Women’s Guilds 181 Free Kent 181 The Learned Selden 181 Sir Edward Coke 181 Judge or Jury 182 Physical Force Argument 182 Women and the Universities 182 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE [Illustration] IN the spring of 1885, when planning to attend the British Association meeting in Aberdeen that summer, it struck me that I might prepare a paper on a Woman’s Subject, and try to find an opportunity of reading it before the Section of Economics and Statistics there. The paper divided itself into two, which I carefully entitled—I. The History and Statistics of Woman’s Privilege; and II. The Economic Effects of the Abstention of Women from Voting. They were, as might have been expected, both rejected. I was told that, though they formed valuable contributions to Constitutional History, the Committee felt they would certainly lead to political discussion, which must not be risked. At a public meeting in Aberdeen the same week, I gave a resumé of my arguments, and the materials then collected I have frequently used since in Drawing-room Addresses, and in private conversation; in public papers, and in friendly correspondence. So many have been surprised at the facts, and interested in the results, that, at the present crisis, I thought it advisable to spend another six months in careful verification of details, and in grouping apparently disconnected data, so that their full import might be seen at a glance. My first authorities were Sydney Smith’s “Enfranchisement of Woman the Law of the Land” (1876), and Mr. Chisholm Anstey’s Book and Papers on “The Representation of the People’s Acts” (1876). Thence I went through the materials of Constitutional History, the Statutes, Rolls of Parliament, State Papers, Parliamentary Writs, Journals of the House of Commons, Reports of Cases, Works on Law, History, and Archæology, both printed and manuscript. Just as my paper was complete enough for the purpose in hand, M. Ostrogorski’s book upon “Women’s Rights” appeared. But he had considered the question in regard to all women, I, only in regard to British Freewomen. He was the more general, I the more special, and I had noted several points which had escaped him in regard to the prime question of the day. I consulted Miss Helen Blackburn, Editor of the _Englishwoman’s Review_, and she urged me to bring out what I had prepared. She had always thought the work necessary, had intended to undertake it herself, when she could find leisure, and thought that now was the most fitting time to publish.