France, the men live for the women; whilst in Germany, the women live for men. If the German woman reflected, she would see well that the real sphere of woman is that in which there is need of her affection and tenderness, and that life has never been so sad, so empty for her, as it has since the time when the nation's lack of grace and charın has tried to hide itself under the glory of arms. Misfortune softens and refines men; it is among the tempted and the fallen that woman finds her true home.

"As soon as she is married, her personal career, so to speak, is ended, and her impersonal career commences. . . . The woman is only the representative of the house, and has no place in society, and this has been so for centuries. She is left in the shade, considered as an inferior being, obliged to content herself with a narrow kingdom, she never has occasion to develope the qualities of her mind, to satisfy the aspirations of her nature. She is accustomed to be negatively appreciated; she never receives an attention or flattery, and to make use of an expression which awakes the idea of gallantry, of amiability, of civilisation, one does not pay court to her.

She accepts, with an obedience almost military, the observations of her lord and master, of whom she recognises the absolute authority. He doesn't consult, he commands. She doesn't question, she obeys. There is no companionship, there is a hierarchy. . . . The German woman depends too much on her husband, he orders all her existence; if she has found one to whom she can attach herself, it is all her being, body and soul, that she gives him. . . . The wives of the officers and of employés pass their lives in seeking to kill time as well as possible with the slight consideration and notice of their husbands, and this constant preoccupation dulls their mind. They have a contempt for the pleasures of life, a forced contempt, it is true; and the prestige attached to their husband's position ought to possess for them all satisfaction." The authoress says, 66 As to intelligent women, women who interest themselves at all, what can they expect in a country where the master of their masters has said, 'Let us have no petticoats in politics.'

WOMAN'S DESTINY.

"Shoot your own thread right through the earthly tissue Bravely; and leave the Gods to find the issue.'-GOETHE. THE last chapter has indicated the present position of women; in this I purpose giving quotations and comments thereon upon her past and probable future. For the former I am indebted to "The History of Women, from the earliest antiquity to the present time," by Wm. Alexander, M.D. (1779). For the latter to "Anno Domino, 2,000; Woman's Destiny," by Sir Julius Vogel, K.C.M.G. (1889).

or

Mr. Alexander begins by telling us that men have never in any period, nor in any country, sufficiently attended to the happiness and interests of these beings (women), whom in every period, and in every country, we have professed to love and to adore; and while the charms, which they possess, have every where extorted from us the tribute of love, they have only, in a few places, extorted from us good usage.

"Almost every man is full of complaints against the sex, but hardly do we meet with any one who seriously endeavours to rectify the evils against which he exclaims so bitterly. He, who considers women only as objects of his love, and of his pleasure, complains, that in his connexions with them, he finds them inconstant, unfaithful, and ever open to flattery and seduction. The philosopher, who would wish to mingle the joys of friendship and of conversation with those of love, complains, that they are destitute of every idea, but those that flow from gallantry and self-admiration; and, consequently, incapable of giving or receiving any of the more refined and intellectual pleasures. The man of business complains, that they are giddy and thoughtless, and want the plodding head and the saving hand so necessary towards thriving in this world. And almost every man complains of their idleness, extravagance, disregard to every kind of admonition, and neglect of the duties of domestic and social life."

The above was written in 1779, but the letters published in 1888 as to whether "Marriage is a failure were full of similar complaints. The man of gallantry can expect nothing else in any age or country; the philosopher is a difficult man to mate with, but he certainly has not now reason for similar complaint. It may be that many women have too many ideas, but certainly there is no lack of intellectual partners for those who require them. But woman's sphere is the home; it is there her influence is great for good or evil; it is there she can find scope for her mind in studying how to bring up healthily the young, and prepare their bodies and minds for their work in lifeimpressing upon them such a regard for her, such a veneration for her skill and loving care, that home will act as a safety-valve in carrying them safely through many a temptation in life's journey. She has the opportunity, if she possesses the skill, to develope to the utmost what there is inherent in the child that she rears. She is not trained to Home should be the

do this, therefore does not do it. embodiment of "Love." Woman, if wise, would do all in her power to retain a man's love, especially a husband's love-it is her safest way to be loved. As a wife she has the opportunity, if she has the skill, to make the home so attractive that her husband is irresistably tempted thereto when his business admits of it; to make by her presence home so pleasant, bright, and cheerful, that his troubles and cares seem left behind as soon as he enters his home. Unfortunately, too often home is the reverse of this. The man enters to a home cheerless as the grave; all in perfect order, too much so; but lacking what he wants, evidence of a desire to please him, by having ready this or that, as if in anticipation of his coming. How often in real life the man departs to his daily work without a word having passed between him and his wife; when he returns no one there expects him, at supper scarcely a word, except a monosyllabic reply. Too often his ways or remarks sneered at ; his wants, instead of being anticipated, neglected. Nothing hardly said, except what must be said. A joyless wretched life, a living hell this sitting tete-a-tete like statues-the

cause, no doubt, because the couple are ill-matched; which if not found out before marriage will be very soon after; and if there be no children to relieve the monotony, God help them. Why is the mistake made? Well partly because men and women know so little of each other; and are not their real selves towards each other before marriage; and the woman, used to flattery and praise, overvalues herself, and will not stoop to gain what she thinks is hers by right of her sex. She is morbidly sensitive about being neglected. Few have the tact to make their husbands their lovers, yet if they did but try even a little to please where now they show such evident signs of not caring whether they please or not, how different the homes would be to the man and woman, how much better for their children and their future. In watching such a pair I have often thought what must the children think of their father and mother. Truly a pitiable sight, these, that should be so close to each other, as wide apart as it is possible for mortals to be happiest when away from each other.

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"It seems to have been the genius of the East to praise all women for their personal graces, and at the same time to suppose them entirely divested of every good quality of the mind; for we find the same ideas which were entertained by Solomon, diffused among the Hindoos even in an earlier period of the world, and venting themselves also in their sacred writings even with an additional degree of acrimony. The Pundits say of women: They have an inordinate desire for jewels and fine furniture, handsome clothes, and nice victuals; violent anger; deep resentment; no person knowing the sentiments concealed in their heart; another person's good appears evil in their eyes; and they commit bad actions.' Nor were the Greek and Roman writers more refined in their sentiments or delicate in their expressions.

"After women had been the subject of satirical wit and of splenetic temper for upwards of three thousand years, an institution at last arose in Europe, known by the name of Chivalry, which for some time totally changed the sentiments and writings of mankind, and placing the sex hardly

beneath celestial beings, made it something more than treason to maltreat, and scarcely less than blasphemy to speak evil of them. The times however, in which chivalry flourished in its greatest perfection were not those of writing; but when it began to decline, and letters to mix with gallantry, the effusions of wit took another direction, and the men, instead of striving against each other who should most vilify the sex, entered the lists with another intention, that of showing their superior merit, and even of persuading the world, that of all the joys we can experience in the present, or hope for in the life to come, love is the only one worth our care and solicitude.

"Anciently the bards had only been employed to sing the exploits of heroes, or of the rich who entertained them in their train. In the decline of chivalry they began also to sing the praises of beauty, and the sweets of love. In the praise of beauty they were to the last degree extravagant and hyperbolical; not satisfied with comparing their mistresses, as in modern times, to angels and other inferior celestial beings, they were not ashamed to compare them to, and even to exalt them above, the Supreme Being himself. In celebrating the enjoyments of love, they were not less wild and romantic, and imagined that even Paradise without it would be joyless and insipid. Boccace, in the most serious manner, classed together God and the ladies, and thanked them for their mutual assistance in defending him against his enemies; and Petrarch no less seriously compares Laura, his mistress, to Jesus Christ. Deudes de Prade, a priest and poet, who used to sing the praises of women, says that he would not wish to enter into heaven but on condition of making love to her whom he adored. . . .

...

"Subjects of writing upon, like modes of dress, have their turn of being fashionable; this was the period in which the fashionable topic was to extol all the virtues and to varnish over all the vices of women. Much had already been said and wrote on the subject, but Hilario da Costa, a monk, resolving to exceed all who had gone before him, published two quarto volumes, of 800 pages each, containing, according to his account, the panegyrics of all the