Thus Ignorance and a narrow Education lay the Foundation of

A Serious

PROPOSAL

TO THE

LADIES,

FOR THE

Advancement of their

True and Greatest

INTEREST.

In two Parts.

_By a Lover of her SEX._

_LONDON_:

Printed for _Richard Wilkin_ at the _King’s-Head_

in St. _Paul’s Church-Yard_, 1697.

A Serious

PROPOSAL

TO THE

LADIES.

LADIES,

Since the Profitable Adventures that have gone abroad in the World

have met with so great Encouragement, tho’ the highest advantage they

can propose, is an uncertain Lot for such matters as Opinion, not real

worth, gives a value to; things which if obtain’d are as flitting

and fickle as that Chance which is to dispose of them; I therefore

persuade my self, you will not be less kind to a Proposition that comes

attended with more certain and substantial Gain; whose only design is

to improve your Charms and heighten your Value, by suffering you no

longer to be cheap and contemptible. Its aim is to fix that Beauty, to

make it lasting and permanent, which Nature with all the helps of Art

cannot secure, and to place it out of the reach of Sickness and Old

Age, by transferring it from a corruptible Body to an immortal Mind.

An obliging Design, which wou’d procure them _inward_ Beauty, to whom

Nature has unkindly denied the _outward_, and not permit those Ladies

who have comely Bodies, to tarnish their Glory with deformed Souls.

Wou’d have you all be wits, or what is better, Wise. Raise you above

the Vulgar by something more truly illustrious, than a sounding Title

or a great Estate. Wou’d excite in you a generous Emulation to excel

in the best things, and not in such Trifles as every mean person who

has but Money enough may purchase as well as you. Not suffer you to

take up with the low thought of distinguishing your selves by any

thing that is not truly valuable, and procure you such Ornaments as

all the Treasures of the _Indies_ are not able to purchase. Wou’d help

you to surpass the Men as much in Vertue and Ingenuity, as you do in

Beauty; that you may not only be as lovely, but as wise as Angels.

Exalt and Establish your Fame, more than the best wrought _Poems_ and

loudest _Panegyricks_, by ennobling your Minds with such Graces as

really deserve it. And instead of the Fustian Complements and Fulsome

Flatteries of your Admirers, obtain for you the Plaudit of Good Men and

Angels, and the approbation of Him who cannot err. In a word, render

you the Glory and Blessing of the present Age, and the Admiration and

Pattern of the next.

And sure, I shall not need many words to persuade you to close with

this _Proposal_. The very offer is a sufficient inducement, nor does

it need the set-offs of _Rhetorick_ to recommend it, were I capable,

which yet I am not, of applying them with the greatest force. Since you

can’t be so unkind to your selves, as to refuse your _real_ Interest, I

only entreat you to be so wise as to examine wherein it consists; for

nothing is of worse consequence than to be deceiv’d in a matter of so

great concern. ’Tis as little beneath your Grandeur as your Prudence,

to examine curiously what is in this case offer’d you, and to take care

that cheating Hucksters don’t impose upon you with deceitful Ware. This

is a Matter infinitely more worthy your Debates, than what Colours are

most agreeable, or what’s the Dress becomes you best. Your _Glass_ will

not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own

Minds, which will discover Irregularities more worthy your Correction,

and keep you from being either too much elated or depress’d by the

representations of the other. ’Twill not be near so advantageous to

consult with your Dancing-Master as with your own Thoughts, how you

may with greatest exactness tread in the Paths of Vertue, which has

certainly the most attractive _Air_, and Wisdom the most graceful and

becoming _Mien_: Let these attend you and your Carriage will be always

well compos’d, and ev’ry thing you do will carry its Charm with it. No

solicitude in the adornation of your selves is discommended, provided

you employ your care about that which is really your _self_; and do

not neglect that particle of Divinity within you, which must survive,

and may (if you please) be happy and perfect, when it’s unsuitable

and much inferiour Companion is mouldring into Dust. Neither will

any pleasure be denied you, who are only desir’d not to catch at the

Shadow and let the Substance go. You may be as ambitious as you please,

so you aspire to the best things; and contend with your Neighbours

as much as you can, that they may not out do you in any commendable

Quality. Let it never be said, That they to whom pre-eminence is so

very agreeable, can be tamely content that others shou’d surpass them

in _this_, and precede them in a _better_ World! Remember, I pray you,

the famous Women of former Ages, the _Orinda_’s of late, and the more

Modern Heroins, and blush to think how much, is now, and will hereafter

be said of them, when you your selves (as great a Figure as you make)

must be buried in silence and forgetfulness! Shall your Emulation fail

_there only_ where ’tis commendable? Why are you so preposterously

humble, as not to contend for one of the highest Mansions in the

Court of Heav’n? Believe me, Ladies, this is the only _Place_ worth

contending for; you are neither better nor worse in your selves for

going before, or coming after _now_; but you are really so much the

better, by how much the higher your station is in an Orb of Glory.

How can you be content to be in the World like Tulips in a Garden, to

make a fine _shew_ and be good for nothing; have all your Glories set

in the Grave, or perhaps much sooner! What your own sentiments are I

know not, but I can’t without pity and resentment reflect, that those

Glorious Temples on which your kind Creator has bestow’d such exquisite

workmanship, shou’d enshrine no better than _Ægyptian_ Deities; be

like a garnish’d Sepulchre, which for all its glittering, has nothing

within but emptiness or putrefaction! What a pity it is, that whilst

your Beauty casts a lustre all around you, your Souls which are

infinitely more bright and radiant, (of which if you had but a clear

Idea, as lovely as it is, and as much as you now value it, you wou’d

then despise and neglect the mean _Case_ that encloses it) shou’d be

suffer’d to over-run with Weeds, lie fallow and neglected, unadorn’d

with any Grace! Altho’ the Beauty of the mind is necessary to secure

those Conquests which your Eyes have gain’d, and Time that mortal Enemy

to handsome Faces, has no influence on a lovely Soul, but to better and

improve it. For shame let’s abandon that _Old_, and therefore one wou’d

think, unfashionable employment of pursuing Butter-flies and Trifles!

No longer drudge on in the dull beaten road of Vanity and Folly, which

so many have gone before us, but dare to break the enchanted Circle

that custom has plac’d us in, and scorn the vulgar way of imitating all

the Impertinencies of our Neighbours. Let us learn to pride our selves

in something more excellent than the invention of a Fashion; And not

entertain such a degrading thought of our own _worth_, as to imagine

that our Souls were given us only for the service of our Bodies, and

that the best improvement we can make of these, is to attract the

Eyes of Men. We value _them_ too much, and our _selves_ too little,

if we place any part of our desert in their Opinion; and don’t think

our selves capable of Nobler Things than the pitiful Conquest of some

worthless heart. She who has opportunities of making an interest in

Heaven, of obtaining the love and admiration of GOD and Angels, is too

prodigal of her Time, and injurious to her Charms, to throw them away

on vain insignificant men. She need not make her self so cheap, as

to descend to court their Applauses; for at the greater distance she

keeps, and the more she is above them, the more effectually she secures

their esteem and wonder. Be so generous then, Ladies, as to do nothing

unworthy of you; so true to your Interest, as not to lessen your Empire

and depreciate your Charms. Let not your Thoughts be wholly busied in

observing what respect is paid you, but a part of them at least, in

studying to deserve it. And after all, remember that Goodness is the

truest Greatness; to be wise for your selves the greatest Wit; and

_that_ Beauty the most desirable which will endure to Eternity.

Pardon me the seeming rudeness of this Proposal, which goes upon a

supposition that there’s something amiss in you, which it is intended

to amend. My design is not to expose, but to rectifie your Failures.

To be exempt from mistake, is a privilege few can pretend to, the

greatest is to be past Conviction and too obstinate to reform. Even

the _Men_, as exact as they wou’d seem, and as much as they divert

themselves with our Miscarriages, are very often guilty of greater

faults, and such, as considering the advantages they enjoy, are much

more inexcusable. But I will not pretend to correct their Errors,

who either are, or at least _think_ themselves too wise to receive

Instruction from a Womans Pen. My earnest desire is, That you Ladies,

would be as perfect and happy as ’tis possible to be in this imperfect

state; for I love you too well to endure a spot upon your Beauties, if

I can by any means remove and wipe it off. I would have you live up to

the dignity of your Nature, and express your thankfulness to GOD for

the benefits you enjoy by a due improvement of them: As I know very

many of you do, who countenance that Piety which the men decry, and

are the brightest Patterns of Religion that the Age affords; ’tis my

grief that all the rest of our Sex do not imitate such Illustrious

Examples, and therefore I would have them encreas’d and render’d more

conspicuous, that Vice being put out of countenance, (because Vertue

is the only thing in fashion) may sneak out of the World, and its

darkness be dispell’d by the confluence of so many shining Graces.

The Men perhaps will cry out that I teach you false Doctrine, for

because by their seductions some amongst us are become very mean and

contemptible, they would fain persuade the rest to be as despicable and

forlorn as they. We’re indeed oblig’d to them for their management, in

endeavouring to make us so, who use all the artifice they can to spoil,

and deny us the means of improvement. So that instead of inquiring

why all Women are not wise and good, we have reason to wonder that

there are any so. Were the Men as much neglected, and as little care

taken to cultivate and improve them, perhaps they wou’d be so far from

surpassing those whom they now despise, that they themselves wou’d sink

into the greatest stupidity and brutality. The preposterous returns

that the most of them make, to all the care and pains that is bestow’d

on them, renders this no uncharitable, nor improbable Conjecture. One

wou’d therefore almost think, that the wise disposer of all things,

foreseeing how unjustly Women are denied opportunities of improvement

from _without_ has therefore by way of compensation endow’d them

with greater propensions to Vertue and a natural goodness of Temper

_within_, which if duly manag’d, would raise them to the most eminent

pitch of heroick Vertue. Hither, Ladies, I desire you wou’d aspire,

’tis a noble and becoming Ambition, and to remove such Obstacles as

lie in your way is the design of this Paper. We will therefore enquire

what it is that stops your flight, that keeps you groveling here below,

like _Domitian_ catching Flies when you should be busied in obtaining

Empires.

Altho’ it has been said by Men of more Wit than Wisdom, and perhaps

of more malice than either, that Women are naturally incapable of

acting Prudently, or that they are necessarily determined to folly, I

must by no means grant it; that Hypothesis would render my endeavours

impertinent, for then it would be in vain to advise the one, or

endeavour the Reformation of the other. Besides, there are Examples in

all Ages, which sufficiently confute the Ignorance and Malice of this

Assertion.

The Incapacity, if there be any, is acquired not natural; and none of

their Follies are so necessary, but that they might avoid them if they

pleas’d themselves. Some disadvantages indeed they labour under, and

what these are we shall see by and by and endeavour to surmount; but

Women need not take up with mean things, since (if they are not wanting

to themselves) they are capable of the best. Neither God nor Nature

have excluded them from being Ornaments to their Families and useful in

their Generation; there is therefore no reason they should be content

to be Cyphers in the World, useless at the best, and in a little time

a burden and nuisance to all about them. And ’tis very great pity that

they who are so apt to over-rate themselves in smaller Matters, shou’d,

where it most concerns them to know and stand upon their Value, be so

insensible of their own worth. The Cause therefore of the defects we

labour under is, if not wholly, yet at least in the first place, to be

ascribed to the mistakes of our Education, which like an Error in the

first Concoction, spreads its ill Influence through all our Lives.

The Soil is rich and would if well cultivated produce a noble Harvest,

if then the Unskilful Managers, not only permit, but incourage noxious

Weeds, tho’ we shall suffer by the Neglect, yet they ought not in

justice to blame any but themselves, if they reap the Fruit of this

their foolish Conduct. Women are from their very Infancy debar’d those

Advantages, with the want of which they are afterwards reproached, and

nursed up in those Vices which will hereafter be upbraided to them.

So partial are Men as to expect Brick where they afford no Straw; and

so abundantly civil as to take care we shou’d make good that obliging

Epithet of _Ignorant_, which out of an excess of good Manners, they

are pleas’d to bestow on us!

One would be apt to think indeed, that Parents shou’d take all possible

care of their Childrens Education, not only for _their_ sakes, but even

for their _own_. And tho’ the Son convey the Name to Posterity, yet

certainly a great Part of the Honour of their Families depends on their

Daughters. ’Tis the kindness of Education that binds our duty fastest

on us: For the being instrumental to the bringing us into the World,

is no matter of choice and therefore the less obliging; But to procure

that we may live wisely and happily in it, and be capable of endless

Joys hereafter, is a benefit we can never sufficiently acknowledge.

To introduce poor Children into the World and neglect to fence them

against the temptations of it, and so leave them expos’d to temporal

and eternal Miseries, is a wickedness for which I want a Name; ’tis

beneath Brutality; the Beasts are better natur’d, for they take care of

their offspring, till they are capable of caring for themselves. And if

Mothers had a due regard to their Posterity, how _Great_ soever they

are, they wou’d not think themselves too _Good_ to perform what Nature

requires, nor through Pride and Delicacy remit the poor little one to

the care of a Foster Parent. Or if necessity inforce them to depute

another to perform _their_ Duty, they wou’d be as choice at least, in

the Manners and Inclinations, as they are in the complections of their

Nurses, left with their Milk they transfuse their Vices, and form in

the Child such evil habits as will not easily be eradicated.

Nature as bad as it is and as much as it is complain’d of, is so far

improveable by the grace of GOD, upon our honest and hearty endeavours,

that if we are not wanting to our selves, we may all in _some_, tho’

not in an _equal_ measure, be instruments of his Glory, Blessings to

this World, and capable of Eternal Blessedness in that to come. But

if our Nature is spoil’d, instead of being improv’d at first; if from

our Infancy we are nurs’d up in Ignorance and Vanity; are taught to be

Proud and Petulant, Delicate and Fantastick, Humorous and Inconstant,

’tis not strange that the ill effects of this Conduct appear in all

the future Actions of our Lives. And seeing it is Ignorance, either

habitual or actual, which is the cause of all sin, how are they like

to escape _this_, who are bred up in _that_? That therefore Women are

unprofitable to most, and a plague and dishonour to some men is not

much to be regretted on account of the _Men_, because ’tis the product

of their own folly, in denying them the benefits of an ingenuous and

liberal Education, the most effectual means to direct them into, and

to secure their progress in the ways of Vertue.

For that Ignorance is the cause of most Feminine Vices, may be

instanc’d in that Pride and Vanity which is usually imputed to us,

and which I suppose if throughly sifted, will appear to be some way

or other, the rife and Original of all the rest. These, tho’ very

bad Weeds, are the product of a good Soil, they are nothing else but

Generosity degenerated and corrupted. A desire to advance and perfect

its Being, is planted by GOD in all Rational Natures, to excite them

hereby to every worthy and becoming Action; for certainly next to the

Grace of GOD, nothing does so powerfully restrain people from Evil

and stir them up to Good, as a generous Temper. And therefore to be

ambitious of perfections is no fault, tho’ to assume the Glory of our

Excellencies to our selves, or to Glory in such as we really have

not, are. And were Womens haughtiness express’d in disdaining to do

a mean and evil thing, wou’d they pride themselves in somewhat truly

perfective of a Rational nature, there were no hurt in it. But then

they ought not to be denied the means of examining and judging what is

so; they should not be impos’d on with tinsel ware. If by reason of a

false Light, or undue Medium, they chuse amiss, theirs is the loss,

but the Crime is the Deceivers. She who rightly understands wherein

the perfection of her Nature consists, will lay out her Thoughts and

Industry in the acquisition of such Perfections: But she who is kept

ignorant of the matter, will take up with such Objects as first offer

themselves, and bear any plausible resemblance to what she desires;

a shew of advantage being sufficient to render them agreeable baits

to her who wants Judgment and Skill to discern between reality and

pretence. From whence it easily follows, that she who has nothing else

to value her self upon, will be proud of her Beauty, or Money and what

that can purchase; and think her self mightily oblig’d to him, who

tells her she has those Perfections which she naturally longs for.

Her inbred self-esteem and desire of good, which are degenerated into

Pride and mistaken Self-love, will easily open her Ears to whatever

goes about to nourish and delight them; and when a cunning designing

Enemy from without, has drawn over to his Party these Traytors within,

he has the Poor unhappy Person, at his Mercy, who now very glibly

swallows down his Poyson, because ’tis Presented in a Golden Cup, and

credulously hearkens to the most disadvantageous Proposals, because

they come attended with a seeming esteem. She whose Vanity makes

her swallow praises by the wholesale, without examining whether

she deserves them, or from what hand they come, will reckon it but

gratitude to think well of him who values her so much, and think she

must needs be merciful to the poor despairing Lover whom her Charms

have reduc’d to die at her feet. Love and Honour are what every one

of us naturally esteem, they are excellent things in themselves and

very worthy our regard, and by how much the readier we are to embrace

what ever resembles them, by so much the more dangerous it is that

these venerable Names should be wretchedly abus’d and affixt to their

direct contraries, yet this is the Custom of the World: And how can she

possibly detect the fallacy, who has no better Notion of either than

what she derives from Plays and Romances? How can she be furnished with

any solid Principles whose very Instructors are Froth and emptiness?

Whereas Women were they rightly Educated, had they obtain’d a well

inform’d and discerning Mind, they would be proof against all those

Batteries, see through and scorn those little silly Artifices which

are us’d to ensnare and deceive them. Such an one would value her self

only on her Vertue, and consequently be most chary of what she esteems

so much. She would know, that not what others _say_, but what she her

self _does_, is the true Commendation and the only thing that exalts

her; the loudest Encomiums being not half so satisfactory, as the calm

and secret Plaudit of her own Mind, which moving on true Principles of

Honour and Vertue, wou’d not fail on a review of it self to anticipate

that delightful Eulogy she shall one day hear.

Whence is it but from ignorance, from a want of Understanding to

compare and judge of things, to chuse a right End, to proportion

the Means to the End, and to rate ev’ry thing according to its

proper value, that we quit the Substance for the Shadow, Reality for

Appearance, and embrace those very things which if we understood we

shou’d hate and fly, but now are reconcil’d to, merely because they

usurp the Name, tho’ they have nothing of the Nature of those venerable

Objects we desire and seek? Were it not for this delusion, is it

probable a Lady who passionately desires to be admir’d, shou’d ever

consent to such Actions as render her base and contemptible? Wou’d she

be so absurd as to think either to get love, or to keep it, by those

methods which occasion loathing and consequently end in hatred? Wou’d

she reckon it a piece of her Grandeur, or hope to gain esteem by such

excesses as really lessen her in the eyes of all considerate and

judicious persons? Wou’d she be so silly as to look big and think her

self the better person, because she has more Money to bestow profusely,

or the good luck to have a more ingenious Taylor or Milliner than her

Neighbour? Wou’d she, who by the regard she pays to Wit, seems to make

some pretences to it, undervalue her Judgment so much as to admit the

Scurrility and profane noisy Nonsense of men, whose Fore-heads are

better than their Brains, to pass under that Character? Wou’d she be

so weak as to imagine that a few airy Fancies joyn’d with a great

deal of Impudence and ill-nature (the right definition of modern Wit)

can bespeak him a Man of sense, who runs counter to all the sense and

reason that ever appear’d in the World? than which nothing can be an

Argument of greater shallowness, unless it be to regard and esteem him

for it. Wou’d a Woman, if she truly understood her self, be affected

either with the praises or calumnies of those worthless Persons, whose

Lives are a direct contradiction to Reason, a very sink of corruption,

by whom one wou’d blush to be commended, lest they shou’d be mistaken

for Partners in or Connivers at their Crimes? Will she who has a jot

of discernment think to satisfy her greedy desire of Pleasure, with

those promising nothings that have again and again deluded her? Or

will she to obtain such Bubbles, run the risque of forfeiting Joys

infinitely satisfying and eternal? In sum, did not ignorance impose

on us, we would never lavish out the greatest part of our Time and

Care, on the decoration of a Tenement, in which our Lease is so very

short, and which for all our industry, may lose its Beauty e’er that

Lease be out, and in the mean while neglect a more glorious and durable

Mansion! We wou’d never be so curious of the House and so careless of

the Inhabitant, whose beauty is capable of great improvement and will

endure for ever without diminution or decay!

Thus Ignorance and a narrow Education lay the Foundation of Vice,

and Imitation and Custom rear it up. Custom, that merciless torrent

that carries all before it, and which indeed can be stem’d by none

but such as have a great deal of Prudence and a rooted Vertue. For

’tis but Decorous that she who is not capable of giving better Rules,

shou’d follow those she sees before her, least she only change the

instance and retain the absurdity. ’Twou’d puzzle a considerate Person

to account for all that Sin and Folly that is in the World (which

certainly has nothing in it self to recommend it) did not Custom

help to solve the difficulty. For Vertue without question has on all

accounts the preeminence of Vice, ’tis abundantly more pleasant in

the _Act_, as well as more advantageous in the _Consequences_, as any

one who will but rightly use her reason, in a serious reflection on

her self and the nature of things, may easily perceive. ’Tis Custom

therefore, that Tyrant Custom, which is the grand motive to all those

irrational choices which we daily see made in the World, so very

contrary to our _present_ interest and pleasure, as well as to our

Future. We think it an unpardonable mistake not to do as our neighbours

do, and part with our Peace and Pleasure as well as our Innocence

and Vertue, meerly in complyance with an unreasonable Fashion. And

having inur’d our selves to Folly, we know not how to quit it; we go

on in Vice, not because we find satisfaction in it, but because we are

unacquainted with the Joys of Vertue.

Add to this the hurry and noise of the World, which does generally so

busy and pre-ingage us, that we have little time and less inclination

to stand still and reflect on our own Minds. Those impertinent

Amusements which have seiz’d us, keep their hold so well and so

constantly buz about our Ears, that we cannot attend to the Dictates

of our Reason, nor to the soft whispers and winning persuasives of the

divine Spirit, by whose assistance were we dispos’d to make use of it,

we might shake off these Follies and regain our Freedom. But alas! to

complete our misfortunes, by a continual application to Vanity and

Folly, we quite spoil the contexture and frame of our Minds, so loosen

and dissipate, that nothing solid and substantial will stay in them. By

an habitual inadvertency we render our selves incapable of any serious

and improveing thought, till our minds themselves become as light and

frothy as those things they are conversant about. To all which if

we further add the great industry that bad people use to corrupt the

good, and that unaccountable back wardness that appears in too many

good persons, to stand up for and propagate the Piety they profess; (so

strangely are things transposed, that Vertue puts on the blushes which

belong to Vice, and Vice insults with the authority of Vertue!) and we

have a pretty fair account of the Causes of our non-improvement.

When a poor Young Lady is taught to value her self on nothing but her

Cloaths, and to think she’s very fine when well accoutred; When she

hears say, that ’tis Wisdom enough for her to know how to dress her

self, that she may become amiable in his eyes, to whom it appertains to

be knowing and learned; who can blame her if she lay out her Industry

and Money on such Accomplishments, and sometimes extends it farther

than her misinformer desires she should? When she sees the vain and

the gay, making Parade in the World and attended with the Courtship

and admiration of the gazing herd, no wonder that her tender Eyes are

dazled with the Pageantry, and wanting Judgment to pass a due Estimate

on them and their Admirers, longs to be such a fine and celebrated

thing as they? What tho’ she be sometimes told of another World, she

has however a more lively perception of this, and may well think, that

if her Instructors were in earnest when they tell her of _hereafter_,

they would not be so busied and concerned about what happens _here_.

She is it may be, taught the Principles and Duties of Religion, but

not Acquainted with the Reasons and Grounds of them; being told ’tis

enough for her to believe, to examine why, and wherefore, belongs not

to her. And therefore, though her Piety may be tall and spreading,

yet because it wants foundation and Root, the first rude Temptation

overthrows and blasts it, or perhaps the short liv’d Gourd decays and

withers of its own accord. But why should she be blamed for setting

no great value on her Soul, whose noblest Faculty her Understanding

is render’d useless to her? Or censur’d for relinquishing a course of

Life, whole Prerogatives she was never acquainted with, and tho’ highly

reasonable in it self, was put upon the embracing it with as little

reason as she now forsakes it? For if her Religion it self be taken

up as the Mode of the Country, ’tis no strange thing that she lays it

down again in conformity to the Fashion. Whereas she whose Reason is

suffer’d to display it self, to inquire into the grounds and Motives

of Religion, to make a disquisition of its Graces and search out its

hidden Beauties; who is a Christian out of Choice, not in conformity

to those among whom she lives; and cleaves to Piety, because ’tis her

Wisdom, her Interest, her Joy, not because she has been accustom’d

to it; she who is not only eminently and unmoveably good, but able

to give a Reason _why_ she is so, is too firm and stable to be mov’d

by the pitiful Allurements of sin, too wise and too well bottom’d to

be undermin’d and supplanted by the strongest Efforts of Temptation.

Doubtless a truly Christian Life requires a clear Understanding as

well as regular Affections, that both together may move the Will to

a direct choice of Good and a stedfast adherence to it. For tho’ the

heart may be honest, it is but by chance that the Will is right if

the Understanding be ignorant and Cloudy. And what’s the reason that

we sometimes see persons unhappily falling off from their Piety, but

because ’twas their Affections, not their Judgment, that inclin’d

them to be Religious? Reason and Truth are firm and immutable, she

who bottoms on them is on sure ground, Humour and Inclination are

sandy Foundations, and she who is sway’d by her Affections more than

by her Judgment, owes the happiness of her Soul in a great measure

to the temper of her Body; her Piety may perhaps blaze high but

will not last long. For the Affections are various and changeable

mov’d by every Object, and the last comer easily undoes whatever its

Predecessor had done before. Such Persons are always in extreams, they

are either violently good or quite cold and indifferent; a perpetual

trouble to themselves and others, by indecent Raptures, or unnecessary

Scruples; there is no Beauty and order in their lives, all is rapid and

unaccountable; they are now very furious in such a course, but they

cannot well tell why, and anon as violent in the other extream. Having

more _Heat_ than _Light_, their Zeal out-runs their Knowledge, and

instead of representing Piety as it is in it self, the most lovely and

inviting thing imaginable, they expose it to the contempt and ridicule

of the censorious World. Their Devotion becomes ricketed, starv’d

and contracted in some of its vital parts, and disproportioned and

over-grown in less material instances; whilst one Duty is _over-done_

to commute for the neglect of another, and the mistaken person thinks

the being often on her knees, attones for all the miscarriages of her

Conversation: Not considering that ’tis in vain to petition for those

Graces which we take no care to practise, and a mockery to adore those

Perfections we run counter to, and that the true end of all our Prayers

and external Observances is to work our minds into a truly Christian

temper, to obtain for us the Empire of our Passions, and to reduce

all irregular Inclinations, that so we may be as like GOD in Purity,

Charity, and all his imitable excellencies, as is consistent with the

imperfection of a Creature.

And now having discovered the Disease and its cause, ’tis proper to

apply a Remedy; single Medicines are too weak to cure such complicated

Distempers, they require a full Dispensatory; and what wou’d a good

Woman refuse to do, could she hope by that to advantage the greatest

part of the World, and improve her Sex in Knowledge and true Religion?

I doubt not, Ladies, but that the Age, as bad as it is, affords very

many of you who will readily embrace whatever has a true tendency

to the Glory of GOD and your mutual Edification, to revive the

ancient Spirit of Piety in the World and to transmit it to succeeding

Generations. I know there are many of you who so ardently love God, as

to think no time too much to spend in his service, nor any thing too

difficult to do for his sake; and bear such a hearty good-will to your

Neighbours, as to grudge no Prayers or Pains to reclaim and improve

them. I have therefore no more to do but to make the Proposal, to prove

that it will answer these great and good Ends, and then ’twill be easy

to obviate the Objections that Persons of more Wit than Vertue may

happen to raise against it.

Now as to the Proposal, it is to erect a _Monastery_, or if you will

(to avoid giving offence to the scrupulous and injudicious, by names

which tho’ innocent in themselves, have been abus’d by superstitious

Practices,) we will call it a _Religious Retirement_, and such as

shall have a double aspect, being not only a Retreat from the World

for those who desire that advantage, but likewise, an Institution

and previous discipline, to fit us to do the greatest good in it;

such an Institution as this (if I do not mightily deceive my self)

would be the most probable method to amend the present and improve

the future Age. For here those who are convinc’d of the emptiness

of earthly Enjoyments, who are sick of the vanity of the world

and its impertinencies, may find more substantial and satisfying

entertainments, and need not be confin’d to what they justly loath.

Those who are desirous to know and fortify their weak side, first do

good to themselves, that hereafter they may be capable of doing more

good to others; or for their greater security are willing to avoid

_temptation_, may get out of that danger which a continual stay in

view of the Enemy, and the familiarity and unwearied application of

the Temptation may expose them to; and gain an opportunity to look

into themselves to be acquainted at home and no longer the greatest

strangers to their own hearts. Such as are willing in a more peculiar

and undisturb’d manner, to attend the great business they came into the

world about, the service of GOD and improvement of their own Minds, may

find a convenient and blissful recess from the noise and hurry of the

world. A world so cumbersom, so infectious, that altho’ thro’ the grace

of GOD and their own strict watchfulness, they are kept from sinking

down into its corruptions, ’twill however damp their flight to heav’n,

hinder them from attaining any eminent pitch of Vertue.

You are therefore Ladies, invited into a place, where you shall suffer

no other confinement, but to be kept out of the road of sin: You shall

not be depriv’d of your grandeur, but only exchange the vain Pomps

and Pageantry of the world, empty Titles and Forms of State, for the

true and solid Greatness of being able to despise them. You will only

quit the Chat of insignificant people for an ingenious Conversation;

the froth of flashy Wit for real Wisdom; idle tales for instructive

discourses. The deceitful Flatteries of those who under pretence of

loving and admiring you, really served their _own_ base ends for the

seasonable Reproofs and wholesome Counsels of your hearty well-wishers

and affectionate Friends, which will procure you those perfections

your feigned lovers pretended you had, and kept you from obtaining. No

uneasy task will be enjoyn’d you, all your labour being only to prepare

for the highest degrees of that Glory, the very lowest of which is

more than at present you are able to conceive, and the prospect of it

sufficient to out-weigh all the Pains of Religion, were there any in

it, as really there are none. All that is requir’d of you, is only to

be as Happy as possibly you can, and to make sure of a Felicity that

will fill all the capacities of your Souls! A happiness, which when

once you have tasted, you’ll be fully convinc’d you cou’d never do

too much to obtain it, nor be too solicitous to adorn your Souls with

such tempers and dispositions, as will at present make you in some

measure, such holy and Heavenly Creatures as you one day hope to be in

a more perfect manner; without which Qualifications you can neither

reasonably _expect_, nor are _capable_ of enjoying the Happiness of

the Life to come. Happy Retreat! which will be the introducing you

into such a _Paradise_ as your Mother _Eve_ forfeited, where you shall

feast on Pleasures, that do not like those of the World, disappoint

your expectations, pall your Appetites, and by the disgust they give

you put you on the fruitless search after new Delights, which when

obtain’d are as empty as the former; but such as will make you _truly_

happy _now_, and prepare you to be _perfectly_ so hereafter. Here are

no Serpents to deceive you, whilst you entertain your selves in these

delicious Gardens. No Provocations will be given in this Amicable

Society, but to Love and to good Works, which will afford such an

entertaining employment, that you’ll have as little inclination as

leisure to pursue those Follies, which in the time of your ignorance

pass’d with you under the name of love, altho’ there is not in nature

two more different things, than _true Love_ and that _brutish Passion_

which pretends to ape it. Here will be no Rivalling but for the Love

of GOD, no Ambition but to procure his Favour, to which nothing will

more effectually recommend you, than a great and dear affection to each

other. Envy that Canker, will not here disturb your Breasts; for how

can she repine at anothers well-fare, who reckons it the greatest part

of her own? No Covetousness will gain admittance in this blest abode,

but to amass huge Treasures of good Works, and to procure one of the

brightest Crowns of Glory. You will not be solicitous to encrease your

Fortunes, but to enlarge your Minds, esteeming no Grandeur like being

conformable to the meek and humble JESUS. So that you only withdraw

from the noise and trouble, the folly and temptation of the world,

that you may more peaceably enjoy your selves, and all the innocent

Pleasures it is able to afford you, and particularly that which is

worth all the rest, a Noble, Vertuous and Disinteress’d Friendship. And

to compleat all, that _Acme_ of delight which the devout Seraphic Soul

enjoys, when dead to the World, she devotes her self entirely to the

Contemplation and fruition of her Beloved; when having disengag’d her

self from all those Lets which hindred her from without, she moves in

a direct and vigorous motion towards her true and only Good, whom now

she embraces and acquiesces in with such an unspeakable pleasure, as is

only intelligible to those who have tried and felt it, which we can no

more describe to the dark and sensual part of Mankind, than we can the

beauty of Colours and harmony of Sounds to the Blind and Deaf. In fine,

the place to which you are invited is a Type and Antepast of Heav’n,

where your Employment will be as there, to magnify GOD, to love one

another, and to communicate that useful _knowledge_, which by the due

improvement of your time in Study and Contemplation you will obtain,

and which when obtain’d, will afford you a much sweeter and more

durable delight, than all those pitiful diversions, those revellings

and amusements, which now thro your ignorance of better, appear the

only grateful and relishing Entertainments.

But because we were not made for our selves, nor can by any means so

effectually glorify GOD and do good to our own Souls, as by doing

Offices of Charity and Beneficence to others; and to the intent that

every Vertue, and the highest degrees of every Vertue may be exercis’d

and promoted the most that may be; your Retreat shall be so manag’d as

not to exclude the good Works of an _Active_, from the pleasure and

serenity of a _Contemplative_ Life, but by a due mixture of both retain

all the advantages and avoid the inconveniencies that attend either. It

shall not so cut you off from the world as to hinder you from bettering

and improving it, but rather qualify you to do it the greatest Good,

and be a Seminary to stock the Kingdom with pious and prudent Ladies,

whose good Example it is to be hop’d, will so influence the rest of

their Sex, that Women may no longer pass for those little useless and

impertinent Animals, which the ill conduct of too many has caus’d ’em

to be mistaken for.

[Sidenote: Mr. _Nor. Conduct of Hum. Life_.]

We have hitherto consider’d our Retirement only in relation to

Religion, which is indeed its _main_, I may say its _only_ design;

nor can this be thought too contracting a word, since Religion is the

adequate business of our lives, and largely consider’d, takes in all

we have to do, nothing being a fit employment for a rational Creature,

which has not either a _direct_ or _remote_ tendency to this great and

_only_ end. But because, as we have all along observ’d, Religion never

appears in its true Beauty, but when it is accompanied with Wisdom

and Discretion; and that without a good Understanding, we can scarce

be _truly_, but never _eminently_ Good; being liable to a thousand

seductions and mistakes (for even the men themselves, if they have not

a competent degree of Knowledge, are carried about with every wind

of Doctrine) Therefore, one great end of this Institution shall be,

to expel that cloud of Ignorance which Custom has involv’d us in, to

furnish our minds with a stock of solid and useful Knowledge, that

the Souls of Women may no longer be the only unadorn’d and neglected

things. It is not intended that our _Religious_ shou’d waste their

time, and trouble their heads about such unconcerning matters, as

the vogue of the world has turn’d up for Learning, the impertinency

of which has been excellently expos’d by an ingenious Pen, but busy

themselves in a serious enquiry after _necessary_ and _perfective_

truths, something which it _concerns_ them to know, and which tends

to their real interest and perfection, and what that is the excellent

Author just now mention’d will sufficiently inform them. Such a course

of Study will neither be too troublesome nor out of the reach of a

Female Virtuoso; for it is not intended she shou’d spend her hours in

learning _words_ but _things_, and therefore no more Languages than are

necessary to acquaint her with useful Authors. Nor need she trouble

her self in turning over a great number of Books, but take care to

understand and digest a few well-chosen and good ones. Let her but

obtain right Ideas, and be truly acquainted with the nature of those

Objects that present themselves to her mind, and then no matter whether

or no she be able to tell what fanciful people have said about them:

And throughly to understand Christianity as profess’d by the _Church_

of _England_, will be sufficient to confirm her in the truth, tho’

she have not a Catalogue of those particular errors which oppose it.

Indeed a Learned Education of the Women will appear so unfashionable,

that I began to startle at the singularity of the proposition, but was

extremely pleas’d when I found a late ingenious Author (whose Book I

met with since the writing of this) agree with me in my Opinion. For

speaking of the Repute that Learning was in about 150 years ago, _It

was so very modish_ (says he) _that the fair Sex seem’d to believe

that_ Greek _and_ Latin _added to their Charms; and_ Plato _and_

Aristotle _untranslated, were frequent Ornaments of their Closets. One

wou’d think by the effects, that it was a proper way of Educating them,

since there are no accounts in History of so many great Women in any

one Age, as are to be found between the years 15 and 1600._

[Sidenote: Mr. _Wotton’s Reflect. on Ant. and Mod. Learn. p. 349, 350_.]

For since GOD has given Women as well as Men intelligent Souls, why

should they be forbidden to improve them? Since he has not denied us

the faculty of Thinking, why shou’d we not (at least in gratitude to

him) employ our Thoughts on himself their noblest Object, and not

unworthily bestow them on Trifles and Gaities and secular Affairs?

Being the Soul was created for the contemplation of Truth as well as

for the fruition of Good, is it not as cruel and unjust to preclude

Women from the knowledge of the one as from the enjoyment of the

other? Especially since the Will is blind, and cannot chuse but by

the direction of the Understanding; or to speak more properly, since

the Soul always _Wills_ according as she _Understands_, so that if

she Understands amiss, she Wills amiss. And as Exercise enlarges

& exalts any Faculty, so thro’ want of using it becomes crampt &

lessened; if therefore we make little or no use of our Understandings,

we shall shortly have none to use; and the more contracted and

unemploy’d the deliberating and directive Power is, the more liable

is the elective to unworthy and mischievous options. What is it but

the want of an ingenious Education, that renders the generality of

Feminine Conversations so insipid and foolish and their solitude so

insupportable? Learning is therefore necessary to render them more

agreeable and useful in company, and to furnish them with becoming

entertainments when alone, that so they may not be driven to those

miserable shifts, which too many make use of to put off their Time,

that precious Talent that never lies on the hands of a judicious

Person. And since our Happiness in the next World, depends so far on

those dispositions which we carry along with us out of this, that

without a right habitude and temper of mind we are not capable of

Felicity; and seeing our Beatitude consists in the contemplation

of the divine Truth and Beauty, as well as in the fruition of his

Goodness, can Ignorance be a fit preparative for Heaven? Is’t likely

that she whose Understanding has been busied about nothing but froth

and trifles, shou’d be capable of delighting her self in noble and

sublime Truths? Let such therefore as deny us the improvement of our

Intellectuals, either take up _his_ Paradox, who said _that Women have

no Souls_, which at this time a day, when they are allow’d to Brutes,

wou’d be as unphilosophical as it is unmannerly, or else let them

permit us to cultivate and improve them. There is a sort of Learning

indeed which is worse than the greatest Ignorance: A Woman may study

Plays and Romances all her days, and be a great deal more knowing

but never a jot the wiser. Such a knowledge as this serves only to

instruct and put her forward in the practice of the greatest Follies,

yet how can they justly blame her who forbid, or at least won’t afford

opportunity of better? A rational mind _will_ be employ’d, it will

never be satisfy’d in doing nothing, and if you neglect to furnish it

with good materials, ’tis like to take up with such as come to hand.

We pretend not that Women shou’d teach in the Church, or usurp

Authority where it is not allow’d them; permit us only to understand

our _own_ duty, and not be forc’d to take it upon trust from others; to

be at least so far learned, as to be able to form in our minds a true

Idea of Christianity, it being so very necessary to fence us against

the danger of these _last_ and _perilous days_, in which Deceivers

a part of whose Character is to _lead captive silly Women_, need

not _creep into Houses_ since they have Authority to proclaim their

Errors on the _House top_. And let us also acquire a true Practical

Knowledge such as will convince us of the absolute necessity of _Holy

Living_ as well as of _Right Believing_, and that no Heresy is more

dangerous than that of an ungodly and wicked Life. And since the

_French Tongue_ is understood by most Ladies, methinks they may much

better improve it by the study of Philosophy (as I hear the _French

Ladies_ do) _Des Cartes_, _Malebranche_ and others, than by reading

idle _Novels_ and _Romances_. ’Tis strange we shou’d be so forward to

imitate their Fashions and Fopperies, and have no regard to what really

deserves our Imitation! And why shall it not be thought as genteel to

understand _French Philosophy_, as to be accoutred in a _French Mode_?

Let therefore the famous Madam _D’acier_, _Scudery_, &c. and our own

incomparable _Orinda_, excite the Emulation of the English Ladies.