Part 6

But some sage Persons may, perhaps object, that were Women allow’d to improve themselves, and not, amongst other Discouragements, driven back by the wise Jests and Scoffs that are put upon a Woman of Sense or Learning, a Philosophical Lady, as she is call’d by way of Ridicule; they would be too wise, and too good for the Men: I grant it, for vicious and foolish Men. Nor is it to be wonder’d that He is afraid he should not be able to Govern them were their Understandings improv’d, who is resolv’d not to take too much Pains with his own. But these, ’tis to be hoped, are no very considerable Number, the Foolish at least; and therefore this is so far from being an Argument against Womens Improvement, that it is a strong one for it, if we do but suppose the Men to be as capable of Improvement as the Women; but much more, if, according to Tradition, we believe they have greater Capacities. This, if any thing, would stir them up to be what they ought, and not permit them to waste their Time and abuse their Faculties in the Service of their irregular Appetites and unreasonable Desires, and so let poor contemptible Women, who have been their Slaves, excel them in all that is truly excellent. This would make them Blush at employing an immortal Mind no better than in making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof, since Women, by a wiser Conduct, have brought themselves to such a Reach of Thought, to such Exactness of Judgment, such Clearness and Strength of Reasoning, such Purity and Elevation of Mind, such Command of their Passions, such Regularity of Will and Affection, and, in a Word, to such a Pitch of Perfection, as the Human Soul is capable of attaining in this Life by the Grace of _GOD_; such true Wisdom, such real Greatness, as though it does not qualify them to make a Noise in this World, to found or overturn Empires, yet it qualifies them for what is infinitely better, a Kingdom that cannot be mov’d, an incorruptible Crown of Glory.

Besides, it were ridiculous to suppose, that a Woman, were she ever so much improv’d, could come near the topping Genius of the Men, and therefore why should they envy or discourage her? Strength of Mind goes along with Strength of Body, and ’tis only for some odd Accidents which Philosophers have not yet thought worth while to enquire into, that the sturdiest Porter is not the wisest Man! As therefore the Men have the Power in their Hands, so there’s no Dispute of their having the Brains to manage it! Can we suppose there is such a Thing as good Judgment and Sense upon Earth, if it is not to be found among them: Do not they, generally speaking, do all the great Actions and considerable Business of this World, and leave that of the next to the Women? Their Subtlety in forming Cabals and laying deep Designs, their Courage and Conduct in breaking through all Tyes, sacred and civil, to effect them, not only advances them to the Post of Honour, and keeps them securely in it for twenty or thirty Years, but gets them a Name, and conveys it down to Posterity for some Hundreds; and who would look any further? Justice and Injustice are administred by their Hands, Courts and Schools are fill’d with these Sages; ’tis Men who dispute for Truth, as well as Men who argue against it: Histories are writ by them; they recount each other’s great Exploits, and have always done so. All famous Arts have their Original from Men, even from the Invention of Guns, to the Mystery of good Eating. And to shew that nothing is beneath their Care, any more than above their Reach, they have brought _Gaming_ to an Art and Science, and a more Profitable and Honourable one too, than any of those that us’d to be call’d _Liberal_! Indeed, what is it they can’t perform, when they attempt it? The Strength of their Brains shall be every whit as conspicuous at their Cups, as in a Senate-House, and, when they please, they can make it pass for as sure a Mark of Wisdom, to drink deep, as to reason profoundly; a greater Proof of Courage, and consequently of Understanding, to dare the Vengeance of Heaven it self, than to stand the Raillery of some of the worst of their Fellow Creatures!

Again, it may be said, If a Wife’s Case be as it is here represented, it is not good for a Woman to marry, and so there’s an End of Human Race. But this is no fair Consequence, for all that can justly be inferr’d from hence, is, that a Woman has no mighty Obligations to the Man who makes Love to her; she has no Reason to be fond of being a Wife, or to reckon it a Piece of Preferment when she is taken to be a Man’s Upper-Servant; it is no Advantage to her in this World; if rightly manag’d it may prove one as to the next. For she who marries purely to do good, to educate Souls for Heaven, who can be so truly mortified as to lay aside her own Will and Desires, to pay such an intire Submission for Life, to one whom she cannot be sure will always deserve it, does certainly perform a more Heroick Action, than all the famous Masculine Heroes can boast of, she suffers a continual Martyrdom to bring Glory to _GOD_, and Benefit to Mankind; which Consideration, indeed, may carry her through all Difficulties, I know not what else can, and engage her to Love him who proves perhaps so much worse than a Brute, as to make this Condition yet more grievous than it needed to be. She has need of a strong Reason, of a truly Christian and well-temper’d Spirit, of all the Assistance the best Education can give her, and ought to have some good Assurance of her own Firmness and Vertue, who ventures on such a Trial; and for this Reason ’tis less to be wonder’d at that Women marry off in haste, for perhaps if they took Time to consider and reflect upon it, they seldom would marry.

To conclude. Perhaps I’ve said more than most Men will thank me for; I cannot help it, for how much soever I may be their Friend and humble Servant, I am more a Friend to Truth. Truth is strong, and some time or other will prevail; nor is it for their Honour, and therefore one would think not for their Interest, to be partial to themselves and unjust to others. They may fancy I have made some Discoveries, which, like _Arcana Imperii_, ought to be kept secret; but, in good earnest, I do them more Honour than to suppose their lawful Prerogatives need any mean Arts to support them. If they have usurp’d, I love Justice too much to wish Success and Continuance to Usurpations, which, though submitted to out of Prudence, and for Quietness sake, yet leave everybody free to regain their lawful Right whenever they have Power and Opportunity. I don’t say that Tyranny _ought_, but we find in _Fact_, that it provokes the Oppress’d to throw off even a lawful Yoke that fits too heavy: And if he who is freely elected, after all his fair Promises, and the fine Hopes he rais’d, proves a Tyrant, the Consideration that he was one’s own Choice, will not render one more Submissive and Patient, but I fear, more Refractory. For though it is very unreasonable, yet we see ’tis the Course of the World, not only to return Injury for Injury, but Crime for Crime; both Parties indeed are Guilty, but the Aggressors have a double Guilt, they have not only their own, but their Neighbour’s Ruin to answer for.

As to the Female Reader, I hope she will allow I’ve endeavoured to do her Justice; not betray’d her Cause as her Advocates usually do, under Pretence of defending it. A Practice too mean for any to be guilty of who have the least Sense of Honour, and who do any more than meerly pretend to it. I think I have held the Balance even, and not being conscious of Partiality, I ask no Pardon for it. To plead for the Oppress’d, and to defend the Weak, seem’d to me a generous Undertaking; for though it may be secure, ’tis not always Honourable, to run over to the strongest Party. And if she infers from what has been said, that Marriage is a very happy State for Men, if they think fit to make it so; that they govern the World, they have Prescription on their Side; Women are too weak to dispute it with them, therefore they, as all other Governors, are most, if not only, accountable for what’s amiss; for whether other Governments in their Original, were or were not confer’d according to the Merit of the Person, yet certainly in this Case, if Heaven has appointed the Man to govern, it has Qualified him for it: So far I agree with her: But if she goes on to infer, that therefore, if a Man has not these Qualifications, where is his Right? That if he misemploys, he abuses it? And if he abuses, according to modern Deduction, he forfeits it, I must leave her there. A peaceable Woman, indeed, will not carry it so far, she will neither question her Husband’s Right, nor his Fitness to govern, but how? Not as an absolute Lord and Master, with an arbitrary and tyrannical Sway, but as Reason governs and conducts a Man, by proposing what is just and fit. And the Man who acts according to that Wisdom he assumes, who would have that Superiority he pretends to, acknowledged just, will receive no Injury by any thing that has been offered here. A Woman will value Him the more who is so wise and good, when she discerns how much he excels the rest of his noble Sex; the less he requires, the more will he merit that Esteem and Deference, which those who are so forward to exact, seem conscious they don’t deserve. So then the Man’s Prerogative is not at all infring’d, whilst the Woman’s Privileges are secured; and if any Woman think her self injur’d, she has a Remedy in reserve, which few Men will envy, or endeavour to rob her of, the Exercise and Improvement of her Vertue Here, and the Reward of it Hereafter.

When I made these Reflections, I was of Opinion, that the Case of married Women, in comparison of that of their Husbands, was not a little hard and unequal. But as the World now goes, I am apt to think, that a Husband is in no desirable Situation; his Honour is in his Wife’s keeping, and what Man of Honour can be satisfied with the Conduct which the Licentiousness of the Age not only permits, but would endeavour to authorize as a Part of good Breeding? And what makes his Case the worse, he must dissemble his Uneasiness, stifle his Resentments, and not dare to take the proper Methods of preventing and curing the Disorder.

So great is our Corruption, that such as pretend to make a true Estimate of Human Life, and very freely Satirize both Sexes for lesser Crimes, are not asham’d to recommend this, prescribing a known Sin as a Cure for what is not absolutely unlawful in it self, though very pernicious in its Consequences, when carried to Excess.

Not that I would in any manner apologize for Gaming, which, when carried to Excess, is ruinous to both Sexes, especially to Women; who, when given to this Vice, disregard their Husbands, and Oeconomy, neglect the Education of their Children, spend their Fortunes as much as they can, and, which is not the least Inconveniency, when they lose to Men more than they are able to pay, they give their Creditor Opportunity to make insolent Demands. But sure, any Husband, who is not sunk to the lowest Degree of Infamy, had rather his Wife should waste his Money at _Quadrille_, than Intrigue with a _Colonel_. _If Sin you must_ (says an admirable Author, whose Panegyricks are Satires, and his Satires Panegyricks)

——_take Nature for your Guide, Love has some soft Excuse to sooth your Pride._

Can we read this excellent Advice of this very moral Satirist, without remembring what the _Psalmist_ says of some of his Cotemporaries; _When thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst unto him, and hast been Partaker with the Adultery_? For, sure of all other Thieves he is the most criminal, who (under Pretence of Friendship, perhaps) robs a Man of his most valued Effects, deprives him of his Honour, and of the Quiet and Comfort of his Life.

Nature and Love, as they, injuriously to both, miscall their brutal Appetite, are very different from what our Author would represent them. Variety by no Means answers the End of Nature in providing for Posterity. And enough has been said, to shew, that such Professions of Love are most abusive, and the Effect of their Passion the most outrageous Injury that Hatred can produce: A Woman is never so effectually _humble_, as the Scripture elegantly expresses it, than when a Man obtains his Desires. And if she consents, she renders her self despicable in his Eyes as well as in the Eyes of others. Thus the _English_ Muse very truly sings:

“_That wretched She, who yields to guilty Joys, “A Man may_ Pity, _but he_ MUST Despise.”

Whoever makes a true Estimate of Christianity, who does not profess it, because as yet, ’tis the Religion of his Country, or for his Interest, or some such worthy Motive; but upon full Conviction of its Divine Authority, which he cannot want if he examines impartially, as a Matter of this Consequence deserves; such a Man will find Christianity requires the strictest Purity of Heart and Imagination, since in the thickest Darkness our Thoughts, as well as our Actions, are manifest to our Judge; and, that whoever looks upon a Woman to Lust after her, has committed Adultery with her already in his Heart.

_Horses and Bulls, and all the brutal Kind, } Range o’er the Field, to no one She confin’d, } They know not Love, for Love is in the Mind. } These following Nature are exempt from Blame, Unconscious or of Guilt, Remorse and Shame._

_But Man, unhappy Man! puts out his Light, Reason forsakes, to follow Appetite. Sinks down to Brute, and labours but in vain, } To be like them, without Remorse or Shame; } To Guilt, inevitably follows Pain. } No Deeds of Darkness are conceal’d by Night, } He sees Who dwells in everlasting Light, } And ev’ry Thought is open to His Sight._ }

APPENDIX.

The _Reflector_, who hopes _Reflector_ is not bad _English_, (now _Governor_ is happily of the Feminine Gender) guarded against Curiosity in vain: For a certain ingenuous Gentleman, as she is inform’d, had the Good-nature to own these Reflections, so far, as to affirm that he had the Original _MS._ in his Closet, a Proof she is not able to produce; and so to make himself responsible for all their Faults, for which, she returns him all due Acknowledgment. However, the Generality being of Opinion, that a Man would have had more Prudence and Manners than to have Publish’d such unseasonable Truths, or to have betray’d the _Arcana Imperii_ of his Sex; she humbly confesses, that the Contrivance and Execution of this Design, which is unfortunately accus’d of being so destructive to the Government, (of the Men, I mean) is intirely her own. She neither advis’d with Friends, nor turn’d over antient or modern Authors, nor prudently submitted to the Correction of such as are, or such as _think_ they are good Judges, but with an _English_ Spirit and Genius, set out upon the Forlorn Hope, meaning no Hurt to any body, nor designing any thing but the publick Good, and to retrieve, if possible, the Native Liberty, the Rights and Privileges of the Subject.

Far be it from her to stir up Sedition of any sort: none can abhor it more; and she heartily wishes, that our Masters would pay their Civil and Ecclesiastical Governors the same Submission, which they themselves exact from their Domestick Subjects. Nor can she imagine how she any way undermines the Masculine Empire, or blows the Trumpet of Rebellion to the Moiety of Mankind. Is it by exhorting Women, not to expect to have their own Will in any thing, but to be intirely Submissive, when once they have made Choice of a Lord and Master, though he happen not to be so wise, so kind, or even so just a Governor as was expected? She did not, indeed, advise them to think his Folly Wisdom, nor his Brutality, that Love and Worship he promised in his Matrimonial Oath; for this required a Flight of Wit and Sense much above her poor Ability, and proper only to Masculine Understandings. However, she did not in any manner prompt them to Resist, or to Abdicate the Perjur’d Spouse, though the Laws of _GOD_, and the Land, make Special Provision for it, in a Case, wherein, as is to be fear’d, few Men can truly plead Not Guilty.

’Tis true, through want of Learning, and of that Superior Genius which Men, as Men, lay claim to, she was ignorant of the _Natural Inferiority_ of our Sex, which our Masters lay down as a Self-evident and Fundamental Truth. She saw nothing in the Reason of Things, to make this either a Principle or a Conclusion, but much to the contrary; it being Sedition at least, if not Treason, to assert it in this Reign. For if by the Natural Superiority of their Sex, they mean, that _every_ Man is by Nature superior to _every_ Woman, which is the obvious Meaning, and that which must be stuck to if they would speak Sense, it would be a Sin in _any_ Woman, to have Dominion over _any_ Man, and the greatest Queen ought not to command, but to obey, her Footman: because no Municipal Laws can supersede or change the Law of Nature: So that if the Dominion of the Men be such, the _Salique Law_, as unjust as _English Men_ have ever thought it, ought to take Place over all the Earth, and the most glorious Reigns in the _English_, _Danish_, _Castilian_, and other Annals, were wicked Violations of the Law of Nature!

If they mean that _some_ Men are superior to _some_ Women, this is no great Discovery; had they turn’d the Tables, they might have seen that _some_ Women are superior to _some_ Men. Or had they been pleased to remember their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, they might have known, that _One_ Woman is superior to _All_ the Men in these Nations, or else they have sworn to very little Purpose. And it must not be suppos’d, that their Reason and Religion would suffer them to take Oaths, contrary to the Law of Nature and Reason of Things.

By all which it appears, that our Reflector’s Ignorance is very pitiable; it may be her Misfortune, but not her Crime, especially since she is willing to be better inform’d, and hopes she shall never be so obstinate as to shut her Eyes against the Light of Truth, which is not to be charg’d with Novelty, how late soever we may be bless’d with the Discovery. Nor can Error, be it as antient as it may, ever plead Prescription against Truth. And since the only way to remove all Doubts, to answer all Objections, and to give the Mind entire Satisfaction, is not by _Affirming_, but by _Proving_, so that every one may see with their _own_ Eyes, and judge according to the best of their _own_ Understandings; she hopes it is no Presumption to insist on this Natural Right of Judging for her self, and the rather, because by quitting it, we give up all the Means of Rational Conviction. Allow us then as many Glasses as you please to help our Sight, and as many good Arguments as you can afford to convince our Understandings: But don’t exact of us, we beseech you, to affirm that we see such Things as are only the Discovery of Men who have quicker Senses; or, that we understand, and know what we have by Hear-say only; for to be so excessively Complaisant, is neither to see nor to understand.