteen years, which had been +commonly the case heretofore. A bride under twenty-one was thought very youthful.</p> + +<p>The entrance of woman into the ranks of labor has not +been uncontested, for she has been charged with taking +the bread out of the mouths of husbands and fathers; and, +by working for much less wage than is given the men, she +has been thought dangerously to affect the standard of +payment for men's work. Just what will be the effect +of the innovation of woman in industry cannot at present +be stated, as she has not as yet gotten into normal and +recognized relationship to men as a sharer of their work. +One effect, however, of woman's contact with the other +sex in the brusque business world has been to reduce her +claim to special consideration in the way of the amenities +which were accorded her at a time when she was not +nearly so sincerely respected as she has become in recent +years. A modern writer has summed up the matter in +the following words: "Not the least among the changes is +that effected by the fuller and freer life led by all women. +A greater companionship and friendship is permitted them +with the other sex; there is a larger sharing of interest, +and women are expected to have a higher standard of +education and to conceal their knowledge and culture with +tasteful skill. Their interest in the political life of the +country, and their acknowledged usefulness in their place +in the working out of the political machine, the works, +philanthropical and social, which are admitted by all to +be within their sphere, have broadened and deepened the +stream of life which is common to both sexes, and brought +the social life on to a different level."</p> + +<p>This broadening influence brought greater recognition of +woman's activities in social and philanthropic measures +and a corresponding increase of responsibility on her part. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page347" id="page347"></a>[pg 347]</span> +There are many women of this century whose noble deeds +will never be forgotten, but one may be singled out as a +splendid example of self-sacrifice and devotion to others, +Mrs. Elizabeth Fry was a Quakeress of gentle birth, +though the mother of a large family, she made the condition +of the social outcasts her constant care. She was, in +truth, a worthy successor to John Howard. The moral +and physical degradation and suffering of the inmates of +prisons particularly appealed to her compassionate nature, +and she set herself the task of alleviating their condition. +Her first visit to Newgate Prison was in 1813; alone and +unprotected, she entered the pandemonium where nearly +two hundred women were confined, among them some of +the most degraded and desperate of their sex. Mrs. Fry's +sincere compassion, gentleness, and purity conquered these +women. Four years later she organized an association for +the reformation of female prisoners. Though her name is +chiefly associated with the reform of prisons and prisoners, +her philanthropy embraced the promotion of education of +the needy, religious movements, the cause of freedom, and +private charity. The influence of this good woman was +widespread, and her labors were not confined to her own +country, but extended to the continent of Europe.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking of the phenomena of modern +life which came about in the nineteenth century is the +fusion of classes, making it increasingly difficult to use +class definitions. The passage from one to another has +become so easy as to make mobility the principal characteristic +of modern society. Travel, education, art appreciation, +and home decoration are not confined to any section +or class. The degree of luxury of living, and not the distinction +between luxury and lack, is the only way to set +aside one circle of society from another. A result of +this wider diffusion of the comforts of life has been the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page348" id="page348"></a>[pg 348]</span> +awakening of the altruistic spirit, which finds expression +in many and varied benevolences—so many, in fact, that +the danger of the times is over-organization. This tendency, +if pursued, will react to the disadvantage of women +by depriving them of a sense of personal responsibility and individual initiative.</p> + +<p>The assumption by society, as a whole, of the responsibility +of its members of necessity gives an organized form +to all efforts for its improvement. The nature of problems +of this sort requires wide organization in order to +bring into touch with the social need, for its satisfying, as +many persons as possible of means and talent. If the +philanthropist is rich, she employs her money as the expression +of her interest in and recognition of her duty +toward society. If not wealthy, but possessed of time +and talent, the woman herself becomes the instrument +of social amelioration, and the money from the coffers of +others is placed in her hands for judicious expenditure. +The great interest in philanthropy which in modern times +is evinced by all classes of society tends to unite the +women of to-day in a bond of common sympathy and purpose. +It is not solely because they have more abundant +leisure than men that the burden of philanthropy rests +upon their shoulders, for their wider sympathy and clearer +insight lead them to perceive more readily and to meet +more effectively the needs of mankind.</p> + +<p>One of the prominent women of England who gave +herself largely to benevolent labors was the Baroness +Burdett-Coutts. The generous and wise use of her immense +fortune has secured her an enduring name; she +built churches, she founded charities; and although London +was the chief field for her philanthropy, her native +country of Ireland was remembered in a way to shrine her +name there in grateful memory. She possessed the spirit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page349" id="page349"></a>[pg 349]</span> +of the great ladies of old England, who felt a responsibility +toward the dependent and necessitous classes about them, +and to this spirit she gave the wide expression her fortune +and her exceptional environment made possible. The +great variety of her benevolent sympathies and the personal +part she took in the various charities which enlisted +them cause her life to mark an era in the history of +philanthropy. There was nothing beyond the catholicity of her spirit.</p> + +<p>The modern temperance movement, which enlisted +largely the interest of the women of England and America, +and which led, in the latter country, to the organization of +the Women's Christian Temperance Union, found its best +representative in England in the person of Lady Henry +Somerset. Lady Somerset's efforts in behalf of temperance +and social reforms in England are too much matters +of present-day knowledge to need more than a notice of +them in these pages; they have enrolled her name in the +list of great women of the century, where it had already +been long placed by the affections of a nation. Another +expression of the interest of women in society is found in +the Young Women's Christian Association, Girls' Friendly +Society, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young +Servants, and other organizations which care for the interests +of young women exposed to imposition or temptation. +It is impossible to enumerate even the more important of +the organizations which owe their institution to women +and are conducted by the sex for the benefit of society. +Wide as has been the field in the past, new phases of +modern life are constantly coming under the purview of +women's societies, which, although to a large extent voluntary, +are none the less splendidly organized and disciplined +forces, occupying, for the most part, independent fields.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page350" id="page350"></a>[pg 350]</span> + +<p>Woman as a nurse is not a new aspect of her nature, +but not until the last quarter of the century was nursing +elevated to the dignity of a profession. There were not +wanting women who bore the title of professional nurse, +but these did not have the training to justify the name. +Before the Crimean War there were upward of two thousand +five hundred such nurses in England. Florence +Nightingale, whose name will ever be identified with the +founding of schools for nurses, said: "Sickness is everywhere. +Death is everywhere. But hardly anywhere is +the training necessary to relieve sickness, to delay death. +We consider a long education and discipline necessary to +train our medical man; we consider hardly any training at +all necessary for our nurse, although how often does our +medical man himself tell us, 'I can do nothing for you +unless your nurse will carry out what I say.'" The +revelation of suffering on the part of uncared-for soldiers +which Miss Nightingale brought back from the Crimea +profoundly moved English society; and a large sum of +money was presented to her, with which she founded the +Nurses' Training Institution at St. Thomas's Hospital. At +about the same time, the Anglican sisterhood founded +training schools of a similar kind. From these sources +arose the sentiment for trained service for the sick which +has led to the wide respect with which modern society +regards the nurse who has been thoroughly trained for her +profession. This feeling toward nurses is in striking contrast +to the one which prevailed before the days of special +training: that which was once considered a degrading +occupation has come to be thought of as an ennobling +ministry. In 1870, the date of the founding of the Metropolitan +and National Nursing Association by the Duke of +Westminster, James Hinton, in a paper in the <i>Cornhill +Magazine</i> on "Nursing as a Profession," called attention +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page351" id="page351"></a>[pg 351]</span> +to this new activity as a trained service for women: "It +is considered, though an excellent and most respectable +vocation, not one for a lady to follow as a means of livelihood, +unless she is content to sink a little in the social +scale.... Can any one think it is, in its own nature, +more menial than surgery? Could any occupation whatever +call more emphatically for the qualities characteristically +termed professional, or better known as those of +the gentleman and the lady?... Here is a profession, +truly a profession, equal to the highest in dignity, open to +woman in which she does not compete with man."</p> + +<p>Nursing no longer has to be defended as a suitable occupation +for the sex, for in its ranks can be found women of +all grades of society; it is one of the levelling influences +of modern times, as well as one of the most elevating of +callings. No other sphere of public activity has opened +up to woman in which she has not met the opposition of +men. Nursing is a striking instance of the modern trend +toward specialization, which is but another term for professionalism. +Consonant with the whole spirit of the +times, the amateur nurse was relegated to the background by the modern trained nurse.</p> + +<p>Society, however, has not taken so kindly to women's +departure in another direction: women as physicians are +still regarded as a novelty and a doubtful expedient. Nursing +created a profession, and so conservative sentiment +did not have to be met; but the old faculties of law, medicine, +and theology had been so long intrenched in their +privileged places in relation to society that any attempt to +widen their confines or to enlist their hospitality toward +innovations is met with the resistance which custom and +precedent always present to novelty. Although their +progress into the medical profession has been slow, yet +the nineteenth century records the opening of this calling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page352" id="page352"></a>[pg 352]</span> +to women. During the last quarter of the century women +were admitted to the ranks of accredited practitioners. +Yet, the vocation is not a novel one for the sex, for in the +remote past they have been looked upon as possessing +knowledge and skill in the treatment of diseases; but, as +we have seen, the woman who followed the art of healing +as a profession was often regarded as in league with the +powers of evil. Down to the nineteenth century, women +never held any recognized place as practitioners, excepting +in the capacity of midwives.</p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century there were, outside of the +recognized profession, a number of women who practised +medicine with considerable success; but, although skilful, +they would be regarded to-day as mere quacks. Mrs. Joanna +Stephens, who proclaimed that she had found a remarkable +cure for a painful disease, appears to have been +so successful in her treatment of cases as to enlist genuine +respect for her attainments. Parliament voted her a grant +of five thousand pounds sterling. Mrs. Mapp, commonly +termed "Crazy Sally," who had repute as a bonesetter, +received from the town of Epsom the offer of an annuity +of one hundred pounds sterling if she would remain in that +neighborhood. She was such a popular character that the +managers of Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre sent her a special +request to attend a performance at which they desired to +have a large audience. She complied, and the attendance was satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Early in the century there was a renewal of attempts +which had formerly been made to require women who +practised obstetrics to come under some form of registration; +but when the matter came before Parliament, in +the form of an enactment prepared by the Society of +Apothecaries, a committee of the House of Commons reported +that "It would not allow any mention of female +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page353" id="page353"></a>[pg 353]</span> +midwives." Although women were not received into the +regular profession as qualified practitioners until after +the middle of the century, they were under no legal prohibition +to practise medicine; but in 1858 the passage of the +Medical Act, which required a doctor to qualify by passing +the examination of one of the existing medical boards, set +up a barrier to women, as it placed them subject to the +discretion of the boards, which unanimously refused to +admit them. The only exceptions to this rule were made in +favor of those persons who had received a medical degree +abroad and had been practising before the passage of the +act. It was in this way that Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became +registered. Miss Elizabeth Garret, whose studies +did not begin till two years after the compulsory registration +law, was also enrolled under exceptional conditions.</p> + +<p>At last matters came to an issue, and a notable struggle +occurred which marked an era in the medical profession of +England in its attitude toward female practitioners. The +case of Miss Sophia Jex-Blake brought on the contest. +She applied to the London University for admission, and +was informed that the charter of that institution had been +purposely framed to exclude women who sought medical +degrees. Returning to Edinburgh, she exhausted every +legal resource in a combat with the authorities, and was +signally worsted. The plucky fight she made won the +admiration of Sir James Simpson, the dean of the medical +faculty, and others, but Professor Laycock observed to +her that he "could not imagine any decent woman wishing +to study medicine; as for any lady, that was out of the +question." Success finally crowned persistent endeavor, +and, the University Court having passed a resolution that +"Women shall be admitted to the study of medicine in the +university," Miss Jex-Blake and four other ladies passed +the preliminary examinations for entrance. Other women +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page354" id="page354"></a>[pg 354]</span> +soon entered the open door; but the contest was not yet +ended, for, after these ladies had pursued their studies for +three years and paid the fees, they were informed by the +University Court that no arrangement could be effected +by which they could continue their studies with a view to +a degree, instead of which they were offered certificates +of proficiency; the latter, however, would not be recognized +by the Medical Act. They then took legal measures +to secure redress, and followed the matter up by a bill in +Parliament, which was lost. In 1876 another bill was +introduced to enable all British examining bodies to extend +their examinations and qualifications to women, and this +became a law. A number of colleges availed themselves +of the privilege and opened their doors to women, until at +the present time there are medical schools for women in a +number of the principal cities in England, Scotland, and Ireland.</p> + +<p>The advance of women in the professions was in line +with the general widening of the educational horizon of +the sex. Partly as the result of her broader education, +and partly as a cause of it, there was a juster appreciation +of the relative position of the sexes, and into this +there entered as well the new economic measure of value. +Society was no longer regarded as a congeries of individuals, +but as an organism, and an organism whose function +was chiefly the creation of wealth. This broader +economic estimate of society could but be favorable to +women, whose valuation as a part of the commonwealth +was largely regulated by their utility. The ideal of political +economy is that everyone shall be employed, and +employed at that for which he is best adapted, under the +condition of freedom of self-development. The prevalence +of such truer theories of society aided in dispelling the +mists of error which had surrounded the popular notions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page355" id="page355"></a>[pg 355]</span> +as to women. Buckle observes, in his <i>Influence of Women +on the Progress of Knowledge</i>, that women are quicker in +thought than men, and he says: "Nothing could prevent +its being universally admitted except the fact that the +remarkable rapidity with which women think is obscured +by that miserable, that contemptible, that preposterous +system called their education, in which valuable things +are carefully kept from them, and trifling things carefully +taught to them, until their fine and nimble minds are too +often irretrievably injured."</p> + +<p>The close of the nineteenth century witnessed a complete +revolution in the constituents of girls' education. +French, dancing, flower painting, and music no longer +comprised a young lady's accomplishments. The fear of +singularity, which was a social bugbear to the young +women of other generations, no longer served to prevent +them from studying classics and mathematics and science. +To-day, they are expected to add their quota to the contribution +of the times, in thought as well as in the graces +of deportment. The latter can no longer atone for the +absence of the former. It is no more the case among +the middle classes that only the girl who intends fitting +herself to take the position of governess needs an education +above the rudiments and the embellishments. Not +the least of the departures in the educational scheme for +women is the notable change of attitude which has taken +place with regard to the development of their bodies. It +is but recently that physical training has entered into the +curriculum of colleges, but it is even more recently that +an opinion has prevailed favorable to the physical culture of women.</p> + +<p>Before the educational revolution occurred, women were +making their mark in intellectual spheres. In 1835 the +names of two women, Mary Somerville and Caroline +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page356" id="page356"></a>[pg 356]</span> +Herschell, were enrolled as members of the Astronomical +Society. In its report containing the recommendation of +the election of these ladies, the council of the society +observed: "Your Council has no small pleasure in recommending +that the names of two ladies distinguished in +astronomy be placed on the list of honorary members. +On the propriety of such a step from an astronomical point +of view, there can be but one voice: and your Council is +of opinion that the time is gone by when either feeling or +prejudice, by whichever name it may be proper to call it, +should be allowed to interfere with the payment of a well-earned +tribute of respect. Your Council has hitherto felt +that, whatever might be its own sentiment on the subject, +or however able and willing it might be to defend such a +measure, it had no right to place the name of a lady in +a position the propriety of which might be contested, +though upon what it might consider narrow grounds and +false principles. But your Council has no fear that such +a difference could now take place between any men whose +opinion would avail to guide that of society at large, +and, abandoning compliments on the one hand, and false +delicacy on the other, submits that while the tests of +astronomical merit should in no case be applied to the +works of a woman less severely than to those of man, +the sex of the former should no longer be an obstacle to +her receiving any acknowledgment which might be held +due the latter. And your Council, therefore, recommends +this meeting to add to the list of honorary members the +names of Miss Caroline Herschell and Mrs. Somerville, of +whose astronomical knowledge, and of the utility of the +ends to which it has been applied, it is not necessary to recount the proofs."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Somerville suffered from the educational limitations +of her day, and when she desired to learn Latin, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page357" id="page357"></a>[pg 357]</span> +order that she might study the <i>Principia</i>, she referred to +Professor Playfair with regard to the propriety of her +doing so, and was assured by him that there was no impropriety +involved for the purpose she had in mind. At +that time there were many women with the best of education, +acquired outside of university halls, but such were +usually brought up by scholarly parents possessed of well-stocked +libraries. To-day, the position of Ruskin is a commonplace +of experience. In his lecture on the <i>Queen's +Gardens</i>, he advised that women have free access to books, +and asserted that they would find out for themselves the +wholesome and avoid the pernicious with an instinct as +unerring as that which directs the browsing of sheep in +pasture lands. It has been sufficiently demonstrated that +wholesome-minded girls are ever less in danger of contamination +from literature than are their brothers.</p> + +<p>The opening of Queen's College in 1848 marked the beginning +of an attempt to give a wider education to women. +This college grew out of the Governesses' Benevolent +Institution. It was a training school for teachers, a normal +institute; but, besides this, it was open to all who cared +to enter. The name of that leader in modern educational +movements, Frederick Denison Maurice, was identified +with this departure. In the face of hostile comment, he +defended the system which was adopted by himself and +his brother professors, all of whom had come from King's +College. The educational opportunities offered by this +college were exceptional; the fees were low, and many +students hastened to avail themselves of the new privilege.</p> + +<p>It was twenty years later, however, before there was +fought out the issue through which women came to be admitted +to the universities. In 1856, Miss Jessie Merriton +White was applying vainly for admittance to the matriculation +examination of the University of London. In 1869, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page358" id="page358"></a>[pg 358]</span> +Girton College, the building of which cost fourteen thousand +seven hundred pounds sterling, was established largely +through the efforts of women. It was intended to afford +training for women along university lines, and the plan of +study was modelled on that of Cambridge University; the +idea in the adoption of this parallel course was to establish +beyond doubt women's fitness for pursuing the same +studies as men. Other colleges of the same nature were founded soon after.</p> + +<p>In the last century, the old theory that women were not +capable of higher education on account of the "moisture +of their brains" was not one of the pleas upon which was +based the opposition to the higher education of women. +The more plausible ground was taken that women ought +to avoid certain lines of study which are a part of a university +course. But it is coming to be realized that the +proprieties of knowledge do not reside in the subject or +in the sex of the student—that whatever is important for +higher investigation is worthy of the pursuit of women as +well as men, and can be pursued by them at the point +of ripened discretion to which they have arrived when +capable of meeting the requirements for entrance into a university.</p> + +<p>The high-school system that has developed in England +during the last quarter of a century has done much for the +education of the middle classes, affording sound instruction +and mental discipline for all. At the present day, poor +girls, who, if they were dependent upon their personal resources, +would never acquire an education, have wider +facilities than were enjoyed by the women of the aristocracy a century earlier.</p> + +<p>Of those who promoted the secondary education for +girls, perhaps no name among female educators in England +stands higher than that of Frances Mary Buss. Her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page359" id="page359"></a>[pg 359]</span> +splendid powers of organization and administration raised +to such a degree of efficiency the private school which she +had established in the north of London, that, when the +Brewers Company desired to invest a sum of money for +the education of girls, it entered into negotiations with +Miss Buss and acquired her establishment, retaining her as head mistress.</p> + +<p>Voluminous as are the works of women in the realm of +fiction, it is nevertheless a field little exploited by them +until recent years. In the eighteenth century the sex +had produced few historians, poets, or essayists who could +be compared with the group of romance writers which included +such names as Catherine Macauley, Eliza Haywood, +Elizabeth Carter, Fanny Burney, Mrs. Inchbald, and Mrs. +Radcliffe; but when we pass to the nineteenth century, +while women as romanticists are more prominent than +women as authors in any other field, there is no limit upon +the versatility which they exhibit, and all branches of +literature have felt their moulding impress. To take the +names of women out of the list of authors of the nineteenth +century would be to diminish the glory of the literary +skies by blotting out the lustre of some of its brightest constellations.</p> + +<p>Beginning with Jane Austin and continuing to Mrs. +Humphry Ward, the line of literary descent in the realm +of fiction is a roll of honor for womankind; but it is a far +cry from these to that earliest of women novelists, Mrs. +Aphra Behn, who, at the direction of Charles II., wrote +her novel <i>Oronooko</i>, the purpose of which was not dissimilar +to the social end which Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe +had in mind in her <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. Thus, the sixteenth +century is brought into touch with the nineteenth, +although the connecting links were few and slight until +the middle of the latter. The number of women novelists +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page360" id="page360"></a>[pg 360]</span> +indicates that women have found in fiction the line of +literary pursuit which is most agreeable to their tastes +and adapted to their natures. There seems to be absolutely +no limit to the range of subjects which women are +capable of working up in romance; whether in novels of +incident or novels of character, treating historical or social +subjects, didactic or imaginative themes, with the plot in +any period of time, among any people or set of conditions, +women writers appear to be equally at home.</p> + +<p>While the vast majority of literary women have been +writers of fiction, every branch of literature numbers in +its promoters the names of eminent females. In poetry +and in dramatic literature women have not achieved the +fame of men. Lord Byron gave as the reason for women's +apparent lack of imaginative and creative power that they +had not seen and felt enough of life. As translators, +editors, compilers, as writers on social topics and current +questions, as well as on educational subjects, memoirs, +travels, literary studies, they have been prolific and excellent +workers. Besides which, they have given to +journalistic and magazine work their special capabilities.</p> + +<p>Women no longer fear to write under their own names, +and do not resort to pseudonyms as did Charlotte Brontë, +and Mary Ann Evans—George Eliot. It was at one time +thought that the demands of research and study outside of +the range of ordinary feminine acquaintance precluded the +sex from doing many forms of intellectual work which +were open to men. Fiction did not present special difficulties; +and as the line of least resistance, as well as that +of especial adaptation, women took to this form of writing.</p> + +<p>At the present day, however, there is no question as +to woman's faithfulness, accuracy, and ability to attend to +detail; and so there are no lines of research or of authorship +in which women are not engaged. This is in part +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page361" id="page361"></a>[pg 361]</span> +due to the similar lines upon which women and men are +now educated. Their broad acquaintance with the whole +range of intellectual subjects eminently fits the sex for +special work in any department. To distinguish by their +method of treatment the writings of women is no longer +possible. Their pens have the same grace and vigor of +style as those of men, while there is no fineness or +daintiness of touch in their writings which does not find +counterpart in those of men.</p> + +<p>The fiction of the century reveals woman intrepidly discussing +political, economic, and labor questions with a +large degree of assurance, and others with a great deal of +acuteness and insight. Although there is intense competition +in the realm of literature, yet the complexity of +modern society, the universality of education, the opportunities +of leisure for reading, the social demands for +acquaintance with standard and recent works, and the incitement +to reading given through the newspapers, magazines, +book reviews, and lectures of the times, furnish +unlimited opportunities for gifted women to exercise their talents in writing.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1861 that women were admitted to all +the privileges and opportunities of art education which +centred in the Royal Academy schools. In that year +these were opened to women students. It is interesting +to notice how in almost an accidental manner the limitations +placed upon women were removed. At the annual +dinner of the Academy in 1859, Lord Lyndhurst felicitated +those present on the benefits which were conferred upon +all her majesty's subjects by the Academy schools. Miss +Laura Herford, an artist, wrote to Lord Lyndhurst and +pointed out the fact that half of her majesty's subjects +were excluded. This made the discussion of the propriety +of admitting women a kindly one, and a memorial was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page362" id="page362"></a>[pg 362]</span> +prepared and signed by thirty-eight women artists, copies +of which were sent to every member of the Academy, praying +the admission of women and pointing out the benefit it +would be to them to study, under qualified teachers, from +the antique and from life. It was regarded as impracticable +that women and men should study life subjects +together, and the request was refused. There was nothing +in the constitution of the Academy either for or against +the admission of women. A drawing with the signature +"L. Herford" was then sent in by Miss Herford, and it +was admitted by a letter addressed to "L. Herford, Esq." +The question then arose whether a woman who had been +accepted as a man should be allowed to enter. Miss Herford had her way.</p> + +<p>No women had been admitted into the Academy since +the days of Angelica Kaufmann and Mary Moser. The +reason for their non-reception, as assigned by Sanby in +his <i>History of the Royal Academy of Arts</i>, and quoted by +Georgiana Hill in her <i>Women in English Life</i>, is as follows: +"One or two ladies, if elected members, could scarcely be +expected to take part in the government or in the work of +the society; and as the practice even of giving votes by +proxy has long since been abolished, the effect of their +election as Royal Academicians would be, virtually, to reduce +the number of those who manage the affairs of the +institution and the schools in proportion as ladies were +admitted to that rank: and as long as the number of +Associates is limited, a difficulty would arise in the fact +that the higher rank has to be recruited from that body." +Miss Hill regards this as a grievance, because it virtually +makes the matter of sex a disqualification, and quotes +with endorsement Miss Ellen Clayton, as follows: "The +Academy has studiously ignored the existence of women +artists, leaving them to work in the cold shade of utter +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page363" id="page363"></a>[pg 363]</span> +neglect. Not even once has a helping hand been extended, +not once has the most trifling reward been given for +highest merit and industry. Accidents made two women +Academicians—the accident of circumstances and the accident +of birth. Accident opened the door to girl students—accident, +aided by courage and talent. In other countries, +they have the prize fairly earned quietly placed in their +hands, and can receive it with dignity. In free, unprejudiced, +chivalric England, where the race is given to the +swift, the battle to the strong, without fear or favour, it is +only by slow, laborious degrees that women are winning +the right to enter the list at all, and are then received with +half-contemptuous indulgence."</p> + +<p>Whether or not women artists have a real grievance +against the Royal Academy, certain it is that the last +half of the nineteenth century has been notable for the +progress of women in art. It was in the galleries of +the Society of Lady Artists, which came into existence in +1859, that Lady Butler first exhibited and pictures by +Rosa Bonheur were displayed. With the multiplicity of art +schools and every facility for obtaining instructions under +the most favorable conditions, women have been brought +into prominence as artists. Landscape, portrait painting, +oil, water-colors, pastel—the whole range of subjects and +styles of painting includes pictures of merit by women.</p> + +<p>In many of the lesser branches of art, hundreds of women +have found congenial vocations. They have shown excellent +taste and aptitude in china painting and other forms +of decorative work—in book illustration, as designers of +carpet and wall-paper patterns, as preparers of advertisements, +designers of calendars, and a host of other minor art industries.</p> + +<p>Women as musical composers had appeared in the last +half of the eighteenth century. Mrs. Beardman, who made +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page364" id="page364"></a>[pg 364]</span> +her début as a singer at the Gloucester festival in 1790, +was equally gifted as composer, singer, and pianist. Ann +Mounsey displayed early talent, and her precocity brought +her into notice when she was but nine years of age. In +her maturity, her compositions gave her high rank among +female composers, and in 1855 her oratorio <i>The Nativity</i> +was produced in London. She was a member of the Philharmonic +Society and also of the Royal Society of Musicians. +Another gifted woman, whose talents brought her +early into notice and who was a member of the Royal +Academy of Music, was Kate Fanny Loder. She had been +instructed in piano-forte by Mrs. Lucy Anderson, teacher +to Queen Victoria when she was princess and afterward to +the children of her majesty. Miss Loder was a king's +scholar at the Royal Academy, and when but eighteen +years of age was appointed professor of harmony at her +<i>alma mater</i>. Eliza Flower—whose sister, Mrs. Adams, +wrote the words of the hymn <i>Nearer, my God, to Thee</i>—was +another of the gifted composers of the century, and +her name appears as the author of many hymn tunes.</p> + +<p>To give the names of all the women composers of hymn +tunes would be to give a history of hymnology in modern +times, for there is no sacred song collection but embraces +the compositions of many women gifted in music. To +give the names of those who have figured in opera would +involve a history which includes a great many more foreign +artists than English; but without seeking to do more +than mention a few of those whose names have figured in +popular favor as operatic <i>prima donnas</i>, and omitting particular +mention of their individual capabilities, there are +some names which suggest themselves to the patrons of +the opera as worthy of first mention in the list of England's +great singers. Catherine Tofts, Anastasia Robinson, +Lavinia Fenton,—afterward Duchess of Bolton,—achieved +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page365" id="page365"></a>[pg 365]</span> +celebrity in the opera during the first thirty +years of the century. Lavinia Fenton was the heroine of +<i>The Beggars' Opera</i>, which took London by storm. The +names of Catherine Hayes and Louisa Pyne are still +treasured by those whose recollections go back to the forties.</p> + +<p>The general ill repute under which the stage rested in the +seventeenth century continued to hang about it throughout +the eighteenth. There was still a great deal of license +allowed spectators, and it was not unusual for them to +pass on the stage and behind the scenes. The rude and +boisterous conduct of the patrons of the theatre made it +extremely unpleasant for persons of refinement to attend +it. The city streets had not yet become well protected, +and the degree of security which is now afforded to pedestrians +was lacking in the eighteenth century. It was out +of the question for any gentlewoman to attend the theatre +unaccompanied by male escort. There were always loiterers +about the streets, and any man of rank whose character +was bad enough to permit him to do so felt at liberty +to salute a woman with insults—which, when they came +from such a source, were then styled as gallantries; and +women who adopted the stage as a profession, being looked +upon as having forfeited their claims to gentility, were +regarded as fair game by the rakes of the day. Notwithstanding +the attempts of Queen Anne to reform the manners +of theatre-goers by the passage of edicts looking to +that end, the evils which made it so unpleasant to a +respectable person to attend the theatre and which brought +the playhouse under odium continued to be flagrant.</p> + +<p>In the nineteenth century came a great uplift of the +status of the stage and workers upon it, and, in contrast to +the opinions which prevailed in the eighteenth century, +an actress suffered no disparagement and had the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page366" id="page366"></a>[pg 366]</span> +opportunity for cherishing her reputation as any others of +the sex. The stage no longer brought its followers into +disrepute, for it rested with the actress herself to preserve +or to tarnish her character. She was no longer, by virtue +of being an actress, regarded as a Bohemian, and it was +not considered a regrettable thing for a girl of character to +enter upon a histrionic career. It was her course and +conduct after she had entered the profession, and the +nature of the plays in which she appeared and the parts +which she allowed herself to present, that determined +the public verdict with regard to her. As a result of the +changed character of the theatre,—although it was by no +means cleared of all the odium that had so long attached to +it,—a larger number of men and women attended dramatic +performances than ever before.</p> + +<p>The introduction of women into commercial life was +followed by the opening up of civil service appointments +and a change of sentiment with regard to women engaging +in trade. In 1870, when the government bought the interests +of the telegraph company, the officials were brought +under the existing civil service rules. Some of them happened +to be women, and thus, inadvertently, women were +admitted to civil service appointments under the government. +In 1871 the postmaster-general bore striking testimony +to the efficiency of the women employed in his +department. When commenting upon the transfer of the +telegraphs from private control to post office direction, he +said: "There had been no reason to regret the experiment. +On the contrary, it has afforded much ground +for believing that, where large numbers of persons are +employed with full work and fair supervision, the admixture +of the sexes involves no risk, but is highly beneficial." +Then, remarking upon the better tone of the male +staff by reason of their association with women as fellow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page367" id="page367"></a>[pg 367]</span> +employés, he added: "Further, it is a matter of experience +that the male clerks are more willing to help the female +clerks with their work than to help one another; and +on many occasions pressure of business is met and difficulties +are overcome through this willingness and cordial coöperation."</p> + +<p>The experience of employing women in the post office +was duplicated in other departments of the public service, +until it has become a recognized fact that women can be employed +in connection with men without any of the results +which it was apprehended would follow the departure. In +the country districts, postmistresses and female carriers +are not a novelty. It was the post office which first +Opened up to women employment under the government, +and its various departments now utilize them extensively. +Although other of the public services have received women +as clerks, their position is still in a measure tentative, but +it can hardly be said that the employment of them by the +government is any longer an experiment. In addition to +the large numbers of young women who have found employment +in the government service, there is no railroad +company, insurance company, or any other large semi-public +or private business firm or company, which has not +found women to be of peculiar serviceability. The great +number of women who, during the latter part of the nineteenth +century, fitted themselves for business careers indicates +not only a change of ideal, with a realization of their +self-sufficiency, but the increased adaptability of women +to the peculiar conditions of modern society.</p> + +<p>It is no longer a curious phenomenon to see the name +of a woman upon a business letterhead, or on the sign +over some large commercial establishment, for frequently, +when their husbands die, women themselves now take in +hand the business interests of the deceased and conduct +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page368" id="page368"></a>[pg 368]</span> +them with marked success, and with no question from +their business competitors as to the propriety of their so +doing. Nor do such women forfeit the esteem of society. +Society as such is no longer concerned chiefly with matters +of pedigree, but more largely with the question of prosperity. +While it would be asserting too much to say that +the nineteenth century witnessed the iconoclastic shattering +of the old aristocratic ideals, nevertheless, while the +woman of blood maintains her rightful place in the select +circles of society, the door stands ajar for women who +have no other claim for recognition than that they have +amassed fortunes, or inherited them, or are the wives of +wealthy men. However, they must not have clinging to +them the odor of their humble beginnings, if they rose +from lowly walks of life. The real test applied to them is +not the test of breeding, which relates to the past, but of +gentility, which is the measure of the present life.</p> + +<p>Besides the women who managed large business interests +in their own names, the nineteenth century witnessed +the advent of the business woman in numerous lines of +small trade. To name the various kinds of business in +which women are found making for themselves a sustenance +would be to give a list of the many lines of retail +trade; but the shopwoman of the earlier part of the nineteenth +century is quite a different person from the tradeswoman +of the latter half. Instead of a small, obscure +shop, conducted in a hesitating, apologetic manner, to-day +women are as aggressive advertisers, make as fine displays +in their shops, and sustain the same business relations +with the wholesale dealers, as do the retail dealers +of the other sex. Beyond any peradventure, women have +become a part of the business organism of England, and +are competing upon terms of equality with men for the +patronage of the public; and they have before them just +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page369" id="page369"></a>[pg 369]</span> +as hopeful prospects of amassing a competence for an easy and independent old age.</p> + +<p>Great as is the army of women who enrolled themselves +in the ranks of commerce and clerkship during the nineteenth +century, they are in a minority as compared with +the greater host of industry,—the women who are found +in the factories, working upon the raw materials of human +comforts and luxuries, toiling unremittingly and often under +hard conditions for a mere pittance as compared with the +value of their products. In 1895 there were one hundred +thousand women in England holding membership in the +various trade unions, and, besides these, a far larger number +who were without such enrolment, such as fifty-two +thousand shirtmakers and seamstresses and four hundred +thousand dressmakers and milliners; and these were +but a mere fraction of the immense host of women who, +outside of the home, found themselves earning their own +bread by their personal labor. With the growth of manufactures, +women were drawn from the rural districts. It +became an uncommon thing, where formerly it was the +usual practice, for women to perform the work of field +laborers, or to depend chiefly for support upon butter and +cheese making, or service at the inns or in the shops of +the neighboring towns. It is now only the women of the +lowest rank who devote themselves for a livelihood to +berry picking, hop picking, garden weeding, and like menial outdoor services.</p> + +<p>The competition of women with men in manufactures +was greeted at first with the sullen resentment and open +opposition with which machinery was viewed when first introduced; +but as women have been drawn into manufactures, +men have absorbed many of the outdoor duties which +formerly fell to woman's lot in the country districts. The +"bakeresses," "brewsters," and the "regrateresses"—retailers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page370" id="page370"></a>[pg 370]</span> +of bread—are now known simply in the history +of industry; their names have become archaic and their +offices obsolete. As machinery took the place of the +individual intelligence of the handworker of other days, +leaving only a monotonous series of mechanical manipulations +for the men, aside from the superior skill called +into play by the complexity of the machinery, which demanded +expert and intelligent direction, women found relegated +to them the simplest parts of factory work and those +which did not require any large degree of mentality. As +a result, the women of the factories have not developed +coördinately in intelligence with their sisters in other lines +of active work. This has unfortunately led them to be +looked down upon as inferior to girls who work in stores +or in offices. As the factory laws came to be framed with +regard to greater investigation and regulation of the conditions +of women's work in factories, many of the abuses +were to a degree corrected. It is not now commonly the +case that a self-respecting operative is without redress +if subjected to the coarse insults of brutalized foremen, +nor are women now permitted to work as formerly under +conditions so harmful to their peculiar constitutions. Better +sanitation, fewer hours of employment, and greater regard +for their comfort, have done much to brighten what was in +the early part of the nineteenth century the dreariest life +to which any woman could be chained.</p> + +<p>Along with the improvements in the condition of +women's labor have gone improvements in the housing +of factory people. The industrial evils that brought out +such chivalrous champions of the poor as the younger +Lord Shaftesbury and his associates no longer generally +prevail in factory life. There yet remains much to be +done for the congregated women and girls of the factories. +It was inevitable that by the bringing of them together in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page371" id="page371"></a>[pg 371]</span> +great numbers, many from homes of abject poverty where +they had none of the benefits of careful training, and +by the herding of them together in factories where the +nature of their work did not furnish employment for their +minds, the moral tone of the young women of daily toil +should have been lower than that of their sister workers +in other lines. But the dictum of Lord Shaftesbury has +been sinking into the social consciousness, and has borne +splendid fruit in the improvement of the conditions of factory +work for women. "In the male," says he, "the +moral effects of the system are very bad; but in the female +they are infinitely worse, not alone upon themselves, but +upon their families, upon society, and, I may add, upon +the country itself. It is bad enough if you corrupt the +man; but if you corrupt the woman, you poison the waters +of life at the very fountain." In the first half of the nineteenth +century, the actual number of women employed in +factories appears to have been larger than that of men.</p> + +<p>The existence of the factory, drawing out from the +homes so many women and making their home life only a +secondary consideration and an additional burden, presents +one of the gravest problems of modern times—a problem +that must be approached harmoniously by the philanthropists +and the legislators if it is to be satisfactorily solved. +Habit begets contentment, so that it is not the employés +of the factory who feel most keenly the unfortunate circumstances +of their existence. It is the social reformer, +whose one aim is not the uplifting of the individual as such, +but the betterment of the individual as the unit of the +social fabric, who is most concerned for the betterment of +the town life of England. As to the women themselves, +when they are compensated by extra wage they have +no complaint to make about the long hours; indeed, they +sometimes even prefer the factory and the excitement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page372" id="page372"></a>[pg 372]</span> +of their surroundings to the dreary and forbidding prospect +of their desolate tenements. One unnatural result +of women's work in factories is the reversal of the positions +respectively of husband and wife in the home. It is +not an extraordinary occurrence for women to go out to +the factories and earn the bread of the family, while the +men remain at home to mind the babies and care for the +house. This begetting of shiftlessness in men, who are +buoyed up to the point of self-supporting labor only by +the dependence of their families upon them, is an incidental +but a significant result of factory life upon women. +It is seriously to be doubted that, in the aggregate earnings +of the family, there is any real compensation for the +binding of wives and children to the wheel of toil. It has +been observed by careful students of industrial conditions +that, for one reason or another, the maximum wage of a +family and the degree of comfort in their living are not, +ordinarily, greater than that of the family whose sole wage earner is the husband.</p> + +<p>There is not a concurrence of views as to the wisdom +of special legislation with regard to the industrial place of +women. Some see in the various acts passed to regulate +the circumstances of their employment a distinct gain, +while others view all such enactments as a regrettable +interference of the state in a matter where it is not capable +of taking cognizance of all the circumstances involved +and of displaying the broadest wisdom in dealing with the +subject. Then, too, it is objected on the part of some +that sex legislation is unwise of itself. The women themselves +have not always looked with favor upon the passage +of acts for the regulation of their labor, and often +complain of such as an infringement of their personal +privileges as adults. They complain that the competition +of labor is already severe, and that by imposing upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page373" id="page373"></a>[pg 373]</span> +them the limitations of certain acts the difficulty of making +a subsistence is increased. They complain against the +association of female with child labor, and assert that +the conditions are dissimilar and the abuses to be corrected +cannot be classed under the same legislative conditions. +Industrial legislation was first directed to the correction of +offences against women on account of their sex, but the +later enactments, and those most complained of, were resented +because of their making the securing of a livelihood +more precarious. The <i>Times</i> in 1895 pointed out that +there were eight hundred and eighty thousand women +affected by the Factories and Workshops Bill, introduced +into Parliament in that year. The lack of flexibility of the +measure, failing to take account of the different natures +and conditions of the various employments affected, made +it obviously unjust to the women employed in certain +trades. Some industries have their seasons of activity +and of dulness, while others fluctuate without regard to +periods; and to class all such under legislation regulating +the hours of labor at the same number for them all could +but work injury to the women employed in such trades +and disproportionate advantage to other women employed +in industries pursued evenly throughout the year.</p> + +<p>The crux of such contentions lies in the paternal attitude +of the state to the female sex. The expediency of depriving +women of the same amount of liberty to regulate their +own affairs as is accorded to men is a matter of doubt. +Women feel that they can decide better for their own +needs than can the legislators who have as their guide +only industrial statistics, the petitions of well-meaning +social reformers, and the views of those who claim expert +knowledge from the outside. Just what will be the outcome +of the attempt to resolve woman into a normal relationship +to modern industry without violation of the rights +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page374" id="page374"></a>[pg 374]</span> +of self-direction and protection, which she claims as her +prerogative, and at the same time to preserve society from +the social blight of the reduction of considerable numbers +of workingwomen to prostitution and abandoned living, +remains to be determined by the wisdom and experience of the twentieth century.</p> + +<p>One of the most curious of the industrial problems at +the front in the nineteenth century was the servant question. +While the wheels of work were set to moving with +more or less smoothness in all other ways, this important +wheel in the domestic machinery has never run without +friction, jarring to the nerves of housewives. Such women +find a common bond of sympathy in the incompetence and +dereliction of their domestics; domestics find a common subject +of interest in their grievances against their mistresses. +The whole matter is almost ludicrous, because it is one +simply of adjustment. After the sex has asserted for +itself a position in the realm of industry not inconsistent +with the self-respect which it has sought to maintain, the +women who work in the kitchens and the chambers of +other women sullenly resent the imputation of their menial +status in so doing. Just why the modern servants should +be looked upon as inferior to other women workers is a +difficult question, for their close relation to their mistresses +would appear to give them an individuality which the +"hands" in a factory do not possess. The line of demarcation +between the domestic employers and employés is +not always a clearly pronounced one, for it not uncommonly +occurs that those who themselves employ a maid +send out their own daughters to similar service. The low +regard in which servants are held, and the application to +them of this very term, which carries with it an implication +of ignominy, is responsible for the poor grade of efficiency, +intelligence, and character found among domestics +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page375" id="page375"></a>[pg 375]</span> +as a class. There is no reason, in the nature of the case, +why a young girl with intelligence and fair education +should not self-respectingly take domestic service, and +rank above factory hands and many of her sister workers +in inferior clerical positions.</p> + +<p>In earlier times domestic work fell largely to men. The +kitchen work which now is performed by scullery maids +was done by boys and youths; and before the office of +housemaid had been established, that of chamberlain signified +the service of men for the work which maids are +now employed to do. The very titles of those who are +connected with the person of majesty signify the lowly +household functions which were ordinarily performed by +those to whom now fall the honors, but none of the duties, +of those offices. In ecclesiastical households there were +no women employed at all in former times, excepting +"brewsters." The personal relationship which used to +endear the tie between servant and mistress no more exists +than it does between other working people and their +employers. Instead of the idea of personal attachment, +the monetary consideration is the only one that enters +into the relationship. The maid is but a part of the +machinery of the household, and must deport herself in a +deferential and often an abject manner, assuming a mask +of propriety which is thrown off as soon as she is among +her companions, when the pent-up animosity and resentment +find expression. How different the modern condition +from that which obtained in other times, when a lady considered +no one fitting to attend upon her excepting those +who were of gentle blood and between whom and herself +were ties of endearment and a measure of equality! +Gentle maidens performed many household duties which +to-day are disdained by young ladies of lesser position. +The real "servants" did only the coarse and rough work +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page376" id="page376"></a>[pg 376]</span> +of the household. They had no particular place to sleep, +and, even down to the time of Elizabeth, it was not +thought important to provide regular beds for "menials" +in the great houses—"As for servants, if they had any +shete above them it was well, for seldom had they any +under their bodies to keep them from the pricking strawes +that ranne off thorow the canvas and raxed their hardened +hides." The servants who were thus treated were, of +course, the antecedents of the present-day servants. It is +from the traditional attitude toward them that much of the +present-day spirit of superiority toward domestics is derived. +During the eighteenth century the condition of +domestics improved, and, during the last quarter, the +description of them, their tastes and their manners, is +such as would be quite applicable to-day. Already the +scarcity of good servants had come to be a matter of +domestic concern. The lament of the lady of to-day, that +her maid dresses as well as she herself, is not a new one, +for it is met as far back as the seventeenth century, and +in the eighteenth century Defoe remarks upon the same +fact. He says, writing in 1724: "It would be a satire +upon the ladies such as perhaps they would not bear the +reading of, should we go about to tell how hard it is +sometimes to know the chamber-maid from her mistress; +or my lady's chief woman from one of my lady's daughters." +He adds that: "From this gaiety of dress must +necessarily follow encrease of wages, for where there is +such an expence in habit there must be a proportion'd +supply of money, or it will not do." The same subject +furnished concern for people generally, and a correspondent +to the <i>Times</i> wrote, in 1794: "I think it is the duty of +every good master and mistress to stop as much as possible +the present ridiculous and extravagant mode of dress +in their domestics.... Formerly a plaited cap and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page377" id="page377"></a>[pg 377]</span> +a white handkerchief served a young woman three or four +Sundays. Now a mistress is required to give up, by +agreement, the latter end of the week for her maids to +prepare their caps, tuckers, gowns, etc., for Sunday, and +I am told there are houses open on purpose where those +servants who do not choose their mistresses shall see +them, carry their dresses in a bundle and put them on, +meet again in the evening for the purpose of disrobing, +and where I doubt not many a poor, deluded creature had +been disrobed of her virtue. They certainly call aloud for +some restraint, both as to their dress as well as insolent manner."</p> + +<p>The great majority of domestic servants come from the +rural districts, and upon entering into town life have no +one to exercise any personal concern in their welfare, and, +where they do not fall into worse courses, they acquire an +extravagant and reckless habit of life that uses up their +earnings simply in the furthering of their vanity or +pleasure. The servant question, as that of women's position +in the factory system of the country, presents problems +which have proved as yet stubborn to all attempts at their solution.</p> + +<p>One of the most curious facts of the last quarter of +the nineteenth century was the evolution of the "new +woman." Women, representing all manner of social pleas, +running the gamut of the extremes, sought a hearing upon +the platform, in the pulpit, through the press, and in literature. +It looked as if the Anglo-Saxon race were on the +verge of a great revolution in which the men would, either +passively or in strenuous opposition, be ignominiously relegated +to the rear in the lines of new progress. The new +movement grew out of a sense of social inequality on the +part of some women, and this grievance was exploited +in all ways and illustrated from all viewpoints. Some of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page378" id="page378"></a>[pg 378]</span> +these strenuous advocates for the "rights" of the sex +gave themselves over to the question of dress reform, and +their diverse views represented the whole range of the +question, from the sensible and sane declaration for the +abolishment of the tyranny of style to the adoption of +male attire. Others discussed the injustice to women +from the physiological viewpoint, and affirmed that motherhood +was not an honorable office, but a type of feudalism +to men and a subservience to their wills that was highly +dishonoring to womankind. It looked as though the +household gods were to be tumbled out of the home without +much ado; but while some of the advocates of reform +went to absurd lengths and presented extreme views and +sought by all the ingenuity of sophistry to present the +status of woman as a most deplorable one, there were +others, more moderate in their views and expressions, who +felt that there might be a clear gain for women in the +affirming of her rights in the matter of conventions which +held over from the eighteenth century. Whether in deportment +or in dress, in intellectual pursuits or in the +province of amusement, women were to exercise their +judgment and common sense and live in the light of +their own reason and not with reference to the mandates of men.</p> + +<p>When the "new woman" craze passed away, it left, as +its effect, young women more self-reliant, more independent, +a little more pert and self-assured, with less reverence +and greater capability, than before. On the whole, the +English girl of to-day has wrought out of the complex conditions +of modern society the naturalness which was +asserting itself throughout the eighteenth century, but +was hampered by new conventions, rigid customs, and +stately formalisms. It is true that the English girl of +to-day would be to her grandmother a revelation, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page379" id="page379"></a>[pg 379]</span> +perhaps not an agreeable one; but the standards by which +estimates are made are safest and most satisfactory when +contemporary. It would be venturesome to forecast the +view of the <i>fin de siècle</i> girl which may be taken at the +close of the new century by those who shall cast back +over the years a historical glance. Certain it is that, on +the whole, she comes approximately up to the best standards +of to-day, although a certain air of flippancy and the +flavor of the independence of judgment, not always balanced +by reason, suggest the possibility of an intellectual +and spiritual trend not consistent with her most fortunate lines of development.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the twentieth century takes woman +as a practical matter of fact, and proposes to bestow upon +her no fulsome eulogies, chivalrous dalliance, to place her +in no position of inferiority, or to exalt her to the transcendent +estate of the celestial beings. She has demanded +recognition in the practical affairs of life; she has claimed +the right to determine her own destiny; she has achieved +the freedom of the outer world. Lofty as are the summits +of human ambition, she has climbed up to the very highest +peaks and written her name in letters of immortality on +the scroll of the great ones of the earth, in the arts, in +literature, in philanthropy. Does she ever pause to take +a backward look over the steps by which she has come to +her present eminence? Does she ever consider the "pit +from which she was digged"? It is a far cry from the +twentieth century to the early dawn of history, and none +but the Eye which runs to and fro throughout the whole +earth can trace the entire course of woman's ascendency +from degradation to exaltation. But it is always well to +pause and to ask of the past years what report they +have borne to Heaven; and the history of woman, studied +in the light of fact and with such proper reflections as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page380" id="page380"></a>[pg 380]</span> +historical circumstance suggests, must not only be a +profitable one for the correction of any ill-balanced tendencies +which may appear to close observation of woman +in her present position and spirit, but it must as well be +an important section of, and, in a sense, interpretation of, +the social development of England.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page381" id="page381"></a>[pg 381]</span> + + + + +<h2>Chapter XV</h2> + +<h2>The Women of Scotland and Ireland</h2> +<!--Blank page #382 omitted.--> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page383" id="page383"></a>[pg 383]</span> + + +<p>The women of Scotland are remarkable for the strength +of their domestic sentiments and for their loyalty to the +land of the heather. The stream of national life, by its +merging and mingling with that of England, has never lost +the individuality which has been the pride of the Scotch +people in all their periods. Like two rivers meeting in +confluence,—the one slow and clear, but steady and strong +in its flow, the other, dashing and foaming its turbulent +flood over the breakers in its rough channel,—refusing for +a long time to do other than divide their common course +until after long periods of associated flow they finally +merge, still showing in their different shadings the mark +of their diverse origin, so was it with England and Scotland. +The union is complete, but national characteristics remain.</p> + +<p>Not so, however, with unhappy Ireland. Fundamental +differences in life, in temperament, in religion, in ideals, +have served to perpetuate the alienation of a people whose +connection with England might seem to depend on the +power of but one principle—that of force. Not strange +is it that among a people which considers itself deprived +of a future the influence of the past should be predominant, +and that in the recital of the mighty deeds of the +Irish chieftains of yore should be found the chief delight +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page384" id="page384"></a>[pg 384]</span> +of those who mingle their tears at the shrine of such +a representative of their national defeat as the patriot O'Connell.</p> + +<p>With the curious contradiction of nature which infusion +of Celtic blood effects, no livelier or more light-hearted race +of women exists upon the earth than that of Erin, yet, at +the same time, none which can be plunged so deeply into +melancholy and feel so profoundly the pangs of sorrow. +Not to original contributions of race characteristics, however, +is this contradictory temperament solely to be +attributed, but to the long years of denationalization which +have made Ireland the wailing place of women whose +traditions are glorious with the deeds of mighty queens +and amazons like Macha, Méave, Dearbhguill and Eva; +the dawn of whose cycles of religious glory is marked +by the life and deeds of a Bridget.</p> + +<p>To write a history of the women of Great Britain and +not speak of the differences which the names Scot and Irish +connote would be as grave an error as to describe the +flora of the islands and omit mention of the shamrock and +the thistle. Not that the flora of the island group is +essentially distinctive any more than that the differences +in society, in manners and customs of the separate peoples, +are radical. It is not that there is much of diverse interest +in the broad aspects of the life of the women that the +recital of the history of the women of Scotland and Ireland +is to have separate treatment, but to throw in strong light +upon the pages of history the figures of women who belonged +not to Great Britain, as such, but to Scotland or to +Ireland, and who, if they date after the cementing of the +union of the peoples, still perpetuate that which is distinctive +in quality of life and of character.</p> + +<p>To figure forth the famous women of these peoples will +serve as sufficient commentary upon the effect of difference +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page385" id="page385"></a>[pg 385]</span> +of life and of customs. All else has entered into the story of +the women of Great Britain as it has been told, for, after +all, there is a real oneness between them.</p> + +<p>The tribal influence in both Ireland and Scotland continued +to be the predominant force of patriotic purpose +long after the welding of its various elements had eliminated +this influence in English life. In the earlier history +of both the Scotch and Irish peoples, we have to do with +the force in society of this family idea, centred in great +chieftains and kings, but none the less a fact of prevailing +influence, an idea incarnate that served to quell the strife +of warring factions in the face of a common enemy. The +patriotism of both peoples has been the patriotism of the +family and the fireside. The love of the tartan among +the Scotch and the perpetuation of the Irish clans attest this fact to-day.</p> + +<p>Many are the pages of British history rendered glorious +by the deeds of the women of Scotland. In those early +days, when the light of history is too faint to show clearly +their characters or their deeds, the women of Caledonia +went forth to battle with men at the sound of the pibroch. +Some of the noblest of them reigned as queens, were +hailed as deliverers, or gave their blood in martyrdom to +warm the soil of their country. The Scotch-Irish tribes +accorded their women place in the deliberative bodies, and +listened to their counsel. The magnificent virility which +they displayed was not different from that of British women +generally. The noble Boadicea was no more valorous +than the Irish Méave. From the dim shadow land of the +past must some of the characters of this recital be called +up, but the Middle Ages and modern periods will be most +largely drawn upon to tell the story of the Celtic woman, +as a part of the chronicle of a country where, as we have +fully seen, women have always counted as factors. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page386" id="page386"></a>[pg 386]</span> +Macha of the Red Tresses is the first of the Irish +queens whose figure stands out with sufficient boldness +to fix it upon the pages of history. Would one marvel at +her beauty or her prowess, let him have recourse to the +praises of the early bards and the laudations of the chroniclers. +We can well believe that, to her countrymen, she +appeared as the incarnation of some divinity as she rode +at the head of her body of stalwart warriors; her auburn +tresses floating loose in the wind, her mantle flung carelessly +over her shoulder, her neck and arms and ankles +girdled with massive gold ornaments, her eyes flashing +determination as she pointed the advance to the foray +with her lance directed toward the foe drawn up in battle line to receive the charge.</p> + +<p>A quarrel as to the succession to the throne or to the +headship of the tribe, which was precipitated by the death +of her father without posterity excepting this intrepid +daughter, was the occasion of her appearance upon the +page of national affairs, or rather of tribal history. She +gained the victory over her adversaries, and ruled her +people for seven years. The romantic annals of this +valorous lady relate how she pursued the sons of her adversary +to effect their destruction; and the more certainly +to accomplish her purpose, she disguised herself as a leper, +by rubbing her face with rye dough. Away in the depths +of a dense forest she finds them cooking the wild boar +they had just slain. Having successfully used her disguise +to achieve her end, she rid herself of the leprous-looking +splotches. With honeyed words and the judicious +flashing of love-light from a pair of wondrous eyes, the +supposed leper charms her enemies. One brother follows +her into a remote part of the forest, where by guile she +effects the binding of him hand and foot. Returning to +the camp, she successively lures the remaining brothers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page387" id="page387"></a>[pg 387]</span> +into the woods in the same manner and with the same +result. She brought them "tied together" to Emhain. +There, in a council of the tribe, womanly sentiment prevailed +over sanguinary counsels, and, instead of being +condemned to death, the prisoners were given over to +slavery in the queen's following; and with the romantic +ideas common to her sex, she had them build her a fortress +"which shall be forever henceforth the capital city of this +province." With her golden brooch she measured the +bounds of the future castle, and it received the name "the +Palace of Macha's Brooch." So runs the legend, and so +is fixed by the brooch of Macha the first date in Irish history, +at a period, however, when dates have little significance, +for time meant but duration, and not economy or expenditure of force.</p> + +<p>The romance of another of Ireland's early queens centres +about the possession of a bull whose marvellously +good points had awakened the queen's envy; the pastoral +relates the contest which arose therefrom. This queen +was the daughter of the King of Connaught, Ecohaidh by +name, and her mother was the handmaid of his wife, the +Lady Edain, who herself was a leader of great beauty +and courage. The contest for the throne resulted in the +elevation of Méave to the royal dignity. Before this, +she had contracted marriage with a prince, with whom she +lived unhappily. She returned to her father's court, +and, after her coronation, married the powerful chief +Ailill. The death of her husband and that of her father, +which occurred at about the same time, left her solitary. +The queen's misfortune in marriage did not deter +her from seeking a further union. One day, the court +of Ross-Ruadh, King of Leinster, was thrown into a +great stir by the arrival of the heralds of Méave dressed +in "yellow silk shirts and grass-green mantles," who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page388" id="page388"></a>[pg 388]</span> +announced that the famous queen was on a royal progress +throughout the land in quest of a husband suited to one of +her state and character. She was fêted and catered to in +every way, and finally fixed her choice upon the seventeen-year-old +son of Ross-Ruadh, whose character promised +enough meekness to insure the dominance over him of his much older spouse.</p> + +<p>The event which the chroniclers make the prominent +one of her reign had its origin in a heated dispute between +the queen and her spouse as to their respective +possessions. The result of the controversy was an actual +inventory of their belongings. "There were compared +before them all their wooden and their metal vessels of +value; and they were found to be equal. There were +brought to them their finger-rings, their clasps, their bracelets, +their thumb-rings, their diadems, and their gorgets +of gold; and they were found to be equal. There were +brought to them their garments of crimson and blue, and +black and green, and yellow and mottled, and white and +streaked; and they were found to be equal. There were +brought before them their great flocks of sheep, from +greens and lawns and plains; and they were found to be +equal. There were brought before them their steeds and +their studs, from pastures and from fields; and they were +found to be equal. There were brought before them their +great herds of swine, from forest and from deep glens and +from solitudes; their herds and their droves of cows were +brought before them, from the forests and most remote +solitudes of the province; and, on counting and comparing +them, they were found to be equal in number and excellence. +But there was found among Ailill's herds a young +bull, which had been calved by one of Méave's cows, and +which, not deeming it honourable to be under a woman's +control, went over and attached himself to Ailill's herds."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page389" id="page389"></a>[pg 389]</span> + +<p>Deeply chagrined that she had not in all her herds a +bull to match this one, which seems to have been a remarkable +animal, she asked her chief courier where in all +the five provinces of Erin its counterpart might be found. +He replied that not only could he direct her to its equal, +but to its superior. The possessor of this animal was +Daré, son of Fachtna of the Cantred of Cualigné, in the +province of Ulster. Its name was the Brown Bull of +Cualigné. Straightway was the courier, MacRoth, sent +to Daré with an offer of fifty heifers for the animal, and +the further assurance that, if he so desired, he and his +people might have the best lands of what are now the +plains of Roscommon, besides other valuable considerations, +which included the permanent friendship of the queen herself.</p> + +<p>Swiftly upon his errand sped the courier, accompanied +by an impressive train of attendants. A friendly and +hospitable reception and entertainment awaited them, and +Daré accepted the terms they offered. One of the courtiers +expressed admiration for the amiability of the king who +thus consented to part from that which, on account of his +power, the four other provinces of Erin could not have +wrested from him. From this praise a cup-valorous associate +dissented, and maintained that it was no credit to +him, since, had he refused, Méave of herself could have +compelled him to surrender it. The steward of Daré, +coming in at this inopportune moment, heard the insulting +vaunt, and went out in a rage and bore to his master the +remark he had heard. Daré, in a passion of resentment, +withdrew his offer, swearing by all the gods that Méave +should not have the Brown Bull by either consent or force. +Méave, on hearing of his determination, was correspondingly +incensed, and without delay gathered together her +forces and declared war upon Daré.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page390" id="page390"></a>[pg 390]</span> + +<p>In a hotly contested battle, the army of Méave defeated +that of her adversary, and the Brown Bull was carried +back to her own country. According to the grave narrative +of the chronicler, the issue of the bulls had yet to be +fought out by the animals themselves, for no sooner did +the captive bull come into the province of Connaught than +there was precipitated a tremendous conflict with his rival, +the bull of Ailill. The tale describes vividly and with +much of fabulous admixture the contest, which resulted in +the rout of the White-horned. Thus was the honor of +Méave doubly sustained by the wage of battle.</p> + +<p>This and many other strange narratives with regard to +the undoubtedly historical Méave have vested her with a +halo of romance, and so veiled her real personality that it +is rather in her mythical than her historical character that +she has come down to us; for there is little doubt of her +being the original of Queen Mab of fairy fame. Spenser +gathered much of his fairy lore in Ireland, and in the section +where this famous queen lived and where grew up +the mass of tradition and fable which must have appealed +strongly to the imagination of the author of the <i>Faërie Queen</i>.</p> + +<p>The intense religious character of the Irish people is not +to be accredited to the persistence of superstitious influences +and beliefs in the new garb of Christian enlightenment; +for although their exuberant fancy has always +peopled their land with races of malign as well as of +amiable spirits, the real impress of religion is that which +they received from early Christian sources. Bridget, the +saint who heads the calendar of Irish women of sanctity, +was born in the first half of the fifth century A.D., and +survived until the end of the first quarter of the sixth. +She it was who, despite the disadvantages of her sex, +performed a work paralleled by but few persons in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page391" id="page391"></a>[pg 391]</span> +religious history of the country. It was inevitable that +there should have grown up about her a fund of story and +fable from which it is now difficult to distinguish in order to +give her real work its full appreciation without sanctioning +stories that have their roots in the soil of the fond fancy of a grateful people.</p> + +<p>As one divests a rare parchment of its later writing in +order that the original manuscript may be studied, so, +when the after-traditions and the excrescences of the +supernatural are removed from the character of Bridget, +her real worth is seen and the value of the record of her +life, which is thereby disclosed, is greatly enhanced. As to +her learning, her blameless character, her wisdom, her +charity, and her honesty, there is no manner of doubt. +To swear by her name was to give to the asseveration the +sanctity of inviolable truth.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that in the middle of the fourth +century female monasteries upon the continent had +aroused among women a great deal of religious enthusiasm. +Already had the seeds of religion been sown in +Ireland by Patrick, when Bridget came, imbued with the +ardor of religious training and stimulation received upon +the continent. The religious order for women which she +instituted spread in its ramifications to all parts of the +country. Many were the widows and young maidens +who thronged to her religious houses; indeed, so great +was the throng, that it became necessary to form one +great central establishment, superior to and controlling the +activities of numerous other establishments which were +scattered throughout the land. She herself made her +abode among the people of Leinster, who became endeared +to her as her own people. The monastery she reared amid +the green stretches of pasture received the name of Cill +Dara, or the Cell of the Oak, from a giant oak which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page392" id="page392"></a>[pg 392]</span> +grew near by, and which continued down to the twelfth +century, "no one daring to touch it with a knife." On +account of the monastery and its sacred surroundings, the +section became the place of residence of an increasing +number of families, and from the settlement thus begun +arose the modern town of Kildare.</p> + +<p>Such sanctity and devotion to good works as that of +Bridget attracted to her monastery many visitors of note. +Among those who esteemed it an honor to have her friendship +was the chronicler Gildas. The Ey-Bridges, <i>i.e.</i>, the +Isles of Bridget, or the Hebrides, according to the modern +form of their name, claim the honor of holding in loving +embrace her mortal remains. In this claim, however, +they have a vigorous disputant in the town of Kildare, +which claims the renown of her burial.</p> + +<p>Passing from the vague borderland between legend and +history, we come down to the twelfth century, when +mediæval conditions were in full force and the manners +and customs already described in connection with the +women of the times had full hold upon their lives. As +representative of the spirit of the period, the life of the +renowned Eva, Princess of Leinster and Countess of Pembroke, +may be briefly considered.</p> + +<p>The history of the sad princess centres about the struggles +of Dermot to regain the throne of Leinster, from +which he had been deposed by the federated kings. First +he equipped a body of mercenaries from Wales, only to be +met with defeat in his endeavor to take Dublin from the +enemy. He appealed for aid to the English king, Henry II., +who was then engaged in a campaign in France. He did +not receive direct help from that monarch, who himself +was looking with covetous eyes upon Ireland, but he did +receive permission to make recruits from among his Anglo-Norman +subjects. His real aid came from the Earl of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page393" id="page393"></a>[pg 393]</span> +Pembroke, called Richard Strongbow. With a large fleet, +Dermot now set sail for Ireland, bent not only upon the +recovery of his possession of Leinster, but the conquest of the whole island.</p> + +<p>The consideration offered by Dermot to Pembroke for +his services was the hand of his daughter Eva, with the +kingdom of Leinster for a dowry. Waterford, a town +then of equal importance with Dublin, was successively +besieged and sacked; the Danes, who held it, were driven +out with great slaughter. Amid all the horror of the sacked +city was consummated the union of Eva and Richard, Earl +Strongbow. Dublin became the place of their residence. +A few years thereafter, the husband's checkered career +was closed by a wound in the foot. In Christ Church, +Dublin, lies the body of the warrior, and the monument +displays the figure of a recumbent knight in armor, with +that of his bride at his side.</p> + +<p>The national struggles of Scotland are as replete with +examples of illustrious women as those of Ireland; the +tragedy of the lives of some of Scotia's daughters not only +serves to mark the brutal spirit of times which, with all +their superficial glorifying of the sex, yet could with good +conscience make war upon women, but also serves to illustrate +the height of feminine devotion when called forth by +some great occasion with its demand for self-abnegation. +Among such heroic characters must ever be honorably +numbered the fair Isobel, Countess of Buchan, of whom the poet Pratt says:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Mothers henceforth shall proudly tell</p> +<p>How cag'd and prison'd Isobel</p> +<p class="i2">Did serve her country's weal."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The nine years which saw the struggles of a Wallace +and a Bruce, from the appearance of the former as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page394" id="page394"></a>[pg 394]</span> +champion of Scottish rights to the crowning of the latter +at Scone, were years big with the fate of a people full of +heroic purpose and undaunted fortitude. The story of the +national conquest must be sought elsewhere. In 1305, +upon the death of Wallace, the younger Bruce was impelled +to abandon the cause of the King of England, who +had been pleased to name him in a commission for the +direction of the affairs of Scotland. He made his peace +with Red Comyn, the leader of the rival Scottish faction, +and closed with him a pact on the terms proposed by +Bruce: "Support my title to the crown, and I will give +you my lands." The story of the perfidy of the treacherous +Comyn and of the revolt of Bruce against Edward +of England is well-known history. The actual crowning +of the Scottish chieftain occurred on March 27, 1306. At +that time appeared Isobel, wife of John, Earl of Buchan, +who asserted the claim to install the king, which had come +down of ancient right in her family.</p> + +<p>With great pomp, this illustrious scion of the house of +the Earls of Macduff led Bruce to the regal chair. The +English chronicler crustily remarks: "She was mad for +the beauty of the fool who was crowned." The English +king was enraged at the presumption of his vassal, and +sent out his soldiers against the Scottish sovereign. In the +notable battle which followed, the forces of Bruce were +routed and he himself made a fugitive. Other reverses +befell the arms of the Scotch, and among those who were +carried away captive to gratify the lust for vengeance +of the English was the noble lady who had proudly +inducted Bruce into the royal power. Isobel of Buchan +was carried to Berwick, and condemned to a fate which +can best be described in the words of an early chronicler: +"Because she has not struck with the sword, +she shall not die by the sword, but on account of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page395" id="page395"></a>[pg 395]</span> +unlawful coronation which she performed, let her be closely +confined in an abode of stone and iron, made in the shape +of a cross, and let her be hung up out of doors in the open +air of Berwick, that both in her life and after her death +she may be a spectacle and an eternal reproach to travellers." +For four years she suffered the imposition of this +heinous punishment, which was then mitigated to imprisonment +in the monastery of Mount Carmel at Berwick. +After three years she was removed to the custody of +Henry de Beaumont. Her final fate is unknown, but it is +presumable that, if she lived, her release from durance +was secured by the victory of Bannockburn.</p> + +<p>Amid the misfortunes which pressed thickly upon the +house of those whose name, more than that of any other, +is linked with Scotland's history—the mighty Douglases—must +ever appear the sad-visaged Janet, Lady Glamis. +When under the royal ban, remorseless as the will of fate, +the house of Douglas was expelled from its native heath, +a woman of unusual nobility suffered death in the general +disaster to her kin. Gratitude is not a virtue of kings, or +else there would have been some remembrance of that +earlier lady of the Douglas line, Catherine Douglas, who, +when the assassins upon midnight murder bent appeared +at the chamber of the queen of James I., opposed to their +entrance—fruitlessly, indeed, but none the less nobly—her +slender arm, which she thrust into the staple to replace +the bar that had been treacherously removed. The ambition +of the Douglases, however, knew no bounds, and in +actual fact their power often not only rivalled but overtopped +that of the crown. The feud, with varying degrees +of irritation and occasions of outbreak, had gone on until +the time of James V., when the reverses suffered by the +Douglases effectually destroyed their power and made +them fugitives during the reign of that monarch. That +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page396" id="page396"></a>[pg 396]</span> +king had an undying resentment to the Earl of Angus, +who had obtained possession of his person as a child and +had continued to be his keeper until he finally slipped the +leash to take up the sovereignty unhampered. One of +the sisters of the mighty earl, in the flower of her youth, +became the wife of Lord Glamis. While her kinsmen +were in exile, she secretly did what she could to further +their designs against the Scottish throne. Charges were +formulated against her, but do not appear to have been +pressed. Other actions against her for treason were instituted +by her enemies, and she lived under continual +harassment and apprehension of danger. All her property +was confiscated as that of a fugitive from the law and one +tainted with treason. Her enemies were not satisfied with +the measure of revenge they had wrought upon her, and +were content with nothing short of her life.</p> + +<p>The venom of the persecution is shown by the nature +of the charge which was trumped up against her to ensure +her death. Four years after the death of her husband, +she was indicted on the charge of killing him by poison. +Three times the majority of those summoned to serve on +the jury to hear the charges against her refused to attend, +thus showing how little faith the popular mind had in the +sincerity of the indictment against her. As it seemed impossible +to secure a jury to hear the odious charge against +an innocent and high-minded lady, the case was allowed +to lapse. Soon after this she again married.</p> + +<p>A description of her which was penned by a writer in +the early part of the seventeenth century represents her +as having been reputed in her prime the greatest beauty +in Britain. "She was," he says, "of an ordinary stature, +not too fat, her mien was majestic, her eyes full, her face +was oval, and her complection was delicate and extremely +fair. Besides all these perfections, she was a lady of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page397" id="page397"></a>[pg 397]</span> +singular chastity; as her body was a finished piece, without +the least blemish, so Heaven designed that her mind +should want none of those perfections a mortal creature +can be capable of; her modesty was admirable, her courage +was above what could be expected from her sex, her judgment +solid, her carriage was gaining and affable to her inferiors, +as she knew well how to behave herself to her +equals; she was descended from one of the most honorable +and wealthy families of Scotland, and of great interest +in the kingdom, but at that time eclipsed." This is the +testimony of hearsay, but, allowing for exaggeration, the +great impression which she made upon her contemporaries is amply shown.</p> + +<p>The very nemesis of misfortune seemed to pursue this +innocent lady. The next turn of envious fate brought to +light a plot for her destruction which was hatched in the +dark recesses of a heart burning with passionate resentment +over its inability to invade her wifely integrity. +William Lyon had been one of the suitors who were disappointed +at her acceptance of the son of the Earl of +Argyll. After several years had elapsed, this man sought +to pass the limits of friendship, and had the baseness to +seek to draw her away from the path of honor. Her contemptuous +and indignant rebuff rankled in his mind, and +led him to lay a deep plot tending to bring Lady Glamis +under suspicion of attempting to poison the king. Her +former indictment as a poisoner was counted upon to give +probability to the charge. She, with all other persons +under suspicion as parties to the plot, was arrested and immured in Edinburgh Castle.</p> + +<p>So much of political matter entered into the testimony, +and so skilfully was it wrought, that the jury found her +guilty of the crimes charged, namely, treasonable communication +with her relatives, the enemies of the king, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page398" id="page398"></a>[pg 398]</span> +and of conspiring to poison her monarch. The sentence +was that she should be burned at the stake, and the same +day of its delivery it was executed. "She seemed to be +the only unconcerned person there, and her beauty and +charms never appeared with greater advantage than when +she was led to the flames; and her soul being fortified with +support from Heaven, and the sense of her own innocence, +she outbraved death, and her courage was equal in the +fire to what it was before her judges. She suffered those +torments without the least noise: only she prayed devoutly +for Divine assistance to support her under her sufferings." +She died as a burnt offering to the hate which was engendered +against her line, but which could be visited only +upon her, as all others of her house were out of reach of the royal anger.</p> + +<p>Returning to Ireland and leaving behind the atmosphere +of political machinations and persecutions, it is pleasant to +take up the characters of some women of the fifteenth +and the sixteenth centuries who for different reasons have +written their names lastingly in the memories of their +race. To be hailed as the best woman of her times was +the happy privilege of Margaret O'Carroll, who died in +1461. McFirbis, the antiquary of Lecan, her contemporary, +says of her: "She was the one woman that made +most of preparing highways, and erecting bridges, churches +and mass-books, and of all manner of things profitable to +serve God and her soul." Her life was most celebrated +for her pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella +in Spain, and her unbounded charity. The pilgrimage +followed upon a great revival of religion which +seems to have swept over Ireland in 1445. The occasion +of the awakening is not known, other than that following +upon the signs of religious discontent upon the continent +the monks of Ireland roused themselves to earnest and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page399" id="page399"></a>[pg 399]</span> +arduous religious labors. The chronicler gives illustration +of her practical charity in the account of her two +"invitations": twice in the one year did she call upon all +persons "Irish and Scottish" to bestow largely of their +money and goods as a feast for the poor. Thousands +resorted to the place of distribution, and, as each was +aided in an orderly manner, they had their names and the +amount and nature of their relief entered in a book kept +for the purpose. In summing up her life's work, the +chronicler says: "While the world lasts, her very many +gifts to the Irish and Scottish nations cannot be numbered. +God's blessing, the blessing of all saints, and every our +blessing from Jerusalem to Innis Glauir be on her going to +Heaven, and blessed be he that will reade and will heare +this, for the blessing of her soule. Cursed be the sore in +her breast that killed Margrett." Such a picture as this +serves to offset the more usual idea of the women of Ireland +during the Middle Ages as coarse, half-civilized beings. +Such a character would lend dignity and worth to any people during any age.</p> + +<p>The many benefactions and the public spirit of this great +lady make her deserving of mention in any account of the +development of charities. The poet D'Arcy McGee has +immortalized her in a poem in which, referring to the +occasion of her "great Invitation," he says:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>In cloth of gold, like a queen new-come out of the royal wood</p> +<p>On the round, proud, white-walled rath Margeret O'Carroll stood;</p> +<p>That day came guests to Rath Imayn from afar from beyond the sea</p> +<p>Bards and Bretons of Albyn and Erin—to feast in Offaly!"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>To be celebrated for beauty alone is the prerogative of +a few of the women of the ages. What nation is there +that does not hold in as cherished regard the women who +have represented its noblest physical possibilities as their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page400" id="page400"></a>[pg 400]</span> +women of unusual sanctity or those who have glorified +their literature or ennobled their arts? A beautiful woman—a +woman whose beauty is not alone flawless in feature +and full of the instinctive intellectuality of a soul mirrored +in a countenance, but also typical of the expression of +racial characteristics, is as much a product of ages, as +much a climax of evolution at the point of perfection, +as the saint, the artist, the dramatist who marks a +period and exalts a people. To pass down in history as +an exceptional beauty is to inspire art ideals and to +furnish a theme for the lyricist. Frailty is often found +united with such exceptional beauty, so is it with exceptional +genius; alas! that predominating gifts should be +so often inimical to balance. To find such beauty in the +way of virtue is as grateful as to find an orchid exhaling perfume.</p> + +<p>In the tales of fair women, the Fair Geraldine, who was +born in the first half of the sixteenth century, must always +be celebrated, not only as a typical Irish beauty, but as a +woman whose virtues were of a similar order to her physical +charms. She was the second daughter of the Earl of +Kildare by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey, and inherited +from both sides of this union, which was most +auspicious, the high breeding and gentle graces which +fitted well her gracious carriage and great beauty and +served, by enhancing her physical charms, to attract to +her a wide circle of friends and to secure for her the +knightly attendance of a band of distinguished suitors. +She was taken to England to be educated, and at court received +the polish which perfected the jewel of her beauty. +She made her home with a second cousin of her mother, +Lady Mary, who was afterward England's queen. While +quite young she was appointed maid of honor to her kinswoman. +Already her charms had ripened to the point of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page401" id="page401"></a>[pg 401]</span> +eliciting from the poet, soldier, and politician, Henry, Earl +of Surrey, the high praise of the following sonnet:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"From Tuscane came my lady's worthy race,</p> +<p class="i2">Fair Florence was sometime her ancient seat.</p> +<p>The western isle, whose pleasant shore doth face</p> +<p class="i2">Wild Cambor's cliffs, did give her lively heat.</p> +<p>Fostered she was with milk of Irish breast;</p> +<p class="i2">Her sire an Earl, her dame of Princes' blood,</p> +<p>From tender years in Britain doth she rest,</p> +<p class="i2">With King's child; where she tasteth costly food.</p> +<p>Hunsdon did first present her to mine eyes;</p> +<p class="i2">Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she hight.</p> +<p>Hampton me taught to wish her first as mine,</p> +<p class="i2">And Windsor, alas! doth chase her from my sight.</p> +<p>Her beauty of kind; her virtues from above,</p> +<p>Happy is he that can attain her love."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>The noble earl who lamented that Windsor chased her +from his sight was suffering incarceration in Windsor +Castle for eating meat in Lent. That the Fair Geraldine +had made full conquest of his heart is shown by his conduct +at a tournament at Florence, where he defied the +world to produce her equal. He was victorious, and the +palm was awarded the Irish beauty. Again, he is found +resorting to a famous alchemist of the day to enable him to +peer into the future, that he might know what disposition +of her heart would be made by the lady of his affections. +The only satisfaction he obtained was the seeing of Geraldine +recumbent upon a couch reading one of his sonnets. +This must have stirred his blood and have strengthened +his faith in the ultimate success of his wooing. Had he +obtained the revelation he sought, he would have seen the +adored beauty, with that curious inconsistency of her sex, +bestowing herself upon Sir Anthony Brown, a man sixty +years of age, and who was forty-four years her senior. +After his death she married the Earl of Lincoln, whom she +also survived. There is no further record of the beauty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page402" id="page402"></a>[pg 402]</span> +whose fame extended over England and Ireland. The circumstance +of Surrey's visit to the alchemist has been +preserved in Scott's <i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Fair all the pageant—but how passing fair</p> +<p class="i2">The slender form that lay on couch of Ind!</p> +<p>O'er her white bosom strayed her hazel hair,</p> +<p class="i2">Pale her dear cheek, as if for love she pined;</p> +<p class="i2">All in her night-robe loose she lay reclined</p> +<p>And, pensive, read from tablet eburine</p> +<p class="i2">Some strain that seemed her inmost soul to find;</p> +<p>That favored strain was Surrey's raptured line,</p> +<p>That fair and lovely form, the Ladye Geraldine."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>In the picturesque annals of the piracy of the sixteenth +century, when England was getting that sea training which +was to make her the undisputed naval power of the world, +when the Turkish corsair spread the terror of his savage +brutality through the hearts of the brave seamen who +manned the craft of legitimate commerce, at a time when +the trade routes of the sea were the paths of piracy, and +the sabre, the cutlass, and the newly invented gunpowder +were depended upon to establish the right of way for the +ships of the nations, there appears no more daring character +than Grainne O'Malley. Many stories of her prowess are +still current in the west of Ireland, and the political ballads of +her time make frequent allusion to the sea queen. For the +greater part of the sixteenth century she lived, an example of +that splendid virility which is yet characteristic of the hardy +Irish peasantry, when not under the shadow of famine.</p> + +<p>She came of right by her seafaring proclivities, for from +the earliest period the O'Malleys have been celebrated as +rivalling the Vikings in their love of the sea. In the fourteenth +century a bard is found singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"A good man never was there</p> +<p>Of the O'Mailly's but a mariner;</p> +<p>The prophets of the weather are ye,</p> +<p>A tribe of affection and brotherly love."</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page403" id="page403"></a>[pg 403]</span> + +<p>Grainne O'Malley, with all her depredations upon the +sea, was no common pirate; through her veins ran the +royal blood of the line of Connaught, and, despite her +serviceability to the English as a freebooting ally upon +the western coasts of the island, she acknowledged no +higher power than her own. Her title of dignity was regarded +as inviolable. Quite worthy of the brush of an +artist was the scene presented by the reception at court +of the wild Irish chieftainess. Disdaining land travel, she +performed the whole trip to London by water, sailing up +the Thames to the Tower Gate. The little son who was +born upon this voyage was fittingly called Theobald of +the Ship. There has come down to us no account of the +meeting of the two queens, but one may readily imagine +the scene—the blonde Elizabeth, thin, unbeautiful, her +scant features lined by petulance, but with indomitable +will shown in the turn of her mouth and the strength of +her chin, and the large-limbed, full-bodied Irish woman, +dressed in the semi-wild attire of her race and of her calling, +her arms, her wrists, her ankles, gleaming with circlets +of gold, a fillet of massive metal binding her hair, her +mantle caught up at the shoulder by an immense, ornately +wrought brooch. Courteously, but with no sign of inferiority +in her demeanor, her swarthy skin showing the dash +of Spanish blood in her veins, and her eyes flashing with +the light of an unconquered spirit, stood the female buccaneer +before the woman who had rule of England. The best +tradition of the results of the interview tell us that a +treaty was effected between the two, but that the Irish +chieftainess did not yield an iota of her royal claims.</p> + +<p>Thus was cemented a union between the English throne +and the piratical leader. It must be borne in mind, however, +that piracy was not then the despicable vice that it +afterward came to be regarded. The commerce of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page404" id="page404"></a>[pg 404]</span> +enemy was always lawful spoil, and, even when there +was not actually a state of hostilities existing between +countries, preying upon one another's commerce was often +regarded as a semi-legitimate industry; and if the freebooter +kept out of reach of the enemy, he was not likely +to be seriously sought out for punishment by the authorities +of his own country. The exploiters of the New World, +under the title of merchant-adventurers, were for the most +part pirates; the Spanish galleons were always lawful +spoil for the English merchantman, who knew the trick of +painting out the name of his craft, giving it a garb of piratical +black, using a false flag, spoiling the enemy after some +swift, hard fighting, and then resuming again his real or +assumed pacific character. In the light of her times must +Grainne O'Malley be regarded.</p> + +<p>As a sea queen she is without parallel in any time; and +if the stain of their piracy does not attach to her English +contemporaries, Drake, Raleigh, and Gilbert, no more +should it to her. By force of a powerful individuality, +she ruled a race of men who were noted as the most lawless +of all Ireland, men among whom women as a class +were so little esteemed that they were not allowed to hold +property. An early traditional account of this woman of +the waves, which is preserved in manuscript at the Royal +Irish Academy, Dublin, describes her as follows:</p> + +<p>"She was a great pirate and plunderer from her youth. +It is Transcended to us by Tradition that the very Day +she was brought to bed of her first Child that a Turkish +Corsair attacked her ships, and that they were Getting +the Better of her Men, she got up, put her Quilt about +her and a string about her neck, took two Blunder Bushes +in her hands, came on deck, began damming and Capering +about, her monstrous size and odd figure surprised the +Turks, their officers gathered themselves talking of her; this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page405" id="page405"></a>[pg 405]</span> +was what she wanted, stretched both her hands, fired the +two Blunder Bushes at them and Destroyed the officers." +Many are the deeds of prowess ascribed to her, and so widespread +was her fame that desperate characters came from +all parts to enroll themselves under her standard. Her serviceability +to the English, to whose extending power she +had the good sense not to put herself in opposition, secured +to her the right to continue her depredations.</p> + +<p>With all her daring and the romance with which tradition +has surrounded her, she was not, nor does the report +of her times represent her as having been, handsome. In +fact, notwithstanding that the Anglicized form of her given +name is Grace, its real meaning is "the ugly." Her first +husband was an O'Flaherty, the terror of which name is +preserved in the litany of the Anglo-Norman, recalling the +capture of the city of Galway and the surrounding country: +"From the ferocious O'Flaherties,—Good Lord, deliver +us." The same words, as a talisman, were inscribed over +the gate of the city. We know little of the representative +of this family who became the husband of Grainne +O'Malley. Her second husband was Sir Richard Bourke, +of the Mayo division of a great Norman-Irish clan. It was +after contracting this alliance that Grainne O'Malley put +herself under the protection of the English rule in Connaught. +Sidney, the lord-deputy, referring to his visit to +Galway in 1576, says: "There came to me a most famous +female sea-captain, called Granny-I-Mallye, and offered +her services to me, wheresoever I would command her, +with three galleys and two hundred fighting men, either in +Ireland or Scotland. She brought with her her husband, +for she was, as well by sea as by land, more than master's +mate with him. He was of the nether Bourkes, and now, +as I hear, MacWilliam Euter, and called by the nickname +'Richard in Iron.' This was a notorious woman in all the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page406" id="page406"></a>[pg 406]</span> +coasts of Ireland. This woman did Sir Philip see and +speak with: he can more at large inform you of her."</p> + +<p>The personal character of this female buccaneer was +never called into question; saving only her piratical proclivities, +she seems to have been exemplary. The circumstances +of her life at the death of her first husband +forced her, a daughter of a pirate, to the seas as a "thrade +of maintenance," as she apologetically put it to Queen +Elizabeth. She founded and endowed religious houses, +and the attitude she maintained toward the powers higher +than she was in the furtherance of the peace of her country. +Yet her good deeds have not been borne in the same +remembrance as her piratical performances. With this +account of the adventurous Irish woman, we may turn to +a very different picture, taken from Scotland.</p> + +<p>The annals of the Scottish border are replete with stories +of cruel warfare and of savage vengeance. The wars of +England with the valorous Scots present hardly more instances +of heroism and of brutality than do the accounts +of the feuds which arose between the clans themselves. Of +the first sort was the expedition which Bluff King Hal sent +out to punish the Scots for becoming incensed at the insolent +tone and the humiliating conditions he imposed on the negotiations +looking to the marriage of his young son, afterward +Edward VI., and the infant Mary, Queen of Scots.</p> + +<p>The English conducted a series of savage forays across +the Scottish border. Their success led the leaders of the +invading army to represent to Henry that, owing to the +distracted condition of Scotland on account of the internal +disorders, the time was peculiarly auspicious for a permanent +conquest of a large part of the border. Under commission +of the English king to effect such a conquest, they +returned and renewed their attack. The tower of Broomhouse, +held by an aged woman and her family, was consigned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page407" id="page407"></a>[pg 407]</span> +to the flames, and she and her children perished in the +conflagration. Melrose Abbey was wantonly plundered +and ruined, and the bones of the Douglases were taken +from their tombs and scattered about. Next, the little village +of Maxton was burned. All its inhabitants had made +good their escape excepting a maiden of high courage and +deep devotion, who remained with her bed-ridden parents. +The approach of the enemy meant their destruction. The +village maid had a lover, who, on finding that she was not +with the refugees, returned to the town and forcibly carried +her off, although he was grievously wounded in the +act of doing so. After he had effected her rescue, the +brave savior, breathing with his expiring breath a prayer +of thankfulness that he had been permitted to yield up his +life for her who was more than life to him, died of exhaustion +and of his wounds. The measure of iniquity +was complete, and, although many other bloody deeds +were perpetrated in this warfare, the instrument of vengeance +was at hand; when the hour came that marked a turn in the tide:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p class="i8">"Ancrum Moor</p> +<p class="i4">Ran red with English blood;</p> +<p>Where the Douglas true and the bold Buccleuch</p> +<p class="i4">'Gainst keen Lord Evers stood."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>When the battle was over and the English had been +driven with great slaughter from the field, the body of the +English general was found near that of a young Scottish +soldier with flowing yellow tresses, who was mangled by +many wounds. The delicacy of feature soon led to the discovery +that the slayer of the English leader was a woman, +and her identification as the maiden Liliard of the hamlet of +Maxton followed. So had she avenged the cruel slaughter +of her aged and helpless parents and that of the devoted +lover who had laid down his life in her behalf. In a borrowed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page408" id="page408"></a>[pg 408]</span> +suit of armor and weapons she had arrayed herself under +the Red Douglas, that she might seek out him who was the +author of her calamities, to visit upon him the vengeance of +her desolation, and yield up the life she no longer valued.</p> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/bk9-5.png" /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="mid"><i>ASSASSINATION OF RIZZIO<br /> + +After the painting Mrs. E. Siberdt<br /> + +________<br /><br /> + +Romantic adventure, however, best describe the life of Mary<br /> +Queen of Scots. She was beset with suiters and pestered with<br /> +intrigue for her favor. The most popularly known story in connection<br /> +with her life is that of her relation to Rizzio, her Italian confidant.<br /> +He it was who arranged Mary's marriage to Darnley, and it was<br /> +his influence over her that finally led to his own assassination by<br /> +Darnley and his companions in Holywood Palalace in 1566.</i></p> + + +<p>Upon the bloody field her compatriots interred her who +was thereafter to be held in dear regard as one of Scotland's +noblest daughters. Above the head of "Liliard of +Ancrum" was erected a gravestone with the following inscription +to commemorate her valor:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Fair maiden Liliard lies under this stane,</p> +<p>Little was her stature, but great was her fame;</p> +<p>Upon the English loons she laid mony thumps,</p> +<p>And when her legs were cutted off, she fought upon her stumps."</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Ancrum Moor was fought in 1544. James V. had died +two years earlier, and the crown of Scotland had devolved +upon his infant daughter, Mary. Henry VIII. was bent on +securing the Scotch kingdom, and to that end persisted in +urging the betrothal of Prince Edward to the infant Mary, +Queen of Scots; but the Scots were equally averse to the +alliance, hence Henry continued to harass the kingdom by +armed forces. After Edward VI. succeeded his father, he +continued to sue for Mary's hand, and made use of military +force in the hope of accomplishing his object. The child-queen's +safety being in constant jeopardy, she was betrothed +to the Dauphin of France, and in 1548 left for the +court of France. In her sixteenth year she married +Francis, making at the same time a secret treaty bestowing +the kingdom of Scotland on France, in case she died +without an heir. Francis II., however, died in 1560, and +Mary returned to Scotland the following year. Here, her +Roman Catholic practices soon brought her into conflict +with Knox, but for a time she managed to rule without +serious troubles. Romantic adventure, however, best +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page409" id="page409"></a>[pg 409]</span> +describes the life of this lovely queen. She was beset with +suitors and pestered with intrigue for her favor. The most +popularly known story in connection with her life is that +of her relation to Rizzio, her Italian confidant. He it was +who arranged Mary's marriage to Darnley, and it was his +influence over her that finally led to his own assassination +by Darnley and his companions in Holyrood Palace in +1566. Shortly thereafter the queen gave birth to Prince +James; and from this time troubles and conspiracies constantly +involved the unhappy queen, until her execution +in 1586 for her association in the Babington conspiracy +against the life of Queen Elizabeth.</p> + +<p>It was while the partisans of Queen Mary and those of +her young son James were imbruing the soil of Scotland +with one another's blood, and when all the horrors of +internecine warfare were being perpetrated, there was +lighted a flame that added a heroine to the country's list +of women who have honorably earned that title. There +appeared one day before Corgaff Castle, in Strathdon, +Captain Kerr and a party of men, sent by the deputy +lieutenant of the queen, Sir Adam Gordon of Auchindown, +to capture and to hold it. Between the houses of Gordon +and Forbes existed a deadly feud, although they were +united by marriage. The Forbeses had espoused the +cause of the king, while the Gordons were arrayed on +the side of the queen. This added to the bitterness of +their feeling, and accounts for the stubbornness which +Lady Towie displayed when called upon to surrender. +Her husband, John Forbes, the Laird of Towie, was in the +field with his three sons; the defence of the castle accordingly +fell upon her. When the Gordons appeared before +the castle and demanded its subjection, its noble defender +replied in such scornful terms to Captain Kerr, the leader +of the besieging force, that he swore that he would wipe +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page410" id="page410"></a>[pg 410]</span> +out the stigma of her insult with her blood. As it was impossible +to carry the castle by assault without the aid of +artillery, he resorted to fire—not, however, before the +brave lady had shot her pistol at him pointblank, missing +her aim, but yet grazing the captain's knee with the bullet.</p> + +<p>In spite of the plea of her sick stepson, she resolutely +determined to perish in the flames which were spreading +through the castle from the fire started by the enemy in a breach of the castle wall.</p> + +<p>This incident of the siege is described in an old ballad:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oh, then out spake her youngest son,</p> +<p class="i2">Sat on the nurse's knee:</p> +<p>Says—'Mither, dear, gie o'er this house,</p> +<p class="i2">For the reek it smithers me.'</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"'I would gie all my gold, my bairn,</p> +<p class="i2">Sae would I all my fee,</p> +<p>For ae blast o' the Westlin' wind</p> +<p class="i2">To blaw the reek frae thee.'"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>Next, her daughter appealed to her that she might be +sewed up in a sheet and let down the tower wall. To +this the mother assented. The maiden was thus lowered +to the ground, only to be received upon the spear of the brutal captain:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"O then out spake her daughter dear.</p> +<p class="i2">She was baith jimp and small:</p> +<p>'Oh, row me in a pair of sheets,</p> +<p class="i2">And tow me o'er the wall.'</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<hr /> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Oh, bonnie, bonnie was her mouth,</p> +<p class="i2">And cherry was her cheeks;</p> +<p>And clear, clear was her yellow hair,</p> +<p class="i2">Whereon the red bluid dreeps.</p> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<hr /> + </div><div class="stanza"> +<p>"Then with his spear he turned her o'er;</p> +<p class="i2">Oh, gin her face was wan!</p> +<p>He said—'You are the first that e'er</p> +<p class="i2">I wish'd alive again.'"</p> + </div> </div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page411" id="page411"></a>[pg 411]</span> + +<p>Of the thirty-seven persons in the castle, Lady Towie, +her stepson, her three young children, and her retainers, +none escaped the holocaust; the roof of the keep fell in +and carried them down into the flames. So perished one +of the bravest and most spirited women of her times. The +retribution which, in the later circumstances of the feud, +was wrought upon those responsible for this massacre +does not concern us here. The heroism of Lady Towie's +defence of Corgaff Castle has furnished a theme for other +poets than the obscure bard whom we have quoted; the +bravery to the point of rashness which she displayed +endears her to the heart of the Scotchman who glories in +the deeds of courage of his race.</p> + +<p>One of the sweetest stories of devotion to be found in +the history of Scotland's women is that which centres +about the knightly house of Cromlix and Ardoch. Sir +James Chisholm was born in the early part of the sixteenth +century, and, as a youth, was sent to France for +the completion of his education. Before his departure he +had exchanged with fair Helen Stirling, of the house of +Ardoch, vows of undying affection. This young lady, +because of her beauty, had achieved wide local celebrity, +and throughout the countryside she was called "Fair +Helen of Ardoch." The two young people had been +brought up in each other's society, and, as they grew in +years, began to feel for each other that tenderness of sentiment +which, while they were yet in their teens, led to +mutual avowals of love. Their parents were not averse +to the match, after the young people should have arrived +at a more suitable age for marriage. The course of their +love ran smoothly, until the separation came by Sir James +going abroad. As their relatives were not favorable to a +correspondence between the young people, the good offices +of a friend were invoked. He received the letters of both +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page412" id="page412"></a>[pg 412]</span> +parties, and saw that they were sent to their respective +destinations. The correspondence went happily on; his +letters were full of pleasing gossip about the belles and +beauties of France, of society and manners, everything, +indeed, that a young lover of reflective and poetic temperament +would be likely to pen to the lady of his heart +from whom he was separated by a distance which could +be made communicable only by correspondence.</p> + +<p>Almost a year had sped away when the letters received +by Helen became less frequent and then stopped. She +wrote again and again, but in vain; she received no replies. +The agent of the young people then professed to +write himself to her recreant lover, and informed her that +he had discovered that the attachment of the young man +for her had waned and that he was to marry a French +beauty. His condolence was apparently so sincere and +delicately phrased that when he proffered her his love +there was in her breast some degree of kindly sentiment +toward him, which, while of a very different nature from +her feeling for the one who had discarded her, was yet such +as to lead her to assent finally to his suit; not, however, +before many considerations had been skilfully brought to +bear upon her, not the least of which were the desires of her kindred.</p> + +<p>The wedding day was set, and before the assembled +guests, forming a brilliant gathering, the bride appeared in +rich adornings, but pale, her bosom, heaving with sobs. +The ceremony was performed. Then occurred a dramatic +scene; some whisper seemed to reach the bride's ear; to +the amazement of the guests, she turned upon her husband +and denounced him as the blackest of traitors. She declared +that her own letters and those of her lover had been +kept back, and that she knew that her lover had landed in +Scotland and would vindicate his honor. She vowed in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page413" id="page413"></a>[pg 413]</span> +presence of Heaven that she would never acknowledge as +her husband the man she had just wedded, nor would she +ever leave for him her father's roof. Amid shouts of +derision, the false bridegroom hastily left the house. The +young lover had indeed landed in the country, and was +hastening to his beloved that he might prove to her that +he had been grossly slandered and she grievously deceived. +The knowledge of the situation did not reach him in time +to forestall the plans of his rival, and not until his arrival +home did he find out the full facts of the case and have his +mind entirely relieved of the thought of his love's perfidy. +Legal measures were speedily taken for the dissolution of +the hateful bonds, and the young lady was united to the one +to whom, notwithstanding her acquiescence in the wishes +of others, her heart had been true.</p> + +<p>The maid of Ardoch's story has been variously told. +The most familiar form of it is that found in Robert Burns's +<i>Observations on Scottish Songs</i>. The romance has taken +strong hold upon the hearts of the Scotch race, through +a simple melody which has held the interest of the people +for nearly three centuries. This ballad was written by +the young lover himself on board the ship that was bearing +him back to Scotland. The first verse is as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>"Since all thy vows, false maid,</p> +<p class="i2">Are blown to air,</p> +<p>And my poor heart betrayed</p> +<p class="i2">To sad despair,</p> +<p>Into some wilderness,</p> +<p>My grief I will express,</p> +<p>And thy hard-heartedness,</p> +<p class="i2">O cruel fair!"</p> + </div> </div> + +<p>As fearless as the Scotch heroine Lady Towie in the +defence of her castle was the Irish heroine Lettice, Baroness +of Ophaly, in the famous defence of the castle of Geashill +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page414" id="page414"></a>[pg 414]</span> +in Queen's County. The one lived in the sixteenth, the +other belonged to the seventeenth century. The Baroness +Ophaly was of the famous house of Geraldine, heir in +general to the house of Kildare, and inherited the barony +of Geashill. She married Sir Robert Digby, and after his +death returned to Ireland. She was a model mistress to +her household and her tenantry. Although a woman of +brilliant attainments, she was yet content to live in a quiet +way, performing the congenial duties of administrator +of the affairs of her household, and being held in affectionate +regard by all those dependent upon her. In 1641, +however, the quiet current of her daily life was broken in +its flow; civil war devastated the land. The rebels thought +to find in the defenceless situation of the widowed lady, with +her brood of young children, an opportunity for plunder +and ravage with little prospect of serious resistance. A +motley throng appeared before the castle and demanded +possession. They then presented to her a written order as +follows: "We, his Majesty's loyal subjects, at the present +employed in his Highnesses service, for the sacking of +your castle; you are therefore to deliver unto us the free +possession of your said castle, promising faithfully that your +ladyship, together with the rest within your said castle +<i>resiant</i>, shall have reasonable composition; otherwise, upon +the non-yielding of the castle, we do assure you that we +shall burn the whole town, kill all the Protestants, and +spare neither woman nor child, upon taking the castle +by compulsion. Consider, madam, of this our offer; impute +not the blame of your folly unto us. Think not +that here we brag. Your ladyship, upon submission, +shall have safe convoy to secure you from the hands +of your enemies, and to lead you whither you please. +A speedy reply is desired with all expedition, and then we surcease."</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page415" id="page415"></a>[pg 415]</span> + +<p>To this demand she sent a reply temperate and dignified, +but unyielding. It was as follows:</p> + +<p>"I received your letter wherein you threaten to sack +this my castle by his Majesty's authority. I have ever +been a loyal subject and a good neighbor among you, and +therefore cannot but wonder at such an assault. I thank +you for your offer of a convoy, wherein I hold little safety; +and therefore my resolution is that, being free from offending +his Majesty, or doing wrong to any of you, I will live +and die innocently. I will do the best to defend my own, +leaving the issue to God; and though I have been, I am +still desirous to avoid shedding blood, yet, being provoked, +your threats shall no way dismay me."</p> + +<p>The rebels took no notice of her answer, but kept up +the siege. After two months, Lord Viscount Clanmalier +brought to bear against the castle a piece of ordnance. +Before using this formidable instrument, which was cast +by a local ironworker out of pots and pans contributed for +the purpose, Clanmalier, who was her kinsman, sent her +a letter repeating the demand for the surrender of the +castle. She replied to this missive, which was signed +"your loving cousin," by saying that she had not expected +such treatment at the hands of a kinsman, repeating +her innocence of wrong-doing, and expressing her +adherence to her position as stated in her former reply to similar demands.</p> + +<p>After this answer had been delivered to his lordship he +discharged the home-made cannon at the castle, and it +promptly exploded at the first shot; to which fact was +due the ability of Baroness Ophaly to hold the castle +against all attack through the long months until the rebellion +had waned and the besiegers withdrew. What she +must have suffered during all the dangers of the siege, in +which ingenuity was taxed to the utmost to effect an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page416" id="page416"></a>[pg 416]</span> +entrance within the strong walls, can never be stated; on +the one hand was the terror of famine, on the other, +death. When she was rescued from her perilous situation +by Sir Richard Greville, she went to her husband's late +property of Colehill and there spent the remainder of her life, dying in 1648.</p> + +<p>Among the Scotch Covenanters, the names of Isobel +Alison of Perth and Marion Harvie of Bo'ness take high +rank because of their undaunted courage and the strength +of conviction displayed by them. It was in 1679 that a +band of horsemen slew Archbishop Sharp upon Magnus +Moor and then dispersed. Four of them, among whom +was John Balfour of Kinloch,—the redoubtable Burley of +<i>Old Mortality</i>,—took refuge in the house of a widow of the +vicinity of Perth. Here they remained hidden, to watch +as to what steps would be taken in regard to their apprehension. +Afterward they retired to Dupplin, thereby +escaping seizure. On June 22d the battle of Bothwell +Brig was fought and lost to the Covenanters. At about +this time the first subject of this sketch, Isobel Alison, an +obscure maiden, comes into the stream of historical occurrence. +She was about twenty-five years of age, resided +at Perth, and was of excellent repute. She had been +trained in the strictest Presbyterian faith, and was well +versed in the Scriptures. She had occasionally had the +privilege of hearing field preaching, although field conventicles +were not common in the country. Her sympathies +with the persecuted ministers of her faith and her personal +acquaintance with several of them enlisted her aid for the +fugitives in hiding them from the authorities, whose search +for them was relentlessly pursued. The work of bloody +persecution continued for eighteen months, during which +many of the Covenanters died in the maintenance of their +convictions. But it was not until the end of 1680 that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page417" id="page417"></a>[pg 417]</span> +Isobel attracted attention by reason of her outspoken +utterances against the tyranny under which the country +suffered. It was not long, then, before she was arraigned +for her sentiments, and, in the simplicity of her nature, +volunteered the confession that she was in communication +with some of those who had been declared rebels. The +magistrates, however, charitably sought to shield her from +the effects of actions the serious purport of which they did +not believe that she fully realized, and so dismissed her +with a caution to be more circumspect in her speech. But +she was not to escape thus easily; some busybodies +speedily reported what she had said to the Privy Council, +which issued a warrant for her arrest. Under a charge of +treason, she was carried from the peaceful seclusion of her +humble home, and immured in the prison at Edinburgh. +At her hearing before the Privy Council, she acknowledged +to acquaintance with all those for whom the authorities +were seeking as assassins of Archbishop Sharp. When +asked if she did not know that she was aiding those whose +hands were dyed with the blood of murder, she replied +that she had never regarded the death of the "Mr. James +Sharp" as being murder. Her testimony was so self-condemnatory +that, according to the law of the day, there +appeared to be no recourse but to sentence her to hanging. +She says: "The Lords pitied me, for [said they] we find +reason and a quick wit in you; and they desired me to take +it to advisement. I told them I had been advising on it +these seven years, and I hoped not to change now. They +asked if I was distempered? I told them that I was always +solid in the wit that God had given me." She was then +remanded for trial before the Judiciary Court. Leaving +the thread of her story for a while, we will take up that of +another young woman, who at about this time had come +under a like accusation and was suffering imprisonment. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page418" id="page418"></a>[pg 418]</span> +She was but a poor serving woman, who had been a +domestic at the house of a woman who had sheltered one +of the same fugitives whose cause had gotten Isobel Alison +into her straits. The story of her relations with the Covenanters, +as told by her to the authorities, was a simple +one. From the age of fourteen she had heard the field +preaching of the Covenanters, and finally she had been +informed against and arrested. Her demeanor during the +ordeal of examination was firm and composed. The questions +put to her she answered without hesitancy or reservation. +The result of the examination showed her full +sympathies with those who were under the taint of rebellion +and treason. She justified their acts by affirming +that the king had broken his covenant oath, and it was lawful to disown him.</p> + +<p>She and her older sister in misfortune were brought +together before the Judiciary Court, and both of the young +women declined to acknowledge the authority of the king +and lords. There was nothing remaining to do but to put +them on trial, which was accordingly done. They both +stood indicted for treason. The only evidence adduced +against them was their own confessions, and because of +the nature of these a verdict of guilty was rendered. The +court postponed sentence until the following Friday, when +they were condemned to be hanged. Not a particle of +proof had been produced of their having joined in concocting +any schemes against either Church or State; they had +simply let their tongues wag too freely upon the impersonal +question, so far as it concerned them, as to whether +a certain assassination was justified. The prosecution had +been conducted by the king's advocate, Sir George Mackenzie, +that "noble wit of Scotland," as he was styled by +Dryden, but whom the Scotch people have branded as the +"bluidy Mackenzie" of the popular rhyme. This same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page419" id="page419"></a>[pg 419]</span> +advocate who secured the sentencing of the two young +girls for expressions of opinion upon a question which +was purely one of casuistry wrote in one of his <i>Essays</i>: +"Human nature inclines us wisely to that pity which we +may one day need; and few pardon the severity of a +magistrate, because they know not where it may stop."</p> + +<p>During the period intervening between their condemnation +and their execution, they were visited by kindly disposed +ministers of the Established Church and others, who +sought to persuade them out of their beliefs. But to no +purpose; even the promise of a full pardon failed to move +either of them from the steadfastness of their expressed +convictions. In order to surround their execution with as +much of ignominy as possible, it was ordered that five +women, convicted of the murder of their illegitimate children, +should be hanged along with them. In their last +hour upon earth, the young women were sustained by the +fortitude of their faith. The attempt to make them hear +the ministrations of a curate was frustrated by the two +young women singing together the Twenty-third Psalm. +Upon the scaffold they continued their religious devotions; +and in the midst of their calm, confident declarations of +faith in Christ and of their innocence of any real wrong, they perished.</p> + +<p>The transit from religion to pleasure is, after all, but a +short passage from one department of life to another, and +the story of the women of Scotland and of Ireland would +not be complete without notice of some of that group of +famous Irish women who were conspicuous upon the stage +of Great Britain in the eighteenth century—women whose +excellence served to raise the dramatic art to the point of +prominence and dignity which it attained during that +period. One of the earliest of that group who gave lustre +to the stage was Margaret Woffington. The story of her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page420" id="page420"></a>[pg 420]</span> +life is a record of high achievement in the histrionic profession, +although it is as well a record of frailty—a fact +unfortunately too often true of actresses in the eighteenth +century, when the standards of their art were supposed to +absolve them to an extent from the ordinary demands of +circumspection in conduct. She had all the susceptibility +of the Celtic temperament, and her warm Irish blood was +easily made to surge through her veins in waves of passion, +although, when not indulging in a fit of temper, she +was bright, vivacious, witty, and entertaining to a degree. +Arthur Murphy, in his <i>Life of Garrick</i>, says: "Forgive her +one female error, and it might fairly be said of her that +she was adorned with every virtue; honour, truth, benevolence, +and charity were her distinguishing qualities." +This much said for the weakness of her character, we can +concern ourselves altogether with the strength of her +genius. The circumstances of her birth were not fortunate, +nor was there anything in them to predicate the distinguished +place she was to fill in the public eye. The year +of her birth is variously given. It was probably in 1714 +that she first saw the light, in a miserable slum of the +city of Dublin. Her father was a bricklayer, and died +when she was but five years old. At that early age she +had to take her part of the home responsibilities and earn +money to aid in the support of her family; this she did by +serving as a water carrier. The advent of a French +dancer into Dublin at about this time marked an epoch +in the life of Peggy. She brought with her a troupe of +acrobats and rope dancers, and the exhibition she offered +attracted large audiences. In order to afford a novel feature, +which should at the same time affect local interest, +Madame Violante, the head of the amusement company, +arranged for an operatic presentation which should be +participated in by some of the bright Irish children to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page421" id="page421"></a>[pg 421]</span> +whom she had been drawn. The <i>Beggars' Opera</i> was then +in the height of its popularity, and this was the play she +fixed upon. Little Peggy Woffington, not quite ten years +old, had the chief female part. From this simple introduction +to the amusement-loving public started the train of +development in the life of this young Irish girl, which was +to make her the captivating actress, the beautiful and witty +woman, who bewitched Garrick and Sheridan.</p> + +<p>The novelty of the conception attracted much notice, +and the opera was given before large houses. Other +plays and farces were staged in the same way. While +Peggy played principal parts on the stage, her mother +sold oranges to the patrons at the entrance to the theatre. +Matters continued this way until Peggy Woffington was +sixteen years of age, by which time she had become noted +for ease and grace as a dancer, although her coarseness of +voice and pronounced brogue debarred her from any important +playing part. Her opportunity came, however, +when a favorite actress who was to take the part of +Ophelia was, at the eleventh hour, incapacitated from so +doing. There was no recourse but to permit Peggy Woffington +to take it. Notwithstanding the difficulties under +which she labored, her interpretation of the character was +quite favorably received. She had been developing in +grace of figure and of feature, and had ripened into a +young woman of dazzling fairness, perfect form, with eyes +luminous and black, shaded by long lashes and arched by +exquisitely pencilled eyebrows.</p> + +<p>She was just twenty years of age when she completely +turned the heads of the Dublin theatre-goers by the magnificence +of her impersonation of Sir Harry Wildare in <i>The +Constant Couple</i>. Her first appearance in London was not +at the behest of her art, but, unfortunately, as a result of +the arts of an admirer to whose addresses she had given +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page422" id="page422"></a>[pg 422]</span> +some favor, and who led her to go to the English metropolis +with him under promise of marriage. This regrettable +circumstance was soon followed by her repudiation of the +man on finding out his real character. She was not long +off the stage, and in 1740 the playbills announced the +first appearance of Miss Woffington in England. She drew +large houses, and greatly widened her reputation as a leading +actress of her time. To give the plays in which she +took principal parts during her first London season would +be to enumerate the best productions of the English stage +at that time. It is said of her that before the season was +half over, Miss Woffington had become the fashion. Among +the many swains who followed in her wake and indited +to her amorous missives and verses was Garrick. He +pursued his lovemaking with all seriousness, and made his +assault not solely upon the heart of the butterfly beauty, +but upon her mind as well. He saw that beneath all the +audacities of her mind and irregularities of life there was +a noble nature, which the circumstances of her birth and +training had never permitted true expression. His intentions +were entirely honorable, but whenever the subject +of marriage was broached by him she managed to switch +off the conversation to a lighter subject. Her coquettishness +would not permit her to take seriously the addresses +of the man whom she doubtless greatly admired and loved. +When she was regarded by everyone else as without a +moral equivalent for her artistic temperament, Garrick +steadfastly refused to regard her simply as a vain, flighty, +and vacillating person. He was rewarded by being the only +man whom she ever seriously thought of marrying.</p> + +<p>Her mode of life was not conducive to the furtherance +of her health, and at the comparatively early age of thirty-seven +years her friends saw a change both in the demeanor +and the appearance of the witty woman. The seeds of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page423" id="page423"></a>[pg 423]</span> +an internal disorder had been sown, but, with her usual +recklessness, she failed to heed the premonitions of nature +until the malady was too far advanced for cure. At about +this time the famous John Wesley was stirring London +with his preaching. She attended his chapel through +curiosity, and afterward from conviction. She was clearheaded +and honest enough to see the force of the religious +truth which he presented, and was brought quite under +the influence of the great preacher. As a result of the +awakening of her religious nature, she determined on the +reformation of her private life, although she does not appear +to have linked with that the purpose of quitting her +profession. She resolved, however, not to remain before +the public until they tired of her. As she herself expressed +it: "I will never destroy my reputation by clinging +to the shadow after the substance is gone. When I can +no longer bound on the boards with elastic step, and when +the enthusiasm of the public begins to show symptoms of +decay, that night will be the last appearance of Margaret Woffington."</p> + +<p>She was not destined to remain before the public until +they wearied of her; on May 3, 1757, she appeared as +Rosalind in <i>As You Like It</i>. The circumstances of the +tragic close of her dramatic career, as quoted from a contemporary +writer in Blackburn's <i>Illustrious Irish Women</i>, +were as follows: "She went through Rosalind for four acts +without my perceiving she was in the least disordered; but +in the fifth she complained of great indisposition. I offered +her my arm, the which she graciously accepted; I thought +she looked softened in her behaviour, and had less of the +hauteur. When she came off at the quick change of dress, +she again complained of being ill, but got accoutred, and +returned to finish the part, and pronounced in the epilogue +speech,—'If it be true that good wine needs no bush, it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page424" id="page424"></a>[pg 424]</span> +as true that a good play needs no epilogue,' &c., &c. But +when she arrived at 'If I were among you, I would kiss as +many of you as had beards that pleased me,' her voice +broke, she faltered, endeavoured to go on, but could not +proceed; then, in a voice of tremor, screamed, 'O God! +O God!' and tottered to the stage door speechless, where +she was caught. The audience, of course, applauded until +she was out of sight, and then sunk into awful looks of +astonishment—both young and old, before and behind the +curtain—to see one of the most handsome women of the +age, a favourite principal actress, and who had for several +seasons given high entertainment, struck so suddenly by +the hand of death in such a situation of time and place, +and in her prime of life, being about forty-four."</p> + +<p>Such were the circumstances attending the last appearance +of Margaret Woffington, who, notwithstanding she +died in the prime of life at the age of forty-seven, had +been for twenty-seven years the delight of the play-going +public. The three years she lingered as a mere skeleton +of her former self were spent in trying to awaken the +consciences of her late theatrical associates. Some of +these scouted her new spirit as hypocrisy, and insinuated +that religion was her recourse only when beauty and spirits +had been lost. But the One who judgeth the secrets of +men's hearts is not so uncharitable in His judgment of His +creatures. It may be believed that the influence which +she received from the chapel meetings of John Wesley was +the beginning of a genuine religious life and character, +and that it brought from her Maker that commendation +which was ungenerously denied her by her associates.</p> + +<p>These brief sketches of the lives of some of the daughters +of Scotland and of Ireland illustrate the principal characteristics +of the women of the Scotch-Irish race. Among +all the nations of the world no women hold as high a place +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page425" id="page425"></a>[pg 425]</span> +for pure morals and high courage. The spiritualizing effect +of the profound religious feeling of these people—although +in the form of their religious faith the Scotch and the Irish +are for the most part so diametrically different—accounts +in a large measure for their conservation of the facts and +forces of the religious life. The soil of both Ireland and +Scotland was bedewed for centuries with the tears of affliction +and of persecution; the blood of martyrs who cheerfully +laid down their lives at the dictates of religion and +that highest social expression of the religious instinct, the +noblest piety of the human race—patriotism. Out of +all the oppression, rapacity, confiscation, which the two +peoples experienced in different forms and different degrees, +arose an unworldly ideal, a sense of the invisible +realm. The sturdy Calvinist matron of the Scottish Highlands +is no more religious, no more the product of the +travails of her country, no more under the inspiration and +exaltation of high principle, than her less fortunately placed +sister of the Green Isle, whose religion is at the opposite +extreme of the forms of Christian faith. The women of +both peoples can point with tearful joy to the history +of their sex as a scroll of fame and a record of noble achievement.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<br /><br /> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" + style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" summary="List of illustrations"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 45%; text-align: center;">SUBJECT + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 45%; text-align: center;">ARTIST + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 10%; text-align: center;">PAGE + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 45%;">Charles II, and Lady +Castlemaine, <br /> +Duchess of Cleveland.<br /> + <br /> +<i>Honi soit qui mal y pense.</i><br /> + <br /> +Dining in the fifteenth century.<br /> + <br /> +Audience to an ambassador.<br /> + <br /> +Mrs. Elizabeth Fry.<br /> + <br /> +Assassination of Rizzio.<br /> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 45%;"> +<i>W. P. Frith, R. A.</i><br /> + <br /> +<i>A. Chevalier Tayler.</i><br /> + <br /> +<i>From a miniature of the period.</i><br /> + <br /> +<i>Léon y Escosura.</i><br /> + <br /> +<i>Mrs. E. M. Ward.</i><br /> + <br /> +<i>E. Sieberdt.</i><br /> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 10%; text-align: right;"> +<a href="#front">Fronts.</a><br /> + <br /> +<a href="#page144">144</a><br /> + <br /> +<a href="#page200">200</a><br /> + <br /> +<a href="#page232">232</a><br /> + <br /> +<a href="#page344">344</a><br /> + <br /> +<a href="#page408">408</a><br /> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<br /><br /> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of England, Volume 9 (of 10), by +Burleigh James Bartlett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF ENGLAND, VOLUME 9 (OF 10) *** + +***** This file should be named 32299-h.htm or 32299-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/9/32299/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, William Flis, Rénald Lévesque +and the Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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