,transcriber's ,note3  ,text delimited  
by equal signs is bold4  ,text delimited
 by underscores is italic4              
,,revolted ,,woman     ,illustration3   
,,emancipated6       ,,revolted ,,woman 
,,past1 ,,present1 ,,and ,,to ,,come    
,,by    ,,charles ,g4 ,,harper          
,,author ,,of #8,,the ,,brighton        
,,road1' #8,,drawing ,,for              
,,reproduction1'   #8,,the ,,marches    
,,of ,,wales1' ,c41 ,c4                 
,illustration     ,london3   ,,elkin    
,,mathews   ,,vigo ,,street   #ahid     
,,london3   ,printed by ,,strangeways   
,,and ,,sons1   ,tower ,st41 ,cambridge 
,circus1 ,w4,c4      ,i am ashamed1 that
 women are so simple     ,to offer war1 
where they should kneel for peace2      
,or seek for rule1 supremacy1 and sway1 
,when they are bound to serve1 love1 and
 obey4      ,taming of the ,shrew4      
,illustration3 ,,preface   ,it might    
have been supposed1 having in mind her  
first and most stupendous faux pas1 that
 ,woman would be content to sit1 for all

 time1 humbly under correction1         
satisfied with her lot until the crack  
of doom1 when man and woman shall be no 
more2 when heaven and earth shall pass  
away1 and pale humanity come to         
judgment4  ,but it is essentially       
feminine1 and womanlike 7and therefore  
of necessity illogical7 that she should 
be forgetful of the primeval curse which
 ,mother ,eve brought upon the race1 and
 that she should1 instead of going in   
sackcloth and ashes for her ancestor's  
disobedience1 seek instead1 not only to 
be the equal of man1 but1 in her        
foremost advocates--the strenuous and   
ungenerous females who periodically     
crucify the male sex in sexual novels   
written under manly pseudonyms--aspire  
to rule him1 while as yet she has no    
efficient control over her own          
hysterical being4  ,humanity is         
condemned by the ,first ,woman's        
disobedience to earn a precarious       
livelihood by the sweat of its brow4    
,all the toil and trouble of this       

work-a-day world proceed from her sex2  
and yet the cant of #8,woman's ,mission'
 fills the air1 and the ,new ,woman is  
promised us as some sort of a pedagogue 
who shall teach the #8,child-,man' how  
to toddle in the paths of virtue and    
content4 ,how absurd it all is1 when the
 women who write these things pander to 
the depraved palate which gained        
,holywell ,street a living and an       
unenviable notoriety years ago2 when    
they obtain three-fourths of their      
readers from their fellow-women who read
 their productions hopeful of indecency1
 and conceive themselves cheated if they
 do not find it4 ,let us1 however1 do   
these women writers1 or #8,literary     
,ladies1' as they have labelled         
themselves--margarine masquerading as   
#8best fresh'--the justice to           
acknowledge that they do not halt       
half-way on the road to viciousness1    
though to reach their goal they wade    
knee-deep in abominations4 ,here1       
indeed1 they are no cheats1 and it      

remains the unlikeliest sequel that you 
close their pages and yet do not find   
,holywell ,street outdone4  ,consider3  
,if morals are to be called into        
question1 can it be disputed that1 as   
compared with ,woman1 ,man is the moral 
creature1 and has ever been1 from the   
time of ,potiphar's wife1 up to the     
present8  ,woman is the irresponsible   
creature who cannot reason nor follow an
 argument to its just conclusion--who   
cannot control her own emotions1 nor rid
 herself of superstition4 ,what question
 more pertinent1 then1 to ask than this3
 ,if mankind is to be led by the ,new   
,woman1 is she1 first of all1 sure of   
the path8    ,,charles ,g4 ,,harper4    
,illustration  ,,contents4     ,i4      
,,page    ,,woman ,,up ,,to ,,date      
#a     ,,ii4    ,,the ,,dress           
,,reformers                             
#bh     ,,iii4    ,,woman ,,in ,,art1   
,,literature1 ,,politics1 ,,and         
,,social ,,polity                       
#de     ,,iv4    ,,some ,,old-,,time    

,,termagants ,,and ,,ill-,,made         
,,matches ,,of ,,celebrated ,,men       
#fa     ,v4    ,,domestic ,,strife      
#ajg     ,,vi4    ,,women ,,in ,,men',s 
,,employments                           
#acj     ,illustration  ,,illustrations4
     ,,emancipated6                     
,frontispiece4                          
,,page    ,,the ,,bloomer ,,costume     
#cc    ,,the ,,rational ,,dress         
#da    ,,elizabeth1 ,,countess ,,of     
,,shrewsbury                            
#fg    ,,ann ,,clifford1 ,,countess ,,of
 ,,dorset1 ,,pembroke1 ,,and            
,,montgomery1       ,,aged #ah          
#ga    ,,ann ,,clifford1 ,,countess ,,of
 ,,dorset1 ,,pembroke1 ,,and            
,,montgomery1       ,,aged #ha          
#ge    ,,sarah1 ,,duchess ,,of          
,,marlborough                           
#gi    ,,lady ,,hester ,,stanhope       
#ia    ,,the ,,struggle ,,for ,,the     
,,breeches                              
#aji    ,,man ,,mastered                
#aah    ,a ,,judicial ,,duel            

#aai     ,illustration3 ,,revolted      
,,woman     ,i4--,,woman ,,up ,,to      
,,date4  #8,certain ,women also made us 
astonished4'--,luke1 xxiv4 #bb4   ,she  
is upon us1 the ,emancipated ,woman4    
,privileges once the exclusive rights of
 ,man are now accorded her without      
question1 and1 clad in ,rational ,dress1
 she is preparing to leap the few       
remaining barriers of convention4 ,her  
last advances have been swift and       
undisguised1 and she feels her position 
at length strong enough to warrant the  
proclamation that she does not merely   
claim equal rights with man1 but intends
 to rule him4 ,such symbols of          
independence as latch-keys and loose    
language are already hers2 she may      
smoke--and does2 and if she does not    
presently begin to wear trousers upon   
the streets--what some decently         
ambiguous writer calls bifurcated       
continuations6--we shall assume that the
 only reason for the abstention will be 
that womankind are1 generally speaking1 

knock-kneed1 and are unwilling to       
discover the fact to a censorious world 
which has a singular prejudice in favour
 of symmetrical legs4  ,society has been
 ringing lately with the writings and   
doings of the pioneers of the ,new      
,woman1 who forget that ,woman's        
,mission is ,submission2 but although   
the present complexion of affairs seems 
to have come about so suddenly1 the fact
 should not be blinked that in reality  
it is but the inevitable outcome1 in    
this age of toleration and laissez      
faire1 of the ,bloomerite agitation1 the
 ,women's ,rights frenzy1 the ,girl of  
the ,period furore1 and the ,divided    
,skirt craze1 which have attracted      
public attention at different times1    
ranging from over forty years ago to the
 present day4  ,several apparently      
praiseworthy or harmless movements that 
have attracted the fickle enthusiasm of 
women during this same period have      
really been byways of this movement of  
emancipation4 ,thus1 we have had the    

almost wholly admirable enthusiasm for  
the ,hospital ,nurse's career2 the      
7already much-abused7 profession of     
,lady ,journalist2 the ,woman ,doctor2  
the ,female ,detective2 the ,lady       
,members of the ,school ,board2 and the 
7it must be allowed7 most gracious and  
becoming office of ,lady ,guardian of   
the ,poor4  ,side by side1 again1 with  
these1 are the altogether minor and     
trivial affectations of ,lady           
,cricketers1 the absurd propositions for
 ,new ,amazons1 or ,women ,warriors1 who
 apparently are not sufficiently well   
read in classic lore to know what the   
strict following of the ,amazons'       
practice implied2 nor can they reck     
aught of the origin of the ,caryatides4 
,again1 the ,political ,woman is coming 
to the front1 and though she may not yet
 vote1 she takes the part of the        
busybody in ,parliamentary ,elections1  
and already sits on ,electioneering     
,committees4  ,in this connexion1 it    
should not readily be forgotten that    

,mrs4 ,brand earned her husband the     
somewhat humiliating reputation of      
having been sung into ,parliament by his
 wife at the last election for ,wisbech1
 and thus gave the coming profession of 
,women ,politicians another push        
forward4 ,the dull agricultural         
labourers of that constituency gave     
votes for vocal exercises on improvised 
platforms in village school-rooms1 nor  
thought of aught but pleasing the lady  
who could sing them either into tears   
with the cheap sentimentality of ,auld  
,robin ,grey1 melt them with the        
poignant pathos of #8,way down the      
,swanee ,river'1 or excite their        
laughter over the equally ready humour  
of the latest soi-disant #8comic' song  
from the ,london ,halls4 ,think upon the
 most musical1 most melancholy prospect 
thus opened out before our prophetic    
gaze6 ,what matter whether you be ,whig 
or ,tory1 ,liberal or ,conservative1    
,rotten-,tim-,healeyite1 or a member of 
,mr4 ,justin ,mac,carthy's tea-party1 so

 long as your wife can win the rustics' 
applause by her singing of such         
provocations to tears or laughter as    
,the ,banks of ,allan ,water or         
,ta-ra-ra ,boom-de-ay1 or whatever may  
be the current successor of that vulgar 
chant8  ,but the so-called #8,new       
,purity' movement1 and novel evangels of
 that description1 most do occupy the   
attention of the modern woman who is in 
want of an occupation4  ,we smile when  
we read of the proceedings of ,mrs4     
,josephine ,butler and her following of 
barren women who are the protagonists of
 the ,new ,purity2 for woman has ever   
been the immoral sex1 from the time of  
,potiphar's wife to these days when the 
,divorce ,courts are at once the hardest
 worked in the ,royal ,courts of        
,justice1 and the scenes of the most    
frantic struggles on the part of        
indelicate women1 who1 armed with       
opera-glasses and seated in the most    
favourable positions on ,bench or among 
counsel1 gloat over what should be the  

most repellent details in this constant 
public washing of dirty private linen1  
and survey the co-respondents with      
delighted satisfaction4 ,the intensity  
of the joy shown by those who are       
fortunate enough to obtain a seat in    
court on a more than usually loathsome  
occasion is only equalled at the other  
extreme by the poignancy of regret      
exhibited by those unhappy ladies who   
have been unsuccessful in their scheming
 to secure places4  ,and1 again1 the    
reclamation of corrupt women1 if not    
impossible1 is rarely successful1 for   
#8woman is at heart a rake1' and1 as    
,ouida says1 who has1 one might surmise1
 unique opportunities of knowing1 she is
 generally #8corrupt because she likes  
it4' ,thus1 throughout the whole range  
of history1 ,pagan or ,christian1       
courtesans have never been to seek4     
,they have1 these filles de joie1 always
 succeeded in attracting to themselves  
wealth and genius1 luxury and intellect2
 and through their paramount influence1 

,society at the present day is corrupt  
to extremity4 ,the ,evangelists of the  
,new ,purity1 who hold that the innate  
viciousness of man is the cause of      
woman's subjection and inferiority1 can 
have no reading nor any knowledge of the
 world's history while they continue to 
proclaim their views2 or else they know 
themselves1 even as they preach1 for    
hypocrites4 ,for woman has ever been the
 active cause of sin1 from the ,fall to 
the present time1 and doubtless will so 
continue until the end4 ,it is not      
always1 as they would have you believe1 
from necessity that the virtuous woman  
turns her back upon virtue1 but very    
frequently from choice and a delight in 
sin and wrong-doing4 ,how then shall the
 ,new ,purity arise from the ,old       
,corruption8  #8,who can find a virtuous
 woman8' asks ,solomon 7,prov4 xxxi4    
#aj71 and goes on to say that her price 
is far above rubies3 doubtless for the  
same reason that rubies are so highly   
valued--because they are so scarce4     

,the trade of courtesan has always been 
numerous and powerful1 and has been     
constantly recruited from every class4  
,vanity1 of course1 is the great        
inducement2 love of dress and power1 and
 greed of notoriety1 are other          
compelling forces2 and a joy in         
outraging all decency and propriety1 of 
defying conventions of respectability   
and religion1 is answerable for the     
rest4  ,this kind of woman makes all    
mankind her prey1 and has no generous   
instincts whatever4 ,everything         
ministers to her vanity and lavish      
waste4 ,it is a matter of notoriety that
 men of light and leading are drawn     
after her all-conquering chariot1 and   
that in three out of every four plays   
she is the heroine4  ,she is cruel as   
the grave1 heartless as a stone1 and    
extravagant beyond measure4 ,her kind   
have utterly wasted the patrimony of    
thousands of dupes1 and having reduced  
them to beggary the most abject and     
forlorn1 have sought fresh victims of   

their insatiable greed4  ,they have     
ruined kingdoms1 like the mistresses of 
,louis ,,xiv4 and ,,xv4 of ,france2 they
 have brought shame and dishonour upon  
nations1 like the dissolute women of    
,charles the ,second's court1 who toyed 
with his wantons at ,whitehall while the
 ,dutch guns thundered off ,tilbury2    
they have risen1 like ,madame de        
,pompadour1 to a height from which they 
looked down upon diplomatists of the    
,great ,powers of ,europe--and scorned  
them2 and the blood shed during many    
sanguinary wars has been shed at their  
behest4 ,courtesans have married into   
the peerage of ,england1 and1 indeed1   
some of the oldest titles--not to say   
the bluest blood--of the three kingdoms 
derive from the king's women3 ,nell     
,gwynne1 whose offspring became ,duke of
 ,saint ,albans2 ,louise de             
,querouaille1 created ,duchess of       
,portsmouth2 ,barbara ,palmer1 made     
,duchess of ,cleveland2 and others4     
,lais and ,phryne belong not to one     

period1 but to all eras alike2 ,aspasias
 and ,fredegondas are of all countries  
and of every class4  ,but #8pretty      
,fanny's ways' are many and diverse4 ,it
 may be that she is incapacitated or    
restrained from living as full and as   
free a life as she could wish4 ,very    
well3 then she becomes a ,new ,puritan1 
whose self-appointed functions are to   
those privy cupboards in which repellent
 skeletons are concealed2 to the social 
sewers2 and1 in fine1 to all those      
places where she can gratify the morbid 
curiosity which actuates the ,new       
,puritanical mind1 rather than the hope 
of1 or belief in1 achieving anything for
 the benefit of the race4  ,if she has  
no wish to become a ,new ,puritan1 there
 be many other modern fads in which she 
may fulfil a part4 ,she may1 as a ,new  
,traveller1 show us the glory of the    
,new ,travel1 in the manner of that     
greatly daring lady1 the intrepid ,mrs4 
,french-,sheldon1 who1 travelling at the
 heels of the masculine explorers of    

,african wilds 7carried luxuriously in a
 litter1 accompanied with cases of      
champagne and a large escort of         
,zanzibari porters71 went forth to study
 the untutored savage in his native     
wilds4 ,but when the untutored presented
 themselves before this up-to-date      
traveller unclothed as well as unread1  
that very properly-tutored lady         
screamed1 and distributed loin-cloths to
 these happy and yet unabashed          
primitives4 ,she delivered an address   
before the ,british ,association on her 
return from that unnecessary and futile 
expedition1 in which she tickled the    
sensibilities of the assembled savants  
by describing how she kept her hundred  
and thirty ,zanzibari coolies in order  
with a whip4 ,she told the members of   
the ,association that #8she went into   
,africa with all delicacy and           
womanliness4' ,possibly2 but judging her
 out of her own mouth1 she must have    
left a goodly portion of those qualities
 behind her in the ,dark ,continent4    

,other women travellers--of the type of 
,miss ,dowie1 for instance--are more    
unconventional1 if less adventurous4    
,she1 a true exemplar of the women who  
would forget their sex--and make others 
forget it--if they could1 climbed the   
,karpathian mountains in search of a    
little cheap notoriety1 clad in         
knickerbockers1 jacket1 and waistcoat1  
and redolent of tobacco from the smoking
 of cigarettes4 ,her adventures added   
nothing to the gaiety of readers1 nor to
 the world's store of science2 but we   
were the richer by one more spectacular 
extravaganza4  ,this is that somewhat   
repellent type1 the mannish woman1 who  
is not content to charm man by the grace
 and sweetness of her femininity1 but   
must aspire to be a poor copy of        
himself4 ,the type is common nowadays1  
and the individuals of it have gone     
through several phases of their singular
 craze4 ,these are they who walk with   
the guns of a shooting party2 who tramp 
the stubble and arouse the ill-humours  

of that creature of wrath and           
impatience1 the sportsman who is eager  
for a drive at the birds4 ,these women1 
not dismayed by the butchery of the     
battue1 look on1 and even carry a gun   
themselves2 but they are the nuisances  
of the party1 and flush covey after     
covey by showing themselves to the wary 
birds when they should be crouching down
 beside some windy hedge1 in a moist and
 clammy ,october ditch4  #8,let us be   
unconventional1 or we die6' is the      
unspoken1 yet very evident1 aspiration  
of the ,modern ,woman2 and1 really1 the 
efforts made in the direction of the    
unconventional are so uniformly         
extravagant that we almost1 from sheer  
weariness and disgust1 begin to wish she
 had gone some way toward adopting the  
alternative4  ,the ,new ,woman will know
 naught of convention1 nor submission4  
,her advocates do not hail from         
,altruria2 they are aggressive1 and     
devoured with a zeal for domination1 in 
revolt from the #8centuries of slavery' 

to which1 according to themselves1 they 
have been compelled by ,man4 #8,man1'   
shrieks one1 #8is always in mischief or 
in bed4' ,but she will have this        
changed2 not1 indeed1 in the present    
generation of vipers1 which is stubborn 
and stiff-necked in its wicked ways2 but
 she will see1 and urges her            
fellow-women to see also1 that proper   
principles are spanked into the coming  
generations4 ,considering1 however1 that
 the nursery has ever been the woman's  
peculiar province1 surely the blame1 if 
blame there be1 must rest with her for  
the past and present faulty upbringing  
of the race4 ,if #8proper principles'   
have not already had their part in the  
education of man1 surely that must be   
owing solely to woman's flagrant        
dereliction of duty4  ,instances1       
neither few nor far between1 may be     
urged of wives and mothers1 possibly    
also sisters and maiden aunts1 who have 
raised men to action and dragged them   
from a disgraceful sloth to an          

honourable industry4 ,true1 indeed1 it  
were an altogether unjustifiable heresy 
to deny their influence and its         
beneficent effects2 but to use it as an 
argument for placing women on an        
equality with men would be a non        
sequitur of the most absurd description4
 ,the influence wielded by those good   
women was so powerful for good because  
they were true to themselves and their  
sex2 because they were1 in a word1 so   
womanly4 ,the influence of the ,new     
,woman upon the man is1 and shall be1   
nil1 because the spirit of antagonism   
between the sexes is being aroused by   
her pretensions1 and comradeship becomes
 impossible when woman and man fight for
 supremacy4  ,women's advocates come and
 go like summer flies1 provoking to     
wrath by their insistent buzzing1 but1  
when caught and examined1 proving to be 
insignificant enough4 ,they have their  
little day1 and cease to be4 ,who1 for  
instance1 now remembers ,mrs4 ,mona     
,caird1 that unconventional person who  

floated into publicity on the           
#8,marriage a ,failure' correspondence  
of the ,daily ,telegraph1 some few years
 ago1 and1 in the heyday of her         
notoriety1 wrote and published that weak
 and ineffectual novel1 ,the ,wing of   
,azrael8 ,other women1 more advanced in 
shamelessness1 have taken her place1 and
 capped the freedom of her views with   
outlooks of greater licence4  ,and so   
the game proceeds3 each woman daring a  
little further than her                 
fellow-adventurer into the muddy depths 
of free selection2 of freedom in        
contracting marriages and licence in    
dissolving them2 each newcomer shocking 
the sensibilities of women readers with 
delightful thrills from the impropriety1
 expressed or implied1 that runs through
 her pages as inevitably as the         
watermark runs through #8laid' paper4   
,it is amusing to note that1 following  
the lead of the late lamented ,george   
,eliot1 the greater number of these     
women writers of sexual novels scribble 

under manly pseudonyms4 ,what1 then6    
doth divinity after all hedge a man so  
nearly that to masquerade as a #8,john  
,oliver ,hobbes1' or a #8,george        
,egerton1' is to draw an admiring crowd 
of women worshippers where1 as plain    
,miss or ,mrs41 your immortal writings  
would fall flat8 ,what a deplorable     
cacothes imprimendi this is1 to be sure1
 that seizes upon the palpitating       
authoresses of ,yellow ,asters1 ,dancing
 ,fawns1 or ,heavenly ,twins2 and how   
depraved the taste for indelicate       
innuendo and theories of licence that   
renders these books popular6  ,this     
manner of thing destroys all the respect
 for home life upon which ,english      
society was1 until late years1 so       
broadly based1 and domesticity in       
consequence is become an old-fashioned  
virtue among women4 ,they are only the  
older generation of matrons who practise
 it now1 and when their race is run1 and
 the ,new ,woman shall have become sole 
mistress1 the sweet domesticity of the  

,englishman's home will have vanished4  
,for the ,new ,woman is not womanly1    
except in the physiological sense1 and  
there she cannot help herself4 ,she will
 inevitably be the mother of the coming 
generation1 but beyond that function    
imposed upon her by ,nature1 she is not 
feminine4 ,she is rather what ,mr4      
,frederic ,harrison describes as the    
#8advanced woman who wants to be        
abortive man1' and she holds the fallacy
 that what man may do woman may do      
also--and more6  ,directly a woman      
marries1 she considers that she has full
 licence2 although1 goodness knows6 the 
unmarried girls of to-day are           
latitudinarian enough1 and do1          
unreproved1 things that thirty years ago
 would have branded them with an        
ineffaceable mark of shame4  ,the pretty
 girl of to-day1 who has earned her     
right to wear a wedding-ring1 has no    
sooner returned from her honeymoon than 
she sets out upon a campaign of         
conquests4 ,smart men1 who hate to be   

bored with the unmarried girl1 before   
whom they must be either silent or      
discreet1 hang around the young matron  
at garden parties and dances1 or flirt  
shamefully in the semi-rusticity of the 
country house or shooting-box1 and      
discuss with her the latest veiled      
obscenity of ,mr4 ,oscar ,wilde's1 or   
enlarge upon the ethics of a second     
,mrs4 ,tanqueray with an unblushing     
frankness that argues long acquaintance 
with and study of these putrescent      
topics4 ,the young matron has full      
licence at this day1 and the divorce    
courts afford some faint inkling of how 
she uses it4 ,she aspires to be the boon
 companion of the men2 she plays        
billiards with the manly cue1 and not   
infrequently she can give the average   
male billiard-player points1 and then   
beat him4  ,it seems but a few years    
since when women who smoked cigarettes  
were voted fast3 to-day1 the            
smoking-room of the country house is not
 sacred to the male sex1 and the #8good 

stories' of that sometime exclusively   
masculine retreat are now not alone the 
property of the men4 ,she has not       
annexed the cigar and the pipe yet--not 
because she lacks the will1 but her     
physique is not yet equal to them2 but  
she can roll a cigarette1 can take or   
offer a light with the most practised   
and inveterate smoker who ever bought a 
packet of ,bird's ,eye or ,honey ,dew1  
and she wears--think of it1 ,o ,mrs4    
,grundy1 if1 indeed1 you are not        
dead6--a smoking-jacket4  ,at the more  
#8advanced' houses1 amongst the         
#8smartest' sets1 the women do not      
retire to the drawing-room at the       
conclusion of dinner--they sit with the 
men1 not infrequently2 and if the usual 
not over-,puritanical talk that was wont
 to follow upon the ladies' withdrawal  
is not indulged in so openly1 at least  
the conversation is sufficiently        
unconventional4  ,slang and swearing are
 the commonest--in two                  
senses--accompaniments and underlinings 

of the smart woman's speech3 any little 
disappointment that would have been     
#8annoying' to her mother is to the     
modern and up-to-date woman a           
#8condemned nuisance1' if not more than 
that2 and #8damns' fall as readily from 
her lips as the mild #8dear me6' of a   
generation ago4 ,for the first cause of 
this unlovely change we must look to the
 theatre and music-hall stages1 whose   
women have in some few instances married
 the eldest sons of peers1 and have     
succeeded to titles upon their husbands'
 heirship being fulfilled4 ,their       
husbands' titles have given them rank   
and precedence1 whose mothers toiled at 
the wash-tub in some public laundry1 or 
disputed not unsuccessfully with the    
most foul-mouthed of ,irish viragoes on 
the filthy stairs of some rotten        
tenement in the purlieus of ,saint      
,giles's4 ,the symmetry of their legs   
and the voluptuousness of their persons 
captivated the callow youths who night  
by night occupied the front rows of the 

stalls at the ,gaiety ,theatre1 and     
who--under the well-known nickname of   
#8,johnnies'--fed the ,sacred ,lamp of  
,burlesque with a stream of             
half-guineas4 ,these heirs to wealth and
 hereditary honours kept the            
chorus-girls and skipping-rope dancers  
in broughams and villas ornes in the    
classic ,cyprian suburb of ,st4 ,john's 
,wood1 and1 when they were more than    
usually foolish1 married them4  ,society
 is become1 through them1 quite         
demimondaine1 and it is not uncommon to 
have pointed out to you in the ,row     
titled women who have notoriously been  
under the protection of more than one   
man before they1 by some lucky or       
unlucky chance1 caught their coronets4  
,nearly all ,society is free to-day to  
these whited sepulchres2 only the       
,queen's ,court--that last bulwark of   
virtue and decency--holds out against   
them4 ,elsewhere they are more than     
tolerated2 it is scarcely too much to   
say that they are admired by            

fin-de-sicle womanhood1 who are         
notoriously and obviously ,jesuitical4  
,if the adaptation of their outrs       
manners is proof enough of admiration1  
then you shall find sufficient warranty 
for this statement1 for the slangy girl 
or young married woman is rather the    
rule than the exception in this year of 
grace1 and their manners are arrived at 
that complexion which would make their  
grandmothers turn in their graves1 could
 that cold clay become sentient again   
for the smallest space of time4  ,this  
decay of decency began with the advent  
of that loathsome amalgam of vanity and 
reckless extravagance in dress and      
speech1 the ,professional ,beauty1 whose
 profession first became recognised     
about the year #ahgi4 ,you will not find
 that #8profession' entered under       
#8,trades' in the ,post-,office         
,directory2 but if logic ruled the      
world1 then the shameless women whose   
photographs for years filled the        
shop-windows of town would find their   

trade recognised on the same commercial 
standing with any one of the thousand   
and one ways of getting a living shown  
in that volume4 ,they would be on       
precisely the same moral level with the 
quasi milliners of ,london1 had         
necessity brought about their flaunting 
pervasion of ,society1 but1 seeing that 
merely the love of admiration and       
notoriety induced their careers1 it is  
difficult to find a depth sufficiently  
deep for them4  ,but indignation is apt 
to melt into a scornful pity when we see
 the ,professional ,beauty of sixteen   
years ago1 who left her husband for the 
questionable admiration of great        
,personages and the envy of ,london     
,society1 a faded and struggling woman  
of the world1 who1 without a shred of   
histrionic ability1 has taken to the    
stage1 relying upon the magnificence of 
her diamonds and the abandon of her     
dress for an applause which had never   
been hers for her acting or her         
elocution4 ,a just resentment fades into

 melancholy commiseration for a woman   
like this1 who has sunk so low that     
scandal can no longer harm her2 who     
essays the rle of #8beauty' when her    
years are rapidly totting up to fifty4  
,these are the tawdry careers which1    
appealing to woman's innate love of     
admiration1 bid her go and do likewise4 
,the contempt with which all            
right-thinking men regard the spotted   
and fly-blown records of the            
,professional ,beauties is hidden from  
them by the glare of publicity1 and     
vanity still bids them adventure out    
from the home before the eye of the     
world4  ,one does not find the ,new     
,women justified of their sex1 for      
cosmetics have no commerce with common  
sense1 and high heels are not conducive 
to lofty thinking2 rouge1 violet powder1
 tight-lacing1 or an inordinate love of 
jewellery1 are not earnest of           
brain-power2 and yet these are the      
commonest adjuncts to1 or               
characteristics of1 a woman's life4     

,the sight of many diamonds at          
,kimberley impressed ,lord ,randolph    
,churchill mightily awhile ago1 and the 
contemplation of those glittering       
objects of feminine adornment led to the
 historic pronouncement that #8whatever 
may have been the origin of man1' he is 
#8coldly convinced that womankind are   
descended from monkeys4' ,however that  
may be1 certain it is that imitation is1
 equally with the simians1 her forte4   
,men originate almost everything2 even  
the fashions are set and controlled by  
,m4 ,worth1 and women follow his lead1  
both dressmakers and clients4  ,and     
,woman is a consistent and inveterate   
poseur1 from the time of her leaving the
 cradle1 through girlhood1              
young-womanhood1 and matron-hood1 to her
 last gasp4 ,that tale of the old lady1 
dying from extreme age and decay of     
nature1 who had her face rouged over    
against the arrival of her doctor1 so   
that she should receive him to the best 
effect as she lay on her death-bed1 is  

characteristic of her sex4 ,vanity1 thy 
name is woman6  ,could we but see her   
without her #8side'6 ,but we cannot4    
,all the world's a stage to her1 and all
 the time she plays a part with an      
ineffable artistry of diplomacy beyond  
the understanding of a ,richelieu or a  
,machiavelli4 ,a statesman can          
frequently anticipate the ruses of a    
rival diplomat and thus check his       
schemes--because1 being men1 they both  
reason from a given point and can       
understand very accurately the workings 
of each other's minds2 but how shall one
 understand woman or predicate her      
actions when she does not understand    
herself or her fellow-feminines1 and    
acts on the moment upon unreasoned      
impulse and pure caprice8  ,you may     
point to this and that feminine figure  
which has made an equable and logical   
course throughout her career1 and       
exclaim triumphantly1 #8,here is the    
natural woman1 without guile or         
self-consciousness3 a logical and       

close-reasoning creature4' ,well1 you   
are welcome to your opinion1 pious1 or  
derived from what shall seem to you as  
evidence sufficient for your contention4
 ,hold it1 nor inquire more narrowly1   
nor seek proselytes to your faith4 ,the 
natural woman8 ,my dear sir1 how should 
your matter-of-fact and obvious nature  
distinguish the excellently-fashioned   
and well-assumed mask from the natural  
face8 ,summum ars---- you know the rest4
 ,ponder it1 nor prate glibly of        
natures1 good sir6  ,conceive of the    
dreadfully unreal puppets the novelists 
have created and labelled with feminine 
names4 ,how the machinery creaks and    
rattles when the puppets move6 ,with    
what unreal stagger they pace the stage1
 and how deep below contempt is the     
unlikeness to womankind of their ways   
and words4  ,for the nearest approach to
 an adequate portrayal of the feminine  
character1 commend me to the women of   
,mr4 ,thomas ,hardy's novels1 whose     
mental gyrations are set forth with a   

touch of inspiration3 ,bathsheba        
,everdene1 ,tess1 ,viviette1 and the    
uncertain heroine of ,the ,trumpet      
,major4 ,their speech has the convincing
 timbre of their sex2 their walk is the 
true gait1 not the masculine tramp that 
echoes through the pages of most men's  
novels2 and how truly like nature their 
tongues say #8,no1' when their hearts   
throb #8,yes1 yes6'  ,they live1 these  
women and girls--they breathe and       
palpitate with the full tide of life1   
and no other living novelist can so     
inform his feminine creations with      
reality4  ,but turn to the academic     
heroines of ,mr4 ,besant4 ,if they were 
not presented with the subtle suavity of
 his literary style1 ,i do not know how 
we could endure the paragons of virtue  
and learning who occupy the foremost    
place in book after book that owns him  
author4  ,phillis1 in ,the ,golden      
,butterfly1 came as a novelty1 but the  
type perpetuated in each succeeding     
novel--now as ,armorel ,rosevean in     

,armorel of ,lyonesse2 again1 as ,angela
 ,messenger in ,all ,sorts and          
,conditions of ,men1 and so onwards--is 
both monotonous and earnest of a poverty
 of imagination4 ,they would seem to be 
frankly unreal3 an acknowledged         
,besantine convention--analogous to that
 early ,christian art by which          
representations of saints1 with         
attendant aureoles1 and posing in       
impossible attitudes1 were shown1 not as
 portraitures1 but as religious         
abstractions4 ,these maidens are all    
sweet and severely proper2 as learned as
 professors and as didactic as          
lecturers1 and they have haloes heavy   
with gilding4 #8,i cannot1' cries the   
novelist1 in effect1 #8show you the     
living woman4 ,consider3 how unforeseen 
her contradictory attitudes and         
consistent inconsistency4' ,and this1   
after all1 is wisdom3 to portray your   
ideal of the sweet girl graduate2 to    
sketch woman as she might be1 rather    
than to fashion an inadequate           

presentment of woman as she is4  ,she   
will have to develop very greatly before
 she becomes the equal of man1 either in
 mind or muscle2 and she will have to   
slough some singular feminine           
characteristics if her incursions into  
masculine walks of life are to be       
continued4 ,at present she carries her  
purse in her hand along the most crowded
 streets1 at the imminent risk of its   
being snatched away4 ,ask her why she   
does this1 and she will tell you that   
she has no pockets1 or that they are    
difficult to reach1 or else that they   
are too easily reached by pickpockets4  
,it never occurs to her that the        
devising of new pockets comes within the
 range of the dressmaker's craft4 ,not  
that it matters much2 for the           
purse-snatcher obtains little result for
 his pains1 and1 beyond some            
postage-stamps1 half a dozen            
visiting-cards1 a packet of needles1 and
 a few coppers1 his enterprise usually  
goes unrewarded4  ,woman does not date  

her correspondence4 ,she has no #8views'
 on the subject2 she simply forgets4    
,sometimes1 indeed1 she will head her   
letters with the day of the week2 but1  
as the weeks slip by1 a letter written  
on any #8,wednesday' becomes rather     
vague in date4  ,also1 it is notorious  
that the gist of a woman's letter1 the  
real reason of its being written1       
appears in a postscript4  ,again1 it    
surely does not behove the ,new ,woman  
to throng the streets in front of the   
establishments of ,mr4 ,peter ,robinson 
or ,madame ,louise1 in admiring         
ecstasies over novel cuts and colours1  
bows and bonnets1 and all the feminine  
accoutrements of fashion4 ,conceive of  
men crowding the tailors' and the       
haberdashers' in like manner1 and taking
 equal delight in #8shopping6' ,this    
last occupation1 or rather pastime1 of  
women is a certain sign of mental       
inferiority4 ,a woman will spend a whole
 day #8shopping'--that is to say1 in the
 inspection of goods she does not want  

and has no intention of buying--and will
 return home when day is done and count 
her time well and profitably spent4     
#8,shopping1' as apart from any idea of 
purchasing1 is a recognised form of     
feminine recreation1 as tradesfolk know 
to their cost4 ,happy the shopkeeper    
whose trade does not lend itself to     
#8shopping1' but wretched is he where   
the vice is rampant4 ,for woman is      
pitiless and exacting1 impervious either
 to criticism1 sarcasm1 irony1 or       
innuendo1 on occasion2 and the more     
logical the man with whom she contends1 
so much the more baffling is she to him4
 ,so1 short of plain and possibly       
offensive speech 7for none so readily or
 more causelessly offended than your    
#8shopper'71 the unhappy victims of this
 mania have no redress1 but must        
continue to heap their counters with    
bales of cloth and rolls of silk for due
 examination1 and must exhibit a        
,christian patience and forbearance when
 the #8shopper' departs without         

purchasing or apologising4  ,no mere man
 could do this1 for such assurance could
 only proceed from the opposite sex4  ,a
 perusal of the advertisement sheets    
which form the bulk of women's          
newspapers and magazines makes for      
disillusionment and depression2 and you 
would need but little excuse if1 after a
 course of these appeals to feminine    
love of adornment1 you rose from it with
 a settled conviction that ,woman is a  
,work of ,art1 padded here1 pinched in  
there1 painted1 dyed1 and carefully made
 up in every particular4 ,he was1       
indeed1 a philosopher worthy the name   
7or perhaps it was a more than usually  
candid woman67 who said that none of the
 consolations of religion or any pious  
ecstasies could equal the profound and  
solemn joy which accompanies a woman's  
conviction of her being well dressed and
 the envy of her fellows4  ,here1       
indeed1 is another striking difference  
between the sexes4 ,a man is happiest   
when circumstances permit him to don the

 old clothes which for years have been  
his only wear in leisure hours3 he would
 wear them while out and about on his   
business did the convenances permit--so 
easy and comfortable is the old hat2 so 
well adapted by long use is the old     
jacket to the form2 so easy the bagged  
and misshapen trousers4 ,but1 alas6 this
 may not be1 for the world judges a man 
by his appearance1 and it simply does   
not pay to appear in public otherwise   
than #8well dressed4' ,for dukes and    
millionaires 'tis another matter2 they  
can afford to be #8shabby' and          
comfortable1 and certainly1 whether they
 manage to attain comfort or not1 they  
generally contrive to appear ill-dressed
 and dowdy4  ,woman is altogether       
different from and inferior to man3     
narrow-chested1 wide-hipped1            
ill-proportioned1 and endowed with a    
lesser quantity of brains than the male 
sex4 ,she will1 when sufficiently open  
to conviction1 allow that1 mentally1 she
 is not so well equipped as man1 but    

gives herself away altogether in        
insisting upon the #8instinct' that     
takes the place of reason in her sex2   
thereby tacitly placing herself on a    
level with other creatures--like the dog
 or cat--who act upon #8instinct' rather
 than upon reasoning powers4 #8,a       
woman's reason' is a notoriously        
inadequate mental process2 and1 having  
once arrived at a conviction or a       
determination on any subject1 it is of  
no use attempting to argue her out of   
it4 ,that is widely acknowledged by the 
popular saying that #8it is useless to  
argue with a woman'      #8,if she will1
 she will1 and there's an end on't3     
,if she won't1 she won't1 depend on't4' 
,these qualifications1 limitations1 or  
defects1 as you may variously call them1
 according to your leanings1 explain in 
great measure the reason why the        
,liberal and ,radical parties in        
politics hesitate to give women the     
,parliamentary franchise4 ,party        
wirepullers are well aware1 putting on  

one side the small but noisy section of 
unsexed females who clamour to be in the
 forefront of all political and social  
revolutions1 that the great majority of 
women are1 by nature and tradition1     
,tories of the most thorough-going type4
 ,they know1 also1 how hopeless it would
 be to drive new convictions into their 
heads1 and so1 being reasoning          
creatures1 they have hitherto declined  
to extend the franchise to the sex which
 would at once swamp their parties      
throughout the country4 ,the            
,conservative party1 on the other hand1 
have for some time recognised how useful
 the women would be in furthering their 
principles and putting a needful skid   
upon the wheels of ,radical             
#8movements2' and they have voted in    
favour of ,woman ,suffrage when that    
question has come up for discussion from
 time to time4 ,the wonderful success of
 the ,primrose ,league1 due almost      
entirely to the personal initiative and 
enthusiasm of the ,dames1 opened the    

eyes of the party to the value of woman 
as a factor in politics1 and if ever she
 obtains her vote the reform will be the
 work of the ,conservatives4 ,thus do   
party needs negative convictions on     
either side of the ,house2 for what1    
indeed1 are convictions when weighed in 
the balance against self-interest8  ,it 
is a notorious fact among artists and   
physiologists that the ,perfect ,woman  
is of more rare occurrence than the     
,perfect ,man2 that it is a matter of   
extreme difficulty to find a woman whose
 body is symmetrical and well knit in   
all its parts4 ,a painter of the nude   
works1 of necessity1 from several       
models1 selecting one for her shapely   
arms1 another for her neck1 and so on2  
and so the final work of art in         
sculpture or painting is always         
eclectic1 and never a portraiture of one
 woman4  ,and yet man has always been   
ready to do battle for her1 and to dare 
death and the ,devil himself for her    
favour4 ,she has1 too1 continually      

presumed upon her influence1 like the   
fair lady in the days of chivalry1 who  
threw her glove among the lions of an   
arena and boasted that her knight would 
retrieve it for her sake4 ,she did not  
overrate his courage1 but she strained  
his devotion beyond its strength2 for1  
leaping among the wild beasts1 the brave
 man picked up the glove1 and1 coming   
back from the jaws of death1 flung it in
 the woman's face4  ,but will men dare  
the death and slit one another's        
weasands for the possession of the ,new 
,woman as they have done for the women  
of the past8 ,i think not4 ,the contempt
 and incredulity of one sex for the     
judgment and discrimination of the      
other1 which is chiefly a modern growth 
induced by woman's arrogance1 is not    
compatible with suit and service2 and1  
in truth1 the enmity between man and    
woman1 shadowed forth in ,genesis1 is   
having another lease of life1 owing to  
the fatuous females who cry to-day upon 
the house-tops4  ,mr4 ,romanes wants us 

to #8give her the apple1 and let us see 
what comes of it4' ,heaven forbid3 let  
her pluck it if she has the courage and 
the power1 but let us not earn our own  
condemnation by inviting her to do so4  
,he is of opinion that #8the days are   
past when any enlightened man ought     
seriously to suppose that1 in now again 
reaching forth her hand to eat of the   
tree of knowledge1 woman is preparing   
for the human race a second ,fall4'     
,there may be two opinions on this head4
 ,women may occasionally surpass in     
learning the ,senior ,wrangler of as    
good a year as was ever known2 they may 
exercise their brains and their muscles 
to their utmost tension2 but let them   
not in those cases exercise the natural 
function of woman and bring children    
into the world4 ,for nature1 which never
 contemplated the production of a       
learned or a muscular woman1 will be    
revenged upon her offspring1 and the    
,new ,woman1 if a mother at all1 will be
 the mother of a ,new ,man1 as          

different1 indeed1 from the present race
 as possible1 but how different the     
clamorous females of to-day cannot      
suspect1 or surely they would at once   
renounce the platform and their         
prospects of the tribune  ,but it is not
 to be supposed that even the prospect  
of peopling the world with stunted and  
hydrocephalic children will deter the   
modern woman from her path1 even though 
her modernity lead to the degradation   
and ultimate extinction of the race4    
,she will raise the old1 half-humorous  
query once more3 #8,why trouble about   
posterity2 what has posterity done for  
us8' and thus go her triumphant gait    
heedless of the second and greater ,fall
 she is preparing for mankind4          
,illustration     ,,ii4--,,the ,,dress  
,,reformers4  #8,i do not like the      
fashion of your garments--you will say1 
they are ,persian attire1 but let them  
be changed4'--,king ,lear4   ,modern    
dress-reform crusades have ever been    
allied with womanly revolts against     

man's authority4 ,they proceeded        
originally from that fount of vulgarity1
 that never-failing source of           
offence--,america4 ,in the ,united      
,states1 that ineffable land of wooden  
nutmegs and timber hams1 of strange     
religions1 of jerrymandering and        
unscrupulous log-rollery1 the ,prophet  
,bloomer first arose1 and1 discarding   
the feminine skirt1 stood forth1        
unashamed and blatant1 in trousers6 ,the
 wrath of the ,bloomers 7as the         
followers of the ,prophet were termed7  
was calculated to disestablish at once  
and for ever the skirts and frocks1 the 
gowns and miscellaneous feminine        
fripperies1 that had obtained throughout
 the centuries2 and they conceived that 
with the abolishment of skirts the      
long-sustained supremacy of man was also
 to disappear1 even as the walls of     
,jericho fell before the trumpet-sound  
of the ,lord's own people4 ,for these   
enthusiasts were no cooing doves1 but   
rather shrieking cats1 and they were    

both abusive and overweening4 ,no more  
should #8tempestuous petticoats' inspire
 a ,herrick to dainty verse1 but the    
woman of the immediate future should    
move majestically through the wondering 
continents of the ,old ,world and the   
,new with mannish strides in place of   
the feminine mincing gait induced by    
clinging draperies4 ,away ,erato and    
your sister ,muses--if1 indeed1 your    
susceptibilities would have allowed your
 remaining to behold the spectacle6 ,for
 really1 that must have been a #8sight  
for sore eyes'-- to adopt the expression
 of the period--the too-convincing      
vision of a middle-aged woman1 proof    
against ridicule1 consumed with all     
seriousness and an ineffable zeal for   
converting all and sundry to her        
peculiar views in the matter of a       
becoming and convenient attire4 ,and    
never was prophet less justified of his 
country than the ,bloomer seer of hers2 
for nakedness1 even to undraped         
piano-legs1 was then a reproach in the  

country of the ,stars and ,stripes1     
where legs are not legs1 an't please    
you1 but #8extremities' or #8limbs2'    
where trousers are neither more than    
#8pantaloons' nor less than             
#8continuations4' ,in that ,land of     
,freedom1 where one would have outraged 
all modesty by the merest mention of    
legs or feet--these last indispensable  
adjuncts being generally known as       
#8pedal extremities'--it surely was     
illogical in the highest degree that    
women should wear a species of trouser1 
and thereby proclaim the indelicate767  
fact to all the world of their          
possession of legs4 ,truly ,pudicitia is
 as ,american a goddess as ,mammon is a 
god6  ,for the ,bloomer costume was     
nothing else but a travesty of male     
attire4 ,aggressiveness is inseparable1 
it would seem1 from all new ideas1 and  
the minor prophets of ,bloomerism were  
aggressive enough1 in all conscience4   
,they were not content with wearing the 
breeches in the literal sense3 they     

sought to convert all womankind to their
 faith by the writing of pamphlets and  
the making of speeches on public        
platforms4 ,mrs4 ,ann ,bloomer was their
 fount of inspiration4 ,she it was who  
introduced the craze to ,america in     
#ahdi4 ,two years later it had crossed  
the herring-pond1 and that ,annus       
,mirabilis1 the year of the ,great      
,exhibition1 witnessed a few of its     
enthusiasts--beldams in breeches--clad  
in this hybrid garb1 walking in ,london 
streets4 ,but women refused to be       
converted in any large numbers1 and only
 a few more than usually impudent       
females went so far as to back their    
views by wearing the badges of the cult 
in public4  ,but although so few        
,englishwomen were converted to the new 
dress1 and though fewer still had the   
courage to wear it1 the ,bloomer        
agitation was largely noticed in the    
papers and by the satirists of the time4
 ,it was noticed1 indeed1 in a manner   
entirely disproportioned to its real    

import1 and the humorous papers1 the    
ballad-mongers1 and innumerable private 
witlings1 had their fling at the follies
 of these early dress-reformers4 ,the   
,bloomers--unlovely name6--held meetings
 in ,london1 attended1 it must be owned1
 by crowds of ribald unbelievers2 and   
they even went to the length of holding 
a #8,bloomer ,ball1' a grotesque idea   
hailed with delight by a roaring crowd  
which assembled #8after the ball1' and  
showed its prejudices by hooting the    
ridiculous women who had come attired in
 jackets and trousers like those of the 
,turk4 ,no ,turk1 indeed1 so unspeakable
 as they4 ,but the crowd did not stop at
 this point4 ,they had brought dead     
cats1 decayed cabbages1 rotten eggs1 and
 all imaginable articles of offence with
 which to point their wit1 and they used
 them freely1 not only upon the women1  
but also upon the men who accompanied   
them4 ,for discrimination was not easy  
between the sexes in the badly lit      
streets1 when both wore breeches1 and at

 a time when men went generally         
clean-shaven2 and so the rightfully     
breeched were as despitefully used as   
the usurpers of man's distinctive dress4
  ,and so ,bloomerism languished awhile 
and presently died out1 but not before a
 vast amount had been written and       
printed in its praise or abuse4 ,the    
satirical effusions which owe their     
origin to this mania are none of them   
remarkable for reticence or delicacy4   
,indeed1 the subject did not allow of   
this last quality1 and the broad-sheet  
verses issued from the purlieus of      
,drury ,lane by the successors of       
,catnach are1 some of them1 very frank4 
,perhaps the best and most quotable is  
the broad-sheet1 ,i'll be a ,bloomer4   
,the writer1 not a literary man by any  
means1 starts off at score1 and his     
first verses1 if models neither of      
taste1 rhyme1 nor rhythm1 are vigorous4 
,it is when the inspiration runs dry1   
and he relies upon a slogging industry  
with which to eke out his broad-sheet1  

that exhaustion becomes evident4        
,i',,ll ,,be ,a ,,bloomer4              
,illustration3    ,,the ,,bloomer       
,,costume1 #ahea4       ,listen1 females
 all1       ,no matter what your trade  
is1     ,old ,nick is in the girls1     
,the ,devil's in the ladies6            
,married men may weep1       ,and tumble
 in the ditches1     ,since women are   
resolved       ,to wear the shirt and   
breeches4      ,ladies do declare       
,a change should have been sooner1      
,the women1 one and all1       ,are     
going to join the ,bloomers4     ,prince
 ,albert and the ,queen       ,had such 
a jolly row1 sirs2     ,she threw off   
stays and put       ,on waistcoat1 coat1
 and trousers4      ,it will be fun to  
see       ,ladies1 possessed of riches1 
,strutting up and down       ,in        
,wellingtons and breeches4     ,bloomers
 are funny folks1       ,no ladies can  
be faster3     ,they say #8tis almost   
time       ,that petticoats were master4
      ,they will not governed be        

,by peelers1 snobs1 or proctors1        
,but take up their degree       ,as     
councillors and doctors4     ,no bustles
 will they wear1       ,nor stocks1     
depend upon it2     ,but jerry hats and 
caps       ,instead of dandy bonnet4    
,trousers to their knees1       ,and    
whiskers round their faces2     ,a      
watch-chain in their fob1       ,and a  
pair of leather braces4     ,the tailors
 must be sharp       ,in making noble   
stitches1     ,and clap their burning   
goose       ,upon the ladies#8 breeches4
      ,their pretty fingers will        
,be just as sore as mutton     ,till    
they have found the way       ,their    
trousers to unbutton4     ,the ,bloomers
 all declare       ,that men are sad    
deceivers2     ,they'll take a turn1 and
 be       ,prigs1 dustmen1 and          
coalheavers--     ,members of           
,parliament1       ,and make such jolly 
fusses2     ,cobble up old ladies'      
shoes2       ,drive cabs and omnibuses4 
,their husbands they will wop1          

,and squander all their riches2         
,make them nurse the kids       ,and    
wash their shirts and breeches4     ,if 
men should say a word1       ,there'd be
 a jolly row1 sirs6     ,their wives    
would make them sweat       ,and beat   
them with their trousers4      ,the     
world's turned upside down2       ,the  
ladies will be tailors1     ,and serve  
,old ,england's ,queen       ,as        
soldiers and as sailors4     ,won't they
 look funny when       ,the seas are    
getting lumpy1     ,or when they ride   
astride       ,upon an ,irish donkey8   
,the ladies will be right2       ,their 
husbands will be undone1     ,since     
,bloomers have arrived       ,to teach  
the folks of ,london--     ,the females 
all ,i mean--       ,how to lay out     
their riches     ,in                    
,yankee-,doodle-doos       ,and a       
stunning pair of breeches4      ,female 
apparel now       ,is gone to pot1 ,i   
vow1 sirs1     ,and ladies will be fined
       ,who don't wear coats and        

trousers2     ,blucher boots and hats1  
,and shirts with handsome stitches1--   
,oh1 dear6 what shall we do       ,when 
women wear the breeches8      ,now some 
will wear smock-frocks       ,and       
hobnail shoes1 ,i vow1 sirs2     ,jenny1
 ,bet1 and ,sal1       ,cock'd hat and  
woollen trousers4                       
,yankee-,doodle-doo1       ,rolling in  
the ditches2     ,married men prepare   
,to buy the women breeches6  ,punch had1
 among other ,bloomer skits1 the        
following rather good example3--        
,,mrs4 ,,grundy ,,on ,,bloomerism4      
,hoity-toity6--don't tell me about the  
nasty stupid fashion6     ,stuff and    
nonsense6--the idea's enough to put one 
in a passion4     ,i'd allow no such    
high jinkses1 if ,i was the creatures'  
parent4     #8,bloomers' are            
they--forward minxes8 ,i soon ,bloomer  
'em1 ,i warrant4     ,i've no patience  
nor forbearance with #8em--scornin' them
 as bore 'em2     ,what6 they can't     
dress like their mothers was content to 

dress         before 'em1--     ,wearing
 what-d'ye-call-'ems--,gracious6 brass  
itself ain't half so         brazen2    
,why1 they must look more audacious than
 that what6s-a-name--,amzon6     ,ha6   
they'll smoke tobacco next1 and take    
their thimblefuls of brandy1            
,bringing shame upon their sex1 by aping
 of the jack-a-dandy4     ,yes2 and then
 you'll have them shortly showing off   
their bold bare         faces1          
,prancing all so pert and portly at     
their ,derbys and their races4     ,oh6 
when once they have begun1 there's none 
can say where they'll be                
stopping--     ,out they'll go with dog 
and gun2 perhaps a-shooting and         
a-popping4     ,aye6 and like as not1   
you'll see1 if you've a ,bloomer for    
your         daughter1     ,her         
ladyship1 so fine and free1 a-pulling   
matches on the water2     ,sitting in a 
pottus tap1 a-talking politics and      
jawing2     ,or else a-reading ,punch1  
mayhap1 and hee-heeing and haw-hawing4  

,i can't a-bear such flighty ways--,i   
can't abide such flaunty tastes4        
,and so they must leave off their stays1
 to show their dainty shapes            
and waistses6     ,i'd not have my feet 
filagreed1 for ever so1 like these young
 women4     ,no2 you won't see me1 ,i'll
 be bound1 dressed half-and-half1 as a  
young feller2     ,i'll stick to my old 
shawl and gownd1 my pattens1 and my     
umbereller4  ,the ,bloomer agitation was
 but the beginning of a series of crazes
 for the reform of women's dress1 and   
the #8,girl of the ,period' furore      
succeeded it1 after an interval of      
several years4 ,true1 the ,girl of the  
,period was scarcely a dress-reformer1  
but her dress and manners were          
sufficiently pronounced1 and certainly  
her vulgarity could not have been       
surpassed by the most fat and blowzy    
,bloomer that ever held forth upon a    
public platform4  ,to ,mrs4 ,lynn       
,linton belongs the honour of having    
discovered the ,girl1 and she           

communicated her discovery to the       
,saturday ,review in #ahfh4 ,this it was
 that gave some point to the saying that
 the ,girl of the ,period was but the   
,girl of a ,periodical4  ,and certainly 
the vulgarity of the ,girl of the       
,period was extremely pronounced4 ,it   
was a vulgarity that showed itself in   
bustles and paniers2 the #8,grecian     
,bend2' skirts frilled and flounced and 
hung about with ridiculous festoons1 and
 short enough to display her intolerable
 ,balmoral boots4 ,an absurdly          
inadequate #8,rink' hat rendered her    
chignon all the more obvious1 and ----4 
,but enough6 ,the ,man of the ,period   
was her equal in absurdity4 ,he         
cultivated a hateful affectation of     
lassitude and indifference2 he affected 
a peculiarly odious drawl1 and he taxed 
his mind with an effort to sustain a    
constantly nil admirari attitude toward 
things the most admirable and happenings
 the most startling4 ,he wore the most  
ridiculous fashion of whiskers1 compared

 with which the perennial #8mutton-chop'
 and the bearded chin and clean-shaven  
upper lip of the ,dissenter or typical  
grocer are things of beauty and a       
satisfaction to the sthetic sense4      
,this fashion was the                   
#8,piccadilly-weeper' variety of        
adornment1 known at this day--chiefly   
owing to ,sothern's impersonation of a  
contemporary lisping fop--as the        
#8,dundreary4' ,this creature was a     
fitting mate to the ,girl of the        
,period4 ,he married her1 and the most  
obvious results are the                 
#8,gaiety-,johnnies1' the #8mashers1'   
and the #8chappies' of to-day1 whose    
retreating chins and foreheads afford   
subjects for the sad contemplation of   
philosophers--to whom we will leave     
them4  ,as for their female offspring1  
they are1 doubtless1 the #8,lotties and 
,totties' of ,mrs4 ,lynn ,linton's      
loathing1 who smoke cigarettes and ape  
the dress and deportment of the ladies  
of the ,alhambra or the ,empire         

promenades4  ,it is at once singular and
 amusing to notice how surely all       
women's dress-reform agitations move in 
the same groove--that of a more or less 
close imitation of man's attire4 ,even  
fashions which are not ostensible       
#8reforms' have a decided tendency to   
make for masculinity4 ,the girls who1   
some few years since1 cut their hair    
short--like the boys2 who wore bowler   
hats1 shirt-fronts1 men's collars and   
neckties2 who carried walking-sticks1 or
 that extraordinary combination of      
walking-stick and sunshade known        
facetiously as a #8husband-beater2' who 
affected tailor-made frocks1 donned     
man-like jackets1 and adopted a         
masculine gait1 were not accredited     
reformers with a ,mission1 but they     
showed1 excellently well1 the spirit of 
the age1 and if they were wanting in    
thoroughness1 why1 ,lady ,harberton1    
with her #8divided skirts1' was a very  
,strafford for thoroughness in her      
particular line4  ,divided skirts were  

introduced to the notice of the public  
some ten years ago by ,viscountess      
,harberton and a ,society of ,dress     
,reformers1 calling themselves1 possibly
 on lucus a non lucendo principles1     
first a #8,national' ,society1 and at a 
later period arrogating the title of    
#8,rational4' ,it may seem matter for   
ridicule that an obscure coterie of     
grandams should adopt such a grandiose  
title as the first1 or that they should1
 by using the #8,rational' epithet1 be  
convicted of allowing the inference that
 they considered every woman irrational 
who did not adhere to their principles2 
but1 like all #8reformers1' they were   
without humour and consumed with a      
deadly earnestness4 ,they 7unlike the   
rest of the world7 saw nothing for      
laughter in the public discussions which
 they initiated1 by which they sought to
 show that corsets were not only useless
 but harmful1 and that the petticoat    
might advantageously be discarded for   
trousers worn underneath an ordinary    

skirt1 somewhat after the fashion that  
obtains in riding costumes4             
,illustration3    ,,the ,,rational      
,,dress4   ,but1 for all the pother     
anent divided skirts1 they did not catch
 on2 and a newer rival1 another variety 
of #8,rational ,dress1' now rules the   
field1 the camp1 the grove1 but more    
especially the road4 ,for the popular   
and widespread pastime of cycling has   
given this newest craze a very much     
better chance than ever the ,bloomer    
heresy or the original ,divided ,skirt  
frenzy obtained2 and it is not too much 
to say that1 if the cycle had not been  
so democratic a plaything1 this latest  
experiment in dress reform would have   
been but little heard of4 ,rational     
,dress1 as seen on the flying females   
who pedal down the roads to-day1 is only
 ,bloomerism with a difference4 ,that is
 to say1 the legs are clothed in roomy  
knickerbockers down to the knees1 and   
encased in cloth gaiters for the rest1  
buttoned down to the ankles4 ,these in  

place of the ,turk-like trousers1 tied  
round the ankles and finished off with  
frills1 of over forty years ago4 ,as for
 the attenuated skirts of the ,prophet  
,bloomer1 ,rational ,dress replaces them
 with a species of frantic frock-coat1  
spreading as to its ample skirts1 but   
tightened round the waist4 ,a #8,robin  
,hood' hat1 even as in the bygone years1
 crowns this confection2 and1 really1   
the parallels between old-time          
schismatics and the modern revolting    
daughters are wonderfully close4        
,everything recurs in this world in     
cycles of longer or shorter duration4   
,the whirligig of time may be uncertain 
in its revolutions1 but it performs the 
allotted round at last2 and so surely as
 yesterday's sun will reappear          
to-morrow1 as certainly will the        
crinolines1 the chignons1 and the       
,bloomer vagaries of yester-year recur4 
,you may call the recurrent fashions by 
newer names1 but1 by any name they take1
 they remain practically the same4 ,the 

farthingale of ,queen ,bess's time is   
the crinoline of the ,middle ,victorian 
period1 and #8came in' once more as the 
#8full skirt' of some seasons since4    
,the chignon is resurrected as the      
#8,brighton ,bun1' and is as            
objectionable in its reincarnation as it
 was in its previous existence2 and we  
have already seen that ,rational ,dress1
 ,divided ,skirts1 and the ,bloomer     
costume are but different titles for one
 fad4 ,the very latest development is   
not pretty3 but there6 'tis #8pretty    
,fanny's way1' and so an end to all     
discussion4     ,,iii4--,,woman ,,in    
,,art1 ,,literature1 ,,politics1 ,,and  
,,social ,,polity4   ,in these days1    
when women begin to talk of their ,work 
with all the zeal and religious fervour 
that characterises the attitude of the  
savage towards his fetish1 it behoves us
 to inquire what that ,work may be which
 arouses so much enthusiasm and is the  
cause of the cool insolence which is    
becoming more and more the note of the  

,new ,woman4 ,a very little inquiry soon
 convinces the seeker after the true    
inwardness of modern fads and fancies   
that ,woman's ,work--so to spell it in  
capitals1 in the manner dear to the     
hearts of the unsexed men and women who 
reckon ,adam a humbug and ,eve the most 
despitefully-entreated of her adorable  
sex--has nothing to do with the         
up-bringing of children or the          
management of the home4 ,those          
traditional duties are nothing less1 if 
you please1 than the slavery which man's
 tyranny has imposed upon the physically
 weaker sex1 and are not worthy of      
sharing the aristocratic prominence of  
capital letters which the desultory     
following of arts and sciences has      
arrogated4 ,modern doctrinaires preach  
heresies which would make miserable that
 very strong man1 ,st4 ,paul1 who       
constantly enjoined woman to silence and
 submission4 ,place aux dames is the    
century-end watchword1 in a sense very  
different from the distinguished        

consideration which the dames of years  
bygone received4 ,place aux dames is all
 very well1 as some one has somewhere   
said--but then1 dames in their place1   
which1 with all possible deference to   
the femininely-influenced philosophers  
of to-day1 is not in politics1 nor in   
any arts or sciences whatever4  ,those  
who so blithely advocate the throwing   
open of the professions to woman1 and   
invite her to work with them1 side by   
side1 in works of practical             
philanthropy1 base their arguments on   
false premises4 ,they assume1 at        
starting1 that womankind has been       
throughout the centuries in an arrested 
condition4 ,her mental and bodily growth
 has1 they say1 been retarded by        
cunningly-devised restrictions2 she has 
not been permitted to develop or to     
reach maturity--she is1 in short1       
according to these views1 undeveloped   
man1 rather than a separate and fully   
developed sex4 ,those views are1 of     
course1 merely fallacies of the most    

unstable kind4 ,woman's place and       
functions have been definitely fixed for
 her by nature1 and those functions and 
that place are to be the handmaid of man
 7or the handmatron if you like it      
better71 and to be the mother of his    
children2 and her place is the home4    
,her physical and mental limitations are
 subtly contrived by nature to keep     
woman in the home and engrossed in      
domestic matters2 and1 really1 if abuse 
is needed at all1 man does not deserve  
it1 but to nature belongs the epithet of
 tyrant1 if an owner must be found for  
the unenviable distinction4  ,woman is  
essentially narrow-minded and           
individualistic4 ,her time has ever been
 fleeted in working for the individual1 
and the community would be badly off at 
this day had not the ,state been        
thoroughly masculine for a time that    
goes back beyond the historians into the
 regions of myths and fairy tales4      
,small brains cannot engender great     
thoughts2 which is but another way of   

saying that woman's brain is less than  
man's4 ,it is only recently that woman  
has organized her forces at all1 and she
 would not have done so1 even now1 had  
she not a plentiful lack of anything to 
occupy her thoughts withal in these days
 of the subdivision of labour and of    
extended luxury4 ,and so1 with plenty of
 time to spare1 she begins to ask if    
there is nothing that becomes her better
 than the #8suckling of fools and the   
chronicling of small beer4' ,but        
although ,carlyle said in his wrath that
 men and women were mostly fools1 yet   
there be children nourished with        
nature's food who have developed a      
certain force of intellect2 and as for  
the chronicles of small beer1 gossip and
 scandal-mongering have never been      
compulsory in women1 but only unwelcome 
features of their nature4 ,idleness1    
luxury1 and the supreme consideration   
with which even the most foolish        
feminine manifestations have been       
received1 have always been fruitful     

sources of mischief1 and this by-past   
consideration has favoured the          
development of vanity and the growth of 
the feminine ,ego to its present        
proportions4  ,woman never becomes more 
than an ineffectual amateur in all the  
careers she enters4 ,her practice in art
 and literature inevitably debases art  
and letters1 for she is a copyist at    
most4 ,in literature she never          
originates1 but appropriates and        
assimilates men's thoughts1 and in the  
transcription of those thoughts seldom  
rises above the use of clichs4 ,but the 
,modern ,woman desires most ardently to 
enter those spheres of mental and       
technical activity1 undeterred by any   
disheartening doubts of her fitness for 
letters or government1 of her capacity  
for organizing or originating4 ,she     
points triumphantly for confirmation of 
her sex's endowments to the lives and   
works of the ,george ,eliots1 the       
,harriet ,martineaus1 the ,elizabeth    
,frys1 the ,angelica ,kauffmanns1 or the

 women of the ,french political salons2 
but she does not stop to consider that  
those distinguished women succeeded not 
because1 but in spite of1 their sex1 and
 that few of the women who have made    
what the world terms successful careers 
had any of the more gracious feminine   
characteristics beyond their merely     
physiological attributes4 ,many of them 
were unsexed creatures whose womanhood  
was an accident of their birth4  ,the   
rush of women into the artistic and     
literary professions has always had a   
singularly ill effect upon technique1   
for the woman's mind is normally        
incapable of rising to an appreciation  
of the possibilities of any medium4     
,they have not even a glimmering        
perception of style1 and would as       
cheerfully 7if not1 indeed1 with greater
 readiness7 acclaim ,dagonet a poet as  
they would the ,swan of ,avon1 although 
the gulf that divides ,shakespeare from 
,mr4 ,g4 ,r4 ,sims is not only one      
formed by lapse of the centuries3 to    

them the works of ,miss ,braddon appear 
as the ultimate expression of the       
passions1 and they would as readily     
label a painting by ,velasquez #8nice'  
as they would call the productions of   
,mr4 ,dudley ,hardy #8awfully jolly4'   
,subject rather than execution wins     
their admiration1 and the nerveless     
handling of a painting whose subject    
appeals to their imagination wins their 
praise while the highest attainments of 
technique are disregarded4 ,for them    
does ,mr4 ,w4 ,p4 ,frith paint the      
,derby ,day and ,so ,clean2 for their   
delight are the #8dog and dolly'        
pictures of ,mr4 ,burton ,barber1 the   
,can 'oo ,talk8 the #8peep-bo' and      
#8pussy-cat' stories in paint contrived2
 and for their ultimate satisfaction are
 they reproduced as coloured supplements
 in the summer and ,christmas numbers of
 the illustrated papers4  ,you may count
 distinguished women artists upon the   
fingers of your hands1 with some fingers
 to spare1 and some of these achieved   

their fame by reason of their womanhood1
 rather than the excellence of their    
art4 ,angelica ,kauffmann is a notable  
example4 ,she attained the unique       
position of a female ,royal ,academician
 through ,reynolds's infatuation3 she   
painted portraits and classical         
compositions innumerable1 but the       
portraits are poor and her classicism   
the most futile and emasculate4         
,literature1 too--although more women   
have made reputations with the pen than 
the brush--can show but a very small    
proportion of feminine genius2 and      
7although the ultimate verdict of the   
critics may yet depose these7 ,charlotte
 ,bront1 ,fanny ,burney1 and ,george    
,eliot are the most outstanding names in
 this department4 ,these few names      
compare with an intolerable deal of     
mediocrity1 cosseted and sheltered from 
the adverse winds of criticism in its   
little day2 but yet so constitutionally 
weak that it has withered and died out  
of all knowledge4 ,the women who1 like  

,george ,eliot1 and her modern          
successor1 ,mrs4 ,humphry ,ward1        
adventure into ethical novels1 are too  
excruciatingly serious and possessed    
with too solemn a conviction of their   
infallibility for much patient          
endurance2 and really1 when one         
remembers the spectacle of ,g4 ,h4      
,lewis truckling to the critics1        
intriguing for favourable reviews1 and  
endeavouring to stultify editors for the
 sake of his ,george ,eliot1 in order   
that no breath of adverse criticism and 
no wholesome wind from the outer world  
should come to dispel her colossal      
conceit1 we obtain a curious peep into  
the methods by which the feminine ,ego  
is nourished4 ,but the spectacle is no  
less pitiful than strange4  ,it is not  
often1 however1 that women writers      
present us with philosophical treatises 
in the guise of novels4 ,their          
high-water mark of workmanship is the   
,family ,herald type of story-telling1  
even as crystoleum-painting and         

macram-work exhaust the energies and    
imagination of the majority of women    
#8art' workers4 ,what1 also1 is to say  
of the lady-novelists' heroes1 of       
god-like grace and the mental attributes
 of the complete prig8 ,what but that if
 we collate the masculine characters of 
even the better-known1 and presumably   
less foolish1 feminine novels1 we shall 
find woman's ideal in man to be the     
sybaritic ,guardsman1 the loathly1      
languorous ,apollos who recline on      
#8divans1' smoke impossibly fragrant    
cigarettes1 gossip about their affaires 
du coeur1 and wave #8jewelled           
fingers'--repellent combinations of     
braggart1 prig1 and knight-errant1 with 
the thews and sinews of a ,samson and   
the morals of a mudlark4  ,philanthropy 
is a field upon which the modern woman  
enters with an enthusiasm that1         
unfortunately1 is very much greater than
 her sense4 ,her care is for the        
individual1 and she it is who encourages
 indiscriminate almsgiving1 but cannot  

understand the practical philanthropy   
which compels men to work for a wage1 or
 organizes vast schemes of relief works4
 ,her whole nature is individualistic1  
and we would not have it otherwise1 for 
it has1 in many instances of womanly    
women1 made homes happy and comfortable1
 and nerved men in the larger           
philanthropy which succours without     
pauperising thousands4 ,but she has no  
business outside the home4              
,philanthropy1 of sorts1 we have always 
with us1 and the undeserving need never 
lack shelter and support in a           
disgraceful idleness while the          
tender-hearted or the hysterical amateur
 relieving-officers are permitted to    
make fools of themselves1 and rogues and
 vagabonds of the lazy wastrels who will
 never do an honest day's work so long  
as a subsistence is to be got by        
begging4 ,the fashionable occupation of 
#8slumming' made many more paupers than 
it relieved1 and the #8,darkest         
,england' cry of ,mr4 ,william ,booth1  

whom foolish folk call by the title of  
#8,general' he arrogates1 is the most   
notorious exhibition of sentimentalism  
in recent years4 ,that appeal to the    
charitable and pitiful folks of ,england
 was1 like the ,salvation ,army itself1 
engineered by the late ,mrs4 ,catherine 
,booth1 and it captured many thousands  
of pounds wherewith to succour the      
unfit1 the criminal1 the unwashed2 the  
very scum and dregs of the race whom    
merciless ,nature1 cruel to be kind1 had
 doomed to early extinction4 ,but       
mouthing and tearful sentimentality has 
interfered with beneficent natural      
processes1 and the depraved and         
ineffectual are helped to a longer term 
of existence1 that they may transmit    
their bodily and mental diseases to     
another generation1 and so foul the     
blood and stunt the growth of the nation
 in years to come4  ,science1           
anthropology1 and economics have no     
meaning for the femininely-influenced   
founders of ,salvation ,army            

doss-houses3 the body politic--society1 
in the larger sense--national life1 are 
phrases that convey no meaning to the   
sobbing philanthropists to whom the     
welfare of the dosser is a creed and    
,darwinian theories rank blasphemy4     
,the tendency of sentimental            
philanthropy is to relieve all alike    
from the consequences of their misdeeds1
 and to preserve the worst and the      
unfittest1 and to enable the worst to   
compete at an advantage with the best1  
and to freely propagate its rickety     
kind4 ,philanthropy of this pernicious  
sort is essentially sentimental and     
feminine4  ,but the most disastrous     
interference1 up to the present1 of     
sentimental fanatics--women and         
femininely-influenced men--has been     
their successful campaign against those 
beneficent ,acts of ,parliament1 the    
,contagious ,diseases ,acts1 framed from
 time to time for the protection of ,her
 ,majesty's forces of the ,army and     
,navy4  ,those ,acts1 applied to the    

garrison towns and the dockyard towns of
 ,aldershot1 ,chatham1 ,plymouth1       
,dover1 ,canterbury1 ,windsor1          
,southampton1 and others1 provided for  
the registration and compulsory         
periodical medical examination of the   
public women who infest the streets of  
those places4 ,horrible diseases1 spread
 by these abandoned creatures1 decimated
 the regiments and the crews of the     
ships that put in at their ports2 and   
thus1 through them1 the blood of future 
generations was poisoned and            
contaminated4 ,the women whose depravity
 and disease spread foul disorders among
 not only the soldiers and sailors1 but 
also amongst the civil populations of   
these garrison towns1 were free1 before 
the application of the ,c4 ,d4 ,acts1 to
 ply their trade no matter what might be
 their bodily condition2 but the        
operation of those measures1 at first   
providing for voluntary inspection and  
examination1 and afterwards making those
 precautions compulsory1 rendered it a  

criminal offence for a woman registered 
by the police to have intercourse with  
men while knowing that she was suffering
 from disease4 ,such an offence1 or the 
offence of not presenting themselves at 
the examining officer's station at the  
fortnightly period prescribed by the    
,acts1 rendered women of this class     
liable to imprisonment4 ,if at these    
examinations a woman was found to be    
healthy1 a certificate was given her2 if
 the medical officer certified her to be
 diseased1 she was taken by compulsion  
to hospital1 and detained there until   
recovery4  ,plymouth1 ,aldershot1 and   
,chatham1 in especial1 were in a        
shocking condition before the ,acts came
 into force2 but during the years in    
which they were administered by the     
police1 a diminution of disease by more 
than one-half was seen in the ,army and 
,navy1 and the registration of the women
 led to a very great falling-off of the 
numbers who obtained so shameful a      
living4 ,evidence given before the      

,royal ,commission upon the ,contagious 
,diseases ,acts in #ahgb proved this    
beyond question1 and also proved that   
these women not only had no objection to
 the medical examinations1 but regarded 
them and the hospitals as very great    
benefits4  ,the shocking revelations as 
to the social condition of ,plymouth1   
,devonport1 and ,stonehouse1 afforded by
 the evidence of the police1 cannot be  
more than hinted at in this place4 ,it  
is sufficient to say that over #bjjj    
women were put upon the registers1      
either as occasionally or habitually    
living a loose life1 and that all       
classes were to be found in these       
documents1 but especially girls employed
 behind the counters of shops during the
 day4 ,the police seem everywhere to    
have been conscientious in the execution
 of their duty1 and to have performed   
ungrateful and delicate tasks with great
 discretion4 ,the registers were private
 and strictly confidential official     
documents1 and both the medical         

examinations and the police visits to   
suspected houses were conducted with all
 possible secrecy1 the police in the    
latter case being plain-clothes men1 and
 not readily to be identified by the    
public4  ,and yet1 in spite of the very 
evident benefits derived from the ,acts 
and deposed to before the ,commission by
 such unimpeachable authorities as the  
foremost medical officers of the ,army  
and ,navy1 commanding officers1         
clergymen of the ,established ,church1  
,wesleyan ministers1 the entire medical 
and nursing staffs of hospitals1 and the
 police authorities themselves1 these   
,acts were repealed1 in submission to   
the outcries of the #8mules and barren  
women1' who1 headed by the rancorous    
,mrs4 ,josephine ,butler and the gushing
 sentimentalists from the               
religio-radical benches of the ,house of
 ,commons1 called public meetings1 and  
shrieked and raved upon platforms       
throughout the country3 a chorus of     
shocked spinsters and #8pure' men1 whose

 advocacy of what they called1 forsooth1
 #8the liberty of the subject' and the  
abolition of what they falsely termed   
the #8,state licensing of vice1' has    
resulted in a liberty accorded these    
women to spread disease far and wide4   
,the nation1 the men of ,army and ,navy1
 have reason abundant to curse the      
sentimental women1 the maiden aunts1 the
 religieuses1 the gorgons of a mistaken 
propriety and a peculiarly harmful      
prudery1 whose interference with affairs
 which they were not competent to direct
 has wrought such untoward results4     
,this is what a writer says in the      
,westminster ,review3 #8,the struggle   
for the repeal of the ,contagious       
,diseases ,acts was an ordeal such as   
men have never been obliged to undergo4 
,it involved not merely that women      
should speak at public meetings1 which  
was a great innovation1 but that they   
should discuss the most painful of all  
subjects1 upon which1 up to that time1  
even men had not dared to open their    

mouths4 ,yet so nobly did the women bear
 their part all through those terrible  
years of trial1 that they raised a      
spirit of indignation which swept away  
the ,acts1 but never1 by word or deed1  
did they deservedly incur reproach      
themselves4'  ,rubbish1 every word of   
it6 ,the women who spoke upon these     
painful subjects were under no          
compulsion1 legal or moral1 to initiate 
or take part in the frenzy of           
wrong-headed emotion1 which was         
exhibited upon public platforms to the  
dismay and disgust of all right-thinking
 men and women4 ,it cannot be conceded  
that the subject was painful to these   
persons1 nor can the statement be       
allowed to go unchallenged that they did
 not deserve reproach4 ,reproach of the 
most bitter kind was and is deserved by 
the prejudiced persons who distorted    
facts and gladly relied upon any hearsay
 evidence that would seem to square with
 their theories1 and even refused to    
admit the weight of incontrovertible    

statistics produced against their rash  
and windy statements4 ,the examinations 
of ,mrs4 ,josephine ,butler#a and of    
those two ridiculous persons1 the       
,unitarian pastor from ,southampton and 
his wife1 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,kell1 are     
damning indictments of their good faith 
and good sense4 ,these are types of     
women and womanish men who take delight 
in the investigation of pruriency1 whose
 noses are in every cesspool and their  
hands in the nearest muck-heap4 ,their  
kind stop at nothing in the way of      
unfounded statements1 and are greedy of 
rumour rather than of accredited facts4 
,want of acquaintance with1 or          
experience of1 the subjects they        
dogmatise upon deterred them as little  
then as now from case-hardened          
obstinacy2 and perhaps no one cut such a
 sorry figure before the ,commission as 
that illogical and contradictory person1
 the late ,john ,stuart ,mill1 the      
femininely-influenced author of the     
nowadays somewhat discredited           

,subjection of ,women4 #8,his chief     
ground for objection to the system' 7of 
the ,c4 ,d4 ,acts7 #8was on the score of
 the infringement of personal liberty'  
7i4e41 the liberty to spread loathsome  
diseases72 #8but he considered it also  
objectionable for the ,government to    
provide securities against the          
consequences of immorality4 ,it is a    
different thing to remedy the           
consequences after they occur'--as who  
should say1 in the manner of the        
proverb1 ,lock the stable door when the 
horse has been stolen4  ,this sham      
philosopher and political economist of  
ill-argued theories1 who is to-day      
honoured by an uncomfortable and        
ungainly statue on the ,victoria        
,embankment1 forgot that ,england has   
not achieved her greatness by the study 
or practice of morality3 and shall we   
fall thus late in the day by a ,quixotic
 observance of it8  ,the sooner the     
statue of this woman's advocate is cast 
into the ,thames1 or melted down1 the   

better4  ,woman's influence and         
interference in these matters have      
proved an unmixed evil4 ,it would be    
hopeless1 however1 to convince her of   
error3 as well might one attempt to     
hustle an elephant4  ,political women   
are1 fortunately1 rare in ,england4 ,a  
,duchess of ,devonshire1 a ,lady        
,palmerston1 and the politico-social    
,dames of the ,primrose ,league1 these  
are all the chiefest and most           
readily-cited female politicians3 and   
their interest was1 and is1 not so much 
in the success or defeat of this party  
or the other as in the return of their  
favoured candidate or the failure of a  
pet aversion4 ,politics have no real    
meaning for women3 their natures do not 
permit of their comprehension of        
national and international questions4   
,what does ,empire signify to woman if  
her little world is distracted8 and what
 is a revolted province to her as       
against a broken plate8  ,the ,fates    
preserve us from ,female ,suffrage2 for 

give women votes and patriotism is      
swamped by the only women who would care
 to exercise the privilege of voting3   
the clamorous ,new ,woman1 all          
crotchets1 fads and ,radical nostrums   
for the regeneration of the parish and  
the benevolent treatment of subjugated  
races in an ,empire won by the sword and
 retained by might4     ,,iv4--,,some   
,,old-,,time ,,termagants ,,and         
,,ill-,,made ,,matches ,,of ,,celebrated
 ,,men4   ,the #8strong-minded woman1'  
as the phrase goes1 we have always with 
us nowadays2 and as this species of     
strength of mind seems really to be a   
violent and uncertain temper1 there can 
be little doubt but that the            
strong-minded woman has always been more
 frequent than welcome4 ,certainly      
shrewishness and termagancy have been   
too evident throughout the ages1 from   
the days of ,xanthippe to the present   
time4 ,that much we know from the       
lives--or shall we say1 under the       
painful circumstances1 the              

#8existences8'--of public men who have  
been cursed with scolding wives4 ,but   
what ,asmodeus shall unveil the private 
conjugal tyrannies1 the hectorings1 and 
the curtain-lectures that make miserable
 the undistinguished lives of men of no 
importance for good or evil in the      
,state8 ,how many women1 in fine1 #8wear
 the breeches' through the #8strength of
 mind' which may be justly defined as   
readiness of that impassioned invective 
which in its turn may be reduced 7like a
 vulgar fraction7 to its lowest common  
denominator of #8nagging4' ,not a pretty
 word1 is it8 ,and it is a practice even
 less pretty than that cross-grained    
definition would warrant4 ,we cannot1   
however1 lift the veil that hides the   
domestic infelicities of the lieges1 but
 must be content to recount the troubles
 and oppressions that have befallen     
historic ,caudles1 who bulk a great deal
 larger in the history of ,england than 
they did1 in their own homes1 to their  
wives4  ,sir ,edward ,coke1 the great   

law officer of ,james the ,first's      
reign--the revered #8,coke upon         
,lyttleton' of the law-student--was     
little enough of an authority in his own
 household after he had married his     
second wife1 herself a widow--the       
#8relict1' in fact1 of ,sir ,william    
,newport-,hatton4 ,he married her but a 
few months after his wife's death1      
privately and in haste2 probably urged  
to such an indecent speed by the        
necessity of forestalling the ,lord     
,keeper ,bacon in the lady's affections4
 ,but he had not been wise in his haste2
 for affection--for him1 at least--she  
had none4 ,she had probably buried all  
her kindly feelings in the grave with   
,sir ,william ,hatton1 for she would    
never be known as ,lady ,coke1 but      
always as ,lady ,hatton1 and1 in truth1 
she led that distinguished and bitter   
lawyer the life of a dog4 ,one wonders1 
indeed1 why she married him at all1 who 
was old enough to be her father4 ,it was
 not ambition1 for she was by birth a   

,cecil and daughter of the second ,lord 
,burleigh2 nor the want of money1 nor   
the need of a protector1 for she was    
very well able to take care of herself1 
as ,sir ,edward presently discovered1   
and she was sufficiently wealthy4 ,they 
quarrelled incessantly--about property1 
about the marriage of their daughter1   
about anything and everything4 ,sir     
,edward ,coke was only suffered to enter
 her house in ,london by the back door1 
and she plundered his residence in the  
country4 ,she sent her daughter away to 
,oatlands to prevent a marriage with    
,sir ,john ,villiers1 which ,sir ,edward
 was pressing forward2 and he1 #8with   
his sonne and ten or eleven servants1   
weaponed in violent manner1' repaired   
thither1 broke open the door1 and took  
her away4 ,lady ,hatton intrigued at    
,court against the distracted ,coke1 who
 was already in disfavour at ,st4       
,james's1 and procured an interference  
by the ,star ,chamber1 which condemned  
his #8most notorious riot2' but ,coke   

eventually gained the upper hand in this
 matter at least1 and the girl was      
married to the man of his choice4 ,this 
did not end the enmity4 ,for years they 
contended together until death parted   
them4 ,but she survived him by ten      
years4  ,legal subtlety and ability had 
no terrors for ,lady ,hatton1 and       
martial prowess daunted the wife of     
,monk as little1 for1 in very truth1    
,lady ,albemarle1 the famous ,nan       
,clarges1 wife of that ,general ,monk   
who was created first ,duke of          
,albemarle1 was so awe-inspiring a      
termagant that her husband declared he  
would rather fight a battle than dispute
 with her1 and that the roar of a whole 
park of artillery was not so terrible to
 him as her tongue loosened in floods of
 abuse4 ,there is no doubt that he      
regretted his union with the            
washerwoman's daughter whom he had      
married1 who was neither beautiful nor  
witty4 ,nan ,clarges had all the        
ancestry and upbringing that made for   

shrewishness4 ,her mother was one of the
 five women barbers who gained notoriety
 by their vulgarity even in that age1   
and her father was a blacksmith and     
farrier1 one ,john ,clarges1 who lived  
at the corner of ,drury ,lane and the   
,strand1 over his forge4 ,her mother    
became afterwards a laundress1 and she  
herself dabbled in the soapsuds before  
and after her marriage to ,thomas       
,ratford1 whose father was also a       
farrier4 ,this marriage took place in   
#afcb1 and she and her husband occupied 
a shop in the ,new ,exchange in the     
,strand1 where they sold gloves1 powder1
 and cosmetics4 ,her parents died in    
#afdh1 and she and her husband separated
 in the following year4 ,three years    
later she married ,colonel ,monk1 whose 
laundress she had been4 ,although the   
tongue of scandal was not idle when one 
re-married who was not a widow1 the     
farrier never reappeared to claim his   
wife1 and when the ,restoration was     
accomplished 7partly1 it is said1 owing 

to her ,royalist sympathies71 and       
,general ,monk became ,duke of          
,albemarle1 none were found to question 
her title of ,duchess4 ,but she became  
the laughing-stock of the ,court and    
gave general disgust to ,pepys1 who     
calls her in good faith #8a plain1      
homely dowdy1' and ironically #8that    
paragon of virtue and beauty4' ,on one  
occasion he #8found the ,duke of        
,albemarle at dinner with sorry company2
 some of his officers of the ,army2     
dirty dishes and a nasty wife at table1 
and bad meat4'  ,but she was mildness   
itself compared with that #8she-devil1' 
,bess of ,hardwicke1 who was wedded and 
a widow before her sixteenth year1 and  
saw four husbands into the grave4 ,she  
was the daughter of a rich ,derbyshire  
gentleman1 who died and left her his    
sole heiress at an early age4 ,she      
fascinated and married a neighbour1 the 
young and invalid ,mr4 ,barley1 whose   
property ranged with her own4 ,he lived 
but a short while1 and left her a       

charming widow with a great access of   
wealth4  ,her second venture was ,sir   
,william ,cavendish1 a ,suffolk         
gentleman of good family and great      
property1 whom she married and          
constrained to sell his ,suffolk lands  
and settle with her in ,derbyshire4 ,she
 ruled him thoroughly1 and he seems to  
have been little better than her chief  
director of works in the building       
operations that were a passion with this
 singular woman through the whole of her
 long life4 ,her home was at ,hardwicke 
,hall2 but she now began to build a very
 much more magnificent house at         
,chatsworth4 ,she had not proceeded very
 far with this work before ,sir ,william
 ,cavendish1 probably wearied out with  
being ruled in all things1 followed her 
first husband to the grave4 ,lady       
,cavendish mourned him for a decent     
period1 keeping her eye open the while  
for another eligible1 whom she presently
 found in the person of the widower1    
,sir ,william ,saint ,lo1 a captain in  

,queen ,elizabeth's guard and a         
gentleman of considerable property in   
the neighbourhood of ,bath4 ,but ,sir   
,william had a family1 and she could not
 think of wedding him until he had made 
a settlement upon her of all his lands4 
,he did so readily1 this bluff soldier2 
for he was absurdly fond of her1 as his 
letters show4 ,he was1 however1 detained
 much in the service of the ,queen1 in  
,london and at ,windsor1 and died very  
soon4  ,illustration3    ,,elizabeth1   
,,countess ,,of   ,,shrewsbury4   ,lady 
,saint ,lo was now become extremely     
wealthy1 with her own fortune and the   
added wealth of three husbands deceased1
 but she was far from content4 ,she was 
building incessantly1 both terrestrial  
habitations and airy castles1 and       
hungered both for more wealth and       
greater social distinction4 ,for some   
while she cast about for another        
partner1 and at length found a suitable 
quarry in ,george ,talbot1 ,earl of     
,shrewsbury1 another widower with a     

grown-up family4 ,him she married1 and  
from that time he knew but little peace4
 ,true1 the first year or so of their   
union seems to have been comparatively  
mild1 but the storms that ensued were   
beyond anything4 ,the ,earl was for     
nineteen years the custodian of ,mary1  
,queen of ,scots1 and she seems to have 
aroused the jealousy of the ,countess1  
for the unfortunate ,talbot was         
surrounded with his wife's spies1 and   
the espions whom the ,english ,queen's  
suspicious nature also set around him   
made his life a misery4 ,poor ,talbot6  
two queens and a wife--and such a       
wife--to serve1 guard1 and pacify4 ,how 
wretched he must have been in that      
gorgeous palace of #8,chattysworth1' as 
the old-time spelling had it6 ,his wife 
embittered his own sons against him1    
while her family of ,cavendishes hated  
him cordially1 and1 as he had foolishly 
made over his property to her upon his  
marriage1 he lived practically upon     
sufferance4 ,queen ,elizabeth1 in whose 

service he continually expressed the    
greatest loyalty1 took the part of his  
wife1 and ordered him to be content with
 an allowance of #ejjl4 per annum which 
the ,countess vouchsafed him--#8to my   
perpetual infamy and great dishonour1'  
as he wrote1 #8thus to be ruled and     
overranne by my wief1 so bad and wicked 
a woman4 ,but your ,majesty shall see   
that ,i will observe your commandments1 
though no curse or plage on earth colde 
be more grievous to me4' ,poor fellow6  
his faults were few1 probably the       
greatest of them being a weak amiability
 which led him to be reconciled time and
 again to his wife1 who used every      
reconciliation as a means to the end of 
entreating him even more shamefully than
 before4 ,he died at length1 wearied out
 with lawsuits1 the ingratitude of his  
own children1 and the bitter animosity  
of his wife4 ,she survived him for many 
years1 and died1 aged eighty-eight1 in  
the winter of #afjg1 during a hard frost
 which put a stop to the building works 

which she was carrying on here and there
 over all her possessions4 ,she was     
passionately fond of bricks and mortar1 
or else was mindful of a prophecy that  
she should live so long as she continued
 building4 ,that prophecy was fulfilled 
by the frost1 which rendered her workmen
 idle4  ,ann ,clifford1 ,countess of    
,dorset1 ,pembroke1 and ,montgomery1 was
 another insatiate builder1 and a woman 
of very great independence of character2
 not a vindictive fiend1 like old ,bess 
of ,hardwicke1 but1 all the same1 a     
woman who would have her way4 ,she      
married the ,earl of ,dorset1 as weak   
and vicious a man as she was a strong   
and virtuous woman1 with whom she lived 
most unhappily4 ,when he fortunately    
died1 she declared that she would not   
wed a man who was either a curser1 a    
courtier1 or a swearer1 or who had      
children2 and it so happened that in    
marrying ,philip ,herbert1 ,earl of     
,pembroke and ,montgomery1 she allied   
herself to a widower with a family1 who 

was both a courtier and a proficient in 
vile language and fancy swearing4 ,he1  
however1 soon joined the majority1 and  
his widow took no more chances in the   
lottery of marriage4 ,she busied herself
 in rebuilding her castles1 which had   
been destroyed during the ,civil ,war1  
six of them throughout ,cumberland and  
,westmoreland2 and spent the remainder  
of her long life in journeying from one 
to another1 carrying with her the huge  
volumes in which she had collected the  
records of the ,clifford family and the 
memoirs of her own life4 ,hers was the  
borough of ,appleby1 for which ,sir     
,john ,williamson1 ,secretary of ,state1
 proposed a candidate4 ,but the         
,countess1 who had despised ,cromwell   
and loathed the viciousness of ,charles 
the ,second's entourage1 replied1 in a  
characteristic note1 #8,i have been     
bullied by an usurper2 ,i have been     
neglected by a ,court2 but ,i won't be  
dictated to by a subject4 ,your man     
shan't stand4--,,ann ,,dorset1          

,,pembroke1 ,,and ,,montgomery4' ,she   
was a wonderful woman4 ,she spoke five  
languages fluently1 and was accomplished
 in many ways1 and1 according to ,bishop
 ,rainbow1 of ,carlisle1 who preached   
her funeral sermon1 #8she had a clear   
soul shining through a vivid body3 her  
body was durable and healthful1' he     
continues2 #8her soul sprightful and of 
great understanding and judgment        
faithful memory1 and ready wit4' ,she   
was #8a perfect mistress of forecast and
 aftercast1' and1 according to ,doctor  
,donne1 #8knew well how to converse of  
all things1 from predestination to      
slea-silk4' ,she was no less great as a 
builder than ,nimrod was mighty as a    
hunter1 and ,bess of ,hardwicke was     
scarce her equal in the piling up of    
bricks and mortar4  ,illustration3      
,,ann ,,clifford1 ,,countess ,,of       
,,dorset1   ,,pembroke ,,and            
,,montgomery1   ,,aged #ah4   ,she spent
 over #dj1jjjl4 in this way1 and the    
good bishop who preached her funeral    

sermon took1 as an apt text1 #8,every   
wise woman buildeth her house4' ,she    
rebuilt the castles of ,brougham1       
,appleby1 ,skipton1 ,bardon ,tower1     
,pendragon1 and ,brough2 she restored   
the churches of ,bongate1 ,skipton1 and 
,appleby1 and the chapels of ,ninekirks1
 ,brougham1 ,bongate1 and ,mallerstang2 
she erected a monument to ,spenser in   
,westminster ,abbey1 another--on the old
 ,penrith road--to her mother1 the      
,dowager ,countess of ,cumberland1 and  
another still to her tutor1 ,samuel     
,daniel1 and she founded and restored   
almshouses besides4  ,but the first     
,duchess of ,marlborough was a prize    
termagant1 although in early life a     
woman of winning ways4 ,sarah1 ,duchess 
of ,marlborough1 was the ruler of that  
great commander and military genius1    
,john ,churchill1 first ,duke of        
,marlborough1 and victor of such        
hard-fought fields as ,blenheim1        
,ramillies1 and ,malplaquet4  ,the rise 
of the ,churchills reads like a romance1

 so constantly was their progress       
maintained for so many years4 ,he was   
the son of an impoverished country      
gentleman who had lost his all in a     
chivalric attachment to ,charles the    
,first1 and gained little consideration 
for it when the ,restoration brought    
,charles the ,second to ,dover1 and the 
,king enjoyed his own again4 ,all the   
recompense the ruined ,cavalier received
 was the reception of his son1          
afterwards to become the most famous    
soldier and general of his time1 as a   
page in the service of the ,king's      
brother1 the ,duke of ,york4            
,illustration3    ,,ann ,,clifford1     
,,countess ,,of ,,dorset1   ,,pembroke1 
,,and ,,montgomery1   ,,aged #ha4       
,macaulay's ,whiggish prejudices forbade
 him writing anything to the credit of  
the ,duke of ,marlborough2 and so he    
seized upon the gossip of the time1     
which has come down to us1 and has      
stated as a fact that ,john ,churchill  
owed this initiatory post to the        

interest of his sister ,arabella1 who   
had become an acknowledged mistress of  
the ,duke of ,york4 #8,the young lady   
was not beautiful1' he says1 in his     
,history of ,england1 #8but the taste of
 ,james was not nice1 and she became his
 avowed mistress4 ,she was the daughter 
of a poor ,cavalier knight who haunted  
,whitehall1 and made himself ridiculous 
by publishing a dull and affected folio1
 long forgotten1 in praise of monarchs  
and monarchy4 ,the necessity of the     
,churchills was pressing1 their loyalty 
was ardent1 and their only feeling on   
,arabella's seduction seems to have been
 joyful surprise that so plain a girl   
should have obtained such height of     
preferment4'  ,but ,churchill's good    
looks and gallant bearing stood him in  
better stead than this in that          
profligate court4 ,he captivated the    
fancy of his distant cousin1 ,barbara   
,palmer1 the most beautiful of the      
,king's mistresses1 already created     
,duchess of ,cleveland as the price of  

her dishonour4 ,buckingham afforded the 
,king ocular proof of this attachment1  
and we are told that ,churchill was sent
 into practical banishment1 but to an   
ostensible command in ,tangier1 or into 
the ,low ,countries4 ,the ,duchess of   
,cleveland made her kinsman a present of
 #ejjjl41 with which he promptly        
purchased an annuity of #ejjl41 and so  
laid a foundation to his fortunes4      
,england was for a time in close        
alliance with ,france1 and it was then  
and there that the young officer--he    
held a commission in the                
,guards--learned scientific warfare     
under those past-masters in the art of  
war1 ,cond and ,turenne4 ,he remained   
for five years in ,flanders1 and during 
that time distinguished himself at      
numerous places1 more especially at the 
siege of ,maestricht1 where #8the       
handsome ,englishman1' as ,turenne      
called him1 was thanked for his services
 by ,louis ,,xiv4  ,returning to        
,england1 he was married privately to   

,sarah ,jennings1 whose family1 like his
 own1 had suffered great misfortunes in 
the cause of the ,stuarts4 ,she had been
 introduced to ,court1 and had obtained 
a position there as maid-of-honour to   
,james's second wife1 the young and     
beautiful ,mary of ,modena1 by the      
interest of her elder sister1 the       
#8,belle ,jennings' of ,grammont1 who   
had held a similar post during the      
lifetime of the first ,duchess of ,york4
 ,she and her sister were the only      
virtuous women in all that court1 and   
neither the cajoleries of the ,king nor 
his brother availed anything to induce  
them to join the ranks of the ,nell     
,gwynnes1 the ,barbara ,palmers1 or the 
,louise de ,querouaille1 whose shame    
helped to swell the peerage4            
,illustration3    ,,sarah1   ,,duchess  
,,of   ,,marlborough4   ,sarah ,jennings
 was not the equal of her sister in     
beauty1 of whom ,grammont says #8she had
 a complexion of dazzling fairness1     
luxuriant hair of a light golden colour1

 an animated countenance1 and the most  
beautiful mouth in the world4 ,nature   
had adorned her with every charm1 to    
which the ,graces had added the         
finishing touches4 ,she gave you the    
idea of ,aurora1 or of the ,goddess of  
,spring1 as the poets depict those      
divinities4' ,she did not quite come up 
to this standard1 but1 if the judgment  
of her contemporaries and the truth of  
the painter's brush may be accepted on  
her behalf1 she would have been the     
foremost beauty at ,whitehall or ,saint 
,james's had not her sister already held
 that distinction4 ,kneller's portrait  
of her shows a face of considerable     
beauty1 poised charmingly upon a        
graceful neck and fringed with flowing  
curls and with luxuriant hair as fine1  
one would dare contend1 as that of her  
sister ,frances1 the theme of that      
,french gossip4 ,she has in all her     
portraits that piquant beauty which     
shines out of glancing eyes1 full and   
luscious 7eyes which the ,churchills    

have inherited to the present day72 that
 comes of a departure from regularity of
 feature2 which is exhibited most       
charmingly in the nose1 tip-tilted ever 
so little1 but destructive of all       
coldness and frigid hauteur of          
appearance2 eyes eloquent1 nose         
rebellious1 chin a little cleft and     
firm2 lips somewhat rich and ripe1 and  
with a sensuousness that must have been 
three parts the convention that obtained
 among the courtly painters of the time4
 ,do you wonder1 looking at her         
counterfeit presentment1 that she should
 have been the ultimate ruler of that   
great commanding officer2 the scourge of
 ,ministers of ,state2 or that the      
,queen--,anne1 the most paltry puppet of
 a sovereign which modern times afford  
our astonished gaze--should have been   
for years entirely under her thumb8 ,she
 was a woman of imperious and           
ungovernable temper1 shrewd withal1 if  
not a little shrewish2 accomplished and 
clever enough to have proved1 for a     

time1 a match for the intriguers who    
beset the ,throne during the last years 
of the seventeenth century and the first
 of the eighteenth4 ,during a great part
 of ,queen ,anne's reign the country1 it
 has been truly said1 was ruled by a    
,triumvirate3 the ,duchess of           
,marlborough ruled her mellifluous ,mrs4
 ,morley1 the ,queen2 the ,duke had1 in 
reality1 fulfilled the kingly function  
of going forth to battle and defeating  
the enemies of the nation2 while        
,godolphin ruled the ,parliament in his 
absence4 ,but the greatest of these1 in 
council1 was the ,duchess4 ,the ,queen  
was a quantit ngligable1 and            
,marlborough himself1 very accurately1  
if contemptuously1 described her in the 
,courts of ,europe as #8a very good sort
 of a woman4' ,anne reigned1 but did not
 govern1 but #8,mrs4 ,freeman' had      
ambition enough1 and very nearly the    
capacity1 to govern everybody but       
herself2 and there the want of          
self-control and her woman's reckless   

tongue betrayed her4  ,there is no doubt
 that the ,duchess was extremely fond   
of1 and ambitious for1 her husband2 and 
that the love was mutual may readily be 
gathered from the ,duke's letters to his
 wife years after their marriage4 ,he   
writes after ,ramillies3 #8,i did not   
tell my dearest soul in my last my      
design of engaging the enemy if possible
 to a battle1 fearing the concern she   
has for me might make her uneasy4444 ,if
 ,i could begin life over again1 ,i     
would devote every hour of it to you1   
but as ,god has been pleased to bless   
me1 ,i do not doubt but he will reward  
me with some years to end my days with  
you4' ,this was twenty-eight years after
 their marriage1 and is eloquent of     
,churchill's rare constancy and faithful
 heart4 ,but though he appears from his 
letters so uxorious a husband1 he       
exercised a judicious restraint upon his
 feelings on occasion1 and his naturally
 equable1 calm1 and reserved temper     
stood him in good stead when the        

,duchess was more than usually          
unreasonable and furious4 ,thus there is
 a story told of her1 that once1 in     
order to vex him who admired her        
beautiful hair so greatly1 she cut off  
those shining tresses which ,kneller has
 painted so well and laid them on the   
,duke's dressing-table4 ,but1 however   
much he was pained by this act of       
singular spite1 he showed nothing of it 
by his manner4 ,he scarcely seemed to   
notice them1 and when she came again to 
look for them they were gone1 and no    
word said4 ,she had failed that time1   
and did not dare to mention the         
circumstance4 ,but1 after the ,duke's   
death1 in collecting his papers1 she    
found her hair which she had cut off    
years before treasured up in a secret   
place among his most cherished          
possessions4 ,she was used to tell the  
tale herself1 and when she came to this 
part1 she invariably broke down and     
#8fell a-crying' for shame and grief4   
#8,the beauty of the ,duchess of        

,marlborough1' says ,horace ,walpole1   
#8had always been of the scornful and   
imperious kind1 and her features and air
 announced nothing that her temper did  
not confirm2 both together1 her beauty  
and temper1 enslaved her heroic lord4'  
,she was pugnacious beyond all bounds1  
and commanded fear and respect1 even    
when she was not loved1 by her undoubted
 abilities4 ,she had a son and four     
daughters4 ,the son died in early youth2
 her daughters all became peeresses1 and
 they and their daughters were harried  
by her continually4 ,she affected to be 
fond of her granddaughter1 the ,duchess 
of ,manchester1 daughter of the ,duchess
 of ,montagu1 her youngest child4 ,she  
said to her one day1 #8,duchess of      
,manchester1 you are a good creature1   
and ,i love you mightily--but you have a
 mother6' #8,and she has a mother1'     
replied the ,duchess of ,manchester4    
,and she had1 indeed1 in a superlative  
degree4  #8,the great ,sarah' was1 in   
fact1 never happy unless she had some   

quarrel on hand4 ,she was offended by   
her granddaughter1 ,lady ,anne          
,egerton's conduct in arranging a       
marriage between her brother and a      
daughter of ,lord ,trevor4 ,this        
alliance certainly could not fail to be 
galling to the widowed ,duchess1 who1   
now that her husband was dead1 idolised 
his memory and pursued with an          
unquenchable hatred all those who had   
opposed him in former years4 ,for ,lord 
,trevor had been one of the great       
,duke's bitterest enemies2 and now for a
 grandson of ,marlborough to marry a    
daughter of one who had reviled him and 
had sat in the seat of the scorner6 ,it 
was too much4 ,she had a portrait of her
 granddaughter brought her1 and1 to show
 her hatred1 painted the face black and 
wrote an inscription for it1 #8,she is  
much blacker within4'  ,her temper had  
grown more furious with her advancing   
years1 soured as she had been by the    
ultimate revolt of ,anne against her    
imperious and insulting behaviour toward

 her ,majesty in public4 ,she had given 
the ,queen her gloves and fan to hold   
during ,state ceremonies1 and affected  
not to hear when spoken to4 ,certainly  
no royal favourite had ever before held 
power by the uncompromising frankness   
with which the ,duchess of ,marlborough 
treated the ,queen2 and whatever else   
may be laid to her charge1 neither      
flattery nor a cringing attitude1       
fulsome adulation nor obsequious        
humility1 can be attributed to her4 ,all
 those qualities of the sycophant are to
 be found in the character of ,abigail  
,hill1 the poor relation for whom the   
,duchess had found a small position in  
the royal nursery1 and who managed by   
these meannesses to alienate the        
affections of the weak and sullen       
,queen4 ,courts were different then1 and
 politics entered largely even into the 
doings and attention of the royal       
domestics4 ,abigail ,hill1 who had been 
engaged as a rocker of royal or princely
 cradles1 exercised her influence1      

tutored as it was by ,mr4 ,secretary    
,harley1 upon the ,queen1 who dismissed 
the ,duchess of ,marlborough from her   
office as ,mistress of the ,robes1 and  
with the dismissal of the ,duchess fell 
the ,ministry of ,marlborough and       
,godolphin4  ,marlborough1 who was as   
able a diplomat as he was a soldier1 who
 knew the secrets of every ,european    
,court1 was unconscious of the plottings
 and backstairs influences which were   
undermining his own power4 ,the         
,duchess1 too1 knew nothing until their 
political ruin was accomplished1 and    
then all was in vain4 ,although the     
conqueror of so many hard-fought fields 
and the crafty overreacher of astute    
statesmen might plead for the           
reinstatement of his wife with all his  
eloquence1 and even go on his knees to  
implore the ,queen's favour1 the        
steadfast obstinacy of a stupid woman   
oppressed for years1 and too weak for   
revolt until now1 was proof against all 
the matchless services and traditions of

 the man2 and the position which the    
great ,sarah's arrogance and folly had  
lost them the ,marlboroughs never       
regained4  #8,the ,viceroy over the     
,queen1' as she had been termed1 was no 
longer heard2 even when she went in     
person to ,kensington ,palace1 the      
,queen would no longer listen to her4   
#8,dear ,mrs4 ,morley' and #8,dearest   
,mrs4 ,freeman' were estranged for ever1
 and though six years later the ,queen  
died1 and that commonplace dynasty the  
,house of ,hanover came to the throne in
 the person of ,george ,i41 neither the 
,duke nor the ,duchess of ,marlborough  
ever again held the power which had once
 been theirs4 ,marlborough died in      
#agbj4 ,his wife survived him for over  
twenty-four years1 dying at the advanced
 age of eighty-four4 ,age did not wither
 her resolution nor custom stale her    
pugnacity4 ,she still panted1 like the  
war-horse in ,job1 for the fray2 she    
sniffed contention from afar1 and kept  
,death himself waiting an unconscionable

 time4 ,a year before her death1 when   
very ill and like to shuffle off this   
mortal coil1 her physicians1 in         
consultation over her bed1 upon which   
she lay in apparent unconsciousness1    
decided that she must either be         
blistered or she must die4 #8,must' was 
no word to utter in her presence2       
compulsion was not to be thought of or  
applied to that proud spirit4 #8,i won't
 be blistered1 and ,i won't die1' she   
exclaimed1 with her old fire and        
vehemence--and she did neither at that  
time4  ,she died1 possessed of immense  
wealth1 at ,marlborough ,house1 on      
,october #ahth1 #agdd4 ,she left an     
income of #cj1jjjl4 a year to her       
grandson1 ,charles1 ,duke of            
,marlborough1 and the same to his       
brother2 while her hatreds were shown in
 the legacies she bequeathed to ,pitt   
7afterwards ,earl of ,chatham7 and to   
the ,earl of ,chesterfield1 in          
recognition of their opposition to one  
of her pet aversions1 ,sir ,robert      

,walpole4  ,the mother of that doughty  
champion of the ,church in the          
thirteenth century1 ,robert de ,insula1 
,bishop of ,durham from #abgd to #abhc1 
must have been the very ideal of a      
shrew4 ,the ,bishop rose to his high    
station from quite a menial office in   
the monastery of ,durham1 and his origin
 was so lowly that he had no family     
name1 but is supposed to have assumed   
one from his birthplace of ,holy        
,island1 off the ,durham coast4 ,the    
monkish chronicler of ,waverley calls   
him ,halieland1 and the ,monk of        
,lanercost dubs him #8,robertus de      
,coquin1' from which it would seem that 
even these old historians had their     
prejudices4 ,however that may be1 the   
,bishop was either not ashamed of his   
origin1 or else had all the vanity of a 
#8self-made' man1 for he was not slow to
 allude to the original meanness of his 
birth on occasion1 as the following     
anecdote may show3--#8,the ,bishop was  
once at ,norham1 and the ,lord of       

,scremerston sent him a present of some 
country ale4 ,the ,bishop had long been 
unused to such humble beverage1 yet1    
from respect to the donor1 and also to  
the good report of the liquor1 he tasted
 a cup of it--et non sustinens statim a 
mensa surgens evomuit4 8,see10 said he1 
8the force of custom3 you all know my   
origin1 and that neither from my parents
 nor my country can ,i derive any taste 
for wine1 and yet now my country liquor 
is rendered utterly distasteful to me40'
  ,to his mother the ,bishop gave a     
train of male and female servants1 and  
an honourable establishment1 as befitted
 the parent of one come to such high    
dignity as to be ,bishop ,palatine of   
,durham4 ,he visited her afterwards1 and
 apparently found the dame in anything  
but a sweet temper4  #8,what ails my    
sweet mother8' says he2 #8how fares     
she8'  #8,never worse1' quoth she4      
#8,and what ails thee1 then1 or troubles
 thee8' asks the good son4 #8,hast thou 
not men and women and attendants        

sufficient8'  #8,yea1' quoth she1 #8and 
more than enough4 ,i say to one1 8,go10 
and he runs2 to another1 8,come hither1 
fellow10 and the varlet falls down on   
his knee2 and1 in short1 all things go  
on so abominably smooth that my heart is
 bursting for something to spite me1 and
 pick a quarrel withal4' ,and with that 
she fell a-weeping4  ,lady ,hester      
,stanhope1 daughter of ,charles1 third  
,earl ,stanhope1 granddaughter of the   
great ,earl of ,chatham1 and niece of   
,william ,pitt1 was a woman of unbounded
 vanity1 arrogance1 and ill-temper4 ,a  
technical termagant she could not be1   
for she was never married1 and that was 
perhaps a better fate which met ,general
 ,sir ,john ,moore at ,corunna than     
would have been his had he survived his 
disastrous retreat1 and returned to     
,england4 ,for ,hester ,stanhope was his
 fiance2 and if he had married her1 she 
could not have failed of keeping him in 
a life-long subjection4  ,she was       
undoubtedly a clever woman1 witty1 and  

with some learning2 but all her doings  
were eccentric and fantastical beyond   
measure1 and tinctured strongly with    
hereditary madness4 ,for her father was 
something more than strange in his      
doings4 ,he1 too1 had gifts1 but they   
were overlaid by a singular species of  
mental alienation4 ,he was a furious    
,republican1 and it is related of him   
that1 in accordance with those          
principles1 he caused his armorial      
bearings to be obliterated from his     
plate1 his carriages1 and from          
everything he possessed4 ,he halted only
 before the destruction of the iron     
gates of his house at ,chevening3 having
 removed even the magnificent tapestry  
given to his ancestor1 the great        
,stanhope1 by the ,king of ,spain1 for  
the reason that it was 7to quote        
himself7 #8damned aristocratical4' ,he  
sold all his ,spanish plate1 weighing   
six hundredweight1 for the same whim1   
and was used to sleep at once with      
twelve blankets over him and his bedroom

 window wide open4  ,illustration3      
,,lady ,,hester   ,,stanhope4   ,two of 
a kind rarely agree together1 and so it 
is not surprising to find that ,lady    
,hester ,stanhope felt her father's     
society insupportable4 ,she left home   
and went to reside with her grandmother1
 the dowager ,lady ,chatham1 in         
,somersetshire2 afterwards going to keep
 house for her uncle1 ,william ,pitt1 in
 his retirement at ,walmer4 ,a year     
later1 he became again ,prime ,minister1
 and she1 acting as one of his assistant
 private secretaries1 moved for a time  
in the centre of political and social   
turmoil4 ,but when ,pitt died1          
broken-hearted at the news of           
,napoleon's victory of ,austerlitz1 his 
niece suddenly lost the prestige that   
had given her a factitious importance1  
and was fain to retire to the obscurity 
of ,montagu ,square1 where for a time   
she kept house for her two half-brothers
 who both held commissions in the army4 
,war breaking out1 her occupation was   

gone1 and1 after a short retirement to  
,builth1 she set out upon some          
extraordinary escapades in travelling   
which finally landed her in ,syria1     
where she lived until #ahci in a        
rambling house--half monastery1 half    
palace--on the slopes of ,mount         
,lebanon1 intriguing with or against the
 ,porte1 and the petty ,sheiks and      
,emirs of the surrounding country4 ,she 
was in receipt of a ,government pension 
of #abjjl4 a year for a very long       
period1 and had considerable wealth     
besides1 until her reckless extravagance
 dissipated all and brought her not only
 to poverty1 but in debt to the amount  
of #dj1jjjl4 ,she kept up a considerable
 household in her seclusion upon ,mount 
,lebanon1 and retained a physician all  
to herself4 ,certainly she never paid   
him anything1 but he seems to have taken
 it out in a kind of posthumous         
vilification1 acting as the ,boswell to 
her ,johnson1 and publishing1 some years
 after her death1 three volumes of      

memoirs1 correspondence1 and            
conversations4 ,he was a poor1          
invertebrate sort of a creature1 this   
physician1 who was content to stay      
beside a patient--or rather an          
employer--who not only paid him nothing1
 but consistently refused to follow his 
advice1 and medicined herself with      
nostrums4 ,it was sufficient for him to 
sit by her1 to listen to her            
harangues--she made nothing of talking  
incessantly for twelve hours at one     
sitting--and to endure the plentiful    
abuse of doctors in general1 and himself
 in particular1 which was the staple of 
her conversation3 to have been at length
 sent away with the curt intimation that
 he #8had better take himself off1'     
seems to have aroused no resentment in  
this much-enduring man4 ,certainly1 he  
mentions that he was1 personally and    
professionally1 subjected constantly to 
stinging insults1 and that he suffered  
from her tyranny2 but it would not      
appear that he ever grew restive under  

these repeated indignities4  ,lady      
,hester was1 indeed1 no mealy-mouthed   
blue-stocking4 ,she had a rasping       
tongue1 used on occasion language rather
 more free than welcome1 and had the    
voice of a drill-sergeant4 ,added to    
these qualifications1 she possessed     
biceps of unusual development1 and used 
her muscles with effect on the miserable
 men and women ,arabs over whom she     
ruled with the rigour of a ,draco or a  
military martinet4 ,she rather prided   
herself on the straight and forcible    
blows she could deliver1 and lost no    
opportunity of demonstrating her prowess
 upon her trembling slaves4 ,her        
#8physician' remarks that #8from her    
manner towards people it would have     
seemed that she was the only person in  
creation privileged to abuse and to     
command2 others had nothing else to do  
but to obey and not to think4 ,she was  
haughty and overbearing1 impatient of   
control1 born to rule1 and more at her  
ease when she had a hundred persons to  

govern than when she had only ten4444   
,never was any one so fond of wielding  
weapons1 and of boasting of her         
capability of using them upon a fit     
occasion1 as she was4' ,she kept a kind 
of armoury in her bedroom1 and slept    
with a steel mace beside her1 a         
battle-axe and an assortment of daggers1
 poniards1 and other murderous cutlery  
of that description lying within easy   
reach2 and1 if she did not actually use 
them upon the cowering wretches with    
whom she was surrounded1 was probably   
owing rather to their care in not giving
 offence to this terrible she-devil than
 to any forbearance on her part4 ,she   
stunned her entourage by her unusual    
combination of masculine and feminine   
powers of offence and defence4 ,she     
could storm and rage1 could nag and     
scold with the most proficient virago1  
and fists or mace were ready when those 
more womanlike resources were exhausted4
  ,she had the most excruciatingly      
ridiculous pride of birth and rank1 and 

was vain of her personal appearance long
 after any such beauty as she ever      
possessed had fled4 ,that beauty could  
only have been of complexion2 for if her
 resemblance to her uncle1 ,william     
,pitt1 upon which she always insisted1  
was more than a fancy1 her features must
 have been mean and insignificant4 ,pitt
 was the object of her whole-souled     
admiration1 and the ,pitt family--she   
was a ,pitt on her mother's side--she   
apparently considered to be above all   
the ordinary rules and restrictions of  
honour and probity which bind1 or are   
supposed to bind1 meaner mortals4 ,her  
physician tells us that she had on an   
occasion asked him if such an one ought 
not to act in a certain way4            
#8,undoubtedly1' said he2 #8a person of 
principle would not act otherwise4'     
#8,principle6' she exclaimed4 #8,what do
 you mean by principle8 ,i am a ,pitt6' 
,nothing was impossible after this4     
,but it seems likely that this1 like    
most of her sayings and doings1 was     

merely a pose1 meant to attract         
attention and make her notorious4 ,it   
was doubtless to the same end that she  
professed to dabble in magic and        
astrology1 and that she affected a      
belief in the proximate coming of the   
,messiah4 ,awaiting ,his arrival1 she   
kept two ,arabian mares constantly      
saddled which had never been ridden1 and
 these mares had each a special         
attendant whose business was to keep    
everything ready for the celestial      
visitor1 who should ride thence in      
triumph to ,jerusalem with ,lady ,hester
 ,stanhope as a kind of lady-guide6     
,and so to end this galaxy of shining   
lights in the whole art and mystery of  
shrewishness and termagancy4 ,many more 
there be1 but these are the most        
notorious of that unblessed company4    
,turn we now to the unhappy marriages of
 men of genius1 whose careers in        
literature and art are public property4 
,the instances are so numerous in which 
men of genius or great mental activity  

have embittered their lives by marriages
 which have proved fruitful of discord  
and strife1 that the proposition1       
#8,should ,genius be mated8' might well 
be negatived in discussion4  ,warning   
examples1 from ,socrates with his       
shrewish ,xanthippe1 to the morose and  
bearish ,thomas ,carlyle1 who rendered  
his wife's existence miserable with his 
acerbity and ill-humours1 are frequent  
throughout the centuries1 and           
sufficient1 one might think1 to deter   
,genius from mating with ,common-sense1 
or to hinder ,common-sense from running 
the risks of a lifelong companionship   
with ,genius4 ,and yet artists and      
literary men1 musicians and             
philosophers1 marry after the repeated  
failures of their predecessors to secure
 domestic happiness2 and women1 in their
 ambition to marry men who show         
evidences of successful careers in      
intellectual occupations1 have no       
hesitancy in risking a martyrdom of     
mental solitude and loneliness that is  

certainly less directly painful and     
agonising than the fate of those        
stalwarts who died for conscience sake1 
but which is drawn out indefinitely in  
years of apparent neglect and obvious   
aloofness from all the interests of     
their husbands' lives4  ,but1 in        
considering the unhappy relations that  
have often existed between the men of   
genius who have married women of        
ordinary1 or less than ordinary1 mental 
capacity1 the indictment must fall far  
heavier upon the women1 because--as will
 be shown--the active ill-humours and   
spiteful opposition of their wives have 
far outweighed the indifference or want 
of thought of which these men of parts  
may have been unconsciously guilty in   
their homes4 ,it is1 and has always     
been1 the especial attribute or         
misfortune of genius that it should be  
mentally isolated and solitary1         
impatient of and uncaring for petty     
domestic details and the sordid cares of
 housekeeping4 ,pegasus is a brute      

transcended beyond the dray-horse that  
pounds the earth with vibrant hoofs4 ,he
 soars above the mountain-tops and      
breathes the rarefied air of the most   
,alpine heights4 ,he does not go well in
 double harness and so has no companion 
on his journeys4  ,the wives of great   
geniuses1 of the inspired among poets1  
painters1 musicians1 or litterateurs1   
cannot accompany them in their          
exaltations of thought or help them in  
technique2 nor1 to do those ladies the  
merest justice1 have they often essayed 
the feat2 having been1 like the wife of 
,racine1 content to regard their        
husbands as journeymen who earned their 
living and kept the household going by  
the production of so much painted canvas
 or so many written sheets of paper for 
which incomprehensible people absurdly  
gave large sums of money4 ,racine's wife
 made it a stupid boast that she had    
never read a line of her husband's      
verse2 ,heine's ,parisian grisette never
 attempted to understand her great man's

 genius2 and many other wives of genius 
have remained incapable of understanding
 the merits or demerits of their        
husbands' work4 ,but these comparatively
 harmless freaks of stupidity and silly 
lack of appreciation1 though mortifying 
to one's vanity1 were nothing in        
comparison with such active revolts and 
exhibitions of termagancy as were       
indulged in by the wife of ,young1      
author of the ,night ,thoughts1 who     
threw her husband's manuscripts on the  
fire1 or by ,dante's wife--he had better
 have remained in celibacy1 mourning    
,beatrice all his life--who gave him    
some sort of insight to an earthly      
,inferno4 ,she had no notion of allowing
 him to have his own way in anything1   
and #8he had to account for every sigh  
which he heaved4' ,banishment could not 
really have harmed him1 since his wife  
remained behind4  ,sir ,thomas ,more was
 another unhappy ,benedick1 if we are to
 believe the gossips4 ,his first        
marriage was peaceful enough2 but his   

second1 when he married a widow1 one    
,alice ,middleton1 was all strife and   
contention4 ,perhaps1 he wrote his      
,utopia1 #8,a fruteful and pleasaunt    
,worke of the beste ,state of a publyque
 ,weale1 and of the newe yle called     
,utopia1' as a welcome relief from      
domestic broils4 ,his conscience would  
not allow him to recognise the validity 
of ,henry the ,eighth's marriage with   
,anne ,boleyn1 and he was cast into the 
,tower for his pains1 presently to be   
executed on that spot rich in the blood 
of martyrs for all manner of adequate   
and inadequate causes--,tower ,hill4    
,his wife1 with the essentially         
,jesuitical feminine mind1 came daily to
 where he lay in the ,tower and abused  
him soundly for not giving in his       
adherence to the ,king's wishes4 #8,thou
 mightest1' said she1 #8be in thine own 
house1 hadst thou but done as others3'  
and ,i am not sure but what she was in  
the right2 for life is pleasant and     
self-preservation the whole duty of man4

 ,an unruly conscience has been the sole
 undoing of many a worthy man1 both     
before and since the time of ,sir       
,thomas ,more4  ,they say that          
,shakespeare's was an unhappy wedded    
life4 ,ann ,hathaway--      #8,she hath 
a will1 she hath a way'--  was          
twenty-six when he married her1 while he
 was but eighteen4 ,how eloquent1 then1 
this excerpt from ,twelfth ,night--     
#8,let the woman take     ,an elder than
 herself3 so wears she to him2     ,so  
sways she level in her husband's heart3 
,for1 boy 7however we do praise         
ourselves71     ,our fancies are more   
giddy and infirm1     ,more longing1    
wavering1 sooner lost and worn1         
,than women's are4     ,then let thy    
love be younger than thyself1     ,or   
thy affection cannot hold the bent4'    
,but do not put too much faith in the   
biographical value of literary          
expression1 nor assume that these views 
have much bearing upon ,shakespeare's   
married life4 ,his sonnets breathed love

 and passion for ladies dark or fair1   
and very various2 but then 'twas his    
trade to assume what he did not feel1   
and to trick it out in glowing pages of 
dainty poesy4 ,i1 for one1 would not    
regard them nor their like as arguments 
or evidence in favour of divorce4 ,so1  
in all charity to sweet ,will1 let us   
scout the suggestion of a writer who    
wrote some years since on the unhappy   
marriages of men of genius1 even as ,i  
do here1 that #8we have the internal    
evidence of his sonnets that he was not 
a faithful husband4' ,we had far better 
keep to the scanty facts which have come
 down to us respecting ,shakespeare's   
life4 ,we know1 for instance1 that he   
left ,stratford-on-,avon and settled in 
,london but four years after his        
marriage4 ,it cannot be said with       
certainty whether or not his wife came  
up with him from ,warwickshire1 but it  
is likely enough that she did not4 ,and 
yet can we reasonably blame any one less
 impersonal than ,thalia or ,melpomene  

for his leaving his wife behind him in  
that old town beside the ,avon8 ,i would
 suppose that ,ann ,hathaway was        
uncongenial to him in so far that1 and  
because she had no sort of appreciation 
of1 nor any love of1 the medium of words
 in which her husband worked4  ,it was  
not until he had reached his            
forty-eighth year that ,shakespeare     
returned to his native town4 ,he lived  
there with his wife and his daughter    
,judith for four years1 and then died4  
,dryden's wife must have been1 no less  
than ,carlyle1 #8gey ill to live wi'4'  
,he married1 in his thirty-third year1  
the ,lady ,eliza ,howard1 daughter of   
the ,earl of ,berkshire1 a woman whose  
intellect was as cloudy as her          
reputation1 and whose violence ofttimes 
caused the poet to wish her dead4 ,he   
wrote an epitaph in anticipation of that
 consummation he most devoutly wished2  
but she survived him1 and1 singularly   
enough1 the epitaph which was never used
 has survived them both to the present  

day4 ,he said--      #8,here lies my    
wife2 here let her lie2      ,now she's 
at rest--and so am ,i4'  ,and so they   
are4  ,wycherley1 too1 had his connubial
 infelicities4 ,he married the widowed  
,countess of ,drogheda1 whom ,macaulay  
describes as ill-tempered1 imperious1   
and extravagantly jealous4 ,nothing is  
more likely than that she had due cause 
for jealousy1 for ,wycherley was no     
saint4 ,but she managed to keep him     
under restraint1 and only permitted him 
to meet his cronies under her           
surveillance4 ,that is1 he was suffered 
to entertain his fellow-dramatists in a 
room of the tavern that stood opposite  
their house1 whence she could observe   
him through the open windows1 and assure
 herself that no woman was of the       
company4  ,wycherley had1 doubtless1    
himself to blame for this espionage and 
suspicion2 but jealousy is1 perhaps1 as 
frequently unfounded as deserved4       
,berlioz1 for instance1 who married the 
charming ,henrietta ,smithson1 an ,irish

 operatic singer1 was driven1 through   
his wife's unreasonable jealousy1 to    
elope with the first pretty girl he met4
 ,he had been madly infatuated with her1
 and she seems to have wed him1 not from
 affection1 but because of his          
importunity2 and1 even so1 she did not  
comply until after an accident had      
unfitted her for the stage1 and she was 
fain to retire4 ,but indifference       
changed to an acute jealousy after      
marriage4 ,she so wearied the musician  
with her baseless suspicions1 that at   
last he felt the absurdity of bearing   
the odium of sin without having         
experienced its pleasures4 ,so1 one fine
 day1 he packed a portmanteau and sped  
to ,brussels in company with #8another1'
 to speak in the manner of the lady     
novelists4  ,comte1 the founder of the  
,positivist religion1 and the defender  
of marriage1 led a wretched married     
life4 ,hooker1 the #8judicious1' seems  
not to have deserved that epithet in so 
far as his choice of a domestic tyrant  

was concerned4 ,sir ,richard ,steele    
should not have married a second time2  
he might have known that the good       
fortune of his first choice militated   
against the chance of equal luck on     
another occasion4 ,montaigne--good      
soul--declared that he would not marry  
again after his untoward experiences2   
no1 not if he had the choice of wisdom  
incarnate4  ,man who has once been wed  
deserves the consolations of heaven1    
according to the story in which a soul  
7masculine7 comes to the gates of       
,paradise and knocks4 ,peter catechises 
him1 but finds his record inadequate1   
and is about to turn him away4 #8,stay1 
though1' says the saint2 #8have you been
 married8' #8,yes1' replies the soul4   
#8,enter1 then1' rejoins the janitor1   
compassionately2 #8you have deserved    
much from your sufferings on earth6'    
#8,ah6' cries the spirit1 enlarging upon
 its claims to present bliss from past  
ills2 #8,i have been married twice6'    
#8,twice8' shouts ,peter1 indignantly2  

#8away with you4 ,paradise is not for   
fools6'  ,how little1 then1 did ,milton 
deserve the ,paradise of which he wrote1
 for he was married no less than three  
times1 and that1 too1 after the         
unpleasant experiences of his first     
alliance4 ,mary ,powell1 his first wife1
 was a shrew4 ,she was the daughter of  
an ,oxfordshire ,royalist1 and1         
disgusted and alarmed at the severity   
with which ,milton1 who was then a      
dominie1 treated the boys under his     
charge1 she left him after the honeymoon
 and returned home4 ,for three years she
 kept apart1 paying no attention to his 
requests for her to return1 and she only
 rejoined him after ,naseby1 when1 the  
,royalist hopes being shattered1 it     
seemed advisable that she and her people
 should seek the shelter that the roof  
of so uncompromising a ,puritan         
afforded4 ,he received her1 and for the 
remaining fifteen years she made his    
life miserable4  ,addison made a great  
social triumph for eighteenth-century   

literature when he married the widowed  
,countess of ,warwick1 but in doing so  
he sowed the whirlwind for his own      
reaping4 ,her arrogance was monumental1 
and she made her stately house at       
,kensington so unbearable to him1 that  
he was used to fly her presence and take
 refuge in a little country tavern that 
stood in those days on the high road to 
,london1 at the corner of a lane which  
is now the ,earl's ,court ,road4        
,domestic strife drove him to the       
bottle1 and the #8,spectator' died      
#8like a ,christian1' indeed1 but with  
an intellect clouded by drink4  ,in more
 recent times1 the marriages of ,byron1 
,bulwer-,lytton1 and ,dickens were      
notoriously unhappy2 but1 certainly1    
these three men of genius must have been
 almost insufferable husbands4 ,dickens 
had as good a conceit of himself as ever
 ,scot desired or prayed for--and genius
 that can usurp the functions of the    
critics and calculate the candle-power  
of its effulgence to a ray more or less 

must needs be intolerable either at the 
club or in the home4 ,byron took        
advantage of that independence of moral 
laws which is supposed to be the        
especial attribute of genius--and indeed
 7although one need not have any absurd 
prejudices in favour of morality7 he was
 but a sordid scamp1 with a bee in his  
bonnet and a fluent facile gift of      
versification4 ,his person1 his title1  
and 7above all7 his reputation for      
immorality made his fame and sold his   
works3 and what unholy trinity more     
powerful than this for popularity8      
,bulwer-,lytton was an odious fellow1 a 
#8curled darling1' jewelled1 scented1   
and self-centred4 ,he wrote1 presumably 
of himself3 #8,clever men1 as a rule1 do
 choose the oddest wives4 ,the cleverer 
a man is the more easily1 ,i believe1 a 
woman can take him in4' ,that1          
doubtless1 was a piece of special       
pleading on behalf of his own extreme   
cleverness1 for he was the victim of a  
virago who was the more terrible for    

being a little less than sane and more  
than eccentric4 ,he bought her off with 
an annuity of #djjl41 but lawsuits      
directed against him afforded a spice to
 her life1 and persecutions in the form 
of novels written #8with a purpose'--the
 purpose of abusing him--and of public  
altercations1 rendered ,lytton's        
marriage with ,rosina ,wheeler one of   
the most bitterly regretted actions of  
his life4 #8,there were faults on both  
sides'--to adopt the saying of the      
gossips3 he was irritable and violent1  
and she was--violent and irritable6 ,nor
 was she readily put aside4 ,for years  
after their separation she never wearied
 of drawing attention to her wrongs1 and
 it was in #aheh1 during ,lytton's      
candidature for ,hertford1 that she     
appeared before the hustings on which he
 was preparing to address the free and  
enlightened voters1 and burst upon his  
vision1 an excited female1 dressed in   
yellow satin and flourishing an         
umbrella1 while she denounced him at the

 top of her voice as a perjured villain4
 ,she was no meek and uncomplaining     
martyr3 she proclaimed her wrongs urbi  
et orbi1 and compelled attention4  ,had 
,coleridge such a wife1 his digestion   
would have been a great deal more       
disordered than it was used to be in the
 conjugal difficulties that led him to  
leave his home4 ,had ,romney been wed to
 so strenuous a shrew1 he had not       
deserted his wife for over thirty years 
without some public scandal2 and had    
,tommy ,moore espoused any but the most 
easy-going and long-suffering of wives1 
his amorous verse would have purchased  
him many a wigging1 ,i warrant4 ,that   
modern ,anacreon wrote a poem on the    
origin of woman which would have been   
impossible to the uxorious1 and is      
sufficient to set the ,modern ,woman    
shrieking with indignation4 ,and yet the
 women of his time delighted in his     
society6 ,those verses are1 for some    
unexplained reason1 not to be found in  
the later editions of his works4 ,in    

them he versifies the ,rabbinical theory
 of woman's origin--that ,adam had a    
tail1 and it was cut off to make ,eve4  
,this legend may be found by those who  
understand ,hebrew1 and would like to   
read the original version1 in the       
,talmud2 but these are ,moore's lines-- 
#8,they tell us that woman was made of a
 rib        ,just picked from a corner  
so snug in the side2      ,but the      
,rabbins swear to you that this is a    
fib1        ,and 'twas not so at all    
that the sex was supplied4      #8,the  
old ,adam was fashioned1 the first of   
his kind1        ,with a tail like a    
monkey1 full yard and a span2      ,and 
when ,nature cut off this appendage     
behind1        ,why1 then woman was made
 of the tail of the man4      #8,if such
 is the tie between women and men1      
,the ninny who weds is a pitiful elf2   
,for he takes to his tail1 like an      
idiot1 again1        ,and makes a most  
damnable ape of himself4      #8,yet1 if
 we may judge as the fashion prevails1  

,ev'ry husband remembers the original   
plan1      ,and1 knowing his wife is no 
more than his tail1        ,why1 he     
leaves her behind him as much as he     
can4'  ,and certainly ,moore left his   
wife as much as possible1 while he      
hob-nobbed with princes and was the lion
 of ,london salons4  ,but search the    
ranks of married men who have achieved  
fame1 and few shall you find who found1 
and wed1 their affinity4 ,affinities1 it
 should seem1 are rare when once you    
come to brains of more than ordinary    
calibre3 your dull dog more readily     
finds his match than wits or witlings1  
and the community of the commonplace is 
an easier consummation than the happy   
combination of the unconventional4      
,illustration3 ,,the ,,struggle ,,for   
,,the ,,breeches4  ,v4--,,domestic      
,,strife4   ,married life is one long   
series of compromises--when1 indeed1 it 
is not a state of open warfare4 ,the    
#8mere man' must be a little less than  
just1 and more than a little selfish1   

who would assure himself of retaining   
his authority over the 7more or less7   
#8pleasing partner of his heart2' for   
woman1 be she never so sweet and        
gracious1 is always greedy of power and 
domination1 and though with #8sweet     
,nellie1' your #8heart's delight1' the  
wish to rule may be possibly but a      
harmless and altogether amiable         
eccentricity1 and your abandonment to   
her humours the wearing of golden and   
purely ornamental fetters1 yet in       
process of time your benevolent despot  
may become more despotic and less       
benevolent1 and your chains transmuted  
to more sordid guise4 ,but with         
imperious ,julia or haughty ,georgina   
'tis another matter from the first2 your
 initial complaisance spells infirmity  
of purpose1 and having once abdicated   
your authority1 you are undone for      
always1 and may for ever tarry in       
attendance upon the good lady's whims   
and #8ways1' while acquaintances sit in 
the seat of the scorner and opine that  

not you but the woman #8wears the       
breeches4'  ,o6 most miserable and      
ineffectual of men2 you who have the    
will-power of a jelly-fish and the      
courage of a cockroach6 ,the #8better   
half' is not yourself2 your partner has 
achieved her own #8betterment1' and your
 compensation is all to seek for the    
#8worsement' that remains your portion4 
,life is compact of compromise1 but keep
 it outside the home and rule absolute  
beneath your roof-tree4 ,then shall one 
have satisfaction and the other be      
convinced of orthodoxy in observing     
apostolic precepts4 ,compromise1 as     
,captain de ,valabrque found1 is        
pleasing to neither side4 ,a friend     
discovered him dressing for dinner at an
 unusual hour1 and1 in reply to the     
friend's inquiry1 he said3 #8,it suits  
my wife to dine at four1 and it is      
convenient for me to dine at six2 and so
 we sit down to table at five1 which    
suits neither of us4'  ,dual control1 in
 fact1 works smoothly neither socially  

nor politically1 and though there may be
 wisdom in a multitude of counsellors1  
folly abides in divided authority       
everywhere1 and nowhere more certainly  
than in domestic matters4  ,the ,new    
,women--female gendarmes1 censors of    
morals1 and would-be domestic           
tyrants--are quite alive to these       
objections against the division of      
authority1 but their agreement goes no  
further4 #8,woman ought to be and shall 
be' the head of the family1 they say1   
and no statement is too rash for woman  
on the war-path to make or subscribe4   
,woman has ever been a religious animal1
 and even the modern woman differs      
little from her forbears in this        
respect2 but do just remind her of ,st4 
,paul's views on the silence and        
subjection of her sex1 and you learn    
that the militant saint was an ass--no  
less6 ,and yet ,paul remains the patron 
saint of the foremost diocese in        
,christendom4 ,see to it1 ,o ,new       
,woman6 ,disestablish him1 and erect    

some more complaisant saint in his      
stead4 ,certainly his opinions and      
teaching flout the feminine ,ego4#b     
#8,no sensible woman1' wrote one of the 
most sensible of her sex1#c #8objects to
 acknowledging what is the fact1 that   
she is physically and mentally inferior 
to man4444 ,the position of woman has   
always been1 and will be1 a subject     
one4444 ,the man has always been1 and   
will continue to be1 the head of the    
family1 and the position of the woman1  
to my mind1 is perfectly summed up in   
the words1 8,her desire shall be to her 
husband1 and he shall rule over her40'  
,for women to claim supremacy comes     
somewhat too late in the day to be      
effectual4 ,there is a very pretty      
paradox concealed in the fact that their
 numbers constitute their weakness1 for 
numerical preponderance is usually found
 to be an increase of strength2 but the 
converse is the case where women are    
concerned4 ,a wife may be had for the   
mere asking by any man1 so great is the 

excess of women1 and still so widespread
 the old-fashioned and right-minded     
notion that marriage rounds off and     
completes a woman's life4 ,scarce a man 
so ill-formed in mind or body1 or so    
ill-found in worldly estate but could   
become a ,benedick on the morrow1 an he 
chose4 ,man's supremacy must infallibly 
last while he remains in a minority4 ,he
 is already perfectly conscious that    
there are not enough of him to go round1
 and that this fact puts a premium upon 
his sex2 and he can afford to smile at  
the women who have theories and air them
 so persistently4 ,for himself there is 
no occasion to protest so loudly1 while 
nature continues to endow him with a    
larger quantity and a superior quality  
of brains3 gives him greater bodily     
strength1 and--best boon of all--keeps  
him in a minority4  ,and yet1 although  
women are inferior to men in such       
important matters as intellect and      
strength1 the #8hen-pecked husband' has 
ever been common1 and the #8wearing of  

the breeches' by the wife has been a    
phrase1 time out of mind1 to denote     
#8,she who with furious blows and       
loud-tongued noise      ,doth tempests  
in her quiet household raise4'  #8,there
 is a proverbial phrase to signify that 
the wife is master in the household1 by 
which it is intimated that 8she wears   
the breeches40' ,the phrase is1 it must 
be confessed1 an odd one1 and is only   
half-understood by modern explanations2 
but in medival story we learn how #8she'
 first put in her claim to wear this    
particular article of dress1 how it was 
first disputed and contested1 how she   
was at times defeated2 but how1 as a    
general rule1 the claim was enforced4   
,there was a ,french poet of the        
thirteenth century1 ,hugues ,piancelles1
 two of whose faiblaux1 or metrical     
tales1 entitled the ,faiblau d',estaumi 
and the ,faiblau de ,sire ,hains et de  
,dame ,anieuse1 are preserved in        
manuscript1 and have been printed in the
 collection of ,barbazan4 ,the second of

 these relates some of the adventures of
 a medival couple1 whose household was  
not the best regulated in the world4    
,the name of the heroine of this story1 
,anieuse1 is simply an old form of the  
,french word ennuyeuse1 and certainly   
,dame ,anieuse was sufficiently         
ennuyeuse to her lord and husband4      
#8,sire ,hains1' her husband1 was1 it   
appears1 a maker of #8cottes' and       
mantles1 and we should judge1 also1 by  
the point on which the quarrel turned1  
that he was partial to a good dinner4   
,dame ,anieuse was of that disagreeable 
temper that1 whenever ,sire ,hains told 
her of some particularly nice thing     
which he wished her to buy for his meal1
 she bought instead something which she 
knew was disagreeable to him4 ,if he    
ordered boiled meat1 she invariably     
roasted it1 and further contrived that  
it should be so covered with cinders and
 ashes that he could not eat it4        
#8,this1' observes ,mr4 ,wright1 #8would
 show that people in the ,middle ,ages1 

except1 perhaps1 professional cooks1    
were very unapt at roasting meat4' ,this
 state of things had gone on for some   
time1 when one day ,sire ,hains gave    
orders to his wife to buy him fish for  
his dinner4 ,the disobedient wife1      
instead of buying fish1 provided nothing
 for his meal but a dish of spinach1    
telling him falsely that all the fish   
stank4 ,this led to a violent quarrel1  
in which1 after some fierce wrangling1  
especially on the part of the lady1     
,sire ,hains proposes to decide their   
difference in a novel manner4 #8,early  
in the morning1' he said1 #8,i will take
 off my breeches and lay them down in   
the middle of the court1 and the one who
 can win them shall be acknowledged to  
be master or mistress of the house4'    
#8,le matinet sans contredire           
,voudrai mes braies deschaucier1        
,et enmui nostre cort couchier2      ,et
 qui conquerre les porra1      ,par bone
 reson monsterra      ,qu'il est sire ou
 dame du nostre4'  ,dame ,anieuse       

accepted the challenge with eagerness1  
and each prepared for the struggle4     
,after due preparation1 two neighbours1 
friend ,symon and ,dame ,aupais1 having 
been called in as witnesses1 and the    
breeches1 the object of dispute1 having 
been placed on the pavement of the      
court1 the battle began1 with some      
slight parody on the formalities of the 
judicial combat4  ,the first blow was   
given by the ,dame1 who was so eager for
 the fray that she struck her husband   
before he had put himself on his guard2 
and the war of tongues1 in which at     
least ,dame ,anieuse had the best of it1
 went on at the same time as the other  
battle4 ,sire ,hains ventured a slight  
expostulation on her eagerness for the  
fray1 in answer to which she only threw 
in his teeth a fierce defiance to do his
 worst4 ,provoked at this1 ,sire ,hains 
struck at her1 and hit her over the     
eyebrows so effectively that the skin   
was discoloured2 and1 overconfident in  
the effect of this first blow1 he began 

rather too soon to exult over his wife's
 defeat4 ,but ,dame ,anieuse was less   
disconcerted than he expected1 and      
recovering quickly from the effect of   
the blow1 she turned upon him and struck
 him on the same part of his face with  
such force1 that she nearly knocked him 
over the sheepfold4 ,dame ,anieuse1 in  
her turn1 now sneered over him1 and     
while he was recovering from his        
confusion1 her eyes fell upon the object
 of contention1 and she rushed to it1   
and laid her hands upon it to carry it  
away4 ,this movement roused ,sire       
,hains1 who instantly seized another    
part of the article of his dress of     
which he was thus in danger of being    
deprived1 and began a struggle for      
possession1 in which the said article   
underwent considerable dilapidation1 and
 fragments of it were scattered about   
the court4 ,in the midst of this        
struggle the actual fight recommenced1  
by the husband giving his wife so heavy 
a blow on the teeth1 that her mouth was 

filled with blood4 ,the effect was such 
that ,sire ,hains already reckoned on   
the victory1 and proclaimed himself lord
 of the breeches4      #8,hains fiert sa
 fame enmi les denz      ,tel cop1 que  
la bouche dedenz      ,li a toute emplie
 de sancz      8,tien ore10 dist ,sire  
,hains1 8anc      ,je cuit que je t'ai  
bien atainte1      ,or t'ai-je de deux  
colors tainte--      ,j'aurai les braies
 toutes voies40'  ,but the immediate    
effect on ,dame ,anieuse was only to    
render her more desperate4 ,she quitted 
her hold on the disputed garment1 and   
fell upon her husband with such a shower
 of blows that he hardly knew which way 
to turn4 ,she was thus1 however1        
unconsciously exhausting herself1 and   
,sire ,hains soon recovered4 ,the battle
 now became fiercer than ever1 and the  
lady seemed to be gaining the upper     
hand1 when ,sire ,hains gave her a      
skilful blow in the ribs1 which nearly  
broke one of them1 and considerably     
checked her ardour4 ,friend ,symon here 

interposed1 with the praiseworthy aim of
 restoring peace before further harm    
might be done1 but in vain1 for the lady
 was only rendered more obstinate by her
 mishap2 and he agreed that it was      
useless to interfere before one had got 
a more decided advantage over the other4
 ,the fight therefore went on1 the two  
combatants having now seized each other 
by the hair of the head1 a mode of      
combat in which the advantages were     
rather on the side of the male4 ,at this
 moment one of the judges1 ,dame        
,aupais1 sympathising too much with     
,dame ,anieuse1 ventured some words of  
encouragement1 which drew upon her a    
severe rebuke from her colleague1       
,symon1 who intimated that if she       
interfered again there might be two     
pairs of combatants instead of one4     
,meanwhile1 ,dame ,anieuse was becoming 
exhausted1 and was evidently getting the
 worst of the contest1 until at length1 
staggering from a vigorous push1 she    
fell back into a large basket which lay 

behind her4 ,sire ,hains stood over her 
exultingly1 and ,symon1 as umpire1      
pronounced him victorious4 ,he thereupon
 took possession of the disputed article
 of raiment1 and again invested himself 
with it1 while the lady accepted        
faithfully the conditions imposed upon  
her1 and we are assured by the poet that
 she was a good and obedient wife during
 the rest of her life4  ,illustration3  
,,man ,,mastered4  ,from a rare print   
after ,van ,mecken4  ,in this story1    
which affords a curious picture of      
medival life1 we learn the origin of the
 proverb relating to the possession and 
the wearing of the breeches4 ,hugues    
,piancelles concludes his faiblau by    
recommending every man who has a        
disobedient wife to treat her in the    
same manner2 and medival husbands       
appear1 to have followed his device     
without fear of laws against the        
ill-treatment of women4  ,van ,mecken1 a
 ,flemish artist who flourished in the  
fifteenth century1 has left a record of 

domestic strife in an engraving which   
shows the wife as victor in the struggle
 for the breeches2 and an ungenerous    
victor she would seem to have been1     
judging from the picture1 where she is  
seen engaged at once in putting on the  
hard-won garments and striking her      
husband on the head with a distaff4 ,he1
 poor fellow1 is following1 under       
compulsion1 some merely feminine        
occupation1 and seems to find it        
uncongenial4  ,illustration3 ,a         
,,judicial ,,duel4  ,from an old ,german
 ,,ms4  ,in ,germany1 during medival    
times1 domestic differences were settled
 by judicial duels between man and wife1
 and a regular code for their proper    
conduct was observed4 #8,the woman must 
be so prepared1' so the instructions    
run1 #8that a sleeve of her chemise     
extend a small ell beyond her hand like 
a little sack3 there indeed is put a    
stone weighing iii pounds2 and she has  
nothing else but her chemise1 and that  
is bound together between the legs with 

a lace4 ,then the man makes himself     
ready in the pit over against his wife4 
,he is buried therein up to the girdle1 
and one hand is bound at the elbow to   
the side4'  ,the seventeenth century    
seems to have been prolific of domestic 
broils1 for an unusual number of        
pamphlets exist which have as their     
subject the attempts of women to obtain 
the upper hand over their husbands4 ,one
 there is1 called ,women's ,fegaries1   
which is especially bitter4 ,a spirited 
woodcut on the cover shows a man and    
woman struggling for a pair of breeches1
 which certainly would be no gain to    
either of them1 except as a trophy of   
victory1 so immensely large are they4   
,the woman wields a ladle2 the man      
brandishes something that may be either 
a sword or a cudgel1 and both seem in   
deadly earnest4 ,the contents of this   
counterblast to women's efforts are     
extravagant and amusing2 but you shall  
judge for yourself3--  #8,the proverb   
says1 8,there is no wit like the woman's

 wit10 especially in matters of         
mischief1 their natures being more prone
 to evil than good2 for1 being made of a
 knobby crooked rib1 they contain       
something in their manners and          
dispositions of the matter and form of  
which they were created1 as may be      
instanced in several examples1 of which 
we shall in this sheet of paper give you
 some of them4  #8,at a town called     
,stocking ,pelham1 in the county sic of 
,england1 not long ago there happened a 
terrible fray betwixt the man of the    
house on one side1 and his wife and his 
maid on the other side1 and though two  
to one be great odds at football1 yet1  
by the strength of his arm1 and a good  
crab-tree cudgel1 they felt by their    
bruised sides that he had gotten the    
victory4 ,now1 though the man's name was
 ,william1 yet the wife for a great     
while did want her ,will--,i mean1 how  
to be revenged upon him--until at last  
she effected1 by policy1 what she could 
not compass by strength2 for he1 putting

 his head out of a window that had      
neither ,glass nor ,lettice belonging to
 it1 but only a riding shutter1 he      
having no eyes behind him1 she nimbly   
stept to the shutter1 and ran it up     
close to his neck1 so that he was locked
 fast1 as in a ,pillory2 where1 whilst  
the one kept him in1 the other with a   
great washing-beetle1 belaboured his    
body1 as your ,seamen do stock-fish4    
,the maid-servant1 a strong-docht wench1
 with both her hands laying on1 and at  
every blow saying3--      #88,remember  
how you beat my dame3      ,now look for
 to be served the same40  #8,the poor   
man1 to be rid of his tormentors1 was   
glad to pray1 crave1 and entreat1 and   
promise whatsoever they would have him1 
vowing never after to use ,crab-tree    
,cudgel again1 nor so much as to eat of 
,mustard1 if it were made of ,verjuice1 
out of detestation to ,crabs and        
,crab-trees4      #8,thus1 women1 you   
may learn a ready way      ,to make     
resisting husbands to obey3             

,although to baste your sides their     
fingers itches1      ,you may1 by       
policy1 obtain the breeches4  #8,it is  
in the memory of man1 since in          
,black-,fryers a ,taylor and his ,wife  
fell out about superiority4 ,the ,taylor
 fretted1 and his ,wife scolded1        
whereupon this ninth part of a man      
challenged her out into the street to   
try the conquest1 having provided       
broom-staves there for that purpose4    
,being both entered the lists1 the woman
 thought it best policy to begin first1 
and1 catching up a ,ram's ,horn1 which  
lay at her foot1 she threw it at her    
husband1 which by chance lighted on his 
forehead at the great end1 and stuck    
there as fast as ever it grew upon the  
,ram's head2 which1 having done1 she ran
 in at the door again4 ,the ,taylor1    
being mad to be served so1 went to run  
after her1 but1 making more haste than  
good speed1 he ran his horn into the    
staple of the door1 where he was so     
entangled by his brow antlers1 that he  

could stir no further1 which the woman  
perceiving1 she got up one of the       
broom-staves1 and so belaboured poor    
,pilgarlick1 that1 in great humility1 he
 asked her forgiveness1 and resigned the
 right of the breeches up to her4       
#8',twas in the sound of ,clerkenwell   
bells1 and therefore of long standing1  
that a ,plaisterer had gotten a most    
damnable ,scold to his wife1 who used to
 fetch him from the ,ale-house4 ,one    
night1 coming home three-quarters drunk1
 she acted the part of ,zantippe1 and   
made the house to ,ring with her        
scolding4 ,this music was so untunable  
in her ,husband's ,ears1 that1 getting a
 cudgel in his hands1 he fell to        
belabouring her until he made her to ask
 him for forgiveness1 and promise never 
to scold so again4 ,having thus1 as he  
thought1 got an absolute conquest over  
her tongue1 he went quietly to bed1     
where he slept soundly1 whilst she lay  
awake studying of mischief4 ,in the     
morning1 before he awaked1 she examined 

his pockets for money 7the common tricks
 of a good many women71 but found       
nothing in them1 save only some lath    
nails2 these did she take and set       
upright all about the room1 which done1 
she gets a ,pail of ,water in her hands1
 and1 calling aloud1 commanded him to   
rise1 which he refused to do2 whereupon 
she throws the pail of water upon the   
bed4 ,this so vexed him that1 starting  
suddenly up1 he went to run after her2  
when his naked feet lighting upon the   
lath nails1 he was forced to slacken his
 pursuit1 being so mortified with them  
that he could neither stand nor walk4   
,whereupon his wife1 taking the same    
cudgel he had beaten her withall the    
night before1 told him that what was    
sauce for a ,goose was sauce for a      
,gander1 and so be-rib-roasted him1 that
 with great penitency he now asked her  
forgiveness1 resigning the whole right  
and title of the ,breeches unto her1 and
 that though he was superior to her in  
strength1 yet he was inferior to her in 

policy4'      #8,when as that women do  
themselves apply      ,to mischief1 they
 perform it readily4      ,nothing will 
serve them when their fingers itches    
,until such time they have attained the 
breeches4      ,be it to scold1 to      
brangle1 scratch1 or fight1      ,their 
hands are heavy though their tails are  
light4  #8,in that part of ,albion which
 is called ,veal ,country1 there        
formerly lived a merry saddler who had  
gotten a scolding carrion to wife that  
would frequent the ale-house almost     
every day1 from which he was forced to  
fetch her home at night1 where he would 
bestow some rib-roast upon her to give  
her a breathing that she might not grow 
foggy with drinking so much ale4        
,however1 the woman did not take it so  
kindly but that she vowed to be revenged
 upon him for it2 and to put her        
determination into practice1 one day she
 asked two of her boon companions to get
 her husband to the ale-house and make  
him drunk1 which they performed         

according to her desire1 leading him    
home about ten o'clock at night1 and    
placing him in a chair with a good fire 
before him1 where he presently fell fast
 asleep3 now had the woman a fit        
opportunity to put her design into      
practice1 when pulling out his feet     
towards the fire1 and the fire so near  
towards them as it almost touched them1 
she went to bed1 when quickly his shoes 
began to fry1 and his feet were         
mortified with the burning1 so that he  
made a most sad1 dolorous noise4 ,she1  
knowing the fish was caught that she had
 laid wait for1 went down with a good   
ashen wand in her hand4 8,you           
ill-conditioned slave10 quoth she1 8must
 you come home drunk and make such a    
noise that one cannot rest in quiet for 
you8 ,i will make you to roar for       
something10 and thereupon fell on him   
with as much ,fury as a ,pyrat doth on a
 ,merchant's bark4 ,the poor ,sadler was
 forced to endure all1 for he could not 
help himself2 but1 desiring her to be   

merciful1 he resigned up the breeches to
 her1 she tryumphing in her double      
conquest1 first paying him who used to  
pay her1 and1 secondly1 bringing him    
into that condition that for            
three-quarters of a year afterwards he  
did not stir out of doors to fetch her  
from the ale-house3--      #8,women1    
like pismires1 have their sting1        
,and several ways to pass their ends do 
bring4      ,their tongues are nimble1  
nor their hands crazy1      ,although to
 work1 each limb they have is lazy4     
#8,many other examples might we instance
 of the imperiousness of women1 and what
 stratagems they have invented for      
gaining the ,breeches from their        
,husbands1 but these ,i think may       
suffice for one single sheet of paper1  
and1 indeed1 as many as can well be     
afforded for four ,farthings2 but least 
any one should complain of a hard       
pennyworth1 to make him amends1 ,i will 
afford him a song into the bargain3--   
#8,,the ,,song4      #8,when women that 

they do meet together1      ,their      
tongues do run all sorts of weather1    
,their noses are short1 and their       
tongues they are long1      ,and tittle1
 tittle1 tattle is all their song4      
#8,now that women 7like the world7 do   
grow worse and worse1 ,i have read in a 
very learned authour1 viz41 ,poor       
,robin's ,almanack1 how that about two  
hundred and fifty years ago 7as near as 
he could remember7 there was a great    
sickness almost throughout the whole    
world1 wherein there dyed ,forty-five   
millions1 eight hundred1 seventy-three  
thousand1 six hundred and ninety-two    
good women1 and of bad women only three 
hundred1 forty and four2 by reason      
whereof there hath been such a scarcity 
of good women ever since3 the whole     
breed of them being almost utterly      
extinct4'         99       99       99  
99       99  ,and so an end4 ,but the   
author of this pamphlet is not alone in 
his satires of domestic infelicity4     
,here you shall see1 in ,the ,woman to  

the ,plow1 how these things struck our  
forbears4 ,he has good ideas1 this      
seventeenth-century versifier1 but his  
gifts in the matter of rhyme and rhythm 
are all too slight3--   ,,the ,,woman   
,,to ,,the ,,plow ,,and ,,the ,,man ,,to
 ,,the ,,hen-,,roost2  ,,or1 ,a ,,fine  
,,way ,,to ,,cure ,a ,,cot ,,quean4     
,both men and women1 listen well1     ,a
 merry jest ,i will you tell1           
,betwixt a good man and his wife        
,who fell the other day at strife4      
,he chid her for her huswivery1     ,and
 she found fault as well as he4  ,he    
says3--      #8,sith you and ,i cannot  
agree1     ,let's change our            
work'--#8,content1' quoth she4     #8,my
 wheel and distaff1 here1 take thou1    
,and ,i will drive the cart and plow4'  
,this was concluded 'twixt them both3   
,to cart and plow the good wife goeth4  
,the good man he at home doth tarry1    
,to see that nothing doth miscarry4     
,an apron he before him put3            
,judge3--,was not this a handsome slut8 

,he fleets the milk1 he makes the       
cheese2     ,he gropes the hens1 the    
ducks1 and geese2     ,he brews and     
bakes as well's he can2     ,but not as 
it should be done1 poor man4     ,as he 
did make his cheese one day     ,two    
pigs their bellies broke with whey3     
,nothing that he in hand did take       
,did come to good4 ,once he did bake1   
,and burnt the bread as black as a      
stock4     ,another time he went to rock
     ,the cradle1 and threw the child o'
 the floor1     ,and broke his nose1 and
 hurt it sore4     ,he went to milk1 one
 evening-tide1     ,a skittish cow1 on  
the wrong side--     ,his pail was full 
of milk1 ,god wot1     ,she kick'd and  
spilt it ev'ry jot3     ,besides1 she   
hit him a blow on th' face     ,which   
was scant well in six weeks' space4     
,thus was he served1 and yet to dwell   
,on more misfortunes that befell        
,before his apron he'd leave off1       
,though all his neighbours did him      
scoff4     ,now list and mark one pretty

 jest1     ',twill make you laugh above 
the rest4     ,as he to churn his butter
 went     ,one morning1 with a good     
intent1     ,the cot-quean fool did     
surely dream1     ,for he had quite     
forgot the cream4     ,he churned all   
day with all his might1     ,and yet he 
could get no butter at night4           
',twere strange indeed1 for me to utter 
,that without cream he could make       
butter4     ,now having shew'd his      
huswivery1     ,who did all things thus 
untowardly1     ,unto the good wife     
,i'll turn my rhyme1     ,and tell you  
how she spent her time4     ,she used to
 drive the cart and plow1     ,but do't 
well she knew not how4     ,she made so 
many banks i' th' ground1     ,he'd been
 better have given five pound     ,that 
she had never ta'en in hand1     ,so    
sorely she did spoil the land4     ,as  
she did go to sow likewise1     ,she    
made a feast for crows and pies1        
,she threw away a handful at a place1   
,and left all bare another space4       

,at the harrow she could not rule the   
mare1     ,but bid one land1 and left   
two bare3     ,and shortly after1       
well-a-day1     ,as she came home with a
 load of hay1     ,she overthrew it1    
nay1 and worse1     ,she broke the cart 
and kill'd a horse4     ,the goodman    
that time had ill-luck2     ,he let in  
the sow and killed a duck1     ,and1    
being grieved at his heart1     ,for    
loss on's duck1 his horse and cart1     
,the many hurts on both sides done1     
,his eyes did with salt water run4      
#8,then now1' quoth he1 #8full well ,i  
see1     ,the wheel's for her1 the      
plow's for me4     ,i thee entreat1'    
quoth he1 #8good wife1     ,to take my  
charge1 and all my life     ,i'll never 
meddle with huswivery more4'      ,the  
goodwife she was well content1     ,and 
about her huswivery she went2     ,he to
 hedging and to ditching1     ,reaping1 
mowing1 lading1 pitching4  ,and let us  
hope that1 like the ,prince and         
,princess in the fairy tale1 they lived 

happily ever afterwards4 ,but ,i have my
 doubts4     ,,vi4--,,women ,,in        
,,men',s ,,employments4   ,that ,woman's
 true profession is marriage is a fact  
commonly blinked in these times when1   
owing to their greater numbers1 it is   
become inevitable that many women must  
go through life as spinsters4 ,not every
 woman may become the mistress of a home
 in these days when the proportion of   
females to males is growing larger and  
more evident year by year3 not all the  
women and girls can attain to that ideal
 of marriage which they so ardently     
desire1 now that women outnumber the men
 in ,great ,britain and ,ireland alone  
by nearly a million2 and so1 to cover   
their failure in life1 the unmarried    
have started the heresy that woman's    
mission is domination rather than       
submission2 that woman's sphere of      
action and influence is not properly    
confined to the home1 but is rightly    
universal1 and that marriage is an evil 
which destroys their individuality4     

,these failures1 rightly to call those  
who cannot achieve legalised coverture1 
are1 of course1 of all classes1 but     
chiefly and equally of course1 they     
belong to the wage-earning class1 and   
must seek employment wherewith to       
support their existence in an undesired 
spinsterhood4 ,the growing competition  
of women with one another in feminine   
employments1 the higher education of    
modern girls1 the increasing tendency of
 men to defer marriage1 or to remain    
bachelors altogether--all these causes  
have led to woman's turning from the    
long-since overstocked markets for      
woman's work to the more highly-paid    
functions fulfilled by men4 ,then1 also1
 the new employments and professions    
evolved from the increasingly complex   
civilisation of this dying nineteenth   
century1 have been almost exclusively   
feminised by the femmes soles who are   
occupied nowadays as clerks1 shorthand  
writers1 journalists1                   
type-writers--vulgo #8typists'--doctors1

 dentists1 telephonists1 telegraphists1 
decorators1 photographers1 florists1 and
 librarians4 ,a lower social stratum    
takes to such employments as match-box  
making1 printers' folding and           
bookbinding1 and a hundred other crafts4
 ,where deftness of manipulation comes  
into request these wage-earning women   
have proved their right to their new    
places2 but in the occupations of       
clerks1 cashiers1 telephonists1         
telegraphists1 and shorthand writers    
they have sufficiently demonstrated     
their unfitness1 and only retain their  
situations by reason of the lower wages 
they are prepared to accept1 in         
competition with men1 and through the   
sexual sentimentality which would rather
 have a pretty woman to flirt with in   
the intervals of typewriting than a     
merely useful and unornamental man4 ,it 
may be inevitable1 and in accordance    
with the inexorable law of              
self-preservation1 that women will      
continue to elbow men from their stools2

 but woman cannot reasonably expect1 if 
she competes with man in the open       
market1 to receive the old-time         
deference and chivalric treatment--real 
or assumed--that was hers when woman    
remained at home1 and when the title of 
spinster was not an empty form4 ,she    
must be content to forego much of the   
kindly usage that was hers before she   
became man's competitor2 and if she     
fails in market overt1 where chivalry   
has no place1 why1 she has no just cause
 of complaint4 ,if the time is past when
 women were regarded as a cross between 
an angel and an idiot it is quite by her
 own doing1 and if she no longer        
receives the deference that is the due  
of an angel1 nor the compassionate      
consideration usually accorded an idiot1
 no one is to blame but herself4  ,if   
she would be content to earn her wages  
in those manly employments she has      
poached1 and to refrain from the cry of 
triumph she cannot forbear1 she would be
 a much more gracious figure1 and1      

indeed1 entitled to some sympathy2 but  
foolish women are clamorously greedy of 
self-glorification1 and still instant1  
in and out of season1 in reviling the   
strength and mental agility of men which
 surpass their own and forbid for ever  
the possibility of female domination4   
,and yet women1 one might reasonably    
suppose1 have no just cause of complaint
 in the matter of their mental and      
physical inferiority4 ,the feminine     
quality of cunning has ever stood them  
in good stead1 and by its aid they have 
grasped advantages that could not have  
been theirs by right of their muscles or
 their reason4 ,cunning has taught them 
to use their shortcomings as claims for 
consideration1 and to urge courtesy as  
their due in order to handicap men in   
the race4 ,in the same manner ,mr4      
,gladstone was wont1 when all reasonable
 arguments had failed him1 to urge his  
age as a claim to attention and a       
compliance with his policy2 and1        
whenever a cricket match is played      

between an eleven of gentlemen and a    
corresponding number of ladies1 the men 
must fain tie one hand behind their     
backs and fend as best they may with the
 other1 and use a stump in place of a   
bat4 ,again1 when gloves are wagered on 
a race1 who ever heard of pretty ,fanny 
paying when her wager was lost8 ,you    
shall see an instance of feminine       
unreasonableness in competition with man
 in this tale of a race3--,mrs4         
,thornton1 the wife of a ,colonel       
,thornton1 rode on horseback1 in #ahjd1 
a match with a ,mr4 ,frost1 on the ,york
 racecourse4 ,the course was four miles1
 and the stakes were #ejj guineas1 even4
 ,the race was run before an immense    
concourse1 and eventually the lady lost6
 ,she could not1 of course1 considering 
her sex1 contain herself for            
indignation1 and her letter to the ,york
 ,herald which followed made complaint  
against ,mr4 ,frost for having been     
lacking in courtesy in #8distancing her 
as much as he could4' ,she challenged   

that discourteous sportsman to another  
match1 but he very rightly considered   
that sport is masculine1 and did not    
accept4  ,many thousands of girls and   
unmarried women live nowadays upon their
 earnings in a solitary existence4 ,they
 are of all grades and classes2 they    
have entered the professions1 and even  
invention is numbered among their       
occupations1 although the inability of  
women to originate is notorious4        
,according to a statement in the ,times 
of ,december1 #ahhh1 #8out of #bejj     
patents issued to women by the          
,government of the ,united ,states1 none
 reveal a new principle4'  ,we have not 
many women inventors in these islands4  
,women have not had sufficient courage  
or rashness for dabbling in applied     
science1 or meddling with mechanics4    
,they owe even the sewing-machine1 and  
all the improvements upon its crude     
beginnings1 to man1 and would have been 
content to wield the needle in slow and 
painful stitches for all time but for   

his intervention4  ,it was left for the 
,government to bring the employment of  
women forward1 and successive           
,postmasters-,general have sanctioned   
their introduction to post-offices2 but 
as post-office clerks they have failed  
to give satisfaction4 ,they readily     
assume official insolence1 and carry it 
to an extent unknown even to ,foreign   
,office male clerks1 who were1 before   
the introduction of women into the      
,civil ,service1 supposed to have       
attained the utmost heights of #8side'  
and official offensiveness4 ,many have  
been the bitter letters addressed to the
 ,times--that first resort of the       
aggrieved--upon the neglect and         
contumely heaped upon the public by the 
,postmaster-,general's young ladies4    
,but this neglect and studied insolence 
has1 it must be owned1 been chiefly     
shown by these ,jacquettas in office to 
their own sex2 and ladies have been     
observed to wait1 with rage and         
vexation1 for the tardy pleasure of     

female post-office clerks in            
condescending to notice their presence4 
,at one time the business of            
post-offices became served almost       
entirely by women4 ,this was due not to 
any ,governmental delusions upon the    
score of their merits1 but was owing    
entirely to a cheeseparing economy which
 employed inferior wits at a lower wage 
than would have been acceptable to men4 
,even such extremely busy offices as    
those of ,ludgate ,circus and ,lombard  
,street were filled with women1 who     
elbowed men from their stools1 and      
became so #8flurried' in the press of   
business that they frequently gave      
either too much change or too little    
over the counter1 or committed such     
vagaries as giving ten shillings' worth 
of stamps for half-a-crown2 or were     
incapable of weighing letters and       
parcels properly1 so that the           
,post-office revenues were increased by 
packages being more than sufficiently   
stamped1 or else were augmented by the  

fines levied upon addressees in cases   
where their inherent inability to juggle
 with figures had caused inadequate     
prepayment4 ,indeed1 the woman who can  
reason from cause to effect1 or can     
employ the multiplication-table         
accurately 7except under circumstances  
in which time is no object7 is as much a
 #8sport'--as ,professor ,huxley might  
say--as a white raven or a cat born with
 six legs4  ,the storm of indignation   
was so great over these unbusinesslike  
doings1 that even that elephantine      
creature--the ,postmaster-,general--was 
moved1#d and the chiefest of the ,city  
post-offices are served now by men4     
,but the pert miss of the suburban      
post-office1 and the establishments just
 beyond the ,city1 is still very much in
 evidence4 ,it is she who1 with a crass 
stupidity almost beyond belief1 misreads
 the telegrams handed in1 and despatches
 the most extraordinary and extravagant 
messages that bear no sort of           
resemblance to their original draughts1 

and it is her sister at the other end of
 the wire who cannot interpret the dot  
and dash of the ,morse system aright1   
and so further complicates affairs4 ,the
 marvels and conveniency of telegraphy  
have been praised1 and not beyond their 
due1 but the other side of the medal has
 to be shown in the extraordinary and   
disquieting #8blunders1' perpetrated    
chiefly by female telegraphists1 which  
spread dismay and consternation through 
such vital substitutions as #8father is 
dead1' for the original message of      
#8father is bad'2 #8all going well3 a   
little fire at #g o'clock this morning1'
 in which #8fire' is transmitted instead
 of #8girl'2 and the appalling error    
#8,come at once3 mother much diseased1' 
in which the word #8diseased' usurps the
 place of #8distressed4'  ,the absurd   
way in which people have been summoned  
by telegraph to meet friends at places  
that not only did those friends not     
contemplate1 but which either do not    
exist at all1 or1 at least1 not in the  

situations some of these erring         
telegrams assign them1 is within the    
experience of almost every one who is in
 the way of frequently receiving these  
pink missives at the post-office4       
#8,meet me #e o'clock ,saint ,mary      
,abbots ,church1 ,kensington1' has been 
rendered1 #8,meet me #e o'clock ,saint  
,mark ,abchurch1 ,kennington4' ,the     
substitution of #8,piccadilly' for      
#8,pevensey'2 the omission of the second
 word in the address of #8,manchester   
,square1' and similar vagaries are      
common4  ,of course this is not to say  
that they are only the women telegraph  
clerks who fall into these errors1 but  
the greater percentage originates with  
them4 ,the woman-clerk who receives a   
message through the wire cannot follow  
the telegraphic instrument with the     
attention that makes all the difference 
between accuracy and some dreadful      
blunder4 ,thus it is that in the domain 
of the electric telegraph the           
ineradicable tendency of her sex to     

argue from false premises1 and her      
capacity for jumping to erroneous       
conclusions are admirably well shown2   
and the system by which telegrams are   
sent lends itself in the most complete  
and remarkable way to her errors of     
anticipation4 ,the telegraphic alphabet 
now universally in use--known as the    
,morse system--consists of a series of  
dots and dashes2 and a message is       
spelled out by a laborious ticking of   
the magnetic needle at the office in    
receipt of the telegram4 ,the message is
 read1 tick by tick1 from the needle's  
rapid oscillations3--#8,your sister     
di----' #8,oh1' says the female         
telegraphist to herself1 disregarding   
the next few movements of the needle1   
#8died1 of course1' and so finishes the 
word4 ,the needle continues ticking and 
the next words are spelled out1 #8with  
us last night1 undertake----' ,the      
telegraphist adds an #8r' to that word  
to make it fit her first guess1 and     
reads off the remainder of the message1 

#8to bring her up to-morrow1' and so    
despatches an alarming telegram1 which  
should have read harmlessly enough1     
#8,your sister dined with us last night4
 ,undertake to bring her up to-morrow4' 
,these things are sufficiently dreadful1
 and leave little room for exaggeration2
 but one must scan more than doubtfully 
that tale of a telegram which when      
handed in read1 #8,i tea with ,mr4      
,smith in ,dover ,street4 ,stay for me1'
 but which was changed into #8,i flee   
with ,mrs4 ,smith to ,dover straight4   
,pray for me4'  ,as for journalism1     
women have invaded the newspaper offices
 to some purpose1 and it is owing to    
them that the modern newspaper is       
usually an undistinguished farrago of   
wild and whirling words1 ungrammatical  
at best1 and at its worst a jumble of   
more or less malicious gossip1 without  
sequence or thread of reason4 ,the      
#8lady journalist' is no respecter of   
persons or institutions1 and an easy    
impudence is natural to her             

contributions1 whether her subject be   
peer or peasant4 ,proportion is in no   
sense her gift or acquirement3 the death
 of a member of the #8submerged tenth'  
in a court off ,fleet ,street is more   
thrilling to her senses than the fall of
 a statesman from office2 the cut of a  
dress or the shade of a ribbon wears an 
importance in her eyes that the rise and
 progress of trades can never win2 and  
the babble of ,social ,science          
,congresses1 or the lecturing of        
,university ,extensionists transcends   
the ,parliamentary debater in her mind4 
#8,actuality' is her shibboleth and gush
 her output2 and the heart actuates her 
pen rather than the head4  ,the         
journalist of years bygone was a very   
different being4 ,his--for the old-time 
journalist was always masculine--his    
knowledge of frocks and flounces was    
nil2 his habitat was generally a        
pothouse1 and his speech was as often as
 not thick and husky with potations2 but
 however confused his talk1 and however 

objectionable his personality1 his      
utterances in the press were apt and    
luminous and he took no bribes4 ,in this
 last respect the name and trade of a   
#8lady journalist' are somewhat stale   
and blown upon of late1 and she has been
 revealed as the debaucher of newspaper 
morality1 who1 in league with the       
advertisement department1 praises the   
shoddy goods of the advertising         
tradesman1 while he who relies not upon 
rclame but on excellence of workmanship 
is dismissed with faint praise1 or      
mentioned not at all4 ,worse than this  
unscrupulous fending for her            
employer--editor or advertising         
manager--she stoops to gifts in coin and
 kind from eager shopkeepers1 panting to
 gain the ear and open the purse of the 
public1 and when she has a fancy for any
 #8particular' article1 she begs it with
 an assurance born of the knowledge that
 her wishes will not be refused by the  
tradesman who has that article in his   
gift4 ,he dare not do so1 for his puff  

would be missing from the #8organ' that 
would otherwise have proclaimed the     
excellence of his wares to a gulled and 
gullible world4  ,certainly1 in all the 
man's employments she has invaded1 in no
 other is woman so powerful for ill as  
in journalism4   ,,finis4   ,,london3   
,printed by ,strangeways  ,sons1 ,tower 
,street1 ,cambridge ,circus1 ,w4,c4     
,illustration     ,,works ,,by ,,the    
,,same ,,author4    ,,english ,,pen     
,,artists ,,of ,,to-,,day3 ,examples of 
their ,work1 with some  ,criticisms and 
,appreciations4 ,super royal #dto4 #c   
#cs4 net4   ,,the ,,brighton ,,road3    
,old ,times and ,new on a ,classic      
,highway4 ,with #ie  ,illustrations by  
the ,author and from ,old ,prints4 ,demy
 #hvo4 #afs4   ,,from ,,paddington ,,to 
,,penzance3 ,the ,record of a ,summer   
,tramp4 ,with #aje  ,illustrations by   
the ,author4 ,demy #hvo4 #afs4   ,a     
,,practical ,,hand-,,book ,,of ,,drawing
 ,,for ,,modern ,,methods ,,of          
,,reproduction4  ,illustrated by the    

,author and ,others4 ,demy #hvo4 #gs4   
#f;d4   ,,the ,,marches ,,of ,,wales3   
,the ,welsh ,borders1 from the ,severn  
,sea to the  ,sands o' ,dee4 ,with #aad 
,illustrations by the ,author1 and from 
,old-time  ,portraits4 ,demy #hvo4 #afs4
   ,,the ,,portsmouth ,,road3 ,annals of
 an ,ancient ,turnpike4 ,with #ajj      
,illustrations by the ,author1 and from 
other sources4 ,demy #hvo4    ,in the   
,press4     ,,elkin ,,mathews',s        
,,publications4    ,,abbott 7,,dr4 ,c4  
,c474 ,,travels ,,in ,,tree-,,top4 #bjj 
copies4 ,crown #hvo4 #es4  net4   ----  
,,the ,,birds ,,about ,,us4 ,with       
upwards of #gj ,illustrations4 ,cr4     
#hvo4  #es4 #f;d4 net4    ,shortly4     
,,binyon 7,,laurence74 ,,lyric ,,poems  
,with title-page by ,,selwyn ,,image4   
,square  #afmo4 #es4 net4               
,,bourdillon 7,f4 ,w474 ,a ,,lost ,,god4
 ,a ,poem1 with ,illustrations by ,h4   
,j4  ,,ford4 #ejj copies1 #hvo4 #fs4    
net4    ,very few remain4    ----       
,,aucassin ,,and ,,nicolette4 ,edited in

 ,old ,french and rendered in  ,modern  
,english by ,f4 ,w4 ,,bourdillon4 ,fcap4
 #hvo4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,transferred  
by the ,author to the   present         
,publisher4    ,,carman 7,,bliss7 ,,and 
,,richard ,,hovey4 ,,songs ,,from       
,,vagabondia4 ,with  ,decorations by ,t4
 ,,meteyard4 ,fcap4 #hvo4 #es4 net4     
,,chapman 7,,elizabeth ,,rachel74 ,a    
,,little ,,child',s ,,wreath3 ,a ,sonnet
  ,sequence4 #cej copies4 ,square #afmo4
 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,,coleridge 7,,hon4 
,,stephen74 ,,the ,,sanctity ,,of       
,,confession4 ,a ,romance4 #bnd         
,edition1 crown #hvo4 #cs4 net4    ,a   
few remain4    ,,crossing 7,,wm474 ,,the
 ,,ancient ,,crosses ,,of ,,dartmoor4   
,with #aa plates4 #hvo4  cloth4 #ds4    
#f;d4 net4    ,very few remain4         
,,davies 7,r4 ,r74 ,,some ,,account ,,of
 ,,the ,,old ,,church ,,at ,,chelsea1   
,,and ,,of ,,its  ,,monuments4    ,in   
preparation4    ,,de ,,gruchy           
7,,augusta74 ,,under ,,the ,,hawthorn1  
,,and ,,other ,,verses4  ,frontispiece  

by ,,walter ,,crane4 #cjj copies1 crown 
#hvo4 #es4 net4 ,also  #cj copies on    
,japanese vellum4 #aes4 net4    ,very   
few remain4    ,,diversi ,,colores      
,,series4 ,the ,series of ,books begun  
in #8,,diversi ,,colores'  by ,mr4      
,,herbert ,p4 ,,horne1 will continue to 
be published by ,mr4 ,,elkin  ,,mathews4
   ,the intention of the ,series is to  
give in a collective perfected form1    
,poems and ,essays by various writers1  
which have appeared from time to  time  
in the ,hobby ,horse4 ,the ,series will 
be edited by ,mr4 ,,horne1 and  will    
contain3--   ,no4 ,,ii4--,,carols ,,and 
,,poems4 ,by ,,selwyn ,,image4   ,no4   
,,iii4--,,essays ,,upon ,,matthew       
,,arnold4 ,by ,,arthur ,,galton4   ,no4 
,,iv4--,,poems4 ,by ,,ernest ,,dowson4  
,no4 ,v4--,,the ,,letters ,,and ,,papers
 ,,of ,,adam ,,legendre4  ,each volume  
will contain a new title-page and       
ornaments1 designed by the ,editor2 and 
will be uniform with #8,diversi         
,colores4'  ,,dowson 7,,ernest74 ,a     

,,volume ,,of ,,short ,,stories4    ,in 
preparation4   ---- ,a ,,volume ,,of    
,,poems4    ,in preparation4   ,,field  
7,,michael74 ,,sight ,,and ,,song       
7,poems on ,pictures74 #djj copies1     
fcap4 #hvo4 #es4 net4 ,very few remain4 
---- ,,stephania3 ,a ,,trialogue ,,in   
,,three ,,acts4 #bej copies1 pott #dto4 
#fs4 net4    ,very few remain4   ---- ,a
 ,,question ,,of ,,memory1 ,a ,,play    
,,in ,,four ,,acts4 #hvo4 #es4 net4     
,very few remain4   ,,galton 7,,arthur74
 ,,essays ,,upon ,,matthew ,,arnold4    
,in preparation4   ,,hallam 7,,arthur   
,,henry74 ,,the ,,poems1 together with  
his ,essay #8,on some of the            
,characteristics of ,modern ,poetry1 and
 on the ,lyrical ,poems of ,alfred      
,tennyson4' ,edited1 with an            
,introduction1 by ,,richard ,,le        
,,gallienne4 #eej copies1 fcap4 #hvo4   
#es4 net4    ,very few remain4          
,,hamilton 7,,col4 ,,ian74 ,,the        
,,ballad ,,of ,,hadji1 ,,and ,,other    
,,poems4 ,etched frontispiece by ,,wm4  

,,strang4 #eej copies1 #abmo4 #cs4 net4 
,transferred by the ,author to the      
present ,publisher4   ,,harper 7,c4     
,g474 ,,revolted ,,woman3 ,past1        
,present1 and to ,come4 ,with numerous  
,illustrations by the ,author4 ,demy    
#hvo4 #es4 net4   ,,hemingway 7,,percy74
 ,,out ,,of ,,egypt3 ,stories from the  
,threshold of the ,east4 ,with          
cover-design by ,,gleeson ,,white4      
,crown #hvo4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4   ----     
,,the ,,happy ,,wanderer4 ,with         
title-design by ,h4 ,p4 ,,horne4 #afmo4 
#es4 net4    ,in preparation4   ,,hickey
 7,,emily74 ,,verse ,,tales1 ,,lyrics1  
,,and ,,translations4 #cjj copies4 ,imp4
 #afmo4 #es4 net4   ,,hinkson           
7,,katharine74 ,,louise ,,de ,,la       
,,valli,,re1 ,,and ,,other ,,poems4     
,small #hvo4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,a few  
remain4   ---- ,a ,,volume ,,of ,,irish 
,,stories4    ,in preparation4   ,,horne
 7,,herbert ,p474 ,,diversi ,,colores4  
,poems1 with ornaments by the ,author4  
#bej copies4 #afmo4 #es4 net4   ,,image 

7,,selwyn74 ,,carols ,,and ,,poems1 with
 decorations by ,h4 ,p4 ,,horne4 #bej   
copies4 #es4 net4    ,in preparation4   
,,johnson 7,,effie74 ,,in ,,the ,,fire1 
,,and ,,other ,,fancies4 ,frontispiece  
by ,,walter ,,crane4 #ejj copies1 imp4  
#afmo4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4   ,,johnson      
7,,lionel1 ,author of ,the ,art of      
,thomas ,hardy74 ,,poems1 with          
title-design by ,h4 ,p4 ,,horne4 ,square
 crown #hvo4 #es4 net4    ,in           
preparation4   ,,le ,,gallienne         
7,r474--,see ,,hallam4   ,,letters ,,to 
,,living ,,artists4 #ejj copies fcap4   
#hvo4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,very few      
remain4   ,,marston 7,,philip ,,bourke74
 ,a ,,last ,,harvest3 ,,lyrics ,,and    
,,sonnets ,,from ,,the ,,book ,,of      
,,life4 ,edited by ,,louise ,,chandler  
,,moulton4 #ejj copies post #hvo4 #es4  
net4 ,also #ej copies on large paper1   
hand-made4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,very few
 remain4   ,,martin 7,w4 ,,wilsey74     
,,quatrains1 ,,life',s ,,mystery1 ,,and 
,,other ,,poems4 #afmo4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4 

,very few remain4   ,,murray 7,,alma74  
,,portrait ,,as ,,beatrice ,,cenci4     
,with critical notice1 containing four  
letters from ,,robert ,,browning4 #hvo4 
wrapper4 #bs4 net4   ,,noel 7,,hon4     
,,roden74 ,,poor ,,people',s            
,,christmas4 #gej copies4 #afmo4 #as4   
net4    ,very few remain4   ,,oliver    
7,,dr4 ,,george74 ,,an ,,index ,,to     
,,the ,,lives ,,of ,,the ,,bishops ,,of 
,,exeter4 ,compiled by ,j4 ,s4          
,,attwood4 #hvo4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4        
,,pinkerton 7,,percy74 ,,galeazzo3 a    
,venetian ,episode1 and other ,poems4   
,etched frontispiece1 #afmo4 #es4 net4  
,very few remain4   ,transferred by the 
,author to the present   ,publisher4    
,,probyn 7,,may74 ,a ,,new ,,volume ,,of
 ,,poems4    ,in preparation4           
,,radford 7,,dollie74 ,a ,,light ,,load4
    ,out of print4   ---- ,,songs4 ,a   
,new ,volume of ,verse4    ,in          
preparation4   ,,radford 7,,ernest74    
,,chambers ,,twain4 ,frontispiece by    
,,walter ,,crane4 #bej copies4 ,imp4    

#afmo4 #es4 net4 ,also #ej copies large 
paper4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,very few    
remain4   ,,rhymers' ,,club1 ,,the      
,,second ,,book ,,of ,,the4 ,with       
contributions by ,e4 ,,dowson1 ,e4 ,j4  
,,ellis1 ,g4 ,a4 ,,greene1 ,a4          
,,hillier1 ,l4 ,,johnson1 ,r4 ,,le      
,,gallienne1 ,v4 ,,plarr1 ,e4 ,,radford1
 ,e4 ,,rhys1 ,t4 ,w4 ,,rolleston1 ,a4   
,,symons1 ,j4 ,,todhunter1 and ,w4 ,b4  
,,yeats4 #ejj copies 7#djj for sale74   
,sq4 #afmo4 #es4 net4 ,also #ej copies  
large paper1 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4           
,,rothenstein 7,,will74 ,,occasional    
,,portraits4 ,with ,comments on the     
,personages by various ,writers4    ,in 
preparation4   ,,schaff 7,,dr4 ,p473    
,,literature ,,and ,,poetry3 ,papers on 
,dante1 c4 ,portrait and ,plates4 #ajj  
copies only4 #hvo4 #ajs4 net4           
,,symonds 7,,john ,,addington74 ,,in    
,,the ,,key ,,of ,,blue1 ,,and ,,other  
,,prose ,,essays4 ,cover-design by ,c4  
,s4 ,,ricketts4 #bnd ,edition4 ,thick   
crown #hvo4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4             

,,tennyson4--,see ,,hallam--,,van       
,,dyke4   ,,todhunter 7,,john74 ,a      
,,sicilian ,,idyll4 ,frontispiece by    
,,walter ,,crane4 #bej copies4 ,imp4    
#afmo4 #es4 net4 ,also #ej copies on    
hand-made large paper1 fcap4 #dto4 #ajs4
 #f;d4 net4    ,very few remain4        
,,tynan 7,,katharine74--,see ,,mrs4     
,,hinkson4   ,,van ,,dyke 7,,henry74    
,,the ,,poetry ,,of ,,tennyson4 #crd    
,edition1 enlarged4 ,crown #hvo4 #es4   
#f;d4 net4  ,the late ,laureate himself 
gave valuable aid in correcting various 
details4   ,,wedmore 7,,frederick74     
,,pastorals ,,of                        
,,france--,,renunciations4 ,a volume of 
,stories4 ,title-page by ,,john         
,,fulleylove1 ,r4,i4 #crd ,edition4     
,crown #hvo4 #es4 net4  ,a few of the   
large paper copies of ,renunciations    
7#ast ,edition7 remain4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4
   ,,wicksteed 7,p4 ,h474 ,,dante3 ,,six
 ,,sermons4 #crd ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 
#bs4 net4   ,,wynne 7,,frances74        
,,whisper4 ,a ,volume of ,verse4 ,with  

,memoir by ,mrs4 ,,hinkson1 and         
,portrait4 ,fcap4 #hvo4 buckram4 #bs4   
#f;d4 net4    ,transferred by the       
,author to the   present ,publisher4    
,,yeats 7,w4 ,b474 ,,the ,,shadowy      
,,waters4    ,in preparation4   ----    
,,the ,,wind ,,among ,,the ,,reeds4 ,a  
new ,volume of ,poems4    ,in           
preparation4   ,,london3 ,,elkin        
,,mathews1 ,,vigo ,,street4             
,,footnotes3  #a #8,she kept no notes or
 records4 ,she desired to forget what   
she had done4  #8,many ladies try to    
benefit these women in different ways2  
not many receive them into their houses4
  #8,a sufficient number of private     
persons doing this work would obviate   
the necessity for ,government machinery4
  #8,witness would wish to keep clear of
 ,government aid1 because ,government   
would then assume a right to control4   
,the work was too delicate for the      
,state to meddle with4  #8,she knew     
nothing of the garrison towns3 knew most
 of the north3 declined to give an      

opinion as to the operation of the      
,acts3 had no interest in them4         
#8,reminded that she had given her      
opinion pretty freely at meetings and in
 publications1 the witness stated that  
that was merely in illustration of her  
views on the constitutional and moral   
part of the subject4  #8,no alteration  
in the ,acts could reconcile her to     
them4 ,she would be satisfied with      
nothing but entire repeal4  #8,witness  
remembered addressing the ,secretary at 
,war with reference to a girl named     
,hagar4 ,she thought her letter to ,mr4 
,cardwell was a private one4 ,she had   
apologised to ,mr4 ,cardwell for having 
written in warmth of feeling4  #8,she   
was aware that therein she made a charge
 of gross misconduct against a          
policeman3 was not satisfied that she   
had been entirely mistaken4 ,she        
reported the case on the authority of   
,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,heritage and of the     
mother and girl4  #8,she was aware that 
the ,secretary of ,state ordered an     

inquiry1 and that the inspector of      
hospitals came to the conclusion that   
there was not a word of truth in what   
the woman and girl said4 ,she believed  
the woman and girl in preference to ,dr4
 ,sloggett4 ,she did not know the nature
 of the evidence on which ,dr4 ,sloggett
 reported to the ,secretary of ,state1  
and was still disposed to believe the   
woman and girl4  #8,her speeches had    
often been incorrectly reported4 ,she   
did say at ,nottingham that the         
promoters of the ,acts did not dare to  
ask the ,queen to sign such a measure   
during the life of ,prince ,albert2 but 
did not say1 as reported1 that ,her     
,majesty signed the ,act believing it to
 be a ,cattle ,bill4  #8,she considered 
any reformations under the ,acts        
accidental1 and doubted whether1 as     
brought about by the ,acts1 reformation 
was a benefit4  #8,she would take no    
legal measures for prevention of the    
infection of infants by diseased        
parents2 only moral means4'  #b         

#8,wives1 submit yourselves unto your   
own husbands1 as unto the ,lord4 ,for   
the husband is the head of the wife1    
even as ,christ is the head of the      
,church 444 therefore1 as the ,church is
 subject unto ,christ1 so let the wives 
be to their own husbands in everything' 
7,ephes4 v4 #bb-bd74 #8,wives1 submit   
yourselves unto your own husbands1 as it
 is fit in the ,lord' 7,col4 iii4 #ah74 
#8,let the woman learn in silence1 with 
all subjection4 ,but ,i suffer not a    
woman to teach1 nor to usurp authority  
over the man1 but to be in silence' 7#a 
,tim4 ii4 #aa1 #ab74 #8,but ,i would    
have you know1 that the head of every   
man is ,christ2 and the head of the     
woman is the man4' #8,every woman that  
prayeth or prophesieth with her head    
uncovered dishonoureth her head4' #8,for
 a man1 indeed1 ought not to cover his  
head1 forasmuch as he is the image and  
glory of ,god2 but the woman is the     
glory of the man4 ,for the man is not of
 the woman2 but the woman of the man4   

,neither was the man created for the    
woman2 but the woman for the man' 7#a   
,cor4 xi4 #c1 #e1 #g-i74 #8,let your    
women keep silence in the churches3 for 
it is not permitted unto them to speak3 
but they are commanded to be under      
obedience' 7#a ,cor4 xiv4 #cd74  #c     
,lady ,jeune4  #d ,an amusing tale was  
told 7which may or may not have been    
true7 shortly after the introduction of 
women into the ,postal ,service1 by     
which it would seem that a noble        
,postmaster-,general1 calling casually  
into a post-office1 was refused         
information by two of his employes4     
,transcriber's ,note3  ,obvious printer 
errors corrected silently4              
,inconsistent spelling and hyphenation  
are as in the original4