WOMEN AND THE ARTS. Development of the arts in the seventeenth century--Introduction of women on the stage--Corruption of the period-- Character of the drama--Wearing masks by spectators-- The French company at Blackfriars Theatre--The first English company with women players--Famous actresses-- English female artists in the Stuart period--Foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts--Angelica Kaufmann and Mary Moser elected members--Their career--Fanny Reynolds-- Sir Joshua’s opinion of his sister’s work--Mrs. Cosway-- Mrs. Carpenter--Character of eighteenth-century work-- Women’s place in musical art--Musical education in early times--Love of music in the sixteenth century--Instruments played by women--Music abolished by the Puritans--Musical maidservants in the seventeenth century--The first English opera--Purcell’s early work--Performance at a ladies’ school 275 PERIOD III. _LIFE IN THE LAST CENTURY._ CHAPTER I. MATRONS AND MAIDS. Artificiality of eighteenth-century life--The _rôle_ of the middle-class woman--Scotch domestic life--The old maid-- Admiration of foreigners for English women--English dress-- Public morals--Contrast between town and country life-- A country lady in London--Racquets, routs, and drums-- Education of girls--The boarding-school--Habits and manners of the middle class--Le Blanc’s opinion of the English 307 CHAPTER II. THE GREAT LADY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. London society in the last century--Lord Chesterfield on taste-- Coarse language of great ladies--The speculation mania among ladies--Narrowness of fashionable life--Manners and amusements--Difficulties of social intercourse--The founders of Almack’s Club--The passion for politics--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu on women’s training--Some traits of eighteenth-century life 333 PERIOD I. _WOMEN IN THE DAYS OF FEUDALISM._ WOMEN IN ENGLISH LIFE. CHAPTER I. A MEDIÆVAL MANOR-HOUSE. 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.