MATERIALISM AND MORALITY. 487 



more harm than good. True, emphatically, in the existing condition 

 of society, is St. Augustine's warning " Aufer meretrices de rebus hu- 

 manis, turbaveris omnia libidinibus." And, this being so, I believe 

 the true function of the state is to control and regulate what it must 

 regard as a necessary evil, and to minimize, as far as may be, the 

 resultant mischiefs, moral and physical. These miserable women are 

 the guardians of our domestic purity. The "macte virtute esto"of 

 Cato was prompted by a true knowledge of human nature. But, at all 

 events, the infamy of the courtesan's trade has hitherto been generally 

 recognized. It has been reserved for the materialism of the nine- 

 teenth century to make of this unclean creature an object of admira- 

 tion, of envy, nay, of respect ; the heroine of drama, the type of com- 

 edy, the theme of romance, the arbitress of fashion, the model curiously 

 and attentively studied by great ladies with daughters to marry, by 

 debutantes with husbands to find. ' Hoc fonte derivata clades." One 

 need not go very much into general society to know how widely spread 

 the corruption is. The language of the lupanar is heard from virginal 

 lips. Things which it is a shame even to speak of, are calmly dis- 

 cussed by beauty just out of the nursery. A taint of lubricity hangs 

 over "society." It is as though body and soul were steeped in materi- 

 alism. " Si un homme epouse une jeune femme, elevee a la modernc, 

 il risque fort d'epouser une petite courtisane," debauched in mind, if 

 physically intact. It is an observation of Bernard de Yaudricourt in 

 " La Morte," and is true of other countries than France. If any one 

 wishes to see what the woman of the future, brought up without relig- 

 ious or metaphysical dogmas, in the school of physical facts, accepted as 

 the only facts, is fated to become, let him survey " Sabine Tallevaut," 

 as she is depicted for us in the pages of that admirably written book. 

 Nowhere has M. Feuillet displayed more signally the sagacity and 

 acuteness of his observation of social phenomena, or his singular psy- 

 chological skill. I know not whether to admire more his refinement or 

 his audacity, his mastery of the emotions or his descriptive power. 

 Certain it is that the morality of the world, in the long run, is deter- 

 mined by women. Certain it is that the philosopher was well war- 

 ranted when he wrote, " ce qu'on appelle l'homme moral, est forme sur 

 les genoux de sa mere." Certain it is that for woman the idea of duty 

 is, as a matter of fact, inseparably bound up with the spiritual concep- 

 tions derived by her from religion. And as certain is it that, if she 

 once lose those conceptions, nothing but lack of personal attractions, 

 or absence of opportunity, saves her from utter ethical degradation. 

 Let us never forget that the difference between man and woman is not 

 merely of physical conformation. It is psychical. " Woman is not 

 undeveloped man, but diverse." She is governed far more by instinct, 

 by impulse, by affections, than by logic, by purpose, by principles. 

 For her, materialism means more utter ruin than for man, for it extin- 

 guishes the ideal which is her one light of life. As it destroys the 



