Part 15 (1/2)
Truly, her ere not as those of the Philistines around her
The following extract froood idea of the iliness and natural beauty which she e is characteristic, since its themes are the two to which she most frequently recurs:--
” Every day, before dinner and supper, even whilst the dishes are cooling on the table, men and women repair to a side-table, and, to obtain an appetite, eat bread and butter, cheese, raw sallass of brandy Salt fish or ive a further whet to the sto up a few minutes to describe what, alas! has detained ,--dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handed round with soleuest; but should you happen not to like the first dishes, which was often ross breach of politeness to ask for part of any other till its turn coh Allowthe interludes
”Prelude, a luncheon; then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for two hours; during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the strawberries and creanated by the fu-room, but does not preclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw sal the introductory luncheon, al in reine sufficient--but a to- feastwith chilling aspect his hoary locks; but during a suers, escape soin of your beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks to view still others in endless perspective; which, piled by iant's hand, scale the heavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge of lingering day,--day that, scarcely softened into twilight, allows the freshening breeze to wake, and the ance through the azure expanse
”The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all paced across the heath Is not this the witching tiht? The waters murmur, and fall with more than itated breast Eternity is in these moments; worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that drea as the first hopes of love, or the recollection of lost enjoy life, has vainly strove to throw off the grief which lies heavy at the heart Good-night! A crescent hangs out in the vault before, which wooes me to stray abroad: it is not a silvery reflection of the sun, but gloith all its golden splendor Who fears the falling dew? It only ht be expected, judging from Mary's natural benevolence, the poverty and s of deep compassion She describes in tones of pity the wretched condition of the lower classes in Sweden Servants, she writes, are no better than slaves
They are beaten and maltreated by their masters, and are paid so little that they cannot afford to wear sufficient clothing or to eat decent food Laborers live in huts wretched beyond belief, and herd together like ani atmosphere, that fresh air is never let into their houses even in summer, and the mere idea of cleanliness is beyond their co as well as that of their superiors in rank Many in their brutishness refuse to exert themselves save to find the food absolutely necessary to support life, and are too sluggish to be curious
It is pleasant to know that they have at least one good quality, in the exercise of which they surpass the rich This is politeness, the national virtue Mary observes:--
”The Swedes pique the the polish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tireso i you feel instantly at your ease, like the well-bred French, their over-acted civility is a continual restraint on all your actions The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when there is no superiority of education, excepting what consists in the observance of senseless forms, has a contrary effect than what is intended; so that I could not help reckoning the peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only ai admired for their behavior”
Mary found the condition of the Norwegians somewhat better The lower classes were freer, more industrious, and more opulent She describes their inns as comfortable, whereas those of the Swedes had not been even inhabitable The upper classes, though, like the Swedes, over-fond of the pleasures of the table, narrow in their range of ideas, and wholly without ins of better days in their dawning interest in culture She writes:--
”The Norwegians appear to e, and still less taste for literature; but they are arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the arts and sciences
”Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favorable to ie by travelling, which their indefatigable attention to the ; and the fortune that they thus laboriously acquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this description, in show and good living They love their country, but have not , only for their families; which I conceive will always be the case, till politics, beco the understanding The French Revolution will have this effect They sing at present, with great glee, s, and seem earnestly to wish that the republic may stand; yet they appear very much attached to their prince royal; and, as far as ruive an idea of character, he appears to en and Ha but a short time Imlay's unkindness and indecision had, by the tiood effect of the bracing northern air was partially destroyed She lost her interest in the novelty of her surroundings, and as she says in one of her last letters, stayed much at home But her perceptive faculties were not wholly deadened She notes with her usual precision the indolence and dulness of the Danes, and the unwavering devotion of the Ha and Copenhagen with graphic force These descriptions are orth reading
It was always impossible for Mary not to reflect and moralize upon what passed around her She not only wanted to examine and record phenomena and events, but to discover a reason for their existence She invariably sought for the primal causes and the final results of the facts in which she was interested The civilization of the northern countries through which she travelled, so different froave her aht The reflections it aroused found their way into her letters Some of the:--
”Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas of German despotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into the country I vieith ato be sold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old opinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not of individuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout the whole of nature Blossohted; fish lay their spahere it will be devoured; and what a large portion of the human race are born merely to be swept pre life emphatically assert, that it is not men, but man, whose preservation is so necessary to the corand plan of the universe? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men play like moths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war and the 'thousand ills which flesh is heir to' mow them down in shoals, whilst thenot less sure, though slower decay”
Had Mary Wollstonecraft lived in the present time, she too would have written hye instances in her writings of the resemblance between theories which she evolved for herself and those of modern philosophers She lived a century too soon
The ”Letters” were published in the saton, Delaware A few years later, extracts froether with a brief sketch of their author, were published in Lisbon, while a Ger and Altona The book is now not so well known as it deserves to be Mary's descriptions of the physical characteristics of Norway and Sweden are equal to any written by lish travellers to Scandinavia; and her account of the people is valuable as an unprejudiced record of thetheh so little known, it is still true that, as her self-appointed defender said in 1803, ”Letters so replete with correctness of re, and pathos of expression, will cease to exist only with the language in which they ritten”
Shortly after her death, Godwin published in four volus, unfinished as well as finished This collection, which is called simply ”Posthumous Works of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin,”
may most appropriately be noticed here in connection with the more complete productions of her last years
Of the ”Letters to Imlay,” which fill the third and a part of the fourth volu more need be said They have been fully explained, and sufficient extracts from them have beenwhich they ritten The next in is of Woment Mary intended to revise the first chapters carefully, and of the last she had written nothing but the headings and a few detached hints and passages Godwin, in his Preface, says, ”So iven to the public, she was far fro as finished; and in a letter to a friend directly written on this subject, she says, 'I aht to be transposed and heightened by ree to avail an to adjust my events into a story, the outline of which I had sketched in ently criticised than such of her books as were published during her life-tiiven to the public But, as the last work upon which she was engaged, and as one which engrossed her thoughts for months, and to which she devoted, for her, an unusual amount of labor, it must be read with interest
The incidents of the story are, in a large measure, drawn from real life
Her own experience, that of her sister, and events which had coe, are the materials which she used These served her purpose as well as, if not better than, any she could have invented The only work of her iether to form her plot The story is, briefly, as follows: Maria, the heroine, whose home-life seems to be a description of the interior of the Wollstonecraft household, marries to secure her freedom, rather than from affection for her lover, as was probably the case with ”poor Bess” Her husband, who even in the days of courtshi+p had been a dissolute rascal, but hypocrite enough to conceal the fact, throws off his es in every low vice
All this she bears until he, calculating upon her endurance, seeks to sell her to a friend, that her dishonor one too far She flies from his house, to which she refuses, on any consideration, to return All atte failed, he, by a successful stratagem, seizes her as she is on her way to Dover with her child, and, taking possession of the latter, has his wife confined in an insane asylu the heart of her keeper, Jeh herman who, like her, has been e of lunacy
Jemima's friendshi+p is so completely won that she allows these two companions in misery to see much of each other She even tells theradation, equals that of some of Defoe's heroines Darnford then tells his, and the reader at once recognizes in him another Imlay Finally, by a lucky accident the two prisoners make their escape, and Jemima accompanies them The latter part of the story consists of sketches and the barest outlines; but these indicate the succession of its events and its conclusion Maria and Darnford live together as husband and wife in London The for for the condelect and contumely because she is supported by confidence in the rectitude of her conduct Her husband now has her lover tried for adultery and seduction, and in his absence Maria undertakes his defence
Her separation from her husband is the consequence, but her fortune is thrown into chancery She refuses to leave Darnford, but he, after a few years, during which she has borne him two children, proves unfaithful In her despair, she attempts to commit suicide, but fails When consciousness and reason return, she resolves to live for her child
”Maria” is a story with a purpose Its aim is the reformation of the evils which result frohts are to be vindicated by a full exposition of the wrongs which their absence causes Mary wished, as her Preface sets forth, to exhibit the misery and oppression peculiar to women, that arise out of the partial laws and customs of society ”Maria,” in fact, was to be a forcible proof of the necessity of those social changes which she had urged in the ”Vindication of the Rights of Wos women suffer from matrimonial despotism and cruelty are demonstrated; while that of Jeraded women to find employment The principal interest in the book arises from the fact that in it Mary explains more definitely than she had in any previous work, her views about the laws and restrictions of matrimony Otherwise the principles laid down in it do not differ from those which she had already stated in print Her justification of Maria's conduct is in reality a declaration of her belief that cruelty, depravity, and infidelity in a man are sufficient reasons for his wife to separate herself froal permit; and that a pure honest love sanctifies the union of two people which ious ceree is a partial state to her conteht, by a friendly uncle:--
”The enerally speaking, can bethat a woement as indissoluble (especially if there be no children to reward her for sacrificing her feelings) in case her husband merits neither her love nor esteem Esteem will often supply the place of love, and prevent a woh it ht always to bear some proportion to the utility in view; and for a woman to live with a man for whom she can cherish neither affection nor esteeht of a housekeeper, is an abjectness of condition, the enduring of which no concurrence of circuht of God or just men
If indeed she subht to complain bitterly of her fate; or to act, as a person of independent character eneral rules