WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 83 



published by a New York bookseller more than a century 

 after her death. The scholarly Menagius, in his Historia 

 Mulierum Philosopharum, did not hesitate to pronounce 

 her the most learned woman of all time Feminarum quot 

 sunt, quot fuere doctissima. 1 



To Mme. de Maintenon, the morganatic wife of the Great 

 Monarch, is due the Institut de Saint-Cyr, the first state 

 school for girls founded in France. It was, however, solely 

 for the daughters of the nobility. And, although it was 

 from the first under the direction of the foundress, a 

 woman who was before all else a teacher as well as one of 

 the most enlightened women of the most literary and philo- 

 sophic age France ever knew the age when the French 

 language was perfected, the age of the Academy, of Boileau, 

 Moliere, Kacine, Bossuet, Descartes the studies prescribed 

 in this institution, which was under the special patronage 

 of the king, were of the most elementary character. They 

 comprised reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, music, 

 drawing, dancing, and the elements of history, mythology 

 and geography. As to history, Mme. de Maintenon was 

 satisfied if the pupils of Saint-Cyr knew enough not to con- 

 found the kings of France with those of other nations, and 

 were able to avoid mistaking a Roman emperor for the 

 Emperor of China or Japan ; or the King of Spain or Eng- 

 land for the King of Persia or Siam. And yet, restricted 

 as it was, her programme of studies was more complete 

 than that of any other girls' school in the kingdom. One 

 of her reasons for not insisting on a more thorough course 

 was that ' ' women never know but by halves, and the little 

 that they do know usually makes them proud, haughty and 

 talkative and disgusted with solid things." 2 



i Mme. Dacier was a remarkable exception chiefly because she was 

 the daughter and pupil of one Hellenist before becoming the wife 

 of another. 



^Lettres et Entretiens sur I'Education de Filles, Tom. I, pp. 

 225-231. 



Compare this superficial course of study at Saint-Cyr with the 



