f arms done in
honor of a mistress in the Middle Ages, and the elevated sentiments
held regarding women in what Addison called a "barbarous age," with the
actions by which young men sometimes showed their devotion in the
earlier part of the eighteenth century. The latter were as extravagant
as the former, but extravagant after how different a manner. One young
fellow, distinguished himself by drinking wine strained through his
mistress' chemise; another, by drinking out of her shoe; another, by
having her slipper torn to shreds, cooked, and served up as a dish.
Coarseness of thought naturally brought on coarseness of action. Horace
Walpole wrote in 1737, "'Tis no little inducement, to make me wish
myself in France, that I hear gallantry is not left off there; that you
may be polite, and not be thought awkward for it. You know the pretty
men of the age in England use the women with no more deference than
they do their coach horses, and have not half the regard for them that
they have for themselves."[128]

Against the grosser faults of immorality and indecency Steele and
Addison preached. But even they were insensible to an elevated view of
the relations between men and women. Such a view was, however, taken by
Defoe; a man whom Steele and Addison, as well as the polite world in
general, looked upon as an adventurer, and one whose opinions on social
subjects they disdained. "We reproach the sex every day," wrote Defoe,
"with folly and impertinence, while I am confident, had they the
advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than
ourselves. * * * I cannot think that God ever made them so delicate, so
glorious creatures, and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable
and so delightful to mankind, with souls capable of the same enjoyments
as men, and all to be only stewards of our houses, cooks, and
slaves."[129] Defoe stands almost alone in his remonstrance against the
neglect of female education. But he stands more isolated still in his
appreciation of womanly virtues, and in the enthusiasm with which he
could speak of them. "A woman well-bred and well-taught, furnished with
the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behavior, is a creature
without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments;
she is all softness and sweetness, love, wit, and delight; she is every
way suitable to the sublimest wish; and the man that has such a one to
his portion, has nothing to do but to rej