The industrial equality of former days--Women as members of Gilds--Restrictions on trade--Fitness of girls for industrial occupations--Women as watchmakers: Sir John Bennett’s opinion--The brewsters and ale-wives--Trade unions compared with the ancient Gilds--Influence of the Gilds--Equality of the sisteren and bretheren--Married women trading alone--Labour regulations applicable to men and women alike 39 CHAPTER V. THE MEDIÆVAL NUN. Dominance of the Church in the Middle Ages--The Conventual System--Occupations of the Nuns--Power of the Abbesses-- Disputes between Religious Houses and the Laity--Latitude allowed to Nuns--Convents Educational Centres--Effects of the Suppression of Convents--Complaints of the Laity 56 CHAPTER VI. THE CHURCH AS A SOCIAL FACTOR. Influence of the Church on women in social life--The twofold conception of womanhood--Canon and Civil Law--Effect of ecclesiastical celibacy 85 CHAPTER VII. ALMSGIVING IN OLDEN TIMES. Almsgiving at the monasteries--Charity dispensed by private families--Bequests of ladies for the relief of the poor-- Action of the Church--Change in the conception of the duty of almsgiving--Needlework for the poor--Modern gilds-- Charity at the present day 100 PERIOD II. _ENGLAND AFTER THE RENAISSANCE._ CHAPTER I. FAMILY LIFE AFTER THE FALL OF FEUDALISM. Effect on women of the fall of Feudalism--Characteristics of Tudor England--Observations of foreigners on English-women-- Greater liberty allowed to women in England than on the Continent--Social habits and amusements--Women’s education--English family life--Parents and children 113 CHAPTER II. THE SCHOLARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Revival of learning in the sixteenth century--Attitude of the nobility towards Letters and Arts--No age so productive of learned ladies--The Tudor princesses and Lady Jane Grey-- Sir Anthony Coke’s daughters--Mary Sidney--Learned women held in esteem--Learning confined to the upper classes--A sixteenth-century schoolmaster on women’s education 126 CHAPTER III. A LADY’S EDUCATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Retrogression in the seventeenth century--Tone of women’s education--Mrs. Hutchinson--Lady Ann Halkett--Mrs. Alice Thornton--Mrs. Makins--The Duchess of Newcastle--General estimation of learning--Changes in social life--Some patronesses of learning 145 CHAPTER IV. GLIMPSES AT GREAT LADIES.