ed the sacrifice of
conjugal happiness, the welfare of children, domestic peace, reputation,
and all the amenities of the gentle life.

That clever women abound in the present day we have undeniable
proof--many as clever, no doubt, as that famous philosopheress Madame du
Chatelet, who managed at one and the same moment the thread of an
intrigue, her cards at piquet, and a calculation in algebra, but who may
still lack the qualifications indispensably necessary to make clever
politicians. Perhaps, therefore, we might be allowed to suggest that it
would be well for ladies who are ambitious of figuring in either or both
spheres that politics and diplomacy are special and laborious pursuits,
involving a great deal of knowledge as difficult, and in the first
instance as repulsive, to acquire as Greek or chemistry. Yet, fully
admitting their capacity to qualify themselves intellectually, and
supposing them to attain the summit of their ambition of figuring
successfully in public life, a grave question still arises--would they
thereby increase or diminish their present great social influence? They
have now more influence of a certain kind than men have; but if they
obtain the influence of men, they cannot expect to retain the influence
of women. Nature, it may be thought, has established a fair distribution
of power between the two sexes. Women are potent in one sphere, and men
in another; and, if they are conscious of the domestic sway they already
exercise, they will not imperil it by challenging dominion in a field in
which they would be less secure.

Root and bond of the family, woman is no less a stranger by her natural
aptitudes than by her domestic ministrations to the general interests of
society; the conduct of the latter demands, in fact, a disengagement of
heart and mind to which she can only attain by transforming herself, to
the detriment of her duties and of her true influence. Ever to
subordinate persons to things, never to overstep in her efforts the
strict measure of the possible--those two conditions of the political
life are repugnant to her ardent and devoted nature. Even amongst women
in whom those gifts are met with in the highest degree, clearness of
perception has been almost always obscured by the ardour of pursuit or
that of patronage--by the irresistible desire of pushing to the
extremity of success her own ideas, and especially those of her friends.

Again, let us imagine political life to resembl