Vassar Semi-Centennial Series THE LEARNED LADY IN ENGLAND 1650-1760 BY MYRA REYNOLDS Professor of English Literature in the University of Chicago WITH PORTRAITS COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY MYRA REYNOLDS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLISHED IN HONOR OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF VASSAR COLLEGE 1865-1915 TO E. E. L....

The theme to which this volume is specifically limited is the position and achievements of learned women in England in the period between 1650 and 1760. But before entering upon this detailed study it seems desirable to give a preliminary sketch of the work of learned women in England before 1650. In such a sketch it is, indeed, a temptation to go farther back along the path of history than a single volume would allow. It is difficult, for instance, to avoid some account of the women of genius n

The first woman author in the English language is probably Juliana Barnes (or Berners), whose delight in hunting, hawking, and fishing, along with a surprising amount of technical knowledge on these subjects, led her to write, in 1481, a book for "the gentill men and honest persones" whose tastes coincided with hers. But this lady was prioress of Sopewell Nunnery and comes under the list of learned nuns. [14] Genuine interest in books on the part of women in secular life in England received one

With the death of Elizabeth we come practically to the end of the favor accorded learned women. The changed tone of public opinion may be fairly indicated by a few scattered utterances from contemporary poems and essays. Sir Thomas Overbury, in his Characters (1614), describes "A Good Woman" as one "whose husband's welfare is the business of her actions." Her chief virtue is that "Shee is Hee." In A Wife he says that "Books are a part of Man's Prerogative." He praises a "passive understanding" i

Of schools for girls during the period before 1660 we get but vague hints. John Whitgift, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1583, protested against having schools for "maiden children" within the precincts of the church. And he added in a note, "Especially seeing they may have instruction by women in the town." [79] In the statutes of Harrow School, made in 1590, there is a statement to the effect that "no girls shall be received or taught," hence the subject had at least been under discuss

The brief running summaries in the preceding chapter have perhaps served to bring into prominence two sharply contrasted periods. The first half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth seem even more than a hundred years apart in tone and temper. We turn from the eager intellectual life of many women in the Tudor period, from their full and rich opportunities, and we find that in the time of the earlier Stuarts there were very few women who took any pride in learning, that

The period to be here presented in detail is the century following the Restoration. During this period the work of women spreads out in new directions. Not only is there a greater variety in the kinds of writing, but other forms of self-expression are entered upon. In this more complicated era the strictly chronological method becomes confusing. It seems more desirable to take up the work under different species, keeping to chronological development within each species. Two kinds of new work by

Of schools for girls in the period from 1650 to 1750 we can get only the most scattered bits of information. It is apparent that there were boarding-schools for girls from five to sixteen, and that these schools rapidly increased in number, but of the scope and nature of the instruction we have only the most general ideas. In 1677 there appeared the following advertisement: In Oxford there is set up a boarding-school for young gentlewomen (by John Waver, Master in the art of dancing) where they

In 1698 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge started a movement for the establishment of charity schools. An organized propaganda for getting subscriptions was undertaken by the bishops and was so successful that between 1698 and 1715 more than one hundred of these schools were established in London and Westminster. In this scheme poor girls were considered as well as poor boys. They were, of course, in separate schools. [392] Each school had a prescribed uniform and the pupils marching

The lesser boarding-schools and the charity schools give no intimation of anything even approximating the higher education of women. But that topic was not neglected. And it is of interest to take up in chronological sequence the various expressions of opinion as to the kind of education women should have. The first influential writer advocating a large and liberal curriculum for women was a foreigner, [397] the famous Anna van Schurman of Utrecht. She was, indeed, the most famous learned woman

In addition to definite discussions as to the learning appropriate for women, there were numerous books on general topics pertaining to women, with incidental but often most illuminating comments on the advantages or disadvantages of a liberal education. These books also aid in building up a conception of the prevailing ideas concerning women apart from technical questions of education. The Ladies' Calling , the second edition of which appeared in 1673, was the most important as well as the most

In this multifarious activity of the comic spirit it would be strange if any pretense to learning on the part of women should escape. And we are, in fact, presented with a motley procession of mock Minervas. Even as early as Jonson there was some recognition of the comic potentialities of the learned lady as a type. In Epicœne (1609) Morose is warned against matrimony by Truewit who recounts the ways in which a learned wife could shatter his peace. Proud to show her Latin and Greek, she might ta

The learned-lady theme had an interesting variant in the novel-reading girl. This type, as it appeared in comedy and fiction, is also of French origin. It finds its direct ancestry in Molière's Les Précieuses (1659), a satiric representation of the vogue of the French romances, most of which appeared in the twenty-five years before Les Précieuses . [492] Along with the vogue of the romances came the critical comment. Scarron's Roman Comique (1651) burlesqued La Calprenède. Boileau's Héros de Rom

In any attempt to trace a single line of thought or a social tendency through a long and remote period the difficult accessibility of the material must be premised. It is disheartening to note how many of the desired facts lurk in corners and byways, and are come upon almost by chance. A stray allusion followed up may lead to some rich little pocket of information, while laboriously conducted explorations prove futile. It is the discovery of these pockets of ore that constitute the rewards of th

"A. W." A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. Written by a young Gentlewoman, Mrs. A. W. [Anna Weamys]. London, 1690. Bacon, Lady Anne. An Apology for the Church of England. [Translated from the Latin treatise by Bishop Jewel.] London, 1564. Barber , Mrs. Mary . Poems. London, 1734. Barker, Jane. Poetical Recreations.... In Two Parts. Part I . Occasionally written by Mrs. Jane Barker. Part II . By Several Gentlemen of the Universities and Others. London, 1688. —— The Entertaining Novels

—— The Life of John Buncle. London. Vol. I , 1756; Vol. II , 1766. Armenian Nunnery at Little Gidding. Anon. London, 1641. Ascham, Roger. The Scholemaster. Ed. John B. Mayor. London, 1863. Ashton, John. Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne. Chatto and Windus, 1899. Aubrey, John. Brief Lives, chiefly of Contemporaries set down by John Aubrey, between the Years 1669 & 1696. Edited from the Author's MSS. by Andrew Clark. Two volumes. Clarendon Press, 1898. Baker, David Erskine. Biographia