WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 



93 



the masterpieces of literature, according to him, are beyond 

 their comprehension. In a word, feminine studies, Rous- 

 seau will have it, should relate exclusively to practical and 

 domestic matters and he endorses the words of Moliere 

 that 



"It is not seemly, and for many reasons, 

 That a woman should study and know so many things." 



Diderot, Montesquieu, Voltaire and the Encyclopedists 

 share the views of Rousseau. Diderot declares that serious 

 studies do not comport with woman's sex, while Montes- 

 quieu would limit female education to mere accomplish- 

 ments. 



But this is not all. Antagonistic as these men were to 

 the education of the daughters of the nobility and the well- 

 to-do, they were entirely opposed to the education of the 

 children of the poor. "The good of society," it was 

 averred, "demands that the instruction of the people ex- 

 tend not beyond their occupations. ' ' " The poor, ' ' declares 

 Rousseau, ' ' have no need of instruction, ' ' and Voltaire and 

 the Encyclopedists say, "Amen." 1 



Very little need be said about the education of women in 

 Germany during the period we have been considering. 

 When there was any at all, it was of the most rudimentary- 

 character, while as to books, they were limited to the kind 

 recommended by Byron for the women of modern Greece 



i No one, however, went so far in his opposition to the education 

 of women as the notorious Silvain Marechal, the author of Projet 

 d'une Loi portant Defense d'Apprendre a Lire aux Femmes, who 

 would have a law passed forbidding women to learn to read. He 

 maintained that a knowledge of science and letters interfered with 

 their being good housekeepers. "Keason," he avers, "does not 

 approve of women studying chemistry. Women who are unable to 

 read make the best soup. I would rather," he declares in the words 

 of Balzac, ' ' have a wife with a beard than a wife who is educated. ' ' 

 See pp. 40, 50 and 51, of the edition of this strange work, published 

 at Brussels, 1847. 



