第38章 CHAPTER 3(13)

To look only at the outward side of the subject: the great and continualexercise of thought which all women who attach any value to dressing well(I do not mean expensively, but with taste, and perception of natural andof artificial convenance) must bestow upon their own dress, perhaps alsoupon that of their daughters, would alone go a great way towards achievingrespectable results in art, or science, or literature, and does actuallyexhaust much of the time and mental power they might have to spare for either.(2*)If it were possible that all this number of little practical interests (whichare made great to them) should leave them either much leisure, or much energyand freedom of mind, to be devoted to art or speculation, they must havea much greater original supply of active faculty than the vast majority ofmen. But this is not all. Independently of the regular offices of life whichdevolve upon a woman, she is expected to have her time and faculties alwaysat the disposal of everybody. If a man has not a profession to exempt himfrom such demands, still, if he has a pursuit, he offends nobody by devotinghis time to it; occupation is received as a valid excuse for his not answeringto every casual demand which may be made on him. Are a woman's occupations,especially her chosen and voluntary ones, ever regarded as excusing her fromany of what are termed the calls of society? Scarcely are her most necessaryand recognised duties allowed as an exemption. It requires an illness inthe family, or something else out of the common way, to entitle her to giveher own business the precedence over other people's amusement. She must alwaysbe at the beck and call of somebody, generally of everybody. If she has astudy or a pursuit, she must snatch any short interval which accidentallyoccurs to be employed in it. A celebrated woman, in a work which I hope willsome day be published, remarks truly that everything a woman does is doneat odd times. Is it wonderful, then, if she does not attain the highest eminencein things which require consecutive attention, and the concentration on themof the chief interest of life? Such is philosophy, and such, above all, isart, in which, besides the devotion of the thoughts and feelings, the handalso must be kept in constant exercises to attain high skill.

There is another consideration to be added to all these. In the variousarts and intellectual occupations, there is a degree of proficiency sufficientfor living by it, and there is a higher degree on which depend the greatproductions which immortalise a name. To the attainment of the former, thereare adequate motives in the case of all who follow the pursuit professionally: the other is hardly ever attained where there is not, or where there hasnot been at some period of life, an ardent desire of celebrity. Nothing lessis commonly a sufficient stimulus to undergo the long and patient drudgery,which, in the case even of the greatest natural gifts, is absolutely requiredfor great eminence in pursuits in which we already possess so many splendidmemorials of the highest genius. Now, whether the cause be natural or artificial,women seldom have this eagerness for fame. Their ambition is generally confinedwithin narrower bounds. The influence they seek is over those who immediatelysurround them. Their desire is to be liked, loved, or admired, by those whomthey see with their eyes: and the proficiency in knowledge, arts, and accomplishments,which is sufficient for that, almost always contents them. This is a traitof character which cannot be left out of the account in judging of womenas they are. I do not at all believe that it is inherent in women. It isonly the natural result of their circumstances. The love of fame in men isencouraged by education and opinion: to "scorn delights and live laboriousdays" for its sake, is accounted the part of "noble minds,"even if spoken of as their "last infirmity," and is stimulatedby the access which fame gives to all objects of ambition, including eventhe favour of women; while to women themselves all these objects are closed,and the desire of fame itself considered daring and unfeminine. Besides,how could it be that a woman's interests should not be all concentrated uponthe impressions made on those who come into her daily life, when societyhas ordained that all her duties should be to them, and has contrived thatall her comforts should depend on them? The natural desire of considerationfrom our fellow-creatures is as strong in a woman as in a man; but societyhas so ordered things that public consideration is, in all ordinary cases,only attainable by her through the consideration of her husband or of hermale relations, while her private consideration is forfeited by making herselfindividually prominent, or appearing in any other character than that ofan appendage to men. Whoever is in the least capable of estimating the influenceon the mind of the entire domestic and social position and the whole habitof a life, must easily recognise in that influence a complete explanationof nearly all the apparent differences between women and men, including thewhole of those which imply any inferiority.