branch of knowledge in which there have not been female authors of the first eminence. But that these examples are comparatively rare, may be inferred from this, that good sense and good taste invariably dispose women who have made extraordinary attainments in any of the abstract sciences, to draw a veil over them to common observers, as not according well with the more appropriate accomplishments of their sex. A taste for the Philosophy of Mind is more peculiarly rare among women; it is even rarer than a taste for Pure Mathematics. Nor is this wonderful; for as their early habits invite their attention constantly to sensible objects, their minds become singularly alive to things external, and of consequence more liable to those habits of inattention to the phenomena of the internal world, which, while they damp their curiosity with respect to these phenomena, prevent the cultivation of that power of reflection, without which it is impossible to study them with success. All this must render that influence of casual associations upon their judgment, which was already remarked, an evil (so far as it is an evil) not likely to be remedied, excepting by some extraordinary concurrence of circumstances.1 1 The works of Madame de Staël undoubtedly abound in observations on moral subjects which bear marks of profound reflection on the operations and feelings of her own mind; and in Miss Edgeworth's writings on education are many original suggestions with respect to the culture of the understanding, which discover a turn of mind very happily adapted to these abstract pursuits. It has not, however, been, on the whole, unfortunate for the world that the genius of this lady was early diverted from such unattractive speculations, to that more brilliant career of literature which she has pursued with so unrivalled a reputation. To these two illustrious names, I cannot recollect a third which deserves to be added as an exception to the above position. The reflections of a very nice observer of the characteristical differences of the sexes coincide nearly with some of the foregoing remarks. "La recherche des vérités abstraites et spéculatives, des principes, des axiomes dans les sciences, tout ce qui tend à généraliser les idées, n'est point du ressort des femmes: leurs études doivent se rapporter toutes à la pratique; c'est à elles à faire l'application des principes que l'homme a trouvés, et c'est à elles de faire les observations qui mènent l'homme à l'établissement des principes. Toutes les réflexions des femmes, en ce qui ne tient pas immédiatement à leurs devoirs, doivent ten To the influence, however, of these casual associations upon their ordinary train of thought, may be ascribed the superiority of the fair sex in their powers of conversation, in epistolary writing, and in those unstudied graces which distinguish the style of their compositions from that of the retired student. Madame de Sévigné, when she wrote the following sentence, had a clear perception of the circumstances to which she was indebted for the singular ease and felicity of her transitions. “Il faut un peu entre bons amis laisser trotter les plumes comme elles veulent, la mienne a toujours la bride sur le cou." But it is not to this cause alone that Madame de Sévigné owes the pre-eminent rank which she occupies, in the judgment of her own countrymen, among their epistolary writers. Much must be ascribed also to another talent, strikingly characteristical of her sex and of her courtly habits, the nice and unerring discrimination with which she scatters over her style so lavishly, and, to all appearance, so negligently, those idiomatical phrases which are peculiar to the French tongue: without ever lighting on any of those modes of speaking which have been contaminated by the lips of the vulgar.1 Of the horror with dre à l'étude des hommes ou aux con- For this reason, I doubt much whether the rapture with which Englishmen often speak of the style of Madame de Sévigné be not in some measure affected. Such at least was the opinion of M. Suard, a perfect judge, and one of the very few to whom we might apply the words of Horace, Docte sermones utriusque linguæ. "Les Etrangers ne peuvent acquérir une parfaite connoissance de ces Gallicismes que par une étude approfondie de la langue, et par une longue habitude de vivre avec des personnes qui parlent bien. Le grand monde a donné cours à ces acceptions, et c'est à l'heureux emploi qu'on en fait qu'on reconnoît les personnes qui y ont vécu. Madame de Sévigné fourmille de ces Gallicismes qui donnent à ses lettres une grâce inexprimable."-Essai sur les Galli cismes. which the somewhat morbid sensitiveness of her taste regarded all common and proverbial expressions, no description can convey so perfect an idea as an anecdote told with singular liveliness by herself. "Un Président m'est venu voir, avec qui j'ai une affaire que je vais essayer de finir, pour avancer mon retour autant que je le puis. Ce Président avoit avec lui un fils de sa femme, qui a vingt ans, et que je trouvai, sans exception, de la plus agréable et de la plus jolie figure que j'aie jamais vue. J'allais dire que je l'avois vu à cinq ou six ans, et que j'admirais, comme M. de Montbason, qu'on pût croître en si peu de tems. Sur cela il sort une voix terrible de ce joli visage, qui nous plante au nez, d'un air ridicule, que mauvaise herbe croit toujours; voilà qui fut fait, je lui trouvai des cornes. S'il m'eût donné un coup de massue sur la tête, il ne m'auroit pas plus affligée. Je jurai de ne me plus fier aux physionomies."* The foregoing passage, with which it is impossible not to be amused, in a letter from a lady bred at the Court of Louis XIV., would in this country have appeared too extravagant for the pen even of Horace Walpole. The characteristical taste of Madame de Sévigné (exquisite undoubtedly of its own kind) was chiefly that sort of conventional taste on which I have, on other occasions, offered various remarks.1 It is that sort of taste, founded on a facility of association, which the other sex seem to me to have a peculiar aptitude to acquire; and which, if I am not deceived, is exemplified still more strongly in French than in English ladies. From this, too, may be traced, as I have elsewhere observed, some of the most remarkable features, both of their intellectual and moral character. I have mentioned particularly the facility with which they contract and lose habits, and accommodate their minds to new situations; to which I have added their proneness to that species of superstition, which is founded on accidental combinations of circumstances.2 I might also have * [Lettres.] 1 Elements, vol. i. pp. 325, seq. Philosophical Essays, pp. 490, 491. 2 Elements, vol. i. pp. 265, seq. added the ease and the perfection with which they acquire foreign languages by the ear. I recollect to have heard a French gentleman (a person eminently skilled in his own language) remark, that he had never met with an Englishman who spoke French with more purity and correctness than the late Mr. Fox; but that he knew several English ladies who spoke it better. In consequence of these distinguishing peculiarities of the female mind, we may remark, that women in general possess a greater docility or aptitude to learn than men ; a docility much aided by that easy faith in the infallibility of their instructors, which they are led to repose by the deference they are early taught to pay to superior knowledge, and which, it must be owned, too often serves to mislead their confidence. To this easy faith, however, they are not a little indebted for that apparent quickness, by which they are so much distinguished, not only in acquiring languages, but all the common branches of education. SECTION VI.—CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER FIRST. Speculations similar to those which have formed the chief subjects of this chapter, might be extended to all the different pursuits of Man both scientific and active; but enough has already been said to convey a general idea of my views with respect to this branch of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, and of some of the particular purposes to which I conceive it to be subservient. Among these, the first place is due to its obvious tendency (by guarding the student against confined scientific and literary pursuits) to correct those biases and erroneous habits of thinking that Bacon classes under the title of Idola specus.1 They may also be useful in pointing out the proper remedies to have recourse to, against the various intellectual defects and disorders, whether natural or acquired, to which the human mind is liable. "There is no stand or 1 See Bacon's Works, De Augment. Scientiar. lib. v. cap. iv. impediment," says Bacon, “in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriated exercises: bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head, and the like; so if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics, for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyer's cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt."1 In the first volume of these Elements, I have touched on a subject nearly connected with the same speculations. "In whatever way," I have observed, "we choose to account for it, whether by original organization, or by the operation of moral causes in very early infancy, no fact can be more undeniable than that there are important differences discernible in the minds of children, previous to that period at which, in general, their intellectual education commences. There is, too, a certain hereditary character (whether resulting from physical constitution, or caught from imitation and the influence of situation) which appears remarkably in particular families. One race, for a succession of generations, is distinguished by a genius for the abstract sciences, while it is deficient in vivacity, in imagination, and in taste: another is no less distinguished for wit, and gaiety, and fancy; while it appears incapable of patient attention, or of profound research. The system of education, which is proper to be adopted in particular cases, ought, undoubtedly, to have some reference to these circumstances; and to be calculated, as much as possible, to develop and to cherish those intellectual and active principles, in which a natural deficiency is most to be apprehended. Montesquieu, and other speculative politicians, have insisted much on the reference which education and laws should have to climate. I shall not take upon me to say, how far their 'Bacon's Essays; Of Studies. |