A bishop's wife is still more amply rewarded. Without being so
imperious as the late Mrs. Proudie was, she has still a thousand of
those opportunities for displaying power which are so dear to people who
are fictitiously supposed to be too weak to care for power. Minor
canons, incumbents, curates, and all their wives, pay her profound
deference; or, if they do not, she can "put the screw on" in a gushing
manner which is exceedingly effective.

There are women, it is true, with souls above these light social
matters. They do not particularly value the privilege of figuring as
lady-patroness of a ball or bazaar, or the delights of trampling on a
curate, or of being distantly adored by the wife of a minor canon. But
they really have an interest in politics, or in some one or two special
departments of that comprehensive subject. They would like to pass an
Act of Parliament making it a capital offence for any guardian of the
poor or relieving-officer to refuse to give the paupers as much as they
should choose to ask for. Drainage is the strong point of some women.
Sewage with them is the key to civilization.

Perhaps most political women are actively interested in public affairs
simply because they perceive that this is the most openly recognised
sphere of influence and power; and what they yearn after is to be
influential, and to stand on something higher than the ordinary level in
the world, for no other reason than that it is higher than the ordinary
level. Nobody has any right to find fault with this temper, provided the
ladies who are possessed by it do not mistake mere domineering for the
extraordinary elevation after which they aspire. It is through this
temper, whether in one sex or the other, that the world is made better.
If a certain number of men and women were not ambitious, what would
become of the rest of us who possess our souls in patience and
moderation?

The only question is whether what we may call vicarious ambition, or
aspirations by proxy, are particularly desirable forms of a confessedly
useful and desirable sentiment. For the peace of mind of the man who is
not ambitious, but is only pretending to be so, we may be pretty sure
that the domestic stimulus has some drawbacks. We do not mean drawbacks
after the manner of Mrs. Caudle. These show a coarse and vulgar
conception of the goads which a man may have applied to him in his inner
circle. There are moral and unheard reproofs. There is a consciousn