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OBSERVATIONS ON FEMALE LITERATURE
IN GENERAL,
INCLUDING SOME PARTICULARS RELATING TO
MRS. MONTAGU AND MRS. BARBAULD.
[Embelliドed with an elegant ENGRAVING of thoテ LADIES.]
Happily we do not live in thoテ days when prejudice condemned our women to ignorance to be deplored. The ridicule which Moliere [1] caフ on Female Pedantry brought all kinds of Knowledge into ブch diビepute with the Women of France, that many of them made a merit of murdering their mother-tongue : there have been always, however, バme Fair-ones, who, detaching themテlves from the ネavery of cuフom, have ventured to think, to パeak, and to write with propriety; and there are many Ladies at this time in England who do not bluド--who have no reaバn to be aドamed to diツover that they are better inフructed than the majority of the ノart fellows of the age.
The ingenious Author of the Feminead*[2], or Female Genius, opens his Poem with the following lines, which muフ be read by every Lady who thinks the "enlargement of her mind, as well as the expanナon of her head," worth her attention, with particular pleaブre :
Shall lordly Man, the theme of every lay,
Uブrp the Muテ's tributary bay;
In kingly フate on Pindus' ブmmit ナt, [3]
By Salic law the female right deny, [4]
And view their genius with regardleピ eye ?
Juフice forbid ! ------ ------
Long o'er the world did Prejudice maintain,
By バunds like theテ, her undiパuted reign;
" Woman! (ドe cried) to thee indulgent Heav'n
Has all the charms of outward beauty giv'n :
Be thine the boaフ, unrivall'd to enネave
The great, the wiテ, the witty, and the brave :
Deck'd with the Paphian roテ's damaヌ glow, [5]
And the vale-lily's vegetable ハow;
Be thine, to move majeフic in the dance,
To roll the eye, and aim the tender glance;
Or touch the フrings, and breathe the melting バng,
Content to emulate that airy throng,
Who to the ブn their painted plumes diパlay,
And gaily glitter on the hawthorn パray;
Or wildly warble in the beachen grove,
Careleピ of aught but muナc, joy, and love."
Heavens! could ブch artful, ネavish バunds beguile
The free-born バns of Britain's poliド'd iネe ?
Could they, like fam'd Ulyャes' d フand crew,
Attentive liフen, and enamoured view,
*The Rev. Mr. Duncombe, of Canterbury
Page 284
Nor drive the Syren to that dreary plain,
In loathバme pomp where Eaフern tyrants reign;
Where each fair neck the yoke of ネav'ry galls,
And in a proud テraglio's gloomy walls
Are taught, that, levell'd with the brutal kind,
Nor テnテ nor バuls to Women are aャign'd !
Our British Nymphs with happier omens rove,
At Freedom's call, thro' Wiヅom's Sacred grove;
And as with laviド hand each Siフer Grace
Shapes the fair form, and regulates the face,
Each ナフer Muテ, in bliピful union join'd,
Adorns, improves, and beautifies the mind.
* * * * * * *
With various acts our rev'rence they engage,
Some turn the tuneful, バme the moral page;
Theテ, led by Contemplation, バar on high,
And range the heavens with philoバphic eye;
While thoテ ブrrounded by a vocal choir,
The canvaピ tinge, or touch the warbling lyre.
In the number of ingenious Female Writers who have diフinguiドed themテlves in テveral branches of polite literature, the two Ladies whom we have テlected for the embelliドment of our preテnt Magazine make a very brilliant appearance. With regard to theテ Ladies, indeed, the Author of this ドeet cannot, for obvious reaバns, expatiate on their reパective merits in a manner agreeable to his inclination; but he hopes that nothing which he does ヂy concerning them will give the leaフ offence. He is very ブre, that he wiドes to give them rather pleaブre than uneaナneピ, by his ヌetches of their literary characters.
Mrs. Montagu [6], with a very pleaナng perバn, a liberal mind, a benevolent heart, and a large fortune, appears, in conテquences of her combined advantages, in a great variety of attractive ナtuations. In her life, as well as in her writings, the バlidity of her underフanding and the elegance of her taフe are equally conパicuous :
By Fortune follow'd, and by Virtue led,
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| Mrs. CARTER.[7]
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She is alバ
With wit well-natur'd, and with books well bred.
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| POPE.[8]
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With a mind richly cultivated and highly poliドed, Mrs. Montagu has favoured the Public with compoナtions which are truly claャical, and which may be frequently read with renewed ヂtisfaction.--The Three Dialogues of the Dead written by her, and publiドed by the late Lord Lyttelton [9] at the end of his own, abound with good テnテ, パrightly テntiments, and バund morality. The firフ of theテ is between Cadmus and Hercules, and is calculated to テt forth the uテ and excellence of learning. The next, between Mercury and a modern fine Lady, is a pleaヂnt ridicule on the trifling, diャipated manner in which our modiド fair ones miパend their time. The laフ, between Plutarch, Charon, and a modern Bookテller, is a lively ヂtire on the literary taフe of the preテnt age, which, to the great diトrace of letters, delights in fabulous, obツene, and immoral romances.
Theテ Dialogues certainly diツover the fair Writer's judgment and her taフe; but they both appear dans tout leur jour [10], in her " Eャay on the Writings and Genius of Shakeパeare, compared with the Greek and French Dramatic Poets; with バme Remarks upon the Miビepreテntations of M. de Voltaire."--The merits of the Eャay are not, however, confined to a mere defence of Shakeパeare [11], or to obテrvations of Voltaire's criticiノs. It abounds with curious diヒuiナtions, and will undoubtedly hold a high rank among the moフ claャical pieces of the ヂme nature in the Engliド language. The parallel drawn between the conduct of the two Poets, in reパect to the Ghoフ of Darius, in the Perテus of Eツhylus, and that of Hamlet, as well as the compariバns made between Shakeパeare and the French Dramatic Writers, are attended with a great number of the moフ judicious and beautiful obテrvations. The charge againフ Voltaire of miビepreテntations, of not underフanding the Engliド language, and of his being guilty of the greateフ abブrdities in his tranネation of the firフ act of Shakeパeare's Julius Cæsar, are abundantly proved.
Mrs. Barbauld, who, with the name of Aikin, firフ darted into the poetical world a few years ago, and charmed all thoテ who have a true reliド for the effuナons of a genius under the immediate inパiration of the Muテs, フill ドines with a luフre ブfficient to make the Mob of Gentlemen who write "about it, Goddeピ, and about it," appear like "little フars hiding their diminiドed rays" at the approach of the ブn in his riナng パlendor. This Lady is not only poetically enchanting, but perバnally attractive. With a countenance in which every thing agreeable in a woman is フrongly expreャed, ドe prepoャeャes you
Page 285
extremely in her favour at firフ ナght; and you are doubly pleaテd with the diパlay of her intellectual powers in converヂtion with her, as ドe テems not to be conツious of an underフanding ブperior to the greateフ part of ther テx. "Her eye パeaks テnテ diフinct and clear," when ドe is ナlent, and ドe never opens her lips to deliver her thoughts with an oracular テntentiouハeピ; nor does ドe ever converテ with an oracular duplicity. She never パeaks as if ドe attempted to command admiration; but ドe says nothing which does not deテrve it. With her lettered friends ドe opens her mental フores with the leaフ affectation to be imagined, and is doubly cautious, before the illiterate, to ドade her talents with the veil of diffidence, that ドe may not force them to feel their inferiority. There is, indeed, a delicacy as well as propriety in her deportment uncommonly pleaナng; which, joined to the mildneピ of her manners, and her affability to all kinds of people, throw an inexpreャible charm over her whole perバn, and induce us to venerate the beauties of her mind.
With regard to Mrs. Barbauld's poetical compoナtions, there is a maツuline force in them, which the moフ vigorous of our poets has not excelled : there is nothing, indeed, feminine belonging to them, but a certain gracefulneピ of expreャion (in which dignity and beauty are both included) that marks them for the productions of a Female Hand. Her フyle is perfectly Horation [12], elegantly poliドed, and harmoniouネy eaペ. The curioヂ felicitas dicendi [13], which Genius alone and the ear that Nature has harmonized can produce, is frequently to be found in her beautiful Poems. She has alバ written バme pieces in proテ, which, in point of elegance, are as much ブperior to the laboured Eャays of our フurdy Moraliフ as the easy motions of a fine Gentleman are, in point of grace, to the フiff attitudes of a Dancing-maフer.
Notes
1. The pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-73), playwright, actor, and theatre manager known for his farces and comedies of manners. His plays about art and nature, Les Précieuses ridicules (1659) and especially Les Femmes savantes (1672), might be in mind here. It should be noted that the reviewer seems to be giving a selective view of Molière's attitudes; in other plays, in particular L'École des femmes (1662), he satirizes men who wish to keep women ignorant.
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2. John Duncombe, a friend of Elizabeth Carter, wrote The Feminead: or, Female Genius, a Poem, which circulated in manuscript before being published in 1754 (2nd ed. 1757). The poem is a celebration of virtuous learned women and was meant to encourage women writers.
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3. Pindus' Summit: A mountain range in central and northwestern Greece whose highest peak is 8,650 feet.
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4. Salic Law: A law thought to derive from the code of laws of the ancient Salic Franks which prohibits a woman from succession to the throne.
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5. Paphian roses are related to Paphos, a city near the southwest coast of Cyprus, where Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was said to have been born from the sea-foam. A temple to the goddess was built at Paphos in the 12th century B.C.
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6. Elizabeth Montagu (1720-1800) was an essayist, letter writer, patron, and bluestocking hostess. Montagu was a friend of Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Lord Lyttleton, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a patron to James Beattie, Anna Barbauld, Frances Burney, and Hannah More. She contributed three essays to Lyttleton's Dialogues of the Dead (1760) and published An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare in 1769. Her four volumes of letters were published in 1809 and 1813. Source: Schnorrenberg, Barbara Brandon. A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers, 1660-1800. Ed. Janet Todd. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1987. 221-2.
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7. "By fortune follow'd, and by Virtue led," "To _____" (52) from Poems on Several Occasions (1762), page 14.
Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), poet, essayist, translator, and letter writer, was a close friend of Catherine Talbot and Elizabeth Montagu. She wrote Poems on Particular Occasions (1738), two papers for the Rambler (Nos. 44 and 106) and Poems on Several Occasions (1762). Her best-known work was a translation of Epictetus (1758). Her letters to Montagu were published in three volumes (1817) and letters between Carter and Talbot appeared in four volumes in 1809. Source: Schnorrenberg, Barbara Brandon. A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers, 1660-1800. Ed. Janet Todd. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1987. 75-6.
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8. "Epistle to Miss Blount, With the Works of Voiture" (1712), line 8.
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9. George Lyttleton, first baron Lyttleton (1709-73) was a patron of literature and friend of Pope and Fielding and an opponent of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. He is addressed by Thomson in The Seasons. He published poems and a history of Henry II (1767-71) and co-authored Dialogues of the Dead (1760) with Elizabeth Montagu who wrote three of the eighteen essays in the collection. Source: The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed. Ed. Margaret Drabble. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1985.
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10. In their best light, to advantage.
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11. A refutation of criticisms by Voltaire and published in 1769.
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12. Characteristic of the Latin poet Horace (65-8 B.C.) whose writing is known for its formal rigor, succinctness, and elegance.
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13. Thoughtful felicity of expression.
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