rance.

The swift rise to supremacy, during the seventeenth century, of logical
and rational methods of thinking, in conjunction with the new development
of geometrical and mathematical science, led in the eighteenth century to
a widespread belief in France that human customs and human society ought
to be founded on a strictly logical and rational basis. It was a belief
which ignored those legitimate claims of the emotional nature which the
nineteenth century afterwards investigated and developed, but it was of
immense service to mankind in clearing away useless prejudices and
superstitions, and it culminated in the reforms of the great Revolution
which most other nations have since been painfully struggling to attain.
Modesty offered a tempting field for the eighteenth century philosophic
spirit to explore.

The manner in which the most distinguished and adventurous minds of the
century approached it, can scarcely be better illustrated than by a
conversation, reported by Madame d'Epinay, which took place in 1750 at the
table of Mlle. Quinault, the eminent actress. "A fine virtue," Duclos
remarked, "which one fastens on in the morning with pins." He proceeded to
argue that "a moral law must hold good always and everywhere, which
modesty does not." Saint-Lambert, the poet, observed that "it must be
acknowledged that one can say nothing good about innocence without being a
little corrupted," and Duclos added "or of modesty without being
impudent." Saint-Lambert finally held forth with much poetic enthusiasm
concerning the desirability of consummating marriages in public.[59] This
view of modesty, combined with the introduction of Greek fashions, gained
ground to such an extent that towards the end of the century women, to the
detriment of their health, were sometimes content to dress in transparent
gauze, and even to walk abroad in the Champs Elysees without any clothing;
that, however, was too much for the public.[60] The final outcome of the
eighteenth century spirit in this direction was, as we know, by no means
the dissolution of modesty. But it led to a clearer realization of what is
permanent in its organic foundations and what is merely temporary in its
shifting manifestations. That is a realization which is no mean task to
achieve, and is difficult for many, even yet. So intelligent a traveler as
Mrs. Bishop (Miss Bird), on her first visit to Japan came to the
conclusion that Japanese women had no modesty, because