Thus, when they hear us talking to, and advising one another about the Order, Distribution, and Contrivance of _Household Affairs_, about the _Regulation_ of the _Family_, the _Government_ of _Children_ and _Servants_, the provident management of a Kitchin, and the decent ordering of a _Table_, the suitable _Matching_ and convenient disposition of _Furniture_, and the like, they condemn us for impertinence. Yet they may be pleased to consider, that as the affairs of the World are now divided betwixt us, the _Domestick_ are our share, and out of which we are rarely suffer'd to interpose our Sense. They may be pleased to consider likewise, that as light and inconsiderable as these things seem, they are capable of no Pleasures of Sense higher, or more refin'd than those of _Brutes_ without our care of 'em. For were it not for that, their Houses wou'd be meer _Bedlums_, their most luxurious Treats, but a rude confusion of ill Digested, ill mixt Scents and Relishes, and the fine Furniture, they bestow so much cost on, but an expensive Heap of glittering Rubbish. Thus they are beholding to us for the comfortable enjoyment of what their labour, or good Fortune hath acquir'd or bestow'd, and think meanly of our care only, because they understand not the value of it. The _Essay_ is, in reality, hardly more than a frame for the "Characters." It defends the female sex, by the method of denouncing the "Adversaries of the Sex." Its result as argument is, therefore, on the whole, negative. But the positive value of the book is great in its spirited exemplification of a woman's power to form independent judgments and to write vigorous English. [Sidenote: Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)] In 1697, the year in which the fourth edition of Mary Astell's _A Serious Proposal to the Ladies_ appeared, Defoe published his _Essay on Projects_. Among plans for joint-stock banks, repairing and widening of highways, assurance societies, sick clubs, pensions for widows, etc., comes "An Academy for Women":