In the lighter side of life--in its recreations, which are now more in the nature of work than play--women have a much wider field than formerly, and take their pleasure as best suits them, without let or hindrance. They are free to act according to their necessities and tastes, wherever common sense and fitness lead them, without finding the barrier of sex laid across the path. Those who are afraid lest the world should suffer by women adopting modes of life unsanctioned by tradition, may console themselves by remembering that Nature is stronger than fashion or opinion, and will at once make her voice heard whenever the lightest of her laws is transgressed. The position of women in England cannot be regarded as an orderly evolution. It does not show unvarying progress from age to age. In one direction there has been improvement, in another deterioration. There have been breaks and gaps in the general advance, so that certain periods appear at a disadvantage in comparison with their predecessors. The last half-century shows very rapid and momentous changes. Never were such advantages placed within the reach of women; never were so many opportunities--social, literary, educational, commercial--open to them. But these advantages and opportunities would have been useless if women had not been ready, and shown their fitness for the new trusts. They have themselves largely created the public sentiment which now so strongly impels them towards wider action, and imposes on them greater responsibilities. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. PERIOD I. _WOMEN IN THE DAYS OF FEUDALISM._ CHAPTER I. A MEDIÆVAL MANOR-HOUSE. PAGE Domestic life in the Middle Ages--Interior of a manor-house-- Position and duties of the mistress--Household arrangements-- Dame Paston and her daughters--Lady Joan Berkeley--The lady of the castle in time of war--Lady Pelham’s defence of Pevensey Castle--Her letter to her husband 3 CHAPTER II. LEARNING BEFORE THE DAYS OF THE PRINTING PRESS. Learned ladies in Saxon times--Education of women in the Middle Ages--The rise of Grammar Schools--Want of provision for girls--Convent schools--Improvement of education in the fifteenth century--Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and her patronage of learning 17 CHAPTER III. THE RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES. The Feudal System unfavourable to the development of the middle classes--Subjection of women under Feudalism--Tyranny of feudal lords--Power of the Church--Rise of Commerce-- Material progress--End of the Feudal System 26 CHAPTER IV. WOMEN AND THE ANCIENT GILDS.