_Don Quixote_ may be regarded as a satirical
exhibition of the error to which I am referring.
OF WOMEN.
Schiller's poem in honor of women, _Wuerde der Frauen_, is the
result of much careful thought, and it appeals to the reader by its
antithetic style and its use of contrast; but as an expression of the
true praise which should be accorded to them, it is, I think, inferior
to these few words of Jouy's: _Without women, the beginning of our
life would be helpless; the middle, devoid of pleasure; and the end,
of consolation_. The same thing is more feelingly expressed by Byron
in _Sardanapalus_:
_The very first
Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
Of watching the last hour of him who led them_.
(Act I Scene 2.)
These two passages indicate the right standpoint for the appreciation
of women.
You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that
woman is not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of
the body.
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