poring over Plato with delight, while other members of her family were
engaged in diversions; and the night before the blameless creature
was executed for the fault of her ambitious parents, she wrote to her
sister in Greek, exhorting her to live and die in the true faith of the
reformers.
Roger Ascham said of his royal pupil, Elizabeth, “Yea, I believe that,
besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish,
she readeth more Greek every day than some prebendary of this church
doth Latin in a whole week.”
The eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More had learning equalled only by
her virtues. She corresponded with the celebrated Erasmus, who styled
her “the ornament of Britain.”
Mary, queen of Scots, could write and speak six languages. She made
graceful verses in French; and, when very young, delivered a Latin
oration to the court of France, to prove that there was nothing
unfeminine in the pursuit of letters.
The spirit of chivalry blazed forth anew in the literature of
that period. Many pens were employed in framing the panegyrics of
illustrious women; and Italy was peculiarly distinguished for these
performances. Boccacio set the example in his Panegyric de Claris
Mulieribus. After this, innumerable writers published eulogies on the
celebrated women of all nations. These volumes paved the way for the
discussion of the merits of women in general; and the pre-eminence
of female character over that of men, was proposed for a question in
public debate. In this discussion, Cornelius Agrippa boldly asserted
the superiority of women.
Peter Paul de Ribera, an Italian, published a work entitled, “The
immortal Triumphs and heroic Enterprises of eight hundred and
forty-five Women.” But even this ample panegyric is less singular than
a publication at Venice, in 1555, called “The Temple of the divine
Signora Joan of Arragon; erected in her honor by all the greatest wits,
and in all the principal languages of the world.” The society which
conceived this method of deification, disputed upon one point only;
viz. whether Joan of Arragon should possess the honors of the temple
alone, or share them with her celebrated sister, the marchioness de
Gaust. After mature deliberation, it was decided that two sovereigns
ought not to sit on the same throne; it was therefore resolved by the
academy, “that the marchioness have separate worship, and Joan of
Arragon remain in the sole and exclusive possession of her altars.”
Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Sclavonian, Hebrew, Chaldaic,
and many other languages, were combined in this singular monument to
woman’s fame.
In the midst of all this adulation, women were not backward in
vindicating their own claims. Several Italian ladies wrote books to
prove the comparative inferiority of men; and the French women espoused
the cause with equal zeal. The most conspicuous among them was Margaret
of Navarre, the first wife of Henry the Fourth, who undertook to prove
that “woman is much superior to man.” This princess, like Elizabeth of
England, made use of expressions so gross, that we in modern times can
hardly realize they came from a woman.
About the commencement of the sixteenth century, witches began to be
persecuted, abused, and despised, instead of being treated with the
reverence of more ancient times. Either from association with the
idea of the wrinkled sibyl of Cumæ, or from some other less obvious
cause, every woman who was old and haggard was in great danger of being
considered a witch. Every unaccountable event in the neighborhood
was charged to her; and any explanations she attempted to make were
regarded as the cunning instigations of the devil. If a new disease
appeared among cattle, or a blight rested on the fields, or a child
had a singular kind of fit, or a neighbor had the nightmare, it was
immediately attributed to the influence of some old dame, who at
midnight, when honest folks were sleeping, left her mortal body and
went careering through the air on a broomstick, accompanied by a train
of imps. If any person afflicted with fits, or other grievances, swore
that any particular individual was the cause, their oath was deemed
sufficient, and the poor victim of superstition was forthwith committed
to jail, there to await a cruel death. In many parts of the north of
Europe, it was for several years a very remarkable thing for any old
woman to die peaceably in her bed; and the same kind of excitement
prevailed to a considerable extent in England, Germany, and France.
The description of witches and their accompaniments are nearly the same
all the world over. Even in remote Hindostan, an old woman appeared
many years ago, of whom it was reported that she used to cook owls,
bats, snakes, lizards, and human flesh, in the skull of an enemy, by
which means she was able to render men invisible, and strike terror
into their adversaries. If the Hindoos had read Shakspeare, they could
not have pictured more exactly the English ideas of a witch. A cat, and
generally a black one, is usually described as one of the appendages of
these enchantresses; and it was supposed that they very often assumed
the form of that animal.
But it was not merely the aged who fell victims to this strange
superstition: the young and the beautiful were sometimes burned at the
stake, upon the charge of having dealt in magic. Such was the fate
of the high-souled maid of Orleans. The duchess de Conchini, being
summoned before the judges, and asked by what arts she had bewitched
the queen of France, calmly replied, “Merely by that ascendency which
great minds must have over little ones.” In England, the duchess of
Gloster was accused of making a wax figure of Henry the Sixth, and
causing it to melt before the fire with certain incantations, intended
to produce his death. For this offence, charged upon her by political
enemies of her husband, she was condemned to walk through the streets
barefoot, dressed in a white sheet, with papers pinned on her back, and
a burning taper in her hand; and after performing this humiliating
penance three days, followed by an insulting rabble, she was banished
from the realm. Richard the Third pretended that his withered arm was
produced by the sorcery of his brother’s widow and Jane Shore.
Fortune-telling was a power supposed to be universally possessed by
witches; and the most common method was by studying the lines of the
hand. A cup containing tea or coffee grounds was sometimes chosen in
preference; the person whirled it round three times toward herself,
accompanying each motion with a wish; then the sorceress examined the
cup, and pretended to find destiny inscribed there.
On the evening of the thirty-first of October, called Allhallow Even,
or Hallow E’en, witches, devils, and fairies were supposed to be
peculiarly busy. On this occasion it was common for young girls to
try tricks to ascertain whom they were to marry. The burning of nuts
or apple-seeds in a shovel was a favorite charm; the nuts were named,
and accordingly as they burned quietly together, or bounced away from
each other, it was supposed the issue of the courtship would be. Burns
describes this ceremony:
“Jean slips in twa wi tentie e’e;
Wha ’twas she wadna tell:
But this is _Jock_, and this is _me_,
She says in to hersel:
He bleezed owre her, an she owre him,
As they wad never mair part!
Till luff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e’en a sair heart
To see ’t that night.”
It was likewise customary to go out blindfolded and pull the first
plant of kail they met; its being big or little, crooked or straight,
indicated the size and shape of the future husband or wife; the
quantity of earth that clung to the root was prophetic of the degree
of wealth; and the taste of the stem indicated the natural temper and
disposition. Another trick was to go partly down cellar in the dark,
and throw a ball of thread down stairs, keeping hold of one end to
wind it; if any thing impeded it, they called out, “Who holds?” and it
was believed that a voice from the cellar would answer the name of the
future spouse. Sometimes an individual stole out unperceived and sowed
a handful of hemp-seed, repeating now and then, “Hemp-seed, I sow thee;
hemp-seed, I sow thee; and he that is to be my true love come after me
and pull thee.” Then looking over the left shoulder, the appearance of
the invoked person was supposed to be seen in the attitude of pulling
hemp: and no doubt it often was seen; for roguish lovers did not always
neglect such opportunities to advance their suit.
A volume might be filled with the “tricks” tried by young people to
ascertain who would be their future husband, or wife; but these few
specimens must suffice. Egyptian women were the most famous sorcerers
of the ancient world; and Gipseys have been most famed for magical
skill in modern times.
The fourteenth of February is called St. Valentine’s day. On the
evening previous, it was customary in many parts of the world for
people to write valentines, or love-letters in verse, to any lady
who pleased their fancy; and sometimes ladies were gracious enough to
address their lovers in rhyme. The outer door was usually slyly opened,
and the verses, tied to an apple or an orange, thrown in. A loud rap
then announced the event to the inmates of the house. Sometimes the
boys, for the sake of sport, would chalk the size of a letter on the
door-step, and then have fine fun when some person attempted to pick
it up. There was a superstition that whoever was first seen on the
morning of St. Valentine’s day, would assuredly be the future spouse.
On that day it was customary for a young lady to choose from among the
gentlemen of her acquaintance one to be her gallant; he presented her
with a bunch of flowers, or other trifling present, and thus bound
himself to attend upon her with the most obsequious gallantry for the
space of one year; before the service was completed a more serious
partnership was often resolved on.
On St. Valentine’s day, it is still usual for the common people of
England to draw names by lot. The man whose name is drawn makes the
fair one some trifling present, and is her partner in the dance. She
considers him her beau until he is engaged to some one else, or till
St. Valentine’s day returns.
These customs, together with the superstitious observances of Hallow
E’en, continued in full force during the seventeenth century, and
fragments of them are now found in various parts of the world.
It may be necessary to say a few words concerning the dress worn at
the remote periods of which we have been speaking. The Saxon ladies
wore a bodice and short petticoat, with a kind of mantle over the head
and shoulders. Buskins, laced in front, were worn on the feet. The
custom of combing the hair all back from the face, surmounted with a
black coif and steeple hat, continued from the Norman conquest till
near the seventeenth century. Queen Elizabeth was the first woman in
England that wore silk stockings; embroidered gloves and perfumes were
likewise first introduced into England from Italy, for her use. This
magnanimous queen was extremely offended if any of the ladies of her
court wore garments approaching to her own in magnificence. She had a
new dress for every day in the year, and was much attracted by rich
apparel in gentlemen. Sir Walter Raleigh had even his shoes embroidered
with pearls, and the court dresses of her favorite Leicester were
literally covered with jewels. Elizabeth enacted sumptuary laws, which
defined with great precision what sort of bonnet might be worn by a
gentlewoman, what by an esquire’s wife, what by a baron’s wife, &c.
Aldermen’s wives were permitted by an express law to wear the royal
color of scarlet. Every alderman who failed to supply his wife with a
scarlet gown before the ensuing Christmas, was fined ten pounds; and
every lady, who failed to appear in these dresses at Christmas and
Easter, forfeited twenty shillings for every default.
During Cromwell’s time, ornaments were thought sinful. Women wore their
hair plain and smooth, and muffled their persons from head to foot,
as if beauty were a gift to be ashamed of. This unnatural restraint
produced a violent reaction in the time of Charles the Second. Ladies
began to copy the elegant drapery of Vandyke’s pictures, which
gradually degenerated into extreme immodesty.
The emperor Paul of Russia made very minute regulations concerning
the dress both of men and women; and his laws were so capricious that
it required the most vigilant attention to comply with them. He once
ordered a lady of his court to be imprisoned and kept on bread and
water, because she had been guilty of wearing her hair rather lower in
the neck than was consistent with his decrees.
During the middle ages, the French women wore gowns quite high in the
neck, and fitted closely to the shape. The right side was embroidered
with their husbands’ coat of arms, and the left with their own. The
custom of displaying the shoulders was unknown before the time of
Charles the Sixth. Widows were closely muffled, and wore caps and
veils very much like nuns. Henry the Fourth found himself obliged to
restrain extravagance by sumptuary laws; yet his mistress, Gabriella,
was sometimes so loaded with pearls and diamonds, that she could not
support her own weight.
A taste for rich and elegant dress displayed itself first and most
conspicuously in Italy and France, and thence spread into more northern
nations. Petrarch’s Laura is described as wearing gloves brocaded with
gold, and dressed magnificently in silk, though a pound of silk at
that period was valued at four pounds sterling in money.
Spanish ladies wore necklaces of steel, to which thin iron rods were
fastened, curving upward to expand the veil when thrown over the head.
Caps more than a foot high were likewise much in vogue; they were
dressed in the form of a toupee on the top of the head, and covered
with a black veil. These caps may still be seen in some of the Spanish
provinces. Both in Scotland and Spain it was customary for a widow
to wear mourning till she died, or married again. The first year was
passed in a chamber hung with black, from which the sunlight was
excluded; the second it was hung with gray, and jewels and mirrors
prohibited.
All nations prided themselves on long and beautiful hair. Among the
Saxons and Danes, married women only covered it with a head-dress;
girls wore their tresses loose and flowing. A faithless wife had her
head shaven, and the church sometimes ordered it as a penance for other
sins. The Spanish and Italian ladies retained the Roman predilection
for golden hair. In order to obtain the desired hue, they made use of
sulphur and aquafortis, and exposed their heads to the sun during the
hottest hours of the day.
During the middle ages, dwellings were vast, and in some respects
magnificent, but remarkably comfortless. The wife of the proudest
baron, though she wore
“A mantle of rich degree,
Purple pall and ermine fre,”
was obliged to live without many things, which the least wealthy
citizen of the United States would consider it absolutely necessary
to provide for his household. Coffee and tea were unknown. Coaches
were not used in England until 1680. Before that time ladies rode on
horseback or on palfreys; and sometimes double, with another on the
pillion. A fondness for perfumes was universal; they were usually kept
burning in censers.
The word lady is supposed to have been derived from the Saxon word
_hlaf-dig_, meaning a _loaf-giver_, from the custom of distributing
bread among retainers, after a feast in baronial halls. It was
customary to bind the tender limbs of infants in tight bandages.
After the sixteenth century, books or verses in praise of women
gradually diminished; tournaments were abolished; and manners became
less reserved and respectful. Ladies of rank began to throw aside the
pedantry of learned languages, and acquire what the French call “the
talent of society.” The French were the first to set the example of
graceful accomplishments, and fascinating vivacity of manners; and they
soon became, what they have ever since remained, “the glass of fashion”
for other nations.
The beautiful Mary Stuart carried the gay and graceful refinements of
Paris into the bleak atmosphere of Scotland, and Henrietta Maria, with
her brilliant eyes, lively manners, and ever-changing caprices, made
them fashionable in old England.
Under the commonwealth, society assumed a new and stern aspect. The
theatres were shut; games shows, and amusements of every kind, were
prohibited. Women were in disgrace, and love considered a sin to be
expiated by fasting and prayer. It was everywhere reiterated from the
pulpits that woman caused man’s expulsion from paradise, and ought to
be shunned by Christians, as one of the greatest temptations of Satan.
“Man,” said they, “is conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity;
it was his complacency in woman that wrought his first abasement;
let him not therefore glory in his shame; let him not worship the
fountain of his corruption.” Learning and accomplishments were alike
discouraged; and women confined themselves to a knowledge of cookery,
family medicines, and unintelligible theological disputes of the day.
The reign of Charles the Second was an era of shameless profligacy.
Ladies of the court paid little regard to decorum, either in dress
or manners; and men covered their selfish sensuality with just gloss
enough not to defeat their own purposes. There never was a time when
women were so much caressed and so little respected. It was then
customary, when a gentleman drank a lady’s health, to throw some
article of dress into the flames in her honor; and all his companions
were obliged to sacrifice a similar article, whatever it might be.
One of Sir Charles Sedley’s friends, perceiving that he wore a very
rich lace cravat, drank to the health of a certain lady, and threw
his own cravat in the fire. Sir Charles followed the example very
good-naturedly, but observed that he too would have a joke sometime.
Afterward, when he dined with the same party, he filled a bumper to
some reigning beauty, and called a dentist to extract a decaying tooth,
which had long pained him. Etiquette demanded that every one of the
party should throw a tooth in the fire; and they yielded to necessity,
after unavailing remonstrances against this cruel test of their
gallantry. The practice of drinking in honor of ladies is said to have
originated at the concerts of St. Cecilia. When the concert ended, the
gentlemen retired to a tavern; and he, who could drink the most wine,
acquired the right of naming the reigning toast for the ensuing year.
During the reign of the second Charles, women, instead of being
approached with the respect paid to superior beings, became the objects
of contemptuous satire. The despicable earl of Rochester set the
example of this species of writing; and in succeeding reigns, it was
followed by Pope, Swift, Young, and a multitude of ordinary writers.
Pope says:
“Men some to pleasure, some to business take,
But every woman is at heart a rake.”
The objects of this wholesale bitterness have been disposed to palliate
it, in consideration of the personal deformity of the poet, which made
him magnanimously hate those whom he could not please.
Swift speaks of his unacknowledged and heart-broken wife as follows:
“Her hearers are amazed from whence
Proceeds that fund of wit and sense,
Which, though her modesty would shroud,
Breaks like the sun behind a cloud.
Ten thousand oaths upon record
Are not so sacred as her word!
She tends me like an humble slave,
And when indecently I rave,
She with soft speech my anguish cheers,
Or melts my passion down with tears:
Although ’tis easy to descry
She needs assistance more than I,
She seems to feel my pains alone,
And is a stoic to her own.
Where among scholars can you find
So soft, and yet so firm a mind?”
And yet, when poor Stella had died, a victim to his unkindness, he
reviled all womankind in terms of brutal grossness. He even started the
opinion that women were a connecting link between men and monkeys; and
ladies will no doubt be disposed to thank him for any classification,
that does not place them in the same species with himself.
But panegyrists cannot raise women above their level, or satirists
force them below it. Their character and condition is always in
correspondence with that of men; and both sexes have always furnished
about an equal number of exceptions to the general character of the age
in which they lived. There were liberal-minded women, as well as men,
during the bigoted times of Cromwell, and many an English matron, of
stainless character, educated her pure-minded daughters far from the
corrupting court of Charles the Second. The excellent lady Russell, who
was perhaps the very best woman in the world, lived in these profligate
times.
Mary, the wife of William the Third, made industry, domestic virtue,
and modest apparel, fashionable by her own example; and during Anne’s
reign the social intercourse of the sexes was polite and pleasant
without being profligate. It is true that literature was not the order
of the day; for the women of that period were as ignorant of their
own language, as they had formerly been learned in the classics; Dr.
Johnson declares that even the gifted Stella could not spell correctly.
Needlework became the all-absorbing occupation among women of the
higher classes. Whole churches were hung with tapestry embroidered by
devout dames; and notable housewives prided themselves on covering
their floors, chairs, and footstools, with the workmanship of their own
hands.
In queen Anne’s reign, it was considered vulgar to speak or move like a
person in good health. Complete helplessness was considered peculiarly
feminine and becoming. The duchess of Marlborough carried this fashion
so far, that when she travelled, she ordered the drums of garrisons to
be muffled, and straw laid before her hotels, lest her delicate nerves
should be offended with rude noises. About this time was introduced
from France the fashion of wearing shoes with heels five or six inches
high, top-knots of extraordinary height on the head, and hooped
petticoats measuring six or seven yards in circumference.
The custom of powdering the hair with flour was introduced by ballad
singers, in 1641. In the beginning of the reign of George the First,
only two ladies wore their hair powdered, and they were pointed at
for their singularity. The women of that period likewise wore a great
quantity of artificial hair, in imitation of periwigs worn by men.
About this time, lady Mary Wortley Montagu conferred a great blessing
upon England, and the civilized world, by introducing inoculation for
the small pox, after her return from Turkey. The custom was opposed
with the utmost violence of ignorance and prejudice; but lady Mary
persevered in her generous purpose, and to prove her sincerity, she
first tried it upon her own son, about three years old. In Litchfield
cathedral stands a cenotaph raised to her memory by a lady, who had
herself derived benefit from this salutary practice. The monument
represents Beauty weeping for the loss of her preserver.
Some of the best English writers appeared during the latter part of
the seventeenth century; but the romances of the day were exceedingly
prosaic, love-sick, and sentimental. The hero and heroine always fell
in love at first sight, and always had innumerable difficulties to
contend with, in consequence of the cruelty of relations and the plots
of libertines. Love, instead of being acted upon and developed by
circumstances, was represented as the chief end and aim of life, and
all the events of this busy world were merely its accessories.