Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623?—73)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, was a fascinating individual, a woman of strong character possessing varied and unpredictable intellectual interests. A creature of mid-seventeenth-century England—a period that has attracted the most historical and literary interest (especially for women) for its political and religious left—she was a complicated royalist but mainly uninterested in the major social and political debates of the day. Her political efforts were generally directed toward aiding her husband, William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, who was a military leader under Charles I and a major target of parliamentary hostility following the king’s death. Yet while the Duke was a classic conservative, the Duchess ranged from offering opinions similar to her husband’s to ones diametrically opposed. With few clear religious convictions, she was interested in social and educational structures, the sciences, and especially women’s status and abilities.
Margaret Cavendish was bom a Lucas, which she later described as a respected and prosperous Essex gentry family. Bom about 1623, she was the youngest daughter of a large family and, according to her autobiography, the subject of much love and adulation from her older sisters and brothers. She wrote lengthy stories and gained much praise and attention from her family because of her precocity. In her autobiography, appended to the more prominent biography of her husband, she noted that such attention made her shy outside the family circle. As a young woman, in 1644, she went into exile with the court of Queen Henrietta Maria. There she avoided court society but attracted the eye of the Marquis of Newcastle (about thirty years her senior), who expressed a not unusual affection for a younger woman endowed with a range of charms, not the least of which was an ample bosom. He wooed her with typically bad verse in the Cavalier mode, but he did work some surprising assurances into his claims as a suitor. One of the more interesting was his guarantee that an older man was less apt to dominate women than a young one. In reacting to the future duke’s discussion of the twin motives of passion and respect in his desire to wed her, Margaret demonstrated a kind of common sense and skeptical vision that underlay her later feminist sentiments.
Newcastle lost much of his fortune in supporting Charles I and, in the opinion of himself and his wife, was not sufficiently recognized and recompensed for his sacrifices by the restored Charles II. But despite his relatively impoverished condition, he was determined to keep up his aristocratic and profligate lifestyle during their exile, forcing the Duchess to return to England to raise money and then to pawn one of her gowns for food rather than to give up his favorite pair of horses. He returned to England on the first possible ship, leaving his wife behind in Antwerp as collateral for their debts! On these and other grounds, there is reason to question whether the marriage was quite as idyllic as traditionally portrayed. However, the Duke’s encouragement was surely the most important reason that Margaret Cavendish’s works were published. In addition, as the Duke’s wife she had an opportunity to meet individuals such as Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes and to learn from her husband and brother-in-law the principles of their thought, to be a part of an intellectual circle in Paris during the late 1640s when the recently married couple was in exile, and to continue to participate in intellectual discussions upon their return to England.
For those who seek early seeds of feminism, Cavendish is especially unsettling. She wrote the most radical critique of women’s nature and women’s status penned in the seventeenth century, yet she expressed some of the strongest doubts about women’s intellectual and personal competence. In her one can find the unexpected viewpoint, the uncontrollable and unpredictable mind, an individual willing to take on any subject, even while apologizing at every turn for taking pen to paper. In her writings she created an imaginative world where she could be at the intellectual and political center, and in real life she offered opinions not spoken by others. In many of her writings she appears as an interesting, and perhaps even extreme, advocate for women’s equal mental abilities and equal access to a serious education, but not systematically feminist. Others agreed with these sentiments, going back at least to Christine de Pizan, and including Bathsua Makin, Hannah Wooley, Anna van Schurman, Poullain de la Barre, and most prominently Mary Astell in her own day. But in her Female Orations and portions of her introductions, she went further than other feminists, perhaps rhetorically, but in a rhetoric that fits with her own life. She questioned the value of marriage altogether, the need for women to bear children and any gain to be had from them, and women’s relationship or loyalty to the state.
Given the conflicting positions expressed in her writings, it is difficult to distinguish her genuine views from those that she stated purely for literary or argumentative effect. Still, she often spoke outside the range of acceptable royalist and Anglican positions. These positions are more significant and remarkable than when she repeated her husband’s (and his circle’s) positions. Thus Page 72 →her statements on behalf of social equality or freedom of conscience, while inconsistent, set her apart from those whose ideas she has been assumed to follow, and raised topics and ideas that others avoided.
Some of her more remarkable views are offered in an oration defending a man who had stolen to support his family, in which she appears to attack men such as Thomas Hobbes who is normally credited as having a significant influence on her. In contrast with her husband, who feared freedom of conscience above all things as encouraging political upheaval, the Duchess wrote an “Oration for Liberty of Conscience.” Though this was followed by an oration arguing against liberty of conscience (on grounds of utility, not principle), she concluded with a compromise statement, siding more with the one favoring freedom of conscience: “if those Sects or Separatists. . . Disturb not the publick weal, why should you Disturb their Private Devotions?” Her lack of firm Christian loyalties is confirmed by her continual use of the term “gods” rather than God and her virtual ignoring of Christ altogether in her written works.
While those desiring intellectual or feminist consistency have never been comfortable with Margaret Cavendish, she was a thinker who tested the boundaries of acceptable views. She represented no movement or group and was an individual who spoke against or outside the values held by her class, her sex, and her age. About gender primarily, but also on issues of class, the pomp and circumstance of academics and academic life, and the social customs of the age, she was singularly original. Unlike women of the radical sects who often spoke more for the religious and political values of the group, normally articulated by male leaders, she did not represent a particular ideological position. She selected her causes and her positions in ways that seem idiosyncratic, remaining loyal only to husband (and indirectly to monarch), but never becoming a mouthpiece for others, either human or godly. No one has adequately explained the radical and often unseemly things she uttered. She wrote plays with obvious lesbian themes; she even included a defense of incest by a character in one of her plays. Her intellectual interests were as broad as her views were daring; her works encompassed the physical and biological sciences, drama, poetry, essays, moral philosophy, and model letters.
Her works were interspersed with judgments that the monarch should be supreme and not subject to question, that women were unworthy partners intellectually or socially to their male counterparts, that social and political stability were preferable to change and questioning. But unlike her husband and others around her, she criticized the abuse of animals, of the peasantry, and of women, and at points in virtually all of her writings, she broke from a social vision that saw some individuals more worthy than others.
Contemporaries and later scholars have resisted acknowledging the radical nature of her works. She was of the wrong social rank, on the wrong side of the English Civil War, tied (if only slightly) to the wrong religious establishment, to have reason to question gender or other relationships. Yet, even if offered in a rhetorical manner, grounded in an inconsistent vision of male-female relationships, and coming from a woman who was both admired and ridiculed as an eccentric, her writings posed a more broad-based, fundamental critique of womens legal, political, educational, and social status than did those of her contemporaries. Some scholars have emphasized the political and social imagery in her literary works as offering her most authentic voice, while others have turned to her essays and letters to view her attitudes toward the events and issues of her age. Wherever one turns, however, she was a unique individual. In many ways her life exemplified the desire expressed by a heroine in one of her plays, to be “a meteor singly alone” rather than a “star in a crowd.”
The excerpts selected for this volume are from the original editions of Poems and Fancies (1653), Philosophical and Physical Opinions (1655), Orations of Divers Sorts (1662), and CCXI Sociable Letters (1664).
HLS
Sources and Suggested Readings
- Battigelli, Anna. Margaret Cavendish and the Exiles of the Mind. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.
- Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. The Blazing World and Other Writings. Ed. and with an introduction by Kate Lilley. London: Penguin Classic, 1994.
- ———. Orations of Divers Sorts, Accommodated to Divers Places. London, 1662.
- ———. Philosophical and Physical Opinions. London, 1655.
- ———. Poems and Fancies. London, 1653. 2nd ed., 1664; 3rd ed, 1668.
- ———. CCXI Sociable Letters, Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. London: Printed by William Wilson, 1664.
- ———. Sociable Letters, ed. James Fitzmaurice. New York: Garland Publishing, 1997.
- Dash, Irene G. “Single-Sex Retreats in Two Early Modern Dramas: Love’s Labor’s Lost and The Convent of Pleasure.” Shakespeare Quarterly 47, 4 (1996): 387-95.
- Ferguson, Moira, ed. First Feminists: British Women Writers, 1578-1799. Bloomington and New York: Indiana University Press and Feminist Press, 1985.
- Gallagher, Catherine. “Embracing the Absolute: The Politics of the Female Subject in Seventeenth-Century England.” Genders 1 (1988): 24-39.
- Page 73 →Grant, Douglas. Margaret the First: A Biography of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, 1623-1673. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.
- Kahn, Victoria. “Margaret Cavendish and the Romance of Contract.” Renaissance Quarterly 50 (1997): 526-66.
- Mendelson, Sara H. The Mental World of Stuart Women: Three Studies. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982.
- Shaver, Anne, ed. The Convent of Pleasure and Other Plays. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
- Smith, Hilda L. “The Duty of Every Good Wife: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.” In Women & History: Voices of Early Modem England, ed. Valerie Frith, 119-44. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1995.
- ———. ‘“A General War amongst the Men [but] None amongst the Women’: Political Differences between Margaret and William Cavendish.” In Politics and Political Culture in Late Stuart England, ed. Howard Nenner. Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester University Press, 1997.
- ———. Reasons Disciples: Seventeenth-Century English Feminists. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982.
Poems and Fancies (1653)
To All Noble, and Worthy Ladies
Noble, Worthy Ladies,
Condemne me not as a dishonour of your Sex, for setting forth this Work; for it is harmlesse and free from all dishonesty; I will not say from vanity: for that is so natural to our Sex that it were unnaturall, not to be so. Besides, Poetry, which is built upon Fancy, Women may claime, as a worke belonging most properly to themselves: for I have observ’d, that their Braines work usually in a Fantasticall motion; as in their severall, and various dresses, in their many and singular choices of Cloaths, and Ribbons, and the like; in their curious shadowing, and mixing of Colours, in their Wrought works, and divers sorts of Stitches they imploy their Needle, and many Curious things they make, as Flowers, Boxes, Baskets with Beads, Shells, Silk, Straw, or any thing else; besides all manner of Meats to eate: and thus their Thoughts are imployed perpetually with Fancies. For Fancy goeth not so much by Rule, & Method, as by Choice: and if I have chosen my silk with fresh colours, and matcht them in good shadows, although the stitches be not very true, yet it will please the Eye; so if my Writing please the Readers, though not the Learned, it will satisfie me; for I had rather be praised in this, by the most, although not the best. For all I desire is Fame, and Fame is nothing but a great noise, and noise lives most in a Multitude; wherefore I wish my Book may set a worke every Tongue. But I imagine I shall be censur’d by my owne Sex; and Men will cast a smile of scome upon my Book, because they think thereby, Women incroach too much upon their Prerogatives; for they hold Books as their Crowne, and the Sword as their Scepter, by which they rule, and governe. And very like they will say to me, as to the Lady that wrote the Romaney,
Work Lady, work, let writing Books alone,
For surely wiser Women nere wrote one.
But those that say so, shall give me leave to wish, that those of neerest Relation, as Wives, Sisters and Daughters, may imploy their time no worse then in honest, Innocent, and harmlesse Fancies; which if they do, Men shall have no cause to feare, that when they go abroad in their absence, they shall receive an Iniury by their loose Carriages. Neither will Women be desirous to Gossip abroad, when their Thoughts are well imployed at home. But if they do throw scorne, I shall intreat you, (as the Woman did in the Play of the Wife, for a Month, which caused many of the Effeminate Sex) to help her, to keep their Right, and Priviledges, making it their owne Case. Therefore pray strengthen my Side, in defending my Book; for I know Womens Tongus are as sharp, as two-edged Swords, and wound as much, when they are anger’d. And in this Battel may your Wit be quick, and your Speech ready, and your Arguments so strong, as to beat them out of the Feild of Dispute. So shall I get Honour, and Reputation by your Favours; otherwise I may chance to be cast into the Fire. But if I burn, I desire to die your Martyr; if I live, to be
Your humble Servant,
M.N.
An Epistle to Mistris Toppe:
Some may think an Imperfection of wit may be a blemish to the Family from whence I sprung: But Solomon says, A wise man may get a Fool. Yet there are as few meer Fools, as wise men: for Understanding runs in a levell course, that is, to know in generall, as of the Effects: but to know the Cause of any one thing of Natures works, Nature never gave us a Capacity thereto. Shee hath given us Thoughts which run wildly about, and if by chance they light on Truth, they do not know it for a Truth. But amongst many Errours, there are huge Mountaines of Follies; and though I add to the Bulke of one of them, yet I make not a Mountaine Page 74 →alone, and am the more excusable, because I have an Opinion, which troubles me like a conscience, that 'tis a part of Honour to aspire towards a Fame... .
Tis true, the World may wonder at my Confidence, how I dare put out a Book, especially in these censorious times; but which should I be ashamed, or affraid, where no Evill is, and not please my seife in the satisfaction of innocent desires? For a smile of neglect cannot dishearten me, no more can a Frowne of dislike affright me; not but I should be well pleased, and delight to have my Booke commended. But the Worlds dispraises cannot make me a mourning garment: my mind’s too big, and I had rather venture an indiscretion, then loose the hopes of a Fame. Neither am I ashamed of my simplicity, for Nature tempers not every Braine alike; but tis a shame to deny the Principles of their Religion, to break the Lawes of a well-governed Kingdome, to disturbe Peace, to be unnaturall, to break the Union and Amity of honest Freinds, for a Man to be a Coward, for a Woman to be a Whore; and by these Actions, they are not onely to be cast out of all Civill society, but to be blotted out of the Roll of Mankinde. And the reason why I summon up these Vices, is, to let my Freinds know, or rather to remember them, that my Book is none of them: yet in this Action of setting out of a Booke, I am not clear without fault, because I have not asked leave of any Freind thereto; for the feare of being denied, made me silent: and there is an Old saying; That it is easier to ask Pardon, then leave.... Besides, I print this Book, to give an Account to my Freinds, how I spend the idle Time of my life, and how I busie my Thoughts, when I thinke upon the Objects of the World. For the truth is, our Sex hath so much waste Time, having but little imployments, which makes our Thoughts run wildly about, having nothing to fix them upon, which wilde thoughts do not onely produce unprofitable, but indiscreet Actions; winding up the Thread of our lives in snarles on unsound bottoms. And since all times must be spent either ill, or well, or indifferent; I thought this was the harmelessest Pastime: for sure this Worke is better then to sit still, and censure my Neighbours actions, which nothing concernes me; or to condemne their Humours, because they do not sympathize with mine, or their lawfull Recreations, because they are not agreeable to my delight; or ridiculously to laugh at my Neighbours Cloaths, if they are not of the Mode, Colour, or Cut, or the Ribbon tyed with a Mode Knot, or to busie my selfe out of the Sphear of our Sex, as in Politicks of State, or to Preach false Doctrine in a Tub, or to entertaine my selfe in hearkning to vaine Flatteries, or to the incitements of evill perswasions where all these Follies, and many more, may be cut off by such innocent worke as this. I write not this onely to satisfie you, which my Love makes me desire so to doe; but to defend my Book from spightefull Invaders, knowing Truth and Innocence are two good Champions against Malice and Falshood; and which is my defence, I am very confident is a great satisfaction to you. For being bred with me, your Love is twisted to my Good, which shall never be undone by any unkinde Action of Mine, but will alwayes remaine
Your loving Freind,
M. N.
Philosophical and Physical Opinions (1655)
Most Famously Learned,
I here present to you this philosophical work, not that I can hope wise school-men and industrious laborious students should value it for any worth, but to receive it without scorn, for the good encouragement of our sex, lest in time we should grow irrational as idiots, by the dejectedness of our spirits, through the careless neglects and despisements of the masculine sex to the female, thinking it impossible we should have either learning or understanding, wit or judgment, as if we had not rational souls as well as men, and we out of a custom of dejectedness think so too, which makes us quit all industry towards profitable knowledge, being imployed only in low and petty imployments which take away not only our abilities toward arts but higher capacities in speculations, so that we are become like worms, that only live in the dull earth of ignorance, winding ourselves sometimes out by the help of some refreshing rain of good education, which seldom is given us, for we are kept like birds in cages, to hop up and down in our houses....; thus by an opinion, which I hope is but an erroneous one in men, we are shut out of all power and authority by reason we are never employed either in civil or martial affairs our counsels are despised and laughed at and the best of our actions are trodden down with scorn, by the overweening conceit men have of themselves and through a despisement of us.
Orations of Divers Sorts, Accommodated to Divers Places (1662)
Part III. Orations
An Oration for Liberty of Conscience
Fellow Citizens,
It is very probable, we shall fall into a Civil Warr, through the Divers Opinions in One and the same Religion, for what hath been the cause of this Hash in Religion, but the Suffering of Theological Disputations in Schools, Colleges, Churches, and Chambers, as also Books of Controversies? All which ought not to have been Suffered, but Prohibited, by making Laws of Restraint; but since that Freedome hath been given, the Inconveniency cannot be Avoided, unless the Magistrates will give, or at least not oppose a Free Liberty to all; for if the People of this Nation is so Follish, or Wilfull, or Factious, or Irreligious, as not to Agree in One Opinion, and to Unite in One Religion, but will be of Divers Opinions, if not of Divers Religions, the Governours must Yield, or they will Consume the Civil Government with the Fire of their Zeal; indeed they will Consume themselves at last in their own Confusion. Wherefore, the best remedy to prevent their Own ruine, with the ruine of the Commonwealth, is, to let them have Liberty of Conscience, Conditionally, that they do not meddle with Civil Government or Governours; and for Security that they Shall not, there must be a Law made and Inacted, that, whosoever doth Preach, Dispute, or Talk against the Government or Governours, not only in This, but of any other Nation, shall be Punished either with Death, Banishment, or Fine; also for the quiet and Peace of this Kingdome, there ought to be a strict Law, that no Governour or Magistrate shall any kind Infringe our Just Rights, our Civil or Common Laws, nor our Ancient Customs; for if the One Law should be made, and not the Other, the People would be Slaves, and the Governours their Tyrants.
An Oration against Liberty of Conscience
Fellow Citizens,
I am not of the former Orators opinion; for if you give Liberty in the Church, you must give Liberty in the State, and so let every one do what they will, which will be a Strange Government, or rather I may say, no Government; for if there be no Rules, their can be no Laws, and if there be no Laws, there can be no Justice, and if no Justice, no Safety, and if no Safety, no Propriety, neither of Goods, Wives, Children, nor Lives, and if there be no Propriety, there will be no Husbandry, and the Lands will lye Unmanured; also there will be neither Trade nor Traffick, all which will cause Famine, Warr, and Ruine, and Such a Confusion, as the Kingdome will be like a Chaos, which the Gods keep us from.
An Oration proposing a Mean betwixt the two former Opinions
Fellow Citizens,
I am not of the two former Orators opinions, neither for an Absolute Liberty, nor a Forced Unity, but Between both, as neither to give them such Liberty, as for Several Opinions, to gather into Several Congregations, nor to force them to such Ceremonies, as Agree not with their Consciences; and if those Sects or Separatists Disturb not the Canon, Common, or Civil Laws, not to Disturb their Bodies, Minds, or Estates; for if they Disturb not the Publick Weal, why should you Disturb their Private Devotions? Wherefore, give them leave to follow their Several Opinions, in their Particular Families, otherwise if you Force them, you will make them Furious, and if you give them an Absolute Liberty, you will make them Factious.
Part IV. Pleadings
A Cause Pleaded at the Barr before Judges, concerning Theft
Plaintiff: Most Reverend, and Just Judges,
Here is a man, which is Accused for Stealing privately, and Robbing openly, against all Law and Right, the Goods of his Neighbours, for which we have brought him before your Honours, appealing to the Laws for satisfaction of the Injuries, Wrongs, and Losses, leaving him to your Justice and Judgement.
Defendant: Most Reverend Judges, I am come here to Plead for this poor man, my Client, who is Accused for Stealing, which is a silent obscure way of taking the Goods of other men, for his own use; also this Poor man, (for so I may say he is, having nothing of his own to Live on, but what he is Necessitated to take from other men) is accused of Robbery, which is to take away the Goods of other men in a Visible way and Forcible manner; All which he confesseth, as that the Accusation against him is true; for he did both Steal and Rob for his own Livelihood, and Maintenance of his Old Parents, which are Past Labouring, and for his Young Children, that are not Able to help themselves, and for his Weak, Sick Wife, that Labours in Child Page 76 →Birth; For which he appeals to Nature, who made all things in Common, She made not some men to be Rich, and other men Poor, some to Surfeit with overmuch Plenty, and others to be Starved for Want: for when she made the World and the Creatures in it, She did not divide the Earth, nor the rest of the Elements, but gave the use generally amongst them all. But when Governmental Laws were devised by some Usurping Men, who were the greatest Thieves and Robbers, (for they Robbed the rest of Mankind of their Natural Liberties and Inheritances, which is to be Equal Possessors of the World;) these Grand and Original Thieves and Robbers, which are call'd Moral Philosophers, or Common-wealth makers, were not only Thieves and Tyrants to the Generality of Mankind, but they were Rebels against Nature, Imprisoning Nature within the Jail of Restraint, Keeping her to the spare Diet of Temperance, Binding her with Laws, and Inslaving her with Propriety, whereas all is in Common with Nature. Wherefore, being against Nature’s Laws for any man to Possess more of the World or the Goods of the World than an other man, those that have more Wealth or Power than other men, ought to be Punished as Usurpers and Robbers, and not those that are Poor and Powerless. Therefore, if you be Just Judges of Nature, and not of Art, Judges for Right, and not for Wrong, if you be Judges of the most Ancient Laws, and not Usurping Tyrants, you will not only quit this Poor man, and set him free from his Accusers, which are His and such Poor men’s Abusers, but you will cause his Accusers, who are Rich, to Divide their Wealth Equally with Him and all his Family; for which Judgement you will gain Natures favor, which is the Empress of Mankind; Her Government is the Ancientest, Noblest, Generousest, Heroickest, and Royalest, and her Laws are not only the Ancientest, (for there are no Records before Nature’s Laws, so that they are the Fundamental Laws of the Universe, and the most Common Laws extending to all Creatures,) but they are the Wisest Laws, and yet the Freest; also Nature is the most Justest Judge, both for Rewards and Punishments; for She Rewards her Creatures, that Observe her Laws as they ought to do, with Delight and Pleasure, but those that Break or abuse her Laws, as in destroying their fellow Creatures by untimely Deaths, or Unnatural Torments, or do Riot and oppress her with Excess, She Punishes them with Grief, Pains, and Sicknesses, and if you will avoid the Punishment of Remorse, Grief, and Repentance, Save this Poor necessitated man from Violence, and the Cruelty of these Inhuman, Unnatural, Destroying Laws.
Plaintiff: Most Reverend Judges, This man, who is Nature’s Lawyer and Pleader, ought to be Banish’d from this Place, and his Profession of Pleading out of all Civilest Governments; for he Talks he knows not what of Nature’s Laws, whereas there is no Law in Nature, for Nature is Lawless, and hath made all her Creatures so, as to be Wild and Ravenous, to be Unsatiable and Injurious, to be Unjust, Cruel, Destructive, and so Disorderous, that, if it were not for Civil Government, Ordained from an Higher Power, as from the Creator of Nature her self, all her Works would be in a Confusion, and so their own Destructions. But man is not all of Nature’s Work, but only in his Outward Frame, having an Inward Celestial and Divine Composition, and a Supreme Power given him by the Gods to Rule and Govern Nature; So that if your Honours submit to the Plea of this Babler, you will make the Rulers and Governours of Nature, the Slaves of Nature; Wherefore, if you be Celestial and not Natural Judges, and will give Divine Judgement, and not Judge according to Brutal Senses, you will Condemn this Notorious Thief and Wild Robber to the Gallows, that his Life may be the Satisfaction for the Wrongs, and his Death an Example for a Warning to Prevent the like Crimes....
Part VIII. Orations
A Young New-Married Wif’s Funeral Oration
Beloved Brethren,
We are met together at this time, to see a New-Married Wife, which is here Dead, to be Buried. She hath made an unequal Change from a Lively Hot Husband, to a Deadly Cold Lover, yet will she be more Happy with her Dull, Dumb, Deaf, Blind, Numb Lover, than with her Lively, Talking, List’ning, Eyeing, Active Husband, were he the Best Husband that could be; for Death is far the Happier Condition than Marriage; and although Marriage at first is Pleasing, yet after a time it is Displeasing, like Meat which is Sweet in the Mouth, but proves Bitter in the Stomack; Indeed, the Stomack of Marriage is full of Evil Humours, as Choler, and Melancholy; and of very Evil Disgestion, for it cannot disgest Neglects, Disrespects, Absence, Dissembling, Adultery, Jealousy, Vain Expenses, Waste, Spoil, Idle Time, Laziness, Examinations, Cross Answers, Peevishness, Forwardness, Frowns, and many the like Meats, that Marriage Feeds on. As for Pains, Sickness, Cares, Fears, and other Troubles in Marriage, they are Accounted as wholesome Physic, which the Gods give them; for the Gods are the Best Physicians, and Death is a very Good Surgeon, Curing his Patients without Pain, for what Part soever he Touches, is Insensible. Death is only Cruel in Parting Friends from each other, for though they are Happy, whom he Takes away, yet those that are Left behind, are Unhappy, Living in Sorrow for their Page 77 →Loss; so that this Young New-Married Wife, that is Dead, is Happy, but her Husband is a Sorrowfull Widdower; But leaving Her to her Happiness, and Him to be Comforted, let us put Her into the Grave, there to Remain until the day of Judgement, which Day will Imbody her Soul with Everlasting Glory.
A Child-Bed Womans Funeral Oration
Beloved Brethren,
We are met together to see a Young Dead Woman, who Died in Child-Bed, to be laid into the Bed of Earth, a Cold Bed, but yet she will not take any Harm there, nor we shall not fear she will Catch her Death, for Death has Catch'd her; the truth is, that although all Women are Tender Creatures, yet they Indure more than Men, and do oft'ner Venture and Indanger their Lives than Men, and their Lives are more Profitable than men's Lives are, for they Increase Life, when Men for the most part Destroy Life, as witness Warrs, wherein Thousands of Lives are Destroyed, Men Fighting and Killing each other, and yet Men think all Women meer cowards, although they do not only Venture and Indanger their Lives more than they do, but indure greater Pains with greater Patience than Men usually do: Nay, Women do not only indure the Extremity of Pain in Child-Birth, but in Breeding, the Child being for the most part Sick, and seldom at Ease. Indeed, Nature seems both Unjust and Cruel to her Femal Creatures, especially Women, making them to indure all the Pain and Sickness in Breeding and Bringing forth of their Young Children, and the Males to bear no part of their Pain or Danger; the truth is, Nature has made her Male Creatures, especially Mankind, only for Pleasure, and her Female Creatures for Misery; Men are made for Liberty, and Women for Slavery, and not only Slaves to Sickness, Pains, and Troubles, in Breeding, Bearing, and Bringing up their Children, but they are Slaves to Men's Humours, nay, to their vices and Wickedness, so that they are more Inslaved than any other Female Creatures, for other Female Creatures are not so Inslaved as they; Wherefore, those Women are most Happy that Never Marry, or Dye whilst they be Young, so that this Young Woman that Died in Child-Bed is Happy, in that she Lives not to Indure more Pain or Slavery, in which Happiness let us leave her, after we have laid her Corps to Rest in the Grave.
Part XI. Femal Orations
I.
Ladies, Gentlewomen, and other Inferiours, but not Less Worthy, I have been Industrious to Assemble you together, and wish I were so Fortunate, as to perswade you to make a Frequentation, Association, and Combination amongst our Sex, that we may Unite in Prudent Counsels, to make our Selves as Free, Happy, and Famous as Men, whereas now we Live and Dye, as if we were Produced from Beast rather than from Men; for Men are Happy, and we Women are Miserable, they Possess all the Ease, Rest, Pleasure, Wealth, Power, and Fame, whereas Women are Restless with Labour, Easeless with Pain, Melancholy for want of Pleasures, Helpless for want of Power, and Dye in Oblivion for want of Fame. Nevertheless, Men are so Unconscionable and Cruel against us, as they Indeavour to Barr us of all Sorts or Kinds of Liberty, as not to Suffer us Freely to Associate amongst our own Sex, but would fain Bury us in their Houses or Beds, as in a Grave; the truth is, we live like Bats or Owls, Labour like Beasts, and Dye like Worms.
II.
Ladies, Gentlewomen, and other Inferiour Women, The Lady that Spoke to you, hath spoken Wisely and Eloquently in Expressing our Unhappiness, but she hath not Declared a Remedy, or Shew'd us a way to come Out of our Miseries; but if she could or would be our Guide, to lead us out of the Labyrinth Men have put us into, we should not only Praise and Admire her, but Adore and Worship her as our Goddess. But, Alas, Men, that are not only our Tyrants, but our Devils, keep us in the Hell of Subjection, from whence I cannot Perceive any Redemption or Getting out; we may Complain, and Bewail our Condition, yet that will not Free us; we may Murmur and Rail against Men, yet they Regard not what we say: In short, our Words to Men are as Empty Sounds, our Sighs as Puffs of Wind, and our Tears as Fruitless Showres, and our Power is so Inconsiderable, as Men Laugh at our Weakness.
III.
Ladies, Gentlewomen and other more Inferiours, The former Orations were Exclamations against Men, Repining at Their Condition, and Mourning for our Own; but we have no Reason to Speak against Men, who are our Admirers, and Lovers; they are our Protectors, Defenders, and Maintainers; they Admire our Beauties, and Love our Persons; they Protect us from Injuries, Defend us from Dangers, are Industrious for our Subsistence, and Provide for our Children; they Swim great Voyages by Sea, Travel long Journies by Land, to Get us Rarities and Curiosities; they Dig to the Centre of the Earth for Gold for us; they Dive to the Bottom of the Sea for Jewels for us; they Build to the Skies Houses for us; they Hunt, Fowl, Fish, Plant, and Reap for Food for us; all which we could not do Page 78 →our Selves, and yet we Complain of Men, as if they were our Enemies, when as we could not possibly Live without them: which shews, we are as Ungratefull, as Inconstant; But we have more Reason to Murmur against Nature than against Men, who hath made Men more Ingenious, Witty, and Wise than Women; more Strong, Industrious, and Laborious than Women, for Women are Witless, and Strengthless, and Unprofitable Creatures, did they not Bear Children. Wherefore, let us Love men, Praise men, and Pray for men, for without Men we should be the most Miserable Creatures that Nature Hath, or Could make.
IV.
Noble Ladies, Gentlewomen, and other Inferiour Women, The former Oratoress sayes, we are Witless, and Strengthless; if so, it is that we Neglect the One, and make no Use of the Other, for Strength is Increased by Exercise, and Wit is Lost for want of Conversation; but to shew Men we are not so Weak and Foolish, as the former Oratoress doth Express us to be, let us Hawk, Hunt, Race, and do the like Exercises as Men have, and let us Converse in Camps, Courts, and Cities, in Schools, Colleges, and Courts of Judicature, in Taverns, Brothels, and Gaming Houses, all which will make our Strength and Wit known, both to Men and to our own Selves, for we are as Ignorant of our Selves, as Men are of us. And how should we Know our Selves, when as we never made a Trial of our Selves? Or how should Men know us, when as they never Put us to the Proof? Wherefore, my Advice is, we should Imitate Men, so will our Bodies and Minds appear more Masculine, and our Power will Increase by our Actions.
V.
Noble, Honourable, and Vertuous Women, The former Oration was to Perswade us to Change the Custom of our Sex, which is a Strange and Unwise persuasion, since we cannot Change the Nature of our Sex, for we cannot make ourselves Men; and to have Femal Bodies, and yet to Act Masculine Parts, will be very Preposterous and Unnatural; In truth, we shall make our Selves like as the Defects of Nature, as to be Hermaphroditical, as neither to be Perfect Women nor Perfect Men, but Corrupt and Imperfect Creatures; Wherefore, let me Perswade you, since we cannot Alter the Nature of our Persons, not to Alter the Course of our Lives, but to Rule our Lives and Behaviours, as to be Acceptable and Pleasing to God and Men, which is to be Modest, Chaste, Temperate, Humble, Patient, and Pious; also to be Huswifely, Cleanly, and of few Words, all which will Gain us Praise from Men, and Blessing from Heaven, and Love in this World, and Glory in the Next.
VI.
Worthy Women, The former Oratoress's Oration indeavors to Perswade us, that it would not only be a Reproach and Disgrace, but Unnatural for Women in their Actions and Behaviour to Imitate Men; we may as well say, it will be a Reproach, Disgrace, and Unnatural to Imitate the Gods, which Imitation we are Commanded both by the Gods and their Ministers; and Shall we Neglect the Imitation of Men, which is more Easie and Natural than the Imitation of the Gods? For how can Terrestrial Creatures Imitate Celestial Deities? Yet one Terrestrial may Imitate an other, although in different sorts of Creatures; Wherefore, since all Terrestrial Imitations ought to Ascend to the Better, and not to Descend to the Worse, Women ought to Imitate Men, as being a Degree in Nature more Perfect, than they Themselves, and all Masculine Women ought to be as much Praised as Effeminate Men to be Dispraised, for the one Advances to Perfection, the other Sinks to Imperfection, that so by our Industry we may come at last to Equal Men both in Perfection and Power.
VII.
Noble ladies, Honourable Gentlewomen, and Worthy Femal Commoners, The former Oratress's Oration or Speech was to Perswade us Out of our Selves, as to be That, which Nature never Intended us to be, to wit Masculine; but why should we Desire to be Masculine, since our Own Sex and Condition is far the Better? for if Men have more Courage, they have more Danger; and if Men have more Strength, they have more Labour than Women have; if Men are more Eloquent in Speech, Women are more Harmonious in Voice; if Men be more Active, Women are more Gracefull; if Men have more Liberty, Women have more Safety; for we never Fight Duels, nor Battels, nor do we go Long Travels or Dangerous Voyages; we Labour not in Building, nor Digging in Mines, Quarries, or Pits, for Metal, Stone, or Coals; neither do we Waste or Shorten our Lives with University or Scholastic Studies, Questions, and Disputes; we Burn not our Faces with Smiths Forges, or Chymist Furnaces, and Hundreds of other Actions, which Men are Imployed in; for they would not only Fade the Fresh Beauty, Spoil the Lovely Features, and Decay the Youth of Women, causing them to appear Old, whilst they are Young, but would Break their Small Limbs, and Destroy their Tender Lives. Wherefore, Women have no Reason to Complain against Nature, or the God of Nature, for though the Gifts are not the Same they have given to Men, yet those Gifts they have given to Women, are much Better; for we Women are much more Favour'd Page 79 →by Nature than Men, in Giving us such Beauties, Features, Shapes, Gracefull Demeanour, and such Insinuating and Inticing Attractives, as Men are Forc’d to Admire us, Love us, and be Desirous of us, in so much as rather than not Have and Injoy us, they will Deliver to our Disposals, their Power, Persons, and Lives, Inslaving Themselves to our Will and Pleasures; also we are their Saints, whom they Adore and Worship, and what can we Desire more, than to be Men's Tyrants, Destinies, and Goddesses?
Part XIII. Orations in the Field of Peace
A Peasants Oration to his Fellow Clowns
Fellow Peasants,
For we are all Fellows in Labour, Profit, and Pleasure, though not Fellows in Arms, Spoils, and Danger, and though we Live in the Fields of Peace, and not in the Fields of Warr, yet our Fields of Peace resemble the Fields of Warr, for we are an Army of Clowns, though not of Souldiers, and our Commanders are our Landlords, who often Deceive us of the Increase of our Labours, as the Warring commanders Deceive their Common Souldiers of the Profit of their Spoils; also we have our Infantery, and our Cavallry; for all those that belong to the Keeping and Breeding of Beast, as Shepherds, Grasiers, Herdmen, Goat-herds, Swine-herds, and Carters, are of the Cavallry, but all they that belong to the Earth, as Sowers, Planters, Reapers, Threshers, Hedgers, Ditchers, Diggers, Delvers, are our Infantery; also we have Arms and Ammunition, for we are Arm’d with our Beast Skins, and our Arms of use are Pikes, Forks, Cutting Sickles, Mowing Sithes, Pruning Knives, Thrashing Flails, Plough-sherds, Shepherds Hooks, Herd-mens Staves, and the like, and our Match, Powder, and Bullets, are Puddings, Pease, and Porradge, and our Granadoes are Eggs of all Sorts and Sizes, our Carts are our Waggons, our Cottages our Tents, and our Victuals and Country Huswives our Bagg and Baggage, and the Lowing of our Herds, and Bleating of our sheep, are our Drums and Trumpets, not to Alarm us to Fight, but to Feed; also we have Enemies, which are Unseasonable Seasons, Rotting Moistures, Drowning Showres and Over-flows, Chilling Frost, Scorching Heat, and Devouring Worms, all which we Fight against, not with Force, but with Industry. And our Army of Clowns is more Skilfull to Destroy our Enemies, than an Army of Souldiers is to Destroy their Enemies, nay, our Army is an Army wherein is Peace and Plenty, whereas in their Army is Warr and Want: we become Rich with Safety, they become Poor with Danger, we be Gentle to Beast, they be Cruel to Men, they Thrive by Blood, we by Milk, we get Health by our Labours, and Long Life by our Temperance, and they get Diseases in their Riots, and Death in their Warrs: Thus they Live Painfully, Die Violently, and only Leave their Bare Name to their Posterity and Beggarly Race, we Live Healthfully, Die Peaceably, and Leave our Goods to our Posterity, who by their Wealth come to be Gentlemen.
A Peasants, or Clowns Oration spoken in the Field of Peace, concerning Husbandry
Fellow Peasants,
I must tell you, we Live in a Happy Age, where Peace Sows, and Plenty Reaps, for whereas Warrs Destroy our Increase, now Peace Increases our Stores; also I would have you Know, that our Profession which is Husbandry, is one of the Noblest and Generousest Professions, which is, to Imploy our Selves like as the Gods and Nature; for though we cannot Create Creatures, as Nature doth, yet we by our Industry Increase Nature’s Creatures, not only Vegetables, that we Produce in our Fields, and Store in our Barns, but Animals, which we Breed in our Farms, and Feed in our Fields; But as Nature Commits Errors and Defects in Producing her Creatures, so we for want of Knowledge have not the Good effect of our Labours; for though we are Bred up to Husbandry, yet we are not all so Knowing in Husbandry, as to Thrive and Grow Rich by our Labours; for as all Scholars are not Learned, that have Lived and Spent most of their time in Studies in Universities, but are meer Dunces; or as Artisans, are not all Excellent Workmen, although they have been Bound to their Trade, and have Wrought long in it, yet are but Bunglers: So for Husbandry, all Husbandmen are not so Knowing in their Profession as to Thrive ... ; for as Learning without Practice is of No Effect, so Practice without Knowledge is of Small Profit;... but when Practice and Wit are joyned together, they beget Wisdom and Wealth, the One being Adorned with Gold, the Other Inthroned with Fame, for Emperours have Ascended from the Plough, and Kings from the Sheep-coats, Converting their Plough-sherds to Thrones, their Sickles to Crowns, and their Sheephooks to Scepters. Thus Clowns, Boors, or Peasants by Name, are become Princes in Power, and Princes in Power are become Beasts by Name and nature, witness Nebuchadnezzar.
A Peasants Oration to his Fellow Peasants.
Fellow Peasants,
Give me Leave to Tell you, we are the most Unhappy People in the World, for we Live to Labour, and Labour to Live; and we are not only the Unhappiest, but the Basest men in the World, for we are not only Bred with Page 80 →Beasts, and live with Beasts, and Dye like Beasts, but we are the Bawds and Pimps too, to bring Beasts to Act Bestially together; also we are the Dungers of the Earth, to Carry and spread the several Excrements of several Creatures thereon, which makes us not only to have a Continual Stink in our Nostrils, but to be a meer Stink our Selves; Thus we are Beastly Within and Without, for all our Thoughts are Imployed on our Labours, which Labours are Brutish; neither have we such Fine and Pleasant Recreations as other Men, for our Recreation is only to Whistle, Pipe, and sometimes to Dance in a Crowd together, or rather Jump and Leap together, being ignorant of Dancing Measures; and the only Pleasure we have, is, to Rumble and Tumble our Country Lasses, who being more Foul than Fair, more Gross than Fine, more Noisome than Sweet, we soon Surfeit of them, and then they become a Trouble instead of a Delight, a Disease instead of a Pleasure, a Hate instead of a Love; and as they are to Us, so no Doubt but in the End we are to Them, a Loathing Surfeit; for we Meet Wildly, Associate Brutishly, and Depart Rudely; and as for our Profits, though we Labour, yet our Landlords have the Increase. In short, we are Slaves to Beasts, and Beasts in Comparison of other Men.
A Peasants Oration to prove the Happiness of a Rural Life.
Fellow Peasants,
The Peasant that formerly Spoke, hath rather shew’n his Ungratefulness to Nature, and his Unthankfulness to the Gods, by his Complaining Speech, than the Truth of our Condition and Life, for he sayes we are the Unhappiest, Miserablest, and Basest men in the World; all which is False; for can there be more Happiness than Peace and Plenty? can there be more Happiness than in the Repose of the Mind and Contemplations of Thoughts? can we Associate our Selves more Contentedly than with Innocent, Harmless, and sinless Creatures? are not Men more Stinking, Foul, and Wicked than Beasts? can there be more Odoriferous Perfumes, than the Sweet Vegetables on the Earth? or Finer Prospects than Stately Hills, Humble Vallies, Shady Groves, Clear Brooks, Green Hedges, Corn Fields, Feeding Cartel, and Flying Birds? can there be more Harmonious Musick than Warbling Nightingales and Singing Birds? can there be more Deligh[t]ful Sounds than Purling Brooks, Whispering Winds, Humming Bees, and Small-Voiced Grashoppers? can there be a more Delicious Sweet than Honey? more Wholesome Food than warm Milk, Fresh Butter, Prest Curds, New laid Eggs, Season’d Bacon, Savory Bread, Cooling Sallets, and Moist Fruits? or more Refreshing Drink than Whay, Whig, and Butter-milk? or more Strengthening Drink than Ale, Meath, Perry and Sider? and are not we at our Own Vintage? nay, should we Desire to Feed Highly, we may, for we are Masters of the Beasts of the Field, and the Poultry in the Grange, and know well how to catch the Fouls of the Air? can we have Warmer and Softer Garments than Cloth Spun from the Fleece of our Flocks; to keep out Freezing Cold? or can we be Cooler than under Shady Trees, whose Waving Leaves are Fans to Cool the Sultry Air? or can we Lye Softer than on the Downy Feathers of Cocks and Hens? and can we be Happier, than to be Free from Stately Ceremony, Court Envy, City Faction, Law Sutes, Corrupt Bribes, Malice, Treachery, and Quarrels? and as for our Recreation, although we do not Dance, Sing, and Play on Musick Artificially, yet we Pipe, Dance, and Sing Merrily; and if we do not Make Love Courtly, yet we Make Love Honestly; and for our Women, whom our Fellow Peasant doth Disgracefully, Scornfully, and Slanderously speak of, although they are but Plain Country Huswives, and not Fine Ladies, yet they be as Honest Women as They, for they Spend their time in Huswifry, and Waste not their time in Vanity; and as for their Beauty, their Faces are their Own, as Nature Gave them, not Borrowed of Art; and if they be not Fair, yet they are as Lovely, and as they use no Sweet Perfumes, for they use no Stinking Pomatum, and though their Hands be not Smooth, yet they are Clean, they use no Oyl’d Gloves to Grease them, but Rub their Hands, when Washed, with Coarse Cloth to Cleanse them; and as for their Garments, they are Plain, yet Commodious, Easie, and Decent, they are not Ribb’d up with Whale bones, nor Incumbred with Heavy Silver and Gold laces, nor Troubled with New Fashions; they Spend not half their time in Painting and Dressing, and though they Patch their Cloaths sometimes out of Good Huswifry, yet they Patch not their Faces out of Vanity, as Ladies do; neither do our Women Sweat to make their Faces Fair, but Sweat for their Children’s Livelihood, and though they Breed not their Children Curiously, yet they Breed them up Carefully: But our Discontented and Ambitious Peasant, would Turn from a Clown to a Gallant, as to Waste Lavishly, to Spend Prodigally, to Live Idlely, to be Accoutred Fantastically, to Behave himself Proudly, to Boast Vain-gloriously, to Speak Words Constraintly, to Make Love Amorously, to Flatter Falsely, to Quarrel Madly, and to Fight Foolishly, but not to Thrive Prudently, to Imploy Time Profitably, to Spend Wisely, to Live Temperately, to Speak Truly, to Behave himself Friendly, to Demean himself Civilly, to Make Love Chastly, to Live Peaceably, Innocently, and Safely, as we, that are of the Peasantry, do.
Sociable Letters (1664)
XVI.
Madam,
I Hope I have given the Lady D.A. no cause to believe I am not her Friend; for though she hath been of P[arliament’]s. and I of K[ing’]s. side, yet I know no reason why that should make a difference betwixt us, as to make us Enemies, no more than cases of Conscience in Religion, for one may be my very good Friend, and yet not of my opinion, every one's Conscience in Religion is betwixt God and themselves, and it belongs to none other. 'T is true, I should be glad my Friend were of my opinion, or if I thought my Friend’s opinion were better than mine, I would be of the same; but it should be no breach of Friendship, if our opinions were different, since God is onely to be the Judg: And as for the matter of Governments, we Women understand them not, yet if we did, we are excluded from intermedling therewith, and almost from being subject thereto; we are not tied, nor bound to State or Crown; we are free, not Sworn to Allegiance, nor do we take the Oath of Supremacy; we are not made Citizens of the Commonwealth, we hold no Offices, nor bear we any Authority therein; we are accounted neither Useful in Peace, nor Serviceable in War; and if we be not Citizens in the Commonwealth, I know no reason we should be Subjects to the Commonwealth: And the truth is, we are no Subjects, unless it be to our Husbands, and not alwayes to them, for sometimes we usurp their Authority, or else by flattery we get their good wills to govern; but if Nature had not befriended us with Beauty, and other good Graces, to help us to insinuate our selves into men’s Affections, we should have been more inslaved than any other of Natur’s Creatures she hath made; but Nature be thank’d, she hath been so bountiful to us, as we offener inslave men, than men inslave us; they seem to govern the world, but we really govern the world, in that we govern men: for what man is he, that is not govern’d by a woman more or less? None, unless some dull Stoick, or an old miserable Userer, or a cold, old, withered Batchelor, or a half-starved Hermit, and such like persons, which are but here and there one; And not only Wives and Mistresses have prevalent power with Men, but Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Aunts, Cousins, nay, Maid-Servants have many times a perswasive power with their Masters, and a Land-lady with her Lodger, or a she-Hostess with her he-Guest; yet men will not believe this, and ’tis the better for us, for by that we govern as it were by an insensible power, so as men perceive not how their are Led, Guided, and Rul’d by the Feminine Sex. But howsoever, Madam, the disturbance in this Countrey hath made no breach of Friendship betwixt us, for though there hath been a Civil War in the Kingdom, and a general War amongst the Men, yet there hath been non amongst the Women, they have not fought pitch’d battels; and if they had, there hath been no particular quarrel betwixt her and me, for her Ladiship is the same in my affection, as if the Kingdom had been in a calm Peace; in which Friendship I shall alwayes remain hers, as also,
Your Ladiships
most Humble and Devoted S.
XCIII.
Madam,
You were pleased in your last Letter to express to me the Reason of the Lady D. Ss. and the Lady E. Ks. Melancholy, which was for Want of Children; I cannot Blame the Lady D. S. by reason her Husband is the Last of his Family unless he have Children, but the Lady E. Ks. Husband being a Widdower when he Married her, and having Sons to Inherit his Estate, and to Keep up his Family, I Know no Reason why she should be troubled for having no Children, for though it be the part of every Good Wife to desire Children to Keep alive the Memory of their Husbands Name and Family by Posterity, yet a Woman hath no such Reason to desire Children for her Own Sake, for first her Name is Lost as to her Particular in her Marrying, for she quits her Own, and is Named as her Husband; also her Family, for neither Name nor Estate goes to her Family according to the Laws and Customes of this Countrey; Also she Hazards her Life by Bringing them into the World, and hath the greatest share of Trouble in Bringing them up; neither can Women assure themselves of Comfort or Happiness by them, when they are grown to be Men, for their Name only lives in Sons, who Continue the Line of Succession, whereas Daughters are but Branches which by Marriage are Broken off from the Root from whence they Sprang, & Ingrafted into the Stock of another Family, so that Daughters are to be accounted but as Moveable Goods or Furnitures that wear out; and though sometimes, they carry the Lands with them, for want of Heirmales, yet the Name is not Kept nor the Line Continued with them, for these are buried in the Grave of the Males, for the Line, Name and Life of a Family ends with the Male issue; But many times Married Women desire Children, as Maids do Husbands, more for Honour than for Comfort or Happiness, thinking it a Disgrace to live Old Maids, and so likewise to be Barren, Page 82 →for in the Jews time it was some Disgrace to be Barren, so that for the most part Maids and Wives desire Husbands and Children upon any Condition, rather than to live Maids or Barren: But I am not of their minds, for I think a Bad Husband is far worse than No Husband, and to have Unnatural Children is more Unhappy than to have No Children, and where One Husband proves Good, as Loving and Prudent, a Thousand prove Bad, as Cross and Spendthrifts; and where One Child proves Good, as Dutiful and Wise, a Thousand prove Disobedient and Fools, as to do Actions both to the Dishonour and Ruine of their Familyes. Besides, I have observed, that Breeding Women, especially those that have been married some time, and have had No Children, are in their Behavior like New-married Wives, whose Actions of Behavior and Speech are so Formal and Constrain'd, and so Different from their Natural way, as it is Ridiculous; for New Married wives will so Bridle their Behaviour with Constraint, or Hang down their Heads so Simply, not so much out of True modesty, as a Forced Shamefulness; and to their Husbands they are so Coyly Amorous, or so Amorously Fond and so Troublesome Kind, as it would make the Spectators Sick, like Fulsome Meat to the Stomach; and if New-married Men were Wise men, it might make them Ill Husbands, at least to Dislike a Married Life, because they cannot Leave their Fond or Amorous Wives so Readily or Easily as a Mistress; but in Truth that Humour doth not last Long, for after a month or two they are like Surfeited Bodyes, that like any Meat Better than what they were so Fond of, so that in time they think their Husbands Worse Company than any other men. Also Women at the Breeding of their First Children make so many Sick Faces, although oftentimes the Sickness is only in their Faces, not but that some are Really Sick, but not every Breeding Women; Likewise they have such Feigned Coughs, and fetch their Breath Short, with such Feigning Laziness, and so many Unnecessary Complaints, as it would Weary the most Patient Husband to hear or see them: besides, they are so Expensive in their Longings and Perpetual Eating of several Costly Meats, as it would Undo a man that hath but an Indifferent Estate; but to add to their Charge, if they have not what they Please for Child-bed Linnen, Mantels, and a Lying-in bed, with Suitable Furniture for their Lying-Chamber, they will be so Fretfrill and Discontented, as it will indanger their Miscarrying; Again to redouble the Charge, there must be Gossiping, not only with Costly Banquets at the Christening and Churching, but they have Gossiping all the time of their Lying-in, for then there is a more set or formal Gossiping than at other ordinary times. But I fear, that if this Letter come to the view of our Sex besides your self, they will throw more Spitefull or Angry Words out of their mouths against me, than the Unbeleeving Jews did hard Stones out of their hands at Saint Stephan; but the best is, they cannot Kill me with their Reproaches, I speak but the Truth of what I have observed amongst many of our Sex; Wherefore, Pray Madam, help to Defend me, as being my Friend, and I yours, for I shall Continue as long as I live,
Madam,
Your Ladyship's most Faithfull
and Humble Servant.
CLII.
Madam,
The messenger you sent is returning to you again, and with him I have sent some Babies, and other Toyes this City Affords, as a Token to your Daughter, I do not send them for Bribes, to Corrupt her from Edifying Learning, and Wise Instructions, for I would not have her Bred to Delight in Toyes, and Childish Pleasures, but I send them as Gifts, to Allure her to that which is most Profitable, and Happiest for her Life, for Children are sooner Perswaded by the Means of Tinsell-Toyes, and Flattering Words, to Listen to Wise Instruction, to Study Profitable Arts or Sciences, to Practice Good, Graceful Behaviours, and Civil Demeanours, than they can be Forced thereto, by Terrifying Threats, and Cruel Blows; 'tis true, they may be Forced to the Outward Forms, or Actions of Learning, but not to the Understanding, Profit, Grace, or Becoming, for Force Breaks the Understanding, Destroyes all Ingenuity, for the Fear of Punishment Confuses the Brain, and Disquiets the Mind so much, as it makes them Incapable of Right Impressions, whereas the Hope of Rewards Delights the Mind, and Regulates the Motions in the Brain, and makes them so Smooth, as the least Impression of Learning Prints Fairly therein, and so Plainly, as to be Remembred in their Elder Years; also it makes their Thoughts and Actions Industrious, to Merit those Rewards, and their Endeavours will be the more Active, through a Covetous Desire to Increase those Rewards; so that those Toyes which are given to Children in their Childish Years, may be a Means to Teach them, when Grown to Elder Years, to Know, and Acknowledge, that all Toyes are Vanities, and that nothing is to be Prized, or Esteemed, but what is Useful, and Best, either for their Present, or Future Life, as the Life of their Memory, or Renown. Thus, Madam, the Toyish Present is to a Good Design, and may prove to a Good End, which is the Wish of,
Madam,
Your faithful Friend
and Servant.