The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760Reynolds, Myra
History
The Learned Lady in England, 1650-1760
Reynolds, Myra
Women -- Education -- Great Britain; Women -- Great Britain; Women authors, English
Her indulgent brother, when he came back from his studies abroad,
also taught her medicine. With him she went on long "simpling"
excursions to gather flowers for the "large natural Herbal" they were
making. With him she read "Bartholine, Walæus, Harvey, his Circulatio
Sanguinis, and Lower's Motion of the Heart."[224] She learned to
write prescriptions, or "bills" as she called them, in Latin, with
the same "Cyphers and Directions as Doctors do," so that even the
apothecaries were misled and filled her "bills" with those of the
regular physicians.[225] She also ventured on something in the way
of practice and gained some repute for curing cases of gout given up
by the doctors.[226] She began to abandon the Muses for Paracelsus.
Or if she wrote poems the processes of digestion and the circulation
of the blood were her themes.[227] If the shackles of rhyme hindered
scientific accuracy of statement, she squared herself with facts by
abundant footnotes in which the proper Latin terminology was given
full scope. Her interest in medicine was a vital one. She even thanks
Strephon, through whose falsity she had been driven to study, and had
so gained a joy beyond "the sottish ease" that waits on love. In her
new love of learning she even took a vow of virginity:
In this happy life let me remain,
Fearless of twenty-five and all its train
Of slights or scorns, or being call'd Old Maid,
Those Goblings which so many have betray'd.[228]
Somewhat later Galesia gained a complete victory over her lovelorn
self by a most original and sensible method. She took entire charge
of her father's farm. She planned the work, hired the laborers,
superintended in person the occupations of each day, paid the wages,
and kept the accounts. The wholesome interests of each day and
equally wholesome fatigue at night left no intervals in which to
regret her lost lover.[229]
Galesia's recourse to hard study and responsible farm management
as a cure for a wounded heart sets her as a heroine in a class by
herself. She is so sensible and reasonable as to seem out of place
in a romance. It is therefore something of a surprise to find her
out-distancing the most sentimental in sighs and sobs and tears. Her
utterance in recounting the baseness of Bosvil, "It is fitting that I
should weep on all occasions," might serve as her permanent order of
business. "My sighs alternately blew up my Tears and my Tears allay'd
my Sighs" till "fresh Reflections rais'd new Gusts of Sorrow,"
describes her stormy woes. Sometimes she is able to restrain "the
briny Ebullition," but usually "a new Flux of Tears" breaks down all
barriers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account