Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 335, September 1843
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"Collectively," says our author, "women might do much to remove
the national stigma of leaving men of science and letters
neglected. But their education is seldom such as enables them to
know the great importance of science and literature to human
improvement; and they are rarely brought up to regard it as any
part of their duty to promote the interests of society. They
would not, indeed, be able directly to reward men of talent by
employment or honours, but they might make them acquainted with
those who could; at all events, mere social distinction, the
attention and approbation of our fellow creatures, is in itself
an advantage to men who seldom possess that passport to English
respect--wealth. Though learning is tacitly discouraged in women,
yet the access to every species of knowledge requisite to direct
their efforts wisely and well, is as open to them as to men. With
this power of forming the mind of the rising generation, this
influence over the opinions, the morals, and the tastes of
society, this direct power in promoting objects both of private
benevolence and national importance--with so many advantages, how
is it that women are still exposed to so many sufferings, from
dependence, oppression, mortification, and contempt? why are
their opinions yet sneered at? why is their influence rather
deprecated than sought? Is it not that they have never learnt
even the selfish policy of connecting themselves with the spirit
of moral and intellectual advancement? Is it not because their
liberty, their privileges, their power, have proceeded in many
respects, less from a spirit of justice in the other sex, or a
sense of moral fitness, than from the love of pleasure and
luxury, of which women are the best promoters?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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