Part 11

I. I Enter upon a serious and difficult undertaking; in the prosecution of which, it is not one ignorant vulgar person only I shall have to contend with, for setting about to defend all the women, amounts to pretty near the same thing as resolving to offend all the men, there being scarce one among them, who, in order to give precedence to his own sex, does not endeavour to bring the other into disesteem; and to such an extravagant length, has this custom of abusing and vilifying the women by common consent been carried, that in a moral sense they load them with defects, and in a physical one with imperfections, and will scarce allow them to possess a single good quality: but they lay the greatest stress on the scantiness or limitation of their understandings; for which reason, after briefly vindicating them in other respects, I shall discourse more at large on their aptitude, for attaining all sorts of science and sublime knowledge.

II. The false prophet Mahomed, denied the women entrance into that ill-laid-out and absurdly-disposed paradise, which he had devised and appropriated to be possessed by his followers, limiting the felicity of the females to beholding from without, the glory and happiness enjoyed by the men within; and it certainly must give the women great pleasure, to survey their husbands in that scene of delights, composed all of turpitudes, clasped in the arms of other consorts, which were feigned to be newly created for this particular purpose by that great artist in fabricating chimeras. Such a delirium being admitted and received by a great part of the world, sufficiently shews, to what a degree mankind are capable of running into error.

III. But it seems as if these, who deny the women almost every kind of merit in this life, do not differ much from those who deny them happiness in the next. The most vile among the vulgar, very frequently represent that sex as having a most horrible propensity to vice; and would insinuate, that the men are the sole repositories of virtue. It is certainly true, that you will find these species of sentiments loudly trumpeted forth in an infinite number of books; in some of which, the invective is carried to such a point, as scarcely to admit there is one good woman, and asserting, that their blush, which has been generally considered as an addition to their beauty, and a token of modesty, is the effect of the lewdness of their souls.

_Aspera si visa est, rigidasque imitata Sabinas_ _Velle, sed ex alto dissimulare puta._

Instead of replying to such insolent malevolence, the best method is, to treat it with contempt and detestation. Not a few of those, who are most addicted to paint the sex in the blackest colouring, have been observed to be the most solicitous about obtaining their favour and good graces. Euripides, who was exceedingly satirical upon them in his tragedies, as Athenæus and Stobæus inform us, was excessively fond of them in private. He execrated them on the theatre, and idolized them in the chamber. Boccace, who was excessively addicted to women, wrote a satyr against them, entitled, The Labyrinth of Love. What was the mystery of this? Why it most probably was, that, under the disguise of having an aversion to them, he endeavoured to conceal his passion for them; or it might be, that the brutal satiety of the turpid appetite had brought on a loathing, which caused every thing appertaining to the other sex to appear hateful and disgusting. This sort of abuse, may also sometimes proceed from a refusal to lend a kind ear to entreaties and solicitations; for there are men so malevolent, as to be capable of saying a woman is not good, because she has refused to be bad. This unjust motive for complaint and resentment, has sometimes vented itself in the most cruel acts of revenge; an example of which, may be instanced in the unhappy fate of that most beautiful Irish lady madam Douglass, against whom, William Leout was blindly irritated, for having refused to comply with his lewd solicitations. To be revenged, he accused her of high treason; and procured the calumniating and false charge to be proved by suborned witnesses. She suffered capital punishment; and la Mothe de la Vayer, who (in his Opusc. Scept.) gives the relation, says, that Leout himself afterwards confessed the falsity of the accusation, and the wicked means used to prove her guilty.

To this instance, may be added that of a most virtuous and beautiful French lady, the marchioness of Gange. Her two brothers-in-law made dishonourable propositions to her, and successively tried many arts, to prevail on her to gratify their base inclinations; but, notwithstanding one of them, who was an extreme cunning man, and governed the marquis her consort entirely, threatened to instil into the mind of her husband suspicions of her fidelity, she vigorously rejected their entreaties. Finding themselves in spite of the menace, repeatedly repulsed with scorn and indignation, they resolved to carry the threat into execution; and, having prevailed on the credulous husband to entertain doubts of his wife’s honour and constancy, he consented that the two brothers should take away the life of the innocent marchioness; which they did in a barbarous and cruel manner, by first forcing her to swallow a poisonous draught, but afterwards, doubting of the efficacy of the potion, they gave her several desperate wounds. Although she survived both the wounds and the operation of the poison for the space of nineteen days, and, by means of her relation of the matter, which was corroborated by other circumstances, the officers of justice and the public were informed of the whole transaction, and measures were taken for apprehending the delinquents; yet they, finding themselves discovered, fled the kingdom, and escaped the punishment due to their crime. This tragical event happened in the year 1667, and is related by Gayot Piteval, in his fifth volume of Remarkable Cases.

IV. I don’t deny that many of them are vicious; but, alas! if we were to trace their slips and irregularities to their source, I fear we should find them originate in the obstinate and persevering impulse or solicitations of our sex. He, who would wish or endeavour to make all the women good, should begin with converting all the men. Nature implanted modesty in the sex, as a fence-wall to resist the attacks of appetite; and it very rarely happens, that a breach is made in this wall by force applied on the inside.

V. The declamations against the women, which we read in some parts of holy writ, should be understood, as pointed and levelled at the perverse ones, as there is no doubt but there are such; and, although they should be supposed to have an eye to the sex in general, nothing could be inferred from thence; because the physicians of the soul declaim against women, as the physicians of the body declaim against fruit, which, although it is good, beautiful, and useful in itself, the abuse or excess of it is pernicious: besides this, allowance should be made for the latitude permitted to oratory of magnifying the risque, when it is used to divert or turn people from dangerous courses.

VI. Let them, who suppose the female sex to be more vicious than ours, tell me, how they can reconcile this, with the church having in an especial manner, bestowed on them the epithet of devout? How with the words of many of the most grave and eminent doctors, who have declared it as their opinion, that there are more women saved than men, even having regard to the proportion, in which it is generally thought the number of females exceeds that of the males? Which opinion, they do not, nor cannot found on any other thing, than their having observed in them a greater inclination to piety.

VII. Methinks I already hear, in opposition to our undertaking, that proposition of much noise, and little or no truth, that the women are the cause of all evil; and, by way of proving it, the vulgar, down to the meanest and most contemptible of them, endeavour to inculcate at every turn, that La Caba occasioned the ruin of all Spain, and Eve that of all mankind.

VIII. But the first instance is absolutely a false one. The count Don Julian was the person who brought the Moors into Spain, but was not persuaded to it by his daughter, who did no more than make known to her father the affront and injury she had received. How unhappy is the lot of women, if, in the case of being trampled on by an insolent ravisher, they are to be deprived of the relief of unbosoming themselves to their fathers, or their husbands! The aggressors, in these cases, would gladly deprive them of this relief and benefit; though if at any time an unjust vengeance should be the consequence of the complaint, the fault would not lie at the door of the innocent offended person, but would rest with him who did the execution with the sword, and the man who committed the insult; and thus the whole blame and crime would be imputable to the men only.

IX. If the second example proves, that the women in general are worse than the men; by the same mode of reasoning it may be proved, that the angels in general are worse than the women; because, as Adam was induced to sin by a woman, the woman was seduced by an angel. It is not yet decided whose sin was the greatest, that of Adam, or that of Eve, because the fathers are divided in their opinions; and, in truth, the excuse which Cayetane makes in favour of Eve, that she was deceived by a creature of much superior intelligence and capacity to herself, is a circumstance that cannot be urged on behalf of Adam, and greatly abates her crime in comparison with his.

SECT. II.

X. But passing from the moral to the physical, which is more applicable to our present purpose, we shall find the preference of the robust over the delicate sex is a point settled, and any claim or pretensions to equality on the part of the women is set aside, and treated with contempt; and to such a length has depreciating the women been carried by some, that they have not scrupled to call them imperfect, and even monstrous animals, asserting, that Nature, in the work of generation, never intended to produce any thing but males, and that it was only by mistake, or in consequence of some defect in the matter or faculty, that females were produced.

XI. O admirable adepts in physics! It would follow from hence, that Nature conspired to work its own destruction, because, without the concurrence of both sexes, the species cannot be preserved. It would follow also, that Nature in this her principal work, is more frequently mistaken than right; because it is allowed, that she produces more women than men. Nor when we see females the offspring of parents who are healthy, robust, and in the flower of their age, can we attribute the formation of them to debility, want of vigour, or a defect in the matter; nor is it probable, that if man had preserved his original innocence, in which case there would have been none of these defects, we should have had no women born, and that the human lineage would have been kept up or continued without propagation.

XII. I know very well there was an author, who, for the sake of indulging his malice, and supporting his envious insinuations against the other sex, swallowed so palpable an absurdity. This was Almaricus, a Parisian doctor of the twelfth century, who, among other errors, asserts, that, if the state of innocence had continued, all the individuals of our species would have been males, and that God would have created them immediately himself as he did Adam.

XIII. Almaricus was a blind follower of Aristotle, insomuch that all, or very near all his errors, were produced by conclusions, which he had drawn from the doctrines of that philosopher; and, seeing that Aristotle, in more than one part of his works, gives it to be understood, that a female is a defective animal, its generation accidental, and out of the design of nature, he concluded, that there were no women in the state of innocence; and thus it comes to pass, that an heretical theology is very frequently occasioned by a mistake in physics.

XIV. But the great and avowed adherence of Almaricus to Aristotle, was rather unfortunate to them both; because the errors of Almaricus were condemned by a council held at Paris in 1209; and, in the same council, the reading the books of Aristotle were prohibited, which prohibition was afterwards confirmed by Pope Gregory IX. Almaricus had been dead a year when his dogmas were proscribed; but his bones were afterwards dug up, and thrown into a jake.

XV. This shews, that we should not lay any great stress upon the opinion of a few doctors, who, though they were in other respects discreet men, have asserted, that the female sex is defective, for no other reason, than because Aristotle whose followers they were had declared so; but they did not however proceed so far, as to precipitate themselves into the error of Almaricus. It is certain, that Aristotle’s treatment of the women proceeded from spite; for he not only proclaimed with vehemence their physical defects, but was more vehement still in blazoning their moral ones; some instances of which, I shall point out in another place. Who would not suppose from all this, that his disposition inclined him to shun the sex? But nothing was so opposite to him, for he not only tenderly loved two wives which he married, but his affection for the first, named Pythais, who, as some say, was daughter, others niece of Hermias, tyrant of Atarneus, carried him so far beside himself, that he franticly offered incense to her as a deity. They also give us a relation of his loose amours with a little servant girl, though Plutarch does not incline to credit the tale; but in this business, the testimony of Theocritus Chio, who was contemporary with Aristotle, ought to have more weight than the opinion of Plutarch, who was much posterior to him; and Theocritus, in a lively epigram, lashed Aristotle for his obscenity. From this instance we may perceive, that men’s seeming malignity to, and inveterate abuse of women, is, as we have observed before, frequently accompanied with an inordinate inclination for them.

XVI. From the same physical error which condemned woman for an imperfect animal, there sprung another theological one, which is combated by St. Austin, in Lib. 22, de Civit. Dei cap. 17. The authors of this system say, that, at the universal resurrection, this imperfection is to be remedied, by converting all the women into men; and that then, grace is to compleat and finish the work which nature had only begun.

XVII. This error is very like that of the infatuated Alchymists, who, relying on the maxim, that nature in the formation of metals, never intended to produce any thing but gold, and that it was only from some obstruction, or from some defect of vigour and virtue, that she fabricated other imperfect metals; also pretend, that art is afterwards capable of carrying the work to perfection, and making gold of that which was originally produced iron. But, after all, this error is the most sufferable of the two, because it does not interfere with matters of faith; and because also, let the intention of nature in the formation of metals, and the imaginary capacity of art, be what they will, it is a fact, that gold is the most noble of metals, and that the others are of a much inferior quality compared to it. But, in our present question, the assertion, that Nature always intended the production of males, and that her producing females was the effect of a bastard operation, is all false and erroneous; and much more so is the affirming, that this is to be amended at the resurrection.

SECT. III.

XVIII. I would not, however, be understood to approve of what is thrown out by Zacuto Lusitano, in the introduction to his Treatise De Morbis Mulierum, where, with frivolous reasons, he attempts to give the preference to the women, and to persuade us, that their physical perfections greatly exceed those of the men. Such an opinion, might be supported by much more plausible arguments than are used by him; but my view is not to persuade a superiority, but only an equality.

XIX. And to begin, setting aside the question of their understandings, which I mean to discuss separately and more at large in this discourse, let us consider the three endowments, in which the men seem manifestly to have the advantage of the women, to wit, robustness, constancy, and prudence; but, although this should be granted by the women, they might pretend to a competition, by pointing out other three qualities, in which they excel the male sex, to wit, beauty, gentleness, and simplicity.

XX. Robustness, which is a bodily perfection, may be considered as counterpoised by beauty, which is so likewise. Many people are disposed to give the last the preference; and they would be right, if that was to be esteemed the most valuable, which is the most flattering or pleasing to the sight: but the consideration of which is most useful to the public, should, in the eye of sound judgment, weigh most in deciding the question; and, viewing the thing in this light, robustness must be preferred to beauty. The robustness of men, furnishes the world with three most essential benefits, which may not improperly be termed the three columns which support every state, to wit, arms, agriculture, and mechanics. From the beauty of women, I do not know what important advantage can accrue, unless it comes by accident. Some will argue, that beauty, so far from producing benefits, occasions serious mischiefs, by causing unruly amours, which inflame and excite competitions and strife, and which involve those who are charged with the custody of women, in cares, uneasiness, and anxiety.

XXI. But this accusation, as it originates from a want of reflection, is ill-founded; for supposing, for argument’s sake, that all the women were ugly, in those who were blemished with the fewest deformities, we should experience the same attraction, which we do at present in the handsome ones, and they would consequently occasion the same mischief. The least ugly placed in Greece would have caused the burning of Troy, as Helen did; and placed in the palace of King Roderigo, would have been the ruin of Spain, as La Caba was. In those countries where the women are the least tempting, there are not fewer disorders than there are in those where they are more genteelly, and more admirably formed: even in Muscovy, which in number of handsome women exceeds all the other kingdoms of Europe, incontinence is not so unbridled as in other countries, and conjugal faith is observed there, with more exactness than it is in other places.

XXII. Beauty therefore of itself, is not the cause of the mischiefs which are attributed to it; notwithstanding which, in the present question, I must give my vote in favour of robustness, as I esteem it a much more important quality than beauty, and therefore, in this particular, must give the preference to the men. There is, however, saved and remaining to the women, if they chuse to avail themselves of it, an objection to this decision, which may be founded on the judgment of many learned men, and which was assented to and admitted by a whole illustrious school: this judgment, recognizes the will for a more noble faculty than the understanding, which is rather favourable to their cause; for if robustness, as being of the most consequence, is, in the general opinion, most prized and valued, beauty, as the more amiable quality, has most control over the will.

XXIII. The virtue of constancy, which ennobles the men, may be contrasted with docility, which is resplendent in the women. But it will be proper here to remark, that we do not treat of these or other qualities, as formally considering them in the state of virtues, because in this sense, they are not of the lineage of nature, but only as they are grafted into, and display themselves in the temperament or habit; and, as the embryo of information is indifferent to receive good or bad impressions, it would be better to call them flexibility, or inflexibility of disposition, than constancy or docility.

XXIV. I may be told, that the docility of women degenerates many times into levity; to which I answer that the constancy of men as frequently terminates in tenaciousness. I confess, that firmness in a good cause is productive of great benefits; but it can’t be denied, that obstinacy in a bad one is also productive of great evils. If it is argued, that an invincible adherence to good or evil is a quality appertaining to angels only: I answer, that this is not so certain, for many great theologians deny it; and many properties, which in superior beings spring from their excellence, in inferior ones proceed from their imperfection. The angels, according to the doctrine of St. Thomas, are the more perfect, the fewer things they understand; in men, their knowledge being confined to a few particulars, is considered as a defect. In angels, study would be regarded as a diminution of, or a reflection upon their understandings; although it is known to be absolutely necessary, to illustrate and adorn those of men.

XXV. The prudence of the men, may be balanced by the simplicity or gentleness of the women; and I was even about to say more than balanced, for, in reality, simplicity or gentleness, is more beneficial to the human race, than the prudence of all its individuals; for nobody has ever described the golden age as composed of prudent, but of candid men.

XXVI. If it is objected, that much of that which is called simplicity in women, is thoughtlessness or inattention: I reply, that much of that which is called prudence in men, is fallacy, duplicity and treachery, which are much worse qualities. Even that very indiscreet frankness, with which they sometimes incautiously unbosom themselves, is a good token, considered as a symptom. No person is ignorant of his own vices; and whoever finds himself loaded with them to a large amount, is very careful to shut the crevices of his heart, to prevent the pryings of curiosity: whoever commits criminal disorders within his house, does not leave his doors open at all hours, and by that means expose himself to be detected. Reserve is the inseparable companion of a bad heart; and you may conclude, that those who familiarly, and with ease, unbosom themselves, have little about them they are anxious of concealing. Considered then in this light, the simplicity or candour of the women, is always a valuable quality; but, when conducted with good sense, it approaches to a perfection; and, when it is not, it may always be looked upon as a favourable symptom.

SECT. IV.

XXVII. Over and above the good qualities we have specified, the women have another, which is the most beautiful and transcendent of all, to wit, their modesty; a grace so characteristic of the sex, that is does not forsake even their dead bodies; for Pliny remarks, that when the carcasses of drowned persons float on the water, those of the men swim with the face upwards, and those of the women with the face downward.

_Veluti pudori defunctarum parcente natura._

Lib. 7. Cap. 17.