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diff --git a/old/10533.txt b/old/10533.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..09beeb7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10533.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8439 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beacon Lights of History, Volume VII, by John +Lord + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + + + + +Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume VII + +Author: John Lord + +Release Date: December 25, 2003 [eBook #10533] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +VII*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +LORD'S LECTURES + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME VII + +GREAT WOMEN. + +BY JOHN LORD, LL.D., + +AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE," +ETC., ETC. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +HELOISE. + +LOVE. + +Love, the flower of Eden +The two Venuses of Socrates +The Venus Urania +The memory of Heloise cherished +Her birth and education +Her extraordinary gifts +Her aspirations +Peter Abelard +His wonderful genius +His early scholastic triumphs +Abelard at Paris +His wit and flippancy +His scepticism +His successes +His love for Heloise +His mad infatuation +Scandal of the intimacy +Disinterestedness of Heloise +Secret marriage of Abelard and Heloise +Marriage discovered +Retirement of Heloise and Abelard to separate convents +His renewed labors +His brilliant success +Persecution of Abelard +Letters to Heloise +Heloise cannot conquer her love +Her high social position +Her blameless life +Loves of Heloise and Abelard analyzed +Greatness of sentiment +Last days of Abelard +His retreat to Cluny +Peter the Venerable +Grief of Heloise + + +JOAN OF ARC. + +HEROIC WOMEN. + +Heroic qualities of women in the Middle Ages +Extraordinary appearance of Joan of Arc +Her early days +Her visions +Critical state of France at this period +Appreciated by Joan +Who resolves to come to the rescue of her king and country +Difficulties which surrounded her +Her services finally accepted +Her faith in her mission +Her pure and religious life +Joan sets out for the deliverance of Orleans +Succeeds in entering the city +Joan raises the siege of Orleans +Admiration of the people for her +Veneration for women among the Germanic nations +Joan marches to the siege of Rheims +Difficulty of the enterprise +Hesitation of the king +Rheims and other cities taken +Coronation of Charles +Mission of the Maid fulfilled +Successive military mistakes +Capture of Joan +Indifference and ingratitude of the King +Trial of Joan for heresy and witchcraft +Cruelty of the English to her +The diabolical persecution +Martyrdom of Joan +Tardy justice to her memory +Effects of the martyrdom + + +SAINT THERESA. + +RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM. + +Pleasures of the body the aim of Paganism +Aim of Christianity to elevate the soul +Mistakes of monastic life +The age of Saint Theresa +Her birth and early training +Mediaeval piety +Theresa sent to a convent to be educated +Her poor health +Religious despotism of the Middle Ages +Their gloom and repulsiveness +Faith and repentance divorced +Catholic theology +Theresa becomes a nun +Her serious illness +Her religious experience +The Confessions of Saint Augustine +The religious emancipation of Theresa +Her canticles +Her religious rhapsodies +Theresa seeks to found a convent +Opposition to her +Her discouragements +Her final success +Reformation of the Carmelite order +Convent of St. Joseph +Death of Saint Theresa +Writings of Saint Theresa +Her submission to authority +Her independence +Compared with Madame Guyon +Her posthumous influence + + +MADAME DE MAINTENON. + +THE POLITICAL WOMAN. + +Birth of Madame de Maintenon +Her early life +Marriage with Scarron +Governess of Montespan's children +Introduction to the King +Her incipient influence over him +Contrast of Maintenon with Montespan +Friendship of the King for Madame de Maintenon +Made mistress of the robes to the Dauphiness +Private marriage with Louis XIV +Reasons for its concealment +Unbounded power of Madame de Maintenon +Grandeur of Versailles +Great men of the court +The King's love of pomp and ceremony +Sources of his power +His great mistakes +The penalties he reaped +Secret of Madame de Maintenon's influence +Her mistakes +Religious intolerance +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes +Persecution of the Protestants +Influence of Bossuet +Foundation of the school of St. Cyr +Influence of Madame de Maintenon on education +Influence of Madame de Maintenon on morals +Influence of Madame de Maintenon on the court +Her reign a usurpation +Her greatness of character + + +SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. + +THE WOMAN OF THE WORLD. + +The Duchess of Marlborough compared with Madame de Maintenon +Birth and early influence +John Churchill +Marriage of Churchill and Sarah Jennings +Colonel Churchill made a peer +The Princess Anne +Lady Churchill +Their friendship +Coronation of William and Mary +Character of William III +Treason of the Earl of Marlborough +Energy and sagacity of the Queen +Naval victory of La Hogue +Temporary retirement of Marlborough +Death of the Duke of Gloucester +Marlborough, Captain-General. +Death of William III +Accession of Anne +Power of Marlborough +Lord Godolphin +Ascendency of Lady Marlborough +Her ambition +Her pride +Renewal of war with Louis XIV +Marlborough created a duke +Whigs and Tories +Harley, Earl of Oxford +His intrigues +Abigail Hill +Supplants the Duchess of Marlborough +Coolness between the Queen and Duchess +Battle of Ramillies +Miss Hill marries Mr. Masham +Declining influence of the Duchess +Her anger and revenge +Power of Harley +Disgrace of the Duchess +The Tories in power +Dismissal of Marlborough +Bolingbroke +Swift +His persecution of the Duchess +Addison +Voluntary exile of Marlborough +Unhappiness of the Duchess +Death of Queen Anne +Return of Marlborough to power +Attacked by paralysis +Death of Marlborough +His vast wealth +Declining days of the Duchess +Her character +Her death +Reflections on her career + + +MADAME RECAMIER. + +THE WOMAN OF SOCIETY. + +Queens of society first seen in Italy +Provencal poetry in its connection with chivalrous sentiments +Chivalry the origin of society +Society in Paris in the 17th Century +Marquise de Rambouillet +Her _salons_ +Mademoiselle de Scuderi +Early days of Madame Recamier +Her marriage +Her remarkable beauty and grace +Her _salons_ +Her popularity +Courted by Napoleon +Loss of property +Friendship with Madame de Stael +Incurs the hatred of Napoleon +Friendship with Ballanche +Madame Recamier in Italy +Return to Paris +Duke of Montmorency +Seclusion of Madame Recamier +Her intimate friends +Friendship with Chateaubriand +His gifts and high social position +His retirement from political life +His old age soothed by Recamier +Her lovely disposition +Her beautiful old age +Her death +Her character +Remarks on society +Sources of its fascinations + + +MADAME DE STAEL. + +WOMAN IN LITERATURE. + +Literature in the 18th Century +Rise of Madame de Stael +Her precocity +Her powers of conversation +Her love of society +Her marriage +Hatred of Napoleon +Her banishment +Her residence in Switzerland +Travels in Germany +Her work on literature +Her book on Germany +Its great merits +German philosophy +Visit to Italy +Sismondi +"Corinne" +Its popularity +A description of Italy +Marriage with Rocca +Madame de Stael in England +Her honors +Return to Paris +Incense offered to her +Her amazing eclat +Her death +Her merits as an author +Inaugurated a new style in literature +Her followers +Her influence +Literary women +Their future + + +HANNAH MORE. + +EDUCATION OF WOMAN. + +Progress of female education +Youth of Hannah More +Her accomplishments +Teaches school +Intimacy with great men +Shines in society +Wearied of it +Her ridicule of fashionable gatherings called society +Retirement to Cowslip Green +Her patrons and friends +Labors in behalf of the poor +Foundation of schools +Works on female education +Their good influence +Their leading ideas +Christian education +Removal to Barley Wood +Views of society +Her distinguished visitors +"Coelebs in Search of a Wife" +"Christian Morals" +Her laboring at the age of eighty +The quiet elegance of her life +Removal to Clifton +Happy old age +Death +Exalted character +Remarks on female education +The sphere of woman +What is woman to do? + + +GEORGE ELIOT. + +WOMAN AS NOVELIST. + +Notable eras of modern civilization +Nineteenth Century, the age of novelists +Scott, Fielding, Dickens, Thackeray +Bulwer; women novelists +Charlotte Bronte, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot +Early life of Marian Evans +Appearance, education, and acquirements +Change in religious views; German translations; Continental travel +Westminster Review; literary and scientific men +Her alliance with George Henry Lewes +Her life with him +Literary labors +First work of fiction, "Amos Barton," with criticism upon +her qualities as a novelist, illustrated by the story +"Mr. Gilfils Love Story" +"Adam Bede" +"The Mill on the Floss" +"Silas Marner" +"Romola" +"Felix Holt" +"Middlemarch" +"Daniel Deronda" +"Theophrastus Such" +General characteristics of George Eliot +Death of Mr. Lewes; her marriage with Mr. Cross +Lofty position of George Eliot in literature +Religious views and philosophical opinions +Her failure as a teacher of morals +Regret at her abandonment of Christianity + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME VII. + +Madame de Recamier +_After the painting by Baron Francois Pascal Gerard_. + +Abelard Teaching in the Paraclete +_After the painting by A. Steinheil_. + +Joan of Arc Hears the Voices +_After the painting by Eugene Thirion_. + +The Vision of St. Therese +_After the painting by Jean Brunet_. + +Reception of the Great Conde by Louis XIV +_After the painting by J. L. Gerome_. + +Ministerial Conference of Louis XIV. at the Salon of Madam de Maintenon +_After the painting by John Gilbert_. + +John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough +_After the painting by Pieter van der Werff, Pitti Palace, Florence_. + +Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough +_After the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller_. + +Mme. de Recamier +_After the painting by Mlle. Morin_ + +Madame de Stael +_After the painting by Mlle. de Godefroid, Versailles_. + +Garrick and His Wife +_After the painting by William Hogarth_. + +Hannah More +_After the painting by H.W. Pickersgill, A.R.A._. + + + + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY + +HELOISE. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 1101-1164. + +LOVE. + + +When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, they yet found one +flower, wherever they wandered, blooming in perpetual beauty. This +flower represents a great certitude, without which few would be +happy,--subtile, mysterious, inexplicable,--a great boon recognized +alike by poets and moralists, Pagan and Christian; yea, identified not +only with happiness, but human existence, and pertaining to the soul in +its highest aspirations. Allied with the transient and the mortal, even +with the weak and corrupt, it is yet immortal in its nature and lofty in +its aims,--at once a passion, a sentiment, and an inspiration. + +To attempt to describe woman without this element of our complex nature, +which constitutes her peculiar fascination, is like trying to act the +tragedy of Hamlet without Hamlet himself,--an absurdity; a picture +without a central figure, a novel without a heroine, a religion without +a sacrifice. My subject is not without its difficulties. The passion or +sentiment I describe is degrading when perverted, as it is exalting when +pure. Yet it is not vice I would paint, but virtue; not weakness, but +strength; not the transient, but the permanent; not the mortal, but the +immortal,--all that is ennobling in the aspiring soul. + +"Socrates," says Legouve, "who caught glimpses of everything that he did +not clearly define, uttered one day to his disciples these beautiful +words: 'There are two Venuses: one celestial, called Urania, the +heavenly, who presides over all pure and spiritual affections; and the +other Polyhymnia, the terrestrial, who excites sensual and gross +desires.'" The history of love is the eternal struggle between these two +divinities,--the one seeking to elevate and the other to degrade. Plato, +for the first time, in his beautiful hymn to the Venus Urania, displayed +to men the unknown image of love,--the educator and the moralist,--so +that grateful ages have consecrated it by his name. Centuries rolled +away, and among the descendants of Teutonic barbarians a still lovelier +and more ideal sentiment burst out from the lips of the Christian Dante, +kindled by the adoration of his departed Beatrice. And as she courses +from star to star, explaining to him the mysteries, the transported poet +exclaims:-- + +"Ah, all the tongues which the Muses have inspired could not tell the +thousandth part of the beauty of the smile of Beatrice as she presented +me to the celestial group, exclaiming, 'Thou art redeemed!' O woman, in +whom lives all my hope, who hast deigned to leave for my salvation thy +footsteps on the throne of the Eternal, thou hast redeemed me from +slavery to liberty; now earth has no more dangers for me. I cherish the +image of thy purity in my bosom, that in my last hour, acceptable in +thine eyes, my soul may leave my body." + +Thus did Dante impersonate the worship of Venus Urania,--spiritual +tenderness overcoming sensual desire. Thus faithful to the traditions of +this great poet did the austere Michael Angelo do reverence to the +virtues of Vittoria Colonna. Thus did the lofty Corneille present in his +Pauline a divine model of the love which inspires great deeds and +accompanies great virtues. Thus did Shakspeare, in his portrait of +Portia, show the blended generosity and simplicity of a woman's soul:-- + + "For you [my Lord Bassanio] + I would be trebled twenty times myself; + A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich;" + +or, in his still more beautiful delineation of Juliet, paint an +absorbing devotion:-- + + "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, + My love as deep; the more I give to thee, + The more I have, for both are infinite." + +Thus did Milton, in his transcendent epic, show how a Paradise was +regained when woman gave her generous sympathy to man, and reproduced +for all coming ages the image of Spiritual Love,--the inamorata of Dante +and Petrarch, the inspired and consoling guide. + +But the muse of the poets, even when sanctified by Christianity, never +sang such an immortal love as the Middle Ages in sober prose have handed +down in the history of Heloise,--the struggle between the two Venuses of +Socrates, and the final victory of Urania, though not till after the +temporary triumph of Polyhymnia,--the inamorata of earth clad in the +vestments of a sanctified recluse, and purified by the chastisements of +Heaven. "Saint Theresa dies longing to join her divine spouse; but Saint +Theresa is only a Heloise looking towards heaven." Heloise has an +earthly idol; but her devotion has in it all the elements of a +supernatural fervor,--the crucifixion of self in the glory of him she +adored. He was not worthy of her idolatry; but she thought that he was. +Admiration for genius exalted sentiment into adoration, and imagination +invested the object of love with qualities superhuman. + +Nations do not spontaneously keep alive the memory of those who have +disgraced them. It is their heroes and heroines whose praises they +sing,--those only who have shone in the radiance of genius and virtue. +They forget defects, if these are counterbalanced by grand services or +great deeds,--if their sons and daughters have shed lustre on the land +which gave them birth. But no lustre survives egotism or vice; it only +lasts when it gilds a noble life. There is no glory in the name of +Jezebel, or Cleopatra, or Catherine de' Medici, brilliant and +fascinating as were those queens; but there is glory in the memory of +Heloise. There is no woman in French history of whom the nation is +prouder; revered, in spite of early follies, by the most austere and +venerated saints of her beclouded age, and hallowed by the tributes of +succeeding centuries for those sentiments which the fires of passion +were scarcely able to tarnish, for an exalted soul which eclipsed the +brightness of uncommon intellectual faculties, for a depth of sympathy +and affection which have become embalmed in the heart of the world, and +for a living piety which blazes all the more conspicuously from the sins +which she expiated by such bitter combats. She was human in her +impulses, but divine in her graces; one of those characters for whom we +cannot help feeling the deepest sympathy and the profoundest +admiration,--a character that has its contradictions, like that +warrior-bard who was after God's own heart, in spite of his crimes, +because his soul thirsted for the beatitudes of heaven, and was bound in +loving loyalty to his Maker, against whom he occasionally sinned by +force of mortal passions, but whom he never ignored or forgot, and +against whom he never persistently rebelled. + +As a semi-warlike but religious age produced a David, with his +strikingly double nature perpetually at war with itself and looking for +aid to God,--his "sun," his "shield," his hope, and joy,--so an equally +unenlightened but devout age produced a Heloise, the impersonation of +sympathy, disinterestedness, suffering, forgiveness, and resignation. I +have already described this dark, sad, turbulent, superstitious, +ignorant period of strife and suffering, yet not without its poetic +charms and religious aspirations; when the convent and the castle were +its chief external features, and when a life of meditation was as marked +as a life of bodily activity, as if old age and youth were battling for +supremacy,--a very peculiar state of society, in which we see the +loftiest speculations of the intellect and the highest triumphs of faith +blended with puerile enterprises and misdirected physical forces. + +In this semi-barbaric age Heloise was born, about the year 1101. Nobody +knew who was her father, although it was surmised that he belonged to +the illustrious family of the Montmorencies, which traced an unbroken +lineage to Pharimond, before the time of Clovis. She lived with her +uncle Fulbert, an ignorant, worldly-wise old canon of the Cathedral +Church of Notre Dame in Paris. He called her his niece; but whether +niece, or daughter, or adopted child, was a mystery. She was of +extraordinary beauty, though remarkable for expression rather than for +regularity of feature. In intellect she was precocious and brilliant; +but the qualities of a great soul shone above the radiance of her wit. +She was bright, amiable, affectionate, and sympathetic,--the type of an +interesting woman. The ecclesiastic was justly proud of her, and gave to +her all the education the age afforded. Although not meaning to be a +nun, she was educated in a neighboring convent,--for convents, even in +those times, were female seminaries, containing many inmates who never +intended to take the veil. But the convent then, as since, was a living +grave to all who took its vows, and was hated by brilliant women who +were not religious. The convent necessarily and logically, according to +the theology of the Middle Ages, was a retreat from the world,--a cell +of expiation; and yet it was the only place where a woman could +be educated. + +Heloise, it would seem, made extraordinary attainments, and spoke Latin +as well as her native tongue. She won universal admiration, and in due +time, at the age of eighteen, returned to her uncle's house, on the +banks of the Seine, on the island called the Cite, where the majestic +cathedral and the castle of the king towered above the rude houses of +the people. Adjoining the church were the cloisters of the monks and +the Episcopal School, the infant university of Paris, over which the +Archdeacon of Paris, William of Champeaux, presided in scholastic +dignity and pride,--next to the bishop the most influential man in +Paris. The teachers of this school, or masters and doctors as they were +called, and the priests of the cathedral formed the intellectual +aristocracy of the city, and they were frequent visitors at the house of +Fulbert the canon. His niece, as she was presumed to be, was the great +object of attraction. There never was a time when intellectual Frenchmen +have not bowed down to cultivated women. Heloise, though only a girl, +was a queen of such society as existed in the city, albeit more admired +by men than women,--poetical, imaginative, witty, ready, frank, with a +singular appreciation of intellectual excellence, dazzled by literary +fame, and looking up to those brilliant men who worshipped her. + +In truth, Heloise was a prodigy. She was vastly superior to the men who +surrounded her, most of whom were pedants, or sophists, or bigots; +dignitaries indeed, but men who exalted the accidental and the external +over the real and the permanent; men who were fond of quibbles and +sophistries, jealous of each other and of their own reputation, dogmatic +and positive as priests are apt to be, and most positive on points which +either are of no consequence or cannot be solved. The soul of Heloise +panted for a greater intellectual freedom and a deeper sympathy than +these priests could give. She pined in society. She was isolated by her +own superiority,--superior not merely in the radiance of the soul, but +in the treasures of the mind. Nor could her companions comprehend her +greatness, even while they were fascinated by her presence. She dazzled +them by her personal beauty perhaps more than by her wit; for even +mediaeval priests could admire an expansive brow, a deep blue eye, _doux +et penetrant,_ a mouth varying with unconscious sarcasms, teeth strong +and regular, a neck long and flexible, and shoulders sloping and +gracefully moulded, over which fell ample and golden locks; while the +attitude, the complexion, the blush, the thrilling accent, and the +gracious smile, languor, and passion depicted on a face both pale and +animated, seduced the imagination and commanded homage. Venus Polyhymnia +stood confessed in all her charms, for the time triumphant over that +Venus Urania who made the convent of the Paraclete in after times a +blessed comforter to all who sought its consolations. + +Among the distinguished visitors at the house of her uncle the canon, +attracted by her beauty and accomplishments, was a man thirty-eight +years of age, of noble birth, but by profession an ecclesiastic; whose +large forehead, fiery eye, proud air, plain, negligent dress, and +aristocratic manners, by turns affable and haughty, stamped him as an +extraordinary man. The people in the streets stopped to gaze at him as +he passed, or rushed to the doors and windows for a glimpse; for he was +as famous for genius and learning as he was distinguished by manners and +aspect. He was the eldest son of a Breton nobleman, who had abandoned +his inheritance and birthright for the fascinations of literature and +philosophy. His name was Peter Abelard, on the whole the most brilliant +and interesting man whom the Middle Ages produced,--not so profound as +Anselm, or learned as Peter Lombard, or logical as Thomas Aquinas, or +acute as Albertus Magnus, but the most eloquent expounder of philosophy +of whom I have read. He made the dullest subjects interesting; he +clothed the dry bones of metaphysics with flesh and blood; he invested +the most abstruse speculations with life and charm; he filled the minds +of old men with envy, and of young men with admiration; he thrilled +admirers with his wit, sarcasm, and ridicule,--a sort of Galileo, +mocking yet amusing, with a superlative contempt of dulness and +pretension. He early devoted himself to dialectics, to all the arts of +intellectual gladiatorship, to all the sports of logical tournaments +which were held in such value by the awakened spirits of the new +civilization. + +Such was Abelard's precocious ability, even as a youth, that no champion +could be found to refute him in the whole of Brittany. He went from +castle to castle, and convent to convent, a philosophical +knight-errant, seeking intellectual adventures; more intent, however, on +_eclat_ and conquest than on the establishment of the dogmas which had +ruled the Church since Saint Augustine. He was a born logician, as +Bossuet was a born priest, loving to dispute as much as the Bishop of +Meaux loved to preach; not a serious man, but a bright man, ready, keen, +acute, turning fools into ridicule, and pushing acknowledged doctrines +into absurdity; not to bring out the truth as Socrates did, or furnish a +sure foundation of knowledge, but to revolutionize and overturn. His +spirit was like that of Lucien,--desiring to demolish, without +substituting anything for the dogmas he had made ridiculous. +Consequently he was mistrusted by the old oracles of the schools, and +detested by conservative churchmen who had intellect enough to see the +tendency of his speculations. In proportion to the hatred of orthodox +ecclesiastics like Anselme of Laon and Saint Bernard, was the admiration +of young men and of the infant universities. Nothing embarrassed him. He +sought a reason for all things. He appealed to reason rather than +authority, yet made the common mistake of the scholastics in supposing +that metaphysics could explain everything. He doubtless kindled a spirit +of inquiry, while he sapped the foundation of Christianity and +undermined faith. He was a nominalist; that is, he denied the existence +of all eternal ideas, such as Plato and the early Fathers advocated. He +is said to have even adduced the opinions of Pagan philosophers to prove +the mysteries of revelation. He did not deny revelation, nor authority, +nor the prevailing doctrines which the Church indorsed and defended; but +the tendency of his teachings was to undermine what had previously been +received by faith. He exalted reason, therefore, as higher than faith. +His spirit was offensive to conservative teachers. Had he lived in our +times, he would have belonged to the most progressive schools of thought +and inquiry,--probably a rationalist, denying what he could not prove by +reason, and scorning all supernaturalism; a philosopher of the school of +Hume, or Strauss, or Renan. And yet, after assailing everything +venerable, and turning his old teachers into ridicule, and creating a +spirit of rationalistic inquiry among the young students of divinity, +who adored him, Abelard settled back on authority in his old age, +perhaps alarmed and shocked at the mischief he had done in his more +brilliant years. + +This exceedingly interesting man, with all his vanity, conceit, and +arrogance, had turned his steps to Paris, the centre of all intellectual +life in France, after he had achieved a great provincial reputation. He +was then only twenty, a bright and daring youth, conscious of his +powers, and burning with ambition. He was not ambitious of +ecclesiastical preferment, for aristocratic dunces occupied the great +sees and ruled the great monasteries. He was simply ambitious of +influence over students in philosophy and religion,--fond of _eclat_ and +fame as a teacher. The universities were not then established; there +were no chairs for professors, nor even were there scholastic titles, +like those of doctor and master; but Paris was full of students, +disgusted with the provincial schools. The Cathedral School of Paris was +the great attraction to these young men, then presided over by William +of Champeaux, a very respectable theologian, but not a remarkable genius +like Aquinas and Bonaventura, who did not arise until the Dominican and +Franciscan orders were established to combat heresy. Abelard, being +still a youth, attended the lectures of this old theologian, who was a +Realist, not an original thinker, but enjoying a great reputation, which +he was most anxious to preserve. The youthful prodigy at first was +greatly admired by the veteran teacher; but Abelard soon began to +question him and argue with him. Admiration was then succeeded by +jealousy. Some sided with the venerable teacher, but more with the +flippant yet brilliant youth who turned his master's teachings into +ridicule, and aspired to be a teacher himself. But as teaching was under +the supervision of the school of Notre Dame, Paris was interdicted to +him; he was not allowed to combat the received doctrines which were +taught in the Cathedral School. So he retired to Melun, about thirty +miles from Paris, and set up for a teacher and lecturer on philosophy. +All the influence of William of Champeaux and his friends was exerted to +prevent Abelard from teaching, but in vain. His lecture-room was +crowded. The most astonishing success attended his lectures. Not +contented with the _eclat_ he received, he now meditated the +discomfiture of his old master. He removed still nearer to Paris. And so +great was his success and fame, that it is said he compelled William to +renounce his Realism and also his chair, and accept a distant bishopric. +William was conquered by a mere stripling; but that stripling could have +overthrown a Goliath of controversy, not with a sling, but with a +giant's sword. + +Abelard having won a great dialectical victory, which brought as much +fame as military laurels on the battlefield, established himself at St. +Genevieve, just outside the walls of Paris, where the Pantheon now +stands, which is still the centre of the Latin quarter, and the +residence of students. He now applied himself to the study of divinity, +and attended the lectures of Anselm of Laon. This celebrated +ecclesiastic, though not so famous or able as Anselm of Canterbury, was +treated by Abelard with the same arrogance and flippancy as he had +bestowed on William of Champeaux. "I frequented," said the young +mocker, "the old man's school, but soon discovered that all his power +was in length of practice. You would have thought he was kindling a +fire, when instantly the whole house was filled with smoke, in which not +a single spark was visible. He was a tree covered with thick foliage, +which to the distant eye had charms, but on near inspection there was no +fruit to be found; a fig-tree such as our Lord did curse; an oak such as +Lucan compared Pompey to,--_Stat magni nominis umbra_." + +What a comment on the very philosophy which Abelard himself taught! What +better description of the scholasticism of the Middle Ages! But original +and brilliant as was the genius of Abelard, he no more could have +anticipated the new method which Bacon taught than could Thomas Aquinas. +All the various schools of the mediaeval dialecticians, Realists and +Nominalists alike, sought to establish old theories, not to discover new +truth. They could not go beyond their assumptions. So far as their +assumptions were true, they rendered great service by their inexorable +logic in defending them. They did not establish premises; that was not +their concern or mission. Assuming that the sun revolved around the +earth, all their astronomical speculations were worthless, even as the +assumption of the old doctrine of atoms in our times has led scientists +to the wildest conclusions. The metaphysics of the Schoolmen, whether +they were sceptical or reverential, simply sharpened the intellectual +faculties without advancing knowledge. + +Abelard belonged by nature to the sceptical school. He delighted in +negations, and in the work of demolition. So far as he demolished or +ridiculed error he rendered the same service as Voltaire did: he +prepared the way for a more inquiring spirit. He was also more liberal +than his opponents. His spirit was progressive, but his method was +faulty. Like all those who have sought to undermine the old systems of +thought, he was naturally vain and conceited. He supposed he had +accomplished more than he really had. He became bold in his +speculations, and undertook to explain subjects beyond his grasp. Thus +he professed to unfold the meaning of the prophecies of Ezekiel. He was +arrogant in his claims to genius. "It is not by long study," said he, +"that I have mastered the heights of science, but by the force of my +mind." This flippancy, accompanied by wit and eloquence, fascinated +young men. His auditors were charmed. "The first philosopher," they +said, "had become the first divine." New pupils crowded his +lecture-room, and he united lectures on philosophy with lectures on +divinity. "Theology and philosophy encircled his brow with a double +garland." So popular was he, that students came from Germany and Italy +and England to hear his lectures. The number of his pupils, it is said, +was more than five thousand; and these included the brightest intellects +of the age, among whom one was destined to be a pope (the great Innocent +III.), nineteen to be cardinals, and one hundred to be bishops. What a +proud position for a young man! What an astonishing success for that +age! And his pupils were as generous as they were enthusiastic. They +filled his pockets with gold; they hung upon his lips with rapture; they +extolled his genius wherever they went; they carried his picture from +court to court, from castle to castle, and convent to convent; they +begged for a lock of his hair, for a shred of his garment. Never was +seen before such idolatry of genius, such unbounded admiration for +eloquence; for he stood apart and different from all other +lights,--pre-eminent as a teacher of philosophy. "He reigned," says +Lamartine, "by eloquence over the spirit of youth, by beauty over the +regard of women, by love-songs which penetrated all hearts, by musical +melodies repeated by every mouth. Let us imagine in a single man the +first orator, the first philosopher, the first poet, the first musician +of the age,--Cicero, Plato, Petrarch, Schubert,--all united in one +living celebrity, and we can form some idea of his attractions and fame +at this period of his life." + +Such was that brilliant but unsound man, with learning, fame, personal +beauty, fascinating eloquence, dialectical acumen, aristocratic +manners, and transcendent wit, who encountered at thirty-eight the most +beautiful, gracious, accomplished, generous, and ardent woman that +adorned that time,--only eighteen, thirsting for knowledge, craving for +sympathy, and intensely idolatrous of intellectual excellence. But one +result could be anticipated from such a meeting: they became +passionately enamored of each other. In order to secure a more +uninterrupted intercourse, Abelard sought and obtained a residence in +the house of Fulbert, under pretence of desiring to superintend the +education of his niece. The ambitious, vain, unsuspecting priest was +delighted to receive so great a man, whose fame filled the world. He +intrusted Heloise to his care, with permission to use blows if they were +necessary to make her diligent and obedient! + +And what young woman with such a nature and under such circumstances +could resist the influence of such a teacher? I need not dwell on the +familiar story, how mutual admiration was followed by mutual friendship, +and friendship was succeeded by mutual infatuation, and the gradual +abandonment of both to a mad passion, forgetful alike of fame and duty. + +"It became tedious," said Abelard, "to go to my lessons. I gave my +lectures with negligence. I spoke only from habit and memory. I was only +a reciter of ancient inventions; and if I chanced to compose verses, +they were songs of love, not secrets of philosophy." The absence of his +mind evinced how powerfully his new passion moved his fiery and +impatient soul. "He consumed his time in writing verses to the canon's +niece; and even as Hercules in the gay court of Omphale threw down his +club in order to hold the distaff, so Abelard laid aside his sceptre as +a monarch of the schools to sing sonnets at the feet of Heloise." And +she also, still more unwisely, in the mighty potency of an absorbing +love, yielded up her honor and her pride. This mutual infatuation was, +it would seem, a gradual transition from the innocent pleasure of +delightful companionship to the guilt of unrestrained desire. It was not +premeditated design,--not calculation, but insidious dalliance:-- + + "Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame, + When love approached me under friendship's name. + Guiltless I gazed; heaven listened when you sung, + And truths divine came mended from your tongue. + From lips like those, what precept failed to move? + Too soon they taught me 't was no sin to love." + +In a healthy state of society this mutual passion would have been +followed by the marriage ties. The parties were equal in culture and +social position. And Abelard probably enjoyed a large income from the +fees of students, and could well support the expenses of a family. All +that was needed was the consecration of emotions, which are natural and +irresistible,--a mystery perhaps but ordained, and without which +marriage would be mere calculation and negotiation. Passion, doubtless, +is blind; but in this very blindness we see the hand of the Creator,--to +baffle selfishness and pride. What would become of our world if men and +women were left to choose their partners with the eye of unclouded +reason? Expediency would soon make a desert of earth, and there would be +no paradise found for those who are unattractive or in adverse +circumstances. Friendship might possibly bring people together; but +friendship exists only between equals and people of congenial tastes. +Love brings together also those who are unequal. It joins the rich to +the poor, the strong to the weak, the fortunate to the unfortunate, and +thus defeats the calculations which otherwise would enter into +matrimonial life. Without the blindness of passionate love the darts of +Cupid would be sent in vain; and the helpless and neglected--as so many +are--would stand but little chance for that happiness which is +associated with the institution of marriage. The world would be filled +with old bachelors and old maids, and population would hopelessly +decline among virtuous people. + +No scandal would have resulted from the ardent loves of Abelard and +Heloise had they been united by that sacred relation which was ordained +in the garden of Eden. "If any woman," says Legouve, "may stand as the +model of a wife in all her glory, it is Heloise. Passion without bounds +and without alloy, enthusiasm for the genius of Abelard, jealous care +for his reputation, a vigorous intellect, learning sufficient to join in +his labors, and an unsullied name." + +But those false, sophistical ideas which early entered into monastic +life, and which perverted the Christianity of the Middle Ages, presented +a powerful barrier against the instincts of nature and the ordinances of +God. Celibacy was accounted as a supernal virtue, and the marriage of a +priest was deemed a lasting disgrace. It obscured his fame, his +prospects, his position, and his influence; it consigned him to ridicule +and reproach. He was supposed to be married only to the Church, and +would be unfaithful to Heaven if he bound himself by connubial ties. +Says Saint Jerome, "Take axe in hand and hew up by the roots the sterile +tree of marriage. God permits it, I grant; but Christ and Mary +consecrated virginity." Alas, what could be hoped when the Church +endorsed such absurd doctrines! Hildebrand, when he denounced the +marriage of priests, made war on the most sacred instincts of human +nature. He may have strengthened the papal domination, but he weakened +the restraints of home. Only a dark and beclouded age could have upheld +such a policy. Upon the Church of the Middle Ages we lay the blame of +these false ideas. She is in a measure responsible for the follies of +Abelard and Heloise. They were not greater than the ideas of their age. +Had Abelard been as bold in denouncing the stupid custom of the Church +in this respect as he was in fighting the monks of St. Denis or the +intellectual intolerance of Bernard, he would not have fallen in the +respect of good people. But he was a slave to interest and +conventionality. He could not brave the sneers of priests or the +opinions of society; he dared not lose caste with those who ruled the +Church; he would not give up his chances of preferment. He was unwilling +either to renounce his love, or to avow it by an honorable, open union. + +At last his intimacy created scandal. In the eyes of the schools and of +the Church he had sacrificed philosophy and fame to a second Delilah. +And Heloise was even more affected by his humiliation than himself. She +more than he was opposed to marriage, knowing that this would doom him +to neglect and reproach. Abelard would perhaps have consented to an open +marriage had Heloise been willing; but with a strange perversity she +refused. His reputation and interests were dearer to her than was her +own fair name. She sacrificed herself to his fame; she blinded herself +to the greatest mistake a woman could make. The excess of her love made +her insensible to the principles of an immutable morality. Circumstances +palliated her course, but did not excuse it. The fatal consequences of +her folly pursued her into the immensity of subsequent grief; and though +afterwards she was assured of peace and forgiveness in the depths of her +repentance, the demon of infatuated love was not easily exorcised. She +may have been unconscious of degradation in the boundless spirit of +self-sacrifice which she was willing to make for the object of her +devotion, but she lost both dignity and fame. She entreated him who was +now quoted as a reproach to human weakness, since the languor of passion +had weakened his power and his eloquence, to sacrifice her to his fame; +"to permit her no longer to adore him as a divinity who accepts the +homage of his worshippers; to love her no longer, if this love +diminished his reputation; to reduce her even, if necessary, to the +condition of a woman despised by the world, since the glory of his love +would more than compensate for the contempt of the universe." + +"What reproaches," said she, "should I merit from the Church and the +schools of philosophy, were I to draw from them their brightest star! +And shall a woman dare to take to herself that man whom Nature meant to +be the ornament and benefactor of the human race? Then reflect on the +nature of matrimony, with its littleness and cares. How inconsistent it +is with the dignity of a wise man! Saint Paul earnestly dissuades from +it. So do the saints. So do the philosophers of ancient times. Think a +while. What a ridiculous association,--the philosopher and the +chambermaids, writing-desks and cradles, books and distaffs, pens and +spindles! Intent on speculation when the truths of nature and revelation +are breaking on your eye, will you hear the sudden cry of children, the +lullaby of nurses, the turbulent bustling of disorderly servants? In the +serious pursuits of wisdom there is no time to be lost. Believe me, as +well withdraw totally from literature as attempt to proceed in the midst +of worldly avocations. Science admits no participation in the cares of +life. Remember the feats of Xanthippe. Take counsel from the example of +Socrates, who has been set up as a beacon for all coming time to warn +philosophers from the fatal rock of matrimony." + +Such was the blended truth, irony, and wit with which Heloise dissuaded +Abelard from open marriage. He compromised the affair, and contented +himself with a secret marriage. "After a night spent in prayer," said +he, "in one of the churches of Paris, on the following morning we +received the nuptial blessing in the presence of the uncle of Heloise +and of a few mutual friends. We then retired without observation, that +this union, known only to God and a few intimates, should bring neither +shame nor prejudice to my renown." A cold and selfish act, such as we +might expect in Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon,--yet, nevertheless, +the feeble concession which pride and policy make to virtue, the +triumph of expediency over all heroic and manly qualities. Like +Maintenon, Heloise was willing to seem what she was not,--only to be +explained on the ground that concubinage was a less evil, in the eyes of +the Church, than marriage in a priest. + +But even a secret marriage was attended with great embarrassment. The +news of it leaks out through the servants. The envious detractors of +Abelard rejoice in his weakness and his humiliation. His pride now takes +offence, and he denies the ties; and so does Heloise. The old uncle is +enraged and indignant. Abelard, justly fearing his resentment,--yea, +being cruelly maltreated at his instigation,--removes his wife to the +convent where she was educated, and induces her to take the veil. She +obeys him; she obeys him in all things; she has no will but his. She +thinks of nothing but his reputation and interest; she forgets herself +entirely, yet not without bitter anguish. She accepts the sacrifice, but +it costs her infinite pangs. She is separated from her husband forever. +Nor was the convent agreeable to her. It was dull, monotonous, dismal; +imprisonment in a tomb, a living death, where none could know her +agonies but God; where she could not even hear from him who was +her life. + +Yet immolation in the dreary convent, where for nearly forty years she +combated the recollection of her folly, was perhaps the best thing for +her. It was a cruel necessity. In the convent she was at least safe from +molestation; she had every opportunity for study and meditation; she was +free from the temptations of the world, and removed from its scandals +and reproach. The world was crucified to her; Christ was now her spouse. + +To a convent also Abelard retired, overwhelmed with shame and penitence. +At St. Denis he assumed the strictest habits, mortified his body with +severe austerities, and renewed with ardor his studies in philosophy and +theology. He was not without mental sufferings, but he could bury his +grief in his ambition. It would seem that a marked change now took place +in the character of Abelard. He was less vain and conceited, and sought +more eagerly the consolations of religion. His life became too austere +for his brother monks, and they compelled him to leave this aristocratic +abbey. He then resumed his lectures in the wilderness. He retreated to a +desert place in Champagne, where he constructed a small oratory with his +own hands. But still students gathered around him. They, too, +constructed cells, like ancient anchorites, and cultivated the fields +for bread. Then, as their numbers increased, they erected a vast edifice +of stone and timber, which Abelard dedicated to the Holy Comforter, and +called the Paraclete. It was here that his best days were spent. His +renewed labors and his intellectual boldness increased the admiration of +his pupils. It became almost idolatry. It is said that three thousand +students assembled at the Paraclete to hear him lecture. What admiration +for genius, when three thousand young men could give up the delights of +Paris for a wilderness with Abelard! What marvellous powers of +fascination he must have had! + +This renewed success, in the midst of disgrace, created immeasurable +envy. Moreover, the sarcasms, boldness, and new views of the philosopher +raised a storm of hatred. Galileo was not more offensive to the pedants +and priests of his generation than Abelard was to the Schoolmen and +monks of his day. They impeached both his piety and theology. He was +stigmatized as unsound and superficial. Yet he continued his attacks, +his ridicule, and his sarcasms. In proportion to the animosities of his +foes was the zeal of his followers, who admired his boldness and +arrogance. At last a great clamor was raised against the daring +theologian. Saint Bernard, the most influential and profound +ecclesiastic of the day, headed the opposition. He maintained that the +foundations of Christianity were assailed. Even Abelard could not stand +before the indignation and hostility of such a saint,--a man who kindled +crusades, who made popes, who controlled the opinions of the age. +Abelard was obliged to fly, and sought an asylum amid the rocks and +sands of Brittany. The Duke of this wild province gave him the abbey of +St. Gildas; but its inmates were ignorant and disorderly, and added +insubordination to dissoluteness. They ornamented their convent with the +trophies of the chase. They thought more of bears and wild boars and +stags than they did of hymns and meditations. The new abbot, now a grave +and religious man, in spite of his opposition to the leaders of the +orthodox party, endeavored to reform the monks,--a hopeless task,--and +they turned against him with more ferocity than the theologians. They +even poisoned, it is said, the sacramental wine. He was obliged to hide +among the rocks to save his life. Nothing but aid from the neighboring +barons saved him from assassination. + +Thus fifteen years were passed in alternate study, glory, suffering, and +shame. In his misery Abelard called on God for help,--his first great +advance in that piety which detractors depreciated. He wrote also to a +friend a history of his misfortunes. By accident this history fell into +the hands of Heloise, then abbess of the Paraclete, which Abelard had +given her, and where she was greatly revered for all those virtues most +esteemed in her age. It opened her wound afresh, and she wrote a letter +to her husband such as has seldom been equalled for pathos and depth of +sentiment. It is an immortal record of her grief, her unsubdued +passion, her boundless love, not without gentle reproaches for what +seemed a cold neglect and silence for fifteen long and bitter years, yet +breathing forgiveness, admiration, affection. The salutation of that +letter is remarkable: "Heloise to her lord, to her father, to her +husband, to her brother: his servant,--yes, his daughter; his +wife,--yes, his sister." Thus does she begin that tender and long +letter, in which she describes her sufferings, her unchanged affections, +her ardent wishes for his welfare, revealing in every line not merely +genius and sensibility, but a lofty and magnanimous soul. She glories in +what constitutes the real superiority of her old lover; she describes +with simplicity what had originally charmed her,--his songs and +conversation. She professes still an unbounded obedience to his will, +and begs for a reply, if for nothing else that she may be stimulated to +a higher life amid the asperities of her gloomy convent. + + Yet write, oh, write all, that I may join + Grief to thy griefs, and echo sighs to thine! + Years still are mine, and these I need not spare, + Love but demands what else were shed in prayer; + No happier task these faded eyes pursue,-- + To read and weep is all I now can do. + +Abelard replies to this touching letter coldly, but religiously, calling +her his "sister in Christ," but not attempting to draw out the earthly +love which both had sought to crush. He implores her prayers in his +behalf. The only sign of his former love is a request to be buried in +her abbey, in anticipation of a speedy and violent death. Most critics +condemn this letter as heartless; yet it is but charitable to suppose +that he did not wish to trifle with a love so great, and reopen a wound +so deep and sacred. All his efforts now seem to have been directed to +raise her soul to heaven. But his letter does not satisfy her, and she +again gives vent to her passionate grief in view of the separation:-- + +"O inclement Clemency! O unfortunate Fortune! She has so far consumed +her weakness upon me that she has nothing left for others against whom +she rages. I am the most miserable of the miserable, the most unhappy of +the unhappy!" + +This letter seems to have touched Abelard, and he replied to it more at +length, and with great sympathy, giving her encouragement and +consolation. He speaks of their mutual sufferings as providential; and +his letter is couched in a more Christian spirit than one would +naturally impute to him in view of his contests with the orthodox +leaders of the Church; and it also expresses more tenderness than can be +reconciled with the selfish man he is usually represented. He writes:-- + +"See, dearest, how with the strong nets of his mercy God has taken us +from the depths of a perilous sea. Observe how he has tempered mercy +with justice; compare our danger with the deliverance, our disease with +the remedy. I merit death, and God gives me life. Come, and join me in +proclaiming how much the Lord has done for us. Be my inseparable +companion in an act of grace, since you have participated with me in the +fault and the pardon. Take courage, my dear sister; whom the Lord loveth +he chastiseth. Sympathize with Him who suffered for your redemption. +Approach in spirit His sepulchre. Be thou His spouse." + +Then he closes with this prayer:-- + +"When it pleased Thee, O Lord, and as it pleased Thee, Thou didst join +us, and Thou didst separate us. Now, what Thou hast so mercifully begun, +mercifully complete; and after separating us in this world, join us +together eternally in heaven." + +No one can read this letter without acknowledging its delicacy and its +loftiness. All his desires centred in the spiritual good of her whom the +Church would not allow him to call any longer his wife, yet to whom he +hoped to be reunited in heaven. As a professed nun she could no longer, +with propriety, think of him as an earthly husband. For a priest to +acknowledge a nun for his wife would have been a great scandal. By all +the laws of the Church and the age they were now only brother and sister +in Christ. Nothing escaped from his pen which derogates from the +austere dignity of the priest. + +But Heloise was more human and less conventional. She had not conquered +her love; once given, it could not be taken back. She accepted her +dreary immolation in the convent, since she obeyed Abelard both as +husband and as a spiritual father; but she would have left the convent +and rejoined him had he demanded it, for marriage was to her more sacred +than the veil. She was more emancipated from the ideas of her +superstitious age than even the bold and rationalistic philosopher. With +all her moral and spiritual elevation, Heloise could not conquer her +love. And, as a wedded wife, why should she conquer it? She was both nun +and wife. If fault there was, it was as wife, in immuring herself in a +convent and denying the marriage. It should have been openly avowed; the +denial of it placed her in a false position, as a fallen woman. Yet, as +a fallen woman, she regained her position in the eyes of the world. She +was a lady abbess. It was impossible for a woman to enjoy a higher +position than the control of a convent. As abbess, she enjoyed the +friendship and respect of some of the saintliest and greatest characters +of the age, even of such a man as Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny. +And it is impossible that she should have won the friendship of such a +man, if she herself had not been irreproachable in her own character. +The error in judging Heloise is, that she, as nun, had no right to love. +But the love existed long before she took the veil, and was consecrated +by marriage, even though private. By the mediaeval and conventional +stand point, it is true, the wife was lost in the nun. That is the view +that Abelard took,--that it was a sin to love his wife any longer. But +Heloise felt that it was no sin to love him who was her life. She +continued to live in him who ruled over her, and to whose desire her +will was subject and obedient, according to that eternal law declared in +the garden of Eden. + +Nor could this have been otherwise so long as Abelard retained the +admiration of Heloise, and was worthy of her devotion. We cannot tell +what changes may have taken place in her soul had he been grovelling, or +tyrannical, a slave of degrading habits, or had he treated her with +cruel harshness, or ceased to sympathize with her sorrows, or +transferred his affections to another object. But whatever love he had +to give, he gave to her to the end, so far as the ideas of his age would +permit. His fault was in making a nun of his wife, which was in the eyes +of the world a virtual repudiation; even though, from a principle of +sublime obedience and self-sacrifice, she consented to the separation. +Was Josephine to blame because she loved a selfish man after she was +repudiated? Heloise was simply unable to conquer a powerful love. It +was not converted into hatred, because Abelard, in her eyes, seemed +still to be worthy of it. She regarded him as a saint, forced by the +ideas of his age to crush a mortal love,--which she herself could not +do, because it was a sentiment, and sentiment is eternal. She was +greater than Abelard, because her love was more permanent; in other +words, because her soul was greater. In intellect he may have been +superior to her, but not in the higher qualities which imply generosity, +self-abnegation, and sympathy,--qualities which are usually stronger in +women than in men. In Abelard the lower faculties--ambition, desire of +knowledge, vanity--consumed the greater. _He_ could be contented with +the gratification of these, even as men of a still lower type can +renounce intellectual pleasures for the sensual. It does not follow that +Heloise was weaker than he because she could not live outside the world +of sentiment, but rather loftier and nobler. These higher faculties +constituted her superiority to Abelard. It was sentiment which made her +so pre-eminently great, and it was this which really endeared her to +Abelard. By reason and will he ruled over her; but by the force of +superior sentiment she ruled over him. + +Sentiment, indeed, underlies everything that is great or lovely or +enduring on this earth. It is the joy of festivals, the animating soul +of patriotism, the bond of families, the beauty of religious, +political, and social institutions. It has consecrated Thermopylae, the +Parthenon, the Capitol, the laurel crown, the conqueror's triumphal +procession, the epics of Homer, the eloquence of Demosthenes, the muse +of Virgil, the mediaeval cathedral, the town-halls of Flanders, the +colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the struggles of the Puritans, the +deeds of Gustavus Adolphus, the Marseilles hymn, the farewell address of +Washington. There is no poetry without it, nor heroism, nor social +banqueting. What is Christmas without the sentiments which hallow the +evergreen, the anthem, the mistletoe, the family reunion? What is even +tangible roast-beef and plum-pudding without a party to enjoy them; and +what is the life of the party but the interchange of sentiments? Why is +a cold sleigh-ride, or the ascent of a mountain, or a voyage across the +Atlantic, or a rough journey under torrid suns to the consecrated +places,--why are these endurable, and even pleasant? It is because the +sentiments which prompt them are full of sweet and noble inspiration. +The Last Supper, and Bethany, and the Sepulchre are immortal, because +they testify eternal love. Leonidas lives in the heart of the world +because he sacrificed himself to patriotism. The martyrs are objects of +unfading veneration, because they died for Christianity. + +In the same way Heloise is embalmed in the affections of all nations +because she gave up everything for an exalted sentiment which so +possessed her soul that neither scorn, nor pity, nor ascetic severities, +nor gloomy isolation, nor ingratitude, nor a living death could +eradicate or weaken it,--an unbounded charity which covered with its +veil the evils she could not remove. That all-pervading and +all-conquering sentiment was the admiration of ideal virtues and +beauties which her rapt and excited soul saw in her adored lover; such +as Dante saw in his departed Beatrice. It was unbounded admiration for +Abelard which first called out the love of Heloise; and his undoubted +brilliancy and greatness were exaggerated in her loving eyes by her +imagination, even as mothers see in children traits that are hidden from +all other mortal eyes. So lofty and godlike did he seem, amidst the +plaudits of the schools, and his triumph over all the dignitaries that +sought to humble him; so interesting was he to her by his wit, sarcasm, +and eloquence,--that she worshipped him, and deemed it the most exalted +honor to possess exclusively his love in return, which he gave certainly +to no one else. Satisfied that he, the greatest man of the world,--as he +seemed and as she was told he was,--should give to her what she gave to +him, she exulted in it as her highest glory. It was all in all to her; +but not to him. See, then, how superior Heloise was to Abelard in +humility as well as self-abnegation. She was his equal, and yet she +ever gloried in his superiority. See how much greater, too, she was in +lofty sentiments, since it was the majesty of his mind and soul which +she adored. He was comparatively indifferent to her when she became no +longer an object of desire; but not so with her, since she was attracted +by his real or supposed greatness of intellect, which gave permanence to +her love, and loftiness also. He was her idol, since he possessed those +qualities which most powerfully excited her admiration. + +This then is love, when judged by a lofty standard,--worship of what is +most glorious in mind and soul. And this exalted love is most common +among the female sex, since their passions are weaker and their +sentiments are stronger than those of most men. What a fool a man is to +weaken this sympathy, or destroy this homage, or outrage this +indulgence; or withhold that tenderness, that delicate attention, that +toleration of foibles, that sweet appreciation, by which the soul of +woman is kept alive and the lamp of her incense burning! And woe be to +him who drives this confiding idolater back upon her technical +obligations! The form that holds these certitudes of the soul may lose +all its beauty by rudeness or neglect. And even if the form remains, +what is a mortal body without the immortal soul which animates it? The +glory of a man or of a woman is the real presence of spiritual love, +which brings peace to homes, alleviation to burdens, consolation to +sufferings, rest to labors, hope to anxieties, and a sublime repose amid +the changes of the world,--that blessed flower of perennial sweetness +and beauty which Adam in his despair bore away from Eden, and which +alone almost compensated him for the loss of Paradise. + +It is not my object to present Abelard except in his connection with the +immortal love with which he inspired the greatest woman of the age. And +yet I cannot conclude this sketch without taking a parting glance of +this brilliant but unfortunate man. And I confess that his closing days +strongly touch my sympathies, and make me feel that historians have been +too harsh in their verdicts. Historians have based their opinions on the +hostilities which theological controversies produced, and on the neglect +which Abelard seemed to show for the noble woman who obeyed and adored +him. But he appears to have employed his leisure and tranquil days in +writing hymns to the abbess of the Paraclete, in preparing homilies, and +in giving her such advice as her circumstances required. All his later +letters show the utmost tenderness and zeal for the spiritual good of +the woman to whom he hoped to be reunited in heaven, and doing for +Heloise what Jerome did for Paula, and Fenelon for Madame Guyon. If no +longer her lover, he was at least her friend. And, moreover, at this +time he evinced a loftier religious life than he has the credit of +possessing. He lived a life of study and meditation. + +But his enemies would not allow him to rest, even in generous labors. +They wished to punish him and destroy his influence. So they summoned +him to an ecclesiastical council to answer for his heresies. At first he +resolved to defend himself, and Bernard, his greatest enemy, even +professed a reluctance to contend with his superior in dialectical +contests. But Abelard, seeing how inflamed were the passions of the +theologians against him, and how vain would be his defence, appealed at +once to the Pope; and Rome, of course, sided with his enemies. He was +condemned to perpetual silence, and his books were ordered to be burned. + +To this sentence it would appear that Abelard prepared to submit with +more humility than was to be expected from so bold and arrogant a man. +But he knew he could not resist an authority based on generally accepted +ideas any easier than Henry IV. could have resisted Hildebrand. He made +up his mind to obey the supreme authority of the Church, but bitterly +felt the humiliation and the wrong. + +Broken in spirit and in reputation, Abelard, now an old man, set out on +foot for Rome to plead his cause before the Pope. He stopped on his way +at Cluny in Burgundy, that famous monastery where Hildebrand himself had +ruled, now, however, presided over by Peter the Venerable,--the most +benignant and charitable ecclesiastical dignitary of that age. And as +Abelard approached the gates of the venerable abbey, which was the pride +of the age, worn out with fatigue and misfortune, he threw himself at +the feet of the lordly abbot and invoked shelter and protection. How +touching is the pride of greatness, when brought low by penitence or +grief, like that of Theodosius at the feet of Ambrose, or Henry II. at +the tomb of Becket! But Peter raises him up, receives him in his arms, +opens to him his heart and the hospitalities of his convent, not as a +repentant prodigal, but as the greatest genius of his age, brought low +by religious persecution. Peter did all in his power to console his +visitor, and even privately interceded with the Pope, remembering only +Abelard's greatness and his misfortunes. And the persecuted philosopher, +through the kind offices of the abbot, was left in peace, and was even +reconciled with Bernard,--an impossibility without altered opinions in +Abelard, or a submission to the Church which bore all the marks +of piety. + +The few remaining days of this extraordinary man, it seems, were spent +in study, penitence, and holy meditation. So beloved and revered was he +by the community among whom he dwelt, that for six centuries his name +was handed down from father to son among the people of the valley and +town of Cluny. "At the extremity of a retired valley," says Lamartine, +"flanked by the walls of the convent, on the margin of extensive +meadows, closed by woods, and near to a neighboring stream, there exists +an enormous lime-tree, under the shade of which Abelard in his closing +days was accustomed to sit and meditate, with his face turned towards +the Paraclete which he had built, and where Heloise still discharged the +duties of abbess." + +But even this pensive pleasure was not long permitted him. He was worn +out with sorrows and misfortunes; and in a few months after he had +crossed the hospitable threshold of Cluny he died in the arms of his +admiring friend. "Under the instinct of a sentiment as sacred as +religion itself, Peter felt that Abelard above and Heloise on earth +demanded of him the last consolation of a reunion in the grave. So, +quietly, in the dead of night, dreading scandal, yet true to his +impulses, without a hand to assist or an eye to witness, he exhumed the +coffin which had been buried in the abbey cemetery, and conveyed it +himself to the Paraclete, and intrusted it to Heloise." + +She received it with tears, shut herself up in the cold vault with the +mortal remains of him she had loved so well; while Peter, that aged +saint of consolation, pronounced the burial service with mingled tears +and sobs. And after having performed this last sad office, and given his +affectionate benediction to the great woman to whom he was drawn by ties +of admiration and sympathy, this venerable dignitary wended his way +silently back to Cluny, and, for the greater consolation of Heloise, +penned the following remarkable letter, which may perhaps modify our +judgment of Abelard:-- + +"It is no easy task, my sister, to describe in a few lines the holiness, +the humility, and the self-denial which our departed brother exhibited +to us, and of which our whole collected brotherhood alike bear witness. +Never have I beheld a life and deportment so thoroughly submissive. I +placed him in an elevated rank in the community, but he appeared the +lowest of all by the simplicity of his dress and his abstinence from all +the enjoyments of the senses. I speak not of luxury, for that was a +stranger to him; he refused everything but what was indispensable for +the sustenance of life. He read continually, prayed often, and never +spoke except when literary conversation or holy discussion compelled him +to break silence. His mind and tongue seemed concentrated on +philosophical and divine instructions. Simple, straightforward, +reflecting on eternal judgments, shunning all evil, he consecrated the +closing hours of an illustrious life. And when a mortal sickness seized +him, with what fervent piety, what ardent inspiration did he make his +last confession of his sins; with what fervor did he receive the +promise of eternal life; with what confidence did he recommend his body +and soul to the tender mercies of the Saviour!" + +Such was the death of Abelard, as attested by the most venerated man of +that generation. And when we bear in mind the friendship and respect of +such a man as Peter, and the exalted love of such a woman as Heloise, it +is surely not strange that posterity, and the French nation especially, +should embalm his memory in their traditions. + +Heloise survived him twenty years,--a priestess of God, a mourner at the +tomb of Abelard. And when in the solitude of the Paraclete she felt the +approach of the death she had so long invoked, she directed the +sisterhood to place her body beside that of her husband in the same +leaden coffin. And there, in the silent aisles of that abbey-church, it +remained for five hundred years, until it was removed by Lucien +Bonaparte to the Museum of French Monuments in Paris, but again +transferred, a few years after, to the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. The +enthusiasm of the French erected over the remains a beautiful monument; +and "there still may be seen, day by day, the statues of the immortal +lovers, decked with flowers and coronets, perpetually renewed with +invisible hands,--the silent tribute of the heart of that consecrated +sentiment which survives all change. Thus do those votive offerings +mysteriously convey admiration for the constancy and sympathy with the +posthumous union of two hearts who transposed conjugal tenderness from +the senses to the soul, who spiritualized the most ardent of human +passions, and changed love itself into a holocaust, a martyrdom, and a +holy sacrifice." + +AUTHORITIES. + +Lamartine's Characters; Berington's Middle Ages; Michelet's History of +France; Life of St. Bernard; French Ecclesiastical Historians; Bayle's +Critical Dictionary; Biographic Universelle; Pope's Lines on Abelard and +Heloise; Letters of Abelard and Heloise. + + + + +JOAN OF ARC. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 1412-1431. + +HEROIC WOMEN. + + +Perhaps the best known and most popular of heroines is Joan of Arc, +called the Maid of Orleans. Certainly she is one of the most interesting +characters in the history of France during the Middle Ages; hence I +select her to illustrate heroic women. There are not many such who are +known to fame; though heroic qualities are not uncommon in the gentler +sex, and a certain degree of heroism enters into the character of all +those noble and strongly marked women who have attracted attention and +who have rendered great services. It marked many of the illustrious +women of the Bible, of Grecian and Roman antiquity, and especially those +whom chivalry produced in mediaeval Europe; and even in our modern times +intrepidity and courage have made many a woman famous, like Florence +Nightingale. In Jewish history we point to Deborah, who delivered Israel +from the hands of Jabin; and to Jael, who slew Sisera, the captain of +Jabin's hosts; and to Judith, who cut off the head of Holofernes. It +was heroism, which is ever allied with magnanimity, that prompted the +daughter of Jephtha to the most remarkable self-sacrifice recorded in +history. There was a lofty heroism in Abigail, when she prevented David +from shedding innocent blood. And among the Pagan nations, who does not +admire the heroism of such women as we have already noticed? Chivalry, +too, produced illustrious heroines in every country of Europe. We read +of a Countess of March, in the reign of Edward III., who defended Dunbar +with uncommon courage against Montague and an English army; a Countess +of Montfort shut herself up in the fortress of Hennebon, and +successfully defied the whole power of Charles of Blois; Jane Hatchett +repulsed in person a considerable body of Burgundian troops; Altrude, +Countess of Bertinora, advanced with an army to the relief of Ancona; +Bona Lombardi, with a body of troops, liberated her husband from +captivity; Isabella of Lorraine raised an army for the rescue of her +husband; Queen Philippa, during the absence of her husband in Scotland, +stationed herself in the Castle of Bamborough and defied the threats of +Douglas, and afterwards headed an army against David, King of Scotland, +and took him prisoner, and shut him up in the Tower of London. + +But these illustrious women of the Middle Ages who performed such feats +of gallantry and courage belonged to the noble class; they were +identified with aristocratic institutions; they lived in castles; they +were the wives and daughters of feudal princes and nobles whose business +was war, and who were rough and turbulent warriors, and sometimes no +better than robbers, but who had the virtues of chivalry, which was at +its height during the wars of Edward III. And yet neither the proud +feudal nobles nor their courageous wives and daughters took any notice +of the plebeian people, except to oppress and grind them down. No +virtues were developed by feudalism among the people but submission, +patience, and loyalty. + +And thus it is extraordinary that such a person should appear in that +chivalric age as Joan of Arc, who rose from the humblest class, who +could neither read nor write,--a peasant girl without friends or +influence, living among the Vosges mountains on the borders of Champagne +and Lorraine. She was born in 1412, in the little obscure village of +Domremy on the Meuse, on land belonging to the French crown. She lived +in a fair and fertile valley on the line of the river, on the other side +of which were the Burgundian territories. The Lorraine of the Vosges was +a mountainous district covered with forests, which served for royal +hunting parties. The village of Domremy itself was once a dependency of +the abbey of St. Remy at Rheims. This district had suffered cruelly +from the wars between the Burgundians and the adherents of the +Armagnacs, one of the great feudal families of France in the +Middle Ages. + +Joan, or Jeanne, was the third daughter of one of the peasant laborers +of Domremy. She was employed by her mother in spinning and sewing, while +her sisters and brothers were set to watch cattle. Her mother could +teach her neither to read nor write, but early imbued her mind with the +sense of duty. Joan was naturally devout, and faultless in her morals; +simple, natural, gentle, fond of attending the village church; devoting +herself, when not wanted at home, to nursing the sick,--the best girl in +the village; strong, healthy, and beautiful; a spirit lowly but poetic, +superstitious but humane, and fond of romantic adventures. But her piety +was one of her most marked peculiarities, and somehow or other she knew +more than we can explain of Scripture heroes and heroines. + +One of the legends of that age and place was that the marches of +Lorraine were to give birth to a maid who was to save the +realm,--founded on an old prophecy of Merlin. It seems that when only +thirteen years old Joan saw visions, and heard celestial voices bidding +her to be good and to trust in God; and as virginity was supposed to be +a supernal virtue, she vowed to remain a virgin, but told no one of her +vow or her visions. She seems to have been a girl of extraordinary good +sense, which was as marked as her religious enthusiasm. + +The most remarkable thing about this young peasant girl is that she +claimed to have had visions and heard voices which are difficult to be +distinguished from supernatural,--something like the daemon of Socrates. +She affirmed that Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to her in glory, +also Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, encouraging her in virtue, and +indicating to her that a great mission was before her, that she was to +deliver her king and country. Such claims have not been treated with +incredulity or contempt by French historians, especially Barante and +Michelet, in view of the wonderful work she was instrumental in +accomplishing. + +At this period France was afflicted with that cruel war which had at +intervals been carried on for nearly a century between the English and +French kings, and which had arisen from the claims of Edward I to the +throne of France. The whole country was distracted, forlorn, and +miserable; it was impoverished, overrun, and drained of fighting men. +The war had exhausted the resources of England as well as those of +France. The population of England at the close of this long series of +wars was less than it was under Henry II. Those wars were more +disastrous to the interests of both the rival kingdoms than even those +of the Crusades, and they were marked by great changes and great +calamities. The victories of Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt--which shed +such lustre on the English nation--were followed by reverses, miseries, +and defeats, which more than balanced the glories of Edward the Black +Prince and Henry V. Provinces were gained and lost, yet no decisive +results followed either victory or defeat. The French kings, driven +hither and thither, with a decimated people, and with the loss of some +of their finest provinces, still retained their sovereignty. + +At one time, about the year 1347, Edward III. had seemed to have +attained the supreme object of his ambition. France lay bleeding at his +feet; he had won the greatest victory of his age; Normandy already +belonged to him, Guienne was recovered, Aquitaine was ceded to him, +Flanders was on his side, and the possession of Brittany seemed to open +his way to Paris. But in fourteen years these conquests were lost; the +plague scourged England, and popular discontents added to the +perplexities of the once fortunate monarch. Moreover, the House of +Commons had come to be a power and a check on royal ambition. The death +of the Black Prince consummated his grief and distraction, and the +heroic king gave himself up in his old age to a disgraceful profligacy, +and died in the arms of Alice Pierce, in the year 1377. + +Fifty years pass by, and Henry V. is king of England, and renews his +claim to the French throne. The battle of Agincourt (1415) gives to +Henry V. the same _eclat_ that the victory of Crecy had bestowed on +Edward III. Again the French realm is devastated by triumphant +Englishmen. The King of France is a captive; his Queen is devoted to the +cause of Henry, the Duke of Burgundy is his ally, and he only needs the +formal recognition of the Estates to take possession of the French +throne. But in the year 1422, in the midst of his successes, he died of +a disease which baffled the skill of all his physicians, leaving his +kingdom to a child only nine years old, and the prosecution of the +French war to his brother the Duke of Bedford, who was scarcely inferior +to himself in military genius. + +At this time, when Charles VI. of France was insane, and his oldest son +Louis dead, his second son Charles declared himself King of France, as +Charles VII. But only southern France acknowledged Charles, who at this +time was a boy of fifteen years. All the northern provinces, even +Guienne and Gascony, acknowledged Henry VI., the infant son of Henry V. +of England. Charles's affairs, therefore, were in a bad way, and there +was every prospect of the complete conquest of France. Even Paris was +the prey alternately of the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, the last of +whom were the adherents of Charles the Dauphin,--the legitimate heir to +the throne. He held his little court at Bourges, where he lived as gaily +as he could, sometimes in want of the necessaries of life. His troops +were chiefly Gascons, Lombards, and Scotch, who got no pay, and who +lived by pillage. He was so hard pressed by the Duke of Bedford that he +meditated a retreat into Dauphine. It would seem that he was given to +pleasures, and was unworthy of his kingdom, which he nearly lost by +negligence and folly. + +The Duke of Bedford, in order to drive Charles out of the central +provinces, resolved to take Orleans, which was the key to the south,--a +city on the north bank of the Loire, strongly fortified and well +provisioned. This was in 1428. The probabilities were that this city +would fall, for it was already besieged, and was beginning to +suffer famine. + +In this critical period for France, Joan of Arc appeared on the stage, +being then a girl of sixteen (some say eighteen) years of age. Although +Joan, as we have said, was uneducated, she yet clearly comprehended the +critical condition of her country, and with the same confidence that +David had in himself and in his God when he armed himself with a sling +and a few pebbles to confront the full-armed giant of the Philistines, +inspired by her heavenly visions she resolved to deliver France. She +knew nothing of war; she had not been accustomed to equestrian +exercises, like a woman of chivalry; she had no friends; she had never +seen great people; she was poor and unimportant. To the eye of worldly +wisdom her resolution was perfectly absurd. + +It was with the greatest difficulty that Joan finally obtained an +interview with Boudricourt, the governor of Vaucouleurs; and he laughed +at her, and bade her uncle take her home and chastise her for her +presumption. She returned to her humble home, but with resolutions +unabated. The voices encouraged her, and the common people believed in +her. Again, in the red coarse dress of a peasant girl, she sought the +governor, claiming that God had sent her. There was something so +strange, so persistent, so honest about her that he reported her case to +the King. Meanwhile, the Duke of Lorraine heard of her, and sent her a +safe-conduct, and the people of Vaucouleurs came forward and helped her. +They gave her a horse and the dress of a soldier; and the governor, +yielding to her urgency, furnished her with a sword and a letter to the +King. She left without seeing her parents,--which was one of the +subsequent charges against her,--and prosecuted her journey amid great +perils and fatigues, travelling by night with her four armed attendants. + +After twelve days Joan reached Chinon, where the King was tarrying. But +here new difficulties arose: she could not get an interview with the +King; it was opposed by his most influential ministers and courtiers. +"Why waste precious time," said they, "when Orleans is in the utmost +peril, to give attention to a mad peasant-girl, who, if not mad, must be +possessed with a devil: a sorceress to be avoided; what can she do for +France?" The Archbishop of Rheims, the prime-minister of Charles, +especially was against her. The learned doctors of the schools derided +her claims. It would seem that her greatest enemies were in the Church +and the universities. "Not many wise, not many mighty are called." The +deliverers of nations in great exigencies rarely have the favor of the +great. But the women of the court spoke warmly in Joan's favor, for her +conduct was modest and irreproachable; and after two days she was +admitted to the royal castle, the Count of Vendome leading her to the +royal presence. Charles stood among a crowd of nobles, all richly +dressed; but in her visions this pure enthusiast had seen more glories +than an earthly court, and she was undismayed. To the King she repeated +the words which had thus far acted liked a charm: "I am Joan the Maid, +sent by God to save France;" and she demanded troops. But the King was +cautious; he sent two monks to her native village to inquire all about +her, while nobles and ecclesiastics cross-questioned her. She was, +however, treated courteously, and given in charge to the King's +lieutenant, whose wife was a woman of virtue and piety. Many +distinguished people visited her in the castle to which she was +assigned, on whom she made a good impression by her modesty, good sense, +and sublime enthusiasm. It was long debated in the royal council whether +she should be received or rejected; but as affairs were in an +exceedingly critical condition, and Orleans was on the point of +surrender, it was concluded to listen to her voice. + +It must be borne in mind that the age was exceedingly superstitious, and +the statesmen of the distracted and apparently ruined country probably +decided to make use of this girl, not from any cordial belief in her +mission, but from her influence on the people. She might stimulate them +to renewed efforts. She was an obscure and ignorant peasant-girl, it was +true, but God might have chosen her as an instrument. In this way very +humble people, with great claims, have often got the ear and the +approval of the wise and powerful, as instruments of Almighty +Providence. When Moody and Sankey first preached in London, it was the +Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief-Justice--who happened to be religious +men--that, amid the cynicism of ordinary men of rank, gave them the most +encouragement, and frequently attended their meetings. + +And the voices which inspired the Maid of Orleans herself,--what were +these? Who can tell? Who can explain such mysteries? I would not +assert, nor would I deny, that they were the voices of inspiration. What +is inspiration? It has often been communicated to men. Who can deny that +the daemon of Socrates was something more than a fancied voice? When did +supernatural voices first begin to utter the power of God? When will the +voices of inspiration cease to be heard on earth? In view of the fact +that _she did_ accomplish her mission, the voices which inspired this +illiterate peasant to deliver France are not to be derided. Who can sit +in judgment on the ways in which Providence is seen to act? May He not +choose such instruments as He pleases? Are not all His ways mysterious, +never to be explained by the reason of man? Did not the occasion seem to +warrant something extraordinary? Here was a great country apparently on +the verge of ruin. To the eye of reason and experience it seemed that +France was to be henceforth ruled, as a subjugated country, by a foreign +power. Royal armies had failed to deliver her. Loyalty had failed to +arouse the people. Feudal envies and enmities had converted vassals into +foes. The Duke of Burgundy, the most powerful vassal of France, was in +arms against his liege lord. The whole land was rent with divisions and +treasons. And the legitimate king, who ought to have been a power, was +himself feeble, frivolous, and pleasure-seeking amid all his perils. +_He_ could not save the country. Who could save it? There were no great +generals. Universal despair hung over the land. The people were +depressed. Military resources were insufficient. If France was to be +preserved as an independent and powerful monarchy, something +extraordinary must happen to save it. The hope in feudal armies had +fled. In fact, only God could rescue the country in such perils and +under such forlorn circumstances. + +Joan of Arc believed in God,--that He could do what He pleased, that He +was a power to be supplicated; and she prayed to Him to save France, +since princes could not save the land, divided by their rivalries and +jealousies and ambitions. And the conviction, after much prayer and +fasting, was impressed upon her mind--no matter how, but it _was_ +impressed upon her--that God had chosen _her_ as His instrument, that it +was her mission to raise the siege of Orleans, and cause the young +Dauphin to be crowned king at Rheims. This conviction gave her courage +and faith and intrepidity. How could she, unacquainted with wars and +sieges, show the necessary military skill and genius? She did not +pretend to it. She claimed no other wisdom than that which was +communicated to her by celestial voices. If she could direct a military +movement in opposition to leaders of experience, it was only because +this movement was what was indicated by an archangel. And so decided +and imperative was she, that royal orders were given to obey her. One +thing was probable, whether a supernatural wisdom and power were given +her or not,--she yet might animate the courage of others, she might +stimulate them to heroic action, and revive their hopes; for if God was +with them, who could be against them? What she had to do was simply +this,--to persuade princes and nobles that the Lord would deliver the +nation. Let the conviction be planted in the minds of a religious people +that God is with them, and in some way will come to their aid if they +themselves will put forth their own energies, and they will be almost +sure to rally. And here was an inspired woman, as they supposed, ready +to lead them on to victory, not by her military skill, but by indicating +to them the way as an interpreter of the Divine will. This was not more +extraordinary than the repeated deliverances of the Hebrew nation under +religious leaders. + +The signal deliverance of the French at that gloomy period from the +hands of the English, by Joan of Arc, was a religious movement. The Maid +is to be viewed as a religious phenomenon; she rested her whole power +and mission on the supposition that she was inspired to point out the +way of deliverance. She claimed nothing for herself, was utterly without +vanity, ambition, or pride, and had no worldly ends to gain. Her +character was without a flaw. She was as near perfection as any mortal +ever was: religious, fervent, unselfish, gentle, modest, chaste, +patriotic, bent on one thing only,--to be of service to her country, +without reward; and to be of service only by way of encouragement, and +pointing out what seemed to her to be the direction of God. + +So Joan fearlessly stood before kings and nobles and generals, yet in +the modest gentleness of conscious virtue, to direct them what to do, as +a sort of messenger of Heaven. What was rank or learning to her? If she +was sent by a voice that spoke to her soul, and that voice was from God, +what was human greatness to her? It paled before the greatness which +commissioned her. In the discharge of her mission all men were alike in +her eyes; the distinctions of rank faded away in the mighty issues which +she wished to bring about, even the rescue of France from foreign +enemies, and which she fully believed she could effect with God's aid, +and in the way that He should indicate. + +Whether the ruling powers fully believed in her or not, they at last +complied with her wishes and prayers, though not until she had been +subjected to many insults from learned priests and powerful nobles, whom +she finally won by her modest and wise replies. Said one of them +mockingly: "If it be God's will that the English shall quit France, +there is no need for men-at-arms." To whom she replied: "The +men-at-arms must fight, and God shall give the victory." She saw no +other deliverance than through fighting, and fighting bravely, and +heroically, as the means of success. She was commissioned, she said, to +stimulate the men to fight,--not to pray, but to fight. She promised no +rescue by supernatural means, but only through natural forces. France +was not to despond, but to take courage, and fight. There was no +imposture about her, only zeal and good sense, to impress upon the +country the necessity of bravery and renewed exertions. + +The Maid set out for the deliverance of the besieged city in a man's +attire, deeming it more modest under her circumstances, and exposing her +to fewer annoyances. She was arrayed in a suit of beautiful armor, with +a banner after her own device,--white, embroidered with lilies,--and a +sword which had been long buried behind the altar of a church. Under her +inspiring influence an army of six thousand men was soon collected, +commanded by the ablest and most faithful generals who remained to the +King, and accompanied by the Archbishop of Rheims, who, though he had no +great faith in her claims, yet saw in her a fitting instrument to arouse +the people from despair. Before setting out from Blois she dictated a +letter to the English captains before the besieged city, which to them +must have seemed arrogant, insulting, and absurd, in which she +commanded them in God's name to return to their own country, assuring +them that they fought not merely against the French, but against Him, +and hence would be defeated. + +The French captains had orders to obey their youthful leader, but not +seeing the wisdom of her directions to march to Orleans on the north +side of the Loire, they preferred to keep the river between them and the +forts of the English. Not daring to disobey her, they misled her as to +the position of Orleans, and advanced by the south bank, which proved a +mistake, and called forth her indignation, since she did not profess to +be governed by military rules, but by divine direction. The city had +been defended by a series of forts and other fortifications of great +strength, all of which had fallen into the hands of the besiegers; only +the walls of the city remained. Joan succeeded in effecting an entrance +for herself on a white charger through one of the gates, and the people +thronged to meet her as an angel of deliverance, with the wildest +demonstrations of joy. Her first act was to repair to the cathedral and +offer up thanks to God; her next was to summon the enemy to retire. In +the course of a few days the French troops entered the city with +supplies. They then issued from the gates to retake the fortifications, +which were well defended, cheered and encouraged by the heroic Maid, who +stimulated them to daring deeds. The French were successful in their +first assault, which seemed a miracle to the English yeomen, who now +felt that they were attacked by unseen forces. Then other forts were +assailed with equal success, Joan seeming like an inspired heroine, with +her eyes flashing, and her charmed standard waving on to victory. The +feats of valor which the French performed were almost incredible. Joan +herself did not fight, but stimulated the heroism of her troops. The +captains led the assault; the Maid directed their movements. After most +of the forts were retaken, the troops wished to rest. Joan knew no rest, +nor fear, nor sense of danger. She would hear of no cessation from +bloody strife until all the fortifications were regained. At the assault +on the last fort she herself was wounded; but she was as insensible to +pain as she was to fear. As soon as her wound was dressed she hurried to +the ramparts, and encouraged the troops, who were disposed to retire. By +evening the last fort or bastile was taken, and the English retired, +baffled and full of vengeance. The city was delivered. The siege was +raised. Not an Englishman survived south of the Loire. + +But only part of the mission of this heroic woman was fulfilled. She had +delivered Orleans and saved the southern provinces. She had now the more +difficult work to perform of crowning the King in the consecrated city, +which was in the hands of the enemy, as well as the whole country +between Orleans and Rheims. This task seemed to the King and his court +to be absolutely impossible. So was the raising of the siege of Orleans, +according to all rules of war. Although priests, nobles, and scholars +had praised the courage and intrepidity of Joan, and exhorted the nation +to trust her, since God seemed to help her, yet to capture a series of +fortified cities which were in possession of superior forces seemed an +absurdity. Only the common people had full faith in her, for as she was +supposed to be specially aided by God, nothing seemed to them an +impossibility. They looked upon her as raised up to do most wonderful +things,--as one directly inspired. This faith in a girl of eighteen +would not have been possible but for her exalted character. Amid the +most searching cross-examinations from the learned, she commanded +respect by the wisdom of her replies. Every inquiry had been made as to +her rural life and character, and nothing could be said against her, but +much in her favor; especially her absorbing piety, gentleness, deeds of +benevolence, and utter unselfishness. + +There was, therefore, a great admiration and respect for this girl, +leading to the kindest and most honorable treatment of her from both +prelates and nobles. But it was not a chivalric admiration; she did not +belong to a noble family, nor did she defend an institution. She was +regarded as a second Deborah, commissioned to deliver a people. Nor +could a saint have done her work. Bernard could kindle a crusade by his +eloquence, but he could not have delivered Orleans; it required some one +who could excite idolatrous homage. Only a woman, in that age, was +likely to be deified by the people,--some immaculate virgin. Our remote +German ancestors had in their native forests a peculiar reverence for +woman. The priestesses of Germanic forests had often incited to battle. +Their warnings or encouragements were regarded as voices from Heaven. +Perhaps the deification and worship of the Virgin Mary--so hearty and +poetical in the Middle Ages--may have indirectly aided the mission of +the Maid of Orleans. The common people saw one of their own order arise +and do marvellous things, bringing kings and nobles to her cause. How +could she thus triumph over all the inequalities of feudalism unless +divinely commissioned? How could she work what seemed to be almost +miracles if she had not a supernatural power to assist her? Like the +_regina angelorum_, she was _virgo castissima_. And if she was unlike +common mortals, perhaps an inspired woman, what she promised would be +fulfilled. In consequence of such a feeling an unbounded enthusiasm was +excited among the people. They were ready to do her bidding, whether +reasonable or unreasonable to them, for there was a sacred mystery +about her,--a reverence that extorted obedience. Worldly-wise statesmen +and prelates had not this unbounded admiration, although they doubtless +regarded her as a moral phenomenon which they could not understand. Her +advice seemed to set aside all human prudence. Nothing seemed more rash +or unreasonable than to undertake the conquest of so many fortified +cities with such feeble means. It was one thing to animate starving +troops to a desperate effort for their deliverance; it was another to +assault fortified cities held by the powerful forces which had nearly +completed the conquest of France. + +The King came to meet the Maid at Tours, and would have bestowed upon +her royal honors, for she had rendered a great service. But it was not +honors she wanted. She seemed to be indifferent to all personal rewards, +and even praises. She wanted only one thing,--an immediate march to +Rheims. She even pleaded like a sensible general. She entreated Charles +to avail himself of the panic which the raising of the siege of Orleans +had produced, before the English could recover from it and bring +reinforcements. But the royal council hesitated. It would imperil the +King's person to march through a country guarded by hostile troops; and +even if he could reach Rheims, it would be more difficult to take the +city than to defend Orleans. The King had no money to pay for an army. +The enterprise was not only hazardous but impossible, the royal +counsellors argued. But to this earnest and impassioned woman, seeing +only one point, there was no such thing as impossibility. The thing +_must_ be done. The council gave reasons; she brushed them away as +cobwebs. What is impossible for God to do? Then they asked her if she +heard the voices. She answered, Yes; that she had prayed in secret, +complaining of unbelief, and that the voice came to her, which said, +"Daughter of God, go on, go on! I will be thy help!" Her whole face +glowed and shone like the face of an angel. + +The King, half persuaded, agreed to go to Rheims, but not until the +English had been driven from the Loire. An army was assembled under the +command of the Duke of Alencon, with orders to do nothing without the +Maid's advice. Joan went to Selles to prepare for the campaign, and +rejoined the army mounted on a black charger, while a page carried her +furled banner. The first success was against Jargeau, a strongly +fortified town, where she was wounded; but she was up in a moment, and +the place was carried, and Joan and Alencon returned in triumph to +Orleans. They then advanced against Bauge, another strong place, not +merely defended by the late besiegers of Orleans, but a powerful army +under Sir John Falstaff and Talbot was advancing to relieve it. Yet +Bauge capitulated, the English being panic-stricken, before the city +could be relieved. Then the French and English forces encountered each +other in the open field: victory sided with the French; and Falstaff +himself fled, with the loss of three thousand men. The whole district +then turned against the English, who retreated towards Paris; while a +boundless enthusiasm animated the whole French army. + +Soldiers and leaders now were equally eager for the march to Rheims; yet +the King ingloriously held back, and the coronation seemed to be as +distant as ever. But Joan with unexampled persistency insisted on an +immediate advance, and the King reluctantly set out for Rheims with +twelve thousand men. The first great impediment was the important city +of Troyes, which was well garrisoned. After five days were spent before +it, and famine began to be felt in the camp, the military leaders wished +to raise the siege and return to the south. The Maid implored them to +persevere, promising the capture of the city within three days. "We +would wait six," said the Archbishop of Rheims, the chancellor and chief +adviser of the King, "if we were certain we could take it." Joan mounted +her horse, made preparations for the assault, cheered the soldiers, +working far into the night; and the next day the city surrendered, and +Charles, attended by Joan and his nobles, triumphantly entered the city. + +The prestige of the Maid carried the day. The English soldiers dared +not contend with one who seemed to be a favorite of Heaven. They had +heard of Orleans and Jargeau. Chalons followed the example of Troyes. +Then Rheims, when the English learned of the surrender of Troyes and +Chalons, made no resistance; and in less than a month after the march +had begun, the King entered the city, and was immediately crowned by the +Archbishop, Joan standing by his side holding her sacred banner. This +coronation was a matter of great political importance. Charles had a +rival in the youthful King of England. The succession was disputed. +Whoever should first be crowned in the city where the ancient kings were +consecrated was likely to be acknowledged by the nation. + +The mission of Joan was now accomplished. She had done what she +promised, amid incredible difficulties. And now, kneeling before her +anointed sovereign, she said, "Gracious King, now is fulfilled the +pleasure of God!" And as she spoke she wept. She had given a king to +France; and she had given France to her king. Not by might, not by power +had she done this, but by the Spirit of the Lord. She asked no other +reward for her magnificent service than that her native village should +be forever exempt from taxation. Feeling that the work for which she was +raised up was done, she would willingly have retired to the seclusion of +her mountain home, but the leaders of France, seeing how much she was +adored by the people, were not disposed to part with so great an +instrument of success. + +And Joan, too, entered with zeal upon those military movements which +were to drive away forever the English from the soil of France. Her +career had thus far been one of success and boundless enthusiasm; but +now the tide turned, and her subsequent life was one of signal failure. +Her only strength was in the voices which had bidden her to deliver +Orleans and to crown the King. She had no genius for war. Though still +brave and dauntless, though still preserving her innocence and her +piety, she now made mistakes. She was also thwarted in her plans. She +became, perhaps, self-assured and self-confident, and assumed +prerogatives that only belonged to the King and his ministers, which had +the effect of alienating them. They never secretly admired her, nor +fully trusted her. Charles made a truce with the great Duke of Burgundy, +who was in alliance with the English. Joan vehemently denounced the +truce, and urged immediate and uncompromising action; but timidity, or +policy, or political intrigues, defeated her counsels. The King wished +to regain Paris by negotiation; all his movements were dilatory. At last +his forces approached the capital, and occupied St. Denis. It was +determined to attack the city. One corps was led by Joan; but in the +attack she was wounded, and her troops, in spite of her, were forced to +retreat. Notwithstanding the retreat and her wound, however, she +persevered, though now all to no purpose. The King himself retired, and +the attack became a failure. Still Joan desired to march upon Paris for +a renewed attack; but the King would not hear of it, and she was sent +with troops badly equipped to besiege La Charite, where she again +failed. For four weary months she remained inactive. She grew desperate; +the voices neither encouraged nor discouraged her. She was now full of +sad forebodings, yet her activity continued. She repaired to Compiegne, +a city already besieged by the enemy, which she wished to relieve. In a +sortie she was outnumbered, and was defeated and taken prisoner by John +of Luxemburg, a vassal of the Duke of Burgundy. + +The news of this capture produced great exhilaration among the English +and Burgundians. Had a great victory been won, the effect could not have +been greater. It broke the spell. The Maid was human, like other women; +and her late successes were attributed not to her inspiration, but to +demoniacal enchantments. She was looked upon as a witch or as a +sorceress, and was now guarded with especial care for fear of a rescue, +and sent to a strong castle belonging to John of Luxemburg. In Paris, on +receipt of the news, the Duke of Bedford caused _Te Deums_ to be sung +in all the churches, and the University and the Vicar of the Inquisition +demanded of the Duke of Burgundy that she should be delivered to +ecclesiastical justice. + +The remarkable thing connected with the capture of the Maid was that so +little effort was made to rescue her. She had rendered to Charles an +inestimable service, and yet he seems to have deserted her; neither he +nor his courtiers appeared to regret her captivity,--probably because +they were jealous of her. Gratitude was not one of the virtues of feudal +kings. What sympathy could feudal barons have with a low-born peasant +girl? They had used her; but when she could be useful no longer, they +forgot her. Out of sight she was out of mind; and if remembered at all, +she was regarded as one who could no longer provoke jealousy. Jealousy +is a devouring passion, especially among nobles. The generals of Charles +VII. could not bear to have it said that the rescue of France was +effected, not by their abilities, but by the inspired enthusiasm of a +peasant girl. She had scorned intrigues and baseness, and these marked +all the great actors on the stage of history in that age. So they said +it was a judgment of Heaven upon her because she would not hear counsel. +"No offer for her ransom, no threats of vengeance came from beyond the +Loire." But the English, who had suffered most from the loss of Orleans, +were eager to get possession of her person, and were willing even to +pay extravagant rewards for her delivery into their hands. They had +their vengeance to gratify. They also wished it to appear that Charles +VII. was aided by the Devil; that his cause was not the true one; that +Henry VI. was the true sovereign of France. The more they could throw +discredit and obloquy upon the Maid of Orleans, the better their cause +would seem. It was not as a prisoner of war that the English wanted her, +but as a victim, whose sorceries could only be punished by death. But +they could not try her and condemn her until they could get possession +of her; and they could not get possession of her unless they bought her. +The needy John of Luxemburg sold her to the English for ten thousand +livres, and the Duke of Burgundy received political favors. + +The agent employed by the English in this nefarious business was +Couchon, the Bishop of Beauvais, who had been driven out of his city by +Joan,--an able and learned man, who aspired to the archbishopric of +Rouen. He set to work to inflame the University of Paris and the +Inquisition against her. The Duke of Bedford did not venture to bring +his prize to Paris, but determined to try her in Rouen; and the trial +was intrusted to the Bishop of Beauvais, who conducted it after the +forms of the Inquisition. It was simply a trial for heresy. + +Joan tried for heresy! On that ground there was never a more innocent +person tried by the Inquisition. Her whole life was notoriously +virtuous. She had been obedient to the Church; she had advanced no +doctrines which were not orthodox. She was too ignorant to be a heretic; +she had accepted whatever her spiritual teacher had taught her; in fact, +she was a Catholic saint. She lived in the ecstasies of religious faith +like a Saint Theresa. She spent her time in prayer and religious +exercises; she regularly confessed, and partook of the sacraments of the +Church. She did not even have a single sceptical doubt; she simply +affirmed that she obeyed voices that came from God. + +Nothing could be more cruel than the treatment of this heroic girl, and +all under the forms of ecclesiastical courts. It was the diabolical +design of her enemies to make it appear that she had acted under the +influence of the Devil; that she was a heretic and a sorceress. Nothing +could be more forlorn than her condition. No efforts had been made to +ransom her. She was alone, and unsupported by friends, having not a +single friendly counsellor. She was carried to the castle of Rouen and +put in an iron cage, and chained to its bars; she was guarded by brutal +soldiers, was mocked by those who came to see her, and finally was +summoned before her judges predetermined on her death. They went through +the forms of trial, hoping to extort from the Maid some damaging +confessions, or to entangle her with their sophistical and artful +questions. Nothing perhaps on our earth has ever been done more +diabolically than under the forms of ecclesiastical law; nothing can be +more atrocious than the hypocrisies and acts of inquisitors. The judges +of Joan extorted from her that she had revelations, but she refused to +reveal what these had been. She was asked whether she was in a state of +grace. If she said she was not, she would be condemned as an outcast +from divine favor; if she said she was, she would be condemned for +spiritual pride. All such traps were set for this innocent girl. But she +acquitted herself wonderfully well, and showed extraordinary good sense. +She warded off their cunning and puerile questions. They tried every +means to entrap her. They asked her in what shape Saint Michael had +appeared to her; whether or no he was naked; whether he had hair; +whether she understood the feelings of those who had once kissed her +feet; whether she had not cursed God in her attempt to escape at +Beauvoir; whether it was for her merit that God sent His angel; whether +God hated the English; whether her victory was founded on her banner or +on herself; when had she learned to ride a horse. + +The judges framed seventy accusations against her, mostly frivolous, and +some unjust,--to the effect that she had received no religious training; +that she had worn mandrake; that she dressed in man's attire; that she +had bewitched her banner and her ring; that she believed her apparitions +were saints and angels; that she had blasphemed; and other charges +equally absurd. Under her rigid trials she fell sick; but they restored +her, reserving her for a more cruel fate. All the accusations and +replies were sent to Paris, and the learned doctors decreed, under +English influence, that Joan was a heretic and a sorceress. + +After another series of insulting questions, she was taken to the +market-place of Rouen to receive sentence, and then returned to her +gloomy prison, where they mercifully allowed her to confess and receive +the sacrament. She was then taken in a cart, under guard of eight +hundred soldiers, to the place of execution; rudely dragged to the +funeral pile, fastened to a stake, and fire set to the faggots. She +expired, exclaiming, "Jesus, Jesus! My voices, my voices!" + +Thus was sacrificed one of the purest and noblest women in the whole +history of the world,--a woman who had been instrumental in delivering +her country, but without receiving either honor or gratitude from those +for whom she had fought and conquered. She died a martyr to the cause of +patriotism,--not for religion, but for her country. She died among +enemies, unsupported by friends or by those whom she had so greatly +benefited, and with as few religious consolations as it was possible to +give. Never was there greater cruelty and injustice inflicted on an +innocent and noble woman. The utmost ingenuity of vindictive priests +never extorted from her a word which criminated her, though they +subjected her to inquisitorial examinations for days and weeks. Burned +as an infidel, her last words recognized the Saviour in whom she +believed; burned as a witch, she never confessed to anything but the +voices of God. Her heroism, even at the stake, should have called out +pity and admiration; but her tormentors were insensible to both. She was +burned really from vengeance, because she had turned the tide of +conquest. "The Jews," says Michelet, "never exhibited the rage against +Jesus that the English did against the Pucelle," in whom purity, +sweetness, and heroic goodness dwelt. Never was her life stained by a +single cruel act. In the midst of her torments she did not reproach her +tormentors. In the midst of her victories she wept for the souls of +those who were killed; and while she incited others to combat, she +herself did not use her sword. In man's attire she showed a woman's +soul. Pity and gentleness were as marked as courage and self-confidence. + +It is one of the most insolvable questions in history why so little +effort was made by the French to save the Maid's life. It is strange +that the University of Paris should have decided against her, after she +had rendered such transcendent services. Why should the priests of that +age have treated her as a witch, when she showed all the traits of an +angel? Why should not the most unquestioning faith have preserved her +from the charge of heresy? Alas! she was only a peasant girl, and the +great could not bear to feel that the country had been saved by a +peasant. Even chivalry, which worshipped women, did not come to Joan's +aid. How great must have been feudal distinctions when such a heroic +woman was left to perish! How deep the ingratitude of the King and his +court, to have made no effort to save her! + +Joan made one mistake: after the coronation of Charles VII. she should +have retired from the field of war, for her work was done. Such a +transcendent heroism could not have sunk into obscurity. But this was +not to be; she was to die as a martyr to her cause. + +After her death the English carried on war with new spirit for a time, +and Henry VI. of England was crowned in Paris, at Notre Dame. He was +crowned, however, by an English, not by a French prelate. None of the +great French nobles even were present. The coronation was a failure. +Gradually all France was won over to the side of Charles. He was a +contemptible monarch, but he was the legitimate King of France. All +classes desired peace; all parties were weary of war. The Treaty of +Arras, in 1435, restored peace between Charles and Philip of Burgundy; +and in the same year the Duke of Bedford died. In 1436 Charles took +possession of Paris. In 1445 Henry VI. married Margaret of Anjou, a +kinswoman of Charles VII. In 1448 Charles invaded Normandy, and expelled +the English from the duchy which for four hundred years had belonged to +the kings of England. Soon after Guienne fell. In 1453 Calais alone +remained to England, after a war of one hundred years. + +At last a tardy justice was done to the memory of her who had turned the +tide of conquest. The King, ungrateful as he had been, now ennobled her +family and their descendants, even in the female line, and bestowed upon +them pensions and offices. In 1452, twenty years after the martyrdom, +the Pope commissioned the Archbishop of Rheims and two other prelates, +aided by an inquisitor, to inquire into the trial of Joan of Arc. They +met in Notre Dame. Messengers were sent into the country where she was +born, to inquire into her history; and all testified--priests and +peasants--to the moral beauty of her character, to her innocent and +blameless life, her heroism in battle, and her good sense in counsel. +And the decision of the prelates was that her visions came from God; +that the purity of her motives and the good she did to her country +justified her in leaving her parents and wearing a man's dress. They +pronounced the trial at Rouen to have been polluted with wrong and +calumny, and freed her name from every shadow of disgrace. The people of +Orleans instituted an annual religious festival to her honor. The Duke +of Orleans gave a grant of land to her brothers, who were ennobled. The +people of Rouen raised a stone cross to her memory in the market-place +where she was burned. In later times, the Duchess of Orleans, wife of +the son and heir of Louis Philippe, modelled with her own hands an +exquisite statue of Joan of Arc. But the most beautiful and impressive +tribute which has ever been paid to her name and memory was a _fete_ of +three days' continuance, in 1856, on the anniversary of the deliverance +of Orleans, when the celebrated Bishop Dupanloup pronounced one of the +most eloquent eulogies ever offered to the memory of a heroine or +benefactor. That ancient city never saw so brilliant a spectacle as that +which took place in honor of its immortal deliverer, who was executed so +cruelly under the superintendence of a Christian bishop,--one of those +iniquities in the name of justice which have so often been perpetrated +on this earth. It was a powerful nation which killed her, and one +equally powerful which abandoned her. + +But the martyrdom of Joan of Arc is an additional confirmation of the +truth that it is only by self-sacrifice that great deliverances have +been effected. Nothing in the moral government of God is more mysterious +than the fate which usually falls to the lot of great benefactors. To us +it seems sad and unjust; and nothing can reconcile us to the same but +the rewards of a future and higher life. And yet amid the flames there +arise the voices which save nations. Joan of Arc bequeathed to her +country, especially to the common people, some great lessons; namely, +not to despair amid great national calamities; to believe in God as the +true deliverer from impending miseries, who, however, works through +natural causes, demanding personal heroism as well as faith. There was +great grandeur in that peasant girl,--in her exalted faith at Domremy, +in her heroism at Orleans, in her triumph at Rheims, in her trial and +martyrdom at Rouen. But unless she had suffered, nothing would have +remained of this grandeur in the eyes of posterity. The injustice and +meanness with which she was treated have created a lasting sympathy for +her in the hearts of her nation. She was great because she died for her +country, serene and uncomplaining amid injustice, cruelty, and +ingratitude,--the injustice of an ecclesiastical court presided over by +a learned bishop; the cruelty of the English generals and nobles; the +ingratitude of her own sovereign, who made no effort to redeem her. She +was sold by one potentate to another as if she were merchandise,--as if +she were a slave. And those graces and illuminations which under other +circumstances would have exalted her into a catholic saint, like an +Elizabeth of Hungary or a Catherine of Sienna, were turned against her, +by diabolical executioners, as a proof of heresy and sorcery. We repeat +again, never was enacted on this earth a greater injustice. Never did a +martyr perish with more triumphant trust in the God whose aid she had so +uniformly invoked. And it was this triumphant Christian faith as she +ascended the funeral pyre which has consecrated the visions and the +voices under whose inspiration the Maid led a despairing nation to +victory and a glorious future. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Monstrelets' Chronicles; Cousinot's Chronique de la Pucelle; Histoire et +Discours du Siege, published by the city of Orleans in 1576; Sismondi's +Histoire des Francais; De Barante's Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne; +Michelet and Henri Martin's Histories of France; Vallet de Viriville's +Histoire de Charles VII.; Henri Wallon; Janet Tuckey's Life of Joan of +Arc, published by Putnam, 1880. + + + + +SAINT THERESA. + + * * * * * + +A. D. 1515-1582. + +RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM. + + +I have already painted in Cleopatra, to the best of my ability, the +Pagan woman of antiquity, revelling in the pleasures of vanity and +sensuality, with a feeble moral sense, and without any distinct +recognition of God or of immortality. The genius of Paganism was simply +the deification of the Venus Polyhymnia,--the adornment and pleasure of +what is perishable in man. It directed all the energies of human nature +to the pampering and decorating of this mortal body, not believing that +the mind and soul which animate it, and which are the sources of all its +glory, would ever live beyond the grave. A few sages believed +differently,--men who rose above the spirit of Paganism, but not such +men as Alexander, or Caesar, or Antony, the foremost men of all the +world in grand ambitions and successes. Taking it for granted that this +world is the only theatre for enjoyment, or action, or thought, men +naturally said, "Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we +die." And hence no higher life was essayed than that which furnished +sensual enjoyments, or incited an ambition to be strong and powerful. Of +course, riches were sought above everything, since these furnished the +means of gratifying those pleasures which were most valued, or +stimulating that vanity whose essence is self-idolatry. + +With this universal rush of humanity after pleasures which centred in +the body, the soul was left dishonored and uncared for, except by a few +philosophers. I do not now speak of the mind, for there were +intellectual pleasures derived from conversation, books, and works of +art. And some called the mind divine, in distinction from matter; some +speculated on the nature of each, and made mind and matter in perpetual +antagonism, as the good and evil forces of the universe. But the +prevailing opinion was that the whole man perished, or became absorbed +in the elemental forces of nature, or reappeared again in new forms upon +the earth, to expiate those sins of which human nature is conscious. To +some men were given longings after immortality, not absolute +convictions,--men like Plato, Socrates, and Cicero. But I do not speak +of these illustrious exceptions; I mean the great mass of the people, +especially the rich and powerful and pleasure-seeking,--those whose +supreme delight was in banquets, palaces, or intoxicating excitements, +like chariot-racings and gladiatorial shows; yea, triumphal processions +to raise the importance of the individual self, and stimulate vanity +and pride. + +Hence Paganism put a small value, comparatively, on even intellectual +enjoyments. It cultivated those arts which appealed to the senses more +than to the mind; it paid dearly for any sort of intellectual training +which could be utilized,--oratory, for instance, to enable a lawyer to +gain a case, or a statesman to control a mob; it rewarded those poets +who could sing blended praises to Bacchus and Venus, or who could excite +the passions at the theatre. But it paid still higher prices to athletes +and dancers, and almost no price at all to those who sought to stimulate +a love of knowledge for its own sake,--men like Socrates, for example, +who walked barefooted, and lived on fifty dollars a year, and who at +last was killed out of pure hatred for the truths he told and the manner +in which he told them,--this martyrdom occurring in the most +intellectual city of the world. In both Greece and Rome there was an +intellectual training for men bent on utilitarian ends; even as we endow +schools of science and technology to enable us to conquer nature, and to +become strong and rich and comfortable; but there were no schools for +women, whose intellects were disdained, and who were valued only as +servants or animals,--either to drudge, or to please the senses. + +But even if there were some women in Paganism of high mental +education,--if women sometimes rose above their servile condition by +pure intellect, and amused men by their wit and humor,--still their +souls were little thought of. Now, it is the soul of woman--not her +mind, and still less her body--which elevates her, and makes her, in +some important respects, the superior of man himself. He has dominion +over her by force of will, intellect, and physical power. When she has +dominion over him, it is by those qualities which come from her +soul,--her superior nature, greater than both mind and body. Paganism +never recognized the superior nature, especially in woman,--that which +must be fed, even in this world, or there will be constant unrest and +discontent. And inasmuch as Paganism did not feed it, women were +unhappy, especially those who had great capacities. They may have been +comfortable, but they were not contented. + +Hence, women made no great advance either in happiness or in power, +until Christianity revealed the greatness of the soul, its perpetual +longings, its infinite capacities, and its future satisfactions. The +spiritual exercises of the soul then became the greatest source of +comfort amid those evils which once ended in despair. With every true +believer, the salvation of so precious a thing necessarily became the +end of life, for Christianity taught that the soul might be lost. In +view of the soul's transcendent value, therefore, the pleasures of the +body became of but little account in comparison. Riches are good, power +is desirable; eating and drinking are very pleasant; praise, flattery, +admiration,--all these things delight us, and under Paganism were sought +and prized. But Christianity said, "What shall a man give in exchange +for his soul?" + +Christianity, then, set about in earnest to rescue this soul which +Paganism had disregarded. In consequence of this, women began to rise, +and shine in a new light. They gained a new charm, even moral +beauty,--yea, a new power, so that they could laugh at ancient foes, and +say triumphantly, when those foes sought to crush them, "O Grave, where +is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting?" There is no beauty among +women like this moral beauty, whose seat is in the soul. It is not only +a radiance, but it is a defence: it protects women from the wrath and +passion of men. With glory irradiating every feature, it says to the +boldest, Thus far shalt thou come and no farther. It is a benediction to +the poor and a welcome to the rich. It shines with such unspeakable +loveliness, so rich in blessing and so refined in ecstasy, that men gaze +with more than admiration, even with sentiments bordering on that +adoration which the Middle Ages felt for the mother of our Lord, and +which they also bestowed upon departed saints. In the immortal paintings +of Raphael and Murillo we get some idea of this moral beauty, which is +so hard to copy. + +So woman passed gradually from contempt and degradation to the +veneration of men, when her soul was elevated by the power which +Paganism never knew. But Christianity in the hands of degenerate Romans +and Gothic barbarians made many mistakes in its efforts to save so +priceless a thing as a human soul. Among other things, it instituted +monasteries and convents, both for men and women, in which they sought +to escape the contaminating influences which had degraded them. If +Paganism glorified the body, monasticism despised it. In the fierce +protests against the peculiar sins which had marked Pagan +life,--gluttony, wine-drinking, unchastity, ostentatious vanities, and +turbulent mirth,--monasticism decreed abstinence, perpetual virginity, +the humblest dress, the entire disuse of ornaments, silence, and +meditation. These were supposed to disarm the demons who led into foul +temptation. Moreover, monasticism encouraged whatever it thought would +make the soul triumphant over the body, almost independent of it. +Whatever would feed the soul, it said, should be sought, and whatever +would pamper the body should be avoided. + +As a natural consequence of all this, piety gradually came to seek its +most congenial home in monastic retreats, and to take on a dreamy, +visionary, and introspective mood. The "saints" saw visions of both +angels and devils, and a superstitious age believed in their +revelations. The angels appeared to comfort and sustain the soul in +temptations and trials, and the devils came to pervert and torment it. +Good judgment and severe criticism were lost to the Church; and, +moreover, the gloomy theology of the Middle Ages, all based on the fears +of endless physical torments,--for the wretched body was the source of +all evil, and therefore must be punished,--gave sometimes a repulsive +form to piety itself. Intellectually, that piety now excites our +contempt, because it was so much mixed up with dreams and ecstasies and +visions and hallucinations. It produces a moral aversion also, because +it was austere, inhuman, and sometimes cruel. Both monks and nuns, when +they conformed to the rules of their order, were sad, solitary, +dreary-looking people, although their faces shone occasionally in the +light of ecstatic visions of heaven and the angels. + +But whatever mistakes monasticism made, however repulsive the religious +life of the Middle Ages,--in fact, all its social life,--still it must +be admitted that the aim of the time was high. Men and women were +enslaved by superstitions, but they were not Pagan. Our own age is, in +some respects, more Pagan than were the darkest times of mediaeval +violence and priestly despotism, since we are reviving the very things +against which Christianity protested as dangerous and false,--the +pomps, the banquets, the ornaments, the arts of the old Pagan world. + +Now, all this is preliminary to what I have to say of Saint Theresa. We +cannot do justice to this remarkable woman without considering the +sentiments of her day, and those circumstances that controlled her. We +cannot properly estimate her piety--that for which she was made a saint +in the Roman calendar--without being reminded of the different estimate +which Paganism and Christianity placed upon the soul, and consequently +the superior condition of women in our modern times. Nor must we treat +lightly or sneeringly that institution which was certainly one of the +steps by which women rose in the scale both of religious and social +progress. For several ages nuns were the only charitable women, except +queens and princesses, of whom we have record. But they were drawn to +their calm retreats, not merely to serve God more effectually, nor +merely to perform deeds of charity, but to study. As we have elsewhere +said, the convents in those days were schools no less than asylums and +hospitals, and were especially valued for female education. However, in +these retreats religion especially became a passion. There was a fervor +in it which in our times is unknown. It was not a matter of opinion, but +of faith. In these times there may be more wisdom, but in the Middle +Ages there was more zeal and more unselfishness and more intensity,--all +which is illustrated by the sainted woman I propose to speak of. + +Saint Theresa was born at Avila, in Castile, in the year 1515, at the +close of the Middle Ages; but she really belonged to the Middle Ages, +since all the habits, customs, and opinions of Spain at that time were +mediaeval. The Reformation never gained a foothold in Spain. None of its +doctrines penetrated that country, still less modified or changed its +religious customs, institutions, or opinions. And hence Saint Theresa +virtually belonged to the age of Bernard, and Anselm, and Elizabeth of +Hungary. She was of a good family as much distinguished for virtues as +for birth. Both her father and mother were very religious and studious, +reading good books, and practising the virtues which Catholicism ever +enjoined,--alms-giving to the poor, and kindness to the sick and +infirm,--truthful, chaste, temperate, and God-fearing. They had twelve +children, all good, though Theresa seems to have been the favorite, from +her natural sprightliness and enthusiasm. Among the favorite books of +the Middle Ages were the lives of saints and martyrs; and the history of +these martyrs made so great an impression on the mind of the youthful +Theresa that she and one of her brothers meditated a flight into Africa +that they might be put to death by the Moors, and thus earn the crown +of martyrdom, as well as the eternal rewards in heaven which martyrdom +was supposed to secure. This scheme being defeated by their parents, +they sought to be hermits in the garden which belonged to their house, +playing the part of monks and nuns. + +At eleven, Theresa lost her mother, and took to reading romances, which, +it seems, were books of knight-errantry, at the close of the chivalric +period. These romances were innumerable, and very extravagant and +absurd, and were ridiculed by Cervantes, half-a-century afterwards, in +his immortal "Don Quixote." Although Spain was mediaeval in its piety in +the sixteenth century, this was the period of its highest intellectual +culture, especially in the drama. De Vega and Cervantes were enough of +themselves to redeem Spain from any charges of intellectual stupidity. +But for the Inquisition, and the Dominican monks, and the Jesuits, and +the demoralization which followed the conquests of Cortes and Pizarro, +Spain might have rivalled Germany, France, and England in the greatness +of her literature. At this time there must have been considerable +cultivation among the class to which Theresa belonged. + +Although she never was sullied by what are called mortal sins, it would +appear that as a girl of fourteen Theresa was, like most other girls, +fond of dress and perfumes and ornaments, elaborate hair-dressing, and +of anything which would make the person attractive. Her companions also +were gay young ladies of rank, as fond of finery as she was, whose +conversation was not particularly edifying, but whose morals were above +reproach. Theresa was sent to a convent in her native town by her +father, that she might be removed from the influence of gay companions, +especially her male cousins, who could not be denied the house. At first +she was quite unhappy, finding the convent dull, _triste_, and strict. I +cannot conceive of a convent being a very pleasant place for a worldly +young lady, in any country or in any age of the world. Its monotony and +routine and mechanical duties must ever have been irksome. The pleasing +manners and bright conversation of Theresa caused the nuns to take an +unusual interest in her; and one of them in particular exercised a great +influence upon her, so that she was inclined at times to become a nun +herself, though not of a very strict order, since she was still fond of +the pleasures of the world. + +At sixteen, Theresa's poor health made it necessary for her to return to +her father's house. When she recovered she spent some time with her +uncle, afterwards a monk, who made her read good books, and impressed +upon her the vanity of the world. In a few months she resolved to become +a nun,--out of servile fear rather than love, as she avers. The whole +religious life of the Middle Ages was based on fear,--the fear of being +tortured forever by devils and hell. So universal and powerful was this +fear that it became the leading idea of the age, from which very few +were ever emancipated. On this idea were based the excommunications, the +interdicts, and all the spiritual weapons by which the clergy ruled the +minds of the people. On this their ascendency rested; they would have +had but little power without it. It was therefore their interest to +perpetuate it. And as they ruled by exciting fears, so they themselves +were objects of fear rather than of love. + +All this tended to make the Middle Ages gloomy, funereal, repulsive, +austere. There was a time when I felt a sort of poetic interest in these +dark times, and called them ages of faith; but the older I grow, and the +more I read and reflect, the more dreary do those ages seem to me. Think +of a state of society when everything suggested wrath and vengeance, +even in the character of God, and when this world was supposed to be +under the dominion of devils! Think of an education which impressed on +the minds of interesting young girls that the trifling sins which they +committed every day, and which proceeded from the exuberance of animal +spirits, justly doomed them to everlasting burnings, without +expiations,--a creed so cruel as to undermine the health, and make life +itself a misery! Think of a spiritual despotism so complete that +confessors and spiritual fathers could impose or remove these +expiations, and thus open the door to heaven or hell! + +And yet this despotism was the logical result of a generally accepted +idea, instead of the idea being an outgrowth of the despotism, since the +clergy, who controlled society by working on its fears, were themselves +as complete victims and slaves as the people whom they led. This idea +was that the soul would be lost unless sins were expiated, and expiated +by self-inflicted torments on the body. Paul taught a more cheerful +doctrine of forgiveness, based on divine and infinite love,--on faith +and repentance. The Middle Ages also believed in repentance, but taught +that repentance and penance were synonymous. The asceticism of the +Church in its conflict with Paganism led to this perversion of apostolic +theology. The very idea that Christianity was sent to subvert,--that is, +the old Oriental idea of self-expiation, seen among the fakirs and sofis +and Brahmins alike, and in a less repulsive form among the +Pharisees,--became once again the ruling idea of theologians. The +theologians of the Middle Ages taught this doctrine of penance and +self-expiation with peculiar zeal and sincerity; and fear rather than +love ruled the Christian world. Hence the austerity of convent life. Its +piety centred in the perpetual crucifixion of the body, in the +suppression of desires and pleasures which are perfectly innocent. The +highest ideal of Christian life, according to convent rules, was a +living and protracted martyrdom, and in some cases even the degradation +of our common humanity. Christianity nowhere enjoins the eradication of +passions and appetites, but the control of them. It would not mutilate +and disfigure the body, for it is a sacred temple, to be made beautiful +and attractive. On the other hand the Middle Ages strove to make the +body appear repulsive, and the most loathsome forms of misery and +disease to be hailed as favorite modes of penance. And as Christ +suffered agonies on the cross, so the imitation of Christ was supposed +to be a cheerful and ready acceptance of voluntary humiliation and +bodily torments,--the more dreadful to bear, the more acceptable to +Deity as a propitiation for sin. Is this statement denied? Read the +biographies of the saints of the Middle Ages. See how penance, and +voluntary suffering, and unnecessary exposure of the health, and eager +attention to the sick in loathsome and contagious diseases, and the +severest and most protracted fastings and vigils, enter into their +piety; and how these extorted popular admiration, and received the +applause and rewards of the rulers of the Church. I never read a book +which left on my mind such repulsive impressions of mediaeval piety as +the Life of Catherine of Sienna, by her confessor,--himself one of the +great ecclesiastical dignitaries of the age. I never read anything so +debasing and degrading to our humanity. One turns with disgust from the +narration of her lauded penances. + +So we see in the Church of the Middle Ages--the Church of Saint +Theresa--two great ideas struggling for the mastery, yet both obscured +and perverted: faith in a crucified Redeemer, which gave consolation and +hope; and penance, rather than repentance, which sought to impose the +fetters of the ancient spiritual despotisms. In the early Church, faith +and repentance went hand in hand together to conquer the world, and to +introduce joy and peace and hope among believers. In the Middle Ages, +faith was divorced from repentance, and took penance instead as a +companion,--an old enemy; so that there was discord in the Christian +camp, and fears returned, and joys were clouded. Sometimes faith +prevailed over penance, as in the monastery of Bec, where Anselm taught +a cheerful philosophy,--or in the monastery of Clairvaux, where Bernard +lived in seraphic ecstasies, his soul going out in love and joy; and +then again penance prevailed, as in those grim retreats where hard +inquisitors inflicted their cruel torments. But penance, on the whole, +was the ruling power, and cast over society its funereal veil of +dreariness and fear. Yet penance, enslaving as it was, still clung to +the infinite value of the soul, the grandest fact in all revelations, +and hence society did not relax into Paganism. Penance would save the +soul, though surrounding it with gloom, maceration, heavy labors, bitter +tears, terrible anxieties. The wearied pilgrim, the isolated monk, the +weeping nun, the groaning peasant, the penitent baron, were not thrown +into absolute despair, since there was a possibility of appeasing divine +wrath, and since they all knew that Christ had died in order to save +some,--yea, all who conformed to the direction of those spiritual guides +which the Church and the age imposed. + +Such was Catholic theology when Theresa--an enthusiastic, amiable, and +virtuous girl of sixteen, but at one time giddy and worldly--wished to +enter a convent for the salvation of her soul. She says she was +influenced _by servile fear_, and not by love. It is now my purpose to +show how this servile fear was gradually subdued by divine grace, and +how she became radiant with _love_,--in short, an emancipated woman, in +all the glorious liberty of the gospel of Christ; although it was not +until she had passed through a most melancholy experience of bondage to +the leading ideas of her Church and age. It is this emancipation which +made her one of the great women of history, not complete and entire, but +still remarkable, especially for a Spanish woman. It was love +casting out fear. + +After a mental struggle of three months, Theresa resolved to become a +nun. But her father objected, partly out of his great love for her, and +partly on account of her delicate and fragile body. Her health had +always been poor: she was subject to fainting fits and burning fevers. +Whether her father, at last, consented to her final retirement from the +world I do not discover from her biography; but, with his consent or +without it, she entered the convent and assumed the religious +habit,--not without bitter pangs on leaving her home, for she did +violence to her feelings, having no strong desire for monastic +seclusion, and being warmly attached to her father. Neither love to God +nor a yearning after monastic life impelled the sacrifice, as she +admits, but a perverted conscience. She felt herself in danger of +damnation for her sins, and wished to save her soul, and knew no other +way than to enter upon the austerities of the convent, which she endured +with remarkable patience and submission, suffering not merely from +severities to which she was unaccustomed, but great illness in +consequence of them. A year was passed in protracted miseries, amounting +to martyrdom, from fainting fits, heart palpitations, and other +infirmities of the body. The doctors could do nothing for her, and her +father was obliged to order her removal to a more healthful monastery, +where no vows of enclosure were taken. + +And there she remained a year, with no relief to her sufferings for +three months. Her only recreation was books, which fortified her +courage. She sought instruction, but found no one who could instruct her +so as to give repose to her struggling soul. She endeavored to draw her +thoughts from herself by reading. She could not even pray without a +book. She was afraid to be left alone with herself. Her situation was +made still worse by the fact that her superiors did not understand her. +When they noticed that she sought solitude, and shed tears for her sins, +they fancied she had a discontented disposition, and added to her +unhappiness by telling her so. But she conformed to all the rules, +irksome or not, and endured every mortification, and even performed acts +of devotion which were not required. She envied the patience of a poor +woman who died of the most painful ulcers, and thought it would be a +blessing if she could be afflicted in the same way, in order, as she +said, to purchase eternal good. And this strange desire was fulfilled, +for a severe and painful malady afflicted her for three years. + +Again was she removed to some place for cure, for her case was +desperate. And here her patience was supernal. Yet patience under bodily +torments did not give the sought-for peace. It happened that a learned +ecclesiastic of noble family lived in this place, and she sought relief +in confessions to him. With a rare judgment and sense, and perhaps pride +and delicacy, she disliked to confess to ignorant priests. She said +that the half-learned did her more harm than good. The learned were +probably more lenient to her, and more in sympathy with her, and assured +her that those sins were only venial which she had supposed were mortal. +But she soon was obliged to give up this confessor, since he began to +confess to her, and to confess sins in comparison with which the sins +she confessed were venial indeed. He not only told her of his slavery to +a bad woman, but confessed a love for Theresa herself, which she of +course repelled, though not with the aversion she ought to have felt. It +seems that her pious talk was instrumental in effecting his deliverance +from a base bondage. He soon after died, and piously, she declared; so +that she considered it certain that his soul was saved. + +Theresa remained three months in this place, in most grievous +sufferings, for the remedy was worse than the disease. Again her father +took her home, since all despaired of her recovery, her nervous system +being utterly shattered, and her pains incessant by day and by night; +the least touch was a torment. At last she sank into a state of +insensibility from sheer exhaustion, so that she was supposed to be +dying, even to be dead; and her grave was dug, and the sacrament of +extreme unction was administered. She rallied from this prostration, +however, and returned to the convent, though in a state of extreme +weakness, and so remained for eight months. For three years she was a +cripple, and could move about only on all-fours; but she was resigned +to the will of God. + +It was then, amid the maladies of her body, that she found relief to her +over-burdened soul in prayer. She no longer prayed with a book, +mechanically and by rote, but mentally, with earnestness, and with the +understanding. And she prayed directly to God Almighty, and thereby +came, she says, to love Him. And with prayer came new virtues. She now +ceases to speak ill of people, and persuades others to cease from all +detractions, so that absent people are safe. She speaks of God as her +heavenly physician, who alone could cure her. She now desires, not +sickness to show her patience, but health in order to serve God better. +She begins to abominate those forms and ceremonies to which so many were +slavishly devoted, and which she regards as superstitious. But she has +drawbacks and relapses, and is pulled back by temptations and vanities, +so that she is ashamed to approach God with that familiarity which +frequent prayer requires. Then she fears hell, which she thinks she +deserves. She has not yet reached the placidity of a pardoned soul. +Perfection is very slow to be reached, and that is what the Middle Ages +required in order to exorcise the fears of divine wrath. Not, however, +until these fears are exorcised can there be the liberty of the gospel +or the full triumph of love. + +Thus for several years Theresa passed a miserable life, since the more +she prayed the more she realized her faults; and these she could not +correct, because her soul was not a master, but a slave. She was drawn +two ways, in opposite directions. She made good resolutions, but failed +to keep them; and then there was a deluge of tears,--the feeling that +she was the weakest and wickedest of all creatures. For nearly twenty +years she passed through this tempestuous sea, between failings and +risings, enjoying neither the sweetness of God nor the pleasures of the +world. But she did not lose the courage of applying herself to mental +prayer. This fortified her; this was her stronghold; this united her to +God. She was persuaded if she persevered in this, whatever sin she might +commit, or whatever temptation might be presented, that, in the end, her +Lord would bring her safe to the port of salvation. So she prayed +without ceasing. She especially insisted on the importance of mental +prayer (which is, I suppose, what is called holy meditation) as a sort +of treaty of friendship with her Lord. At last she feels that the Lord +assists her, in His great love, and she begins to trust in Him. She +declares that prayer is the gate through which the Lord bestows upon her +His favors; and it is only through this that any comfort comes. Then she +begins to enjoy sermons, which once tormented her, whether good or bad, +so long as God is spoken of, for she now loves Him; and she cannot hear +too much of Him she loves. She delights to see her Lord's picture, since +it aids her to see Him inwardly, and to feel that He is always near her, +which is her constant desire. + +About this time the "Confessions of Saint Augustine" were put into +Theresa's hands,--one of the few immortal books which are endeared to +the heart of Christians. This book was a comfort and enlightenment to +her, she thinking that the Lord would forgive her, as He did those +saints who had been great sinners, because He loved them. When she +meditated on the conversion of Saint Augustine,--how he heard the voice +in the garden,--it seemed to her that the Lord equally spoke to her, and +thus she was filled with gratitude and joy. After this, her history is +the enumeration of the favors which God gave her, and of the joys of +prayer, which seemed to her to be the very joys of heaven. She longs +more and more for her divine Spouse, to whom she is spiritually wedded. +She pants for Him as the hart pants for the water-brook. She cannot be +separated from Him; neither death nor hell can separate her from His +love. He is infinitely precious to her,--He is chief among ten thousand. +She blesses His holy name. In her exceeding joy she cries, "O Lord of my +soul, O my eternal Good!" In her ecstasy she sings,-- + + "Absent from Thee, my Saviour dear! + I call not life this living here. + Ah, Lord I my light and living breath, + Take me, oh, take me from this death + And burst the bars that sever me + From my true life above! + Think how I die Thy face to see, + And cannot live away from Thee, + O my Eternal Love!" + +Thus she composes canticles and dries her tears, feeling that the love +of God does not consist in these, but in serving Him with fidelity and +devotion. She is filled with the graces of humility, and praises God +that she is permitted to speak of things relating to Him. She is filled +also with strength, since it is He who strengthens her. She is +perpetually refreshed, since she drinks from a divine fountain. She is +in a sort of trance of delight from the enjoyment of divine blessings. +Her soul is elevated to rapture. She feels that her salvation, through +grace, is assured. She no longer has fear of devils or of hell, since +with an everlasting love she is beloved; and her lover is Christ. She +has broken the bondage of the Middle Ages, and she has broken it by +prayer. She is an emancipated woman, and can now afford to devote +herself to practical duties. She visits the sick, she dispenses +charities, she gives wise counsels; for with all her visionary piety she +has good sense in the things of the world, and is as practical as she is +spiritual and transcendental. + +And all this in the midst of visions. I will not dwell on these +visions, the weak point in her religious life, though they are visions +of beauty, not of devils, of celestial spirits who came to comfort her, +and who filled her soul with joy and peace. + + "A little bird I am, + Shut from the fields of air, + And in my cage I sit and sing + To Him who placed me there; + Well pleased a prisoner to be, + Because, my God, it pleases Thee." + +She is bathed in the glory of her Lord, and her face shines with the +radiance of heaven, with the moral beauty which the greatest of Spanish +painters represents on his canvas. And she is beloved by everybody, is +universally venerated for her virtues as well as for her spiritual +elevation. The greatest ecclesiastical dignitaries come to see her, and +encourage her, and hold converse with her, for her intellectual gifts +were as remarkable as her piety. Her conversation, it appears, was +charming. Her influence over the highest people was immense. She +pleased, she softened, and she elevated all who knew her. She reigned in +her convent as Madame de Stael reigned in her _salon_. She was supposed +to have reached perfection; and yet she never claimed perfection, but +sadly felt her imperfections, and confessed them. She was very fond of +the society of learned men, from first to last, but formed no +friendships except with those whom she believed to be faithful +servants of God. + +At this period Theresa meditated the foundation of a new convent of the +Carmelite order, to be called St. Joseph, after the name of her patron +saint. But here she found great difficulty, as her plans were not +generally approved by her superiors or the learned men whom she +consulted. They were deemed impracticable, for she insisted that the +convent should not be endowed, nor be allowed to possess property. In +all the monasteries of the Middle Ages, the monks, if individually poor, +might be collectively rich; and all the famous monasteries came +gradually to be as well endowed as Oxford and Cambridge universities +were. This proved, in the end, an evil, since the monks became lazy and +luxurious and proud. They could afford to be idle; and with idleness and +luxury came corruption. The austere lives of the founders of these +monasteries gave them a reputation for sanctity and learning, and this +brought them wealth. Rich people who had no near relatives were almost +certain to leave them something in their wills. And the richer the +monasteries became, the greedier their rulers were. + +Theresa determined to set a new example. She did not institute any +stricter rules; she was emancipated from austerities; but she resolved +to make her nuns dependent on the Lord rather than on rich people. Nor +was she ambitious of founding a large convent. She thought that thirteen +women together were enough. Gradually she brought the provincial of the +order over to her views, and also the celebrated friar, Peter of +Alcantara, the most eminent ecclesiastic in Spain. But the townspeople +of Avila were full of opposition. They said it was better for Theresa to +remain where she was; that there was no necessity for another convent, +and that it was a very foolish thing. So great was the outcry, that the +provincial finally withdrew his consent; he also deemed the revenue to +be too uncertain. Then the advice of a celebrated Dominican was sought, +who took eight days to consider the matter, and was at first inclined to +recommend the abandonment of the project, but on further reflection he +could see no harm in it, and encouraged it. So a small house was bought, +for the nuns must have some shelter over their heads. The provincial +changed his opinion again, and now favored the enterprise. It was a +small affair, but a great thing to Theresa. Her friend the Dominican +wrote letters to Rome, and the provincial offered no further objection. +Moreover, she had bright visions of celestial comforters. + +But the superior of her convent, not wishing the enterprise to succeed, +and desiring to get her out of the way, sent Theresa to Toledo, to visit +and comfort a sick lady of rank, with whom she remained six months. +Here she met many eminent men, chiefly ecclesiastics of the Dominican +and Jesuit orders; and here she inspired other ladies to follow her +example, among others a noble nun of her own order, who sold all she had +and walked to Rome barefooted, in order to obtain leave to establish a +religious house like that proposed by Theresa. At last there came +letters and a brief from Rome for the establishment of the convent, and +Theresa was elected prioress, in the year 1562. + +But the opposition still continued, and the most learned and influential +were resolved on disestablishing the house. The matter at last reached +the ears of the King and council, and an order came requiring a +statement as to how the monastery was to be founded. Everything was +discouraging. Theresa, as usual, took refuge in prayer, and went to the +Lord and said, "This house is not mine; it is established for Thee; and +since there is no one to conduct the case, do Thou undertake it." From +that time she considered the matter settled. Nevertheless the opposition +continued, much to the astonishment of Theresa, who could not see how a +prioress and twelve nuns could be injurious to the city. Finally, +opposition so far ceased that it was agreed that the house should be +unmolested, provided it were endowed. On this point, however, Theresa +was firm, feeling that if she once began to admit revenue, the people +would not afterwards allow her to refuse it. So amid great opposition +she at last took up her abode in the convent she had founded, and wanted +for nothing, since alms, all unsolicited, poured in sufficient for all +necessities; and the attention of the nuns was given to their duties +without anxieties or obstruction, in all the dignity of +voluntary poverty. + +I look upon this reformation of the Carmelite order as very remarkable. +The nuns did not go around among rich people supplicating their aid as +was generally customary, for no convent or monastery was ever rich +enough, in its own opinion. Still less did they say to rich people, "Ye +are the lords and masters of mankind. We recognize your greatness and +your power. Deign to give us from your abundance, not that we may live +comfortably when serving the Lord, but live in luxury like you, and +compete with you in the sumptuousness of our banquets and in the +costliness of our furniture and our works of art, and be your companions +and equals in social distinctions, and be enrolled with you as leaders +of society." On the contrary they said, "We ask nothing from you. We do +not wish to be rich. We prefer poverty. We would not be encumbered with +useless impediments--too much camp equipage--while marching to do battle +with the forces of the Devil. Christ is our Captain. He can take care of +his own troops. He will not let us starve. And if we do suffer, what of +that? He suffered for our sake, shall we not suffer for his cause?" + +The Convent of St. Joseph was founded in 1562, after Theresa had passed +twenty-nine years in the Convent of the Incarnation. She died, 1582, at +the age of sixty-seven, after twenty years of successful labors in the +convent she had founded; revered by everybody; the friend of some of the +most eminent men in Spain, including the celebrated Borgia, ex-Duke of +Candia, and General of the Jesuits, who took the same interest in +Theresa that Fenelon did in Madame Guyon. She lived to see established +sixteen convents of nuns, all obeying her reformed rule, and most of +them founded by her amid great difficulties and opposition. When she +founded the Carmelite Convent of Toledo she had only four ducats to +begin with. Some one objected to the smallness of the sum, when she +replied, "Theresa and this money are indeed nothing; but God and Theresa +and four ducats can accomplish anything." It was amid the fatigues +incident to the founding a convent in Burgos that she sickened and died. + +It was not, however, merely from her labors as a reformer and nun that +Saint Theresa won her fame, but also for her writings, which blaze with +genius, although chiefly confined to her own religious experience. These +consist of an account of her own life, and various letters and mystic +treatises, some description of her spiritual conflicts and ecstasies, +others giving accounts of her religious labors in the founding of +reformed orders and convents; while the most famous is a rapt portrayal +of the progress of the soul to the highest heaven. Her own Memoirs +remind one of the "Confessions of Saint Augustine," and of the +"Imitation of Christ," by Thomas a Kempis. People do not read such books +in these times to any extent, at least in this country, but they have +ever been highly valued on the continent of Europe. The biographers of +Saint Theresa have been numerous, some of them very distinguished, like +Ribera, Yepez, and Sainte Marie. Bossuet, while he condemned Madame +Guyon for the same mystical piety which marked Saint Theresa, still +bowed down to the authority of the writings of the saint, while Fleury +quotes them with the decrees of the Council of Trent. + +But Saint Theresa ever was submissive to the authority of the Pope and +of her spiritual directors. She would not have been canonized by Gregory +XV. had she not been. So long as priests and nuns have been submissive +to the authority of the Church, the Church has been lenient to their +opinions. Until the Reformation, there was great practical freedom of +opinion in the Catholic Church. Nor was the Church of the sixteenth +century able to see the logical tendency of the mysticism of Saint +Theresa, since it was not coupled with rebellion against spiritual +despotism. It was not until the logical and dogmatic intellect of +Bossuet discerned the spiritual independence of the Jansenists and +Quietists, that persecution began against them. Had Saint Theresa lived +a century later, she would probably have shared the fate of Madame +Guyon, whom she resembled more closely than any other woman that I have +read of,--in her social position, in her practical intellect, despite +the visions of a dreamy piety, in her passionate love of the Saviour, in +her method of prayer, in her spiritual conflicts, in the benevolence +which marked all her relations with the world, in the divine charity +which breathed through all her words, and in the triumph of love over +all the fears inspired by a gloomy theology and a superstitious +priesthood. Both of these eminent women were poets of no ordinary merit; +both enjoyed the friendship of the most eminent men of their age; both +craved the society of the learned; both were of high birth and beautiful +in their youth, and fitted to adorn society by their brilliant talk as +well as graceful manners; both were amiable and sought to please, and +loved distinction and appreciation; both were Catholics, yet permeated +with the spirit of Protestantism, so far as religion is made a matter +between God and the individual soul, and marked by internal communion +with the Deity rather than by outward acts of prescribed forms; both had +confessors, and yet both maintained the freedom of their minds and +souls, and knew of no binding authority but that divine voice which +appealed to their conscience and heart, and that divine word which is +written in the Scriptures. After the love of God had subdued their +hearts, we read but little of penances, or self-expiations, or forms of +worship, or church ceremonies, or priestly rigors, or any of the +slaveries and formalities which bound ordinary people. Their piety was +mystical, sometimes visionary, and not always intelligible, but deep, +sincere, and lofty. Of the two women, I think Saint Theresa was the more +remarkable, and had the most originality. Madame Guyon seems to have +borrowed much from her, especially in her methods of prayer. + +The influence of Saint Theresa's life and writings has been eminent and +marked, not only in the Catholic but in the Protestant Church. If not +direct, it has been indirect. She had that active, ardent nature which +sets at defiance a formal piety, and became an example to noble women in +a more enlightened, if less poetic, age. She was the precursor of a +Madame de Chantal, of a Francis de Sales, of a Mere Angelique. The +learned and saintly Port Royalists, in many respects, were her +disciples. We even see a resemblance to her spiritual exercises in the +"Thoughts" of Pascal. We see her mystical love of the Saviour in the +poetry of Cowper and Watts and Wesley. The same sentiments she uttered +appear even in the devotional works of Jeremy Taylor and Jonathan +Edwards. The Protestant theology of the last century was in harmony with +hers in its essential features. In the "Pilgrim's Progress" of Bunyan we +have no more graphic pictures of the sense of sin, the justice of its +punishment, and the power by which it is broken, than are to be found in +the writings of this saintly woman. In no Protestant hymnals do we find +a warmer desire for a spiritual union with the Author of our salvation; +in none do we see the aspiring soul seeking to climb to the regions of +eternal love more than in her exultant melodies. + + "For uncreated charms I burn, + Oppressed by slavish fears no more; + For _One_ in whom I may discern, + E'en when He frowns, a sweetness I adore." + +That remarkable work of Fenelon in which he defends Madame Guyon, called +"Maxims of the Saints," would equally apply to Saint Theresa, in fact to +all those who have been distinguished for an inward life, from Saint +Augustine to Richard Baxter,--for unselfish love, resignation to the +divine will, self-renunciation, meditation too deep for words, and union +with Christ, as represented by the figure of the bride and bridegroom. +This is Christianity, as it has appeared in all ages, both among +Catholic and Protestant saints. It may seem to some visionary, to others +unreasonable, and to others again repulsive. But this has been the life +and joy of those whom the Church has honored and commended. It has +raised them above the despair of Paganism and the superstitions of the +Middle Ages. It is the love which casteth out fear, producing in the +harassed soul repose and rest amid the doubts and disappointments of +life. It is not inspired by duty; it does not rest on philanthropy; it +is not the religion of humanity. It is a gift bestowed by the Father of +Lights, and will be, to remotest ages, the most precious boon which He +bestows on those who seek His guidance. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Vie de Sainte Therese, ecrite par elle-meme; Lettres de Sainte Therese; +Les Ouvrages de Sainte Therese; Biographie Universelle; Fraser's +Magazine, lxv. 59; Butler's Lives of the Saints; Digby's Ages of Faith; +the Catholic Histories of the Church, especially Fleury's "Maxims of the +Saints." Lives of Saint Theresa by Ribera, Yepez, and Sainte Marie. + + + + +MADAME DE MAINTENON. + + * * * * * + +A. D. 1635-1719. + +THE POLITICAL WOMAN. + + +I present Madame de Maintenon as one of those great women who have +exerted a powerful influence on the political destinies of a nation, +since she was the life of the French monarchy for more than thirty years +during the reign of Louis XIV. In the earlier part of her career she was +a queen of society; but her social triumphs pale before the lustre of +that power which she exercised as the wife of the greatest monarch of +the age,--so far as splendor and magnificence can make a monarch great. +No woman in modern times ever rose so high from a humble position, with +the exception of Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great. She was not born +a duchess, like some of those brilliant women who shed glory around the +absolute throne of the proudest monarch of his century, but rose to her +magnificent position by pure merit,--her graces, her virtues, and her +abilities having won the respect and admiration of the overlauded but +sagacious King of France. And yet she was well born, so far as blood is +concerned, since the Protestant family of D'Aubigne--to which she +belonged--was one of the oldest in the kingdom. Her father, however, was +a man of reckless extravagance and infamous habits, and committed +follies and crimes which caused him to be imprisoned in Bordeaux. While +in prison he compromised the character of the daughter of his jailer, +and by her means escaped to America. He returned, and was again +arrested. His wife followed him to his cell; and it was in this cell +that the subject of this lecture was born (1635). Subsequently her +miserable father obtained his release, sailed with his family to +Martinique, and died there in extreme poverty. His wife, heart-broken, +returned to France, and got her living by her needle, until she too, +worn out by poverty and misfortune, died, leaving her daughter to +strive, as she had striven, with a cold and heartless world. + +This daughter became at first a humble dependent on one of her rich +relatives; and "the future wife of Louis XIV. could be seen on a morning +assisting the coachmen to groom the horses, or following a flock of +turkeys, with her breakfast in a basket." But she was beautiful and +bright, and panted, like most ambitious girls, for an entrance into what +is called "society." Society at that time in France was brilliant, +intellectual, and wicked. "There was the blending of calculating +interest and religious asceticism," when women of the world, after +having exhausted its pleasures, retired to cloisters, and "sacrificed +their natural affections to family pride." It was an age of intellectual +idlers, when men and women, having nothing to do, spent their time in +_salons_, and learned the art of conversation, which was followed by the +art of letter-writing. + +To reach the _salons_ of semi-literary and semi-fashionable people, +where rank and wealth were balanced by wit, became the desire of the +young Mademoiselle d'Aubigne. Her entrance into society was effected in +a curious way. At that time there lived in Paris (about the year 1650) a +man whose house was the centre of gay and literary people,--those who +did not like the stiffness of the court or the pedantries of the Hotel +de Rambouillet. His name was Scarron,--a popular and ribald poet, a +comic dramatist, a buffoon, a sort of Rabelais, whose inexhaustible wit +was the admiration of the city. He belonged to a good family, and +originally was a man of means. His uncle had been a bishop and his +father a member of the Parliament of Paris. But he had wasted his +substance in riotous living, and was reduced to a small pension from the +Government. His profession was originally that of a priest, and he +continued through life to wear the ecclesiastical garb. He was full of +maladies and miseries, and his only relief was in society. In spite of +his poverty he contrived to give suppers--they would now be called +dinners--which were exceedingly attractive. To his house came the noted +characters of the day,--Mademoiselle de Scudery the novelist, Marigny +the songwriter, Henault the translator of Lucretius, De Grammont the pet +of the court, Chatillon, the duchesses de la Saliere and De Sevigne, +even Ninon de L'Enclos; all bright and fashionable people, whose wit and +raillery were the admiration of the city. + +It so happened that to a reception of the Abbe Scarron was brought one +day the young lady destined to play so important a part in the history +of her country. But her dress was too short, which so mortified her in +the splendid circle to which she was introduced that she burst into +tears, and Scarron was obliged to exert all his tact to comfort her. Yet +she made a good impression, since she was beautiful and witty; and a +letter which she wrote to a friend soon after, which letter Scarron +happened to see, was so remarkable, that the crippled dramatist +determined to make her his wife,--she only sixteen, he forty-two; so +infirm that he could not walk, and so poor that the guests frequently +furnished the dishes for the common entertainments. And with all these +physical defects (for his body was bent nearly double), and +notwithstanding that he was one of the coarsest and profanest men of +that ungodly age, she accepted him. What price will not an aspiring +woman pay for social position!--for even a marriage with Scarron was to +her a step in the ladder of social elevation. + +Did she love this bloated and crippled sensualist, or was she carried +away by admiration of his brilliant conversation, or was she actuated by +a far-reaching policy? I look upon her as a born female Jesuit, +believing in the principle that the end justifies the means. Nor is such +Jesuitism incompatible with pleasing manners, amiability of temper, and +great intellectual radiance; it equally marked, I can fancy, Jezebel, +Cleopatra, and Catherine de Medicis. Moreover, in France it has long +been the custom for poor girls to seek eligible matches without +reference to love. + +It does not seem that this hideous marriage provoked scandal. In fact, +it made the fortune of Mademoiselle d'Aubigne. She now presided at +entertainments which were the gossip of the city, and to which stupid +dukes aspired in vain; for Scarron would never have a dull man at his +table, not even if he were loaded with diamonds and could trace his +pedigree to the paladins of Charlemagne. But by presiding at parties +made up of the _elite_ of the fashionable and cultivated society of +Paris, this ambitious woman became acquainted with those who had +influence at court; so that when her husband died, and she was cut off +from his life-pension and reduced to poverty, she was recommended to +Madame de Montespan, the King's mistress, as the governess of her +children. It was a judicious appointment. Madame Scarron was then +thirty-four, in the pride of womanly grace and dignity, with rare +intellectual gifts and accomplishments. There is no education more +effective than that acquired by constant intercourse with learned and +witty people. Even the dinner-table is no bad school for one naturally +bright and amiable. There is more to be learned from conversation than +from books. The living voice is a great educator. + +Madame Scarron, on the death of her husband, was already a queen of +society. As the governess of Montespan's children,--which was a great +position, since it introduced her to the notice of the King himself, the +fountain of all honor and promotion,--her habits of life were somewhat +changed. Life became more sombre by the irksome duties of educating +unruly children, and the forced retirement to which she was necessarily +subjected. She could have lived without this preferment, since the +pension of her husband was restored to her, and could have made her +_salon_ the resort of the best society. But she had deeper designs. Not +to be the queen of a fashionable circle did she now aspire, but to be +the leader of a court. + +But this aim she was obliged to hide. It could only be compassed by +transcendent tact, prudence, patience, and good sense, all of which +qualities she possessed in an eminent degree. It was necessary to gain +the confidence of an imperious and jealous mistress--which was only to +be done by the most humble assiduities--before she could undermine her +in the affections of the King. She had also to gain his respect and +admiration without allowing any improper intimacy. She had to disarm +jealousy and win confidence; to be as humble in address as she was +elegant in manners, and win a selfish man from pleasure by the richness +of her conversation and the severity of her own morals. + +Little by little she began to exercise a great influence over the mind +of the King when he was becoming wearied of the railleries of his +exacting favorite, and when some of the delusions of life were beginning +to be dispelled. He then found great solace and enjoyment in the society +of Madame Scarron, whom he enriched, enabling her to purchase the estate +of Maintenon and to assume its name. She soothed his temper, softened +his resentments, and directed his attention to a new field of thought +and reflection. She was just the opposite of Montespan in almost +everything. The former won by the solid attainments of the mind; the +latter by her sensual charms. The one talked on literature, art, and +religious subjects; the other on fetes, balls, reviews, and the glories +of the court and its innumerable scandals. Maintenon reminded the King +of his duties without sermonizing or moralizing, but with the insidious +flattery of a devout worshipper of his genius and power; Montespan +directed his mind to pleasures which had lost their charm. Maintenon was +always amiable and sympathetic; Montespan provoked the King by her +resentments, her imperious exactions, her ungovernable fits of temper, +her haughty sarcasm. Maintenon was calm, modest, self-possessed, +judicious, wise; Montespan was passionate, extravagant, unreasonable. +Maintenon always appealed to the higher nature of the King; Montespan to +the lower. The one was a sincere friend, dissuading from folly; the +other an exacting lover, demanding perpetually new favors, to the injury +of the kingdom and the subversion of the King's dignity of character. +The former ruled through the reason; the latter through the passions. +Maintenon was irreproachable in her morals, preserved her self-respect, +and tolerated no improper advances, having no great temptations to +subdue, steadily adhering to that policy which she knew would in time +make her society indispensable; Montespan was content to be simply +mistress, with no forecast of the future, and with but little regard to +the interests or honor of her lord. Maintenon became more attractive +every day from the variety of her intellectual gifts and her unwearied +efforts to please and instruct; Montespan, although a bright woman, +amidst the glories of a dazzling court, at last wearied, disgusted and +repelled. And yet the woman who gradually supplanted Madame de Montespan +by superior radiance of mind and soul openly remained her friend, +through all her waning influence, and pretended to come to her rescue. + +The friendship of the King for Madame de Maintenon began as early as +1672; and during the twelve years she was the governess of Montespan's +children she remained discreet and dignified. "I dismiss him," said she, +"always despairing, never repulsed." What a transcendent actress! What +astonishing tact! What shrewdness blended with self-control! She +conformed herself to his tastes and notions. At the supper-tables of her +palsied husband she had been gay, unstilted, and simple; but with the +King she became formal, prudish, ceremonious, fond of etiquette, and +pharisaical in her religious life. She discreetly ruled her royal lover +in the name of virtue and piety. In 1675 the King created her Marquise +de Maintenon. + +On the disgrace of Madame de Montespan, when the King was forty-six, +Madame de Maintenon still remained at court, having a conspicuous office +in the royal household as mistress of the robes to the Dauphiness, so +that her nearness to the King created no scandal. She was now a stately +woman, with sparkling black eyes, a fine complexion, beautiful teeth, +and exceedingly graceful manners. The King could not now live without +her, for he needed a counsellor whom he could trust. It must be borne in +mind that the great Colbert, on whose shoulders had been laid the +burdens of the monarchy, had recently died. On the death of the Queen +(1685), Louis made Madame de Maintenon his wife, she being about fifty +and he forty-seven. + +This private and secret marriage was never openly divulged during the +life of the King, although generally surmised. This placed Madame de +Maintenon--for she went by this title--in a false position. To say the +least, it was humiliating amid all the splendors to which she was +raised; for if she were a lawful wife, she was not a queen. Some, +perhaps, supposed she was in the position of those favorites whose fate, +again and again, has been to fall. + +One thing is certain,--the King would have made her his mistress years +before; but to this she would never consent. She was too politic, too +ambitious, too discreet, to make that immense mistake. Yet after the +dismissal of Montespan she seemed to be such, until she had with +transcendent art and tact attained her end. It is a flaw in her +character that she was willing so long to be aspersed; showing that +power was dearer to her than reputation. Bossuet, when consulted by the +King as to his intended marriage, approved of it only on the ground that +it was better to make a foolish marriage than violate the seventh +commandment. La Chaise, the Jesuit confessor, who travelled in a coach +and six, recommended it, because Madame de Maintenon was his tool. But +Louvois felt the impropriety as well as Fenelon, and advised the King +not thus to commit himself. The Dauphin was furious. The Archbishop of +Paris simply did his duty in performing the ceremony. + +Doubtless reasons of State imperatively demanded that the marriage +should not openly be proclaimed, and still more that the widow of +Scarron should not be made the Queen of France. Louis was too much of a +politician, and too proud a man, to make this concession. Had he raised +his unacknowledged wife to the throne, it would have resulted in +political complications which would have embarrassed his whole +subsequent reign. He dared not do this. He could not thus scandalize all +Europe, and defy all the precedents of France. And no one knew this +better than Madame de Maintenon herself. She appeared to be satisfied if +she could henceforth live in virtuous relations. Her religious scruples +are to be respected. It is wonderful that she gained as much as she did +in that proud, cynical, and worldly court, and from the proudest monarch +in the world. But Louis was not happy without her,--a proof of his +respect and love. At the age of forty-seven he needed the counsels of a +wife amid his increasing embarrassments. He was already wearied, +sickened, and disgusted: he now wanted repose, friendship, and fidelity. +He certainly was guilty of no error in marrying one of the most gifted +women of his kingdom,--perhaps the most accomplished woman of the age, +interesting and even beautiful at fifty. She was then in the perfection +of mental and moral fascinations. He made no other sacrifice than of his +pride. His fidelity to his wife, and his constant devotion to her until +he died, proved the sincerity and depth of his attachment; and her +marvellous influence over him was on the whole good, with the exception +of her religious intolerance. + +As the wife of Louis XIV. the power of Madame de Maintenon became almost +unbounded. Her ambition was gratified, and her end was accomplished. She +was the dispenser of court favors, the arbiter of fortunes, the real +ruler of the land. Her reign was political as well as social. She sat in +the cabinet of the King, and gave her opinions on State matters whenever +she was asked. Her counsels were so wise that they generally prevailed. +No woman before or after her ever exerted so great an influence on the +fortunes of a kingdom as did the widow of the poet Scarron. The court +which she adorned and ruled was not so brilliant as it had been under +Madame de Montespan, but was still magnificent. She made it more +decorous, though, probably more dull. She was opposed to all foolish, +expenditures. She discouraged the endless fetes and balls and +masquerades which made her predecessor so popular. But still Versailles +glittered with unparalleled wonders: the fountains played; grand +equipages crowded the park; the courtiers blazed in jewels and velvets +and satins; the salons were filled with all who were illustrious in +France; princes, nobles, ambassadors, generals, statesmen, and ministers +rivalled one another in the gorgeousness of their dresses; women of rank +and beauty displayed their graces in the Salon de Venus. + +The articles of luxury and taste that were collected in the countless +rooms of that vast palace almost exceeded belief. And all these blazing +rooms were filled, even to the attic, with aristocratic servitors, who +poured out perpetual incense to the object of their united idolatry, who +sat on almost an Olympian throne. Never was a monarch served by such +idolaters. "Bossuet and Fenelon taught his children; Bourdaloue and +Massillon adorned his chapel; La Chaise and Le Tellier directed his +conscience; Boileau and Moliere sharpened his wit; La Rochefoucauld +cultivated his taste; La Fontaine wrote his epigrams; Racine chronicled +his wars; De Turenne commanded his armies; Fouquet and Colbert arranged +his finances; Mole and D'Aguesseau pronounced his judgments; Louvois +laid out his campaigns; Vauban fortified his citadels; Riquet dug his +canals; Mansard constructed his palaces; Poussin decorated his chambers; +Le Brun painted his ceilings; Le Notre laid out his grounds; Girardon +sculptured his fountains; Montespan arranged his fetes; while La +Valliere, La Fayette, and Sevigne--all queens of beauty--displayed their +graces in the Salon de Venus." What an array of great men and brilliant +women to reflect the splendors of an absolute throne! Never was there +such an _eclat_ about a court; it was one of the wonders of the age. + +And Louis never lost his taste for this outward grandeur. He was +ceremonious and exacting to the end. He never lost the sense of his own +omnipotence. In his latter days he was sad and dejected, but never +exhibited his weakness among his worshippers. He was always dignified +and self-possessed. He loved pomp as much as Michael Angelo loved art. +Even in his bitterest reverses he still maintained the air of the "Grand +Monarque." Says Henri Martin:-- + +"Etiquette, without accepting the extravagant restraints which the court +of France endured, and which French genius would not support, assumed an +unknown extension, proportioned to the increase of royal splendor. It +was adapted to serve the monarchy at the expense of the aristocracy, +and tended to make functions prevail over birth. The great dukes and +peers were multiplied in order to reduce their importance, and the King +gave the marshals precedence over them. The court was a scientific and +complicated machine which Louis guided with sovereign skill. At all +hours, in all places, in the most trifling circumstances of life, he was +always king. His affability never contradicted itself; he expressed +interest and kindliness to all; he showed himself indulgent to errors +that could not be repaired; his majesty was tempered by a grave +familiarity; and he wholly refrained from those pointed and ironical +speeches which so cruelly wound when falling from the lips of a man that +none can answer. He taught all, by his example, the most exquisite +courtesy to women. Manners acquired unequalled elegance. The fetes +exceeded everything which romance had dreamed, in which the fairy +splendors that wearied the eye were blended with the noblest pleasures +of the intellect. But whether appearing in mythological ballets, or +riding in tournaments in the armor of the heroes of antiquity, or +presiding at plays and banquets in his ordinary apparel with his thick +flowing hair, his loose surtout blazing with gold and silver, and his +profusion of ribbons and plumes, always his air and port had something +unique,--always he was the first among all. His whole life was like a +work of art; and the role was admirably played, because he played it +conscientiously." + +The King was not only sacred, but he was supposed to have different +blood in his veins from other men. His person was inviolable. He +reigned, it was universally supposed, by divine right. He was a divinely +commissioned personage, like Saul and David. He did not reign because he +was able or powerful or wealthy, because he was a statesman or a +general, but because he had a right to reign which no one disputed. This +adoration of royalty was not only universal, but it was deeply seated in +the minds of men, and marked strongly all the courtiers and generals and +bishops and poets who surrounded the throne of Louis,--Bossuet and +Fenelon, as well as Colbert and Louvois; Racine and Moliere, as well as +Conde and Turenne. Especially the nobility of the realm looked up to the +king as the source and centre of their own honors and privileges. Even +the people were proud to recognize in him a sort of divinity, and all +persons stood awe-struck in the presence of royalty. All this reverence +was based on ideas which have ever moved the world,--such as sustained +popes in the Middle Ages, and emperors in ancient Borne, and patriarchal +rule among early Oriental peoples. Religion, as well as law and +patriotism, invested monarchs with this sacred and inalienable +authority, never greater than when Louis XIV. began to reign. + +But with all his grandeur Louis XIV. did not know how to avail himself +of the advantages which fortune and accident placed in his way. He was +simply magnificent, like Xerxes,--like a man who had entered into a +vast inheritance which he did not know what to do with. He had no +profound views of statesmanship, like Augustus or Tiberius. He had no +conception of what the true greatness of a country consisted in. Hence +his vast treasures were spent in useless wars, silly pomps, and +inglorious pleasures. His grand court became the scene of cabals and +rivalries, scandals and follies. His wars, from which he expected glory, +ended only in shame; his great generals passed away without any to take +their place; his people, instead of being enriched by a development of +national resources, became poor and discontented; while his persecutions +decimated his subjects and sowed the seeds of future calamities. Even +the learned men who shed lustre around his throne prostituted their +talents to nurse his egotism, and did but little to elevate the national +character. Neither Pascal with his intense hostility to spiritual +despotism, nor Racine with the severe taste which marked the classic +authors of Greece and Rome, nor Fenelon with his patriotic enthusiasm +and clear perception of the moral strength of empires, dared to give +full scope to his genius, but all were obliged to veil their sentiments +in vague panegyrics of ancient heroes. At the close of the seventeenth +century the great intellectual lights had disappeared under the +withering influences of despotism,--as in ancient Rome under the +emperors all manly independence had fled,--and literature went through +an eclipse. That absorbing egotism which made Louis XIV. jealous of the +fame of Conde and Luxembourg, or fearful of the talents of Louvois and +Colbert, or suspicious of the influence of Racine and Fenelon, also led +him to degrade his nobility by menial offices, and institute in his +court a burdensome formality. + +In spite of his great abilities, no monarch ever reaped a severer +penalty for his misgovernment than did Louis. Like Solomon, he lived +long enough to see the bursting of all the bubbles which had floated +before his intoxicated brain. All his delusions were dispelled; he was +oppressed with superstitious fears; he was weary of the very pleasures +of which he once was fondest; he saw before him a gulf of national +disasters; he was obliged to melt up the medallions which commemorated +his victories, to furnish bread for starving soldiers; he lost the +provinces he had seized; he saw the successive defeat of all his +marshals and the annihilation of his veteran armies; he was deprived of +his children and grandchildren by the most dreadful malady known to that +generation; a feeble infant was the heir of his dominions; he saw +nothing before him but national disgrace; he found no counsellors whom +he could trust, no friends to whom he could pour out his sorrows; the +infirmities of age oppressed his body; the agonies of remorse disturbed +his soul; the fear of hell became the foundation of his religion, for he +must have felt that he had a fearful reckoning with the King of kings. + +Such was the man to whom the best days of Madame de Maintenon were +devoted; and she shared his confidence to the last. She did all she +could to alleviate his sorrows, for a more miserable man than Louis XIV. +during the last twenty years of his life never was seated on a throne. +Well might his wife exclaim, "Save those who occupy the highest places, +I know of none more unhappy than those who envy them." This great woman +attempted to make her husband a religious man, and succeeded so far as a +rigid regard to formalities and technical observances can make a man +religious. + +It may be asked how this formal and proper woman was enabled to exert +upon the King so great an influence; for she was the real ruler of the +land. No woman ever ruled with more absolute sway, from Queen Esther to +Madame de Pompadour, than did the widow of the profane and crippled +Scarron. It cannot be doubted that she exerted this influence by mere +moral and intellectual force,--the power of physical beauty retreating +before the superior radiance of wisdom and virtue. La Valliere had +wearied and Montespan had disgusted even a sensual king, with all their +remarkable attractions; but Maintenon, by her prudence, her tact, her +wisdom, and her friendship, retained the empire she had won,--thus +teaching the immortal lesson that nothing but respect constitutes a sure +foundation for love, or can hold the heart of a selfish man amid the +changes of life. Whatever the promises made emphatic by passion, +whatever the presents or favors given as tokens of everlasting ties, +whatever the raptures consecrating the endearments of a plighted troth, +whatever the admiration called out by the scintillations of genius, +whatever the gratitude arising from benefits bestowed in sympathy, all +will vanish in the heart of a man unless confirmed by qualities which +extort esteem,--the most impressive truth that can be presented to the +mind of woman; her encouragement if good, her sentence to misery if bad, +so far as her hopes centre around an earthly idol. + +Now, Madame de Maintenon, whatever her defects, her pharisaism, her +cunning, her ambition, and her narrow religious intolerance, was still, +it would seem, always respected, not only by the King himself,--a great +discerner of character,--but by the court which she controlled, and even +by that gay circle of wits who met around the supper-tables of her first +husband. The breath of scandal never tarnished her reputation; she was +admired by priests as well as by nobles. From this fact, which is well +attested, we infer that she acted with transcendent discretion as the +governess of the Duke of Maine, even when brought into the most +intimate relations with the King; and that when reigning at the court +after the death of the Queen, she must have been supposed to have a +right to all the attentions which she received from Louis XIV. And what +is very remarkable about this woman is, that she should so easily have +supplanted Madame de Montespan in the full blaze of her dazzling beauty, +when the King was in the maturity of his power and in all the pride of +external circumstance,--she, born a Protestant, converted to Catholicism +in her youth under protest, poor, dependent, a governess, the widow of a +vulgar buffoon, and with antecedents which must have stung to the quick +so proud a man as was Louis XIV. With his severe taste, his experience, +his discernment, with all the cynical and hostile influences of a proud +and worldly court, and after a long and searching intimacy, it is hard +to believe that he could have loved and honored her to his death if she +had not been worthy of his esteem. And when we remember that for nearly +forty years she escaped the scandals which made those times unique in +infamy, we are forced to concede that on the whole she must have been a +good woman. To retain such unbounded power for over thirty years is a +very remarkable thing to do. + +Madame de Maintenon, however, though wise and virtuous, made many grave +mistakes, as she had many defects of character. Great as she was, she +has to answer for political crimes into which, from her narrow religious +prejudices, she led the King. + +The most noticeable feature in the influence which Madame de Maintenon +exercised on the King was in inciting a spirit of religious intolerance. +And this appeared even long before Madame de Montespan had lost her +ascendency. For ten years before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes +there had been continual persecution of the Protestants in France, on +the ground that they were heretics, though not rebels. And the same +persecuting spirit was displayed in reference to the Jansenists, who +were Catholics, and whose only sin was intellectual boldness. Anybody +who thought differently from the monarch incurred the royal displeasure. +Intellectual freedom and honesty were the real reasons of the disgrace +of Racine and Fenelon. For the King was a bigot in religion as well as a +despot on a throne. He fancied that he was very pious. He was regular in +all his religious duties. He was an earnest and conscientious adherent +to all the doctrines of the Catholic Church. In his judgment, a +departure from those doctrines should be severely punished. He was as +sincere as Torquemada, or Alva, or Saint Dominic. His wife encouraged +this bigotry, and even stimulated his resentments toward those who +differed from him. + +At last, in 1685, the fatal blow was struck which decimated the +subjects of an irresponsible king. The glorious edict which Henry IV. +had granted, and which even Richelieu and Mazarin had respected, was +repealed. There was no political necessity for the crime. It sprang from +unalloyed religious intolerance; and it was as suicidal as it was +uncalled for and cruel. It was an immense political blunder, which no +enlightened monarch would ever have committed, and which none but a cold +and narrow woman would ever have encouraged. There was no excuse or +palliation for this abominable persecution any more than there was for +the burning of John Huss. It had not even as much to justify it as had +the slaughter of St. Bartholomew, for the Huguenots were politically +hostile and dangerous. It was an act of wanton cruelty incited by +religious bigotry. I wonder how a woman so kind-hearted, so intelligent, +and so politic as Madame de Maintenon doubtless was, could have +encouraged the King to a measure which undermined his popularity, which +cut the sinews of natural strength, and raised up implacable enemies in +every Protestant country. I can palliate her detestable bigotry only on +the ground that she was the slave of an order of men who have ever +proved themselves to be the inveterate foes of human freedom, and who +marked their footsteps, wherever they went, by a trail of blood. Louis +was equally their blinded tool. The Order--the "Society of Jesus"--was +created to extirpate heresy, and in this instance it was carried out to +the bitter end. The persecution of the Protestants under Louis XIV. was +the most cruel and successful of all known persecutions in ancient or +modern times. It annihilated the Protestants, so far as there were any +left openly to defend their cause. It drove out of France from two +hundred thousand to four hundred thousand of her best people, and +executed or confined to the galleys as many more, They died like sheep +led to the slaughter; they died not with arms, but Bibles, in their +hands. I have already presented some details of that inglorious +persecution in my lecture on Louis XIV., and will not repeat what I +there said. It was deemed by Madame de Maintenon a means of grace to the +King,--for in her way she always sought his conversion. And when the +bloody edict went forth for the slaughter of the best people in the +land, she wrote that "the King was now beginning to think seriously of +his salvation. If God preserve him, there will be no longer but one +religion in the kingdom." This foul stain on her character did not +proceed from cruelty of disposition, but from mistaken zeal. What a +contrast her conduct was to the policy of Elizabeth! Yet she was no +worse than Le Tellier, La Chaise, and other fanatics. Religious +intolerance was one of the features of the age and of the Roman +Catholic Church. + +But religious bigotry is eternally odious to enlightened reason. No +matter how interesting a man or woman may be in most respects, if +stained with cruel intolerance in religious opinions, he or she will be +repulsive. It left an indelible stain on the character of the most +brilliant and gifted woman of her times, and makes us forget her many +virtues. With all her excellences, she goes down in history as a cold +and intolerant woman whom we cannot love. We cannot forget that in a +great degree through her influence the Edict of Nantes was repealed. + +The persecution of the Protestants, however, partially reveals the +narrow intolerance of Madame de Maintenon. She sided but with those +whose influence was directed to the support of the recognized dogmas of +the Church in their connection with the absolute rule of kings. The +interests of Catholic institutions have ever been identical with +absolutism. Bossuet, the ablest theologian and churchman which the +Catholic Church produced in the seventeenth century, gave the whole +force of his vast intellect to uphold an unlimited royal authority. He +saw in the bold philosophical speculations of Descartes, Malebranche, +Spinoza, Leibnitz, and Locke an insidious undermining of the doctrines +of the Church, an intellectual freedom whose logical result would be +fatal alike to Church and State. His eagle eye penetrated to the core of +every system of human thought. He saw the logical and necessary results +of every theory which Pantheists, or Rationalists, or Quietists, or +Jansenists advanced. Whatever did not support the dogmas of mediaeval +and patriotic theologians, such as the Papal Church indorsed, was +regarded by him with suspicion and aversion. Every theory or speculation +which tended to emancipate the mind, or weaken the authority of the +Church, or undermine an absolute throne, was treated by him with +dogmatic intolerance and persistent hatred. He made war alike on the +philosophers, the Jansenists, and the Quietists, whether they remained +in the ranks of the Church or not. It was the dangerous consequences of +these speculations pushed to their logical result which he feared and +detested, and which no other eye than his was able to perceive. + +Bossuet communicated his spirit to Madame de Maintenon and to the King, +who were both under his influence as to the treatment of religious or +philosophical questions. Louis and his wife were both devout supporters +of orthodoxy,--that is, the received doctrines of the Church,--partly +from conservative tendencies, and partly from the connection of +established religious institutions with absolutism in government. +Whatever was established, was supported because it was established. They +would suffer no innovation, not even in philosophy. Anything progressive +was abhorred as much as anything destructive. When Fenelon said, "I +love my family better than myself, my country better than my family, and +the human race better than my country," he gave utterance to a sentiment +which was revolutionary in its tendency. When he declared in his +"Telemaque" what were the duties of kings,--that they reigned for the +benefit of their subjects rather than for themselves,--he undermined the +throne which he openly supported. It was the liberal spirit which +animated Fenelon, as well as the innovations to which his opinions +logically led, which arrayed against him the king who admired him, the +woman who had supported him, and the bishop who was jealous of him. +Although he charmed everybody with whom he associated by the angelic +sweetness of his disposition, his refined courtesies of manner, and his +sparkling but inoffensive wit,--a born courtier as well as philosopher, +the most interesting and accomplished man of his generation,--still, +neither Bossuet nor Madame de Maintenon nor the King could tolerate his +teachings, so pregnant were they with innovations; and he was exiled to +his bishopric. Madame de Maintenon, who once delighted in Fenelon, +learned to detest him as much as Bossuet did, when the logical tendency +of his writings was seen. She would rivet the chains of slavery on the +human intellect as well as on the devotees of Rome or the courtiers of +the King, while Fenelon would have emancipated the race itself in the +fervor and sincerity of his boundless love. + +This hostility to Fenelon was not caused entirely by the political +improvements he would have introduced, but because his all-embracing +toleration sought to protect the sentimental pantheism which Madame +Guyon inculcated in her maxims of disinterested love and voluntary +passivity of the soul towards God, in opposition to that rationalistic +pantheism which Spinoza defended, and into which he had inexorably +pushed with unexampled logic the deductions of Malebranche. The men who +finally overturned the fabric of despotism which Richelieu constructed +were the philosophers. The clear but narrow intellect of the King and +his wife instinctively saw in them the natural enemies of the throne; +and hence they were frowned upon, if not openly persecuted. + +We are forced therefore to admit that the intolerance of Madame de +Maintenon, repulsive as it was, arose in part, like the intolerance of +Bossuet, from zeal to uphold the institutions and opinions on which the +Church and the throne were equally based. The Jesuits would call such a +woman a nursing mother of the Church, a protector of the cause of +orthodoxy, the watchful guardian of the royal interests and those of all +established institutions. Any ultra-conservatism, logically carried out, +would land any person on the ground where she stood. + +But while Madame de Maintenon was a foe to everything like heresy, or +opposition to the Catholic Church, or true intellectual freedom, she was +the friend of education. She was the founder of the celebrated School of +St. Cyr, where three hundred young ladies, daughters of impoverished +nobles, were educated gratuitously. She ever took the greatest interest +in this school, and devoted to it all the time her numerous engagements +would permit. She visited it every day, and was really its president and +director. There was never a better school for aristocratic girls in a +Catholic country. She directed their studies and superintended their +manners, and brought to bear on their culture her own vast experience. +If Bossuet was a born priest, she was a born teacher. It was for the +amusement of the girls that Racine was induced by her to write one of +his best dramas,--"Queen Esther," a sort of religious tragedy in the +severest taste, which was performed by the girls in the presence of the +most distinguished people of the court. + +Madame de Maintenon exerted her vast influence in favor of morality and +learning. She rewarded genius and scholarship. She was the patron of +those distinguished men who rendered important services to France, +whether statesmen, divines, generals, or scholars. She sought to bring +to the royal notice eminent merit in every department of life within the +ranks of orthodoxy. A poet, or painter, or orator, who gave remarkable +promise, was sure of her kindness; and there were many such. For the +world is full at all times of remarkable young men and women, but there +are very few remarkable men at the age of fifty. + +And her influence on the court was equally good. She discouraged +levities, gossip, and dissipation. If the palace was not so gay as +during the reign of Madame de Montespan, it was more decorous and more +intellectual. It became fashionable to go to church, and to praise good +sermons and read books of casuistry. "Tartuffe grew pale before +Escobar." Bossuet and Bourdaloue were equal oracles with Moliere and +Racine. Great preachers were all the fashion. The court became very +decorous, if it was hypocritical. The King interested himself in +theological discussions, and became as austere as formerly he was gay +and merry. He regretted his wars and his palace-building; for both were +discouraged by Madame de Maintenon, who perceived that they impoverished +the nation. She undertook the mighty task of reforming the court itself, +as well as the morals of the King; and she partially succeeded. The +proud Nebuchadnezzar whom she served was at last made to confess that +there was a God to whom he was personally responsible; and he was +encouraged to bear with dignity those sad reverses which humiliated his +pride, and drank without complaint the dregs of that bitter cup which +retributive justice held out in mercy before he died. It was his wife +who revealed the deceitfulness, the hypocrisy, the treachery, and the +heartlessness of that generation of vipers which he had trusted and +enriched. She was more than the guardian of his interests; she was his +faithful friend, who dissuaded him from follies. So that outwardly Louis +XIV. became a religious man, and could perhaps have preached a sermon on +the vanity of a worldly life,--that whatever is born in vanity must end +in vanity. + +It is greatly to the credit of Madame de Maintenon that she was +interested in whatever tended to improve the morals of the people or to +develop the intellect. She was one of those strong-minded women who are +impressible by grand sentiments. She would have admired Madame de Stael +or Madame Roland,--not their opinions, but their characters. Politics +was perhaps the most interesting subject to her, as it has ever been to +very cultivated women in France; and it was with the details of cabinets +and military enterprises that she was most familiar. It was this +political knowledge which made her so wise a counsellor and so necessary +a companion to the King. But her reign was nevertheless a usurpation. +She triumphed in consequence of the weakness of her husband more than by +her own strength; and the nation never forgave her. She outraged the +honor of the King, and detracted from the dignity of the royal station. +Louis XIV. certainly had the moral right to marry her, as a nobleman may +espouse a servant-girl; but it was a _faux-pas_ which the proud +idolaters of rank could not excuse. + +And for this usurpation Madame de Maintenon paid no inconsiderable a +penalty. She was insulted by the royal family to the day of her death. +The Dauphin would not visit her, even when the King led him to the door +of her apartments. The courtiers mocked her behind her back. Her rivals +thrust upon her their envenomed libels. Even Racine once so far forgot +himself as to allude in her presence to the miserable farces of the poet +Scarron,--an unpremeditated and careless insult which she never forgot +or forgave. Moreover, in all her grandeur she was doomed to the most +exhaustive formalities and duties; for the King exacted her constant +services, which wearied and disgusted her. She was born for freedom, but +was really a slave, although she wore gilded fetters. She was not what +one would call an unhappy or disappointed woman, since she attained the +end to which she had aspired. But she could not escape humiliations. She +was in a false position. Her reputation was aspersed. She was only a +wife whose marriage was concealed; she was not a queen. All she gained, +she extorted. In rising to the exalted height of ruling the court of +France she yet abdicated her throne as an untrammelled queen of society, +and became the slave of a pompous, ceremonious, self-conscious, +egotistical, selfish, peevish, self-indulgent, tyrannical, exacting, +priest-ridden, worn-out, disenchanted old voluptuary. And when he died +she was treated as a usurper rather than a wife, and was obliged to +leave the palace, where she would have been insulted, and take up her +quarters in the convent she had founded. The King did not leave her by +his will a large fortune, so that she was obliged to curtail her +charities. + +Madame de Maintenon lived to be eighty-four, and retained her +intellectual faculties to the last, retiring to the Abbey of St. Cyr on +the death of the King in 1715, and surviving him but four years. She was +beloved and honored by those who knew her intimately. She was the idol +of the girls of St. Cyr, who worshipped the ground on which she trod. +Yet she made no mark in history after the death of Louis XIV. All her +greatness was but the reflection of his glory. Her life, successful as +it was, is but a confirmation of the folly of seeking a position which +is not legitimate. No position is truly desirable which is a false one, +which can be retained only by art, and which subjects one to humiliation +and mortifications. I have great admiration for the many excellent +qualities of this extraordinary and gifted woman, although I know that +she is not a favorite with historians. She is not endeared to the heart +of the nation she indirectly ruled. She is positively disliked by a +large class, not merely for her narrow religious intolerance, but even +for the arts by which she gained so great an influence. Yet, liked or +disliked, it would be difficult to find in French history a greater or +more successful woman. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Henri Martin's History of France; Biographic Universelle; Miss Pardoe's +History of the Court of Louis XIV.; Lacretelle's History of France; St. +Simon's Memoires; Voltaire's Siecle de Louis XIV.; Guizot's History of +France; Early Days of Madame de Maintenon, Eclectic Magazine, xxxii. 67; +Life and Character of Madame de Maintenon, Quarterly Review, xcvi. 394; +Fortnightly Review, xxv. 607; Temple Bar, Iv. 243; Fraser, xxxix. 231; +Memoires of Louis XIV., Quarterly Review, xix. 46; James's Life and +Times of Louis XIV.; James's Life of Madame de Maintenon; Secret +Correspondence of Madame de Maintenon; Taine on the Ancien Regime; +Browning's History of the Huguenots, Edinburgh Review, xcix. 454; +Butler's Lives of Fenelon and Bossuet; Abbe Ledieu's Memoire de Bossuet; +Bentley, Memoirs de Madame de Montespan, xlviii. 309; De Bausset's Life +of Fenelon. + + + + +SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 1660-1744. + +THE WOMAN OF THE WORLD. + + +In the career of Madame de Maintenon we have seen in a woman an +inordinate ambition to rise in the world and control public affairs. In +the history of the Duchess of Marlborough, we see the same ambition, the +same love of power, the same unscrupulous adaptation of means to an end. +Yet the aim and ends of these two remarkable political women were +different. The Frenchwoman had in view the reform of a wicked court, the +interests of education, the extirpation of heresy, the elevation of men +of genius, the social and religious improvement of a great nation, as +she viewed it, through a man who bore absolute sway. The Englishwoman +connived at political corruptions, was indifferent to learning and +genius, and exerted her great influence, not for the good of her +country, but to advance the fortunes of her family. Madame de Maintenon, +if narrow and intolerant, was unselfish, charitable, religious, and +patriotic; the Duchess of Marlborough was selfish, grasping, +avaricious, and worldly in all her aspirations. Both were +ambitious,--the one to benefit the country which she virtually ruled, +and the other to accumulate honors and riches by cabals and intrigues in +the court of a weak woman whom she served and despised. Madame de +Maintenon, in a greater position, as the wife of the most powerful +monarch in Christendom, was gentle, amiable, condescending, and +kind-hearted; the Duchess of Marlborough was haughty, insolent, and +acrimonious. Both were beautiful, bright, witty, and intellectual; but +the Frenchwoman was immeasurably more cultivated, and was impressible by +grand sentiments. + +And yet the Duchess of Marlborough was a great woman. She was the most +prominent figure in the Court of Queen Anne, and had a vast influence on +the politics of her day. Her name is associated with great statesmen and +generals. She occupied the highest social position of any woman in +England after that of the royal family. She had the ear and the +confidence of the Queen. The greatest offices were virtually at her +disposal. Around her we may cluster the leading characters and events of +the age of Queen Anne. + +Sarah Jennings, the future Duchess of Marlborough, was born in 1660. She +belonged to a good though not a noble family, which for many generations +possessed a good estate in Hertfordshire. Her grandfather, Sir John +Jennings, was a zealous adherent to the royal cause before the +Revolution, and received the Order of the Bath, in company with his +patron, Charles I., then Prince of Wales. When Sarah was twelve years of +age, she found a kind friend in the Duchess of York, Mary Beatrice +Eleanora, Princess of Modena (an adopted daughter of Louis XIV.), who +married James, brother of Charles II. The young girl was thus introduced +to the dangerous circle which surrounded the Duke of York, and she +passed her time, not in profitable studies, but in amusements and +revels. She lived in the ducal household as a playmate of the Princess +Anne, and was a beautiful, bright, and witty young lady, though not well +educated. In the year 1673 she became acquainted with John Churchill, a +colonel of the army and a gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of +York,--the latter a post of honor, but of small emolument. He was at +that time twenty-three years of age, a fine-looking and gallant soldier, +who had already distinguished himself at the siege of Tangier. He had +also fought under the banners of Marshal Turenne in the Low Countries, +by whom he was called the "handsome Englishman." At the siege of +Maestricht he further advanced his fortunes, succeeding the famous Earl +of Peterborough in the command of the English troops, then in alliance +with Louis XIV. He was not a man of intellectual culture, nor was he +deeply read. It is said that even his spelling was bad; but his letters +were clear and forcible. He made up his deficiency in education by +irresistibly pleasing manners, remarkable energy, and a coolness of +judgment that was seldom known to err. + +His acquaintance with the beautiful Sarah Jennings soon ripened into +love; but he was too poor to marry. Nor had she a fortune. They however +became engaged to each other, and the betrothal continued three years. +It was not till 1678 that the marriage took place. The colonel was +domestic in his tastes and amiable in his temper, and his home was +happy. He was always fond of his wife, although her temper was quick and +her habits exacting. She was proud, irascible, and overbearing, while he +was meek and gentle. In other respects they were equally matched, since +both were greedy, ambitious, and worldly. A great stain, too, rested on +his character; for he had been scandalously intimate with Barbara +Villiers, mistress of Charles II., who gave him L5000, with which he +bought an annuity of L500 a year,--thus enabling him to marry +Miss Jennings. + +In 1685 Charles II. died, and was succeeded by his brother the Duke of +York, as James II. The new King rewarded his favorite, Colonel +Churchill, with a Scotch peerage and the command of a regiment of +guards, James's two daughters, the princesses Mary and Anne, now became +great personages. But from mutual jealousy they did not live together +very harmoniously. Mary, the elder daughter, was much the superior of +her sister, and her marriage with William of Orange was +particularly happy. + +The Princess Anne was weak and far from being interesting. But she was +inordinately attached to Lady Churchill, who held a high post of honor +and emolument in her household. It does not appear that the attachment +was mutual between these two ladies, but the forms of it were kept up by +Lady Churchill, who had ambitious ends to gain. She gradually acquired +an absolute ascendency over the mind of the Princess, who could not live +happily without her companionship and services. Lady Churchill was at +this time remarkably striking in her appearance, with a clear +complexion, regular features, majestic figure, and beautiful hair, which +was dressed without powder. She also had great power of conversation, +was frank, outspoken, and amusing, but without much tact. The Princess +wrote to her sometimes four times a day, always in the strain of +humility, and seemed utterly dependent upon her. Anne was averse to +reading, spending her time at cards and frivolous pleasures. She was +fond of etiquette, and exacting in trifles. She was praised for her +piety, which would appear however to have been formal and technical. +She was placid, phlegmatic, and had no conversational gifts. She played +tolerably on the guitar, loved the chase, and rode with the hounds until +disabled by the gout, which was brought about by the pleasures of the +table. In 1683 she married Prince George of Denmark, and by him had +thirteen children, not one of whom survived her; most of them died in +infancy. As the daughter of James II., she was of course a Tory in her +political opinions. + +Lady Churchill was also at that time a moderate Tory, and fanned the +prejudices of her mistress. But in order to secure a still greater +intimacy and freedom than was consistent with their difference in rank, +the two ladies assumed the names of Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman. In the +correspondence between them the character of the Princess appears to the +greater advantage, since she was at least sincere in her admiration and +friendship. She assumes no superiority in any respect; in her +intellectual dependence she is even humble. + +Anne was seemingly disinterested in her friendship with Lady Churchill, +having nothing to gain but services, for which she liberally compensated +her. But the society of a weak woman could not have had much fascination +for so independent and self-sustained a person as was the proud peeress. +It eventually became irksome to her. But there was no outward flaw in +the friendship until Anne ascended the throne in 1702,--not even for +several years after. + +The accession of William and Mary in 1689 changed the position of Anne, +to whom the nation now looked as a probable future queen. She was at +that time severely censured for her desertion of her father James, and +her conduct seemed both heartless and frivolous. But she was virtually +in the hands of an unscrupulous woman and the great ministers +of State. On the flight of the King, James II., the Princess +Anne retired to Chatsworth,--the magnificent seat of the Earl of +Devonshire,--accompanied by Lady Churchill, her inseparable companion. + +Two days before the coronation of William and Mary, Lord Churchill was +created Earl of Marlborough, and was sworn a member of the Privy Council +and a lord of the bedchamber. This elevation was owing to his military +talents, which no one appreciated better than the King, who however +never personally liked Marlborough, and still less his ambitious wife. +He was no stranger to their boundless cupidity, though he pretended not +to see it. He was politic, not being in a position to dispense with the +services of the ablest military general of his realm. + +William III. was a remarkably wise and clearheaded prince, and saw the +dangers which menaced him,--the hostility of Louis XIV., the rebels in +Ireland, and the disaffection among the Jacobite nobility in England, +who secretly favored the exiled monarch. So he rewarded and elevated a +man whom he both admired and despised. William had many sterling +virtues; he was sincere and patriotic and public-spirited; he was a +stanch Protestant of the Calvinistic school, and very attentive to his +religious duties. But with all his virtues and services to the English +nation, he was not a favorite. His reserve, coldness, and cynicism were +in striking contrast with the affability of the Stuarts. He had no +imagination and no graces; he disgusted the English nobles by drinking +Holland gin, and by his brusque manners. But nothing escaped his eagle +eye. On the field of battle he was as ardent and fiery as he was dull +and phlegmatic at Hampton Court, his favorite residence. He was capable +of warm friendships, uninteresting as he seemed to the English nobles; +but he was intimate only with his Dutch favorites, like Bentinck and +Keppel, whom he elevated to English peerages. He spent only a few months +in England each year of the thirteen of his reign, being absorbed in war +most of the time with Louis XIV. and the Irish rebels. + +William found that his English throne was anything but a bed of roses. +The Tories, in the tumults and dangers attending the flight of James +II., had promoted his elevation; but they were secretly hostile, and +when dangers had passed, broke out in factious opposition. The +high-church clergy disliked a Calvinistic king in sympathy with +Dissenters. The Irish gave great trouble under Tyrconnel and old Marshal +Schomberg, the latter of whom was killed at the battle of the Boyne. A +large party was always in opposition to the unceasing war with Louis +XIV., whom William hated with implacable animosity. + +The Earl of Marlborough, on the accession of William, was a moderate +Tory, and was soon suspected of not being true to his sovereign. His +treason might have resulted in the return of the Stuarts but for the +energy and sagacity of Queen Mary, in whose hands the supreme executive +power was placed by William when absent from the kingdom. She summoned +at once the Parliament, prevented the defection of the navy, and +ferreted out the hostile intrigues, in which the lord-treasurer +Godolphin was also implicated. But for the fortunate naval victory of La +Hogue over the French fleet, which established the naval supremacy of +England, the throne of William and the Protestant succession would have +been seriously endangered; for William was unfortunate in his Flemish +campaigns. + +When the King was apprised of the treasonable intrigues which endangered +his throne, he magnanimously pardoned Godolphin and the Duke of +Shrewsbury, but sent Marlborough to the Tower, although he soon after +released him, when it was found that several of the letters which +compromised him had been forged. For some time Marlborough lived in +comparative retirement, while his wife devoted herself to politics and +her duties about the person of the Princess Anne, who was treated very +coldly by her sister the Queen, and was even deprived of her guards. But +the bickerings and quarrels of the royal sisters were suddenly ended by +the death of Mary from the small-pox, which then fearfully raged in +London. The grief of the King was sincere and excessive, as well as that +of the nation, and his affliction softened his character and mitigated +his asperity against Marlborough, Shortly after the death of his queen, +William made Marlborough governor of the Duke of Gloucester, then (1698) +a very promising prince, in the tenth year of his age. This prince, only +surviving son of Anne, had a feeble body, and was unwisely crammed by +Bishop Burnet, his preceptor, and overworked by Marlborough, who taught +him military tactics. Neither his body nor his mind could stand the +strain made upon him, and he was carried off at the age of eleven by +a fever. + +The untimely death of the Prince was a great disappointment to the +nation, and cast a gloom over the remaining years of the reign of +William, who from this time declined in health and spirits. One of his +last acts was to appoint the Earl of Marlborough general of the troops +in Flanders, knowing that he was the only man who could successfully +oppose the marshals of France. Only five days before his death the King +sent a recommendation to Parliament for the union of Scotland and +England, and the last act of Parliament to which he gave his consent was +that which fixed the succession in the House of Hanover. At the age of +fifty-one, while planning the campaign which was to make Marlborough +immortal, William received his death-stroke, which was accidental. He +was riding in the park of Hampton Court, when his horse stumbled and he +was thrown, dislocating his collar-bone. The bone was set, and might +have united but for the imprudence of the King, who insisted on going to +Kensington on important business. Fever set in, and in a few days this +noble and heroic king died (March 8, 1702),--the greatest of the English +kings since the Wars of the Roses, to whom the English nation owed the +peaceful settlement of the kingdom in times of treason and rebellion. + +The Princess Anne, at the age of thirty-seven, quietly ascended the +throne, and all eyes were at once turned to Marlborough, on whom the +weight of public affairs rested. He was now fifty-three, active, wise, +well poised, experienced, and generally popular in spite of his ambition +and treason. He had, as we have already remarked, been a moderate Tory, +but as he was the advocate of war measures, he now became one of the +leaders of the Whig party. Indeed, he was at this time the foremost man +in England, on account of his great talents as a statesman and +diplomatist as well as general, and for the ascendency of his wife over +the mind of the Queen. + +Next to him in power was the lord-treasurer Godolphin, to whom he was +bound by ties of friendship, family alliance, and political principles. +Like Marlborough, Godolphin had in early life been attached to the +service of the House of Stuart. He had been page to Charles II., and +lord chamberlain to Mary of Modena. The Princess Anne, when a young +lady, became attached to this amiable and witty man, and would have +married him if reasons of State had not prevented. After the Revolution +of 1688 his merits were so conspicuous that he was retained in the +service of William and Mary, and raised to the peerage. In sound +judgment, extraordinary sagacity, untiring industry, and unimpeached +integrity, he resembled Lord Burleigh in the reign of Elizabeth, and, +like him, rendered great public services. Grave, economical, cautious, +upright, courteous in manners, he was just the man for the stormy times +in which he lived. He had his faults, being fond of play (the passion of +that age) and of women. Says Swift, who libelled him, as he did every +prominent man of the Whig party, "He could scratch out a song in praise +of his mistress with a pencil on a card, or overflow with tears like a +woman when he had an object to gain." + +But the real ruler of the land, on the accession of Anne, was the +favored wife of Marlborough. If ever a subject stood on the very +pinnacle of greatness, it was she. All the foreign ambassadors flattered +her and paid court to her. The greatest nobles solicited or bought of +her the lucrative offices in the gift of the Crown. She was the +dispenser of court favors, as Mesdames de Maintenon and Pompadour were +in France. She was the admiration of gifted circles, in which she +reigned as a queen of society. Poets sang her praises and extolled her +beauty; statesmen craved her influence. Nothing took place at court to +which she was not privy. She was the mainspring of all political cabals +and intrigues; even the Queen treated her with deference, as well as +loaded her with gifts, and Godolphin consulted her on affairs of State. +The military fame of her husband gave her unbounded _eclat_. No +Englishwoman ever had such an exalted social position; she reigned in +_salons_ as well as in the closet of the Queen. And she succeeded in +marrying her daughters to the proudest peers. Her eldest daughter, +Henrietta, was the wife of an earl and prime minister. Her second +daughter, Anne, married Lord Charles Spencer, the only son of the Earl +of Sunderland, one of the leaders of the Whig party and secretary of +state. Her third daughter became the wife of the Earl, afterwards Duke, +of Bridgewater; and the fourth and youngest daughter had for her husband +the celebrated Duke of Montague, grand-master of the Order of the Bath. + +Thus did Sarah Jennings rise. Her daughters were married to great nobles +and statesmen, her husband was the most famous general of his age, and +she herself was the favorite and confidential friend and adviser of the +Queen. Upon her were showered riches and honor. She had both influence +and power,--influence from her talents, and power from her position. And +when she became duchess,--after the great victory of Blenheim,--and a +princess of the German Empire, she had nothing more to aspire to in the +way of fortune or favor or rank. She was the first woman of the land, +next to the Queen, whom she ruled while nominally serving her. + +There are very few people in this world, whether men or women, who +remain unchanged under the influence of boundless prosperity. So rare +are the exceptions, that the rule is established. Wealth, honor, and +power will produce luxury, pride, and selfishness. How few can hope to +be superior to Solomon, Mohammed, Constantine, Theodosius, Louis XIV., +Madame de Maintenon, Queen Elizabeth, Maria Theresa, or Napoleon, in +that sublime self-control which looks down on the temptations of earth +with the placid indifference of a Marcus Aurelius! Even prosperous +people in comparatively humble life generally become arrogant and +opinionated, and like to have things in their own way. + +Now, Lady Marlborough was both proud by nature and the force of +circumstances. She became an incarnation of arrogance, which she could +not conceal, and which she never sought to control. When she became the +central figure in the Court and in the State, flattered and sought after +wherever she went, before whom the greatest nobles burned their incense, +and whom the people almost worshipped in a country which has ever +idolized rank and power, she assumed airs and gave vent to expressions +that wounded her friend the Queen. Anne bore her friend's intolerable +pride, blended with disdain, for a long time after her accession. But +her own character also began to change. Sovereigns do not like dictation +from subjects, however powerful. And when securely seated on her throne, +Anne began to avow opinions which she had once found it politic to +conceal. She soon became as jealous of her prerogative as her uncle +Charles and her father James had been of theirs. She was at heart a +Tory,--as was natural,--and attached to the interests of her banished +relatives. She looked upon the Whigs as hostile to what she held dear. +She began to dislike ministers who had been in high favor with the late +King, especially Lord Chancellor Somers and Charles Montague, Earl of +Halifax,--since these powerful nobles, allied with Godolphin and +Marlborough, ruled England. Thus the political opinions of the Queen +came gradually to be at variance with those advanced by her favorite, +whose daughters were married to great Whig nobles, and whose husband was +bent on continuing the war against Louis XIV. and the exiled Stuarts. +But, as we have said, Anne for a long time suppressed her feelings of +incipient alienation, produced by the politics and haughty demeanor of +her favorite, and still wrote to her as her beloved Mrs. Freeman, and +signed her letters, as usual, as her humble Morley. Her treatment of the +Countess continued the same as ever, full of affection and confidence. +She could not break with a friend who had so long been indispensable to +her; nor had she strength of character to reveal her true feelings. + +Meanwhile a renewed war was declared against Louis XIV. on account of +his determination to place his grandson on the throne of Spain. The +Tories were bitterly opposed to this war of the Spanish succession, as +unnecessary, expensive, and ruinous to the development of national +industry. They were also jealous of Marlborough, whose power they feared +would be augmented by the war, as the commander-in-chief of the united +Dutch and English forces. And the result was indeed what they feared. +His military successes were so great in this war that on his return to +England he was created a duke, and soon after received unusual grants +from Parliament, controlled by the Whigs, which made him the richest man +in England as well as the most powerful politically. Yet even up to this +time the relations between his wife and the Queen were apparently most +friendly. But soon after this the haughty favorite became imprudent in +the expressions she used before her royal mistress; she began to weary +of the drudgeries of her office as mistress of the robes, and turned +over her duties partially to a waiting-woman, who was destined +ultimately to supplant her in the royal favor. The Queen was wounded to +the quick by some things that the Duchess said and did, which she was +supposed not to hear or see; for the Duchess was now occasionally +careless as well as insolent. The Queen was forced to perceive that the +Duchess disdained her feeble intellect and some of her personal habits, +and was, moreover, hostile to her political opinions; and she began to +long for an independence she had never truly enjoyed. But the Duchess, +intoxicated with power and success, did not see the ground on which she +stood; yet if she continued to rule her mistress, it was by fear rather +than love. + +About this period (1706) the struggles and hostilities of the Whigs and +Tories were at their height. We have in these times but a feeble +conception of the bitterness of the strife of these two great parties in +the beginning of the eighteenth century. It divided families, and filled +the land with slanders and intrigues. The leaders of both parties were +equally aristocratic and equally opposed to reform; both held the people +in sovereign contempt. The struggle between them was simply a struggle +for place and emolument. The only real difference in their principles +was that one party was secretly in favor of the exiled family and was +opposed to the French war, and the other was more jealously Protestant, +and was in favor of the continuance of the war. The Tories accused +Marlborough of needlessly prolonging the war in order to advance his +personal interests,--from which charge it would be difficult to +acquit him. + +One of the most prominent leaders of the Tories was Harley, afterwards +Earl of Oxford, who belonged to a Puritan family in Hertfordshire, and +was originally a Whig. He entered Parliament in the early part of the +reign of William. Macaulay, who could see no good in the Tories, in his +violent political prejudices maintained that Harley was not a man of +great breadth of intellect, and exerted an influence in Parliament +disproportionate to his abilities. But he was a most insidious and +effective enemy. He was sagacious enough to perceive the growing +influence of men of letters, and became their patron and friend. He +advanced the fortunes of Pope, Arbuthnot, and Prior. He purchased the +services of Swift, the greatest master of satire blended with bitter +invective that England had known. Harley was not eloquent in speech; but +he was industrious, learned, exact, and was always listened to with +respect. Nor had he any scandalous vices. He could not be corrupted by +money, and his private life was decorous. He abhorred both gambling and +drunkenness,--the fashionable vices of that age. He was a refined, +social, and cultivated man. + +This statesman perceived that it was imperatively necessary for the +success of his party to undermine the overpowering influence of the +Duchess of Marlborough with the Queen. He detested her arrogance, +disdain, and grasping ambition. Moreover, he had the firm conviction +that England should engage only in maritime war. He hated the Dutch and +moneyed men, and Dissenters of every sect, although originally one of +them. And when he had obtained the leadership of his party in the House +of Commons, he brought to bear the whole force of his intellect against +both the Duke and Duchess. It was by his intrigues that the intimate +relations between the Duchess and the Queen were broken up, and that the +Duke became unpopular. + +The great instrument by which he effected the disgrace of the imperious +Duchess was a woman who was equally his cousin and the cousin of the +Duchess, and for whom the all-powerful favorite had procured the office +of chamber-woman and dresser,--in other words, a position which in an +inferior rank is called that of lady's-maid; for the Duchess was wearied +of constant attendance on the Queen, and to this woman some of her old +duties were delegated. The name of this woman was Abigail Hill. She had +been in very modest circumstances, but was a person of extraordinary +tact, prudence, and discretion, though very humble in her +address,--qualities the reverse of those which marked her great +relative. Nor did the proud Duchess comprehend Miss Hill's character and +designs any more than the all-powerful Madame de Montespan comprehended +those of the widow Scarron when she made her the governess of her +children. But Harley understood her, and their principles and aims were +in harmony. Abigail Hill was a bigoted Tory, and her supreme desire was +to ingratiate herself in the favor of her royal mistress, especially +when she was tired of the neglect or annoyed by the railleries of her +exacting favorite. By degrees the humble lady's-maid obtained the same +ascendency over the Queen that had been exercised by the mistress of the +robes,--in the one case secured by humility, assiduous attention, and +constant flatteries; in the other, obtained by talent and brilliant +fascinations. Abigail was ruled by Harley; Sarah was ruled by no one but +her husband, who understood her caprices and resentments, and seldom +directly opposed her. Moreover, she was a strong-minded woman, who could +listen to reason after her fits of passion had passed away. + +The first thing of note which occurred, showing to the Duchess that her +influence was undermined, was the refusal of the Queen to allow Lord +Cowper, the lord chancellor, to fill up the various livings belonging to +the Crown, in spite of the urgent solicitations of the Duchess. This +naturally produced a coolness between Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Morley. +Harley was now the confidential adviser of the Queen, and counselled her +"to go alone,"--that is, to throw off the shackles which she had too +long ignominiously worn; and Anne at once appointed high-church +divines--Tories of course--to the two vacant bishoprics. The +under-stream of faction was flowing unseen, but deep and strong, which +the infatuated Duchess did not suspect. + +The great victory of Ramillies (1706) gave so much _eclat_ to +Marlborough that the outbreak between his wife and the Queen was delayed +for a time. That victory gave a new lease of power to the Whigs. Harley +and St. John, the secret enemies of the Duke, welcomed him with their +usual smiles and flatteries, and even voted for the erection of +Blenheim, one of the most expensive palaces ever built in England. + +Meanwhile Harley pursued his intrigues to effect the downfall of the +Duchess. Miss Hill, unknown to her great relative and patroness, married +Mr. Masham, equerry to Prince George, who was shortly after made a +brigadier-general and peer. Nothing could surpass the indignation of the +Duchess when she heard of this secret marriage. That it should be +concealed from her while it was known to the Queen, showed conclusively +that her power over Anne was gone. And, still further, she perceived +that she was supplanted by a relative whom she had raised from +obscurity. She now comprehended the great influence of Harley at court, +and also the declining favor of her husband. It was a bitter reflection +to the proud Duchess that the alienation of the Queen was the result of +her own folly and pride rather than of royal capriciousness. She now +paid no inconsiderable penalty for the neglect of her mistress and the +gratification of her pride. Pride has ever been the chief cause of the +downfall of royal favorites. It ruined Louvois, Wolsey, and Thomas +Cromwell; it broke the chain which bound Louis XIV. to the imperious +Montespan. It ever goes before destruction. The Duchess of Marlborough +forgot that her friend Mrs. Morley was also her sovereign the Queen. She +might have retained the Queen's favor to the end, in spite of political +opinions; but she presumed too far on the ascendency which she had +enjoyed for nearly thirty years. There is no height from which one may +not fall; and it takes more ability to retain a proud position than to +gain it. There are very few persons who are beyond the reach of envy and +detraction; and the loftier the position one occupies, the more subtle, +numerous, and desperate are one's secret enemies. + +The Duchess was not, however, immediately "disgraced,"--as the +expression is in reference to great people who lose favor at court. She +still retained her offices and her apartments in the royal palace; she +still had access to the Queen; she was still addressed as "my dear Mrs. +Freeman." But Mrs. Masham had supplanted her; and Harley, through the +influence of the new favorite, ruled at court. The disaffection which +had long existed between the secretary of state and the lord treasurer +deepened into absolute aversion. It became the aim of both ministers to +ruin each other. The Queen now secretly sided with the Tories, although +she had not the courage to quarrel openly with her powerful ministers, +or with her former favorite. Nor was "the great breach" made public. + +But the angry and disappointed Duchess gave vent to her wrath and +vengeance in letters to her husband and in speech to Godolphin. She +entreated them to avenge her quarrel. She employed spies about the +Queen. She brought to bear her whole influence on the leaders of the +Whigs. She prepared herself for an open conflict with her sovereign; for +she saw clearly that the old relations of friendship and confidence +between them would never return. A broken friendship is a broken jar; it +may be mended, but never restored,--its glory has departed. And this is +one of the bitterest experiences of life, on whomsoever the fault may be +laid. The fault in this instance was on the side of the Duchess, and not +on that of her patron. The arrogance and dictation of the favorite had +become intolerable; it was as hard to bear as the insolence of a +petted servant. + +The Duke of Marlborough and Lord Godolphin took up the quarrel with +zeal. They were both at the summit of power, and both were leaders of +their party. The victories of the former had made him the most famous +man in Europe and the greatest subject in England. They declined to +serve their sovereign any longer, unless Harley were dismissed from +office; and the able secretary of state was obliged to resign. + +But Anne could not forget that she was forced to part with her +confidential minister, and continued to be ruled by his counsels. She +had secret nocturnal meetings in the palace with both Harley and Mrs. +Masham, to the chagrin of the ministers. The court became the scene of +intrigues and cabals. Not only was Harley dismissed, but also Henry St. +John, afterwards the famous Lord Bolingbroke, the intimate friend and +patron of Pope. He was secretary of war, and was a man of great ability, +of more genius even than Harley. He was an infidel in his religious +opinions, and profligate in his private life. Like Harley, he was born +of Puritan parents, and, like him, repudiated his early principles. He +was the most eloquent orator in the House of Commons, which he entered +in 1700 as a Whig. At that time he was much admired by Marlborough, who +used his influence to secure his entrance into the cabinet. His most +remarkable qualities were political sagacity, and penetration into the +motives and dispositions of men. He gradually went over to the Tories, +and his alliance with Harley was strengthened by personal friendship as +well as political sympathies. He was the most interesting man of his age +in society,--witty, bright, and courtly. In conversational powers he was +surpassed only by Swift. + +Meanwhile the breach between the Queen and the Duchess gradually +widened. And as the former grew cold in her treatment of her old friend, +she at the same time annoyed her ministers by the appointment of Tory +bishops to the vacant sees. She went so far as to encroach on the +prerogatives of the general of her armies, by making military +appointments without his consent. This interference Marlborough +properly resented. But his influence was now on the wane, as the nation +wearied of a war which, as it seemed to the Tories, he needlessly +prolonged. Moreover, the Duke of Somerset, piqued by the refusal of the +general to give a regiment to his son, withdrew his support from the +Government. The Duke of Shrewsbury and other discontented noblemen left +the Whig party. The unwise prosecution of Dr. Sacheverell for a +seditious libel united the whole Tory party in a fierce opposition to +the Government, which was becoming every day more unpopular. Harley was +indefatigable in intrigues. "He fasted with religious zealots and +feasted with convivial friends." He promised everything to everybody, +but kept his own counsels. + +In such a state of affairs, with the growing alienation of the Queen, it +became necessary for the proud Duchess to resign her offices; but before +doing this she made one final effort to regain what she had lost. She +besought the Queen for a private interview, which was refused. Again +importuned, her Majesty sullenly granted the interview, but refused to +explain anything, and even abruptly left the room, and was so rude that +the Duchess burst into a flood of tears which she could not +restrain,--not tears of grief, but tears of wrath and shame. + +Thus was finally ended the memorable friendship between Mrs. Morley and +Mrs. Freeman, which had continued for twenty-seven years. The Queen and +Duchess never met again. Soon after, in 1710, followed the dismissal of +Lord Godolphin, as lord treasurer, who was succeeded by Harley, created +Earl of Oxford. Sunderland, too, was dismissed, and his post of +secretary of state was given to St. John, created Viscount Bolingbroke. +Lord Cowper resigned the seals, and Sir Simon Harcourt, an avowed +adherent of the Pretender, became lord chancellor. The Earl of +Rochester, the bitterest of all the Tories, was appointed president of +the council. The Duke of Marlborough, however, was not dismissed from +his high command until 1711. One reason for his dismissal was that he +was suspected of aiming to make himself supreme. On his return from the +battle of Malplaquet, he had coolly demanded to be made captain-general +for life. Such a haughty demand would have been regarded as dangerous in +a great crisis; it was absurd when public dangers had passed away. Even +Lord Cowper. his friend the chancellor, shrunk from it with amazement. +Such a demand would have been deemed arrogant in Wallenstein, amid the +successes of Gustavus Adolphus. + +No insignificant cause of the triumph of the Tory party at this time was +the patronage which the Tory leaders extended to men of letters, and the +bitter political tracts which these literary men wrote and for which +they were paid. In that age the speeches of members of Parliament were +not reported or published, and hence had but little influence on public +opinion. Even ministers resorted to political tracts to sustain their +power, or to undermine that of their opponents; and these were more +efficient than speeches in the House of Commons. Bolingbroke was the +most eloquent orator of his day; but no orators arose in Anne's reign +equal to Pitt and Fox in the reign of George III. Hence the political +leaders availed themselves of the writings of men of letters, with whom +they freely associated. And this intercourse was deemed a great +condescension on the part of nobles and cabinet ministers. In that age +great men were not those who were famous for genius, but those who were +exalted in social position. Still, genius was held in high honor by +those who controlled public affairs, whenever it could be made +subservient to their interests. + +Foremost among the men of genius who lent their pen to the service of +nobles and statesmen was Jonathan Swift,--clergyman, poet, and satirist. +But he was more famous for his satire than for his sermons or his +poetry. Everybody winced under his terrible assaults. He was both feared +and hated, especially by the "great;" hence they flattered him and +courted his society. He became the intimate friend and companion of +Oxford and Bolingbroke. He dined with the prime minister every Sunday, +and in fact as often as he pleased. He rarely dined at home, and almost +lived in the houses of the highest nobles, who welcomed him not only for +the aid he gave them by his writings, but for his wit and agreeable +discourse. At one time he was the most influential man in England, +although poor and without office or preferment. He possessed two or +three livings in Ireland, which together brought him about L500, on +which he lived,--generally in London, at least when his friends were in +power. They could not spare him, and he was intrusted with the most +important secrets of state. His insolence was superb. He affected +equality with dukes and earls; he "condescended" to accept their +banquets. The first time that Bolingbroke invited him to dine, his reply +was that "if the Queen gave his lordship a dukedom and the Garter and +the Treasury also, he would regard them no more than he would a groat." +This assumed independence was the habit of his life. He indignantly +returned L100 to Harley, which the minister had sent him as a gift: he +did not work for money, but for influence and a promised bishopric. But +the Queen--a pious woman of the conventional school--would never hear of +his elevation to the bench of bishops, in consequence of the "Tale of a +Tub," in which he had ridiculed everything sacred and profane. He was +the bitterest satirist that England has produced. The most his powerful +friends could do for him was to give him the deanery of St. Patrick's in +Dublin, worth about L800 a year. + +Swift was first brought to notice by Sir William Temple, in the reign of +William and Mary, he being Sir William's secretary. At first he was a +Whig, and a friend of Addison; but, neglected by Marlborough and +Godolphin,--who cared but little for literary genius,--he became a Tory. +In 1710 he became associated with Harley, St. John, Atterbury, and +Prior, in the defence of the Tory party; but he never relinquished his +friendship with Addison, for whom he had profound respect and +admiration. Swift's life was worldly, but moral. He was remarkably +temperate in eating and drinking, and parsimonious in his habits. One of +his most bitter complaints in his letters to Stella--to whom he wrote +every day--was of the expense of coach-hire in his visits to nobles and +statesmen. It would seem that he creditably discharged his clerical +duties. He attended the daily service in the cathedral, and preached +when his turn came. He was charitable to the poor, and was a friend to +Ireland, to whose people he rendered great services from his influence +with the Government. He was beloved greatly by the Irish nation, in +spite of his asperity, parsimony, and bad temper. He is generally +regarded by critics as a selfish and heartless man; and his treatment of +the two women whose affections he had gained was certainly inexplicable +and detestable. His old age was miserable and sad. He died insane, +having survived his friends and his influence. But his writings have +lived. His "Gulliver's Travels" is still one of the most famous and +popular books in our language, in spite of its revolting and vulgar +details. Swift, like Addison, was a great master of style,--clear, +forcible, and natural; and in vigor he surpassed any writer of his age. + +It was the misfortune of the Duchess of Marlborough to have this witty +and malignant satirist for an enemy. He exposed her peculiarities, and +laid bare her character with fearless effrontery. It was thus that he +attacked the most powerful woman in England: "A lady of my acquaintance +appropriated L26 a year out of her allowance for certain uses which the +lady received, or was to pay to the lady or her order when called for. +But after eight years it appeared upon the strictest calculation that +the woman had paid but L4, and sunk L22 for her own pocket. It is but +supposing L26 instead of L26,000, and by that you may judge what the +pretensions of modern merit are when it happens to be its own +paymaster." Who could stand before such insinuations? The Duchess +afterwards attempted to defend herself against the charge of peculation +as the keeper of the privy purse; but no one believed her. She was +notoriously avaricious and unscrupulous. Swift spared no personage in +the party of the Whigs, when by so doing he could please the leaders of +the Tories. And he wrote in an age when libels were scandalous and +savage,--libels which would now subject their authors to punishment. The +acrimony of party strife at that time has never since been equalled. +Even poets attacked each other with savage recklessness. There was no +criticism after the style of Sainte-Beuve. Writers sought either to +annihilate or to extravagantly praise. The jealousy which poets +displayed in reference to each other's productions was as unreasonable +and bitter as the envy and strife between country doctors, or musicians +at the opera. + +There was one great writer in the age of Queen Anne who was an exception +to this nearly universal envy and bitterness; and this was Addison, who +was as serene and calm as other critics were furious and unjust. Even +Swift spared this amiable and accomplished writer, although he belonged +to the Whig party. Joseph Addison, born in 1672, was the most fortunate +man of letters in his age,--perhaps in any succeeding age in English +history. He was early distinguished as a writer of Latin poems; and in +1699, at the age of twenty-seven, the young scholar was sent by +Montague, at the recommendation of Somers, to the Continent, on a +pension of L300 a year, to study languages with a view to the diplomatic +service. On the accession of Anne, Addison was obliged to return to +literature for his support. Solicited by Godolphin, under the advice of +Halifax, to write a poem on the victories of Marlborough, he wrote one +so popular that he rapidly rose in favor with the Whig ministry. In 1708 +he was made secretary for Ireland, under Lord Wharton, and entered +Parliament. He afterwards was made secretary of state, married a +peeress, and spent his last days at Holland House. + +But Addison was no politician; nor did he distinguish himself in +Parliament or as a political writer. He could not make a speech, not +having been trained to debate. He was too timid, and his taste was too +severe, for the arena of politicians. He is immortal for his essays, in +which his humor is transcendent, and his style easy and graceful, As a +writer, he is a great artist. No one has ever been able to equal him in +the charming simplicity of his style. Macaulay, a great artist himself +in the use of language, places Addison on the summit of literary +excellence and fame as an essayist. One is at loss to comprehend why so +quiet and unobtrusive a scholar should have been selected for important +political positions, but can easily understand why he was the admiration +of the highest social circles for his wit and the elegance of his +conversation. He was the personification of urbanity and every +gentlemanly quality, as well as one of the best scholars of his age; +but it was only in an aristocratic age, when a few great nobles +controlled public affairs, that such a man could have been so +recognized, rewarded, and honored. He died beloved and universally +lamented, and his writings are still classics, and likely to remain so. +He was not an oracle in general society, like Mackintosh and Macaulay; +but among congenial and trusted friends he gave full play to his humor, +and was as charming as Washington Irving is said to have been in his +chosen circle of admirers. Although he was a Whig, we do not read of any +particular intimacy with such men as Marlborough and Godolphin. +Marlborough, though an accomplished and amiable man, was not fond of the +society of wits, as were Halifax, Montague, Harley, and St. John. As for +the Duchess, she was too proud and grand for such a retired scholar as +Addison to feel at ease in her worldly coteries. She cared no more for +poetry or severe intellectual culture than politicians generally do. She +shone only in a galaxy of ladies of rank and fashion. I do not read that +she ever took a literary man into her service, and she had no more taste +for letters than the sovereign she served. She was doubtless +intellectual, shrewd, and discriminating; but her intellect was directed +to current political movements, and she was coarse in her language. She +would swear, like Queen Elizabeth, when excited to anger, and her wrath +was terrible. + +On the dismissal of the great Duke from all his offices, and the +"disgrace" of his wife at court, they led a comparatively quiet life +abroad. The Duchess had parted with her offices with great reluctance. +Even when the Queen sent for the golden keys, which were the badge of +her office, she refused to surrender them. No one could do anything with +the infuriated termagant, and all were afraid of her. She threatened to +print the private correspondence of the Queen as Mrs. Morley. The +ministers dared not go into her presence, so fierce was her character +when offended. To take from her the badge of office was like trying to +separate a fierce lioness from her whelps. The only person who could +manage her was her husband; and when at last he compelled her to give up +the keys, she threw them in a storm of passion at his head, and raved +like a maniac. It is amazing how the Queen could have borne so long with +the Duchess's ungovernable temper, and still more so how her husband +could. But he was always mild and meek in the retirement of his home,--a +truly domestic man, to whom pomp was a weariness. Moreover, he was a +singularly fortunate man. His ambition and pride and avarice were +gratified beyond precedent in English history. He had become the +foremost man in his country, and perhaps of his age. And his wife was +still looked to as a great personage, not only because of her position +and rank, but for her abilities, which were doubtless great. She was +still a power in the land, and was surrounded by children and +grandchildren who occupied some of the highest social positions +in England. + +But she was not happy. What can satisfy a restless and ambitious woman +whose happiness is in external pleasures? There is a limit to the favors +which fortune showers; and when the limits of success are reached, there +must be disappointment. The Duchess was discontented, and became morose, +quarrelsome, and hard to please. Her children did not love her, and some +were in bitter opposition to her. She was perpetually embroiled in +family quarrels. Nothing could soften the asperity of her temper, or +restrain her unreasonable exactions. At last England became hateful to +her, and she and her husband quitted it, and resided abroad for several +years. In the retirement of voluntary exile she answered the numerous +accusations against her; for she was maligned on every side, and +generally disliked, since her arrogance had become insupportable, even +to her daughters. + +Meanwhile the last days of Queen Anne's weary existence were drawing to +a close. She was assailed with innumerable annoyances. Her body was +racked with the gout, and her feeble mind was distracted by the +contradictory counsels of her advisers. Any allusion to her successor +was a knell of agony to her disturbed soul. She became suspicious, and +was even alienated from Harley, whom she dismissed from office only a +few days before her death, which took place Aug. 1, 1714. She died +without signing her will, by which omission Mrs. Masham was deprived of +her legacy. She died childless, and the Elector George of Hanover +ascended her throne. + +On the death of the Queen, Marlborough returned to England; and it was +one of the first acts of the new king to restore to him the post of +captain-general of the land forces, while his son-in-law Sunderland was +made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. A Whig cabinet was formed, but the Duke +never regained his old political influence, and he gradually retired to +private life, residing with the Duchess almost wholly at Holywell. His +peaceful retirement, for which he had longed, came at last. He employed +his time in surveying the progress of the building of Blenheim,--in +which palace he was never destined to live,--and in simple pleasures, +for which he never lost a taste. His wife occupied herself in +matrimonial projects for her grandchildren, seeking alliances of +ambition and interest. + +In 1716 the Duke of Marlborough was attacked with a paralytic fit, from +the effects of which he only partially recovered. To restore his health, +he went to Bath,--then the fashionable and favorite watering-place, +whose waters were deemed beneficial to invalids; and here it was one of +the scandals of the day that the rich nobleman would hobble from the +public room to his lodgings, in a cold, dark night, to save sixpence in +coach-hire. His enjoyments were now few and transient. His nervous +system was completely shattered, after so many labors and exposures in +his numerous campaigns. He lingered till 1722, when he died leaving a +fortune of a million and a half pounds sterling, besides his vast +estates. No subject at that time had so large an income. He left a +military fame never surpassed in England,--except by Wellington,--and a +name unstained by cruelty. So distinguished a man of course received at +his death unparalleled funeral honors. He was followed to his temporary +resting-place in the vaults of Westminster by the most imposing +procession that England had ever seen. + +The Duchess of Marlborough was now the richest woman in England. +Whatever influence proceeds from rank and riches she still possessed, +though the titles and honors of the dukedom descended by act of +Parliament, in 1706, to the Countess of Godolphin, with whom she was at +war. The Duchess was now sixty-two, with unbroken health and +inextinguishable ambition. She resided chiefly at Windsor Lodge, for she +held for life the office of ranger of the forest. It was then that she +was so severely castigated by Pope in his satirical lines on "Atossa," +that she is said to have sent L1000 to the poet, to suppress the +libel,--her avarice and wrath giving way to her policy and pride. For +twenty years after the death of her husband she continued an intriguing +politician, but on ill-terms with Sir Robert Walpole, the prime +minister, whom she cordially hated, more because of money transactions +than political disagreement. She was a very disagreeable old woman, yet +not without influence, if she was without friends. She had at least the +merit of frankness, for she concealed none of her opinions of the King, +nor of his ministers, nor of distinguished nobles. She was querulous, +and full of complaints and exactions. One of her bitterest complaints +was that she was compelled to pay taxes on her house in Windsor Park. +She would even utter her complaints before servants. Litigation was not +disagreeable to her if she had reason on her side, whether she had +law or not. + +It was not the good fortune of this strong-minded but unhappy woman to +assemble around her in her declining years children and grandchildren +who were attached to her. She had alienated even them. She had no +intimate friends. "A woman not beloved by her own children can have but +little claim to the affections of others." As we have already said, the +Duchess was at open variance with her oldest daughter Henrietta, the +Countess of Godolphin, to whom she was never reconciled. Her quarrels +with her granddaughter Lady Anne Egerton, afterwards Duchess of Bedford, +were violent and incessant. She lived in perpetual altercation with her +youngest daughter, the Duchess of Montague. She never was beloved by any +of her children at any time, since they were in childhood and youth +intrusted to the care of servants and teachers, while the mother was +absorbed in political cabals at court. She consulted their interest +merely in making for them grand alliances, to gratify her family pride. +Her whole life was absorbed in pride and ambition. Nor did the +mortification of a dishonored old age improve her temper. She sought +neither the consolation of religion nor the intellectual stimulus of +history and philosophy. To the last she was as worldly as she was +morose. To the last she was a dissatisfied politician. She reviled the +Whig administration of Walpole as fiercely as she did the Tory +administration of Oxford. She haughtily refused the Order of the Bath +for her grandson the Duke of Marlborough, which Walpole offered, +contented with nothing less than the Garter. "Madam," replied Walpole, +"they who take the Bath will sooner have the Garter." In her old age her +ruling passion was hatred of Walpole. "I think," she wrote, "'tis +thought wrong to wish anybody dead, but I hope 'tis none to wish he may +be hanged." Her wishes were partly gratified, for she lived long enough +to see this great statesman--so long supreme--driven to the very +threshold of the Tower. For his son Horace she had equal dislike, and he +returned her hatred with malignant satire. "Old Marlborough is dying," +said the wit; "but who can tell? Last year she had lain a great while +ill, without speaking, and her physician told her that she must be +blistered, or she would die. She cried out, 'I won't be blistered, and I +won't die,'" + +She did indeed last some time longer; but with increasing infirmities, +her amusements and pleasures became yearly more circumscribed. In former +years she had sometimes occupied her mind with the purchase of land; for +she was shrewd, and rarely made a bad bargain. Even at the age of eighty +she went to the city to bid in person for the estate of Lord Yarmouth. +But as her darkened day approached its melancholy close, she amused +herself by dictating in bed her "Vindication," After spending thus six +hours daily with her secretary, she had recourse to her chamber organ, +the eight tunes of which she thought much better to hear than going to +the Italian opera. Even society, in which she once shone,--for her +intellect was bright and her person beautiful,--at last wearied her and +gave her no pleasure. Like many lonely, discontented women, she became +attached to animals; she petted three dogs, in which she saw virtues +that neither men nor women possessed. In her disquiet she often changed +her residence. She went from Marlborough House to Windsor Lodge, and +from Windsor Lodge to Wimbledon, only to discover that each place was +damp and unhealthy. Wrapt up in flannels, and wheeled up and down her +room in a chair, she discovered that wealth can only mitigate the evils +of humanity, and realized how wretched is any person with a soul filled +with discontent and bitterness, when animal spirits are destroyed by the +infirmities of old age. All the views of this spoiled favorite of +fortune were bounded by the scenes immediately before her. While she was +not sceptical, she was far from being religious; and hence she was +deprived of the highest consolations given to people in disappointment +and sorrow and neglect. The older she grew, the more tenaciously did she +cling to temporal possessions, and the more keenly did she feel +occasional losses. Her intellect remained unclouded, but her feelings +became callous. While she had no reverence for the dead, she felt +increasing contempt for the living,--forgetting that no one, however +exalted, can live at peace in an atmosphere of disdain. + +At last she died, in 1744, unlamented and unloved, in the eighty-fourth +year of her age, and was interred by the side of her husband, in the +tomb in the chapel of Blenheim. She left L30,000 a year to her +grandson, Lord John Spencer, provided he would never accept any civil +or military office from the Government. She left also L20,000 to Lord +Chesterfield, together with her most valuable diamond; but only small +sums to most of her relatives or to charities. The residue of her +property she left to that other grandson who inherited the title and +estates of her husband. L60,000 a year, her estimated income, besides a +costly collection of jewels,--one of the most valuable in Europe,--were +a great property, when few noblemen at that time had over L30,000 +a year. + +The life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, is a sad one to contemplate, +with all her riches and honors. Let those who envy wealth or rank learn +from her history how little worldly prosperity can secure happiness or +esteem, without the solid virtues of the heart. The richest and most +prosperous woman of her times was the object of blended derision, +contempt, and hatred throughout the land which she might have adorned. +Why, then, it may be asked, should I single out such a woman for a +lecture,--a woman who added neither to human happiness, national +prosperity, nor the civilization of her age? Why have I chosen her as +one of the Beacon Lights of history? Because I know of no woman who has +filled so exalted a position in society, and is so prominent a figure in +history, whose career is a more impressive warning of the dangers to be +shunned by those who embark on the perilous and troubled seas of mere +worldly ambition. God gave her that to which she aspired, and which so +many envy; but "He sent leanness into her soul." + +AUTHORITIES. + +Private Correspondence of the Duchess of Marlborough; Mrs. Thompson's +Life of the Duchess of Marlborough; "Conduct," by the Duchess of +Marlborough, Life of Dr. Tillotson, by Dr. Birch; Coxe's Life of the +Duke of Marlborough; Evelyn's Diary; Lord Mahon's History of England; +Macaulay's History of England; Lewis Jenkin's Memoirs of the Duke of +Gloucester; Burnet's History of his own Times; Lamberty's Memoirs; +Swift's Journal to Stella; Liddiard's Life of the Duke of Marlborough; +Boyer's Annals of Queen Anne; Swift's Memoir of the Queen's Ministry; +Cunningham's History of Great Britain; Walpole's Correspondence, edited +by Coxe; Sir Walter Scott's Life of Swift; Agnes Strickland's Queens of +England; Marlborough and the Times of Queen Anne; Westminster Review, +lvi. 26; Dublin University Review, lxxiv. 469; Temple Bar Magazine, lii. +333; Burton's Reign of Queen Anne; Stanhope's Queen Anne. + + + + +MADAME RECAMIER. + + * * * * * + +A. D. 1777-1849. + +THE WOMAN OF SOCIETY. + + +I know of no woman who by the force of beauty and social fascinations, +without extraordinary intellectual gifts or high birth, has occupied so +proud a position as a queen of society as Madame Recamier. So I select +her as the representative of her class. + +It was in Italy that women first drew to their _salons_ the +distinguished men of their age, and exercised over them a commanding +influence. More than three hundred years ago Olympia Fulvia Morata was +the pride of Ferrara,--eloquent with the music of Homer and Virgil, a +miracle to all who heard her, giving public lectures to nobles and +professors when only a girl of sixteen; and Vittoria Colonna was the +ornament of the Court of Naples, and afterwards drew around her at Rome +the choicest society of that elegant capital,--bishops, princes, and +artists,--equally the friend of Cardinal Pole and of Michael Angelo, and +reigning in her retired apartments in the Benedictine convent of St. +Anne, even as the Duchesse de Longueville shone at the Hotel de +Rambouillet, with De Retz and La Rochefoucauld at her feet. This was at +a period when the Italian cities were the centre of the new civilization +which the Renaissance created, when ancient learning and art were +cultivated with an enthusiasm never since surpassed. + +The new position which women seem to have occupied in the sixteenth +century in Italy, was in part owing to the wealth and culture of +cities--ever the paradise of ambitious women--and the influence of +poetry and chivalry, of which the Italians were the earliest admirers. +Provencal poetry was studied in Italy as early as the time of Dante; and +veneration for woman was carried to a romantic excess when the rest of +Europe was comparatively rude. Even in the eleventh century we see in +the southern part of Europe a respectful enthusiasm for woman coeval +with the birth of chivalry. The gay troubadours expounded and explained +the subtile metaphysics of love in every possible way: a peerless lady +was supposed to unite every possible moral virtue with beauty and rank; +and hence chivalric love was based on sentiment alone. Provence gave +birth both to chivalry and poetry, and they were singularly blended +together. Of about five hundred troubadours whose names have descended +to us, more than half were noble, for chivalry took cognizance only of +noble birth. From Provence chivalry spread to Italy and to the north of +France, and Normandy became pre-eminently a country of noble deeds, +though not the land of song. It was in Italy that the poetical +development was greatest. + +After chivalry as an institution had passed away, it still left its +spirit on society. There was not, however, much society in Europe +anywhere until cities arose and became centres of culture and art. In +the feudal castle there were chivalric sentiments but not society, where +men and women of cultivation meet to give expression and scope to their +ideas and sentiments. Nor can there be a high society without the aid of +letters. Society did not arise until scholars and poets mingled with +nobles as companions. This sort of society gained celebrity first in +Paris, when women of rank invited to their _salons_ literary men as well +as nobles. + +The first person who gave a marked impulse to what we call society was +the Marquise de Rambouillet, in the seventeenth century. She was the +first to set the fashion in France of that long series of social +gatherings which were a sort of institution for more than two hundred +years. Her father was a devoted friend of Henry IV., belonged to one of +the first families of France, and had been ambassador to Rome. She was +married in the year 1600, at the age of fifteen. When twenty-two, she +had acquired a distaste for the dissipations of the court and everything +like crowded assemblies. She was among the first to discover that a +crowd of men and women does not constitute society. Nothing is more +foreign to the genius of the highest cultivated life than a crowded +_salon_, where conversation on any interesting topic is impossible; +where social life is gilded, but frivolous and empty; where especially +the loftiest sentiments of the soul are suppressed. From an early period +such crowds gathered at courts; but it was not till the seventeenth +century that the _salon_ arose, in which woman was a queen and an +institution. + +The famous queens of society in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +do not seem to have mixed much in miscellaneous assemblies, however +brilliant in dress and ornament. They were more exclusive. They reserved +their remarkable talents for social reunions, perhaps in modest +_salons_, where among distinguished men and women they could pour out +the treasures of the soul and mind; where they could inspire and draw +out the sentiments of those who were gifted and distinguished. Madame du +Deffand lived quietly in the convent of St. Joseph, but she gathered +around her an elegant and famous circle, until she was eighty and blind. +The Saturday assemblies of Mademoiselle de Scudery, frequented by the +most distinguished people of Paris, were given in a modest apartment, +for she was only a novelist. The same may be said of the receptions of +Madame de la Sabliere, who was a childless widow, of moderate means. The +Duchesse de Longueville--another of those famous queens--saw her best +days in the abbey of Port Royal. Madame Recamier reigned in a small +apartment in the Abbaye-au-Bois. All these carried out in their _salons_ +the rules and customs which had been established by Madame de +Rambouillet, It was in her _salon_ that the French Academy originated, +and its first members were regular visitants at her hotel. Her +conversation was the chief amusement. We hear of neither cards nor +music; but there were frequent parties to the country, walks in the +woods,--a perpetual animation, where ceremony was banished. The +brilliancy of her parties excited the jealousy of Richelieu. Hither +resorted those who did not wish to be bound by the stiffness of the +court. At that period this famous hotel had its pedantries, but it was +severely intellectual. Hither came Mademoiselle de Scuderi; Mademoiselle +de Montpensier, granddaughter of Henry IV.; Vaugelas, and others of the +poets; also Balzac, Voiture, Racan, the Duc de Montausier, Madame de +Sevigne, Madame de la Fayette, and others. The most marked thing about +this hotel was the patronage extended to men of letters. Those great +French ladies welcomed poets and scholars, and encouraged them, and did +not allow them to starve, like the literary men of Grub Street. Had the +English aristocracy extended the same helping hand to authors, the +condition of English men of letters in the eighteenth century would have +been far less unfortunate. Authors in France have never been excluded +from high society; and this was owing in part to the influence of the +Hotel de Rambouillet, which sought an alliance between genius and rank. +It is this blending of genius with rank which gave to society in France +its chief attraction, and made it so brilliant. + +Mademoiselle de Scudery, Madame de la Sabliere, and Madame de +Longueville followed the precedents established by Madame de Rambouillet +and Madame de Maintenon, and successively reigned as queens of +society,--that is, of chosen circles of those who were most celebrated +in France,--raising the intellectual tone of society, and inspiring +increased veneration for woman herself. + +But the most celebrated of all these queens of society was Madame +Recamier, who was the friend and contemporary of Madame de Stael. She +was born at Lyons, in 1777, not of high rank, her father, M. Bernard, +being only a prosperous notary. Through the influence of Calonne, +minister of Louis XVI., he obtained the lucrative place of Receiver of +the Finances, and removed to Paris, while his only daughter Juliette was +sent to a convent, near Lyons, to be educated, where she remained until +she was ten years of age, when she rejoined her family. Juliette's +education was continued at home, under her mother's superintendence; but +she excelled in nothing especially except music and dancing, and was +only marked for grace, beauty, and good-nature. + +Among the visitors to her father's house was Jacques Rose Recamier, a +rich banker, born in Lyons, 1751,--kind-hearted, hospitable, +fine-looking, and cultivated, but of frivolous tastes. In 1793, during +the Reign of Terror, being forty-two, he married the beautiful daughter +of his friend, she being but fifteen. This marriage seems to have been +one of convenience and vanity, with no ties of love on either +side,--scarcely friendship, or even sentiment. For a few years Madame +Recamier led a secluded life, on account of the troubles and dangers +incident to the times, but when she did emerge from retirement she had +developed into the most beautiful woman in France, and was devoted to a +life of pleasure. Her figure was flexible and elegant, her head +well-poised, her complexion brilliant, with a little rosy mouth, pearly +teeth, black curling hair, and soft expressive eyes, with a carriage +indicative of indolence and pride, yet with a face beaming with +good-nature and sympathy. + +Such was Madame Recamier at eighteen, so remarkable for beauty that she +called forth murmurs of admiration wherever she appeared. As it had +long been a custom in Paris, and still is, to select the most beautiful +and winning woman to hand round the purse in churches for all charities, +she was selected by the Church of St. Roche, the most fashionable church +of that day; and so great was the enthusiasm to see this beautiful and +bewitching creature, that the people crowded the church, and even +mounted on the chairs, and, though assisted by two gentlemen, she could +scarcely penetrate the crowd. The collection on one occasion amounted to +twenty thousand francs,--equal, perhaps, to ten thousand dollars to-day. +This adaptation of means to an end has never been disdained by the +Catholic clergy. What would be thought in Philadelphia or New York, in +an austere and solemn Presbyterian church, to see the most noted beauty +of the day handing round the plate? But such is one of the forms which +French levity takes, even in the consecrated precincts of the church. + +The fashionable drive and promenade in Paris was Longchamps, now the +Champs Elysees, and it was Madame Recamier's delight to drive in an open +carriage on this beautiful avenue, especially on what are called the +holy days,--Wednesdays and Fridays,--when her beauty extorted +salutations from the crowd. Of course, such a woman excited equal +admiration in the _salons_, and was soon invited to the fetes and +parties of the Directory, through Barras, one of her admirers. There +she saw Bonaparte, but did not personally know him at that time. At one +of these fetes, rising at full length from her seat to gaze at the +General, sharing in the admiration for the hero, she at once attracted +the notice of the crowd, who all turned to look at her; which so annoyed +Bonaparte that he gave her one of his dreadful and withering frowns, +which caused her to sink into her seat with terror. + +In 1798 M. Recamier bought the house which had Recamier belonged to +Necker, in what is now the Chaussee d'Antin. This led to an acquaintance +between Madame Recamier and Madame de Stael, which soon ripened into +friendship. In the following year M. Recamier, now very rich, +established himself in a fine chateau at Clichy, a short distance from +Paris, where he kept open house. Thither came Lucien Bonaparte, at that +time twenty-four years of age, bombastic and consequential, and fell in +love with his beautiful hostess, as everybody else did. But Madame +Recamier, with all her fascinations, was not a woman of passion; nor did +she like the brother of the powerful First Consul, and politely rejected +his addresses. He continued, however, to persecute her with his absurd +love-letters for a year, when, finding it was hopeless to win so refined +and virtuous a lady as Madame Recamier doubtless was,--partly because +she was a woman of high principles, and partly because she had no great +temptations,--the pompous lover, then Home Minister, ceased his +addresses. + +But Napoleon, who knew everything that was going on, had a curiosity to +see this woman who charmed everybody, yet whom nobody could win, and she +was invited to one of his banquets. Although she obeyed his summons, she +was very modest and timid, and did not try to make any conquest of him. +She was afraid of him, as Madame de Stael was, and most ladies of rank +and refinement. He was a hero to men rather than to women,--at least to +those women who happened to know him or serve him. That cold and cutting +irony of which he was master, that haughty carriage and air which he +assumed, that selfish and unsympathetic nature, that exacting slavery to +his will, must have been intolerable to well-bred women who believed in +affection and friendship, of which he was incapable, and which he did +not even comprehend. It was his intention that the most famous beauty of +the day should sit next to him at this banquet, and he left the seat +vacant for her; but she was too modest to take it unless specially +directed to do so by the Consul, which either pride or etiquette +prevented. This modesty he did not appreciate, and he was offended, and +she never saw him again in private; but after he became Emperor, he made +every effort to secure her services as maid-of-honor to one of the +princesses, through his minister Fouche, in order to ornament his court. +It was a flattering honor, since she was only the wife of a banker, +without title; but she refused it, which stung Napoleon with vexation, +since it indicated to him that the fashionable and high-born women of +the day stood aloof from him. Many a woman was banished because she +would not pay court to him,--Madame de Stael, the Duchesse de Chevreuse, +and others. Madame Recamier was now at the height of fashion, admired by +Frenchmen and foreigners alike; not merely by such men as the +Montmorencys, Narbonne, Jordan, Barrere, Moreau, Bernadotte, La Harpe, +but also by Metternich, then secretary of the Austrian embassy, who +carried on a flirtation with her all winter. All this was displeasing to +Napoleon, more from wounded pride than fear of treason. In the midst of +her social triumphs, after having on one occasion received uncommon +honor, Napoleon, now emperor, bitterly exclaimed that more honor could +not be shown to the wife of a marshal of France,--a remark very +indicative of his character, showing that in his estimation there was no +possible rank or fame to be compared with the laurels of a military +hero. A great literary genius, or woman of transcendent beauty, was no +more to him than a great scholar or philosopher is to a vulgar rich man +in making up his parties. + +It was in the midst of these social successes that the husband of +Madame Recamier lost his fortune. He would not have failed had he been +able to secure a loan from the Bank of France of a million of francs; +but this loan the Government peremptorily refused,--doubtless from the +hostility of Napoleon; so that the banker was ruined because his wife +chose to ally herself with the old aristocracy and refuse the favors of +the Emperor. In having pursued such a course, Madame Recamier must have +known that she was the indirect cause of her husband's failure. But she +bore the reverse of fortune with that equanimity which seems to be +peculiar to the French, and which only lofty characters, or people of +considerable mental resources, are able to assume or feel. Most rich +men, when they lose their money, give way to despondency and grief, +conscious that they have nothing to fall back upon; that without money +they are nothing. Madame Recamier at once sold her jewels and plate, and +her fine hotel was offered for sale. Neither she nor her husband sought +to retain anything amid the wreck, and they cheerfully took up their +abode in a small apartment,--which conduct won universal sympathy and +respect, so that her friends were rather increased than diminished, and +she did not lose her social prestige and influence, which she would have +lost in cities where money is the highest, and sometimes the only, test +of social position. Madame de Stael wrote letters of impassioned +friendship, and nobles and generals paid unwonted attention. The death +of her mother soon followed, so that she spent the summer of 1807 in +extreme privacy, until persuaded by her constant friend Madame de Stael +to pay her a visit at her country-seat near Geneva, where she met Prince +Frederick of Prussia, nephew of the great Frederic, who became so +enamored of her that he sought her hand in marriage. Princes, in those +days, had such a lofty idea of their rank that they deemed it an honor +to be conferred on a woman, even if married, to take her away from her +husband. For a time Madame Recamier seemed dazzled with this splendid +proposal, and she even wrote to the old banker, her husband, asking for +a divorce from him. I think I never read of a request so preposterous or +more disgraceful,--the greatest flaw I know in her character,--showing +the extreme worldliness of women of fashion at that time, and the +audacity which is created by universal flattery. What is even more +surprising, her husband did not refuse the request, but wrote to her a +letter of so much dignity, tenderness, and affection that her eyes were +opened. "She saw the protector of her youth, whose indulgence had never +failed her, growing old, and despoiled of fortune; and to leave him who +had been so good to her, even if she did not love him, seemed rightly +the height of ingratitude and meanness." So the Prince was dismissed, +very much to his surprise and chagrin; and some there were who regarded +M. Recamier as a very selfish man, to appeal to the feelings and honor +of his wife, and thus deprive her of a splendid destiny. Such were the +morals of fashionable people in Europe during the eighteenth century. + +Madame Recamier did not meddle with politics, like Madame de Stael and +other strong-minded women before and since; but her friendship with a +woman whom Napoleon hated so intensely as he did the authoress of +"Delphine" and "Germany," caused her banishment to a distance of forty +leagues from Paris,--one of the customary acts which the great conqueror +was not ashamed to commit, and which put his character in a repulsive +light. Nothing was more odious in the character of Napoleon than his +disdain of women, and his harsh and severe treatment of those who would +not offer incense to him. Madame de Stael, on learning of the Emperor's +resentment towards her friend, implored her not to continue to visit +her, as it would certainly be reported to the Government, and result in +her banishment; but Madame Recamier would obey the impulses of +friendship in the face of all danger. And the result was indeed her +exile from that city which was so dear to her, as well as to all +fashionable women and all gifted men. + +In exile this persecuted woman lived in a simple way, first at Chalons +and then at Lyons, for her means were now small. Her companions, +however, were great people, as before her banishment and in the days of +her prosperity,--in which fact we see some modification of the +heartlessness which so often reigns in fashionable circles. Madame +Recamier never was without friends as well as admirers. Her amiability, +wit, good-nature, and extraordinary fascinations always attracted gifted +and accomplished people of the very highest rank. + +It was at Lyons that she formed a singular friendship, which lasted for +life; and this was with a young man of plebeian origin, the son of a +printer, with a face disfigured, and with manners uncouth,--M. +Ballanche, whose admiration amounted to absolute idolatry, and who +demanded no other reward for his devotion than the privilege of worship. +To be permitted to look at her and listen to her was enough for him. +Though ugly in appearance, and with a slow speech, he was well versed in +the literature of the day, and his ideas were lofty and refined. + +I have never read of any one who has refused an unselfish idolatry, the +incense of a worshipper who has no outward advantage to seek or +gain,--not even a king. If it be the privilege of a divinity to receive +the homage of worshippers, why should a beautiful and kind-hearted +woman reject the respectful adoration of a man contented with worship +alone? What could be more flattering even to a woman of the world, +especially if this man had noble traits and great cultivation? Such was +Ballanche, who viewed the mistress of his heart as Dante did his +Beatrice, though not with the same sublime elevation, for the object of +Dante's devotion was on the whole imaginary,--the worship of qualities +which existed in his own mind alone,--whereas the admiration of +Ballanche was based on the real presence of flesh and blood animated by +a lovely soul. + +Soon after this friendship had begun, Madame Recamier made a visit to +Italy, travelling in a _voiture_, not a private carriage, and arrived at +Rome in Passion Week, 1812, when the Pope was a prisoner of Napoleon at +Fontainebleau, and hence when his capital was in mourning,--sad and +dull, guarded and occupied by French soldiers. The only society at Rome +in that eventful year which preceded the declining fortunes of Napoleon, +was at the palace of Prince Torlonia the banker; but the modest +apartment of Madame Recamier on the Corso was soon filled with those who +detested the rule of Napoleon. Soon after, Ballanche came all the way +from Lyons to see his star of worship, and she kindly took him +everywhere, for even in desolation the Eternal City is the most +interesting spot on the face of the globe. From Rome she went to Naples +(December, 1813), when the King Murat was forced into the coalition +against his brother-in-law. In spite of the hatred of Napoleon, his +sister the Queen of Naples was devoted to the Queen of Beauty, who was +received at court as an ambassadress rather than as an exile. On the +fall of Napoleon the next year the Pope returned from his thraldom; and +Madame Recamier, being again in Rome, witnessed one of the most touching +scenes of those eventful days, when all the nobles and gentry went out +to meet their spiritual and temporal sovereign, and amid the exultant +shouts and rapture of the crowd, dragged his gilded carriage to St. +Peter's Church, where was celebrated a solemn _Te Deum._ + +But Madame Recamier did not tarry long in Italy, She hastened back to +Paris, for the tyrant was fallen. She was now no longer beaming in +youthful charms, with groups of lovers at her feet, but a woman of +middle age, yet still handsome,--for such a woman does not lose her +beauty at thirty-five,--with fresh sources of enjoyment, and a keen +desire for the society of intellectual and gifted friends. She now gave +up miscellaneous society,--that is, fashionable and dissipated crowds of +men and women in noisy receptions and ceremonious parties,--and drew +around her the lines of a more exclusive circle. Hither came to see her +Ballanche, now a resident of Paris, Mathieu de Montmorency, M. de +Chateaubriand, the Due de Broglie, and the most distinguished nobles of +the ancient regime, with the literary lions who once more began to roar +on the fall of the tyrant who had silenced them, including such men as +Barante and Benjamin Constant. Also great ladies were seen in her +_salon_, for her husband's fortunes had improved, and she was enabled +again to live in her old style of splendor. Among these ladies were the +Duchesse de Cars, the Marchionesses de Podences, Castellan, and +d'Aguesseau, and the Princess-Royal of Sweden. Also distinguished +foreigners sought her society,--Wellington, Madame Kruedener, the friend +of the Emperor Alexander, the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, the Duke +of Hamilton, and whoever was most distinguished in that brilliant circle +of illustrious people who congregated at Paris on the restoration of +the Bourbons. + +In 1819 occurred the second failure of M. Recamier, which necessarily +led again to a new and more humble style of life. The home which Madame +Recamier now selected, and where she lived until 1838, was the +Abbaye-au-Bois, while her father and her husband, the latter now +sixty-nine, lived in a small lodging in the vicinity. She occupied in +this convent--a large old building in the Rue de Sevres--a small +_appartement_ in the third story, with a brick floor, and uneven at +that. She afterwards removed to a small _appartement_ on the first +floor, which looked upon the convent garden. + +Here, in this seclusion, impoverished, and no longer young, Madame +Recamier received her friends and guests. And they were among the most +distinguished people of France, especially the Duc de Montmorency and +the Viscount Chateaubriand. The former was a very religious man, and the +breath of scandal never for a moment tainted his reputation, or cast any +reproach on the memorable friendship which he cultivated with the most +beautiful woman in France. This illustrious nobleman was at that time +Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was sent to the celebrated Congress of +Vienna, where Metternich, the greatest statesman of the age, presided +and inaugurated a reaction from the principles of the Revolution. + +But more famous than he was Chateaubriand, then ambassador at London, +and afterwards joined with Montmorency as delegate to the Congress of +Vienna, and still later Minister of Foreign Affairs, who held during the +reign of Louis XVIII. the most distinguished position in France as a +statesman, a man of society, and a literary man. The author of the +"Genius of Christianity" was aristocratic, moody, fickle, and vain, +almost spoiled with the incense of popular idolatry. No literary man +since Voltaire had received such incense. He was the acknowledged head +of French literature, a man of illustrious birth, noble manners, +poetical temperament, vast acquisitions, and immense social prestige. He +took sad and desponding views of life, was intensely conservative, but +had doubtless a lofty soul as well as intellectual supremacy. He +occupied distinct spheres,--was poet, historian, statesman, orator, and +the oracle of fashionable _salons_, although he loved seclusion, and +detested crowds. The virtues of his private life were unimpeached, and +no man was more respected by the nation than this cultivated scholar and +gentleman of the old school. + +It was between this remarkable man and Madame Recamier that the most +memorable friendship of modern times took place. It began in the year +1817 at the bedside of Madame de Stael, but did not ripen into intimacy +until 1818, when he was fifty and she was forty-one. His genius and +accomplishments soon conquered the first place in her heart; and he kept +that place until his death in 1848,--thirty years of ardent and +reproachless friendship. Her other friends felt great inquietude in view +of this friendship, fearing that the incurable melancholy and fitful +moods of the Viscount would have a depressing influence on her; but she +could not resist his fascinations any easier than he could resist hers. +The Viscount visited her every day, generally in the afternoon; and when +absent on his diplomatic missions to the various foreign courts, he +wrote her, every day, all the details of his life, as well as +sentiments. He constantly complained that she did not write as often as +he did. His attachment was not prompted by that unselfish devotion which +marked Ballanche, who sought no return, only the privilege of adoration. +Chateaubriand was exacting, and sought a warmer and still increasing +affection, which it seems was returned. Madame Recamier's nature was not +passionate; it was simply affectionate. She sought to have the wants of +her soul met. She rarely went to parties or assemblies, and seldom to +the theatre. She craved friendship, and of the purest and loftiest kind. +She was tired of the dissipation of society and even of flatteries, of +which the Viscount was equally weary. The delusions of life were +dispelled, in her case, at forty; in his, at fifty. + +This intimacy reminds us of that of Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon. +Neither could live without the other. But their correspondence does not +reveal any improper intimacy. It was purely spiritual and affectionate; +it was based on mutual admiration; it was strengthened by mutual respect +for each other's moral qualities. And the friendship gave rise to no +scandal; nor was it in any way misrepresented. Every day the statesman, +when immersed even in the cares of a great office, was seen at her +modest dwelling, at the same hour,--about four o'clock,--and no other +visitors were received at that hour. After unbending his burdened soul, +or communicating his political plans, or detailing the gossip of the +day, all to the end of securing sympathy and encouragement from a great +woman, he retired to his own hotel, and spent the evening with his sick +wife. One might suppose that his wife would have been jealous. The wife +of Carlyle never would have permitted her husband to visit on such +intimate terms the woman he most admired,--Lady Ashburton,--without a +separation. But Chateaubriand's wife favored rather than discouraged the +intimacy, knowing that it was necessary to his happiness. Nor did the +friendship between Madame Recamier and the Due de Montmorency, the +political rival of Chateaubriand, weaken the love of the latter or +create jealousy, a proof of his noble character. And when the pious Duke +died, both friends gave way to the most sincere grief. + +It was impossible for Madame Recamier to live without friendship. She +could give up society and fortune, but not her friends. The friendly +circle was not large, but, as we have said, embraced the leading men of +France. Her limited means made no difference with her guests, since +these were friends and admirers. Her attraction to men and women alike +did not decrease with age or poverty. + +The fall of Charles X., in 1830, led of course to the political downfall +of Chateaubriand, and of many of Madame Recamier's best friends. But +there was a younger class of an opposite school who now came forward, +and the more eminent of these were also frequent visitors to the old +queen of society,--Ampere, Thiers, Mignet, Guizot, De Tocqueville, +Sainte-Beuve. Nor did she lose the friendship, in her altered fortunes, +of queens and nobles. She seems to have been received with the greatest +cordiality in whatever chateau she chose to visit. Even Louis Napoleon, +on his release from imprisonment in the castle of Ham, lost no time in +paying his respects to the woman his uncle had formerly banished. + +One of the characteristic things which this interesting lady did, was to +get up a soiree in her apartments at the convent in aid of the sufferers +of Lyons from an inundation of the Rhone, from which she realized a +large sum. It was attended by the _elite_ of Paris. Lady Byron paid a +hundred francs for her ticket. The Due de Noailles provided the +refreshments, the Marquis de Verac furnished the carriages, and +Chateaubriand acted as master of ceremonies. Rachel acted in the role of +"Esther," not yet performed at the theatre, while Garcia, Rubini, and +Lablache kindly gave their services. It was a very brilliant +entertainment, one of the last in which Madame Recamier presided as a +queen of society. It showed her kindness of heart, which was the most +conspicuous trait of her character. She wished to please, but she +desired still more to be of assistance. The desire to please may arise +from blended vanity and good-nature; the desire to be useful is purely +disinterested. In all her intercourse with friends we see in Madame +Recamier a remarkable power of sympathy. She was not a woman of genius, +but of amazing tact, kindness, and amiability. She entered with all her +heart into the private and confidential communications of her friends, +and was totally free from egotism, forgetting herself in the happiness +of others. If not a woman of genius, she had extraordinary good sense, +and her advice was seldom wrong. It was this union of sympathy, +kindness, tact, and wisdom which made Madame Recamier's friendship so +highly prized by the greatest men of the age. But she was exclusive; she +did not admit everybody to her salon,--only those whom she loved and +esteemed, generally from the highest social circle. Sympathy cannot +exist except among equals. We associate Paula with Jerome, the Countess +Matilda with Hildebrand, Vittoria Colonna with Michael Angelo, Hannah +More with Dr. Johnson. Friendship is neither patronage nor philanthropy; +and the more exalted the social or political or literary position, the +more rare friendship is and the more beautiful when it shines. + +It was the friendships of Madame Recamier with distinguished men and +women which made her famous more than her graces and beauty. She +soothed, encouraged, and fortified the soul of Chateaubriand in his fits +of depression and under political disappointments, always herself +cheerful and full of vivacity,--an angel of consolation and spiritual +radiance. Her beauty at this period was moral rather than physical, +since it revealed the virtues of the heart and the quickness of +spiritual insight. In her earlier days--the object of universal and +unbounded admiration, from her unparalleled charms and fascinations--she +may have coquetted more than can be deemed decorous in a lady of +fashion; but if so, it was vanity and love of admiration which were the +causes. She never appealed to passion; for, as we have said, her own +nature was not passionate. She was satisfied to be worshipped. The love +of admiration is not often allied with that passion which loses +self-control, and buries one in the gulf of mad infatuation. The +mainspring of her early life was to please, and of her later life to +make people happy. A more unselfish woman never lived. Those beauties +who lure to ruin, as did the Sirens, are ever heartless and +selfish,--like Cleopatra and Madame de Pompadour. There is nothing on +this earth more selfish than what foolish and inexperienced people often +mistake for love. There is nothing more radiant and inspiring than the +moral beauty of the soul. The love that this creates is tender, +sympathetic, kind, and benevolent. Nothing could be more unselfish and +beautiful than the love with which Madame Recamier inspired Ballanche, +who had nothing to give and nothing to ask but sympathy and kindness. + +One of the most touching and tender friendships ever recorded was the +intercourse between Chateaubriand and Madame Recamier when they were +both old and infirm. Nothing is more interesting than their letters and +daily interviews at the convent, where she spent her latter days. She +was not only poor, but she had also become blind, and had lost all +relish for fashionable society,--not a religious recluse, saddened and +penitent, like the Duchesse de Longueville in the vale of Chevreuse, but +still a cheerful woman, fond of music, of animated talk, and of the +political news of the day, Chateaubriand was old, disenchanted, +disappointed, melancholy, and full of infirmities. Yet he never failed +in the afternoon to make his appearance at the Abbaye, driven in a +carriage to the threshold of the salon, where he was placed in an +arm-chair and wheeled to a corner of the fireplace, when he poured out +his sorrows and received consolation. Once, on one of those dreary +visits, he asked his friend to marry him,--he being then seventy-nine +and she seventy-one,--and bear his illustrious name. "Why," said she, +"should we marry at our age? There is no impropriety in my taking care +of you. If solitude is painful to you, I am ready to live in the same +house with you. The world will do justice to the purity of our +friendship. Years and blindness give me this right. Let us change +nothing in so perfect an affection." + +The old statesman and historian soon after died, broken in mind and +body, living long enough to see the fall of Louis Philippe. In losing +this friend of thirty years Madame Recamier felt that the mainspring of +her life was broken. She shed no tears in her silent and submissive +grief, nor did she repel consolation or the society of friends, "but the +sad smile which played on her lips was heart-rending.... While +witnessing the decline of this noble genius, she had struggled, with +singular tenderness, against the terrible effect of years upon him; but +the long struggle had exhausted her own strength, and all motives for +life were gone." + +Though now old and blind, yet, like Mme. du Deffand at eighty, Madame +Recamier's attractions never passed away. The great and the +distinguished still visited her, and pronounced her charming to the +last. Her vivacity never deserted her, nor her desire to make every one +happy around her. She was kept interesting to the end by the warmth of +her affections and the brightness of her mind. As it is the soul which +is the glory of a woman, so the soul sheds its rays of imperishable +light on the last pathway of existence. No beauty ever utterly passes +away when animated by what is immortal. + +Madame Recamier died at last of cholera, that disease which of all +others she had ever most dreaded and avoided. On the 11th of May, 1849, +amid weeping relatives and kneeling servants and sacerdotal prayers, +this interesting woman passed away from earth. To her might be applied +the eulogy of Burke on Marie Antoinette. + +Madame Recamier's place in society has never since been filled with +equal grace and fascination. She adopted the customs of the Hotel de +Rambouillet,--certain rules which good society has since observed. She +discouraged the _tete-a-tete_ in a low voice in a mixed company; if any +one in her circle was likely to have especial knowledge, she would +appeal to him with an air of deference; if any one was shy, she +encouraged him; if a _mot_ was particularly happy, she would take it up +and show it to the company. Presiding in her own _salon_, she talked but +little herself, but rather exerted herself to draw others out; without +being learned, she exercised great judgment in her decisions when +appeals were made to her as the presiding genius; she discouraged +everything pedantic and pretentious; she dreaded exaggerations; she kept +her company to the subject under discussion, and compelled attention; +she would allow no slang; she insisted upon good-nature and amiability, +which more than anything else marked society in the eighteenth century. + +We read so much of those interesting reunions in the _salons_ of +distinguished people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that we +naturally seek to know what constituted their peculiar charm. It seems +to me to have been conversation, which is both an art and a gift. In +these exclusive meetings women did not reign in consequence of their +beauty so much as their wit. Their vivacity, intelligence, and tact, I +may add also their good-nature, were a veil to cover up all +eccentricities. It was when Madame du Deffand was eighty, and blind, +that Horace Walpole pronounced her to be the most interesting woman in +France. Madame de Stael, never beautiful, was the life of a party at +forty-five; Madame Recamier was in her glory at fifty; Hannah More was +most sought when she was sixty. There can be no high society where +conversation is not the chief attraction; and men seldom learn to talk +well when not inspired by gifted women. They may dictate like Dr. +Johnson, or preach like Coleridge in a circle of admirers, or give vent +to sarcasms and paradoxes like Carlyle; but they do not please like +Horace Walpole, or dazzle like Wilkes, or charm like Mackintosh. When +society was most famous at Paris, it was the salon--not the card table, +or the banquet, or the ball--which was most sought by cultivated men and +women, where conversation was directed by gifted women. Women are +nothing in the social circle who cannot draw out the sentiments of able +men; and a man of genius gains more from the inspiration of one +brilliant woman than from all the bookworms of many colleges. In society +a bright and witty woman not merely shines, but she reigns. Conversation +brings out all her faculties, and kindles all her sensibilities, and +gives expression to her deepest sentiments. Her talk is more than music; +it is music rising to the heights of eloquence. She is more even than an +artist: she is a goddess before whom genius delights to burn +its incense. + +Success in this great art of conversation depends as much upon the +disposition as upon the brains. The remarkable women who reigned in the +salons of the last century were all distinguished for their +good-nature,--good-nature based on toleration and kind feeling, rather +than on insipid acquiescence. There can be no animated talk without +dissent; and dissent should be disguised by the language of courtesy. As +vanity is one of the mainsprings of human nature, and is nearly +universal, the old queens of society had the tact to hide what could not +easily be extirpated; and they were adepts in the still greater art of +seeming to be unconscious. Those people are ever the most agreeable who +listen with seeming curiosity, and who conceal themselves in order to +feed the vanity of others. Nor does a true artist force his wit. "A +confirmed punster is as great a bore as a patronizing moralist." +Moreover, the life of society depends upon the general glow of the +party, rather than the prominence of an individual, so that a brilliant +talker will seek to bring out "the coincidence which strengthens +conviction, or the dissent which sharpens sagacity, rather than +individual experiences, which ever seem to be egotistical. In agreeable +society all egotism is to be crushed and crucified. Even a man who is an +oracle, if wise, will suggest, rather than seem to instruct. In a +congenial party all differences in rank are for the time ignored. It is +in bad taste to remind or impress people with a sense of their +inferiority, as in chivalry all degrees were forgotten in an assemblage +of gentlemen." Animated conversation amuses without seeming to teach, +and transfers ideas so skilfully into the minds of others that they are +ignorant of the debt, and mistake them for their own. It kindles a +healthy enthusiasm, promotes good-nature, repels pretension, and rebukes +vanity. It even sets off beauty, and intensifies its radiance. Said +Madame de la Fayette to Madame de Sevigne: "Your varying expression so +brightens and adorns your beauty, that there is nothing so brilliant as +yourself: every word you utter adds to the brightness of your eyes; and +while it is said that language impresses only the ear, it is quite +certain that yours enchants the vision." "Like style in writing," says +Lamartine, "conversation must flow with ease, or it will oppress. It +must be clear, or depth of thought cannot be penetrated; simple, or the +understanding will be overtasked; restrained, or redundancy will +satiate; warm, or it will lack soul; witty, or the brain will not be +excited; generous, or sympathy cannot be roused; gentle, or there will +be no toleration; persuasive, or the passions cannot be subdued." When +it unites these excellences, it has an irresistible power, "musical as +was Apollo's lyre;" a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, such as, I +fancy, Socrates poured out to Athenian youth, or Augustine in the +gardens of Como; an electrical glow, such as united the members of the +Turk's Head Club into a band of brothers, or annihilated all +distinctions of rank at the supper-table of the poet Scarron. + +We cannot easily overrate the influence of those who inspire the social +circle. They give not only the greatest pleasure which is known to +cultivated minds, but kindle lofty sentiments. They draw men from the +whirlpools of folly, break up degrading habits, dissipate the charms of +money-making, and raise the value of the soul. How charming, how +delightful, how inspiring is the eloquence which is kindled by the +attrition of gifted minds! What privilege is greater than to be with +those who reveal the experiences of great careers, especially if there +be the absence of vanity and ostentation, and encouragement by those +whose presence is safety and whose smiles are an inspiration! It is the +blending of the beatitudes of Bethany with the artistic enjoyments of +Weimar, causing the favored circle to forget all cares, and giving them +strength for those duties which make up the main business of human life. + +When woman accomplishes such results she fills no ordinary sphere, she +performs no ordinary mission; she rises in dignity as she declines in +physical attractions. Like a queen of beauty at the tournament, she +bestows the rewards which distinguished excellence has won; she breaks +up the distinctions of rank; she rebukes the arrogance of wealth; she +destroys pretensions; she kills self-conceit; she even gains +consideration for her husband or brother,--for many a stupid man is +received into a select circle because of the attractions of his wife or +sister, even as many a silly woman gains consideration from the talents +or position of her husband or brother. No matter how rich a man may be, +if unpolished, ignorant, or rude, he is nobody in a party which seeks +"the feast of reason and the flow of soul." He is utterly insignificant, +rebuked, and humiliated,--even as a brainless beauty finds herself _de +trop_ in a circle of wits. Such a man may have consideration in the +circle which cannot appreciate anything lofty or refined, but none in +those upper regions where art and truth form subjects of discourse, +where the aesthetic influences of the heart go forth to purify and +exalt, where the soul is refreshed by the communion of gifted and +sympathetic companions, and where that which is most precious and +exalted in a man or woman is honored and beloved. Without this influence +which woman controls, "a learned man is in danger of becoming a pedant, +a religious man a bigot, a vain man a fool, and a self-indulgent man a +slave." No man can be truly genial unless he has been taught in the +school where his wife, or daughter, or sister, or mother presides as a +sun of radiance and beauty. It is only in this school that boorish +manners are reformed, egotisms rebuked, stupidities punished, and +cynicism exorcised. + +But this exalting influence cannot exist in society without an +attractive power in those ladies who compose it. A crowd of women does +not necessarily make society, any more than do the empty, stupid, and +noisy receptions which are sometimes held in the houses of the +rich,--still less those silly, flippant, ignorant, pretentious, +unblushing, and exacting girls who have just escaped from a fashionable +school, who elbow their brothers into corners, and cover with confusion +their fathers and mothers. A mere assemblage of men and women is nothing +without the charms of refinement, vivacity, knowledge, and good-nature. +These are not born in a day; they seldom mark people till middle life, +when experiences are wide and feelings deep, when flippancy is not +mistaken for wit, nor impertinence for ease. A frivolous slave of dress +and ornament can no more belong to the circle of which I now speak, than +can a pushing, masculine woman to the sphere which she occasionally +usurps. Not dress, not jewelry, not pleasing manners, not even +innocence, is the charm and glory of society; but the wisdom learned by +experience, the knowledge acquired by study, the quickness based on +native genius. When woman has thus acquired these great resources,--by +books, by travel, by extended intercourse, and by the soaring of an +untrammelled soul,--then only does she shine and guide and inspire, and +become, not the equal of man, but his superior, his mentor, his guardian +angel, his star of worship, in that favored and glorious realm which is +alike the paradise and the empire of the world! + +AUTHORITIES. + +Miss J. M. Luyster's Memoirs of Madame Recamier; Memoirs and +Correspondence by Lenormant; Marquis of Salisbury's Historical Sketches; +Mrs. Thomson's Queens of Society; Guizot's sketch of Madame Recamier; +Biographie Universelle; Dublin Review, 57-88; Christian Examiner, +82-299; Quarterly Review, 107-298; Edinburgh Review, 111-204; North +British Review, 32; Bentley's Magazine, 26-96; The Nation, 3, 4, 15; +Fraser's Magazine, 40-264. + + + + +MADAME DE STAEL, + + * * * * * + +A. D. 1766-1817. + +WOMAN IN LITERATURE. + + +It was two hundred years after woman began to reign in the great cities +of Europe as queen of society, before she astonished the world by +brilliant literary successes. Some of the most famous women who adorned +society recorded their observations and experiences for the benefit of +posterity; but these productions were generally in the form of memoirs +and letters, which neither added to nor detracted from the splendid +position they occupied because of their high birth, wit, and social +fascinations. These earlier favorites were not courted by the great +because they could write, but because they could talk, and adorn courts, +like Madame de Sevigne. But in the eighteenth century a class of women +arose and gained great celebrity on account of their writings, like +Hannah More, Miss Burney, Mrs. Macaulay, Madame Dacier, Madame de la +Fayette,--women who proved that they could do something more than merely +write letters, for which women ever have been distinguished from the +time of Heloise. + +At the head of all these women of genius Madame de Stael stands +pre-eminent, not only over literary women, but also over most of the men +of letters in her age and country. And it was only a great age which +could have produced such a woman, for the eighteenth century was more +fruitful in literary genius than is generally supposed. The greatest +lights, indeed, no longer shone,--such men as Shakspeare, Bacon, Milton, +Corneille, Racine, Boileau, Moliere,--but the age was fruitful in great +critics, historians, philosophers, economists, poets, and novelists, who +won immortal fame, like Pope, Goldsmith, Johnson, Addison, Gibbon, +Bentley, Hume, Robertson, Priestley, Burke, Adam Smith, in England; +Klopstock, Goethe, Herder, Schiller, Lessing, Handel, Schlegel, Kant, in +Germany; and Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Marmontel, D'Alembert, +Montesquieu, Rollin, Buffon, Lavoisier, Raynal, Lavater, in France,--all +of whom were remarkable men, casting their fearless glance upon all +subjects, and agitating the age by their great ideas. In France +especially there was a notable literary awakening. A more brilliant +circle than ever assembled at the Hotel de Rambouillet met in the salons +of Madame Geoffrin and Madame de Tencin and Madame du Deffand and Madame +Necker, to discuss theories of government, political economy, human +rights,--in fact, every question which moves the human mind. They were +generally irreligious, satirical, and defiant; but they were fresh, +enthusiastic, learned, and original They not only aroused the people to +reflection, but they were great artists in language, and made a +revolution in style. + +It was in this inquiring, brilliant, yet infidel age that the star of +Madame de Stael arose, on the eve of the French Revolution. She was born +in Paris in 1766, when her father--Necker--was amassing an enormous +fortune as a banker and financier, afterwards so celebrated as finance +minister to Louis XVI. Her mother,--Susanne Curchod,--of humble Swiss +parentage, was yet one of the remarkable women of the day, a lady whom +Gibbon would have married had English prejudices and conventionalities +permitted, but whose marriage with Necker was both fortunate and happy. +They had only one child, but she was a Minerva. It seems that she was of +extraordinary precocity, and very early attracted attention. As a mere +child Marmontel talked with her as if she were twenty-five. At fifteen, +she had written reflections on Montesquieu's "Spirit of Laws," and was +solicited by Raynal to furnish an article on the Revocation of the Edict +of Nantes. So brilliant a girl was educated by her wealthy parents +without regard to expense and with the greatest care. She was fortunate +from the start, with unbounded means, surrounded with illustrious +people, and with every opportunity for improvement both as to teachers +and society,--doubtless one important cause of her subsequent success, +for very few people climb the upper rounds of the ladder of literary +fame who are obliged to earn their living; their genius is fettered and +their time is employed on irksome drudgeries. + +Madame de Stael, when a girl, came very near losing her health and +breaking her fine constitution by the unwise "cramming" on which her +mother insisted; for, although a superior woman, Madame Necker knew very +little about the true system of education, thinking that study and labor +should be incessant, and that these alone could do everything. She +loaded her daughter with too many restraints, and bound her by a too +rigid discipline. She did all she could to crush genius out of the girl, +and make her a dictionary, or a machine, or a piece of formality and +conventionalism. But the father, wiser, and with greater insight and +truer sympathy, relaxed the cords of discipline, unfettered her +imagination, connived at her flights of extravagance, and allowed her to +develop her faculties in her own way. She had a remarkable fondness for +her father,--she adored him, and clung to him through life with peculiar +tenderness and devotion, which he appreciated and repaid. Before she +was twenty she wrote poetry as a matter of course. Most girls do,--I +mean those who are bright and sentimental; still, she produced but +indifferent work, like Cicero when he was young, and soon dropped rhyme +forever for the greater freedom of prose, into which she poured from the +first all the wealth of her poetic soul. She was a poet, disdaining +measure, but exquisite in rhythm,--for nothing can be more musical than +her style. + +As remarked in the lecture on Madame Recamier, it is seldom that people +acquire the art of conversation till middle life, when the mind is +enriched and confidence is gained. The great conversational powers of +Johnson, Burke, Mackintosh, Coleridge, Wilkes, Garrick, Walpole, Sydney +Smith, were most remarkable in their later years, after they had read +everything and seen everybody. But Madame de Stael was brilliant in +conversation from her youth. She was the delight of every circle, the +admiration of the most gifted men,--not for her beauty, for she was not +considered beautiful, but for her wit, her vivacity, her repartee, her +animated and sympathetic face, her electrical power; for she could +kindle, inspire, instruct, or bewitch. She played, she sang, she +discoursed on everything,--a priestess, a sibyl, full of inspiration, +listened to as an oracle or an idol. "To hear her," says Sismondi, "one +would have said that she was the experience of many souls mingled into +one, I looked and listened with transport. I discovered in her features +a charm superior to beauty; and if I do not hear her words, yet her +tones, her gestures, and her looks convey to me her meaning." It is said +that though her features were not beautiful her eyes were +remarkable,--large, dark, lustrous, animated, flashing, confiding, and +bathed in light. They were truly the windows of her soul; and it was her +soul, even more than her intellect, which made her so interesting and so +great. I think that intellect without soul is rather repulsive than +otherwise, is cold, critical, arrogant, cynical,--something from which +we flee, since we find no sympathy and sometimes no toleration from it. +The soul of Madame de Stael immeasurably towered above her intellect, +great as that was, and gave her eloquence, fervor, sincerity, +poetry,--intensified her genius, and made her irresistible. + +It was this combination of wit, sympathy, and conversational talent +which made Madame de Stael so inordinately fond of society,--to satisfy +longings and cravings that neither Nature nor books nor home could fully +meet. With all her genius and learning she was a restless woman; and +even friendship, for which she had a great capacity, could not bind her, +or confine her long to any one place but Paris, which was to her the +world,--not for its shops, or fashions, or churches, or museums and +picture-galleries, or historical monuments and memories, but for those +coteries where blazed the great wits of the age, among whom she too +would shine and dazzle and inspire. She was not without heart, as her +warm and lasting friendships attest; but the animating passion of her +life was love of admiration, which was only equalled by a craving for +sympathy that no friendship could satisfy,--a want of her nature that +reveals an ardent soul rather than a great heart; for many a +warm-hearted woman can live contentedly in retirement, whether in city +or country,--which Madame de Stael could not, not even when surrounded +with every luxury and all the charms of nature. + +Such a young lady as Mademoiselle Necker--so gifted, so accomplished, so +rich, so elevated in social position--could aspire very high. And both +her father and mother were ambitious for so remarkable a daughter. But +the mother would not consent to her marriage with a Catholic, and she +herself insisted on a permanent residence in Paris. It was hard to meet +such conditions and yet make a brilliant match; for, after all, her +father, though minister, was only a clever and rich Swiss +financier,--not a nobleman, or a man of great family influence. The +Baron de Stael-Holstein, then secretary to the Swedish embassy, +afterwards ambassador from Sweden, was the most available suitor, since +he was a nobleman, a Protestant, and a diplomatist; and Mademoiselle +Necker became his wife, in 1786, at twenty years of age, with a dowry of +two millions of francs. Her social position was raised by this marriage, +since her husband was a favorite at court, and she saw much of the Queen +and of the great ladies who surrounded her. + +But the marriage was not happy. The husband was extravagant and +self-indulgent; the wife panted for beatitudes it was not in his nature +to give. So they separated after a while, but were not divorced. Both +before and after that event, however, her house was the resort of the +best society of the city, and she was its brightest ornament. Thither +came Grimm, Talleyrand, Barnave, Lafayette, Narbonne, Sieyes,--all +friends. She was an eye-witness to the terrible scenes of the +Revolution, and escaped judicial assassination almost by miracle. At +last she succeeded in making her escape to Switzerland, and lived a +while in her magnificent country-seat near Geneva, surrounded with +illustrious exiles. Soon after, she made her first visit to England, but +returned to Paris when the violence of the Revolution was over. + +She returned the very day that Napoleon, as First Consul, had seized the +reins of government, 1799. She had hailed the Revolution with transport, +although she was so nearly its victim. She had faith in its ideas. She +believed that the people were the ultimate source of power. She condoned +the excesses of the Revolution in view of its aspirations. Napoleon +gained his first great victories in defence of its ideas. So at first, +in common with the friends of liberty, she was prepared to worship this +rising sun, dazzled by his deeds and deceived by his lying words. But +she no sooner saw him than she was repelled, especially when she knew he +had trampled on the liberties which he had professed to defend. Her +instincts penetrated through all the plaudits of his idolaters. She felt +that he was a traitor to a great cause,--was heartless, unboundedly +ambitious, insufferably egotistic, a self-worshipper, who would brush +away everything and everybody that stood in his way; and she hated him, +and she defied him, and her house became the centre of opposition, the +headquarters of enmity and wrath. What was his glory, as a conqueror, +compared with the cause she loved, trodden under foot by an iron, rigid, +jealous, irresistible despotism? Nor did Napoleon like her any better +than she liked him,--not that he was envious, but because she stood in +his way. He expected universal homage and devotion, neither of which +would she give him. He was exceedingly irritated at the reports of her +bitter sayings, blended with ridicule and sarcasm. He was not merely +annoyed, he was afraid. "Her arrows," said he, "would hit a man if he +were seated on a rainbow." And when he found he could not silence her, +he banished her to within forty leagues of Paris. He was not naturally +cruel, but he was not the man to allow so bright a woman to say her +sharp things about him to his generals and courtiers. It was not the +worst thing he ever did to banish his greatest enemy; but it was mean +and cruel to persecute her as he did after she was banished. + +So from Paris--to her the "hub of the universe"--Madame de Stael, "with +wandering steps and slow, took her solitary way." Expelled from the Eden +she loved, she sought to find some place where she could enjoy +society,--which was the passion of her life. Weimar, in Germany, then +contained a constellation of illustrious men, over whom Goethe reigned, +as Dr. Johnson once did in London. Thither she resolved to go, after a +brief stay at Coppet, her place in Switzerland; and her ten years' exile +began with a sojourn among the brightest intellects of Germany. She was +cordially received at Weimar, especially by the Court, although the +dictator of German literature did not like her much. She was too +impetuous, impulsive, and masculine for him. Schiller and Wieland and +Schlegel liked her better, and understood her better. Her great works +had not then been written, and she had reputation chiefly for her high +social position and social qualities. Possibly her exceeding vivacity +and wit seemed superficial,--as witty French people then seemed to both +Germans and English. Doubtless there were critics and philosophers in +Germany who were not capable of appreciating a person who aspired to +penetrate all the secrets of art, philosophy, religion, and science then +known who tried to master everything, and who talked eloquently on +everything,--and that person a woman, and a Frenchwoman. Goethe was +indeed an exception to most German critics, for he was an artist, as few +Germans have been in the use of language, and he, like Humboldt, had +universal knowledge; yet he did not like Madame de Stael,--not from +envy: he had too much self-consciousness to be envious of any man, still +less a woman. Envy does not exist between the sexes: a musician may be +jealous of a musician; a poet, of a poet; a theologian, of a theologian; +and it is said, a physician has been known to be jealous of a physician. +I think it is probable that the gifted Frenchwoman overwhelmed the great +German with her prodigality of wit, sarcasm, and sentiment, for he was +inclined to coldness and taciturnity. + +Madame de Stael speaks respectfully of the great men she met at Weimar; +but I do not think she worshipped them, since she did not fully +understand them,--especially Fichte, whom she ridiculed, as well as +other obscure though profound writers, who disdained style and art in +writing, for which she was afterwards so distinguished. I believe +nine-tenths of German literature is wasted on Europeans for lack of +clearness and directness of style; although the involved obscurities +which are common to German philosophers and critics and historians alike +do not seem to derogate from their literary fame at home, and have even +found imitators in England, like Coleridge and Carlyle. Nevertheless, +obscurity and affectation are eternal blots on literary genius, since +they are irreconcilable with art, which alone gives perpetuity to +learning,--as illustrated by the classic authors of antiquity, and such +men as Pascal, Rousseau, and Macaulay in our times,--although the +pedants have always disdained those who write clearly and luminously, +and lost reverence for genius the moment it is understood; since clear +writing shows how little is truly original, and makes a disquisition on +a bug, a comma, or a date seem trivial indeed. + +Hitherto, Madame de Stael had reigned in _salons_, rather than on the +throne of letters. Until her visit to Germany, she had written but two +books which had given her fame,--one, "On Literature, considered in its +Relations with Social Institutions," and a novel entitled +"Delphine,"--neither of which is much read or prized in these times. +The leading idea of her book on literature was the perfectibility of +human nature,--not new, since it had been affirmed by Ferguson in +England, by Kant in Germany, and by Turgot in France, and even by Roger +Bacon in the Middle Ages. But she claimed to be the first to apply +perfectibility to literature. If her idea simply means the +ever-expanding progress of the human mind, with the aids that Providence +has furnished, she is doubtless right. If she means that the necessary +condition of human nature, unaided, is towards perfection, she wars with +Christianity, and agrees with Rousseau. The idea was fashionable in its +day, especially by the disciples of Rousseau, who maintained that the +majority could not err. But if Madame de Stael simply meant that society +was destined to progressive advancement, as a matter of fact her view +will be generally accepted, since God rules this world, and brings good +out of evil. Some maintain we have made no advance over ancient India in +either morals or literature or science, or over Greece in art, or Rome +in jurisprudence; and yet we believe the condition of humanity to-day is +superior to what it has been, on the whole, in any previous age of our +world. But let us give the credit of this advance to God, and not +to man. + +Her other book, "Delphine," published in 1802, made a great sensation, +like a modern first-class novel, but was severely criticised. Sydney +Smith reviewed it in a slashing article. It was considered by many as +immoral in its tendency, since she was supposed to attack marriage. +Sainte-Beuve, the greatest critic of the age, defends her against this +charge; but the book was doubtless very emotional, into which she poured +all the warmth of her ardent and ungoverned soul in its restless +agitation and cravings for sympathy,--a record of herself, blasted in +her marriage hopes and aspirations. It is a sort of New Heloise, and, +though powerful, is not healthy. These two works, however, stamped her +as a woman of genius, although her highest triumphs were not yet won. + +With the eclat of these two books she traversed Germany, studying laws, +literature, and manners, assisted in her studies by August v. Schlegel +(the translator of Shakspeare), who was tutor to her children, on a +salary of twelve thousand francs a year and expenses. She had great +admiration for this distinguished scholar, who combined with his +linguistic attainments an intense love of art and a profound +appreciation of genius, in whatever guise it was to be found. With such +a cicerone she could not help making great acquisitions. He was like +Jerome explaining to Paula the history of the sacred places; like Dr. +Johnson teaching ethics to Hannah More; like Michael Angelo explaining +the principles of art to Vittoria Colonna. She mastered the language of +which Frederick the Great was ashamed, and, for the first time, did +justice to the German scholars and the German character. She defended +the ideal philosophy against Locke and the French materialists; she made +a remarkable analysis of Kant; she warmly praised both Goethe and +Schiller; she admired Wieland; she had a good word for Fichte, although +she had ridiculed his obscurities of style. + +The result of her travels was the most masterly dissertation on that +great country that has ever been written,--an astonishing book, when we +remember it was the first of any note which had appeared of its kind. To +me it is more like the history of Herodotus than any book of travels +which has appeared since that accomplished scholar traversed Asia and +Africa to reveal to his inquisitive countrymen the treasures of Oriental +monarchies. In this work, which is intellectually her greatest, she +towered not only over all women, but over all men who have since been +her competitors. It does not fall in with my purpose to give other than +a passing notice of this masterly production in order to show what a +marvellous woman she was, not in the realm of sentiment alone, not as a +writer of letters, but as a critic capable of grasping and explaining +all that philosophy, art, and literature have sought to accomplish in +that _terra incognita_, as Germany was then regarded. She revealed a new +country to the rest of Europe; she described with accuracy its manners +and customs; she did justice to the German intellect; she showed what +amazing scholarship already existed in the universities, far surpassing +both Paris and Oxford. She appreciated the German character, its +simplicity, its truthfulness, its sincerity, its intellectual boldness, +its patience, its reserved power, afterwards to be developed in +war,--qualities and attainments which have since raised Germany to the +foremost rank among the European nations. + +This brilliant Frenchwoman, accustomed to reign in the most cultivated +social circles of Paris, shows a remarkable catholicity and breadth of +judgment, and is not shocked at phlegmatic dulness or hyperborean +awkwardness, or laughable simplicity; because she sees, what nobody else +then saw, a patience which never wearies, a quiet enthusiasm which no +difficulty or disgust destroys, and a great insight which can give +richness to literature without art, discrimination to philosophy without +conciseness, and a new meaning to old dogmas. She ventures to pluck from +the forbidden tree of metaphysics; and, reckless of the fiats of the +schools, she entered fearlessly into those inquiries which have appalled +both Greek and schoolman. Think of a woman making the best translation +and criticism of Kant which had appeared until her day! Her revelations +might have found more value in the eyes of pedants had she been more +obscure. But, as Sir James Mackintosh says, "Dullness is not accuracy, +nor is an elegant writer necessarily superficial." Divest German +metaphysics of their obscurities, and they might seem commonplace; take +away the clearness of French writers, and they might pass for profound. +Clearness and precision, however, are not what the world expects from +its teachers. It loves the fig-trees with nothing but leaves; it adores +the _stat magni nominis umbra_. The highest proof of severe culture is +the use of short and simple words on any subject whatever; and he who +cannot make his readers understand what he writes about does not +understand his subject himself. + +I am happy to have these views corroborated by one of the best writers +that this country has produced,--I mean William Matthews:-- + +"The French, who if not the most original are certainly the acutest and +most logical thinkers in the world, are frequently considered frivolous +and shallow, simply because they excel all other nations in the +difficult art of giving literary interest to philosophy; while, on the +other hand, the ponderous Germans, who living in clouds of smoke have a +positive genius for making the obscure obscurer, are thought to be +original, because they are so chaotic and clumsy. But we have yet to +learn that lead is priceless because it is weighty, or that gold is +valueless because it glitters. The Damascus blade is none the less keen +because it is polished, nor the Corinthian shaft less strong because it +is fluted and its capital curved." + +The production of such a woman, in that age, in which there is so much +learning combined with eloquence, and elevation of sentiment with acute +observation, and the graces of style with the spirit of +philosophy,--candid, yet eulogistic; discriminating, yet +enthusiastic,--made a great impression on the mind of cultivated Europe. +Napoleon however, with inexcusable but characteristic meanness, would +not allow its publication. The police seized the whole edition--ten +thousand--and destroyed every copy. They even tried to get possession of +the original copy, which required the greatest tact on the part of the +author to preserve, and which she carried with her on all her travels, +for six years, until it was finally printed in London. + +Long before this great work was completed,--for she worked upon it six +years,--Madame de Stael visited, with Sismondi, that country which above +all others is dear to the poet, the artist, and the antiquarian. She +entered that classic and hallowed land amid the glories of a southern +spring, when the balmy air, the beautiful sky, the fresh verdure of the +fields, and the singing of the birds added fascination to scenes which +without them would have been enchantment. Chateaubriand, the only French +writer of her day with whom she stood in proud equality, also visited +Italy, but sang another song; she, bright and radiant, with hope and +cheerfulness, an admirer of the people and the country as they were; he, +mournful and desponding, yet not less poetic, with visions of departed +glory which the vast debris of the ancient magnificence suggested to his +pensive soul, O Italy, Italy! land of associations, whose history never +tires; whose antiquities are perpetual studies; whose works of art +provoke to hopeless imitation; whose struggles until recently were +equally chivalric and unfortunate; whose aspirations have ever been with +liberty, yet whose destiny has been successive slaveries; whose hills +and plains and vales are verdant with perennial loveliness, though +covered with broken monuments and deserted cities; where monks and +beggars are more numerous than even scholars and artists,--glory in +debasement, and debasement in glory, reminding us of the greatness and +misery of man; alike the paradise and the prison of the world; the +Minerva and the Niobe of nations,--never shall thy wonders be exhausted +or thy sorrows be forgotten! + + "E'en in thy desert what is like to thee? + Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy wastes + More rich than other lands' fertility; + Thy wreck a glory, and thy ruin grand." + +In this unfortunate yet illustrious land, ever fresh to travellers, ever +to be hallowed in spite of revolutions and assassinations, of popes and +priests, of semi-infidel artists and cynical savants, of beggars and +tramps, of filthy hotels and dilapidated villas, Madame de Stael +lingered more than a year, visiting every city which has a history and +every monument which has antiquity; and the result of that journey was +"Corinne,"--one of the few immortal books which the heart of the world +cherishes; which is as fresh to-day as it was nearly one hundred years +ago,--a novel, a critique, a painting, a poem, a tragedy; interesting to +the philosopher in his study and to the woman in her boudoir, since it +is the record of the cravings of a great soul, and a description of what +is most beautiful or venerated in nature or art. It is the most +wonderful book ever written of Italy,--with faults, of course, but a +transcript of profound sorrows and lofty aspirations. To some it may +seem exaggerated in its transports; but can transports be too highly +colored? Can any words be as vivid as a sensation? Enthusiasm, when +fully expressed, ceases to be a rapture; and the soul that fancies it +has reached the heights of love or beauty or truth, claims to comprehend +the immortal and the infinite. + +It is the effort of genius to express the raptures and sorrows of a +lofty but unsatisfied soul, the glories of the imperishable in art and +life, which gives to "Corinne" its peculiar charm. It is the mirror of a +wide and deep experience,--a sort of "Divine Comedy," in which a Dante +finds a Beatrice, not robed in celestial loveliness, coursing from +circle to circle and star to star, explaining the mysteries of heaven, +but radiant in the beauty of earth, and glowing with the ardor of a +human love. Every page is masculine in power, every sentence is +condensed thought, every line burns with passion; yet every sentiment +betrays the woman, seeking to reveal her own boundless capacities of +admiration and friendship, to be appreciated, to be loved with that +fervor and disinterestedness which she was prepared to lavish on the +object of her adoration. No man could have made such revelations, +although it may be given to him to sing a greater song. While no woman +could have composed the "Iliad," or the "Novum Organum," or the +"Critique of Pure Reason," or "Othello," no man could have written +"Corinne" or "Adam Bede." + +In painting Corinne, Madame de Stael simply describes herself, as she +did in "Delphine," with all her restless soul-agitations; yet not in too +flattering colors, since I doubt if there ever lived a more impassioned +soul, with greater desires of knowledge, or a more devouring thirst for +fame, or a profounder insight into what is lofty and eternal, than the +author of "Corinne." Like Heloise, she could love but one; yet, unlike +Heloise, she could not renounce, even for love, the passion for +admiration or the fascinations of society. She does not attempt to +disguise the immense sacrifices which love exacts and marriage implies, +but which such a woman as Heloise is proud to make for him whom she +deems worthy of her own exalted sentiments; and she shows in the person +of Corinne how much weakness may coexist with strength, and how timid +and dependent is a woman even in the blaze of triumph and in the +enjoyment of a haughty freedom. She paints the most shrinking delicacy +with the greatest imprudence and boldness, contempt for the opinions and +usages of society with the severest self-respect; giving occasion for +scandal, yet escaping from its shafts; triumphant in the greatness of +her own dignity and in the purity of her unsullied soul. "Corinne" is a +disguised sarcasm on the usages of society among the upper classes in +Madame de Stael's day, when a man like Lord Neville is represented as +capable of the most exalted passion, and almost ready to die for its +object, and at the same time is unwilling to follow its promptings to an +honorable issue,--ready even, at last, to marry a woman for whom he +feels no strong attachment, or even admiration, in compliance with +expediency, pride, and family interests. + +But "Corinne" is not so much a romance as it is a description of Italy +itself, its pictures, its statues, its palaces, its churches, its +antiquities, its literature, its manners, and its aspirations; and it is +astonishing how much is condensed in that little book. The author has +forestalled all poets and travellers, and even guidebooks; all +successive works are repetitions or amplifications of what she has +suggested. She is as exhaustive and condensed as Thucydides; and, true +to her philosophy, she is all sunshine and hope, with unbounded faith in +the future of Italy,--an exultant prophet as well as a critical observer. + +This work was published in Paris in 1807, when Napoleon was on the apex +of his power and glory; and no work by a woman was ever hailed with +greater enthusiasm, not in Paris merely, but throughout Europe. Yet +nothing could melt the iron heart of Napoleon, and he continued his +implacable persecution of its author, so that she was obliged to +continue her travels, though travelling like a princess. Again she +visited Germany, and again she retired to her place near Geneva, where +she held a sort of court, the star of which, next to herself, was Madame +Recamier, whose transcendent beauty and equally transcendent loveliness +of character won her admiration and friendship. + +In 1810 Madame de Stael married Rocca, of Italian or Spanish origin, who +was a sickly and dilapidated officer in the French army, little more +than half her age,--he being twenty-five and she forty-five,--a strange +marriage, almost incredible, if such marriages were not frequent. He, +though feeble, was an accomplished man, and was taken captive by the +brilliancy of her talk and the elevation of her soul. It is harder to +tell what captured her, for who can explain the mysteries of love? The +marriage proved happy, however, although both parties dreaded ridicule, +and kept it secret. The romance of the thing--if romance there was--has +been equalled in our day by the marriages of George Eliot and Miss +Burdett Coutts. Only very strong characters can afford to run such +risks. The caprices of the great are among the unsolved mysteries of +life. A poor, wounded, unknown young man would never have aspired to +such an audacity had he not been sure of his ground; and the probability +is that she, not he, is to be blamed for that folly,--if a woman is to +be blamed for an attachment which the world calls an absurdity. + +The wrath of Napoleon waxing stronger and stronger, Madame de Stael felt +obliged to flee even from Switzerland. She sought a rest in England; but +England was hard to be reached, as all the Continent save Russia was in +bondage and fear. She succeeded in reaching Vienna, then Russia, and +finally Sweden, where she lingered, as it was the fashion, to receive +attentions and admiration from all who were great in position or eminent +for attainments in the northern capitals of Europe. She liked even +Russia; she saw good everywhere, something to praise and enjoy wherever +she went. Moscow and St. Petersburg were equally interesting,--the old +and the new, the Oriental magnificence of the one, the stupendous +palaces and churches of the other. Romanzoff, Orloff, the Empress +Elizabeth, and the Emperor Alexander himself gave her distinguished +honors and hospitalities, and she saw and recorded their greatness, and +abandoned herself to pleasures which were new. + +After a delightful winter in Stockholm, she sailed for England, where +she arrived in safety, 1813, twenty years after her first visit, and in +the ninth of her exile. Her reception in the highest circles was +enthusiastic. She was recognized as the greatest literary woman who had +lived. The Prince Regent sought her acquaintance; the greatest nobles +feted her in their princely palaces. At the house of the Marquis of +Lansdowne, at Lord Jersey's, at Rogers's literary dinners, at the +reunions of Holland House, everywhere, she was admired and honored. Sir +James Mackintosh, the idol and oracle of English society at that time, +pronounced her the most intellectual woman who had adorned the +world,--not as a novelist and poet merely, but as philosopher and +critic, grappling with the highest questions that ever tasked the +intellect of man. Byron alone stood aloof; he did not like strong-minded +women, any more than Goethe did, especially if they were not beautiful. +But he was constrained to admire her at last. Nobody could resist the +fascination and brilliancy of her conversation. It is to be regretted +that she did not write a book on England, which on the whole she +admired, although it was a little too conventional for her. But she was +now nearly worn out by the excitements and the sorrows of her life. She +was no longer young. Her literary work was done. And she had to resort +to opium to rally from the exhaustion of her nervous energies. + +On the fall of Napoleon, Madame de Stael returned to Paris,--the city +she loved so well; the city so dear to all Frenchmen and to all +foreigners, to all gay people, to all intellectual people, to all +fashionable people, to all worldly people, to all pious people,--to them +the centre of modern civilization. Exile from this city has ever been +regarded as a great calamity,--as great as exile was to Romans, even to +Cicero. See with what eagerness Thiers himself returned to this charmed +capital when permitted by the last Napoleon! In this city, after her ten +years' exile, Madame de Stael reigned in prouder state than at any +previous period of her life. She was now at home, on her own throne as +queen of letters, and also queen of society. All the great men who were +then assembled in Paris burned their incense before her,--Chateaubriand, +Lafayette, Talleyrand, Guizot, Constant, Cuvier, Laplace. Distinguished +foreigners swelled the circle of her admirers,--Bluecher, Humboldt, +Schlegel, Canova, Wellington, even the Emperor of Russia. The +Restoration hailed her with transport; Louis XVIII. sought the glory of +her talk; the press implored her assistance; the salons caught +inspiration from her presence. Never was woman seated on a prouder +throne. But she did not live long to enjoy her unparalleled social +honors. She was stifled, like Voltaire, by the incense of idolaters; the +body could no longer stand the strain of the soul, and she sunk, at the +age of fifty-one, in the year 1817, a few months before her husband +Rocca, whom, it appears, she ever tenderly loved. + +Madame de Stael died prematurely, as precocious people generally +do,--like Raphael, Pascal, Schiller, I may add Macaulay and Mill; but +she accomplished much, and might have done more had her life been +spared, for no one doubts her genius,--perhaps the most remarkable +female writer who has lived, on the whole. George Sand is the only +Frenchwoman who has approached her in genius and fame. Madame de Stael +was novelist, critic, essayist, and philosopher, grasping the +profoundest subjects, and gaining admiration in everything she +attempted. I do not regard her as pre-eminently a happy woman, since her +marriages were either unfortunate or unnatural. In the intoxicating +blaze of triumph and admiration she panted for domestic beatitudes, and +found the earnest cravings of her soul unsatisfied. She sought relief +from herself in society, which was a necessity to her, as much as +friendship or love; but she was restless, and perpetually travelling. +Moreover, she was a persecuted woman during the best ten years of her +life. She had but little repose of mind or character, and was worldly, +vain, and ambitious. But she was a great woman and a good woman, in +spite of her faults and errors; and greater in her womanly qualities +than she was in her writings, remarkable as these were. She had a great +individuality, like Dr. Johnson and Thomas Carlyle. And she lives in the +hearts of her countrymen, like Madame Recamier; for it was not the +beauty and grace of this queen of society which made her beloved, but +her good-nature, amiability, power of friendship, freedom from envy, and +generous soul. + +In the estimation of foreigners--of those great critics of whom Jeffrey +and Mackintosh were the representatives--Madame de Stael has won the +proud fame of being the most powerful writer her country has produced +since Voltaire and Rousseau. Historically she is memorable for +inaugurating a new period of literary history. With her began a new +class of female authors, whose genius was no longer confined to letters +and memoirs and sentimental novels. I need not enumerate the long +catalogue of illustrious literary women in the nineteenth century in +France, in Germany, in England, and even in the United States. The +greatest novelist in England, since Thackeray, was a woman. One of the +greatest writers on political economy, since Adam Smith, was a woman. +One of the greatest writers in astronomical science was a woman. In +America, what single novel ever equalled the success of "Uncle Tom's +Cabin"? What schools are better kept than those by women? And this is +only the beginning, since it is generally felt that women are better +educated than men, outside of the great professions. And why not, since +they have more leisure for literary pursuits than men? Who now sneers at +the intellect of a woman? Who laughs at blue-stockings? Who denies the +insight, the superior tact, the genius of woman? What man does not +accept woman as a fellow-laborer in the field of letters? And yet there +is one profession which they are more capable of filling than men,--that +of physicians to their own sex; a profession most honorable, and +requiring great knowledge, as well as great experience and insight. + +Why may not women cope with men in the proudest intellectual +tournaments? Why should they not become great linguists, and poets, and +novelists, and artists, and critics, and historians? Have they not +quickness, brilliancy, sentiment, acuteness of observation, good sense, +and even genius? Do not well-educated women speak French before their +brothers can translate the easiest lines of Virgil? I would not put such +gentle, refined, and cultivated creatures,--these flowers of Paradise, +spreading the sweet aroma of their graces in the calm retreats from toil +and sin,--I would not push them into the noisy arena of wrangling +politics, into the suffocating and impure air of a court of justice, or +even make them professors in a college of unruly boys; but because I +would not do them this great cruelty, do I deny their intellectual +equality, or seek to dim the lustre of the light they shed, or hide +their talents under the vile bushel of envy, cynicism, or contempt? Is +it paying true respect to woman to seek to draw her from the beautiful +sphere which she adorns and vivifies and inspires,--where she is a +solace, a rest, a restraint, and a benediction,--and require of her +labors which she has not the physical strength to perform? And when it +is seen how much more attractive the wives and daughters of favored +classes have made themselves by culture, how much more capable they are +of training and educating their children, how much more dignified the +family circle may thus become,--every man who is a father will rejoice +in this great step which women have recently made, not merely in +literary attainments, but in the respect of men. Take away intellect +from woman, and what is she but a toy or a slave? For my part, I see no +more cheering signs of the progress of society than in the advancing +knowledge of favored women. And I know of no more splendid future for +them than to encircle their brows, whenever they have an opportunity, +with those proud laurels which have ever been accorded to those who have +advanced the interests of truth and the dominion of the soul,--which +laurels they have lately won, and which both reason and experience +assure us they may continue indefinitely to win. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Miss Luyster's Memoirs of Madame de Stael; Memoires Dix Annees d'Exil; +Alison's Essays; M. Shelly's Lives; Mrs. Thomson's Queens of Society; +Sainte-Beuve's Nouveaux Lundis; Lord Brougham on Madame de Stael; J. +Bruce's Classic Portraits; J. Kavanagh's French Women of Letters; +Biographic Universelle; North American Review, vols. x., xiv., xxxvii.; +Edinburgh Review, vols. xxi., xxxi., xxxiv., xliii.; Temple Bar, vols. +xl., lv.; Foreign Quarterly, vol. xiv.; Blackwood's Magazine, vols. +iii., vii., x.; Quarterly Review, 152; North British Review, vol. xx.; +Christian Examiner, 73; Catholic World, 18. + + + + +HANNAH MORE. + + * * * * * + +A. D. 1745-1833. + +EDUCATION OF WOMAN. + + +One of the useful and grateful tasks of historians and biographers is to +bring forward to the eye of every new generation of men and women those +illustrious characters who made a great figure in the days of their +grandfathers and grandmothers, yet who have nearly faded out of sight in +the rush of new events and interests, and the rise of new stars in the +intellectual firmament. Extraordinary genius or virtue or services may +be forgotten for a while, but are never permanently hidden. There is +always somebody to recall them to our minds, whether the interval be +short or long. The Italian historian Vico wrote a book which attracted +no attention for nearly two hundred years,--in fact, was forgotten,--but +was made famous by the discoveries of Niebuhr in the Vatican library, +and became the foundation of modern philosophical history. Some great +men pass out of view for a generation or two owing to the bitterness of +contemporaneous enemies and detractors, and others because of the very +unanimity of admirers and critics, leading to no opposition. We weary +both of praise and censure. And when either praise or censure stops, the +object of it is apparently forgotten for a time, except by the few who +are learned. Yet, I repeat, real greatness or goodness is never +completely hidden. It reappears with new lustre when brought into +comparison with those who are embarked in the same cause. + +Thus the recent discussions on the education of women recall to our +remembrance the greatest woman who lived in England in the latter part +of the last century,--Hannah More,--who devoted her long and prosperous +and honorable life to this cause both by practical teaching and by +writings which arrested the attention and called forth the admiration of +the best people in Europe and America. She forestalled nearly everything +which has been written in our times pertaining to the life of woman, +both at school and in society. And she evinced in her writings on this +great subject an acuteness of observation, a good sense, a breadth and +catholicity of judgment, a richness of experience, and a high moral tone +which have never been surpassed. She reminds us of the wise Madame de +Maintenon in her school at St. Cyr; the pious and philanthropic Mary +Lyon at the Mount Holyoke Seminary; and the more superficial and +worldly, but truly benevolent and practical, Emma Willard at her +institution in Troy,--the last two mentioned ladies being the pioneers +of the advanced education for young ladies in such colleges as Vassar, +Wellesley, and Smith, and others I could mention. The wisdom, tact, and +experience of Madame de Maintenon--the first great woman who gave a +marked impulse to female education in our modern times--were not lost on +Hannah More, who seems to have laid down the laws best adapted to +develop the mind and character of woman under a high civilization. +England seems to have been a century in advance of America, both in its +wisdom and folly; and the same things in London life were ridiculed and +condemned with unsparing boldness by Hannah More which to-day, in New +York, have called out the vigorous protests of Dr. Morgan Dix. The +educators of our age and country cannot do better than learn wisdom from +the "Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education," as well as +the "Thoughts on the Manners of the Great," which appeared from the pen +of Hannah More in the latter part of the 18th century, in which she +appears as both moralist and teacher, getting inspiration not only from +her exalted labors, but from the friendship and conversation of the +great intellectual oracles of her age. I have not read of any one woman +in England for the last fifty years, I have not heard or known of any +one woman in the United States, who ever occupied the exalted position +of Hannah More, or who exercised so broad and deep an influence on the +public mind in the combined character of a woman of society, author, and +philanthropist. There have been, since her day, more brilliant queens of +fashion, greater literary geniuses, and more prominent philanthropists; +but she was enabled to exercise an influence superior to any of them, by +her friendship with people of rank, by her clear and powerful writings, +and by her lofty piety and morality, which blazed amid the vices of +fashionable society one hundred years ago. + +It is well to dwell on the life and labors of so great and good a woman, +who has now become historical. But I select her especially as the +representative of the grandest moral movement of modern times,--that +which aims to develop the mind and soul of woman, and give to her the +dignity of which she has been robbed by paganism and "philistinism." I +might have selected some great woman nearer home and our own time, more +intimately connected with the profession of educating young ladies; but +I prefer to speak of one who is universally conceded to have rendered +great service to her age and country. It is doubly pleasant to present +Hannah More, because she had none of those defects and blemishes which +have often detracted from the dignity of great benefactors. She was +about as perfect a woman as I have read of; and her virtues were not +carried out to those extremes of fanaticism which have often marked +illustrious saints, from the want of common-sense or because of +visionary theories. Strict and consistent as a moralist, she was never +led into any extravagances or fanaticisms. Stern even as a +disciplinarian, she did not proscribe healthy and natural amusements. +Strong-minded,--if I may use a modern contemptuous phrase,--she never +rebelled against the ordinances of nature or the laws dictated by +inspiration. She was a model woman: beautiful, yet not vain; witty, yet +never irreverent; independent, yet respectful to authority; exercising +private judgment, yet admired by bishops; learned, without pedantry; +hospitable, without extravagance; fond of the society of the great, yet +spending her life among the poor; alive to the fascinations of society, +yet consecrating all her energies of mind and body to the good of those +with whom she was brought in contact; as capable of friendship as Paula, +as religious as Madame Guyon, as charming in conversation as Recamier, +as practical as Elizabeth, as broad and tolerant as Fenelon, who was +himself half woman in his nature, as the most interesting men of genius +are apt to be. Nothing cynical, or bitter, or extravagant, or +contemptuous appears in any of her writings, most of which were +published anonymously,--from humility as well as sensitiveness. Vanity +was a stranger to her, as well as arrogance and pride. Embarking in +great enterprises, she never went outside the prescribed sphere of +woman. Masculine in the force and vigor of her understanding, she was +feminine in all her instincts,--proper, amiable, and gentle; a woman +whom everybody loved and everybody respected, even to kings and queens. + +Hannah More was born in a little village near Bristol, 1745, and her +father was the village schoolmaster. He had been well educated, and had +large expectations; but he was disappointed, and was obliged to resort +to this useful but irksome way of getting a living. He had five +daughters, of whom Hannah was the fourth. As a girl, she was very +precocious in mind, as well as beautiful and attractive in her person. +She studied Latin when only eight years of age. Her father, it would +seem, was a very sensible man, and sought to develop the peculiar +talents which each of his daughters possessed, without the usual +partiality of parents, who are apt to mistake inclination for genius. +Three of the girls had an aptitude for teaching, and opened a +boarding-school in Bristol when the oldest was only twenty. The school +was a great success, and soon became fashionable, and ultimately famous. +To this school the early labors of Hannah More were devoted; and she +soon attracted attention by her accomplishments, especially in the +modern languages, in which she conversed with great accuracy and +facility. But her talents were more remarkable than her +accomplishments; and eminent men sought her society and friendship, who +in turn introduced her to their own circle of friends, by all of whom +she was admired. Thus she gradually came to know the celebrated Dean +Tucker of Gloucester cathedral; Ferguson the astronomer, then lecturing +at Bristol; the elder Sheridan, also giving lectures on oratory in the +same city; Garrick, on the eve of his retirement from the stage; Dr. +Johnson, Goldsmith, Reynolds, Mrs. Montagu, in whose _salon_ the most +distinguished men of the age assembled as the headquarters of +fashionable society,--Edmund Burke, then member for Bristol in the House +of Commons; Gibbon; Alderman Cadell, the great publisher; Bishop +Porteus; Rev. John Newton; and Sir James Stonehouse, an eminent +physician. With all these stars she was on intimate terms, visiting them +at their houses, received by them all as more than an equal,--for she +was not only beautiful and witty, but had earned considerable reputation +for her poetry. Garrick particularly admired her as a woman of genius, +and performed one of her plays ("Percy") twenty successive nights at +Drury Lane, writing himself both the prologue and the epilogue. It must +be borne in mind that when first admitted to the choicest society of +London,--at the houses not merely of literary men, but of great +statesmen and nobles like Lord Camden, Lord Spencer, the Duke of +Newcastle. Lord Pembroke, Lord Granville, and others,--she was teaching +in a girls' school at Bristol, and was a young lady under thirty +years of age. + +It was as a literary woman--when literary women were not so numerous or +ambitious as they now are--that Hannah More had the _entree_ into the +best society under the patronage of the greatest writers of the age. She +was a literary lion before she was twenty-five. She attracted the +attention of Sheridan by her verses when she was scarcely eighteen. Her +"Search after Happiness" went through six editions before the year 1775. +Her tragedy of "Percy" was translated into French and German before she +was thirty; and she realized from the sale of it L600. "The Fatal +Falsehood" was also much admired, but did not meet the same success, +being cruelly attacked by envious rivals. Her "Bas Bleu" was praised by +Johnson in unmeasured terms. It was for her poetry that she was best +known from 1775 to 1785, the period when she lived in the fashionable +and literary world, and which she adorned by her wit and brilliant +conversation,--not exactly a queen of society, since she did not set up +a _salon_, but was only an honored visitor at the houses of the great; a +brilliant and beautiful woman, whom everybody wished to know. + +I will not attempt any criticism on those numerous poems. They are not +much read and valued in our time. They are all after the style of +Johnson and Pope;--the measured and artificial style of the eighteenth +century, in imitation of the ancient classics and of French poetry, in +which the wearisome rhyme is the chief peculiarity,--smooth, polished, +elaborate, but pretty much after the same pattern, and easily imitated +by school-girls. The taste of this age--created by Burns, Byron, +Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson, Longfellow, and others--is very +different. But the poems of Hannah More were undoubtedly admired by her +generation, and gave her great _eclat_ and considerable pecuniary +emolument. And yet her real fame does not rest on those artificial +poems, respectable as they were one hundred years ago, but on her +writings as a moralist and educator. + +During this period of her life--from 1775 to 1785--she chiefly resided +with her sisters in Bristol, but made long visits to London, and to the +houses of famous or titled personages. In a worldly point of view these +years were the most brilliant, but not most useful, period of her life. +At first she was intoxicated by the magnificent attentions she received, +and had an intense enjoyment of cultivated society. It was in these +years she formed the most ardent friendships of her life. Of all her +friends, she seems to have been most attached to Garrick,--the idol of +society, a general favorite wherever he chose to go, a man of +irreproachable morals and charming conversational powers; at whose +house and table no actor or actress was ever known to be invited, except +in one solitary instance; from which it would appear that he was more +desirous of the attentions of the great than of the sympathy and +admiration of the people of his own profession. It is not common for +actors to be gifted with great conversational powers, any more than for +artists, as a general thing, to be well-read people, especially in +history. Hannah More was exceedingly intimate with both Garrick and his +wife; and his death, in 1779, saddened and softened his great +worshipper. After his death she never was present at any theatrical +amusement. She would not go to the theatre to witness the acting of her +own dramas; not even to see Mrs. Siddons, when she appeared as so +brilliant a star. In fact, after Garrick's death Miss More partially +abandoned fashionable society, having acquired a disgust of its +heartless frivolities and seductive vices. + +With the death of Garrick a new era opened in the life of Hannah More, +although for the succeeding five years she still was a frequent visitor +in the houses of those she esteemed, both literary lions and people of +rank. It would seem, during this period, that Dr. Johnson was her +warmest friend, whom she ever respected for his lofty moral nature, and +before whom she bowed down in humble worship as an intellectual +dictator. He called her his child. Sometimes he was severe on her, when +she differed from him in opinion, or when caught praising books which +he, as a moralist, abhorred,--like the novels of Fielding and Smollet; +for the only novelist he could tolerate was Richardson. Once when she +warmly expatiated in praise of the Jansenists, the overbearing autocrat +exclaimed in a voice of thunder: "Madam, let me hear no more of this! +Don't quote your popish authorities to me; I want none of your popery!" +But seeing that his friend was overwhelmed with the shock he gave her, +his countenance instantly changed; his lip quivered, and his eyes filled +with tears. He gently took her hand, and with the deepest emotion +exclaimed: "Child, never mind what I have said,--follow true piety +wherever you find it." This anecdote is a key to the whole character of +Johnson, interesting and uninteresting; for this rough, tyrannical +dogmatist was also one of the tenderest of men, and had a soul as +impressible as that of a woman. + +The most intimate woman friend, it would seem, that Hannah ever had was +Mrs. Garrick, both before and after the death of her husband; and the +wife of Garrick was a Roman Catholic. Hannah More usually spent several +months with this accomplished and warm-hearted woman at her house in +Hampton, generally from March to July. This was often her home during +the London season, after which she resided in Bristol with her sisters, +who made a fortune by their boarding-school. After Hannah had entered +into the literary field she supported herself by her writings, which +until 1785 were chiefly poems and dramas,--now almost forgotten, but +which were widely circulated and admired in her day, and by which she +kept her position in fashionable and learned society. After the death of +Garrick, as we have said, she seemed to have acquired a disgust of the +gay and fashionable society which at one time was so fascinating. She +found it frivolous, vain, and even dull. She craved sympathy and +intellectual conversation and knowledge. She found neither at a +fashionable party, only outside show, gay dresses, and unspeakable +follies,--no conversation; for how could there be either the cultivation +of friendship or conversation in a crowd, perchance, of empty people for +the most part? "As to London," says she, "I shall be glad to get out of +it; everything is great and vast and late and magnificent and dull." I +very seldom go to these parties, and I always repent when I do. My +distaste of these scenes of insipid magnificence I have not words to +tell. Every faculty but the sight is starved, and that has a surfeit. I +like conversation parties of the right sort, whether of four persons or +forty; but it is impossible to talk when two or three hundred people are +continually coming in and popping out, or nailing themselves to a card +table. "Conceive," said she, "of the insipidity of two or three hundred +people,--all dressed in the extremity of fashion, painted as red as +bacchanals, poisoning the air with perfumes, treading on each other's +dresses, not one in ten able to get a chair when fainting with +weariness. I never now go to these things when I can possibly avoid it, +and stay when there as few minutes as I can." Thus she wrote as early as +1782. She went through the same experience as did Madame Recamier, +learning to prefer a small and select circle, where conversation was the +chief charm, especially when this circle was composed only of gifted men +and women. In this incipient disgust of gay and worldly society--chiefly +because it improved neither her mind nor her morals, because it was +stupid and dull, as it generally is to people of real culture and high +intelligence--she seems to have been gradually drawn to the learned +prelates of the English Church,--like Dr. Porteus, Bishop of Chester, +afterwards of London; the Bishop of St. Asaph; and Dr. Home, then Dean +of Canterbury. She became very intimate with Wilberforce and Rev. John +Newton, while she did not give up her friendship for Horace Walpole, +Pepys, and other lights of the social world. + +About this time (1785) she retired to Cowslip Green, a pretty cottage +ten miles from Bristol, and spent her time in reading, writing, and +gardening. The country, with its green pastures and still waters, called +her back to those studies and duties which are most ennobling, and which +produce the most lasting pleasure. In this humble retreat she had many +visitors from among her illustrious friends. She became more and more +religious, without entirely giving up society; corresponding with the +eminent men and women she visited, especially Mrs. Montagu, Dr. Porteus, +Mrs. Boscawen, Mr. Pepys, and Rev. John Newton. In the charming +seclusion of Cowslip Green she wrote her treatise on the "Manners of the +Great;" the first of that series in which she rebuked the fashions and +follies of the day. It had an immense circulation, and was published +anonymously. This very popular work was followed, in 1790, by a volume +on an "Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World," which +produced a still deeper sensation among the great, and was much admired. +The Bishop of London (Porteus) was full of its praises; so was John +Newton, although he did not think that any book could wean the worldly +from their pleasures. + +Thus far most of the associations of Hannah More had been with the +fashionable world, by which she was petted and flattered. Seeing clearly +its faults, she had sought to reform it by her writings and by her +conversation. But now she turned her attention to another class,--the +poor and ignorant,--and labored for them. She instituted a number of +schools for the poor in her immediate neighborhood, superintended them, +raised money for them, and directed them, as Madame de Maintenon did the +school of St. Cyr; only with this difference,--that while the +Frenchwoman sought to develop the mind and character of a set of +aristocratic girls to offset the practical infidelity that permeated the +upper walks of life, Hannah More desired to make the children of the +poor religious amid the savage profligacy which then marked the peasant +class. The first school she established was at Cheddar, a wild and +sunless hollow, amid yawning caverns, about ten miles from Cowslip +Green,--the resort of pleasure parties for its picturesque cliffs and +fissures. Around this weird spot was perhaps the most degraded peasantry +to be found in England, without even spiritual instruction,--for the +vicar was a non-resident, and his living was worth but L50 a year. In +her efforts to establish a school in such a barbarous and pagan locality +Hannah met with serious obstacles. The farmers and petty landholders +were hostile to her scheme, maintaining that any education would spoil +the poor, and make them discontented. Even the farmers themselves were +an ignorant and brutal class, very depraved, and with intense +prejudices. For a whole year she labored with them to disarm their +hostilities and prejudices, and succeeded at last in collecting two +hundred and fifty children in the schoolhouse which she had built. Their +instruction was of course only elemental, but it was religious. + +From Cheddar, Hannah More was led to examine into the condition of +neighboring places. Thirteen contiguous parishes were without a resident +curate, and nine of these were furnished with schools, with over five +hundred scholars. Her theory was,--a suitable education for each, and a +Christian education for all. While she was much encouraged by her +ecclesiastical aristocratic friends, she still encountered great +opposition from the farmers. She also excited the jealousy of the +Dissenters for thus invading the territory of ignorance. All her +movements were subjected to prelates and clergymen of the Church of +England for their approval; for she put herself under their patronage. +And yet the brutal ignorance of the peasantry was owing in part to the +neglect of these very clergymen, who never visited these poor people +under their charge. As an excuse for them, it may be said that at that +time there were 4,809 parishes in England and Wales in which a clergyman +could not reside, if he would, for lack of a parsonage. At that time, +even in Puritan New England, every minister was supposed to live in a +parsonage. To-day, not one parish in ten is provided with that desirable +auxiliary. + +Not only were the labors of Hannah More extended to the ignorant and +degraded by the establishment of schools in her neighborhood, at an +expense of about L1,000 a year, part of which she contributed herself, +but she employed her pen in their behalf, writing, at the solicitation +of the Bishop of London, a series of papers or tracts for the times, +with special reference to the enlightenment of the lower classes on +those subjects that were then agitating the country. The whole land was +at this time inundated with pamphlets full of infidelity and discontent, +fanned by the French Revolution, then passing through its worst stages +of cruelty, atheism, and spoliation. Burke about the same time wrote his +"Reflections," which are immortal for their wisdom and profundity; but +he wrote for the upper classes, not merely in England, but in America +and on the continent of Europe. Hannah More wrote for the lower classes, +and in a style of great clearness and simplicity. Her admirable +dialogue, called "Village Politics," by Will Chip, a country carpenter, +exposed the folly and atrocity of the revolutionary doctrines then in +vogue. Its circulation was immense. The Government purchased several +thousand copies for distribution. It was translated into French and +Italian. Similar in spirit was the tract in reply to the infidel speech +of M. Dupont in the French Convention, in which he would divorce all +religion from education. The circulation of this tract was also very +great. These were followed, in 1795, by the "Cheap Repository," a +periodical designed for the poor, with religious tales, most of which +have since been published by Tract Societies, among them the famous +story of "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." The "Cheap Repository" was +continued for three years, and circulated in every village and hamlet of +England and America. It almost equalled the popularity of the "Pilgrim's +Progress." Two millions of these tracts were sold in the first year. + +In 1799 Hannah More's great work entitled "Strictures on the Modern +System of Female Education" appeared, which passed through twenty +editions in a few years. It was her third ethical publication in prose, +and the most powerful of all her writings. Testimonies as to its value +poured in upon her from every quarter. Nothing was more talked about at +that time except, perhaps, Robert Hall's "Sermons." It was regarded as +one of the most perfect works of its kind that any country or age had +produced. It made as deep an impression on the English mind as the +"Emile" of Rousseau did on the French half a century earlier, but was +vastly higher in its moral tone. I know of no treatise on education so +full and so sensible as this. It ought to be reprinted, for the benefit +of this generation, for its author has forestalled all subsequent +writers on this all-important subject. There is scarcely anything said +by Rev. Morgan Dix, in his excellent Lenten Lectures, which was not said +by Hannah More in the last century. Herbert Spencer may be more +original, possibly more profound, but he is not so practical or clear or +instructive as the great woman who preceded him more than half +a century. + +The fundamental principle which underlies all Hannah More's theories of +education is the necessity of Christian instruction, which Herbert +Spencer says very little about, and apparently ignores. She would not +divorce education from religion. Women, especially, owe their elevation +entirely to Christianity. Hence its influence should be paramount, to +exalt the soul as well as enlarge the mind. All sound education should +prepare one for the duties of life, rather than for the enjoyment of its +pleasures. What good can I do? should be the first inquiry. It is +Christianity alone that teaches the ultimate laws of morals. Hannah More +would subject every impulse and every pursuit and every study to these +ultimate laws as a foundation for true and desirable knowledge. She +would repress everything which looks like vanity. She would educate +girls for their homes, and not for a crowd; for usefulness, and not for +admiration; for that; period of life when external beauty is faded or +lost. She thinks more highly of solid attainments than of +accomplishments, and would incite to useful rather than unnecessary +works. She would have a girl learn the languages, though she deems them +of little value unless one can think in them. She would cultivate that +"sensibility which has its seat in the heart, rather than the nerves." +Anything which detracts from modesty and delicacy, and makes a girl +bold, forward, and pushing, she severely rebukes. She would check all +extravagance in dancing, and would not waste much time on music unless +one has a talent for it. She thinks that the excessive cultivation of +the arts has contributed to the decline of States. She is severe on that +style of dress which permits an indelicate exposure of the person, and +on all forms of senseless extravagance. She despises children's balls, +and ridicules children's rights and "Liliputian coquetry" with ribbons +and feathers. She would educate women to fulfil the duties of daughters, +wives, and mothers rather than to make them dancers, singers, players, +painters, and actresses. She maintains that when a man of sense comes to +marry, he wants a companion rather than a creature who can only dress +and dance and play upon an instrument. Yet she does not discourage +ornamental talent; she admits it is a good thing, but not the best thing +that a woman has. She would not cut up time into an endless +multiplicity of employments, She urges mothers to impress on their +daughters' minds a discriminating estimate of personal beauty, so that +they may not have their heads turned by the adulation that men are so +prone to lavish on those who are beautiful. While she deprecates +harshness, she insists on a rigorous discipline. She would stimulate +industry and the cultivation of moderate abilities, as more likely to +win in the long race of life,--even as a barren soil and ungenial +climate have generally produced the most thrifty people. She would +banish frivolous books which give only superficial knowledge, and even +those abridgments and compendiums which form too considerable a part of +ordinary libraries, and recommends instead those works which exercise +the reasoning faculties and stir up the powers of the mind. She +expresses great contempt for English sentimentality, French philosophy, +Italian poetry, and German mysticism, and is scarcely less severe on the +novels of her day, which stimulate the imagination without adding to +knowledge. She recommends history as the most improving of all studies, +both as a revelation of the ways of Providence and as tending to the +enlargement of the mind. She insists on accuracy in language and on +avoiding exaggerations. She inculcates co-operation with man, and not +rivalry or struggle for power. What she says about women's +rights--which, it seems, was a question that agitated even her age--is +worth quoting, since it is a woman, and not a man, who speaks:-- + +"Is it not more wise to move contentedly in the plain path which +Providence has obviously marked out for the sex, and in which custom has +for the most part rationally confirmed them, rather than to stray +awkwardly, unbecomingly, unsuccessfully, in a forbidden road; to be the +lawful possessors of a lesser domestic territory, rather than the +turbulent usurpers of a wider foreign empire; to be good originals, +rather than bad imitators; to be the best thing of one's kind, rather +than an inferior thing even if it were of a higher kind; to be excellent +women, rather than indifferent men? Let not woman view with envy the +keen satirist hunting vice through all the doublings and windings of the +heart; the sagacious politician leading senates and directing the fate +of empires; the acute lawyer detecting the obliquities of fraud, or the +skilful dramatist exposing the pretensions of folly; but let her +remember that those who thus excel, to all that Nature bestows and books +can teach must add besides that consummate knowledge of the world to +which a delicate woman has no fair avenues, and which, even if she could +attain, she would never be supposed to have come honestly by.... Women +possess in a high degree that delicacy and quickness of perception, and +that nice discernment between the beautiful and defective which comes +under the denomination of taste. Both in composition and action they +excel in details; but they do not so much generalize their ideas as +men, nor do their minds seize a great subject with so large a grasp. +They are acute observers, and accurate judges of life and manners, so +far as their own sphere of observation extends; but they describe a +smaller circle. And they have a certain tact which enables them to feel +what is just more instantaneously than they can define it. They have an +intuitive penetration into character bestowed upon them by Providence, +like the sensitive and tender organs of some timid animals, as a kind of +natural guard to warn of the approach of danger,--beings who are often +called to act defensively. + +"But whatever characteristic distinctions may exist between man and +woman, there is one great and leading circumstance which raises woman +and establishes her equality with man. Christianity has exalted woman to +true and undisputed dignity. 'In Christ Jesus there is neither rich nor +poor, bond nor free, male nor female,' So that if we deny to women the +talents which lead them to excel as lawyers, they are preserved from the +peril of having their principles warped by that too indiscriminate +defence of right and wrong to which the professors of the law are +exposed. If we question their title to eminence as mathematicians, they +are exempted from the danger of looking for demonstration on subjects +which, by their very nature, are incapable of affording it. If they are +less conversant with the powers of Nature, the structure of the human +frame, and the knowledge of the heavenly bodies than philosophers, +physicians, and astronomers, they are delivered from the error into +which many of each of these have sometimes fallen, from the fatal habit +of resting on second causes, instead of referring all to the first. And +let women take comfort that in their very exemption from privileges +which they are sometimes disposed to envy, consist their security and +their happiness." + +Thus spoke Hannah More at the age of fifty-four, with a wider experience +of society and a profounder knowledge of her sex than any Englishwoman +of the eighteenth century, and as distinguished for her intellectual +gifts and cultivation as she was for her social graces and charms,--the +pet and admiration of all who were great and good in her day, both among +men and women. Bear these facts in mind, ye obscure, inexperienced, +discontented, envious, ambitious seekers after notoriety or novelty!--ye +rebellious and defiant opponents of the ordinances of God and the laws +of Nature, if such women there are!--remember that the sentiments I have +just quoted came from the pen of a woman, and not of a man; of a woman +who was the best friend of her sex, and the most enlightened advocate of +their education that lived in the last century; and a woman who, if she +were living now, would undoubtedly be classed with those whom we call +strong-minded, and perhaps masculine and ambitious. She recognizes the +eternal distinction between the sphere of a man and the sphere of a +woman, without admitting any inferiority of woman to man, except in +physical strength and a sort of masculine power of generalization and +grasp. And _she_ would educate woman for her own sphere, not for the +sphere of man, whatever Christianity, or experience, or reason may +define that sphere to be. She would make woman useful, interesting, +lofty; she would give dignity to her soul; she would make her the friend +and helpmate of man, not his rival; she would make her a Christian +woman, since, with Christian virtues and graces and principles, she will +not be led astray. + +But I would not dwell on ground which may be controverted, and which to +some may appear discourteous or discouraging to those noble women who +are doomed by dire and hard misfortunes, by terrible necessities, to +labor in some fields which have been assigned to man, and in which +departments they have earned the admiration and respect of men +themselves. This subject is only one in a hundred which Hannah More +discussed with clearness, power, and wisdom. She is equally valuable and +impressive in what she says of conversation,--a realm in which she had +no superior. Hear what she says about this gift or art: + +"Do we wish to see women take a lead in metaphysical disquisitions,--to +plunge in the depths of theological polemics? Do we wish to enthrone +them in the chairs of our universities, to deliver oracles, harangues, +and dissertations? Do we desire to behold them, inflated with their +original powers, laboring to strike out sparks of wit, with a restless +anxiety to shine, and with a labored affectation to please, which never +pleases? All this be far from them! But we _do_ wish to see the +conversation of well-bred women rescued from vapid commonplaces, from +uninteresting tattle, from trite communications, from frivolous +earnestness, from false sensibility, from a warm interest about things +of no moment, and an indifference to topics the most important; from a +cold vanity, from the overflows of self-love, exhibiting itself under +the smiling mask of an engaging flattery; and from all the factitious +manners of artificial intercourse. We _do_ wish to see the time passed +in polished and intelligent society considered as the pleasant portion +of our existence, and not consigned to premeditated trifling and +systematic unprofitableness. Women too little live or converse up to +their understandings; and however we deprecate affectation and pedantry, +let it be remembered that both in reading and conversing, the +understanding gains more by stretching than stooping. The mind by +applying itself to objects below its level, contracts and shrinks itself +to the size of the object about which it is conversant. In the faculty +of speaking well, ladies have such a happy promptitude of turning their +slender advantages to account, that though never taught a rule of +syntax, they hardly ever violate one, and often possess an elegant +arrangement of style without having studied any of the laws of +composition, And yet they are too ready to produce not only pedantic +expressions, but crude notions and hackneyed remarks with all the vanity +of conscious discovery, and all from reading mere abridgments and scanty +sketches rather than exhausting subjects." + +Equally forcible are her remarks on society:-- + +"Perhaps," said she, "the interests of friendship, elegant conversation, +and true social pleasure, never received such a blow as when fashion +issued the decree that _everybody must be acquainted with everybody_. +The decline of instructive conversation has been effected in a great +measure by the barbarous habit of assembly _en masse_, where one hears +the same succession of unmeaning platitudes, mutual insincerities, and +aimless inquiries. It would be trite, however, to dwell on the vapid +talk which must almost of necessity mark those who assemble in crowds, +and which we are taught to call society, which really cannot exist +without the free interchange of thought and sentiment. Hence society +only truly shines in small and select circles of people of high +intelligence, who are drawn together by friendship as well as +admiration." + +About two years after this work on education appeared,--education in the +broadest sense, pertaining to woman at home and in society as well as at +school,--Hannah More moved from her little thatched cottage, and built +Barley Wood,--a large villa, where she could entertain the increasing +circle of her friends, who were at this period only the learned, the +pious, and the distinguished, especially bishops like Porteus and +Horne, and philanthropists like Wilberforce. The beauty of this new +residence amid woods and lawns attracted her sisters from Bath, who +continued to live with her the rest of their lives, and to co-operate +with her in deeds of benevolence. In this charming retreat she wrote +perhaps the most famous of her books, "Coelebs in Search of a +Wife,"--not much read, I fancy, in these times, but admired in its day +before the great revolution in novel-writing was made by Sir Walter +Scott. Yet this work is no more a novel than the "Dialogues of Plato." +Like "Rasselas," it is a treatise,--a narrative essay on the choice of a +wife, the expansion and continuation of her strictures on education and +fashionable life. This work appeared in 1808, when the writer was +sixty-three years of age. As on former occasions, she now not only +assumed an anonymous name, but endeavored to hide herself under deeper +incognita,--all, however, to no purpose, as everybody soon knew, from +the style, who the author was. The first edition of this popular +work--popular, I mean, in its day, for no work is popular long, though +it may remain forever a classic on the shelves of libraries--was sold in +two weeks. Twelve thousand were published the first year, the profits of +which were L2,000. In this country the sale was larger, thirty thousand +copies being sold during the life of the author. It was also translated +into most of the modern languages of Europe. In 1811 appeared her work +on "Christian Morals," which had a sale of ten thousand; and in 1815 her +essay on the "Character and Practical Writings of Saint Paul," of which +seven thousand copies were sold. These works were followed by her "Moral +Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners," of which ten thousand were +sold, and which realized a royalty of L3,000. + +At the age of eighty, Hannah More wrote her "Spirit of Prayer," of which +nearly twenty thousand copies were printed; and with this work her +literary career virtually closed. Her later works were written amid the +pains of disease and many distractions, especially visits from +distinguished and curious people, which took up her time and sadly +interrupted her labors. At the age of eighty, though still receiving +many visitors, she found herself nearly alone in the world. All her most +intimate friends had died,--Mrs. Garrick at the age of ninety-eight; Sir +William Pepys (the Laelius of the "Bas Bleu"); Dr. Porteus, Bishop of +London; Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury; Bishop Horne, Bishop +Barrington; Dr. Andrew, Dean of Canterbury; and Lady Cremon, besides her +three sisters. The friends of her earlier days had long since passed +away,--Garrick, Johnson, Reynolds, Horace Walpole. Of those who started +in the race with her few were left. Still, visitors continued to throng +her house to the last, impelled by admiration or curiosity; and she was +obliged at length to limit her _levee_ to the hours between one +and three. + +Hannah More lived at Barley Wood nearly thirty years in dignified +leisure, with an ample revenue and in considerable style, keeping her +carriage and horses, with a large number of servants, dispensing a +generous hospitality, and giving away in charities a considerable part +of her income. She realized from her pen L30,000, and her sisters also +had accumulated a fortune by their school in Bristol. Her property must +have been considerable, since on her death she bequeathed in charities +nearly L10,000, beside endowing a church. She spent about L900 a year in +charities. + +The last few years of her residence at Barley Wood were disturbed by the +ingratitude and dishonesty of her servants. They deceived and robbed +her, especially those to whom she had been most kind and generous. She +was, at her advanced age, entirely dependent on these servants, so that +she could not reform her establishment. There was the most shameless +peculation in the kitchen, and money given in charity was appropriated +by the servants, who all combined to cheat her. Out of her sight, they +were disorderly: they gave nocturnal suppers to their friends, and drank +up her wines. So she resolved to discharge the whole of them, and sell +her beautiful place; and when she finally left her home, these servants +openly insulted her. She removed to a house in Clifton, where she had +equal comfort and fewer cares. In this house she spent the remaining +four years of her useful life, dispensing charities, and entertaining +the numerous friends who visited her, and the crowd who came to do her +honor. She died in September, 1833, at the age of eighty-eight, +retaining her intellectual faculties, like Madame de Maintenon, nearly +to the last. She was buried with great honors. A beautiful monument was +erected to her memory in the parish church where her mortal remains were +laid,--the subscription to this monument being five times greater than +the sum needed. + +Hannah More was strongly attached to the Church of England, and upheld +the authority of the established religious institutions of the country. +She excited some hostility from the liberality of her views, for she +would occasionally frequent the chapels of the Dissenters and partake of +their communion. She was supposed by many to lean towards Methodism,--as +everybody was accused of doing in the last century, in England, who led +a strictly religious life. She was evangelical in her views, but was not +Calvinistic; nor was she a believer in instantaneous conversions, any +more than she was in baptismal regeneration. She contributed liberally +to religious and philanthropic societies. The best book, she thought, +that was ever published was Jeremy Taylor's "Holy Living and Dying;" but +her opinion was that John Howe was a greater man. She was a great +admirer of Shakspeare, whom she placed on the highest pedestal of human +genius. She also admired Sir Walter Scott's poetry, especially +"Marmion." She admitted the genius of Byron, but had such detestation of +his character that she would not read his poetry. + +The best and greatest part of the life of Hannah More was devoted to the +education and elevation of her sex. Her most valuable writings were +educational and moral. Her popularity did not wane with advancing years. +No literary woman ever had warmer friends; and these she retained. She +never lost a friend except by death. She had to lament over no broken +friendships, since her friendships were based on respect and affection. +Her nature must have been very genial. For so strict a woman in her +religious duties, she was very tolerant of human infirmities. She was +faithful in reproof, but having once given her friendship she held on to +it with great tenacity; she clung to the worldly Horace Walpole as she +did to Dr. Johnson. The most intimate woman friend of her long life was +a Catholic. Hannah was never married, which was not her fault, for she +was jilted by the man she loved,--for whom, however, she is said to have +retained a friendly feeling to the last. Though unmarried, she was +addressed as Mrs., not Miss, More; and she seems to have insisted on +this, which I think was a weakness, since the dignity of her character, +her fame and high social position, needed no conventional crutch to make +her appear more matronly. As a mere fashionable woman of society, her +name would never have descended to our times; as a moralist she is +immortal, so far as any writer can be. As an author, I do not regard her +as a great original genius; but her successful and honorable career +shows how much may be done by industry and perseverance. Her memory is +kept especially fresh from the interest she took in the education of her +sex, and from her wise and sage counsels, based on religion and a wide +experience. No woman ever had better opportunities for the study of her +sex, or more nobly improved them. She was the most enlightened advocate +of a high education for women that her age and even her +century produced. + +Now, what is meant by a high education for women? for in our times the +opinions of people in regard to this matter are far from being +harmonious. Indeed, on no subject is there more disagreement; there is +no subject which provokes more bitter and hostile comments; there is no +subject on which both men and women wrangle with more acerbity, even +when they are virtually agreed,--for the instincts of good women are +really in accord with the profoundest experience and reason of men. + +In the few remarks to which I am now limited I shall not discuss the +irritating and disputed question of co-education of the sexes, which can +only be settled by experience. On this subject we have not yet +sufficient facts for a broad induction. On the one hand, it would seem +that so long as young men and women mingle freely together in +amusements, at parties and balls, at the theatre and opera, in the +lecture-room, in churches, and most public meetings, it is not probable +that any practical evils can result from educational competition of the +two sexes in the same class-rooms, especially when we consider that many +eminent educators have given their testimony in its favor, so far as it +has fallen under their observation and experience. But, on the other +hand, the co-education of the sexes may imply that both girls and boys, +by similarity of studies, are to be educated for the same sphere. Boys +study the higher mathematics not merely for mental discipline, but in +order to be engineers, astronomers, surveyors, and the like; so, too, +they study chemistry, in its higher branches, to be chemists and +physicians and miners. If girls wish to do this rough work, let them +know that they seek to do men's work. If they are to do women's work, it +would seem that they should give more attention to music, the modern +languages, and ornamental branches than boys do, since few men pursue +these things as a business. + +The question is, Is it wise for boys and girls to pursue the same +studies in the more difficult branches of knowledge? I would withhold no +study from a woman on the ground of assumed intellectual inferiority. I +believe that a woman can grasp any subject as well as a man can, so far +and so long as her physical strength will permit her to make exhaustive +researches. There are some studies which task the physical strength of +men to its utmost tension. If any woman has equal physical power with +men to master certain subjects, let her pursue them; for success, even +with men, depends upon physical endurance as well as brain-power. And +thus the question is one of physical strength and endurance; and women +must settle for themselves whether they can run races with men in +studies in which only the physically strong can hope to succeed. + +Then, again, I would educate women with reference to the sphere in which +they must forever move,--a sphere settled by the eternal laws of Nature +and duty, against which it is folly to rebel. Does any one doubt or deny +that the sphere of women _is_ different from the sphere of men? Can it +be questioned that a class of studies pursued by women who are confined +for a considerable period of life to domestic duties,--like the care of +children, and the details of household economy, and attendance on the +sick, and ornamental art labors,--should not be different from those +pursued by men who undertake the learned professions, and the government +of the people, and the accumulation of wealth in the hard drudgeries of +banks and counting-houses and stores and commercial travelling? There is +no way to get round this question except by maintaining that men should +not be exempted from the cares and duties which for all recorded ages +have been assigned to women; and that women should enter upon the +equally settled sphere of man, and become lawyers, politicians, +clergymen, members of Congress and of State legislatures, sailors, +merchants, commercial travellers, bankers, railway conductors, and +steamship captains. I once knew the discontented wife of an eminent +painter, with a brilliant intellect, who insisted that her husband +should leave his studio and spend five hours a day in the drudgeries of +the nursery and kitchen to relieve her, and that she should spend the +five hours in her studio as an amateur,--that they thus might be on an +equality! The husband died in a mad-house, after dying for a year with a +broken heart and a crushed ambition. He was obliged to submit to his +wife's demand, or fight from morning to night and from night to morning; +and as he was a man of peace, he quietly yielded up his prerogative. Do +you admire the one who prevailed over him? She belonged to that class +who are called strong-minded; but she was perverted, as some noble minds +are, by atheistic and spiritualistic views, and thought to raise women +by lifting them out of the sphere which God has appointed. + +If, then, there be distinct spheres, divinely appointed, for women and +for men, and an education should be given to fit them for rising in +their respective spheres, the question arises, What studies shall woman +pursue in order to develop her mind and resources, and fit her for +happiness and usefulness? This question is only to be answered by those +who have devoted their lives to the education of young ladies. I would +go into no details; I would only lay down the general proposition that a +woman should be educated to be interesting both to her own sex and to +men; to be useful in her home; to exercise the best influence on her +female and male companions; to have her affections as well as intellect +developed; to have her soul elevated so as to be kindled by lofty +sentiments, and to feel that there is something higher than the +adornment of the person, or the attracting of attention in those noisy +crowds which are called society. She should be taught to become the +friend and helpmate of man,--never his rival She is to be invested with +those graces which call out the worship of man, which cause her to shine +with the radiance of the soul, and with those virtues which men rarely +reach,--a superior loftiness of character, a greater purity of mind, a +heavenlike patience and magnanimity. She is not an angel, but a woman; +yet she should shine with angelic qualities and aspire to angelic +virtues, and prove herself, morally and spiritually, to be so superior +to man, that he will render to her an instinctive deference; not a mock +and ironical deference, because she is supposed to be inferior and weak, +but a real deference, a genuine respect on which all permanent +friendship rests,--and even love itself, which every woman, as well as +every man, craves from the bottom of the soul, and without which life +has no object, no charm, and no interest. + +Is woman necessarily made a drudge by assuming those domestic duties +which add so much to the unity and happiness of a family, and which a +man cannot so well discharge as he can the more arduous labors of +supporting a family? Are her labors in directing servants or educating +her children more irksome than the labors of a man, in heat and cold, +often among selfish and disagreeable companions? Is woman, in +restricting herself to her sphere, thereby debarred from the pleasures +of literature and art? As a rule, is she not already better educated +than her husband? However domestic she may be, cannot she still paint +and sing, and read and talk on the grandest subjects? Is she not really +more privileged than her husband or brother, with more time and less +harassing cares and anxieties? Would she really exchange her graceful +labors for the rough and turbulent work of men? + +But here I am stopped with the inquiry, What will you do with those +women who are unfortunate, who have no bright homes to adorn, no means +of support, no children to instruct, no husbands to rule: women cast out +of the sphere where they would like to live, and driven to hard and +uncongenial labors, forced to run races with men, or starve? To such my +remarks do not apply; they are exceptions, and not the rule. To them I +would say, Do cheerfully what Providence seems to point out for _you_; +do the best you can, even in the sphere into which you are forced. If +you are at any time thrown upon your own resources, and compelled to +adopt callings which task your physical strength, accept such lot with +resignation, but without any surrender of your essentially feminine and +womanly qualities; do not try to be like men, for men are lower than you +in their ordinary tastes and occupations. And I would urge all women, +rich and poor, to pursue some one art,--like music, or painting, or +decoration,--not only for amusement, but with the purpose to carry it so +far that in case of misfortune they can fall back upon it and get a +living; for proficiency in these arts belongs as much to the sphere of +women as of men, since it refines and cultivates them. + +But again some may say,--not those who are unfortunate, and seemingly +driven from the glories and beatitudes of woman's sphere, but those who +are peculiarly intellectual and aspiring, and in some respects very +interesting,--Why should not we embark in some of those callings which +heretofore have been assigned to or usurped by man, and become +physicians, and professors in colleges, and lawyers, and merchants, not +because we are driven to get a living, but because we prefer them; and +hence, in order to fit ourselves for these departments, why should we +not pursue the highest studies which task the intellect of man? To such +I would reply, Do so, if you please; there is no valid reason why you +should not try. Nor will you fail unless your frailer bodies fail, as +fail they will, in a long race,--for do what you will to strengthen and +develop your physical forces for a million of years, you will still be +women, and physically weaker than men; that is, your nervous system +cannot stand the strain of that long-continued and intense application +which all professional men are compelled to exert in order to gain +success. But if you have in any individual case the physical strength of +a man, do what you please, so long as you preserve the delicacy and +purity of womanhood,--practise medicine or law, keep school, translate +books, keep boarders, go behind a counter; yea, keep a shop, set types, +keep accounts, give music and French lessons, sing in concerts and +churches,--do whatever you can do as well as men. You have that right; +nobody will molest you or slander you. If you must, or if you choose to, +labor so, God help you! + +So, then, the whole question of woman's education is decided by physical +limitations, concerning which there is no dispute, and against which it +is vain to rebel; and we return to the more agreeable task of pointing +out the supreme necessity of developing in woman those qualities which +will make her a guide and a radiance and a benediction in that sphere to +which Nature and Providence and immemorial custom would appear to have +assigned her. Let her become great as a woman, not as a man. Let her +maintain her rights; but in doing so, let her not forget her duties. The +Bible says nothing at all about the former, and very much about the +latter. Let her remember that she is the complement of a man, and hence +that what is most feminine about her is most interesting to man and +useful to the world. God made man and woman of one flesh, yet unlike. +And who can point out any fundamental inferiority or superiority between +them? The only superiority lies in the superior way in which each +discharges peculiar trusts and responsibilities. It is in this light +alone that we see some husbands superior to their wives, and some wives +superior to their husbands. No sensible person would say that a girl is +superior to her brother because she has a greater aptness for +mathematics than he, but because she excels in the queen-like attributes +and virtues and duties peculiar to her own sex and belonging to her own +sphere,--that sphere so beautiful, that when she abdicates it, it is +like being expelled from Paradise; for, once lost, it can never be +regained. That education is best even for a great woman,--great in +intellect as in soul,--which best develops the lofty ideal of womanhood; +which best makes her a real woman, and not a poor imitation of man, and +gives to her the dignity and grace of a queen over her household, and +brings out that moral beauty by which she reigns over her husband's +heart, and inspires the reverence which children ought to feel. Do we +derogate from the greatness of women when we seek to kindle the +brightness of that moral beauty which outshines all the triumphs of mere +intellectual forces? Should women murmur because they cannot be superior +in everything, when it is conceded that they are superior in the best +thing? Nor let her clutch what she can neither retain nor enjoy. In the +primeval Paradise there was one tree the fruit of which our mother Eve +was forbidden to touch or to eat. There is a tree which grows in our +times, whose fruit, when eaten by some, produces unrest, discontent, +rebellion against God, unsatisfied desires, a revelation of unrealized +miseries, the mere contemplation of which is enough to drive to madness +and moral death. Yet of all the other trees of life's garden may woman +eat,--those trees that grow in the boundless field which modern +knowledge and enterprise have revealed to woman, and which, if she +confine herself thereto, will make her a blessing and a glory forever to +fallen and afflicted humanity. + +AUTHORITIES + +Life of Hannah More, by H.C. Knight; Memoirs, by W. Roberts; Literary +Ladies of England, by H.K. Elwood; Literary Women, by J. Williams; +Writings of Hannah More; Letters to Zachary Macaulay; Edinburgh Review, +vol. xiv.; Christian Observer, vol. xxxv.; Gentleman's Magazine, vol. +xxv.; American Quarterly, vol. lii.; Fraser's Magazine, vol. x. + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 1819-1880. + +WOMAN AS NOVELIST. + + +Since the dawn of modern civilization, every age has been marked by some +new development of genius or energy. In the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries we notice Gothic architecture, the rise of universities, the +scholastic philosophy, and a general interest in metaphysical inquiries. +The fourteenth century witnessed chivalric heroism, courts of love, +tournaments, and amorous poetry. In the fifteenth century we see the +revival of classical literature and Grecian art. The sixteenth century +was a period of reform, theological discussions, and warfare with +Romanism. In the seventeenth century came contests for civil and +religious liberty, and discussions on the theological questions which +had agitated the Fathers of the Church. The eighteenth century was +marked by the speculations of philosophers and political economists, +ending in revolution. The nineteenth century has been distinguished for +scientific discoveries and inventions directed to practical and +utilitarian ends, and a wonderful development in the literature of +fiction. It is the age of novelists, as the fifteenth century was the +age of painters. Everybody now reads novels,--bishops, statesmen, +judges, scholars, as well as young men and women. The shelves of +libraries groan with the weight of novels of every description,--novels +sensational, novels sentimental, novels historical, novels +philosophical, novels social, and novels which discuss every subject +under the sun. Novelists aim to be teachers in ethics, philosophy, +politics, religion, and art; and they are rapidly supplanting lecturers +and clergymen as the guides of men, accepting no rivals but editors and +reviewers. + +This extraordinary literary movement was started by Sir Walter Scott, +who made a revolution in novel-writing, introducing a new style, freeing +romances from bad taste, vulgarity, insipidity, and false sentiment. He +painted life and Nature without exaggerations, avoided interminable +scenes of love-making, and gave a picture of society in present and past +times so fresh, so vivid, so natural, so charming, and so true, and all +with such inimitable humor, that he still reigns without a peer in his +peculiar domain. He is as rich in humor as Fielding, without his +coarseness; as inventive as Swift, without his bitterness; as moral as +Richardson, without his tediousness. He did not aim to teach ethics or +political economy directly, although he did not disguise his opinions. +His chief end was to please and instruct at the same time, stimulating +the mind through the imagination rather than the reason; so healthful +that fastidious parents made an exception of his novels among all others +that had ever been written, and encouraged the young to read them. Sir +Walter Scott took off the ban which religious people had imposed on +novel-reading. + +Then came Dickens, amazingly popular, with his grotesque descriptions of +life, his exaggerations, his impossible characters and improbable +incidents: yet so genial in sympathies, so rich in humor, so indignant +at wrongs, so broad in his humanity, that everybody loved to read him, +although his learning was small and his culture superficial. + +Greatly superior to him as an artist and a thinker was Thackeray, whose +fame has been steadily increasing,--the greatest master of satire in +English literature, and one of the truest painters of social life that +any age has produced; not so much admired by women as by men; accurate +in his delineation of character, though sometimes bitter and fierce; +felicitous in plot, teaching lessons in morality, unveiling shams and +hypocrisy, contemptuous of all fools and quacks, yet sad in his +reflections on human life. + +In the brilliant constellation of which Dickens and Thackeray were the +greater lights was Bulwer Lytton,--versatile; subjective in genius; +sentimental, and yet not sensational; reflective, yet not always sound +in morals; learned in general literature, but a charlatan in scientific +knowledge; worldly in his spirit, but not a pagan; an inquisitive +student, seeking to penetrate the mysteries of Nature as well as to +paint characters and events in other times; and leaving a higher moral +impression when he was old than when he was young. + +Among the lesser lights, yet real stars, that have blazed in this +generation are Reade, Kingsley, Black, James, Trollope, Cooper, Howells, +Wallace, and a multitude of others, in France and Germany as well as +England and America, to say nothing of the thousands who have aspired +and failed as artists, yet who have succeeded in securing readers and in +making money. + +And what shall I say of the host of female novelists which this age has +produced,--women who have inundated the land with productions both good +and bad; mostly feeble, penetrating the cottages of the poor rather than +the palaces of the rich, and making the fortunes of magazines and +news-vendors, from Maine to California? But there are three women +novelists, writing in English, standing out in this group of mediocrity, +who have earned a just and wide fame,--Charlotte Bronte, Harriet +Beecher Stowe, and Marian Evans, who goes by the name of George Eliot. + +It is the last of these remarkable women whom it is my object to +discuss, and who burst upon the literary world as a star whose light has +been constantly increasing since she first appeared. She takes rank with +Dickens, Thackeray, and Bulwer, and some place her higher even than Sir +Walter Scott. Her fame is prodigious, and it is a glory to her sex; +indeed, she is an intellectual phenomenon. No woman ever received such +universal fame as a genius except, perhaps, Madame de Stael; or as an +artist, if we except Madame Dudevant, who also bore a _nom de +plume_,--Georges Sand. She did not become immediately popular, but the +critics from the first perceived her remarkable gifts and predicted her +ultimate success. For vivid description of natural scenery and rural +English life, minute analysis of character, and psychological insight +she has never been surpassed by men; while for learning and profundity +she has never been equalled by women,--a deep, serious, sad writer, +without vanity or egotism or pretension; a great but not always sound +teacher, who, by common consent and prediction, will live and rank among +the classical authors in English literature. + +Marian Evans was born in Warwickshire, about twenty miles from +Stratford-on-Avon,--the county of Shakspeare, one of the most fertile +and beautiful in England, whose parks and lawns and hedges and +picturesque cottages, with their gardens and flowers and thatched roofs, +present to the eye a perpetual charm. Her father, of Welsh descent, was +originally a carpenter, but became, by his sturdy honesty, ability, and +abiding sense of duty, land agent to Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall. +Mr. Evans's sterling character probably furnished the model for Adam +Bede and Caleb Garth. + +Sprung from humble ranks, but from conscientious and religious parents, +who appreciated the advantage of education, Miss Evans was allowed to +make the best of her circumstances. We have few details of her early +life on which we can accurately rely. She was not an egotist, and did +not leave an autobiography like Trollope, or reminiscences like Carlyle; +but she has probably portrayed herself, in her early aspirations, as +Madame de Stael did, in the characters she has created. The less we know +about the personalities of very distinguished geniuses, the better it is +for their fame. Shakspeare might not seem so great to us if we knew his +peculiarities and infirmities as we know those of Voltaire, Rousseau, +and Carlyle; only such a downright honest and good man as Dr. Johnson +can stand the severe scrutiny of after times and "destructive +criticism." + +It would appear that Miss Evans was sent to a school in Nuneaton before +she was ten, and afterwards to a school in Coventry, kept by two +excellent Methodist ladies,--the Misses Franklin,--whose lives and +teachings enabled her to delineate Dinah Morris. As a school-girl we are +told that she had the manners and appearance of a woman. Her hair was +pale brown, worn in ringlets; her figure was slight, her head massive, +her mouth large, her jaw square, her complexion pale, her eyes +gray-blue, and her voice rich and musical. She lost her mother at +sixteen, when she most needed maternal counsels, and afterwards lived +alone with her father until 1841, when they removed to Foleshill, near +Coventry. She was educated in the doctrines of the Low or Evangelical +Church, which are those of Calvin,--although her Calvinism was early +modified by the Arminian views of Wesley. At twelve she taught a class +in a Sunday-school; at twenty she wrote poetry, as most bright girls do. +The head-master of the grammar school in Coventry taught her Greek and +Latin, while Signor Brizzi gave her lessons in Italian, French, and +German; she also played on the piano with great skill. Her learning and +accomplishments were so unusual, and gave such indication of talent, +that she was received as a friend in the house of Mr. Charles Bray, of +Coventry, a wealthy ribbon-merchant, where she saw many eminent literary +men of the progressive school, among whom were James Anthony Froude and +Ralph Waldo Emerson. + +At what period the change in her religious views took place I have been +unable to ascertain,--probably between the ages of twenty-one and +twenty-five, by which time she had become a remarkably well-educated +woman, of great conversational powers, interesting because of her +intelligence, brightness, and sensibility, but not for her personal +beauty. In fact, she was not merely homely, she was even ugly; though +many admirers saw great beauty in her eyes and expression when her +countenance was lighted up. She was unobtrusive and modest, and retired +within herself. + +At this period she translated from the German the "Life of Jesus," by +Strauss, Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity," and one of Spinoza's +works. Why should a young woman have selected such books to translate? +How far the writings of rationalistic and atheistic philosophers +affected her own views we cannot tell; but at this time her progressive +and advanced opinions irritated and grieved her father, so that, as we +are told, he treated her with intolerant harshness. With all her +paganism, however, she retained the sense of duty, and was devoted in +her attentions to her father until he died, in 1849. She then travelled +on the Continent with the Brays, seeing most of the countries of Europe, +and studying their languages, manners, and institutions. She resided +longest in a boarding-house near Geneva, amid scenes renowned by the +labors of Gibbon, Voltaire, and Madame de Stael, in sight of the Alps, +absorbed in the theories of St. Simon and Proudhon,--a believer in the +necessary progress of the race as the result of evolution rather than of +revelation or revolution. + +Miss Evans returned to England about the year 1857,--the year of the +Great Exhibition,--and soon after became sub-editor of the "Westminster +Review," at one time edited by John Stuart Mill, but then in charge of +John Chapman, the proprietor, at whose house, in the Strand, she +boarded. There she met a large circle of literary and scientific men of +the ultra-liberal, radical school, those who looked upon themselves as +the more advanced thinkers of the age, whose aim was to destroy belief +in supernaturalism and inspiration; among whom were John Stuart Mill, +Francis Newman, Herbert Spencer, James Anthony Froude, G.H. Lewes, John +A. Roebuck, and Harriet Martineau,--dreary theorists, mistrusted and +disliked equally by the old Whigs and Tories, high-churchmen, and +evangelical Dissenters; clever thinkers and learned doubters, but +arrogant, discontented, and defiant. + +It was then that the friendly attachment between Miss Evans and Mr. +Lewes began, which ripened into love and ended in a scandal. Mr. Lewes +was as homely as Wilkes, and was three years older than Miss Evans,--a +very bright, witty, versatile, learned, and accomplished man; a +brilliant talker, novelist, playwright, biographer, actor, essayist, and +historian, whose "Life of Goethe" is still the acknowledged authority in +Germany itself, as Carlyle's "Frederic the Great" is also regarded. But +his fame has since been eclipsed by that of the woman he pretended to +call his wife, and with whom (his legal wife being still alive) he lived +in open defiance of the seventh Commandment and the social customs of +England for twenty years. This unfortunate connection, which saddened +the whole subsequent life of Miss Evans, and tinged all her writings +with the gall of her soul, excluded her from that high conventional +society which it has been the aim of most ambitious women to enter. But +this exclusion was not, perhaps, so great an annoyance to Miss Evans as +it would have been to Hannah More, since she was not fitted to shine in +general society, especially if frivolous, and preferred to talk with +authors, artists, actors, and musical geniuses, rather than with +prejudiced, pleasure-seeking, idle patricians, who had such attractions +for Addison, Pope, Mackintosh, and other lights of literature, who +unconsciously encouraged that idolatry of rank and wealth which is one +of the most uninteresting traits of the English nation. Nor would those +fashionable people, whom the world calls "great," have seen much to +attract them in a homely and unconventional woman whose views were +discrepant with the established social and religious institutions of the +land. A class that would not tolerate such a genius as Carlyle, would +not have admired Marian Evans, even if the stern etiquette of English +life had not excluded her from envied and coveted _reunions_; and she +herself, doubtless, preferred to them the brilliant society which +assembled in Mr. Chapman's parlors to discuss those philosophical and +political theories of which Comte was regarded as the high-priest, and +his positivism the essence of all progressive wisdom. + +How far the gloomy materialism and superficial rationalism of Lewes may +have affected the opinions of Miss Evans we cannot tell. He was her +teacher and constant companion, and she passed as his wife; so it is +probable that he strengthened in her mind that dreary pessimism which +appeared in her later writings. Certain it is that she paid the penalty +of violating a fundamental moral law, in the neglect of those women +whose society she could have adorned, and possibly in the silent +reproaches of conscience, which she portrayed so vividly in the +characters of those heroines who struggled ineffectually in the conflict +between duty and passion. True, she accepted the penalty without +complaint, and labored to the end of her days, with masculine strength, +to enforce a life of duty and self-renunciation on her readers,--to live +at least for the good of humanity. Nor did she court notoriety, like +Georges Sand, who was as indifferent to reproach as she was to shame. +Miss Evans led a quiet, studious, unobtrusive life with the man she +loved, sympathetic in her intercourse with congenial friends, and +devoted to domestic duties. And Mr. Lewes himself relieved her from many +irksome details, that she might be free to prosecute her intense +literary labors. + +In this lecture on George Eliot I gladly would have omitted all allusion +to a mistake which impairs our respect for this great woman. But defects +cannot be unnoticed in an honest delineation of character; and no candid +biographers, from those who described the lives of Abraham and David, to +those who have portrayed the characters of Queen Elizabeth and Oliver +Cromwell, have sought to conceal the moral defects of their subjects. + +Aside from the translations already mentioned, the first literary +efforts of Miss Evans were her articles in the "Westminster Review," a +heavy quarterly, established to advocate philosophical radicalism. In +this Review appeared from her pen the article on Carlyle's "Life of +Sterling," "Madame de la Sabliere," "Evangelical Teachings," "Heine," +"Silly Novels by Lady Novelists," "The Natural History of German Life," +"Worldliness and Unworldliness,"--all powerfully written, but with a +vein of bitter sarcasm in reference to the teachers of those doctrines +which she fancied she had outgrown. Her connection with the "Review" +closed in 1853, when she left Mr. Chapman's home and retired to a small +house in Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, on a modest but independent +income. In 1854 she revisited the Continent with Mr. Lewes, spending her +time chiefly in Germany. + +It was in 1857 that the first tales of Miss Evans were published in +"Blackwood's Magazine," when she was thirty-eight, in the full maturity +of her mind. + +"The Sad Fortunes of Amos Barton" was the first of the series called +"Scenes of Clerical Life" which appeared. Mr. Blackwood saw at once the +great merit of the work, and although it was not calculated to arrest +the attention of ordinary readers he published it, confident of its +ultimate success. He did not know whether it was written by a man or by +a woman; he only knew that he received it from the hand of Mr. Lewes, an +author already well known as learned and brilliant. It is fortunate for +a person in the conventional world of letters, as of society, to be well +introduced. + +This story, though gloomy in its tone, is fresh, unique, and +interesting, and the style good, clear, vivid, strong. It opens with a +beautiful description of an old-fashioned country church, with its high +and square pews, in which the devout worshippers could not be seen by +one another, nor even by the parson. This functionary went to church in +top-boots, and, after his short sermon of platitudes, dined with the +squire, and spent the remaining days of the week in hunting or fishing, +and his evenings in playing cards, quietly drinking his ale, and smoking +his pipe. But the hero of the story--Amos Barton--is a different sort of +man from his worldly and easy rector. He is a churchman, and yet +intensely evangelical and devoted to his humble duties,--on a salary of +L80, with a large family and a sick wife. He is narrow, but truly +religious and disinterested. The scene of the story is laid in a retired +country village in the Midland Counties, at a time when the Evangelical +movement was in full force in England, in the early part of last +century, contemporaneous with the religious revivals of New England; +when the bucolic villagers had little to talk about or interest them, +before railways had changed the face of the country, or the people had +been aroused to political discussions and reforms. The sorrows of the +worthy clergyman centered in an indiscreet and in part unwilling +hospitality which he gave to an artful, needy, pretentious, selfish +woman, but beautiful and full of soft flatteries; which hospitality +provoked scandal, and caused the poor man to be driven away to another +parish. The tragic element of the story, however, centres in Mrs. +Barton, who is an angel, radiant with moral beauty, affectionate, +devoted, and uncomplaining, who dies at last from overwork and +privations, and the cares of a large family of children. + +There is no plot in this story, but its charm and power consist in a +vivid description of common life, minute but not exaggerated, which +enlists our sympathy with suffering and misfortune, deeply excites our +interest in commonplace people living out their weary and monotonous +existence. This was a new departure in fiction,--a novel without +love-scenes or happy marriages or thrilling adventures or impossible +catastrophes. But there is great pathos in this homely tale of sorrow; +with no attempts at philosophizing, no digressions, no wearisome +chapters that one wishes to skip, but all spontaneous, natural, free, +showing reserved power,--the precious buds of promise destined to bloom +in subsequent works, till the world should be filled with the aroma of +its author's genius. And there is also great humor in this clerical +tale, of which the following is a specimen:-- + +"'Eh, dear,' said Mrs. Patten, falling back in her chair and lifting up +her withered hands, 'what would Mr. Gilfil say if he was worthy to know +the changes as have come about in the church in these ten years? I don't +understand these new sort of doctrines. When Mr. Barton comes to see me +he talks about my sins and my need of marcy. Now, Mr. Hackett, I've +never been a sinner. From the first beginning, when I went into service, +I've al'ys did my duty to my employers. I was as good a wife as any in +the country, never aggravating my husband. The cheese-factor used to say +that my cheeses was al'ys to be depended upon.'" + +To describe clerical life was doubtless the aim which Miss Evans had in +view in this and the two other tales which soon followed. In these, as +indeed in all her novels, the clergy largely figure. She seems to be +profoundly acquainted with the theological views of the different sects, +as well as with the social habits of the different ministers. So far as +we can detect her preference, it is for the Broad Church, or the +"high-and-dry" clergy of the Church of England, especially those who +were half squires and half parsons in districts where conservative +opinions prevailed; for though she was a philosophical radical, she was +reverential in her turn of mind, and clung to poetical and consecrated +sentiments, always laying more stress on woman's _duties_ than on +her _rights_. + +The second of the Clerical series--"Mr. Gilfil's Love Story"--is not so +well told, nor is it so interesting as the first, besides being more +after the fashion of ordinary stories. We miss in it the humor of good +Mrs. Patten; nor are we drawn to the gin-and-water-drinking parson, +although the description of his early unfortunate love is done with a +powerful hand. The story throughout is sad and painful. + +The last of the series, "Janet's Repentance," is, I think, the best. The +hero is again a clergyman, an evangelical, whose life is one long +succession of protracted martyrdoms,--an expiation to atone for the +desertion of a girl whom he had loved and ruined while in college. Here +we see, for the first time in George Eliot's writings, that inexorable +fate which pursues wrong-doing, and which so prominently stands out in +all her novels. The singular thing is that she--at this time an advanced +liberal--should have made the sinning young man, in the depth of his +remorse, to find relief in that view of Christianity which is expounded +by the Calvinists. But here she is faithful and true to the teaching of +those by whom she was educated; and it is remarkable that her art +enables her apparently to enter into the spiritual experiences of an +evangelical curate with which she had no sympathy. She does not mock or +deride, but seems to respect the religion which she had herself +repudiated. + +And the same truths which consoled the hard-working, self-denying curate +are also made to redeem Janet herself, and secure for her a true +repentance. This heroine of the story is the wife of a drunken, brutal +village doctor, who dies of delirium tremens; she also is the slave of +the same degrading habit which destroys her husband, but, unlike him, is +a victim of remorse and shame. In her despair she seeks advice and +consolation from the minister whom she had ridiculed and despised; and +through him she is led to seek that divine aid which alone enables a +confirmed drunkard to conquer what by mere force of will is an +unconquerable habit. And here George Eliot--for that is the name she now +goes by--is in accord with the profound experience of many. + +The whole tale, though short, is a triumph of art and abounds with acute +observations of human nature. It is a perfect picture of village life, +with its gossip, its jealousies, its enmities, and its religious +quarrels, showing on the part of the author an extraordinary knowledge +of theological controversies and the religious movements of the early +part of the nineteenth century. So vivid is her description of rural +life, that the tale is really an historical painting, like the Dutch +pictures of the seventeenth century, to be valued as an accurate +delineation rather than a mere imaginary scene. Madonnas, saints, and +such like pictures which fill the churches of Italy and Spain, works of +the old masters, are now chiefly prized for their grace of form and +richness of coloring,--exhibitions of ideal beauty, charming as +creations, but not such as we see in real life; George Eliot's novels, +on the contrary, are not works of imagination, like the frescos in the +Sistine Chapel, but copies of real life, like those of Wilkie and +Teniers, which we value for their fidelity to Nature. And in regard to +the passion of love, she does not portray it, as in the old-fashioned +novels, leading to fortunate marriages with squires and baronets; but +she generally dissects it, unravels it, and attempts to penetrate its +mysteries,--a work decidedly more psychological than romantic or +sentimental, and hence more interesting to scholars and thinkers than to +ordinary readers, who delight in thrilling adventures and exciting +narrations. + +The "Scenes of Clerical Life" were followed the next year by "Adam +Bede," which created a great impression on the cultivated mind of +England and America. It did not create what is called a "sensation." I +doubt if it was even popular with the generality of readers, nor was the +sale rapid at first; but the critics saw that a new star of +extraordinary brilliancy had arisen in the literary horizon. The unknown +author entered, as she did in "Janet's Repentance," an entirely new +field, with wonderful insight into the common life of uninteresting +people, with a peculiar humor, great power of description, rare felicity +of dialogue, and a deep undertone of serious and earnest reflection. And +yet I confess, that when I first read "Adam Bede," twenty-five years +ago, I was not much interested, and I wondered why others were. It was +not dramatic enough to excite me. Many parts of it were tedious. It +seemed to me to be too much spun out, and its minuteness of detail +wearied me. There was no great plot and no grand characters; nothing +heroic, no rapidity of movement; nothing to keep me from laying the book +down when the dinner-bell rang, or when the time came to go to bed. I +did not then see the great artistic excellence of the book, and I did +not care for a description of obscure people in the Midland Counties of +England,--which, by the way, suggests a reason why "Adam Bede" cannot be +appreciated by Americans as it is by the English people themselves, who +every day see the characters described, and hear their dialect, and know +their sorrows, and sympathize with their privations and labors. But +after a closer and more critical study of the novel I have come to see +merits that before escaped my eye. It is a study, a picture of humble +English life, painted by the hand of a master, to be enjoyed most by +people of critical discernment, and to be valued for its rare fidelity +to Nature. It is of more true historical interest than many novels which +are called historical,--even as the paintings of Rembrandt are more +truly historical than those of Horace Vernet, since the former painted +life as it really was in his day. Imaginative pictures are not those +which are most prized by modern artists, or those pictures which make +every woman look like an angel and every man like a hero,--like those of +Gainsborough or Reynolds,--however flattering they may be to those who +pay for them. + +I need not dwell on characters so well known as those painted in "Adam +Bede." The hero is a painstaking, faithful journeyman carpenter, +desirous of doing good work. Scotland and England abound in such men, +and so did New England fifty years ago. This honest mechanic falls in +love with a pretty but vain, empty, silly, selfish girl of his own +class; but she had already fallen under the spell of the young squire of +the village,--a good-natured fellow, of generous impulses, but +essentially selfish and thoughtless, and utterly unable to cope with his +duty. The carpenter, when he finds it out, gives vent to his wrath and +jealousy, as is natural, and picks a quarrel with the squire and knocks +him down,--an act of violence on the part of the inferior in rank not +very common in England. The squire abandons his victim after ruining her +character,--not an uncommon thing among young aristocrats,--and the girl +strangely accepts the renewed attentions of her first lover, until the +logic of events compels her to run away from home and become a vagrant. +The tragic and interesting part of the novel is a vivid painting of the +terrible sufferings of the ruined girl in her desolate wanderings, and +of her trial for abandoning her infant child to death,--the inexorable +law of fate driving the sinner into the realms of darkness and shame. +The story closes with the prosaic marriage of Adam Bede to Dinah +Morris,--a Methodist preacher, who falls in love with him instead of his +more pious brother Seth, who adores her. But the love of Adam and Dinah +for one another is more spiritualized than is common,--is very +beautiful, indeed, showing how love's divine elements can animate the +human soul in all conditions of life. In the fervid spiritualism of +Dinah's love for Adam we are reminded of a Saint Theresa seeking to be +united with her divine spouse. Dinah is a religious rhapsodist, seeking +wisdom and guidance in prayer; and the divine will is in accordance with +her desires. "My soul," said she to Adam, "is so knit to yours that it +is but a divided life if I live without you." + +The most amusing and finely-drawn character in this novel is a secondary +one,--Mrs. Poyser,--but painted with a vividness which Scott never +excelled, and with a wealth of humor which Fielding never equalled. It +is the wit and humor which George Eliot has presented in this inimitable +character which make the book so attractive to the English, who enjoy +these more than the Americans,--the latter delighting rather in what is +grotesque and extravagant, like the elaborate absurdities of "Mark +Twain." But this humor is more than that of a shrewd and thrifty +English farmer's wife; it belongs to human nature. We have seen such +voluble sharp, sagacious, ironical, and worldly women among the +farm-houses of New England, and heard them use language, when excited or +indignant, equally idiomatic, though not particularly choice. Strike out +the humor of this novel and the interest we are made to feel in +commonplace people, and the story would not be a remarkable one. + +"Adam Bede" was followed in a year by "The Mill on the Floss," the scene +of which is also laid in a country village, where are some well-to-do +people, mostly vulgar and uninteresting. This novel is to me more +powerful than the one which preceded it,--having more faults, perhaps, +but presenting more striking characters. As usual with George Eliot, her +plot in this story is poor, involving improbable incidents and +catastrophes. She is always unfortunate in her attempts to extricate her +heroes and heroines from entangling difficulties. Invention is not her +forte; she is weak when she departs from realistic figures. She is +strongest in what she has seen, not in what she imagines; and here she +is the opposite of Dickens, who paints from imagination. There was never +such a man as Pickwick or Barnaby Rudge. Sir Walter Scott created +characters,--like Jeannie Deans,--but they are as true to life as Sir +John Falstaff. + +Maggie Tulliver is the heroine of this story, in whose intellectual +developments George Eliot painted herself, as Madame De Stael describes +her own restless soul-agitations in "Delphine" and "Corinne." Nothing in +fiction is more natural and life-like than the school-days of Maggie, +when she goes fishing with her tyrannical brother, and when the two +children quarrel and make up,--she, affectionate and yielding; he, +fitful and overbearing. Many girls are tyrannized over by their +brothers, who are often exacting, claiming the guardianship which +belongs only to parents. But Maggie yields to her obstinate brother as +well as to her unreasonable and vindictive father, governed by a sense +of duty, until, with her rapid intellectual development and lofty +aspiration, she breaks loose in a measure from their withering +influence, though not from technical obligations. She almost loves +Philip Wakem, the son of the lawyer who ruined her father; yet out of +regard to family ties she refuses, while she does not yet repel, his +love. But her real passion is for Stephen Gurst, who was betrothed to +her cousin, and who returned Maggie's love with intense fervor. + + "Why did he love her? Curious fools, be still! + Is human love the fruit of human will?" + +She knows she ought not to love this man, yet she combats her +passion with poor success, allows herself to be compromised in her +relations with him, and is only rescued by a supreme effort of +self-renunciation,--a principle which runs through all George Eliot's +novels, in which we see the doctrines of Buddha rather than those of +Paul, although at times they seem to run into each other. Maggie erred +in not closing the gate of her heart inexorably, and in not resisting +the sway of a purely "physiological law." The vivid description of this +sort of love, with its "strange agitations" and agonizing ecstasies, +would have been denounced as immoral fifty years ago. The _denouement_ +is an improbable catastrophe on a tidal river, in the rising floods of +which Maggie and her brother are drowned,--a favorite way with the +author in disposing of her heroes and heroines when she can no longer +manage them. + +The secondary characters of this novel are numerous, varied, +and natural, and described with great felicity and humor. None +of them are interesting people; in fact, most of them are very +uninteresting,--vulgar, money-loving, material, purse-proud, selfish, +such as are seen among those to whom money and worldly prosperity are +everything, with no perception of what is lofty and disinterested, and +on whom grand sentiments are lost,--yet kind-hearted in the main, and in +the case of the Dobsons redeemed by a sort of family pride. The moral of +the story is the usual one with George Eliot,--the conflict of duty with +passion, and the inexorable fate which pursues the sinner. She brings +out the power of conscience as forcibly as Hawthorne has done in his +"Scarlet Letter." + +The "Mill on the Floss" was soon followed by "Silas Marner," regarded by +some as the gem of George Eliot's novels, and which certainly--though +pathetic and sad, as all her novels are--does not leave on the mind so +mournful an impression, since in its outcome we see redemption. The +principal character--the poor, neglected, forlorn weaver--emerges at +length from the Everlasting Nay into the Everlasting Yea; and he emerges +by the power of love,--love for a little child whom he has rescued from +the snow, the storm, and death. Driven by injustice to a solitary life, +to abject penury, to despair, the solitary miser, gloating over his gold +pieces,--which he has saved by the hardest privation, and in which he +trusts,--finds himself robbed, without redress or sympathy; but in the +end he is consoled for his loss in the love he bestows on a helpless +orphan, who returns it with the most noble disinterestedness, and lives +to be his solace and his pride. Nothing more touching has ever been +written by man or woman than this short story, as full of pathos as +"Adam Bede" is full of humor. + +What is remarkable in this story is that the plot is exactly similar to +that of "Jermola the Potter," the masterpiece of a famous Polish +novelist,--a marvellous coincidence, or plagiarism, difficult to be +explained. But Shakspeare, the most original of men, borrowed some of +his plots from Italian writers; and Mirabeau appropriated the knowledge +of men more learned than he, which by felicity of genius he made his +own; and Webster, too, did the same thing. There is nothing new under +the sun, except in the way of "putting things." + +After the publication of the various novels pertaining to the rural and +humble life of England, with which George Eliot was so well acquainted, +into which she entered with so much sympathy, and which she so +marvellously portrayed, she took a new departure, entering a field with +which she was not so well acquainted, and of which she could only learn +through books. The result was "Romola," the most ambitious, and in some +respects the most remarkable, of all her works. It certainly is the most +learned and elaborate. It is a philosophico-historical novel, the scene +of which is laid in Florence at the time of Savonarola,--the period +called the Renaissance, when art and literature were revived with great +enthusiasm; a very interesting period, the glorious morning, as it were, +of modern civilization. + +This novel, the result of reading and reflection, necessarily called +into exercise other faculties besides accurate observation,--even +imagination and invention, for which she is not pre-eminently +distinguished. In this novel, though interesting and instructive, we +miss the humor and simplicity of the earlier works. It is overloaded +with learning. Not one intelligent reader in a hundred has ever heard +even the names of many of the eminent men to whom she alludes. It is +full of digressions, and of reflections on scientific theories. Many of +the chapters are dry and pedantic. It is too philosophical to be +popular, too learned to be appreciated. As in some of her other stories, +highly improbable events take place. The plot is not felicitous, and the +ending is unsatisfactory. The Italian critics of the book are not, on +the whole, complimentary. George Eliot essayed to do, with prodigious +labor, what she had no special aptitude for. Carlyle in ten sentences +would have made a more graphic picture of Savonarola. None of her +historical characters stand out with the vividness with which Scott +represented Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots, or with which even +Bulwer painted Rienzi and the last of the Barons. + +Critics do not admire historical novels, because they are neither +history nor fiction. They mislead readers on important issues, and they +are not so interesting as the masterpieces of Macaulay and Froude. Yet +they have their uses. They give a superficial knowledge of great +characters to those who will not read history. The field of history is +too vast for ordinary people, who have no time for extensive reading +even if they have the inclination. + +The great historical personage whom George Eliot paints in "Romola" is +Savonarola,--and I think faithfully, on the whole. In the main she +coincides with Villani, the greatest authority. In some respects I +should take issue with her. She makes the religion of the Florentine +reformer to harmonize with her notions of self-renunciation. She makes +him preach the "religion of humanity," which was certainly not taught in +his day. He preached duty, indeed, and appealed to conscience; but he +preached duty to God rather than to man. The majesty of a personal God, +fearful in judgment and as represented by the old Jewish prophets, was +the great idea of Savonarola's theology. His formula was something like +this: "Punishment for sin is a divine judgment, not the effect of +inexorable laws. Repentance is a necessity. Unless men repent of their +sins, God will punish them. Unless Italy repents, it will be desolated +by His vengeance." Catholic theology, which he never departed from, has +ever recognized the supreme allegiance of man to his Maker, because _He_ +demands it. Even among the Jesuits, with their corrupted theology, the +motto emblazoned on their standard was, _Ad majorem dei gloriam_. But +the great Dominican preacher is made by George Eliot to be "the +spokesman of humanity made divine, not of Deity made human." "Make your +marriage vows," said he to Romola, "an offering to the great work by +which sin and sorrow are made to cease." + +But Savonarola is only a secondary character in the novel. He might as +well have been left out altogether. The real hero and heroine are Romola +and Tito; and they are identified with the life of the period, which is +the Renaissance,--a movement more Pagan than Christian. These two +characters may be called creations. Romola is an Italian woman, supposed +to represent a learned and noble lady four hundred years ago. She has +lofty purposes and aspirations; she is imbued with the philosophy of +self-renunciation; her life is devoted to others,--first to her father, +and then to humanity. But she is as cold as marble; she is the very +reverse of Corinne. Even her love for Tito is made to vanish away on the +first detection of his insincerity, although he is her husband. She +becomes as hard and implacable as fate; and when she ceases to love her +husband, she hates him and leaves him, and is only brought back by a +sense of duty. Yet her hatred is incurable; and in her wretched +disappointment she finds consolation only in a sort of stoicism. How far +George Eliot's notions of immortality are brought out in the spiritual +experiences of Romola I do not know; but the immortality of Romola is +not that which is brought to light by the gospel: it is a vague and +indefinite sentiment kindred to that of Indian sages,--that we live +hereafter only in our teachings or deeds; that we are absorbed in the +universal whole; that our immortality is the living in the hearts and +minds of men, not personally hereafter among the redeemed To quote her +own fine thought,-- + + "Oh, may I join the choir invisible + In pulses stirred to generosity, + In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn + For miserable aims that end in self, + In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, + And, with their mild persistence, urge man's search + To vaster issues!" + +Tito is a more natural character, good-natured, kind-hearted, with +generous impulses. He is interesting in spite of his faults; he is +accomplished, versatile, and brilliant. But he is inherently selfish, +and has no moral courage. He gradually, in his egotism, becomes utterly +false and treacherous, though not an ordinary villain. He is the +creature of circumstances. His weakness leads to falsehood, and +falsehood ends in crime; which crime pursues him with unrelenting +vengeance,--not the agonies of remorse, for he has no conscience, but +the vindictive and persevering hatred of his foster father, whom he +robbed. The vengeance of Baldassare is almost preternatural; it +surpasses the wrath of Achilles and the malignity of Shylock. It is the +wrath of a demon, from which there is no escape; it would be tragical if +the subject of it were greater. Though Tito perishes in an improbable +way, he is yet the victim of the inexorable law of human souls. + +But if "Romola" has faults, it has remarkable excellences. In this book +George Eliot aspires to be a teacher of ethics and philosophy. She is +not humorous, but intensely serious and thoughtful. She sometimes +discourses like Epictetus:-- + +"And so, my Lillo," says she at the conclusion, "if you mean to act +nobly, and seek to know the best things God has put within reach of man, +you must learn to fix your mind on that end, and not on what will happen +to you because of it. And remember, if you were to choose something +lower, and make it the rule of your life to seek your own pleasure and +escape what is disagreeable, calamity might come just the same; and it +would be a calamity falling on a base mind,--which is the one form of +sorrow that has no balm in it, and that may well make a man say, 'It +would have been better for me if I had never been born.'" + +Three years elapsed between the publication of "Romola" and that of +"Felix Holt," which shows to what a strain the mind of George Eliot had +been subjected in elaborating an historical novel. She now returns to +her own peculiar field, in which her great successes had been made, and +with which she was familiar; and yet even in her own field we miss now +the genial humanity and inimitable humor of her earlier novels. In +"Felix Holt" she deals with social and political problems in regard to +which there is great difference of opinion; for the difficult questions +of political economy have not yet been solved. Felix Holt is a political +economist, but not a vulgar radical filled with discontent and envy. He +is a mechanic, tolerably educated, and able to converse with +intelligence on the projected reforms of the day, in cultivated +language. He is high-minded and conscientious, but unpractical, and gets +himself into difficulties, escaping penal servitude almost by miracle, +for the crime of homicide. The heroine, Esther Lyon, is supposed to be +the daughter of a Dissenting minister, who talks theology after the +fashion of the divines of the seventeenth century; unknown to herself, +however, she is really the daughter of the heir of large estates, and +ultimately becomes acknowledged as such, but gives up wealth and social +position to marry Felix Holt, who had made a vow of perpetual poverty. +Such a self-renunciation is not common in England. Even a Paula would +hardly have accepted such a lot; only one inspired with the philosophy +of Marcus Aurelius would be capable of such a willing sacrifice,--very +noble, but very improbable. + +The most powerful part of the story is the description of the remorse +which so often accompanies an illicit love, as painted in the proud, +stately, stern, unbending, aristocratic Mrs. Transome. "Though youth has +faded, and joy is dead, and love has turned to loathing, yet memory, +like a relentless fury, pursues the gray-haired woman who hides within +her breast a heavy load of shame and dread." Illicit love is a common +subject with George Eliot; and it is always represented as a mistake or +crime, followed by a terrible retribution, sooner or later,--if not +outwardly, at least inwardly, in the sorrows of a wounded and +heavy-laden soul. + +No one of George Eliot's novels opens more beautifully than "Felix +Holt," though there is the usual disappointment of readers with the +close. And probably no description of a rural district in the Midland +Counties fifty years ago has ever been painted which equals in graphic +power the opening chapter. The old coach turnpike, the roadside inns +brilliant with polished tankards, the pretty bar-maids, the repartees of +jocose hostlers, the mail-coach announced by the many blasts of the +bugle, the green willows of the water-courses, the patient cart-horses, +the full-uddered cows, the rich pastures, the picturesque milkmaids, the +shepherd with his slouching walk, the laborer with his bread and bacon, +the tidy kitchen-garden, the golden corn-ricks, the bushy hedgerows +bright with the blossoms of the wild convolvulus, the comfortable +parsonage, the old parish church with its ivy-mantled towers, the +thatched cottage with double daisies and geraniums in the +window-seats,--these and other details bring before our minds a rural +glory which has passed away before the power of steam, and may never +again return. + +"Felix Holt" was published in 1866, and it was five years before +"Middlemarch" appeared,--a very long novel, thought by some to be the +best which George Eliot has written; read fifteen times, it is said, by +the Prince of Wales. In this novel the author seems to have been +ambitious to sustain her fame. She did not, like Trollope, dash off +three novels a year, and all alike. She did not write mechanically, as a +person grinds at a mill. Nor was she greedy of money, to be spent in +running races with the rich. She was a conscientious writer from first +to last. Yet "Middlemarch," with all the labor spent upon it, has more +faults than any of her preceding novels. It is as long as "The History +of Sir Charles Grandison;" it has a miserable plot; it has many tedious +chapters, and too many figures, and too much theorizing on social +science. Rather than a story, it is a panorama of the doctors and +clergymen and lawyers and business people who live in a provincial town, +with their various prejudices and passions and avocations. It is not a +cheerful picture of human life. We are brought to see an unusual number +of misers, harpies, quacks, cheats, and hypocrites. There are but few +interesting characters in it: Dorothea is the most so,--a very noble +woman, but romantic, and making great mistakes. She desires to make +herself useful to somebody, and marries a narrow, jealous, aristocratic +pedant, who had spent his life in elaborate studies on a dry and +worthless subject. Of course, she awakes from her delusion when she +discovers what a small man, with great pretensions, her learned husband +is; but she remains in her dreariness of soul a generous, virtuous, and +dutiful woman. She does not desert her husband because she does not love +him, or because he is uncongenial, but continues faithful to the end. +Like Maggie Tulliver and Romola, she has lofty aspirations, but marries, +after her husband's death, a versatile, brilliant, shallow Bohemian, as +ill-fitted for her serious nature as the dreary Casaubon himself. + +Nor are we brought in sympathy with Lydgate, the fashionable doctor with +grand aims, since he allows his whole scientific aspirations to be +defeated by a selfish and extravagant wife. Rosamond Vincy is, however, +one of the best drawn characters in fiction, such as we often +see,--pretty, accomplished, clever, but incapable of making a sacrifice, +secretly thwarting her husband, full of wretched complaints, utterly +insincere, attractive perhaps to men, but despised by women. Caleb Garth +is a second Adam Bede; and Mrs. Cadwallader, the aristocratic wife of +the rector, is a second Mrs. Poyser in the glibness of her tongue and +in the thriftiness of her ways. Mr. Bullstrode, the rich banker, is a +character we unfortunately sometimes find in a large country town,--a +man of varied charities, a pillar of the Church, but as full of cant as +an egg is of meat; in fact, a hypocrite and a villain, ultimately +exposed and punished. + +The general impression left on the mind from reading "Middlemarch" is +sad and discouraging. In it is brought out the blended stoicism, +humanitarianism, Buddhism, and agnosticism of the author. She paints the +"struggle of noble natures, struggling vainly against the currents of a +poor kind of world, without trust in an invisible Rock higher than +themselves to which they could entreat to be lifted up." + +In another five years George Eliot produced "Daniel Deronda," the last +and most unsatisfactory of her great novels, written in feeble health +and with exhausted nervous energies, as she was passing through the +shadows of the evening of her life. In this work she doubtless essayed +to do her best; but she could not always surpass herself, any more than +could Scott or Dickens. Nor is she to be judged by those productions +which reveal her failing strength, but by those which were written in +the fresh enthusiasm of a lofty soul. No one thinks the less of Milton +because the "Paradise Regained" is not equal to the "Paradise Lost." +Many are the immortal poets who are now known only for two or three of +their minor poems. It takes a Michael Angelo to paint his grandest +frescos after reaching eighty years of age; or a Gladstone, to make his +best speeches when past the age of seventy. Only people with a wonderful +physique and unwasted mental forces can go on from conquering to +conquer,--people, moreover, who have reserved their strength, and lived +temperate and active lives. + +Although "Daniel Deronda" is occasionally brilliant, and laboriously +elaborated, still it is regarded generally by the critics as a failure. +The long digression on the Jews is not artistic; and the subject itself +is uninteresting, especially to the English, who have inveterate +prejudices against the chosen people. The Hebrews, as they choose to +call themselves, are doubtless a remarkable people, and have +marvellously preserved their traditions and their customs. Some among +them have arisen to the foremost rank in scholarship, statesmanship, and +finance. They have entered, at different times, most of the cabinets of +Europe, and have held important chairs in its greatest universities. But +it was a Utopian dream that sent Daniel Deronda to the Orient to collect +together the scattered members of his race. Nor are enthusiasts and +proselytes often found among the Jews. We see talent, but not visionary +dreamers. To the English they appear as peculiarly practical,--bent on +making money, sensual in their pleasures, and only distinguished from +the people around them by an extravagant love of jewelry and a proud and +cynical rationalism. Yet in justice it must be confessed, that some of +the most interesting people in the world are Jews. + +In "Daniel Deronda" the cheerless philosophy of George Eliot is fully +brought out. Mordecai, in his obscure and humble life, is a good +representative of a patient sufferer, but "in his views and aspirations +is a sort of Jewish Mazzini." The hero of the story is Mordecai's +disciple, who has discovered his Hebrew origin, of which he is as proud +as his aristocratic mother is ashamed The heroine is a spoiled woman of +fashion, who makes the usual mistake of most of George Eliot's heroines, +in violating conscience and duty. She marries a man whom she knows to be +inherently depraved and selfish; marries him for his money, and pays the +usual penalty,--a life of silent wretchedness and secret sorrow and +unavailing regret. But she is at last fortunately delivered by the +accidental death of her detested husband,--by drowning, of course. +Remorse in seeing her murderous wishes accomplished--though not by her +own hand, but by pursuing fate--awakens a new life in her soul, and she +is redeemed amid the throes of anguish and conscious guilt. + +"Theophrastus Such," the last work of George Eliot, is not a novel, but +a series of character sketches, full of unusual bitterness and withering +sarcasm. Thackeray never wrote anything so severe. It is one of the most +cynical books ever written by man or woman. There is as much difference +in tone and spirit between it and "Adam Bede," as between "Proverbs" and +"Ecclesiastes;" as between "Sartor Resartus" and the "Latter-Day +Pamphlets." And this difference is not more marked than the difference +in style and language between this and her earlier novels. Critics have +been unanimous in their admiration of the author's style in "Silas +Marner" and "The Mill on the Floss,"--so clear, direct, simple, natural; +as faultless as Swift, Addison, and Goldsmith, those great masters of +English prose, whose fame rests as much on their style as on their +thoughts. In "Theophrastus Such," on the contrary, as in some parts of +"Daniel Deronda," the sentences are long, involved, and often almost +unintelligible. + +In presenting the works of George Eliot, I have confined myself to her +prose productions, since she is chiefly known by her novels. But she +wrote poetry also, and some critics have seen considerable merit in it. +Yet whatever merit it may have I must pass without notice. I turn from +the criticism of her novels, as they successively appeared, to allude +briefly to her closing days. Her health began to fail when she was +writing "Middlemarch," doubtless from her intense and continual studies, +which were a severe strain on her nervous system. It would seem that she +led a secluded life, rarely paying visits, but receiving at her house +distinguished literary and scientific men. She was fond of travelling on +the Continent, and of making short visits to the country. In +conversation she is said to have been witty, tolerant, and sympathetic. +Poetry, music, and art absorbed much of her attention. She read very +little contemporaneous fiction, and seldom any criticisms on her own +productions. For an unbeliever in historical Christianity, she had great +reverence for all earnest Christian peculiarities, from Roman Catholic +asceticism to Methodist fervor. In her own belief she came nearest to +the positivism of Comte, although he was not so great an oracle to her +as he was to Mr. Lewes, with whom twenty years were passed by her in +congenial studies and labors. They were generally seen together at the +opening night of a new play or the _debut_ of a famous singer or actor, +and sometimes, within a limited circle, they attended a social or +literary reunion. + +In 1878 George Eliot lost the companion of her literary life. And yet +two years afterward--at the age of fifty-nine--she surprised her friends +by marrying John Walter Cross, a man much younger than herself. No one +can fathom that mystery. But Mrs. Cross did not long enjoy the +felicities of married life. In six months from her marriage, after a +pleasant trip to the Continent, she took cold in attending a Sunday +concert in London; and on the 22d of December, 1880, she passed away +from earth to join her "choir invisible," whose thoughts have enriched +the world. + +It is not extravagant to say that George Eliot left no living competitor +equal to herself in the realm of fiction. I do not myself regard her as +great a novelist as Scott or Thackeray; but critics generally place her +second only to those great masters in this department of literature. How +long her fame will last, who can tell? Admirers and rhetoricians say, +"as long as the language in which her books are written." She doubtless +will live as long as any English novelist; but do those who amuse live +like those who save? Will the witty sayings of Dickens be cherished like +the almost inspired truths of Plato, of Bacon, of Burke? Nor is +popularity a sure test of posthumous renown. + +The question for us to settle is, not whether George Eliot as a writer +is immortal, but whether she has rendered services that her country and +mankind will value. She has undoubtedly added to the richness of English +literature. She has deeply interested and instructed her generation. +Thousands, and hundreds of thousands, owe to her a debt of gratitude for +the enjoyment she has afforded them. How many an idle hour has she not +beguiled! How many have felt the artistic delight she has given them, +like those who have painted beautiful pictures! As already remarked, we +read her descriptions of rural character and life as we survey the +masterpieces of Hogarth and Wilkie. + +It is for her delineation of character, and for profound psychological +analysis, that her writings have permanent value. She is a faithful +copyist of Nature. She recalls to our minds characters whom everybody of +large experience has seen in his own village or town,--the conscientious +clergyman, and the minister who preaches like a lecturer; the angel who +lifts up, and the sorceress who pulls down. We recall the misers we have +scorned, and the hypocrites whom we have detested. We see on her canvas +the vulgar rich and the struggling poor, the pompous man of success and +the broken-down man of misfortune; philanthropists and drunkards, lofty +heroines and silly butterflies, benevolent doctors and smiling +politicians, quacks and scoundrels and fools, mixed up with noble men +and women whose aspirations are for a higher life; people of kind +impulses and weak wills, of attractive personal beauty with meanness of +mind and soul. We do not find exaggerated monsters of vice, or faultless +models of virtue and wisdom: we see such people as live in every +Christian community. True it is that the impression we receive of human +life is not always pleasant; but who in any community can bear the +severest scrutiny of neighbors? It is this fidelity to our poor humanity +which tinges the novels of George Eliot with so deep a gloom. + +But the sadness which creeps over us in view of human imperfection is +nothing to that darkness which enters the soul when the peculiar +philosophical or theological opinions of this gifted woman are +insidiously but powerfully introduced. However great she was as a +delineator of character, she is not an oracle as a moral teacher. She +was steeped in the doctrines of modern agnosticism. She did not believe +in a personal God, nor in His superintending providence, nor in +immortality as brought to light in the gospel. There are some who do not +accept historical Christianity, but are pervaded with its spirit. Even +Carlyle, when he cast aside the miracles of Christ and his apostles as +the honest delusions of their followers, was almost a Calvinist in his +recognition of God as a sovereign power; and he abhorred the dreary +materialism of Comte and Mill as much as he detested the shallow atheism +of Diderot and Helvetius. But George Eliot went beyond Carlyle in +disbelief. At times, especially in her poetry, she writes almost like a +follower of Buddha. The individual soul is absorbed in the universal +whole; future life has no certainty; hope in redemption is buried in a +sepulchre; life in most cases is a futile struggle; the great problems +of existence are invested with gloom as well as mystery. Thus she +discourses like a Pagan. She would have us to believe that Theocritus +was wiser than Pascal; that Marcus Aurelius was as good as Saint Paul. + +Hence, as a teacher of morals and philosophy George Eliot is not of much +account. We question the richness of any moral wisdom which is not in +harmony with the truths that Christian people regard as fundamental, and +which they believe will save the world. In some respects she has taught +important lessons. She has illustrated the power of conscience and the +sacredness of duty. She was a great preacher of the doctrine that +"whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." She showed that +those who do not check and control the first departure from virtue will, +in nine cases out of ten, hopelessly fall. + +These are great certitudes. But there are others which console and +encourage as well as intimidate. The _Te Domine Speravi_ of the dying +Xavier on the desolate island of Sancian, pierced through the clouds of +dreary blackness which enveloped the nations he sought to save. +Christianity is full of promises of exultant joy, and its firmest +believers are those whose lives are gilded with its divine radiance. +Surely, it is not intellectual or religious narrowness which causes us +to regret that so gifted a woman as George Eliot--so justly regarded as +one of the greatest ornaments of modern literature--should have drifted +away from the Rock which has resisted the storms and tempests of nearly +two thousand years, and abandoned, if she did not scorn, the faith which +has animated the great masters of thought from Augustine to Bossuet. +"The stern mournfulness which is produced by most of her novels gives us +the idea of one who does not know, or who has forgotten, that the stone +was rolled away from the heart of the world on the morning when Christ +arose from the tomb." + +AUTHORITIES. + +Miss Blind's Life of George Eliot. Mr. Cross's Life of George Eliot, I +regret to say, did not reach me until after the foregoing pages had gone +to press. But as this lecture is criticism rather than history, the few +additional facts that might have been gained would not be important; +while, after tracing in that _quasi_-autobiography the development of +her mental and moral nature, I see no reason to change my conclusions +based on the outward facts of her life and on her works. The Nineteenth +Century, ix.; London Quarterly Review, lvii. 40; Contemporary Review, +xx. 29, 39; The National Review, xxxi. 23, 16; Blackwood's Magazine, +cxxix. 85-100, 112, 116, 103; Edinburgh Review, ex. 144, 124, 137, 150; +Westminster Review, lxxi. 110, lxxxvi. 74, 80, 90, 112; Dublin Review, +xlvii. 88, 89; Cornhill Magazine, xliii.; Atlantic Monthly, xxxviii. 18; +Fortnightly Review, xxvi. 19; British Quarterly Review, lxiv. 57, 48, +45; International Review, iv. 10; Temple Bar Magazine, 49; Littell's +Living Age, cxlviii.; The North American Review, ciii. 116, 107; +Quarterly Review, cxxxiv. 108; Macmillan's Magazine, iii. 4; North +British Review, xiv. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +VII*** + + +******* This file should be named 10533.txt or 10533.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/3/10533 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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