"Pray then, Mr. Oliphant, how comes it that the sense of mankind has always been taking a contrary course? A boy is hardly out of his nurse's arms, before he hears of his superiority over his sisters. When he goes to school, the first grammar that his lisping tongue is turned to repeat, tells him that his sex is most worthy. In the world, one hears women only estimated by their beauty, or their wealth; and in families we see them nothing better than the wrecks of a former day, little loved by their husbands, or respected by their children."
"Hinc illæ lachrymæ," answered my opponent, "in one sense the male sex is decidedly superior—I mean in strength; and were this employed in supporting the weak, instead of oppressing them, the female world would not be disposed to grudge men a supremacy of which they would themselves enjoy the happy fruits. But as to your nursery nonsense, an elder son is always told that he is as much above his younger brothers, as his sisters; and so he is, by the laws of primogeniture, which give him the estate. Yet I suppose that there are few such blockheads as to believe, that because a man happens to come into the world before his brethren, he is therefore invested with a patent of superior intellectual endowment. On the contrary, it often happens, that elder sons, satisfied with the gifts of fortune, take little trouble with their minds, and are, in point of cultivation, at the tail instead of the head of their Houses. Grammar rules prove nothing. They were made by men, and according to vulgar estimates of physical force; and as to the world, the most convincing proof in my eyes of its degeneracy in our day, is to be found in the impertinent neglect of women, so frequently observable in the soi-disant men of fashion. To sum up the argument: the sexes differ from each other, but difference implies nothing of better or worse, taller or shorter, wiser or less wise. They are different, and each beautifully adapted by the eternal Creator to fulfil the purposes for which it was designed. The man stronger, more active—made to encounter danger, and endure fatigue. The woman more delicate, more refined, formed to sooth by her tenderness, to watch over the helpless, comfort the unfortunate, and be the balm of human kind. In mental capacity Nature has dealt with impartial bounty, and the most splendid talents are to be found in that sex, which I grieve to add, too rarely exercise their powers. Rely upon it, that men are not less manly for sharing their privileges, nor women less feminine for profiting by the boon. The age of Chivalry is gone, and it would be well to restore it.
"Look, my dear young gentleman, around you at Glenalta. Is Frederick less likely to attain the gold medal at his University, or is he less ardent in pursuit of game in the fields, because he loves his mother and sisters, and would be unwilling to enjoy any gratification in which they were not partakers? Turn your eyes upon the dear gentle trio of your fair cousins, and tell me are they less pleasing, less modest, less artless, and happy, because, with minds well stored, they can always find resources at home, for which others are vainly seeking abroad? Are they less elegant because they are independent, or less delicate because they neither shriek at a wasp, nor faint at the sight of a spider?"—
I was going to say something, I hardly know what, when a party appeared in sight, that at a little distance might have passed for a group of gipsies; Paddy and the poney car, led the van. Frederick, the three girls, Phil., and young Bentley brought up the rear. We were together in the next moment, and in the midst of salutations, I could not help remarking the anxiety of all the young people about my aunt, whose expression of fatigue had brought them back to offer aid, and satisfy themselves that she was not ill. Frederick settled the cushions, and dispatched Paddy, saying, that he must himself drive the little car, lest it should go too fast. Fanny had brought a small basket, in which was a phial of hartshorn, and a glass having been also produced, away ran Charlotte to the stream which tumbles through this rocky glen, to procure water,—all without fuss, or effort.
Yes, there is no question of it—what Oliphant says is true enough. These people are not at all the worse for any thing that they have said, done, learned, or acquired. My aunt was unusually gay, to convince her children that nothing ailed her; and we all returned home, laughing and talking as merrily as possible. Bentley was asked to stay and dine, which Phil. had promised also to do, and so sped Saturday away as smoothly as if it rolled on casters.
In the evening we walked. I took my first lesson in botany from Emily. We planned a trip to Killarney, for July, if my aunt makes no objection, and finished the revels with music.
What would you think, if I tell you, that Domine took the bass in several glees, and has a remarkably fine sonorous voice. Our guests departed. The bell rang. Servants were assembled, and the usual prayer was read, with no other circumstance of change, than the substitution of Mr. Oliphant, in quality of domestic chaplain, for my aunt.
Just as we were about to separate, Fanny called me, and whispered, "Don't go yet to your room. We are going to hold a conference for a few minutes in the study, and you must assist at our council." I accordingly lagged behind, and after Mr. Oliphant and my aunt had severally retired, we five mustered in the Library. Emily opened the proceedings, by saying, "Arthur, my brother, sisters and I, have set our hearts upon accomplishing a project which Frederick and I devised in our walk this evening. It is to prevail with our beloved mother to accompany us to Killarney. It is many years since she has been there, and I know that she will not revisit that heavenly spot without the deepest emotion. Yet we cannot help flattering ourselves with its being of such a nature as not to amount to pain; and it will be counteracted by the pleasure of beholding our rapture at seeing her make one in our excursion. Phil. is in our secret, and now so are you. We are going to write a petition. She shall not have it to-night, because it might agitate her; and it shall only be signed by her children, because if such happiness as her compliance would impart, should be in store for us, it is of that sacred character which we could not bear to owe even to the dearest friends; and if, on the other hand, as I am afraid may prove the case, we are asking too much, we will not involve any one else in the pain of a refusal. Now good night—wish us success, and meet us in the moss-house at eight in the morning to learn our fate."
I went to my room quite unable to speak—I was suffocating, and, shall I confess to Falkland (but proclaim it not in Gath) tears, such as I never shed before in all my life, coursed each other down my "innocent nose." It is too much. Unmanned at a short turn, and by what? a set of children laying schemes to have their mother's company in a party of pleasure! Well, I know not what is to come next, but this place will be the ruin of me, if this is the way in which I go on resigning my understanding. Positively I shall be absolutely unfit for society, and look when I go back to town precisely as if I had been spending a couple of months with Noah in the ark, and had just stepped out on Mount Ararat. I took myself to task; shook myself; scolded myself; chewed the cud of the last ball at Almack's; ditto at Lady Arabella Huntley's; placed myself in the midst of that group with whom I passed my last London evening at Lady Murray's after the Opera; but it would not do.
When the mind gets one of these wrenches, it is in vain to attempt setting matters to rights again in a hurry. I found, after toiling to give a new bent to my reflections, that they would still return with elastic force to the place whence they set out; and I therefore gave vent to them in the new course which they had channelled for themselves. While in this mood, I could not help thinking, that if we measure life by the exercise of our faculties, and the warmth of our feelings, instead of by such evidences of existence as might apply to stocks and stones as well as to sentient beings, I have only lived in your society, and since I came to Glenalta. A mournful chill stole over my heart as I involuntarily asked myself, "Is my mother like this mother, or are my sisters like my cousins?" These questions led me to one still more immediately painful—"Do I resemble Frederick?" The inquiry was accompanied by a feeling of such bitterness, that I fear it must have been answered in the negative, to each of my self-addressed queries. Alas! thought I, of what light materials are we formed! tossed about by every wind, and seizing on the contagion of every new situation! Well, one week has worked a strange jumble of my tastes and opinions, but all will be stratified in regular order, according to received notions, by a corresponding term, when I revisit Selby or Grosvenor Square. This consolation seemed a quietus, for I fell asleep, and undisturbed by farther moralizing, rose refreshed and full of spring, in due season to keep my engagement.