of persecution. Men,
ready to die for the right of professing the truth, could not
divest themselves of that persecuting spirit towards others,
which was leading themselves to the stake. But there is a vigour
in a right principle which gradually clears men's eyes of their
prejudices. The dire and mistaken means by which successive
reformers defended each his own opinion, were abandoned, and men
began to perceive that civil and religious liberty were of more
use to society than martial feats or extended conquests; and that
it is still more important to learn how to reason than how to fight.

"The tendency of this principle was towards social improvement,
and civilization began to make progress.

"Before the extinction of chivalry, the airy throne on which
women had been raised was broken down; but the effects of her
elevation were never obliterated. There remained on the surface
of society a tone of gallantry which tended to preserve some
recollection of the station she had once held. As civilization
advanced, the idea that women might be disposed of like property,
seemed to be nearly abandoned all over Europe; but their
subsequent condition partook (as might be expected in the case of
dependent beings) of the character prevailing in each country.
The grave temper and morbid jealousy of the Spaniards, reduced
them almost to Eastern seclusion."

We entreat the attention of our readers to the following remark, which
explains, in some degree, the mediocrity that characterizes the present
day:--

"In the first ages after the rise of literature, the very want of
that multitude of second-rate books we now possess, had the
effect of compelling those who learned any thing to betake
themselves to studies of a solid nature; and there was
consequently less difference then, between the education of the
two sexes, than now. The reader will immediately recollect the
instances of Lady Jane Grey, Mrs Hutchinson, and others of the
same class, and will feel that it is quite fair to assume, that
many such existed when a few came to be known."

It was during the reign of the last princes of the House of Valois, that
the women of the French court began to exercise that malignant and almost
universal influence, which, for a while, poisoned the well-springs of
refinement and civility. Eclipsed for a while by the migh