SEGUR ON THE CONDITION AND INFLUENCE OF WOMEN. 
very prohibition, perhaps, was intended 
to preserve his disciples, not merely from 
impairing the faculties of their minds, 
but the vigour of their bodies. ‘The pro- 
phet, however, was jealous of their 
power, and succeeded in undermining 
that empire which beauty in a warm 
climate is so calculated to enjoy. 
It is curious enough that M. Segur, 
after having argued against the efficacy 
of seclusion and confinement in preserv- 
ing the chastity of women,-should, in the 
next page, regret the destruction of con- 
vents in Franc! those sacred retreats, 
as he calls them, where vi:tue rested in 
peace, where young females were pre- 
served from snares, and where their edu- 
cation was promoted ! 
The devotion of one sex to the charms 
of the other was never so reverential and 
profound as during the age of chivalry : 
m this gallant period of history, the 
ladies took an ample vengeance. The 
prostrate knight was nroudly recom- 
pensed for his most perilous atchieve- 
ments at the joust, the tournament, and 
the battle, by a smile from his fair one. 
"As commerce extended, the arts and oc- 
cupations of peace succeeded to these 
military amusements, and as chivalry 
declined, gallantry declined with it.— 
_M. Segur is disposed to believe that the 
women, alarmed at the feebleness of their 
‘sway, by a sort of tacit agreement and 
co-operation, produced by a sense of 
their interests, betook themselves to 
letters, as the means of resuming a firmer 
‘and more permanent influence. 
«« The sciences were cultivated, but more 
especially literature. A general impulse di- 
- rected the mind of all te the study of lan- 
pate it was not possible to pass suddenly 
rom an ignorant and military life to scientific 
meditation ; men wished to know how the 
ancients thought, before they reflected them- 
selves. This was the natural course of ideas. 
The knowledge of languages being diffused, 
the philosophy of the ancients came into 
vogue; but according to the character and 
temper of the minds: Aristotle and Plato 
produced several prophets; the Aristotelian 
philosophy occupied the universities and the 
cloisters ; the Platonic enchanted the poets, 
the lovers, the sentimental philosophers, and 
the women. These had emulated the men 
in courage, during the flourishing 2ra of chi- 
valry ; they were now unwilling to yield to 
them with respect to the sciences, and they 
every where instructed themselves.. One 
saw, says M. Thomas, religioys poets, wo- 
men of high rank taking part in controversies, 
haranguing the popes in latin, exhorting 
them, as well as kings, to declare war against 
665 
the Turks. The Greek laneuage, so magni- 
ficent in the poems of Homer, dazzled with 
renewed lustre. At that period, the verses 
of this sublime bard, pronounced by the 
mouth of a beautiful woman, excited enthu- 
siasm in eyery soul, and kindled in every 
heart all the ardours of love. 
«© The women, howeyer, did not confine 
themselves to the dry study of languages and 
abstract theclogy, less satisfactory to their 
imaginations than poetry, which is subser- 
vient and consequent to it, occupying the 
mind with images and the soul with senti- 
ments. ‘They succeeded in it; and what at 
first was resorted to merely for amusement, 
became to them a source of glory and success. 
«« But their self-love demanded still greater 
triumphs. In their eyes, talents are valuable 
only by the homage which they procure to 
them. Formerly the. knights fought and 
died forthem. This tender frenzy having 
subsided, they wished to be celebrated by the 
faa song ; they wished that he should neg- 
ect his own glory to exalt theirs; that all 
literary works should have women for their 
theme, and that, in verse and prose, all 
Europe should resound with the praises of 
a sex that feeds upon incense. Their will 
was a command, and gallantry soon diffused~ 
itself throughout literature, as it had parti- 
cipated in the lustre of military achievements. 
** Boccaccio was the first, who, in a Latin 
work concerning illustrious women, set the 
example of this tender adulation. Whilst 
the men still devoted themselves to intrigue 
and war, the women shone in the exercises 
of intellect. The courts of Naples, Florence, 
Mantua, Milan, were schools of grace, in- 
struction, and taste. ‘Yo please, to love, to 
write, to expect, and to receive homage, 
these ~+re the employmeuts of Women's 
lives.” ; 
Notwithstanding that in his preface 
M. de Segur had stated that the object 
of his book was to demonstrate the equa- 
lity of the sexes, there are many opi- 
nions delivered in it which convey but a 
very questionable compliment to the la- 
dies. M. de Segur contends that that 
pure and steady friendship which is so 
often displayed in the other sex is litile 
known among females: if a woman be 
the friend of another woman, says he, 
self-love, rivalship  interpose between 
them, change their sentiments, or se- 
cretly apprise them that they are liable 
to change. Elsewhere he asserts that 
“ every thing which is moderate isa tor- 
ment to women; great movements and 
repose alternately please them, and 
without the powerful attraction of self- 
love, which induces them to endure 
every thing in order to obtain homage 
and which causes them to submit te 
chains in the hope of one day imposing 
