The Colour of Life; and other essays on things seen and heard by Alice Christiana Thompson Meynell
page 41 of 64 (64%)
page 41 of 64 (64%)
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turns the scale in favour of the woman, as for long generations the
surroundings and conditions of life of the female sex have developed in her a greater degree of the power in question than circumstances have required from men." "Long generations" of subjection are, strangely enough, held to excuse the timorousness and the shifts of women to-day. But the world, unknowing, tampers with the courage of its sons by such a slovenly indulgence. It tampers with their intelligence by fostering the ignorance of women. And yet Shakespeare confessed the participation of man and woman in their common heritage. It is Cassius who speaks: "Have you not love enough to bear with me When that rash humour which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful?" And Brutus who replies: "Yes, Cassius, and from henceforth When you are over-earnest with your Brutus He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so." Dryden confessed it also in his praises of Anne Killigrew: "If by traduction came thy mind, Our wonder is the less to find A soul so charming from a stock so good. Thy father was transfused into thy blood." The winning of Waterloo upon the Eton playgrounds is very well; but there |
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