Chapter 32

[337]Ibid., vol.I, p. 120.

[338]Ibid., vol.II, p. 249.

[339]Mrs. Pilkington:Memoirs, vol.II, p. 249.

[340]Ibid., vol.II, pp. 84, 224, 231, 234.

[341]Ibid., vol.II, p. 221.

[342]Ibid., vol.II, p. 240. At the beginning of the eighteenth century we not infrequently find notice of women book-sellers, as Elizabeth Janeway of Chichester (1697); Eleanor Smith (1697); Elizabeth Whitlocke (1697-99); Anne Speed at Three Crowns, Exchange Alley (1705-09); Mrs. Billingsly under Royal Exchange (1707); Margaret Coggan (1708-09); Mrs. Appleby of Gravesend (1711); Mrs. Small of Deal (1711); etc. (Term Catalogues,passim.)

[343]The Heart of John Wesley's Journal, p. 182.

[344]Morgan, Charlotte E.:The Rise of the Novel of Manners, p. 70.

[345]Swift, Jonathan:The Journal to Stella, February 21, 1713.

[346]See an article entitled "An early Romantic Novel," by Miss Helen Sard Hughes in theJournal of English and Germanic Philology, vol.XV, pp. 564-97. In an unpublished manuscript Miss Hughes has made an elaborate study of Mrs. Collyer in her relation to her times. I am indebted to this study for many suggestions.

[347]See article by Mr. John Louis Haney on "German Literature in England before 1790," inAmericana Germanica, vol.IV, pp. 130-54; and an article on "The Influence of Solomon Gesner upon English Literature," by Miss Bertha Reed, inGerman American Annals, vol.VII(1905), vol.VIII(1906).

[348]ArticleVI, vol.XI, p. 78.

[349]See article by F. J. Harvey Darton on children's books, inCambridge History of Literature, vol.XI, chap.XVI.

[350]Hughes, Helen Sard:Mary Mitchell Collyer: A Romanticist of the Mid-Century, chap.III(unpublished manuscript).

[351]In my study,Nature in English Poetry between Pope and Wordsworth, in a brief account of fiction from this point of view, I gaveJohn Buncleas the earliest writer of fiction to make abundant use of nature. It is interesting to find Mrs. Collyer, not only antedating him, but excelling him in accuracy and fullness.

[352]Fielding, Henry:Complete Works(edited by Thomas Roscoe), p. 630.

[353]Familiar Letters between the Characters of David Simple.(1747).

[354]Fielding, Henry:Complete Works(ed. Roscoe), p. 632.

[355]The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson(ed. Barbauld), vol.II, pp. 101-05.

[356]Die Begebenheiten David Simpels, oder Erzählung von dessen Reisen durch die Städte London und Westminster, am einen wahrhaftigen Freund zu suchen.Geschrieben durch ein Frauenzimmer. Übersetzt durch M. A. Wodarch. (Hamburg, in der Hertelischen Handlung im Dom. 1746.)

[357]Le véritable Ami, ou la Vie de David Simple.Traduit de l'Anglois. (Amsterdam, 1755.)

[358]Geschichte der Gräfin von Dellwyn; von Fielding's Schwester, der Verfasserin desDavid Simple. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt. (Leipzig, in der Weidmannschen Handling. 1761.)

[359]Plügge, Georg:Miss Sarah Fielding als Romanschriftstellerin(Inaugural-Dissertation, Leipzig).

[360]Hawkins, Sir John:Life of Samuel Johnson, p. 286.

[361]The Gentleman's Magazine, vol.XXII, p. 146.

[362]Vol.II, p. 251. This chapter was reprinted entire inThe Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1841, p. 44. It was Miss Mitford who pointed out Johnson's authorship of this chapter. See Nichols:Literary Anecdotes, vol.VII, p. 161.

[363]Johnson, Samuel:Works(ed. Murphy), vol.II, p. 58.

[364]Genest:Some Account of the English Stage, vol.V, p. 241.

[365]Reprinted in 1778 and 1810. A new edition in four volumes in 1856 by Bohn announced that the text had been collated with the French "and with such corrections as the ingenious Translator herself would have made on a careful revision of her translation." Johnson reviewed this work favorably inThe Literary Magazinefor 1756.

[366]Johnson, Samuel:Works(ed. Murphy), vol.II, p. 1.

[367]Nichols:Anecdotes of Bowyer, p. 248.

[368]The Works of the Late Miss Catharine Talbot, vol.I, p. 98.

[369]SeeThe Gentleman's Magazine, vol.XLIV(1774), p. 376.Ibid.(1772), vol.XLII, pp. 135, 257. (Her character by Mrs. Duncomb.) Nichols:Literary Anecdotes, vol.IX, pp. 766-69. (Quotations from the Reverend Weeden Butler'sMemoirs of Bishop Hildesley, Letter by Dr. Rundle, Letter by Duchess of Somerset.)

[370]In 1748, in accordance with her dying request, her poems were published by subscription for her father's benefit, under the titlePoems on Several Occasions, by the lateMrs. LeaporofBrackleyinNorthamptonshire. Published for the Benefit of the Author's Father. 800. Price 5s.Vol. 2d and lastappeared later at the same price.

[371]SeeFamiliar Letters, p. 52.

[372]"Maria" has made some mistakes in names, but her general accuracy is attested by a reference to Mozans:Woman in Science. The eighteenth century was a period of great triumph for learned Italian women. Of the four chief women, Laura Bassi, Anna Manzolini, Maria Agnesi, Clotilda Tambroni, the first three had attained to fame before 1755 when Miss Masters's book appeared. Maria Agnesi (1718-1808) was a European celebrity by the time she was twenty. "M. Charles de Brosses, in hisLettres Familières écrites de l'Italie en 1739 et 1740, speaks of Agnesi in terms that recall the marvellous stories which are related of Admirable Crichton and Cico della Mirandola. 'She appeared to me,' he tells us, 'something more stupendous—una cosa piu stupenda—than the Duomo of Milan.' Having been invited to aconversazionefor the purpose of meeting this wonderful woman, the learned Frenchman found her to be 'a young lady about eighteen or twenty.' She was surrounded by 'about thirty people—many of them from different parts of Europe.' The discussion turned on various questions of mathematics and natural philosophy." The astonishment excited by her knowledge of these abstruse subjects was increased by her command of classical Latin which she spoke with purity, care, and accuracy. When the conversation became general she spoke to each person in the language of his own country. At about thirty Maria Agnesi brought out her great work, a treatise in two large volumes on the differential and integral calculus. "It would be impossible to describe the sensation it produced in the learned world. Everybody talked about it; everybody admired the profound learning of the author, and acclaimed her: 'Il portento del sesso, unico al Mondo'—the portent of her sex, unique in the world." (Mozans:Woman in Science, pp. 143-53.)Laura Caterina Bassi (1711-78) would take rank with learned women of any age or nation. At twenty-one she took part in a public disputation on philosophy with some of the most distinguished scholars of the time as her opponents. The brilliancy of her success on this occasion led to a request that she should present herself as candidate for the doctorate in philosophy. This was a still more imposing ceremony. It was held in the Communal Palace which was magnificently decorated for the splendid function. After a discourse in Latin to which she responded in the same tongue, she was crowned with a laurel wreath exquisitely wrought in silver, and had thrown round her thevajo, or university gown, both symbols of the doctorate. Her next triumph was when she passed the public examinations and was appointed by acclamation to the chair of physics in the University of Bologna, an office which she held many years, and always with increasing fame. (Mozans:Woman in Science, pp. 202-09.)Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was much impressed by the fame of Laura Bassi and wrote to England about her, and Lady Pomfret, on her visit to Italy, made a point of seeing the famous lady professor; but in general the Englishwomen seem to have been quite ignorant of the status of learned women in Italy.Anna Manzolini (1716-1774) held the chair of anatomy in Bologna for many years and is famous for her wax models of the organs of the human body. (Mozans:Woman in Science, pp. 235-37.)

Laura Caterina Bassi (1711-78) would take rank with learned women of any age or nation. At twenty-one she took part in a public disputation on philosophy with some of the most distinguished scholars of the time as her opponents. The brilliancy of her success on this occasion led to a request that she should present herself as candidate for the doctorate in philosophy. This was a still more imposing ceremony. It was held in the Communal Palace which was magnificently decorated for the splendid function. After a discourse in Latin to which she responded in the same tongue, she was crowned with a laurel wreath exquisitely wrought in silver, and had thrown round her thevajo, or university gown, both symbols of the doctorate. Her next triumph was when she passed the public examinations and was appointed by acclamation to the chair of physics in the University of Bologna, an office which she held many years, and always with increasing fame. (Mozans:Woman in Science, pp. 202-09.)

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was much impressed by the fame of Laura Bassi and wrote to England about her, and Lady Pomfret, on her visit to Italy, made a point of seeing the famous lady professor; but in general the Englishwomen seem to have been quite ignorant of the status of learned women in Italy.

Anna Manzolini (1716-1774) held the chair of anatomy in Bologna for many years and is famous for her wax models of the organs of the human body. (Mozans:Woman in Science, pp. 235-37.)

[373]Cibber:Lives of the Poets. Nichols:Literary Anecdotes, vol.V, pp. 304-08.

[374]For a recent life see Gaussen:Alice C. C.: A Woman of Wit and Wisdom.

[375]This translation from Crousaz was published anonymously and was generally attributed to Dr. Johnson, but an article in Dr. Birch's manuscripts in the British Museum attributes it decisively to her. The note indicates also Dr. Birch's estimate of the translation: "ELISÆ CARTERÆ. S. P. D. Thomas BIRCH. Versionem tuam Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et elegantiam, et in re difficilimâ proprietatem, admiratus. (Dabam) Novemb. 27 1738." Boswell'sLife of Johnson. (Everyman.) vol.I, p. 78.

[376]Her translation of Algarotti'sNewtonianismo per le dameappeared under the title,Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explained for the use of the Ladies. In Six Dialogues on Light and Colour.Two volumes. 1739.

[377]Davies, Randall:The Greatest House at Chelsey, p. 92.

[378]Ashton, John:Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 17.

[379]Ashton, John:Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 18.

[380]Published in vol.IIofWorksof Dr. W. King in 1776. (The Tatler, April 19, 1709, n.)

[381]The Spectator, No. 606 (Oct. 13, 1714).

[382]Ibid., No. 32 (Dec. 13, 1714).

[383]Dodsley'sCollection of Poems in Six Volumes by Several Hands(1758, fifth edition), vol.VI, pp. 161-62.

[384]Ibid., vol.III, p. 142.

[385]Johnson:Works of the English Poets, vol.VIII, p. 165.

[386]Ibid., vol.V, p. 62.

[387]Ibid., vol.XXXIX, pp. 233-42.

[388]Wheeler, Ethel Root:Famous Blue Stockings, pp. 78-82.

[389]Memoirs of the Verney Family, vol.IV, p. 220.

[390]Ashton, John:Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 19.

[391]Malcolm, Jas. P.:Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London in the Eighteenth Century, vol.I, p. 328.

[392]Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 24, p. 370.

[393]Thoresby:Diary, May 20, 1714.

[394]Ibid., April 15, 1723.

[395]Plumptre, Dean:Life of Bishop Ken.

[396]"Mrs. Scott described their life in her novel,Millennium Hall, by a Gentleman on his travels, 1762, as there was a popular prejudice then against a female author." Mrs. Sarah Scott (the widow of George Lewis Scott) wrote several novels, under the pseudonym "Henry Augustus Raymond," between 1750 and 1776.Millennium Hallreached a fourth edition by 1778.

[397]Birch, Una:Anna van Schurman: Artist; Scholar; Saint.

[398]Cut-paper work was an accomplishment in which ladies of various countries took pride. Deschamps in his account of painters mentions a Mrs. Block. He says she "excelled in cutting paper; whatever others produced in a print by a graver, she produced with a pair of scissors; she executed all kinds of subjects, as landscapes, sea-pieces, animals, flowers; and what is most astonishing, portraits, in which the resemblance was preserved in the highest degree. This new art of expressing representations of objects upon white paper became the object of universal curiosity, and the artist was encouraged by all the courts ofEurope. The ElectorPalatineoffered her a thousand florins (equal to about a hundred guineas) for three little pieces, which she refused.... The works of this woman are in design and taste extremely correct, and may best be compared with the engravings of Mallon. When they are pasted upon black paper, the places where the white paper is cut away in strokes, represent those of a graver or pen, and are in the highest degree neat, true, bold, and distinct." (The Gentleman's Magazine, 1761, p. 338). The cut-work paper in England never equalled that of Mrs. Block until Mrs. Delany's herbarium in the late eighteenth century out-distanced all competitors. But Mrs. Delany's work was more like painting while Mrs. Block's was like engraving.

[399]Monroe, Paul:Cyclopædia of Education; Watson, Foster: "Mrs. Bathsua Makin and the Education of Gentlewomen,"Atalanta, July, 1895; Granger:Biographical History(2d ed.), vol.II, p. 392; Ballard:Memoirs, Preface; Jesse:House of Stuart, vol.II, p. 250.

[400]Some light is thrown on the curious phrase "read, write, and in some measure understand," by William Greenhill's dedication of hisExposition of the first five chapters of Ezekielto the Princess Mary in 1644-45. After mentioning other instances of feminine precocity he praises her for "writing out the Lord's Prayer in Greek and some texts of Scripture in Hebrew." It was calligraphy rather than language that was here in question.

[401]Seep. 37.

[402]Probably daughters of Dr. Nicholas Love (d. 1630), Head-Master of Winchester College in 1601, and chaplain to James I. In 1673 the daughters of Christopher Love (1618-1651), Puritan minister from Cardiff, would be of too recent date to correspond to the description.

[403]This person was a Mr. M. Lewis whoseGrammarand whoseRules for Pointing and Reading Grammaticallyshe used in her school.

[404]The Woman as Good as the Man, p. 6.

[405]The Woman as Good as the Man, p. 124.

[406]Ibid., p. 45.

[407]FromInstructions to a Young Princesson this point we read: "I only desire you to believe, that true Wisdom consists in knowing exactly your Duty; and whatsoever carries a Woman farther than that, is generally either dangerous or unprofitable. For, to be plain, how doth it concern you, to know, whether the Sun or the Earth move, or after what manner Thunder and Tempest are form'd in the Skies, and a Hundred other Things as little necessary as these?"

[408]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell. First full presentation of the life and works of Mary Astell.

[409]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, p. 99.

[410]Reflections on Marriage, p. 29. Quoted in Miss Smith'sMary Astell, p. 89.

[411]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, p. 22.

[412]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, p. 70.

[413]Evelyn, John:Numismata.

[414]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, p. 73.

[415]Ibid., p. 76.

[416]See article by A. H. Upham inJournal of English and German Philology, vol.XII, No. 2, pp. 262-76; Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, AppendixII.

[417]Smith, Florence:Mary Astell, p. 180.

[418]Westminster Review, vol.CLXIX, p. 444, April, 1898.

[419]Notes and Queries, 8th Series, vol.XI, p. 348.

[420]Journal of Sacred Literature(1864), pp. 433-35. Ballard gives the arguments in favor of Lady Pakington's authorship.

[421]SeeComplete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax.

[422]Walsh, William:A Dialogue concerning Women, p. 31.

[423]Walsh, William:A Dialogue concerning Women, p. 86.

[424]Ibid., p. 92.

[425]Ibid., p. 93.

[426]Ibid., p. 101.

[427]"Mr. Graves said that Mr. Beaton's Map of Warwickshire will now come out in a little time. He commends it mightily as a most accurate Thing. This Beaton writesThe Lady's Diary, anAlmanack, that comes out every Year. This Beaton hath a Mathematical Head. It seems he condemns all the Mapps that ever were done of all or any Parts of England, as full of Faults. I guess him from hence to be a conceited vain Man." (Hearne'sCollections, vol.IX, p. 106.)

[428]The Guardian, Sept. 18 and 19, 1713.

[429]"Leonorahas been identified as Mrs. Perry, sister of Miss Shepheard, the 'Parthenia' of No. 140 and 'Leonora' of No. 113. Both were kinswomen of Sir Fleetwood Shepheard." (The Spectator, vol.II, p. 326.)

[430]Aitkin, George:The Life of Richard Steele, vol.II, p. 397.

[431]Ibid., vol.II, p. 39.

[432]The Gentleman Instructed in the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life. In Three Parts. Written for the Instruction of a Young Nobleman. To which is added, A Word to the Ladies, by way of Supplement to the First Part.(William Darrell.) Eighth edition. London, 1723, p. 127.

[433]Ibid., p. 155.

[434]The Gentleman Instructed in the Conduct of a Virtuous and Happy Life. In Three Parts. Written for the Instruction of a Young Nobleman. To which is added, A Word to the Ladies, by way of Supplement to the First Part.(William Darrell.) Eighth edition. London, 1723, p. 151.

[435]Ibid., p. 165.

[436]Ibid., p. 173.

[437]Chalmers:English Poets, vol.XIV.

[438]"The elder Miss Collier," mentioned in a previous letter.

[439]Correspondence of Richardson(ed. Barbauld): "Correspondence between Miss M. Collier, Miss Fielding, and Mr. Richardson." Vol.II, pp. 59-112.

[440]Seep. 235.

[441]Coventry:Pompey the Little, bookI, chap.VII.

[442]Swift, Jonathan:Works(ed. Sir Walter Scott), vol.IX, pp. 260-64.

[443]"Mrs. Pilkington pretends that this letter was written on Lady Betty Moore's Marriage with Mr. George Rochfort. But Mr. Faulkner, who is the more sound authority, supposed it addressed to Mrs. John Rochford, daughter of Dr. Staunton." (Swift:Works, ed. Scott, vol.IX, p. 203 n.)

[444]Swift:Works, ed. Scott, vol.IX, p. 209. De Quincey has an interesting comment on this passage: "Often, indeed, I had occasion to remember the cynical remark of Swift that, after all, as respects mere learning, the most accomplished woman is hardly on a level with a schoolboy. In quoting this saying, I have restricted it so as to offer no offence to the female sex intellectually considered. Swift probably meant to undervalue women generally. Now, I am well aware that they have their peculiar province. But that province does not extend tolearning, technically so called. No woman ever was or will be apolyhistor, like Salmasius, for example; nor a philosopher; nor, in fact anything whatsoever, called by what name you like, which demands either of these two combinations which follow:—1, great powers of combination, that is, of massing or grouping under large comprehensive principles; or, 2, severe logic." (Works, ed. Masson, vol.XIV, p. 125.)

[445]Ibid., vol.IX, p. 227.

[446]Swift:Works, ed. Scott, vol.IX, p. 217.

[447]Seep. 303.

[448]Ibid., vol.IX, p. 208.

[449]Craik, Henry:Life of Jonathan Swift, vol.II, AppendixXI.

[450]On the Picture of Lady M. Wortley Montagu by Kneller.

[451]Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, ll. 368-69 and note.

[452]The Rape of the Lock, cantoIV, ll. 59-62.

[453]SeeThree Hours after Marriage, p. 393.

[454]Epistle II.To a Lady.Of the Characters of Women.

[455]Ibid.

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