A DEFENCE OF THE FAIR SEX.
To EUGENIA.

IT is a dangerous thing, MADAM, it must be confessed, this Con­versing with fair Ladies; and it draws us into Inconveniencies, of which we do not at first see the Consequences. I little thought, when I talked with your Ladyship, of the Vir­tues of your Sex, that you would have commanded me to have given my Senti­ments upon that Subject in Writing. I grant you, Madam, you might have spo­ken [Page 126] to several of your Acquaintance, who would have undertaken the Business at first Word, with all the Courage imaginable; but to me, who never durst take Pen in Hand to write any thing beyond a Billet, the Enterprize seems very terrible. I con­fess, when you spoke to me of it first, I was well enough pleased with the Design; for I thought a Defence of the Sex, would be a Means of obliging all of the Sex, who were worth defending; and therefore look'd upon it as the writing a Circular Love-Letter to all the fair Ladies in the King­dom. But as Men generally mix Interest with Honour, so, upon second Thoughts, I considered what I should get by it, be­sides Fame, if it should succeed; and I found, if I persuaded all Men to be as pas­sionate Servants to the Ladies as myself, I should make but a very indifferent hand of it: Thus, Madam, you would engage me in a Controversy, where it would be a Scandal to be vanquished, and a Disadvan­tage to overcome: For I, who could never succeed in an Amour where there was any Fool pretended besides myself, should have great Hopes indeed, when I had persuaded all Mankind to be my Rivals. After all, Madam, there were your Commands to encourge me to it; and the Commands of a fair Lady are to me beyond all the Ar­guments [Page 127] in Nature; I therefore resolved upon the Undertaking. But as it is no new thing to see People undertake a Business that they are altogether unable to perform, so I must own, I found a thing of this Nature quite beyond my Strength: You may believe, Madam, I was very melan­choly at it, and it was then that a Friend coming into my Chamber, asked me the Occasion. As I never love to conceal any thing that afflicts me from a Friend, so I presently told him the Business, That a Lady had commanded me to write her a Treatise in Defence of Women. If that be all (says he briskly) I am come to your Deliverance; for this very Morning have I been at a Conversation, where the Que­stion concerning the Virtues and Vices of that Sex, has been handled as fully as can be desired. Thou appearest to me, my dear Friend, (said I, embracing him) like my better Genius, and therefore, without any farther Ceremony, sit down, and give me an Account of the Conference.

Taking a Walk (says he) this Morning in St. James's Park, with several of my Acquaintance, there was one among the rest who was all the while, either gazing upon the Ladies as they came by, or speak­ing with that Indifference to us, that made [Page 128] us very plainly see, he did not mind the Subject of our Discourse, tho' we talked of all the most considerable Things that offer themselves in such Conversations. (A very strange Man this, Madam, who was think­ing upon some Mistress, I warrant, when they were raising Taxes, and beating the French.) Another, who was a Person of excellent Sense, and had a particular Friend­ship for this, tho' they would often dispute about their several Thoughts of Women, in which Point they could never agree; (I wonder they should dispute about that, Madam, for the greatest Disputes in those Cases are, when they do agree) began to rally him upon this Subject; which he did so handsomely, that he pleased the rest of the Company very well, without displeasing his Friend in the least. PHILOGYNES (which was the Name of the first, as MISOGYNES was of the other) (Here, Madam, I must confess, I fancied my Friend put false Names upon me; for besides, that I re­member neither of these Families in Eng­land, the one, you must know, signifies a Woman-hater, and the other, a Woman-lover) cried to MISOGYNES, Tho' I allow you to rally me as much as you please, and am glad of any Occasion I can give you, to exercise a Talent you possess in so eminent a Degree, yet I hope you do not in earnest [Page 129] think the Conversation of Women so ridi­culous as you would make us believe. Ten times worse, said MISOGYNES, than I can represent it; and since we have often had slight Skirmishes upon that Occasion, and we have now Time enough to fight it out, if you have the Courage to lose one Morn­ing's gazing at them, I challenge you to the private Walk by the Canal-side, to de­fend their Cause; and these Gentlemen, if they please, shall be our Judges. Tho' I am very unwilling, answered PHILOGYNES, to lose a Morning that has called out all the best Company of the Town, yet since it is in Defence of the Ladies, and you so boldly challenge me, I take you at your Word, upon Condition, that if I get the better in the Judgment of these Gentlemen, you shall engage to be in Love by To-mor­row Morning. Upon Condition, that if I overcome, said MISOGYNES, you will en­gage to be out of Love by the same Time, I agree. That is no equal Stake, replied PHILOGYNES, for it is to lay Happiness against Unhappiness; however, I am so well satisfied of my Cause, that I will undertake you, even upon those Odds.

Upon this Agreement we walked all to the other side of the Park, full of Expecta­tion of the Event of the Debate; when we were come thither, we found we had [Page 130] the whole Walk to ourselves, and so MISO­GYNES who gave the Challenge, began in this manner:

The Propagation of Mankind being the only Way to preserve it from Extinction; and the Copulation with Women being the only Means that Nature has ordained to that End; there is no doubt but all Common­wealths ought to give any reasonable En­couragements to it; I have therefore al­ways admir'd the Wisdom of those Go­vernments that incited, or compelled their Subjects to marry, as a Thing so much more necessary to Mankind in general, than pleasing to any one in particular; but that a Man should, out of a mere Act of Judg­ment, run after Women; that he should find Delight in their Company, is so very extraordinary, that the wise Men of old thought it hardly possible, otherwise they had had no need of making such severe Laws to force them to it, as they did.

Your Ladyship, who is so well versed in Greek and Roman Authors, knows, that amongst the ^* Spartans, they who lived long Batchelors were condemned to igno­minious Punishments, and debarred the Privileges of other Citizens. That the ^† Cretans had a Law to compel all the [Page 131] handsomest young Men to marry; as the ^* Thurians had to invite them to it, both by Honours and Rewards. That ^† Plato ordains, that whoever lived a Batchelor to the five and thirtieth Year of his Age, should be capable of no Honour in his Commonwealth: And that the ^‡ Romans did not only take all Care imaginable, to encourage People to Marriage, but fright­ned them into it by Punishments, if they refused.

Notwithstanding this, had you a Design of marrying them, I should not altogether so much condemn you; nay, had you but a Design of enjoying them without it, there might be somewhat still alledged in your Excuse. How unjustifiable soever such a Design may be, as to the moral Part, the Action itself is very agreeable to the natu­ral. But to pick them out only for the Benefit of their Conversation, to fall in Love with their Understandings, and to leave the Company of wise Men for hand­some Women, is just the same Thing, as if you should chuse rather to eat Jays and Parrots, than Woodcocks and Partridges, because the Feathers of the former make the finer Shew.

[Page 132] It is a very good, as well as a very ge­neral Way, to guess at People by the Com­pany they keep; and thus we may give a great Judgment of the Female Sex, by a View of those with whom they are the most pleased of our own. Well, let them appear then; what do you find? Fine Coats, large Cravat-strings, and good Per­riwigs, I must own, but for any Thing else, they, and their Perriwig Blocks are Critics alike. It is true, to do them Justice, they talk most learnedly of Points and Ribbons; have most mathematical Heads for the erecting of Ladies Top-knots, make as con­siderable Figures, talk as loud, and laugh more than any in Drawing-rooms and Play­houses; and those who know nothing of their Language, would take them, by their Gestures, to be the wittiest Persons in Christendom; but if unluckily you under­stand them, you will find it only false Fire, and that all this violent Laughter is pro­duced by no Jest. Then take them out of their own Element, begin a Discourse of any Thing that is worth knowing, they are dumb; out of Modesty? No; but they hate to talk of Things that are grossier; and the Pedantry of Scholars, and Gravity of Men of Business, is utterly unfit for a Gentleman.

[Page 133] Were it nothing but the Company of such sort of Creatures as these, it would be enough, I should think, to frighten a Man of Sense from them. Can you see these Fops, as much as you are used to them, without laughing? except it rather makes you blush to think you should bring yourself into Competition with such Tools as they are: I am far from blaming them for fol­lowing the Ladies: They avoid the Com­pany of Men who despise them, for that of Women who admire them: Nor do I find fault with the Ladies, for being pleased with them; for since Likeness, they say, breeds Love, what Wonder is it they are fond of those Men whose Follies make them most like themselves? but for a Man who has some Pretences to Wit and Learning; for one who might be acceptable to Men of Sense, to run after them; nay, for a Man who spends all the Morning in the Study of Homer and Aristotle, to spend the Afternoon among the Impertinencies of Women, puts me in mind of the Moun­tebank Stages in Naples, where the Jesuits and Jackpuddings entertain the Spectators by Turns.

It is possible, you will say, that all this makes for you; that the Faults of your Rivals render your Virtues the more re­markable, and that there is no doubt, but [Page 134] a Man of Merit may succeed in any Place where a Man of no Merit may pretend; but, alas! Sir, you deceive yourself very much, if you encourage that Opinion. Had you fit Judges, there is no doubt but you were in the right: But if the fairest Lady in Christendom were amongst the Indians, where they paint the Devil of her Colour, do you expect they should do her Beauty Justice? Or if a slender Man were among the Muscovites, do you think they would admire him for being well shaped, where they thought none but big-belly'd Men to be so? Credit me, Sir, a Man who leaves his Parts to the Judgment of Women, is very near the same Circumstances: Will you not believe me in that Case, because I profess an Enmity to them? You do well: but will you believe themselves? View all the Town, take good Notice: Among all the young Heiresses who run away from their Guardians, is there any one who does it with a Man of Sense? Among all those Widows who ruin themselves by second Marriages, is there any one who does it with a Man of Sense? Among all those Ladies who cuckold their Husbands, is there any one who does it with a Man of Sense? We see them do these Things every Day, with Chaplains, Dancing-masters, Butlers, and Footmen. Who are the Men that shew [Page 135] the tender Billets received? What are they who boast of the Favours of all the finest Women in Town? Are they not the most despicable of Mankind? Are they not such whose Conversation is the Jest of Men of Sense? And have they above one Thing about them, that distinguishes them from the other Sex?

After all, Sir, are not the Women in the right in this Point? Or do they ever shew more Judgment, than when they pitch upon such Men? What do they look for in a Husband, but one who will admire them, who will be governed by them, and upon whom all their little Tricks will pass? And who but Fools are fit for that? What do they propose in a Gallant, but giving them Pleasure without Scandal? And to the for­mer Part they have a received Notion of the Ability of Fools: Then for the Scan­dal, who so likely to give none as those Men, whom the World will hardly believe were favoured by them, tho' they took their Oaths upon it? For notwithstanding Experience teaches us the contrary, yet People are apt to fancy, a Man of Sense must succeed before a Coxcomb; and will rather believe the former are favoured, tho' they swear they are not; than the latter, tho' they swear they are.

[Page 136] But, alas! Sir, Men of Sense they think know them, and that they take, as well as I do, to be a sure Means to hinder their being in Love. It was upon this Account that ¹ Solomon gives such severe Cha­racters of them in his Proverbs; that ² Eu­ripides represented them so faithfully, as to get the Name of the Woman-hater; that ² Simonides has distinguished them into so many sorts of evil Things; that ³ Lu­cian has so naturally described their Tricks; that ⁴St. Chrysostom has made such a se­vere Invective against them; that ⁵ Ju­venal has given his Friend such Counsel against having any Thing to do with them; and, in fine, it is upon the same Account that all the Epigrammatists, Comic Poets, and Satirists are so continually exposing them to the World, making their Follies ridiculous, and their Vices odious. It is upon the same Account likewise, that to call a Man Effeminate, has always been reckoned such a Reproach; and that to say a Man is governed by a Woman, has been one of the worst Characters you could give of his Understanding.

[Page 137] See here a dreadful Army, Madam, against us. I asked my Friend what these Gentlemen had said upon this Occa­sion? He told me, Juvenal had written a very severe Satire (the XIth) against Women, which I should see very much to its Ad­vantage, if I would consult Mr. Dryden's Translation of it. For Simonides, he told me, he had written Iambics against them, in which he divides them into ten Sorts. The first he said was descended from a Sow, (you will find very noble Families among them, Madam) and she was sluttish: The second from a Fox, and she understands every thing, and has a great deal of Good in her, and a great deal of Ill too: The third from a Dog, and she is prying about, and snarl­ing at every Body: The fourth is made of the Earth, and she understands nothing but how to fill her Belly, and sit by the Fire-side: The fifth of the Sea, and she is changeable and inconstant; sometimes in a Calm, and then on a sudden in a Storm: The sixth is made of Ashes, and a Labour­ing Ass, (an odd Composition you will say) and she is scarce driven to her Business with Threatnings or Force, but crams herself Night and Day, and lies with every one that comes; (now whether she takes this Quality of lying with all who come, from the Father's-side, or the Mother's-side, I [Page 138] cannot absolutely determine.) The seventh was descended from a Pole Cat, and she is nauseous and stinking: The eighth from a Mare, and she never cares to do any Work, and minds nothing but appearing neat and fine: The ninth from a Monkey, and her Ug­liness is a Jest to every body: The tenth from a Bee, and she makes an excellent Wife. ¹ There is a Story also of this Simonides, that being asked about a Wife, he said, she was the Shipwreck of Man, the Tempest of a House, the Disturber of Rest, the Prison of Life, a daily Punishment, a sumptuous Conflict, a Beast in Company, a necessary Evil. And ² St. Chrysostom, besides the Homily upon the beheading St. John Baptist, which is almost all an In­vective against Women, says in another Place, What is a Wife? The Enemy of Love, the inevitable Pain, the necessary Evil, the natural Temptation, a desirable Calamity, a domestical Peril, a pleasing Da­mage. Thus you see these Ancients, Ma­dam, had a very commendable Faculty of calling Names: What think you, might not the Matrons of Billinsgate improve in their Conversation? But it is natural, [Page 139] when People cannot convince our Reason, to endeavour to move our Passions.

I know you will object against these, Ana­creon, Theocritus, Catullus, Tibullus, Ovid, Horace, Propertius, and all those Poets and Wits, ancient and modern, who pleas'd themselves, whilst they lived, in the Pursuit of Women, and have render'd themselves immortal after their Death, by the Tro­phies they raised to them. It is confessed, that spending their Time upon the Sex, they ought to know them best: But on the other side, to excuse their own spending their Time, ought to represent them as fa­vourably as possible; and yet, pray what is the Account they give us of them? Do they not all with one Consent complain, either of the Cruelty, or Falshood of their Mis­tresses? Are not their Books full of Quar­rels, Picques and Jealousies? and do they not shew the Levity, Perjury, and Lewd­ness of the Sex? Does not ¹ Anacreon, and a hundred more, tell you, they mind nothing but Wealth? (This Com­plaint of the Love of Wealth, and In­vectives against it, has been very ancient, and very general amongst the Poets; [Page 140] besides this Greek, ¹ Horace, ² Ovid, ³ Tibullus, and ⁴ Propertius, make them, amongst the Romans; ⁵ Marino, [Page 141] ¹ Guarini among the Italians; ² Conde de Villa Mediana, and ³ Que­vedo amongst the Spaniards; ⁴ Ronsard among the French; and ⁵ Cowley a­mongst us: For you must know, Ma­dam, these Poets were a sort of People, who were never very remarkable for their making large Jointures; their Estates ge­nerally lye upon Parnassus, where Land lets worse than it does in Ireland: Nor do I remember to have read in any History, of Poets who deferr'd the Enjoyment of their Mistresses for the drawing of Writ­ings.) Does not ⁶ Theocritus make con­tinual Complaints of the Cruelty of his [Page 142] Mistress? Does not ¹ Catullus tell you, that his Lesbia lay with all the Town? and ² that what any Woman says to her Lover, ought to be writ in Wind, or run­ning Streams? Does not ³ Tibullus com­plain, that he had taught his Mistress to deceive her Guards so long, that she learnt to deceive him too? Does not ⁴ Ovid lye at his Mistress's Door all Night, whilst an inconsiderable Fellow has got into her Arms? Does not Horace complain of the ⁵Cruelty of two Mistresses, and the ⁶Perjury and Inconstancy of three or four more? And does not ⁷ Propertius, besides his own Cynthia's Falshood, cry out [Page 143] of the Incontinence of the Sex in general? I know not what your Success in Love may have been; but till you tell me the con­trary, I can hardly believe it better than these Mens. For what Qualification can there be to make a Woman kind and con­stant, that they had not? Anacreon ap­pears to be one of the gayest humour'd Men that ever was born; Theocritus the most tender and natural in his Poems; Catullus was without a Rival the greatest Wit of his Age; Tibullus was not only the smoothest and delicatest of the Roman Poets, but also the most beautiful Person of his Time; Ovid and Propertius, as nei­ther of them wanted Love, so never had any a more soft and tender Way of ex­pressing it; and Horace, besides the Talent of crying up his Mistresses, and pleasing their Vanity that Way, had the pleasantest Manner of exposing the Follies of this Ri­vals, and the severest of revenging the ¹Falshood or Unkindness of his Mis­tresses, of any Man in the World. And yet none of all these could, by their own Confession, keep a Woman to themselves, or even teach them Cunning enough to jilt them so, that they should never find it [Page 144] out; which ¹ Ovid tells us frankly, was all he desir'd from them.

From this, Madam, you may please to observe, that Jilting is no such new Thing as some People would make us believe, tho' methinks these Poets are dangerous Per­sons to jilt, since it is remember'd against their Mistresses; near two thousand Years after.

And in Effect, what but Ruin and De­solation proceeds from them? Who was the Betrayer of ² Samson, but Dalilah? Who was the Cause of the Destruction of ³ Troy, but Helen? Of ⁴ Agamemnon's Death, but Glytemnestra? Of ⁵ Hercules's, but Deianira? Who advised the burning of ⁶ Persepolis, but Thais? Who ruin'd ⁷ Hannibal's Army, but the Capuan Wo­men? Who lost ⁸ Mark Antony the World, but Cleopatra? Why should I bur­den [Page 145] you with Instances, when every Coun­try can furnish Examples enow of their own? What made such Confusion in ¹ Justinian's Court, but Theodora? What caused the Revolt in the Low Countries, but the Government of the ²Princess of Parma? Who made such dreadful Distur­bances in ³ Scotland, as their Queen Mary? And who raised the greatest Persecution for Religion, that ever England saw, but our own Queen of the same Name?

But certainly they must have some very great Perfections to make Amends for all these Faults: Well then, let us see what they are! Let us view these pleasant Com­fits that are to make the Poison go down: Let us enjoy a little of that Conversation, that is diversitive enough to make People neglect all their Danger. Sit in one of their Drawing-Rooms all Day; observe the Discourse which passes; is it not a tedious Repetition of the same Impertinencies over and over again, to every new Visitant? And is not one Half of that spent in censuring all the Town, and the other Half in rail­ing at those who censure? Do they not in­veigh against the Lampooners, and at the same time talk as scandalously as they can [Page 146] write? The horrid Affectation, the ridi­culous Vanity, the gross Dissimulation, and the inveterate Malice that appears in all their Discourses, are Things for which I should think all the Paint on their Faces could not make Amends. For my own part, I confess, I have been Fool enough to be in Love too, and have follow'd Wo­men upon that Account, but to another sort of End, than you say you do: But when that End was once satisfied, to talk with them afterwards, was as great a Pe­nance to me, as it would be to sit in a greasy Cook's Shop, when my Belly was full.

This MISOGYNES is a very rude Fellow, and I am sure your Ladyship will be of my Opinion, that his last Simile was very ful­some. It is a Sign he hates Women; for had he conversed with them, they would have taught him better Manners.

But there are doubtless, you will say, Women of Understanding: Pray where are they? Is it your prudent Woman, your good Housewife, who is plaguing all the World with her Management, and in­structing every body how to feed Geese and Capons? Or is it your Politician, who is always full of Business, who carries a Se­cretary of State's Office in her Head, and is making her deep Observations upon every [Page 147] Day's News? Or is it your learned Woman' who runs mad for the Love of hard Words' who talks a mixt Jargon, or Lingua Franca' and has spent a great deal of Time to make her capable of talking Nonsense in four or five several Languages? What think you, Sir, do you not wish for your Visitant again, as the more tolerable Folly of the two? Do not you think Learning and Po­litics become a Woman as ill as riding astride? And had not the Duke of ¹ Brit­tany Reason, who thought a Woman knowing enough, when she could distin­guish between her Husband's Shirt and his Breeches?

Do not you, in Answer to these, fetch me a Sapho out of Greece; a Cornelia, the Mother of the Gracchi, out of Rome; an Anna Maria Schurman out of Holland; and think that in shewing me Three learned Women in Three thousand Years, you have gained your Point; and from some few particular Instances, proved a general Con­clusion: If I should bring you half a Do­zen Magpies that could talk, and as many Horses that could dance, you would not, I suppose for all that, chuse out the one to converse with, or the other to walk a Corant.

[Page 148] But would you see them to their best Advantage? Would you have their Wit, Courage, and Conduct display'd? Take them upon the Business of Lust; that can make Sapho witty, Aloisia eloquent, a Country-wife politic; that can humble ¹ Messalina's Pride to walk the Streets; can make tender ¹ Hippia endure the In­commodities of a Sea-Voyage; can support the Queen of ² Sheba in a Journey to So­lomon, and make ³ Thalestris search out Alexander the Great: In this Particular, I must confess, we ought to submit to them, and with Shame allow them the Prefe­rence. I cannot reflect upon the Stories of ⁴ Sewiramis's lying with all the hand­somest Men in her Army, and putting them to Death afterwards; of her offering her Son the last Favour; of ⁵ Messalina the Empress's prostituting herself in the public Stews; and of Queen ⁶ Joan of Naples providing a Bath under her Win­dow, where she might see all the lustiest young men naked, and take her Choice out [Page 149] of them, without such an Admiration as their heroic Actions deserve. ¹ Sapho, as she was one of the wittiest Women that ever the World bred, so she thought with Reason it would be expected she should make some Additions to a Science in which all Womankind had been so successful: What does she do then? Not content with our Sex, she begins Amours with her own, and teaches us a new Sort of Sin, that was follow'd not only in ² Lucian's Time, but is practised frequently in ³ Turkey at this Day. You cannot but be sensible, Sir, that there is no Necessity of going so far for Instances of their Lewdness, and were it civil to quote the Lampoons, or write the Amours of our own Time, we might be furnished with Examples enough nearer Home.

Here, Madam, I could not forbear tel­ling my Friend, that his Disputant grew scurrilous. He told me, considering him as a Woman-hater, he thought it was no more than his Character required; and that if I compared his Discourse with what others had said against them, I should think him a very well-bred Man.

[Page 150] After this to talk of their Levity or Bab­ling, what were it but trifling? All the Lovers and Poets who have had any thing to do with them, can furnish them­selves with Instances enough of the first; and any Man who will give himself the Trouble of reading any one History, shall find Instances enough of the other, if his own Wisdom has hindered him from make­ing them at his own Cost. ¹There be­ing a Senate called in Rome, upon some very extraordinary Occasion, one of the Se­nators was desired by his Wife to tell her what it was? He reply'd, He was obliged to Secrecy; she swears it shall never be known to any one by her Means; upon that Promise he informs her, that there was a Lark seen flying over the Senate-House with a golden Helmet on his Head, and a Spear in one of his Claws, and that they had thereupon called the Soothsayers together, to know what it portended. No sooner was the Husband gone, but the Wife tells it too, under a Vow of Secrecy to her Maid; she to another who was her Fel­low-Servant, who told it to her Lover; so that, to be short, it ran so fast, that as soon as the Senator came into the Market-Place, one took him aside, and told it him for a great Secret; aways goes he, and tells [Page 151] his Wife she had undone him, in divulging what he had trusted with her: She denies it, with a true feminine Impudence: How could it come to be known then? says he. Alas (reply'd she) are there not three hundred Senators, and might it not come from any of them as well as you? No, says he, for I invented it on a sudden, to satisfy your Cu­riosity, and thus had I been served, if I had trusted you with the Secret. It is such another Story they tell us of young Papi­rius to his Mother, who asking him what had been debated that Morning in the Se­nate, told her, They were making a Law for Men to have a Plurality of Wives. But it is somewhat a more tragical Relation Plutarch gives of Fulvius. Augustus com­plained to him, that he was dissatisfied with what he had done, in adopting Livia's Sons, and disinheriting his own Nephews; Fulvius goes home, and tells it his Wife, she tells it to the Empress, who upbraids the Emperor with it. Augustus, when he saw Fulvius next, checked him for it; by which he perceived himself ruined, and therefore went immediately, told his Wife what she had done, and that he resolved to stab himself: But certainly the Wife's Answer was very sufficient; Nor did you deserve less, said she, who having lived so [Page 152] long with me, did not know I could not keep a Secret.

But omitting these, whose Actions are recorded to their Infamy, let us see a little of those who are quoted as the Glories of their Sex. And who more cry'd up amongst them than ¹ Judith? What Action more celebrated than her murdering Holofernes, when he had treated her with all the Kind­ness and Respect imaginable in his Tent? For my part, I must own my Virtue does not arrive to so high a Pitch; and should rather have suffered my Town to have been ruin'd, than have been guilty of an Action that appears to me so barbarous; but I confess that of ² Jael is yet worse, to invite a Man into her Tent, promise him Protection, and when he had trusted his Life in her Hands, to murther him whilst he was asleep. What shall we say to Penelope, who is instanced as a Pattern of Chastity, and conjugal Love? I will not with ³ Ovid and ⁴ Virgil (if the Priapeia [Page 153] are his) make malicious Reflections upon her trying her Lovers Strength in a Bow; but take the Story as it lies in the Odysses, I am sure she would hardly pass for such a Saint in our Days; and if a Lady had her House full of Lovers for twenty Years of her Husband's absence, and if her Husband were forced to fight all these before he could have his Wife again, it is possible the Lam­pooners of the Town would not have re­presented her Case so favourably as Homer has done. But what shall we say to ^* Ly­cophron even amongst the Greeks, who speaks of her as a most profligate sort of Woman, or to ^† Duris Samius, who asserts her to have been so very common, as to have lain with all Comers during her Husband's Ab­sence, from whose promiscuous Copulations Pan was born, and therefore took the Name. ( Pan, your Ladyship knows, in Greek, signifies All.) For Lucretia, I shall [Page 154] not insinuate, as a ^*great Wit seems to do, that she stabbed herself, rather than return to the Embraces of a Husband, after hav­ing been so much better pleased by a Gal­lant; but if she were one who valued her Chastity so much, and her Life so little, as they would make us believe, it is somewhat odd that she should rather let Tarquin en­joy her alive, than a Slave lie in the Bed with her when she was dead; and that she should chuse to commit the Sin, rather than bear the Shame.

But let us forgive them all these Things I have mentioned; and since ^† Le Chambre assures us, that there is no Beauty in a Woman, but what is a Sign of some Vice; let us attribute it to Nature's Fault, not theirs; and reckon that the more vicious they are, the nearer they come to the Per­fection of the Sex; and indeed, not spend­ing much Time in their Conversations, I will pardon them all their Levity, Babling, Malice, and Impertinence; and, being un­married, shall not be so severe upon their Lusts and Adulteries; provided they will stop there. Let Helen run away from her Husband with a handsomer Man; but let her not suffer all Troy to be ruined for the [Page 155] keeping her there: Let Clytemnestra lye with another Man, during her Husband's Absence; but let her not murder him for it when he comes home: Let ^† Semiramis make use of all the handsomest Fellows of her Army; but let her not put them to Death for fear they should tell Tales: And tho' I would forgive her, yet her own Sex would never pardon her being the first Maker of ^‡Eunuchs: Let Phaedra and Fausta invite their Husbands Sons to supply their Fathers Defects; but let them not ac­cuse them, and have them put to Death for refusing: Let Joan of Naples make use of all the Men in her Kingdom; but let her not strangle her Hushand for his Im­perfections in a Point that he could not help: That Cruelty and Barbarity, I con­fess, is what provokes me so much against the Sex: I can see Tibullus's Mistress jilt him, for a Fool who is not half so hand­some; I can see Ovid waiting all Night at his Mistress's Door, whilst another Man is in her Arms; and I can see half a Score impertinent Women plaguing you with nonsensical Stories, and be very well di­verted all the while: But I confess I can­not hear of Medea's cutting her Brother in Pieces, and strewing his Limbs in the Way [Page 156] to stop her pursuing Father, without Hor­ror and Dread; nor of her treating her own Children after the same manner, to revenge herself upon Jason, without a like Emotion: I know not how other People may bear such Things; but for my Part, when I see all the Murders and Barbarities they commit, to revenge themselves on their inconstant Lovers, to get rid of their Husbands for some one they like better, or to prevent the Discovery of their Lewdness; but my Hair stands on end, my Blood shrinks, and I am possess'd with an utter Detestation of the Sex. Go but one Cir­cuit with the Judges here in England; ob­serve how many Women are condemned for killing their Bastard Children; and tell me if you think their Cruelties can be equalled; or whether you think those who commit such Actions fit for your, or for any civil Conversation. But I see by your Looks you are convinced, I see you abandon your Cause, and I shall cease to expose any farther a Sex, of whose Patronage you seem already ashamed.

Here MISOGYNES left off, and PHYLO­GYNES began to answer him: But I must beg your Pardon, Sir, said my Friend, for my Time is come, and I must necessarily be gone. The Devil you shall, said I; you would engage me in a pretty Affair; I pro­mise [Page 157] a Lady a Defence of her Sex, and you will make me send her a Satire against it. Truly, my dear Friend, said he, I designed to have told you all, but it is later than I thought, and I have Business waits for me. No Business, said I, can be so considerable to you, as the satisfying a fair Lady is to me, therefore sit down, and bring me fairly off what you have told me already, or you and I shall be Friends no longer. After all, Madam, to tell you the Truth, tho' there is no great Matter in this Speech of MISO­GYNES, yet I can hardly believe he made it upon a sudden; 'tis possible tho', they two having discoursed the Matter as they told us before, might have provided themselves each with Arguments. But supposing that, I can scarce believe one Man would be suf­fered to talk so long without Interruption; at least I am sure, some who we know were none of the Company. But it is possible, that he who told me, might leave out all that was spoke by others, for Brevity sake, being as you see in haste.

If you are as apt to be mistaken in your Judgment of Things as of Looks, replied PHILOGYNES, it is no wonder you should make such strange Conclusions. Whatever Seriousness you may see in my Face, does not, I'll assure you, proceed from any Dis­trust of my Cause, but an Astonishment at [Page 158] what strange Arguments the Invention of Man can suggest against the best Things that are. I say, the Invention of Man, for I am far from believing you in earnest in this Point; I have too just an Opinion of MISOGYNES, to think he does any Thing but put on this Humour for a Trial of Skill; and I no more believe you a Hater of Wo­men, for the Invective you have made against them, than I believe Erasmus a Lover of Folly, for the Encomium he has writ upon it. If you have therefore any thing more to urge, forbear it not upon any sup­posed Conviction you see in my Counte­nance; for, notwithstanding that I think you have handled the Subject as fully as any one who has undertaken it, yet I will assure you I cannot submit to your Argu­ments; and therefore am very ready to hear any thing you have further to urge. No, says MISOGYNES, I am sensible I have troubled the Company long enough about a Trifle, and it is very fit you should have your Turn of speaking now. Part of the Company was already convinced by his Arguments, the other Part thought he had said as much as the Matter would bear, and therefore both agreed in desiring PHI­LOGYNES to speak what he had to say, which he did in this Manner:

[Page 159] I confess, Sir (said he smiling) when I saw the Associates you allotted me at first, I began to despair of my Cause; I own I was ashamed of my Company, and resolved to pack up Baggage instantly, and quit a Trade in which none but Fops and Fools were engaged; but when I saw the Ana­creons, the Ovids, and all the Wits, antient and modern, in the same Circumstances, I even took Heart again. Courage, said I, the Business is not so bad as I thought, and it is possible his Heart may relent, and al­low us some better Company than he con­demned us to at first. At least, thought I, if it is a Folly to converse with Women, it is some Comfort that he owns it to be a Folly of which the greatest Wits of the World have been guilty before us: And when I saw all Greece, and the greater Part of Asia venturing their Lives for One Wo­man, I thought I had somewhat the Ad­vantage of them, whilst I ventured nothing but my Rhetoric for them All together. And when you named Samson, Achilles, Hannibal, and Mark Anthony, I enquired who those Gentlemen were; for certainly, thought I, if they were such brave Men, and great Soldiers, as I have heard them represented, we have no Reason to despair of the Victory when we have them to lead us on.

[Page 160] You might have spoken more generally of them too, if you had pleased; you might have told us, that there never was a great Soldier who was not as famous for his Amours, as his Battles; that a Poet was scarce thought free of his Trade, who had not paid some Duties to Love ^*; and you might have ad­ded to these all the Wise-men and Philoso­phers of the World: You might have in­formed us, that David, tho' a Man after God's own Heart, was not contented with­out some Share in the Womens: That Solomon, who knew the Virtue of every Plant, from the Cedar of Libanus, to the Hysop that grows upon the Wall, took as much Pains to have as general a Knowledge of the Ladies: That ^† Socrates, who was the ugliest as well as the wisest Man of his Time, would in spite of Nature aim at Love too, and, not terrified by one ill Wife, would try to mend his Hand in another: That ^† Plato, whom Antiquity has called Divine, did not spend all his Time in erect­ing Commonwealths, but that some of it was bestowed upon the Xantippe's and Archeanassa's: That ^† Aristotle, whom Phi­lip made Governor to Alexander, made himself a Slave to his Mistress; that this [Page 161] was not an Effect of his Passion alone, but of his Reason; ^*That he said, Love was not only upon the Account of Copulation but Philosophy; and commands his Wise­man to be in Love, before he bids him meddle with the Commonwealth: And in fine, that this great Man, who fathomed all Arts and Sciences, who has given us the best Rules of Philosophy, Politics, Poetry, &c. did also not think it unbecom­ing his Gravity to write one Treatise of Love, and four Amatory Theses. You might have mingled Sacred Story with Pro­fane: You might have told us that St. Peter was married, that St. Paul defended the leading about a Sister; that we owe one of the most celebrated ^†Fathers of the Church to the Endeavours and Conversion of a Woman; and that St. Jerom had so great an Esteem for the Sex, as to dedicate a great Part of his Works to some of them. You might have added to these a thousand more, which you see I purposely omit to avoid Prolixity, and mention none but whom you will allow to be the most celebrated of their Profession, without doing your Cause and Injury in the least; for after all, it is [Page 162] but shewing us a Drawing-room of Fops, reading a Dialogue out of Lucian, seeing a Scene of a Play, quoting a Sentence out of Solomon's Proverbs, searching all History for two or three ill Women, and the Busi­ness is done, the Cause is gained, let the Trumpets sound, and Io Poean be sung for the Victory.

I am sorry, Sir, that I cannot be as civil to you, as you have been to me: It goes against my Conscience to place you with so bad Company, considering with what you have obliged me; and of those few great Men whom you have seduced to your Party, I am concerned that I must take better Part from you. I fancy, after what I have al­ready said of Solomon, after reflecting upon his History, you cannot think him a true Friend to your Cause; and therefore will not, I hope, depend too much upon him. I shall say nothing of his Wives and Con­cubines, I shall not so much as mention his Canticles, which ^* Grotius, as well as I, affirms to be a Love-Poem, and which [Page 163] ^* Rapin reckons both the first and best of Pastorals; but I shall attack you at your own Weapon; I shall oppose Proverb against Proverb; if he has been severe in them upon ill Women, whose Cause I do not undertake, he has spoken as favourably of the ^†Wise and the Good: for whom we appear: In like manner, if Euripides has represented Women so in his Tragedies, as to get the Name of the Woman-hater, I appeal from his Writings to his Life and Conversation, which shew him far other­wise. If Simonides gives you severe Cha­racters of several Women, he gives you one at last that makes amends for all; one in whom no Fault can be found; and if you think that is not enough to take him off from your Party, if you are still so very fond of him, we will tell you, that Men who are deformed and ugly, as ^‡ Simonides was, naturally declare themselves Enemies to Women, because they fancy Women are Enemies to them; and upon that Account, not upon the Account of his Wit, we will allow him to you. As for St. Chrysostom, tho' we have all the Respect imaginable for a Father of Church, and upon that Account [Page 164] shall not enter into the Merits of the Cause betwixt ^*him and the Empress Eudoxia; yet this we shall say, Sir, that as Fathers of the Church are subject to Passions, as well as other Men; so it is no Wonder that a Man, who is used very ill by one Wo­man, and converses with few else, should conclude them all alike. Thus after hav­ing taken two of your Patriots from you, and if not taken, at least disabled the other two from being very credible Witnesses, you are reduced to Lucian and Juvenal. For the former, if I should quote you what the old Fathers say of him, if I should tell you, that he did not only abuse the Chri­stian Religion, but even his own; that he rallied all the Philosophers, Orators, and Historians of his Time; that not content with that, he falls foul upon those his own Religion taught him to worship as Gods; I fancy you would not think what such a Man says of any great Weight; but truly, Sir, there is no need of that in this Case: What does this Lucian do, pray? Why ^†he describes the Bawds griping, covetous, and encouraging their Daughters in Lewd­ness; his Courtesans false, jilting, and true Courtesans throughout. And what of all this, pray? what does this make for you? [Page 165] It is not the Cause of Bawds, or Courtesans that we undertake; tho' even amongst them he represents a great part easy, loving, good-natur'd Fools, and us'd accordingly by their Lovers. But does Lucian pretend that there are no good Women? Does he fall upon the Sex in general? or does not he bring in ^* Charicles in one place defending them, and does not he make the greatest En­comium that can be of Panthaea in another, and speak with abundance of Esteem of se­veral other Women in the same? And if he does introduce Callicratides in one of his Dialogues railing at the Sex, in Opposition to Charicles, he does it in the Defence of a Sin, which I am sure you will scarce think it civil to name. What shall we say to Ju­venal, but what Plato did to Xenocrates, bid him sacrifice to the Graces. He is al­ways violent, always declaiming, always in a Passion; and what Wonder if he falls upon the Women in one of his Fits? After all, you will make no great Matter of him; for if he has writ one Satire upon the Wo­men, he has writ fifteen upon the Men. For the comic Poets and Satirists, whom you mention in general, when you name them in particular, I shall give them par­ticular Answers. And now truly, Sir, see yourself reduced to a miserable Equipage; [Page 166] some old Husbands, and jilted Lovers; some Men with ill Faces, and worse Miens, may possibly stick to you still; but that is all: I am sorry to see a Man so well made, of so much Wit, and who has been so suc­cessful amongst the Ladies, rank himself with such a Tribe; but you do it, I sup­pose, by way of Variety only; and so let Misogynes appear, at the Head of his Regi­ment, that makes a worse Figure than Sir John Falstaffe's; let them be encouraged with stummed Wine and muddy Ale; let them give Fire to their Mundungus, and so let the Battel begin, whilst we with all the Heroes, Wits, and Philosophers, see how we can defend the Cause we have un­dertaken.

I am sensible, Sir, that I have broken the Order of your Discourse, and I beg your Pardon for it: But I thought it was necessary to distinguish our Enemies from our Friends, before the Armies joined, that so we might know whom to attack, and whom to spare; and having done that, I shall now confine myself to your Method, and follow the Course that you please to lead me.

Though I perfectly agree with you in the Esteem of the Laws made for the En­couragement of Marriage, and consequent­ly cannot but regret the Want of them [Page 167] amongst ourselves; yet I must beg your Pardon, Sir, if I wholly dissent from you, in the Inference you would draw from it: For it is very apparent to me, and to any unbyassed Person else, I suppose, that those Laws were never made, as you fancy, for the forcing Men to the Love of Women, to which all Countries were naturally enough enclined; but for the restraining them to Particulars; that whilst they fol­lowed the general Pleasures of the Sex, they might not lose the useful Part, which was the Procreation of Children. Had there been so few Virtues amongst them, as you please to imagine, there had been no Need of this; When we have but one Dish of Meat that we like, we fall upon that with­out any Deliberation; but when the Fancy is distracted with Variety of Dainties, we often lose more Time in the making our Choice, than would otherwise be requisite to the satisfying our Appetites.

It is true, Sir, it is a very good Way to judge of People by the Company they are fond of; but it is not a certain Way to judge of People by the Company that is fond of them. There was a Taylor in Love with Queen Elizabeth, but it does not necessarily follow that Queen Elizabeth was in Love with a Taylor. If there are ridiculous Fellows who follow the Ladies, [Page 168] before we run down the Ladies for it, let us see if they do not laugh at them as well as we our selves. And I cannot think their pursuing them any Reason at all for Men of Sense to avoid them. You would think it very hard, that Alexander and Caesar should quit the Art of War, because some Thrasoes and bragging Bullies pretended to it as well as they; and Virgil and Horace would take it very ill, that you should damn all Sorts of Poetry, because of the Bavius's and Maevius's, who set up for it; and whatever Reason you would give against the being a Minister of State, I dare say, Sir Politic Woudbee's aiming at it would be none. (Here Philogynes seems to me not to understand the right Use of that consi­derable Part of Mankind call'd Fools; For it is only the Half-Wit that is intolerable, and a true Fool, is next a true Wit the best Company in the World; for as a no­ble Author has extreamly well observed,

[Page 169] After this I need not tell you, Sir, that it is very ill judging of People by their Out-side; and as I laugh at those who like a Man only for his being well dressed, so I fancy you will allow them to be as ridicu­lous, who run him down only for the same Reason. It was objected against ^* Aristotle and ^† Cicero, that they were too sumptu­ous in their Apparel, and overcurious in their Dress; and without doubt there were deep ^‡Critics in those Times, said they minded nothing but making themselves fine; who yet, without any Offence to their Learning, we may suppose, could not give so good an Account of their Studies, as these two great Men have done of theirs.

(Courage! there are two good Precedents for the Beaux.)

After all, Sir, I know there are a great many of these gay Coxcombs, of these eter­nal Pretenders to Love; and I have nothing to say in their Behalf; let them even shift for themselves amongst the Thrasoes, and Bavius's. But they do not only pretend (you say) they are successful too. It is very possible, Sir; I do not know but there may [Page 170] be Fools enough of the other Sex, to like the Fools of ours. But it is with the best Sort of Women too (you say) that they succeed. And who tells you so, pray? They themselves. I swear, Sir, though I have a very great Esteem for those Gen­tlemen, yet I must beg their Pardon for my Faith in this Point; I can never think a Woman, whose Wit we all allow, can be fond of a Man whose Folly we all see. On the other side, I know how natu­ral it is, for every one to avoid Contempt; and when a Man is despised in one Place, what so reasonable as to make you believe he is esteemed in another. And I hope the Gentlemen themselves will take it for a Compliment, when I tell them I do not believe a Word they say in this Point; since certainly a Man of Honour would rather of the two, tell a Lye to the Prejudice of a Woman who uses him ill, than a Truth to the utter Ruin of one who grants him all the Favours he can ask.

But let us judge them by their Actions, say you! Do not most of the young Heiresses run away with the pitiful Fel­lows? If they do, Sir, it should rather deserve your Pity than your Anger; or if you must be angry, be angry with the Guardians whose Severity frighten them away, and yet hinders them the Sight of [Page 171] any Men of Merit to run away with. It is no Wonder that one who has never seen any Town, but where he was born, should think that the finest in the World; and you cannot blame a Woman for being in Love with a Man who does not deserve her, if she never saw any who did. All that we can reasonably expect in that Point is, that she should make some Satisfaction when she sees the World better; and if she shews her Contempt of her Choice then, it is as much (if not more) than can be re­quired. In like manner you cannot say a Widow makes an ill choice, except you prove she was offered a better. If a Man, who is obliged to ride a Journey, does it upon an ill Horse, you will be very well satisfy'd certainly, when he tells you, it is the best he could get. (I confess, Madam, this seems to me but a very indifferent Ex­cuse for the Widows; for he would make us believe, it is but next Oars with them; and so I told my Friend; but he reply'd, I must consider, it is only those Widows who make an ill Choice, about which he is to speak; and as he cannot say of them, as of the young Maids, that it was for want of seeing the World; so they must be con­tented with this Excuse, or make a better for themselves.) For the Wives, who you say cuckold their Husbands, there may be some­what [Page 172] more to be said. Modesty being almost an inseparable Quality of Wit, there is no Wonder that a Man who is possessed of that, should so seldom succeed in these Under­takings; whilst Fools, by their natural Impudence push on the Thing; and mar­ried Women are a sort of Forts that are sooner taken by Storm than Treaty. So that this shews rather the great Confidence of the Man, than the little Judgment of the Woman; who it is forty to one had much rather a Man of Sense was possessed of her, if he would take the same Methods to gain her as the other had done.

(After all, Madam, I think none of these Excuses extraordinary; therefore if I were worthy to advise the Ladies, they should rather make Use of Men of Wit in all these Capacities, than put their Friends to the Trouble of inventing such pitiful Defences for them.)

Now, Sir, as I cannot see any Reason why Women should naturally love Fools more than Men of Wit, so I shall very hardly be brought to believe they do. In a Husband I suppose they propose a Man whose Conversation shall be agreeable as well as his Person; and who shall have Wit to entertain them, as well as Wisdom to direct them; and in whom can this be found, but in Men of the best Sense? If in [Page 173] a Gallant, as you say, they propose Plea­sure without Scandal, tis very hard the Heat that warms a Man's Brain, should so en­tirely settle there, as to render him inca­pable of pleasing them otherwise; though it is possible, by reason of his having Varie­ty of Thoughts to divert him, he may not give himself so entirely up to those Plea­sures, as People less capable of thinking do: And for the Scandal, who so proper to hinder that, as those who have Prudence to manage Things so as not to be found out, and Wit enough to turn it off if they are? Whilst a Fool by his Want of Sense shall quickly make the Thing public, if there be an Intrigue, or by his Vanity brag of one, though there be none. Add to this, that when a Woman seems pleased with a Man of Wit, every body is apt to attribute it to the Pleasure of his Conversa­tion; whereas, when she is fond of a Man, in whom we can see nothing to be liked, we naturally suppose she likes him for something that we do not see: And though it is possible it may be only Want of Judg­ment in the Lady, yet the World is apt to compliment her Understanding in that Case, to the Prejudice of her Reputation. And to conclude, Sir, though I do not believe all those Men successful who say they are not, yet I am very much inclined to believe [Page 174] all those Men not to be successful, who say they are.

For your Examples of Women-haters, I have sufficiently I think reply'd to them already; and for your other Arguments, if it be an Affront to call a Man effeminate, I hope you do not think it any great Com­pliment to tell a Woman she is masculine; and had that Argument been urged against you, I dare answer for you, you would have said, that that only proved the Perfections of the Sexes different; and as Man was made for the ruder Labours, it was requi­site he should be strong and coarse; and the Women, being made for the easier Things, ought to be soft, tender, and de­licate: And as for Mens being governed by their Wives, though the being hector'd by them is not so commendable; yet it ^* was observed by ^† Cato of the Romans, that they governed all the World, and that their Wives governed them: Amongst the ^‡ Assyrians it was a Custom introduced by Semiramis, (who had ruled that Kingdom with so much Glory) that the Wives should have Dominion over the Husbands: The same Custom prevailed likewise among [Page 175] the ^* Sauromatae; and the ^† Aegyptians had an express Law to that Purpose. We know how much the ^‡ Spartans (the bravest Men of the World) were com­manded by their Wives, and that all the Care and Management of domestic Affairs was committed to them. So that I can­not imagine how a Thing should be so very scandalous, that was practised by most of the bravest People under the Sun.

Here are very good Precedents for mar­ried Women, which it is to be hoped they will lay up in their Hearts, and practise in their Lives and Conversations.

I have as great a Veneration for those Poets you mention, as any Man can; and upon that Account I shall not believe all the Ill they say of their Mistresses, because I suppose they would not have me: As I have been a Lover myself, so I know very well that People are apt in those Cases to take Suspicions for Realities, and Surmises for Matter of Fact. Does not ^‖ Aurengzebe call Indamora faithless, and ingrate? And yet I believe he would be very angry that you should call her so too; [Page 176] and would not any one who came in when he was in one of his Rants, conclude, a Man who loved so well, would not be en­raged against a Mistress at that rate, unless her Falshood was very apparent? And yet when we come to examine the Cause of this Disorder, what is it, but Morats giv­ing him his Life at her Request, or his leaning upon her Lap when he died. I rather mention this than any of the Poets you spoke of, not only because all the Mo­tions and Passions of a Lover are described with as much Art and Delicacy, as in any of those Antients, but also, that seeing the whole Business before you, you may judge of every little Cause of his Disorder, as well as he himself, which in Odes and Elegies you cannot do. You see the Lover there in a Fury, but what Cause he has to be so, there is no body to tell you, but he who is in it. Add to this, that a Man often feigns Jealousy of his Mistress, to binder her from being so of him, and will upbraid her Falshood to defend his own. (That is a Thing, now I confess, Madam, which I can hardly believe.) And it is evident, they had not really any such bad Opinion of Women, since with all this they did not cease to run after them. However, if you think these general Answers not sufficient, let us see what we can say to Particulars. [Page 177] For the Complaints of Cruelty and Scorn. I look upon them as Things of Course; and therefore, shall say nothing to them. If Anacreon's Mistress did ask him nothing but Money, why did he chuse one whose Necessities drove her upon it. And if other Men have made Complaints of the Wo­mens minding Wealth more than Love; I desire to know whether Women have not as much Reason to make the same Com­plaints of the Men. And for those who talk of their Mistresses Inconstancy, let us see first whether they were constant to them. For Ovid, he does not pretend to put it upon you, but complains in ^*one Place of his being in Love with two at once, and tells you frankly in ^†another, that he was in Love with all the Town. For Horace, Suetonius, (or whoever it was that writ his Life) informs you that he was intemperately given to Women; and what Wonder then, that a Man who try'd so ma­ny, should find one or two false. Tibul­lus had two ^‡Mistresses whom he cele­brates by Name, and there are some more Elegies that it does not appear whether they are writ to them or others; and though [Page 178] he tells us the ^* Report was, that his Mistress was kind to other Men; yet the Report gave him so much Torment, that he desired it should be stifled; if therefore you have any Friendship for him, endea­vour to fulfil his Desire in that Point. For Propertius, besides his ^† intemperate Love of all Women, he tells you his ^‡ Mistress caught him with two Wenches at the same Time; and confesses that he rails at the Incontinence of Women, only because she upbraided him with his. Thus whatever Qualifications those great Men had, Con­stancy, you, see was none; and though we allow you, each of them had Merit enough for any one Woman, yet one Man can hardly have enough for half a Score.

Now if Ruin and Desolation has come to great Men, and States, from Women, it shewed they had a good Opinion of the Sex in general, that they would suffer for them; and had they not been sensible the greatest Part were good, they could never have been imposed upon by the Bad. Then as for those ill Women whom you have [Page 179] mentioned, as I suppose you will not un­dertake to defend all the Actions of Ty­rants and Murderers; so I do not think my­self at all obliged to defend all the Women who have been guilty of some of their Crimes. The Dispute is not whether there have been any ill Women in the World, but whether there are not more Good. And when I have told you that the Book that condemns Dalilah, cries up De­borah and Jael: That if Homer has repre­sented Helen guilty of some Faults (for you will see that Homer does not represent her Cause so violently bad) he tells us of Hecuba and Andromache, and a Thousand others who were very good ones; That if Clytemnestra was false to Agamemnon, Penelope was as famous for her Truth to Ulysses; and so put you Example against Example, which I forbear to do, only because it is so very ea­sy; should I, I say, do but this, you could not complain that your Arguments were unanswered. But truly, Sir, we might carry the Thing much farther; we might defend some of those Women you mention­ed, and excuse the rest. For Dalilah I shall say say nothing, out of Respect to the Scripture, that represents her as an ill Woman; it is possible, were she alive, she might tell you in her own Defence, that what Account you have of her, is from [Page 80] her professed Enemies: That however taking the Thing as they tell it; if she did commit a Piece of Treachery, it was against an Enemy of her Country; and that it was very hard she should be so much run down for the same Thing they have so much admired in Jael and Judith, as well as every body else did in Marcus Bru­tus; she would perhaps push her Defence further, and tell you, that though she de­liver'd Samson to the Philistines to be kept Prisoner, yet she neither drove a Nail through his Head, nor cut it off. But for Helen, give me Leave to tell you, it is a great Dispute amongst the Historians, whether she was forced away by Paris, or went by her own Consent; several are of the former Opinion; and ^* Hoelztzim says plainly, he wonders Homer will put such a ridiculous Story upon the World, as to make her the Occasion of the Trojan War. ( Menelaus, it must be confessed, Madam, if the Story be true, was a very easy good­natur'd Husband, who would be at so much Pains and Charge to fetch back a Wife who run away with another Man. I do not remember in my own Memory, to have known above five or six Examples like it). And Plato in Phaed. speaks as if [Page 181] the belying her were the Cause of Homer's Blindness, as well as of Stesichorus's; but that the latter understood the Way of ex­piating his Fault better, and made his Re­cantation to this Effect, That there was not a Word of Truth in the Story of her going to Troy. If Clytemnestra was consenting to her Husband's Death, yet it was Egist­hus, a Man, who gave the Blow: And if Thais did advise the burning Persepolis, yet it was no less a Person than Alexander the Great who put it in Execution. And as for Deianira and Cleopatra, whatever Fata­lity arrived to their Lovers from them, may certainly be very well excused upon the Innocence of their Intentions, and their Pu­nishment of themselves afterwards, the one hanging, the other poisoning herself. If the Capuan Women destroyed Hannibal's Army, they destroyed a Body of Enemies that all the Men in Italy could not. In like manner, for your other Instances we might tell you, that Procopius, who tells those terrible Stories of Theodora, Anecdota, is so very passionate all along, and mixes such ridiculous Fables with what he tells, that there is no great Credit to be given to him. (This Procopius was a Soldier un­der Justinian, and has writ, amongst other Things, a secret History of those Times: In this he represents the Empress Theodora [Page 182] more like a Devil than a Woman; he makes her and the Emperor converse frequently with Spirits, and makes her put them to an Employment, that savours more of the Flesh than the Spirit.) Though granting she was as lewd as he represents her, what Wonder is it, that one who had been a stro­ling Play-wench, and common Strumpet before the Emperor married her, should not turn Saint after? If the ^*Princess of Parma embroiled Flanders, she did it by the Command of Philip, for whom she go­verned. And as for your two Queen Mary's, Caussin, in his Holy Court you know, makes a Saint of the One, and Parsons, of the Other, with whom I leave you to fight it out, not thinking our Dispute very much concerned in it.

Then, Sir, if there are Impertinents, if there are ridiculous Persons of the other Sex, I hope you do not think they are all Platos, nor all Aristotles of our own; And I will undertake, for every Woman who plagues you with her Business, for every woud-bee Politician, and for every Pedant amongst them, to bring you double the Number of the Men. If Olivia is imper­tinent in the Plain-Dealer, I hope there are Novels and Plausibles who keep her [Page 183] Company; And if I should carry you to a City Coffee-House, and there shew you a Parcel of People talking of Things that they understand nothing at all of; and settling the Governments of Countries, which they never saw as much as in a Map: From thence to a Play-House, and shew you the pert and insipid Railery of the Sparks upon the Vizard-Masks: From thence to a New-Market Course, and enter you at a Table, where you should hear nothing talked of but Dogs and Horses: From thence to a Tavern, and shew you a Set of Men in their drunken Frolics: I fancy you would wish yourself in your Drawing-Room again, as a more agreeable Folly than any of those I have mentioned. And I appeal to you, whether Lucian in his Ti­mon, Boileau in his eighth Satire, and my Lord Rochester in his upon the like Sub­ject, say not as much against Mankind, and make them as ridiculous as you can do the Women. And I will assure you, Sir, I am far from being of the Duke of Bri­tanny's Mind, that Learning is unfit for a Woman; and shall, without any Offence, either to him or you, continue of the same Opinion, till you have answer'd Anna Ma­ria Schurman's Arguments in their Be­half, and till you have taken away her­self, who is one of the best Arguments.

[Page 184] (This Anna Maria Schurman was a Dutch Lady of Utrecht, of whom you will hear more anon. There was a long Dispute between her and Rivetus, Whether Learning was fit for Women? 'Tis printed in her Works in Latin. Here, Madam, there follows a tedious Chapter, of Women who have been famous for Wit and Learning; which though it may be convenient for those who question their Abilities that Way, yet I do not see of what Use it can be to your Ladyship, or to any who have the Honour of being acquainted with you; therefore if you please, Madam, we will cast off here, and take Hands again at the Bottom.)

Nor indeed you fear that I should search three several Countries, and three several Ages, to furnish me with a learned Wo­man apiece. No, Sir, even Greece itself, to go no further, had nine Muses, nine Siblys, and nine Lyric Poetesses, if you are delighted with the Number Nine, which is three times three. And if you have more Mind to Particulars, we will shew you there ^* Megalostrate the Mistress of Alcman, who had a Gift of Poetry as well as he; the Daughters of ^† Stesichorus, who [Page 185] were as good Poets as their Father. We have also an Eretrian Sapho, as well as she who was in Love with Phaon; Erinna, and Demophila, the first the Mistress of Sapho, the other equal to her, who flou­rished all four in the same Time. After these we have Theano, the Wife of Pytha­goras, who undertook his School when he was dead, with two others of the same Name (if you will believe Suidas) whereof one was a Lyric Poetess, the other a Thurian, who writ of Pythagoras. We have also about the same time Cleobulina (the Daugh­ter of Cleobulus, one of the seven Wise Men of Greece) a Poetess, and Corinna who had the Surname given her of The Lyric Muse. We have presently after Telesilla, an Argive Poetess, not only famous for her Wit, but for her inspiring her Country-women with so much Courage, as to make them put to Flight the Spartiates, who came upon them in the Absence of their Husbands. At the same time lived Praxilla, one of the nine Lyrics, and of whom we have a Copy of Verses to Calais yet extant; What will you say to Aspatia Milesia, who is celebrated as a Sophistress, (you know the Word ^* So­phister was not then abused) a Teacher of Rhetoric, and a Poetess? There was also Hestiaea, mentioned by Strabo; Antyte, by [Page 186] Tatian; and Nyssis, by Antipater Thessalus; of the two last of which there are some Things yet extant. If you have a Mind to see what they did after they turned Chri­stians, we will produce Eudocia, the Wife of Theodosius, instructed in all sort of Learn­ing, and who writ several Treatises, very much cried up by Photius. I have not said a Word here of Lasthemia the Mantinaean, nor Axiothea the Phliasian, tho' they are mentioned amongst the Disciples of Plato, by Diogenes Laertius; and I own I forgot Hipparchia, whose Life he writes, and commends both as a Philosopher and a Wri­ter of Tragedies, and Hedyle the Poetess, whom Athenaeus quotes, and ^* Vossius it seems has forgot them as well as I. I question not but there are several others whose Names we want, and I question not but there are several named whom I remember not: However this is enough to let you see we are not so hard put to it as you ima­gine, since one little Country can furnish us with all these. What say you, Sir, are you yet satisfied there are Women of Wit and Learning? or shall we fetch you the ^† Cornelia you mentioned, ^‡ Sempronia, [Page 187] ^* Cornisicia, Polla Argentaria the Wife of Lucan, and who assisted him in his Poem; Sulpitia, Proba Falconia, Helpine the Wife of Boetius, from among the Latins? Or if these are not enow, shall we bring up our Reserves of Italian, Spanish, French, Ger­man, and English? And if you are not yet contented, because I fancy every Body else is, I shall refer you to Jacobus a Sancto Carolo's Library of Women, illustrious for their Writings; or to Anna Maria Schurman, who was indeed a Library herself, since you mention her. Pardon me, Sir, if I detain you a little longer than ordinary with this Woman; and though you may think it lost Time, because you knew it before, yet it is possible every Body does not know, that she was very well skilled in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Latin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, and Flemish Languages; that she had a very good Faculty at Poetry and Painting; that she was a perfect Mi­stress of all the Philosophies; that the greatest Divines of her Time were proud of her Judgment in their own Profession; and that when we had this Character of her, she was not above thirty Years of Age. What think you, Sir, is not this Woman sufficient of herself? Or shall we refer you to Ma­demoiselle [Page 188] ^* Gournay among the French, or ^† Lucretia Marinella among the Italians, who have both writ in Defence of their Sex, and who are both Arguments them­selves of the Excellency of it? I shall not as much as mention any of those Ladies whose Wit Balzac and Voiture so much ad­mire; I shall say nothing of the Mesde­moselles Scuderie and Le Fevre, to the first of which we do not only owe several ex­cellent Treatises published under her own Name, but who is said also to have had a great Share in those that appear under her Brother's; and to the latter of which we are obliged for so many admirable Versions, and judicious Observations upon most of the Greek and Latin Poets. I shall not as much as trouble you with our own Country-Women. I shall say nothing of Sir Thomas More's Daughters, about whose Education ^‡ Eras­mus has written; I shall pass by Sir Nicholas Bacon's, who were as learned as they; shall say nothing of Sir Philip Sidney's Lady Pem­broke; nor as much as mention Mrs. Phi­lips, or any of the rest of our English Poetesses; but I can hardly forbear saying something of the Lady Jane Gray, of whom all Nations else speak, and whose Fame is [Page 189] more celebrated in Italy, both for her Learning and Piety, by the Account that Michael Angelo has given them of her, than it is here at home. Should I reckon up all those Ladies whose Wit and Learning has been celebrated by our own Poets; should I but enter upon the Praises of Queen Eliza­beth of England, or Mary of Scotland, in that Particular, I should never have done. But I can hardly omit two Ladies who are Strangers, and however I am straitned for Room, yet methinks I ought to be just to those who were civil to me; since there­fore I received particular Favours from the Procurator Cornara, during my Stay at Venice, let me not pass over in silence his Daughter, for whom most of the greatest Princes, and Learned Men of Europe have testified such an Esteem. This Lady, be­sides her Skill in Rhetoric, Logic, Music, and Astronomy, writ and spoke perfectly well seven several Languages; and made the Course of all the speculative Sciences with so much Success, that she might very well profess herself a Mistress of them; and all this before she was thirty Years of Age. Her Sister, whom I had the Honour to see (she herself being dead some Time before) is likewise a Person of very singular Endowments; and all this whilst they are one of the best Families of a Town, where [Page 190] the Nobility seem almost as proud of their Ignorance, as their Liberty. The other I shall mention, is Christina Queen of Sweden, a Princess whose Accomplishments are so generally known, that it is enough to have named her; a Lady of that true Judgment, that she knew how to esteem Wit and Learning at the same Time that she de­spised Crowns; and seemed to be born as a sufficient Recompence to the Common­wealth of Letters, for all the Mischiefs her Predecessors the Goths and Vandals had done it before; I am satisfied it is impossible for me to add any Thing to a Glory so esta­blished as that of this Princess is; yet as I never passed any Time either with greater Benefit, or greater Satisfaction, than what I passed in her Conversation, so I am very well pleased, methinks, with any thing that gives me Occasion to call it to my Remem­brance. There might be as advantageous Characters, perhaps, given of some Ladies of our own Country now living, did not their Modesty, that inseparable Quality of Wit and Women, deter me from it.

We might tell you farther, Sir, that this Modesty too often hinders them from make­ing their Virtues known: That they are not of those eternal Scriblers who are con­tinually plagueing the World with their Works; and that it is not the Vanity of [Page 191] getting a Name, which several of the greatest Men of the World have owned to be the Cause of their writing, that is the Cause of the Womens. Had not Sapho been so much in Love, it is possible we had never heard any Mention of one of the greatest Wits that ever was born; had not Cicero and Quintilian given us Accounts of Cor­nelia, and the Daughters of Laelius, and Hortensius, they had never done it them­selves; had not Jane Gray been put to Death, her Virtues had never been so much taken notice of; had not the Portugueze Nun been deserted by her Gallant, we had missed some of the most passionate Letters that these latter Ages have pro­duced; and had not Anna Maria Schur­man's Works been published by a Friend, without her Consent, we had lost the Be­nefit of them. We may tell you too, that it is not only in respect of their own Sex that they are admired, but even of ours. That of those two Odes we have yet of Sapho, we owe one to Dionysius Halicar­nassaeus, the other to Longin, the two best Critics of Greece, who chose them out for Examples to their Rules, before any of the Mens: That the Epistle of Sapho to Phaon, which is esteemed the most delicate of Ovid's, is supposed to be taken out of her Writings: That Corinna was five Times [Page 192] victorious over Pindar, the best Lyric Poet of our Sex. And were we here in England as forward in printing Letters, as they are in France and Italy, we might furnish Vo­lumes of them written by our own Ladies, that would make all the Women-haters blush, or make all Men else blush for them.

(Here, Madam, I must own to you I grew jealous, for I could not imagine that PHILOGYNES would have said this, without having seen some of your Ladyship's Let­ters.)

We may tell you too, that granting the equal Capacities of both Sexes, it is a greater Wonder to find one Learned Woman, than a hundred Learned Men, considering the Difference of their Educations. If you should go into Greece, and, seeing the Ig­norance is among them at present, tell them their Countrymen were incapable of learn­ing, would you not be very well satisfied, when they told you of the Platos and Ari­stotles of Antiquity? And that if they had not as famous Men now, it was because they have not the same Advantages they had then? And pray why may not the Women be allowed the same Excuse? Will you by your Laws and Customs en­deavour to keep them ignorant, and then blame them for being so? And forbid all [Page 193] Men of Sense keeping them Company, as you do, and yet be angry with them for keeping Company with Fools? Consider what Time and Charge is spent to make Men fit for somewhat; Eight or Nine Years at School; Six or Seven Years at the Uni­versity; Four or Five Years in Travel; and after all this, are they not almost all Fops, Clowns, Dunces, or Pedants? I know not what you think of the Women; but if they are Fools, they are Fools, I am sure, with less Pains, and less Expence than we are.

Upon second Thoughts I hope, Sir, you will allow, that Women may have Wit and Learning; for their Courage and Con­duct we may possibly say more anon. But for Heaven's sake, do not aggravate their Faults always at that Rate; for whatever Sapho's Life and Conversation were, there is nothing in her Writings, but what re­presents the most tender, and delicate Pas­sion in the World: And as for Aloisia Sigaea, (I give you Thanks for putting me in mind of ^* Aloisia Sigaea,) who was as remarkable for her Wit and Learning as any of the other, I am very well assured you do not believe that infamous Book which goes un­der her Name, to have been written by her; ^† all who speak of it assure us the [Page 194] contrary; and that she was so far from writing it, that she ^† never published any Thing: On the other side, all Historians represent her as remarkable for her Virtue as her Learning. For the Queen of Sheba, there is no mention in Scripture of her Travelling for any Thing but to be satis­fied with the Wisdom of Solomon; however, if you will believe she went to him, for the same Reason that ^‡ Thalestris did to Alexander the Great; it was no such great Matter, in Countries where is was thought no Sin, if the one had a Mind to have a Child by the wisest Man in the World, and the other by the bravest. After all, we must own if there are lewd Women, they endeavour to conceal their Lewdness, they do not brag of it, nor fly openly in the Face of Religion; and if they once come to be publicly discovered, they are rendered infamous to all the World, and their nearest Friends and Relations avoid their Company: Whilst there are several Men who boast of their Iniquities, value themselves upon their being thought lewd, and what is worse, find others to value them upon it too; nay, by their Incitements and Encouragements to Wickedness, often bring themselves to that Pass, that the least [Page 195] Part of the Sins they are to answer for, are what they have committed themselves. But not a Word more, I beseech you, of Sapho, nor her new Crime, let Lucian be forgot­ten for putting us in mind of it, and let it be cloistered up within the Walls of a Turkish Seraglio; I speak not this in Behalf of the Female Sex, but of our own; for if they should once hear of this Argument, and fall upon us with ^* Socrates, ^† Plato, and all those Heroes of Antiquity whom Plutarch and Lucian produce in Defence of a like Sin in our Sex; should they mention Anacreon, Tibullus, Martial, and all those Poets who have eternized their Infamy in their Writings; and after that shew you what Progresses this Crime has made, not only in the Turk's Dominion, but even in Spain and Italy, I am sure, Sir, you would wish you had said nothing of a Point, that may be so severely made use of against our selves.

Now tho' you are pleased to quote the Lampoons, yet you think, as well as I, that such Things are not worth any bodies take­ing notice of; we both know there are a sort of People about this Town, who please themselves with Defamations: One of these, [Page 196] if they see a Man speak to a Woman, make their little Signs, their politic Winks, and possibly when they meet him, in their in­sipid Way of Railery, tax him with it: If he is angry at them, then he is piqued, and afraid the Intrigue should be found out; If he says nothing (as it deserves nothing) then he is out of Countenance, and cannot say a Word; and if he laughs at them (which is all the Answer a Man would make to such Stuff) then he is pleased with the Thing; so that every Way the poor Lady's Reputation suffers; and these Sparks shall not fail to blow it about Town, that there is an Amour; not that they think so of you, but that you may return the Com­pliment, and say so of them, when they speak to any Lady themselves.

For their Garrulity, if you would see Things which are against you, in that Treatise of ^* Plutarch, from whence you bring two of your Instances, you might have been furnished with enow of the Mens. But tho' it is lawful to forget Stories that are not for you, yet methinks you ought to tell out those you do mention; and when we have heard that the Wife of Fulvius, seeing what she had done, shewed her Hus­band the Way to avoid the Consequences of it, by stabing herself first; we must cer­tainly [Page 197] own, that such a Woman had Vir­tue enough to make Amends for all her Faults. And if in Answer to the Instances you bring, I should mention the ^* Melitish, or the Saxon Women, who tho' they were all engaged in Plots with their Husbands, yet not one discovered it; If I should shew you ^† Leaena at Athens, or ^‡ Epicharis at Rome, who being both engaged in Plots, one against the Tyrant Pisistratus, the other against Nero, yet could not by all their Tortures, be brought to discover them; and that the former, for fear her Torments should make her reveal it, bit off her Tongue; certainly, Sir, you would have a better Opinion of their Taciturnity. But we need not go so far for Instances; our own Country, and our own Time, will furnish us with enow. In all the Plots we have had continually on foot, tho' we have had Women engaged and accused; tho' there was one pilloried in the first, three executed in another, and sixteen or seven­teen excepted in a General Pardon; though there have been several seized upon like Accounts since, yet, you see, there has not been one of them who ever made a Dis­covery. [Page 198] Give me leave, Sir, to commend them for their Virtues at the same Time that I am far from defending their Faults; and though I have a very good Opinion of those Men who discover a Conspiracy upon Remorse of Conscience, yet I must take leave to believe that there are some, at least, who do it upon another Account; and without any Sorrow at all for their Design, except that it did not succeed, think to save their own Lives, by the Sacrifice of other Peoples; and make Amends for their Treason against the Government, by their Treachery to their Friends.

But no Wonder you are so severe upon the Faults of modern Women, when you fall upon those whom all Antiquity has reverenced. It is hard that Jael and Ju­dith, whose Actions have been so long ad­mired, should be called to Account for them so many thousand Years after. It would be an Injury to their Cause, to say any Thing in their Defence; and a Pre­sumption in me to justify Actions, that the Scripture has celebrated so much. But must poor Penelope fall under your Displea­sure too? I am sensible how much she is like to suffer, who is defended by so dull a Fellow as Homer, against those most inge­nious Gentlemen, who are the Lampooners of our Age: However, as their Ability in [Page 199] Scandal needs no foreign Aid; and as I am satisfied they would think it a Disparage­ment to them to be reckoned with Virgil and Ovid, let us free them, pray, from such unworthy Companions. For the for­mer, I believe you are fully satisfied the Priapeia are none of his; and as fully sa­tisfied that the Authority of such sort of Verses is not extreamly much to be depend­ed upon: And for Ovid, if in the Person of a Bawd, who he tells you was a Liar, he gives you a Reflection upon Penelope; yet he makes her very sufficient Amends, when ^* he speaks in his own Person. And taking the Story as it lies, that her House was always full of Lovers whom she could by no Means get away; Laertes being too old, Telemachus too young to encounter them; it certainly shews her Virtue so much the more: For as there is no great Cou­rage required to keep a Fortress in the Time of Peace, so a very little Virtue is sufficient to preserve that Chastity which no Body ever thought it worth his While to attempt. Now if Lycophron and Duris Samius repre­sent her as a lewd Woman, as I understand not how they should come to know it, all [Page 200] the Writers who lived before them giving so very different an Account; so for Ly­cophron, it is no great Wonder a Greek and a Poet should lye; or that Duris Samius, seeing the Etymology of the Word Pan come so pat, should feed us with a Story upon it, of his own Invention. ( Pan you remember, Madam, in Greek signifies All, and who would not tell a Lye for so pretty a Conceit?) You may observe also, that this Author was not of so established a Re­putation as Cicero would make us believe, since ^* Plutarch, who quotes him once, does it only to contradict him in a Point of History, that he ought to have known better than this. For Lucretia, observe of Sir Charles Sidley, as of Ovid before, that he only makes the Bawd say it; and if you consider the Fear in which she was, you will find that that Passion often makes Peo­ple run into a greater Danger to avoid a less, of which you have Instances enow in our own Plantations, of the ^† Slaves who hang themselves, to avoid their being beat.

After all this, Sir, if you still think with Le Chambre that Men have a greater natu­ral Inclination to Virtue than Women, yet I hope you will grant they have taken a very becoming Care to overcome that Inclina­tion; [Page 201] and if Nature has not given so large a Talent to the other Sex, yet they have improved that Talent much better than we have done ours. Then for your In­stances of some few ill Women, I tell you, as I did before, that the Cause in general is not at all concerned in them; and when I shew you an Atreus cutting his Brother's Children in Pieces, and giving them to him to eat; a Phalaris roasting People alive in a brazen Bull; a Busyris murdering all his Guests; a Nero ripping open the Womb of his Mother, to see the Place where he had lain; and so for every Crime of that Sex, shew you how far they have been outdone by some of our own, as that ^* Italian Lady I mentioned does in her Treatise upon a like Occasion, I am sure you will find a very great Disadvan­tage of your Side. But I take you at your Word, let us go a Circuit with the Judges, and if you find not six Men condemn'd for one Women, I will pay the Charges of the Journey. It is true, indeed, as most of the Women who are condemn'd, are so, for a Crime which they commit to pre­vent their Shame; so the Care of that, and Hypocrisy, are two Faults of which out Sex is not so generally guilty. Now though [Page 202] I do not think myself obliged to say one Word for any one of those Women you have condemned; and shall therefore leave Phoedra and Fausta to your Mercy, though neither of them expected the Cruelty of their Husbands should have carried Things so far; and shall not argue much for Se­miramis, though certainly her having all the Bravery, Wisdom, and Virtues of our Sex in the greatest Perfection, might move you to forgive her the having some of our Faults; and for her putting Men to Death, I am contented that every one who boast of Ladies Favours should be served in the same Manner; (Here, Madam, I cannot at all agree with Philogynes, because it might be severe upon some honest Gentlemen, whom all the Laws against Adultery and Fornication would never reach.) Yet me­thinks I have an Inclination to say some­what for Queen Joan of Naples, because she is generally represented so very ill. The common ^* Story is, that having married Andreossa an Hungarian, and her Kinsman; and not finding him so capable of satisfying her, as his Youth and Beauty promised, she caused him to be strangled in a Silk Cord of her own making. The first and chief Author of this Story is Villani, a Flo­rentine, [Page 203] (for ^* Collenuccio takes it from him, though, as such Things use, it has lost no­thing in his Hands) who tells you that he had it from a ^†Relation made to his Bro­ther by a certain Hungarian, who had been a Servant of Andreossa's; and in his Return to Hungary, passed through Florence. Now the Author of this Story being an Hunga­rian, one of those of whom Petrarch writes so much ill, and also a Servant of the dead King, he ought to speak passionately against the Queen, of whom they were professed Enemies: You may observe also, that the ^‡Letter which Lewis the Brother of Andreossa writes to her at the Time that he came with a potent Army to revenge his Brother's Death, speaks of her being privy to it, as a Thing that was suspected, rather than a Thing that did plainly ap­pear. On the other side, ^‖ Boccace, who lived a great while in that Court, throws all the Blame of the Action upon the Con­spirators, and none at all upon the Queen. After all, believe as you please, and do as you please with all these Women who have [Page 204] offended you: If Helen runs away from Menelaus, let all Greece arm, and fetch her back again; If Clytemnestra consents to the killing Agamemnon, let Orestes kill her for it; If Semiramis puts the Men she has made Use of to Death, let her own Son serve her in the same Manner; If Joan of Naples causes Andreossa to be strangled, let Durazzo cause her to be strangled in the same Place; Let not your Severity stop there, but let their Infamy live when they themselves are dead; and let the Euripides's, the Juvenals, and the Misogynes's, set out their Actions in their true Colours. But let the Business go no farther, I beseech you. Let not Hecuba, nor Andromache suffer, because Helen is a wanton Woman; nor Penelope be run down, because Clytemnestra is an ill Wife; and if Joan of Naples strangles her Husband, let not all those who have died for theirs, fall under the same Condemnation. It is one of the chiefest Ends of Punishments to distinguish the Good from the Bad, do not you there­fore by Punishments confound them. If Tibullus and Ovid's Mistresses jilt their Lovers, let it be remembered against them two thousand Years after; and if Misogy­nes's serve him so, let him shew his Re­sentment in as severe a Manner as he pleases. Let him disdain the mean Revenge of ma­licious [Page 205] Whispers, and nameless Lampoons, and the much meaner Way of railing at all, because one has injured him; but let him boldly hunt her out from the Herd; let him publish her Infamy in lasting Charac­ters; though she is free from Conscience, let her be plagued with the Stings of Shame; and let all Women be terrified by her Ex­ample from being false to Men of Wit, or kind to Fools. But let him have very full Sa­tisfaction of the Matter of Fact first; let him not go upon dubious Grounds, nor jealous Surmises; let him not believe the Vanity of some, nor the Malice of others; let him consider the Stories of ^* Bradamante in Ariosto, of Aurestilla in Consalo de Cepedes, of Othello in Shakespeare, and let him see how far Jealousy may seem reasonable, whilst nevertheless the Person of whom they are jealous may be innocent. After all, I give you even in that greater Power than I should care to take myself; I would rather by other Peoples Faults correct my own, and should think the noblest Re­venge a Man could take upon a Woman who injured him, would be the doing some Action that would make all the World ad­mire him; I would have every body up­braid her with my Wrongs, whilst I myself was silent: It is true, if by the Injuries she [Page 206] did me, there were any Aspersions cast upon my Reputation; there Justice to myself would oblige me to make the Story public: But I would certainly endeavour to reclaim her by Mildness, before I made Use even of that Severity; and as I should scorn any Favour that was the Effect of Fear, so if I once broke into an open War, all the Sub­mission she could make should never bring me to an Amity again, though perhaps my own Good-nature might in Time prevail upon me for a Forgiveness.

This, Sir, is what I thought necessary to reply to what you said; in which I see we have quite exceeded the Bounds of a Dia­logue, and turn'd that into Declamation, which was intended only for Conversation. I have troubled the Company so much al­ready, that I dare trespass no farther upon their Patience, and shall therefore omit some other Things, which I intended to have said upon this Occasion.

You are like those People, cry'd Misogy­nes, who when they have provided all the Dainties they could get, make an Apolo­gy at the End of the Treat, for their hav­ing got no more: If I am not altogether convinced of the Goodness of your Cause, yet I am very well convinced that you have said all the Cause will bear.

[Page 207] Tho' perhaps I should have no great Mercy upon you, replied Philogynes, yet I have too much for these Gentlemen, to detain them so long, as to hear all that I could say upon so glorious an Occasion. Should I make a Collection of what is writ­ten by the best Authors of Antiquity in their Praises; should I but refer you to what Stobaeus has collected for them, since you mention what he has done against them; should I but transcribe what ¹ Plu­tarch, ² Lodovicus Vives, ³ Speron Spe­rone, the most Learned of his Countrymen, ⁴ Ribera, ⁵ Hilarion de Costè, ⁶ Scu­derie, and a thousand others have said of them in Treatises written expresly in their Praises: should I but search all the Biblio­theques for a Catalogue of those who were famous for their Writings; Should I after­wards tell you of those who were remark­able for their Piety, conjugal Affection, Penitence, and Contempt of worldly Va­nities; should I but repeat the Names of [Page 208] those who have died for the Preservation of their Chastity; should I shew you a ^*Country even at this Day, where they cannot by any Severity hinder Women from burning themselves with the Bodies of their deceased Husbands: Should I mention the Women of ^† Cios, amongst whom for seven hundred Years there never was the least Mention of any Adultery, or Fornication; should I tell you that the first of those Sins was so little known amongst the Spartans, that they did not think it worth their while to make any Law against it: (Now, said my Friend, whether this were not as good an Argument of the Mens Chastity as the Womens, I leave you to judge; but really I think not, Madam; for besides Intrigues with their own Sex, which were common enough amongst the Men in those Eastern Countries; I do not doubt but the Men, being Men of Honour, would ask; though the Women, being Women of Honour, would deny.) Should I but give you a List of the Martyrs of that Sex, from those who suffered under Tiberius, to those who suf­fered under our own Queen Mary, I fancy I should make you ashamed of your Simo­nides, your Juvenal, and all your Satirists [Page 209] put together. Should I after this defend them in the Virtue to which they are thought to have least Pretences, which is, Courage; should I but name those who have been famous for their warlike Atchieve­ments; should I tell you of Deborah, Pen­thesilaea, Thalestris, Camilla; should I shew you a Country ^* of Amazons, even in our own Time: Should I carry you into France, and shew you a warlike Virgin (at least an unmarried Woman) whose Memory is still annually celebrated by one of their chiefest ^† Towns, and who, besides her Fame in their Chronicles, has given a Subject to one of the most famous ^‡ Heroic Poems which that Nation has produced; would you not, after all, confess they might very easily be defended, even in this Point too? But I shall wave that; I am satisfied with the Care universal Custom has taken of them; and as Seamen in a Storm, to preserve their Things of greatest Value, throw away those of less; so I am very well pleased that Mankind should be exposed to the Hazards of War, whilst the Fair Sex is preserved in Safety at Home, whose Smiles are the noblest Reward a brave Man can [Page 210] desire for all the Hazards and Fatigues he has endured in a Campagne.

But it is generally agreed that all Virtues are requisite for those who govern well; and since there are some Countries where Women are excluded from the Throne, and no Country where they are not post­poned, it would be convenient, methinks, to see what they do, when by Accident they are placed upon it. I shall not trouble you here with Deborah, nor Esther, nor as much as mention Semiramis, though you have mentioned her upon another Occa­sion; and yet certainly the Bravery of most of her Actions ought to make us forget the Faults of some few; but I shall confine myself within the Bounds of our own Country.

^*At a Time when the Britons groaned under the Servitude of the Romans; when the King, by thinking to oblige the Em­peror, gave him an Opportunity of pillag­ing his Country; and that their Patience under their Sufferings, was only a Means of making them more; When their Houses were robbed, their Wives and Daughters ravished, and their Sons taken away from them; then Boadicea arose, and by her Courage, as well as Eloquence, inspired [Page 211] her dispirited Countrymen with a Resolu­tion of throwing off that Yoke which was grown intolerable to be born. It is true, indeed, the End was not answerable to the Successes of the Beginning; nor to the Glory so heroic an Undertaking deserved; however as it was neither Want of Courage nor Conduct in her, so we ought to render her that Veneration which is due to so resolute an Enterprize.

But as one of the greatest Attempts the Britons made for their Liberty was whilst they were led by a Woman, so we must own the greatest Glory our Nation could ever boast, was under the Government of one of the same Sex. It was in the Time of Queen Elizabeth that this Island arrived at that Pitch of Greatness, to which it had been ascending for several Ages, and from which it has been declining, till very lately, ever since: It is the Name of this Princess that is dearer to all Englishmen, than the Names of all the Monarchs since the Con­quest besides, and the only one whose Birth­day has been celebrated after her Death, by the voluntary Gratitude of the People.

But however we may forget Things that are past, let us not oversee that which lies before our Eyes; and since the Occasion is so very fair, I know not how we can omit the shewing our Sense of those Virtues, of [Page 212] which the whole Nation has demonstrated so grateful an Acknowledgment by the Body of their Representatives; and never were they more truly their Representatives before. Yes, Sir, without going to foreign Countries, without searching the Histories of our own, we have even in our own Time, and our own Country, a Princess who has governed to their general Satis­faction, a People the most curious to pry into the Faults of their Governors, of any People under the Sun. A Princess, who though she never shewed any Fondness of Vain-glory, or Authority, yet when the Necessity of the Kingdom called her to the Helm, managed Affairs with that Dexte­rity, which is very rarely found in those who are the most ambitious of Command. Every Thing during that little Time of her Government, was ordered with that Cou­rage, Conduct, and Prudence, that her greatest Friends cannot find Eloquence enough to commend, nor her greatest Enemies the least Pretences to condemn. Though she had a Husband venturing his Life in another Country, with a Bravery equal to what has made us suspect the Sto­ries of Antiquity; tho' our Fleet, the Bul­warks of the Nation, was managed in a Manner the Courage of the English Seamen was utterly unacquainted with; tho' a [Page 213] Monarch, who thinks himself able to con­tend with all Europe together, seemed to make his utmost Efforts against a Princess, who had nothing but the universal Hearts of her Subjects to defend her; tho' all Christendom was in Suspence to see the Event of the Undertaking, and every little Prince had forgot his own Danger to con­template hers; even at this Time did we see her look with all the Unconcern ima­ginable, and whilst every Body else was alarmed for her Safety, she only seemed to have known nothing of the Danger. Not that this Unconcern proceeded from any Ignorance of her Condition, or unreason­able Contempt of her Adversary; no, she provided against their Attempts with all the Prudence could be wished for, at the same Time that she looked upon the Danger with all the Courage in Nature.

But however great these Virtues may appear, when they are set off by the Lustre of a public Command, yet they are in Effect much greater, when they teach Peo­ple to despise all such dazling Trifles. Here it is, Sir, that we have a fresh Field for Eloquence, when we see a Lady dissatisfied at that Glory which she had to every Bodies Satisfaction beside, and grudge herself that Authority, which she owed to the Absence of a Husband whom she loved so much [Page 214] better than that. What think you, Sir, of that Alacrity, of that Joy with which she resigned up the Government? Does it not put you in mind of the old Roman Gene­rals, who quitted their Plough to command an Army, and when the Victory was gain'd, returned with greater Content to their Plough again? This is that Wisdom which we should admire; this is that Virtue which we should adore; and we ought to despise all those little Pretenders to Business, who thrust themselves into the Management of Affairs against every Bodies Will but their own; and having neither Virtue nor Pru­dence enough to retire from it at the uni­versal Murmurs of the People, are gene­rally made Sacrifices at last to the just Re­sentment of an enraged Nation.

These are those blazing Comets, whose fatal Glories portend Destruction to a Go­vernment, whilst the Virtues of the others, like those of the Sun, give it Life and Heat, by their benign Influence. Much more, Sir, might be said in Defence of the Sex, which I shall purposely omit, because I am satisfied I can never conclude with a more illustrious Example.