Letter from Mill. 845 



FROM JOHN STUART MILL, ESQ., TO MRS. SOMERYILLE. 



BLACKHEATH PAEK, July 12/t, 1869. 

 DEAR MADAM, 



Such a letter as yours is a sufficient reward 

 for the trouble of writing the little book. I could have 

 desired no better proof that it was adapted to its purpose 

 than such an encouraging opinion from you. I thank 

 you heartily for taking the trouble to express, in such 

 kind terms, your approbation of the book, the approba- 

 tion of one who has rendered such inestimable service to 

 the cause of women by affording in her own person so 

 high an example of their intellectual capabilities, and, 

 finally, by giving to the protest in the great Petition of 

 last year the weight and importance derived from the 

 signature which headed it. 

 I am, 



Dear Madam, 

 Most sincerely and respectfully yours, 



J. S. MILL. 



Age has not abated my zeal for the emancipation 

 of my sex from the unreasonable prejudice too 

 prevalent in Great Britain against a literary and 

 scientific education for women. The French are 

 more civilized in this respect, for they have taken 

 the lead, and have given the first example in modern 

 times of encouragement to the high intellectual 

 culture of the sex. Madame Emma Chenu, who 

 had received the degree of Master of Arts from 



