bigoted. Where the female sex is most kindly protected and most highly honoured, there the race enjoys the greatest degree of civil freedom and social happiness, and is most rapidly advancing in intelligence, prosperity, and civilization.* This result will become every year more apparent, if female education and influence go on progressively; because, as woman rises, she will elevate, proportionably, the mind and life of man. Such is her mission; for though human nature in both sexes is rendered sinful or prone to sin by the "fall," yet woman's nature has never sunk to the brute sensuality of man's; this comparative purity has kept her mind, as regards morality, above the standard which even the most Christian men fix for their own sex. This assertion requires no laboured proof. Look around on society-who are the conservators of domestic purity, of social decorum, of public sentiment? The moral sense † is the highest natural faculty or element of the human soul; woman has this moral sense, the intuitive feeling of disgust for sensuality, vice, and falsehood; the intuitive feeling of love for the innocent, beautiful, and true, better developed and more active than is found in the other sex. I might here cite many authorities to show that good and great men have had glimpses of these truths, that they have felt what woman has done, what she may do, and what she will become, when men, acknowledging her moral mission, shall allow her the education and opportunity necessary for its fulfilment. I have room now for only a few of these; at the close of the volume I shall recur to the subject. "The little of true piety which yet exists on earth we owe to women much more than to theologians. Our religion is that of our mother," says the learned Aimé-Martin. "The mother is endowed, and endowed by God himself, with all the qualities which should render her fit to become the principal agent in the moral and intellectual development of her child," says the good Pestalozzi. "What the elevation of woman has done for the reform of social manners, her educated mind is doing for our books," says our own eloquent Bethune. the cultivation of the minds of women depends the wisdom of men," says the penetrating Sheridan. "The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother," said the sagacious Napoleon. "On But higher than these testimonies of good, learned and great men to the influence of the female soul, comes the authority of God's Word. That the eulogy on woman was uttered by a wicked and voluptuous king, who had dishonoured the sex by abolishing, so far as his example had power, the true idea of marriage, militates nothing against its divine truth. Like Balaam, Solomon was compelled to speak what the Lord permitted; had it been otherwise, had that selfish sensualist commended what he practised, the Bible would have been no better than the Koran. It is because the written counsel even of this bad man was wise and good, that we feel the inspiration of the Holy Spirit dictated to his conscience that remarkable declaration and prophesy concerning woman, in the chapter of his praises of the feminine virtues:-"Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come." The United States of North America is the land of modern chivalry, where the moral qualities of woman are most highly valued, and her station in society as "the glory of the man" most fully acknowledged. The remarkable effect this has had on the destiny of the nation was comprehended by M. de Tocqueville, who observed the result, though he did not analyze the process. At the close of his work on America, he remarks, that if he were required to point out the cause of the wonderful advancement in prosperity and civilization of the American people, he should reply "It was the superior character of their women." By moral sense, I mean that feeling, or sentiment, which not only distinguishes between right and wrong, but inclines to the right—an enlightened conscience; or "the primitive law of the heart," as the German philosopher expressed it. Faith in God is a feeling or faculty of the soul above this moral sense; but such saving grace or faith is the supernatural gift of God. (See Ephesians, II. 8.) REMARKS ON THE FIRST ERA. WE shall include in this era the time from the Creation to the birth of Christ; and, of course, the names of all the distinguished women recorded in the annals of the world for four thousand years. A long period; but much of it concealed in thick darkness; only here and there a faint, far-off star of hope may be descried breaking through the gloom of sin, ignorance and misery cast over the lot of the woman. During these forty centuries she had only the peculiar attributes of her feminine nature to aid her in the struggle for progress, which was the law of humanity after the first pair were driven forth on the rough world, as happiness had been their privilege while abiding in Eden. Man had now the ground, "cursed for his sake with briars and thorns," to subdue; and, harder still, his own earthly passions to combat. Woman, though she was not commanded to work, was placed under the power of the man; and soon she, who was formed and endowed to be his soul's help-meet, his bosom friend, was degraded into the toy of his sensual lusts, or the slave of his physical strength. We do not know how long the woman's spirit struggled against the vile degradation polygamy imposes on the sex; but we find that death-doom of her moral influence recorded at an early period of the world's history. Might then took the place of right; and for nearly eighteen centuries the spiritual affections of woman were completely overshadowed by the sensual passions of man. Excepting our first mother, no feminine mind has left its impress on the sin-blotted page of those long centuries. Woman's nature must have yielded to the tide of wickedness that swept over the antediluvian world, because it is recorded, "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." No wonder the race was destroyed, if the mothers had become utterly corrupt in their " 'imaginations." If the heart of woman was "only evil continually," there could be no hope of reform. But the Bible places this dreadful wickedness to man's account. "The earth was filled with violence," does not apply to the conduct of the dependent sex. Yet the poison of sin had reached the core of humanity-woman's heart: all were corrupted; all perished. The flood was over, and the most contaminating sin blotted out. No polygamist was permitted to pollute the ark. The four husbands and their four wives came forth to the empire of a world they were to subdue and improve. The race of mankind was now to continue till the end of time; and the law of human improvement was made sure by giving to woman a new and great advantage. Human life was shortened; and thus the mother's influence most wonderfully increased. Allow ten years as the period of childhood, when the mother's authority over her sons is predominant; then compare the length of Noah's life with that of Moses, and it will be apparent how greatly female influence was extended when man's life was shortened from 950 years to 120 years. In the former case, her period of power over her sons was as 1 to 95; in the latter, 1 to 12. We have, in the general preface, explained what we consider the distinctive characteristics of woman's nature; and how these were intended to make her God's best, as she was his last work of creation. Also, in the biography of Eve, we have dwelt on these themes; and we now call the reader's attention to the remarkable corroboration of our theory which, in the first era, the glimpses of the Hebrew women, reflected from the faithful mirror of divine history, afford. If, as we affirm, the peculiar tendencies of the female mind are insight, or the wisdom that seizes intuitively on the true and the good; also the moral sense, which turns instinctively, so to speak, heavenward; then we ought to find woman more elastic in hope, more fervent in faith, more idealized in sentiment, more disinterested in affection, than man. Is she not so? Do we not look to woman for love and tenderness? Do we not find that she is more easily impressed with the truth of divine revelations, when these exceed the reasoning powers of man! Was there a woman who saw the miracles of Christ and doubted? Obstacles in the path of duty, that to man's reason seem as moun tains, are to her faith but mole-hills. And when the black cloud of fear fills the horizon, and he listens for the thunder, she is looking upward for the rainbow. Thus, though her physical strength and worldly knowledge be far inferior to man's, yet her firm trust in heaven, her faithful truth in love, her disinterested zeal in duty, win the palm of victory in conflicts that he abandons in despair. The Bible history of woman clearly illustrates these important truths; showing that when the faith and resources of men have been utterly overwhelmed, then the salvation of the cause of improvement has been her work. Thus maternal love, faith and energy, preserved Moses to be the Law-Giver for the world; made Samuel the High Priest of the Lord; seated Solomon on the throne of David. Each one of these events was of great and momentous import, not only to the destiny of the Hebrew nation, but to the progress of mankind. Deborah was the Deliverer of Israel when not a Hebrew man dared lift his hand in defence of his country till she led the way. Esther saved the Jews when no man could have stayed the decree of death. In short, from the time when the promised seed was reaffirmed to the descendants of Sarah, "a mother of nations," the Hebrew women kept the hope of "Shiloh" ever in their race. This divine faith, like a living light, passing from hand to hand, shines out in the characters of the Hebrew women from Sarah to Huldah the prophetess, who had the light of God's law when the high priest was in darkness. It is worthy, too, of note, that the Bible furnishes no record of an apostate Hebrew woman; while the Hebrew men could not be restrained from licentiousness, idolatry and apostasy. Among the heathen nations, the mission of woman is less distinctly traced, because the revelation of the hope in motherhood was lost. There was no "Shiloh," or Redeemer, expected. Still the feminine nature displayed its inherent tendencies, a spiritual feeling more refined, and a moral sense more delicate, than man's; these constituted her insight, intuition or wisdom (call it which you will), which made her appreciate the true and the good with more readiness and more sympathy than man. If it were not so, why was the idea of woman invested with supreme wisdom and goodness? Why was she deified and worshipped for those higher attributes of human nature; Justice, as she was in Themis; Wisdom, in Minerva; and Chastity, or Virtue, in Diana ? We shall not, in our work, give the histories of the different goddesses (which properly belongs to mythology); though, undoubtedly, all were representations of real women, or of those qualities which the wisest of heathen men believed were types of female character; qualities more inherent or better developed in woman than in man. But we would wish those who take an interest in our researches to examine carefully the character of each distinguished woman we here introduce by the standard suggested. Compare the conduct of the woman with that of the man of her own era and condition. Compare Cleopatra with Marc Antony. She was wicked; but she was less selfish, less gross in her wickedness than he. She was true to her country and her people; he was a traitor to the first, and a deserter of the last. Patriotism was the highest virtue of the heathen mind. Which of these two persons showed the most patriotism? And which mind was the victor? So, too, of Aspasia. She was the creature of the corrupt institutions which man, by his superior physical strength, sensuous passions and unjust laws, had imposed on social life. Yet, degraded as she was, Pericles, the hero of the Athenians, was her slave; and Socrates, the wisest of the heathen sages, her admirer and friend. Thus the woman's spirit held sway over the subtle Greek! Aspasia was better than those she subdued. They had degraded humanity by degrading woman; thus compelling her to seek that influence by unholy means which should have been the right of every Athenian wife, namely, that of social equality and companionship with her husband. In Rome, while the ideal of woman was the divinity which gave the priest oracles and the people laws, domestic purity was preserved. If the Sibyl and Egeria were only the fictions of artful men, yet that these men had recourse to the feminine spirit for their purest wisdom, shows their estimation of the female mind. The Vestal virgins represented the highest attributes of heavenly goodness, Purity and Mercy. Nor was it till the Roman men were banded together and absent from their homes in their long wars, thus losing the softening, purifying influence of their mothers, wives and daughters, that the frightful demoralization of the nation was reached. For the first five hundred years not an instance of divorce occurred. While the wife was honoured, woman continued worthy of honour. When men repudiated their wives, as Cicero did his, for no fault, but only to gratify his selfish propensities, and the multitude of divorces had created a virtual polygamy, in which the women participated, then the Roman Empire fell to rise no more. The Lucretias were the life of the Republic; the Messalinas, the death of the Empire. Yet the licentious example was set by the men ;-they made the laws; and always the women were better than the men of their time. WOMAN'S RECORD. 《ཀའ་་་མ FIRST ERA. FROM THE CREATION TO THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST. A. ABIGAIL, WIFE of Nabal, a rich but churlish man, of little understanding, of the tribe of Judah, lived probably near Maon, one of the most southern cities of Judah. When David, who had taken refuge from the pursuit of Saul in the wilderness of Paran, sent ten young men to request assistance from Nabal, who was then employed in shearing his numerous flocks, Nabal surlily refused to give of his substance to strangers, although David had protected his shepherds from injury during his residence among them. Then David, in his indignation, ordered four hundred of his men to arm themselves, and went to put Nabal and his family to the sword. But Abigail, whose wisdom equalled her beauty, hearing of what had passed, and foreseeing the result of her husband's refusal, hastened to prepare provisions, without Nabal's knowledge, with which she met and appeased David. When Abigail returned from her interview with David, she found her husband at a feast, and intoxicated; so that she said nothing of the affair to him till the next day. Then, when he heard of the danger he had escaped, his heart was so struck with fear that he died in ten days. When David was informed of Nabal's death, he sent messengers to Abigail, to request that she would become his wife; to which she consented, and accompanied the servants of David on their the treasure he possessed in the chaste Abigail, his wife, the most accomplished woman of her tribe. Nabal, unhappily for Abigail, was not worthy of her, and never couple were worse matched. The wife was beautiful, careful, prudent, a good housewife, vastly good-natured, and indefatigably vigilant; but as for the husband, he was dissolute, capricious, headstrong, contemptuous; always exasperated at good advice, and never failing to make a bad use of it; in a word, a man whose riotous intemperance the virtuous Abigail was perpetually obliged to bear with, to atone for his extravagant sallies, or dissemble his follies; besides, he was an infidel, and as depraved an Israelite as his wife was regular and fervent." Whether all these fancies of the learned Jesuit be true or not, the history, as the holy Book records it, is highly in favour of the intellectual powers as well as personal attractions of Abigail. Her speech to David is replete with beauties, and is a model of the oratory of thought applied to the passions, to the prejudices, and the previous associations of David. Read it in Samuel, I. Book, chap. xxv., verses from 24 to 31, and then judge of the effect it must have had on her auditor, when his heart burst forth, as it were, in this reply: "And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath sent thee this day to meet me. "And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand." These events occurred, B. C. 1057. ABISHAG, THE Shunamite, a beautiful young virgin, who cherished David, king of Israel, in his old age, and was afterwards desired by his son Adoni jah, as a wife; which request caused him to be put to death by the command of Solomon, who looked upon it as an indication that Adonijah wished in other respects also to take David, their father's place. A learned commentator thus tells the story: The king, (David,) though he had been so robust in his youth, seemed to decay daily. His afflictions, labours, fatigues, and perpetual wars, had exhausted him so much, that entering on his seventieth year, his natural heat seemed on the point of being extinguished; while his mind was as vigorous as ever, and he still governed with so much wisdom and authority, as made his life precious. His physicians, in order to prolong it, hit upon an expedient which succeeded, at least, for some time. All Israel was sought through to find out a proper person, and the choice fell on Abishag, the Shunamite, a young, beautiful, and virtuous woman. He made her his wife, and she was with him both night and day; but though he married her, they always lived together in a state of continence." That Abishag was considered the honourable wife of king David, and was so, according to the customs of that dark age, there is no doubt; she was innocent, yet the wickedness of polygamy is apparent in this gross transaction. The sons of David were, in consequence of this sin of their father, involved in a quarrel which cost the life of the eldest, and stained mon's hands with his brother's blood. enjoyed over all Caria, after he had taken the city of Halicarnassus. Ada, woman-like, thought to give some testimony of her gratitude by sending him all sorts of refreshments, sweetmeats, pastry, delicate viands, and the best cooks she could hear of; but Alexander answered that he had no occasion for such things; for Leonidas, his tutor, had formerly furnished him with much more excellent cooks, by teaching him, that he who would have an appetite to his dinner, must rise early and take a walk; and if he is desirous of making a delicious supper, he must eat moderately at dinner. Why will not mothers be more careful to teach these wise lessons to their sons? AGESISTRATA, WIFE of Eudamidas II., and mother of Agis IV., king of Sparta, was a woman of great wealth and influence among her people. She had brought up her son very voluptuously; but when he became king, he resolved to restore the ancient severe discipline and mode of living of the Spartans, and began by setting the example himself. Agesistrata at first opposed the reformation, by which she would lose much of her wealth; afterwards she not only approved of her son's design, but endeavoured to gain the other women to join her, as they had great influence in the comSolo-munity, and the greatest difficulty was expected ACCA-LAURENTIA or ARCA-LAURENTIA, WAS wife of the shepherd Faustulus, and nurse to Remus and Romulus. She was deified by the Romans, to whom the flamen of Jupiter once a year offered a sacrifice, on a holiday instituted to her honour. She lived about B. C. 760. АСМЕ, WAS a Jewish lady, retained in the service of Livia, the wife of Augustus Cæsar. She was bribed by Antipater, the son of Herod the Great, to engage in his interest; but one of her attempts to serve him proved fatal to herself; for having forged a letter in the name of Salome, that king's sister, to her mistress Livia, in order to expose the former to Herod's resentment, the imposture was detected, and she was punished with death. Antipater was suffered to escape, though the greater criminal. ADA, to arise from their opposition; but instead of uniting with her, they applied to Leonidas III., the other king of Lacedæmon, to frustrate the designs of his colleague. In consequence of the disturbances that ensued, Agis was obliged to take refuge in one of the temples; but one day, on his returning to his sanctuary from a bath, he was seized and thrown into prison. Agesistrata, and Archidamia, grandmother of Agis, used all their influence, but in vain, to induce the ephori to allow Agis to plead his cause before his own people. They were, however, allowed to share his prison, when one of the ephori, who was in debt to Agesistrata, by his intrigues succeeded in having them all strangled at once. Agesistrata met her unexpected death with calmness and composure, about B. C. 300. AGNODICE, AN Athenian virgin, who disguised her sex, to learn medicine. She was taught midwifery by Herophilus, an eminent physician, born in B. C. 506, and when employed always discovered her sex to her patients. This procured her so much practice, that the male physicians accused her of corruption before the Areopagus. She confessed her sex to the judge, and a law was immediately made allowing all free-born women to learn mid A SISTER of Artemisia, queen of Caria, married Hidricus. After her husband's death she succeeded to the throne of Caria, but was expelled by her younger brother, Pexodores, who, in order to maintain himself in his usurpation, gave his daughter in marriage to a Persian lord | wifery. called Orondates; and he, afterwards, became king of Caria, and defended Halicarnassus against Alexander the Great. The revolutions which happened at that time, proved favourable to Ada; she implored the protection of the conqueror Alexander against Orondates, the usurper of her king AGRIPPINA, THE daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, the only child of Augustus, married Germanicus, the son of Drusus, and nephew to Tiberius, to whom she bore nine children. Three Alexander gave her a very kind reception, of them died in infancy, and among the remainand restored her to the authority she had formerlying six were Caligula, afterwards emperor, and dom. |