The Quaker women, independently of their private, have that which no other body of women have, a public character.  This is a new era in female history.  I shall therefore make a few observations on this, before I proceed to another subject.

It is melancholy, when we look into the history of women, to see the low estimation in which they have been held from the earliest times.  It is possible, because they have not possessed the strength of constitution, that they may have been thought not to have had the intellect of men.  It is possible, because domestic cares and the rearing of children have been consigned to them, that other occupations may not have been considered as falling within the province of their stations.  But whatever may have been the causes, polygamy or concubinage has unquestionably been the greatest, in hindering women from occupying an useful, dignified, and important station in society.  This custom has held them up as little better than slaves, or than living toys or play-things.  And this custom has prevailed over a great portion of the globe from times of the earliest antiquity to the present day.

Among the many circumstances which contributed to give importance to women in Europe, we may reckon the introduction of chivalry.  Honour and humanity were the characteristics of this institution.  Hence weakness was to be protected by it.  And as weakness was more particularly the lot of women, so these became more peculiarly the objects of its care.  Hence women began to feel a consequence, which had been hitherto denied them.  They were treated with politeness and tenderness by all, and men began to be even solicitous of their applause.  But though this was the case, chivalry did not elevate them beyond a certain height.  It rendered a polite attention to them essential.  But this attention was an homage to the weakness of females, and not to their intellect.  It presupposed no capacity of usefulness in them, for every thing, in fact, was to be done for them, and they were to do but little for themselves.

The revival of learning in the twelfth century was another cause of adding to the importance of women.  As men became more learned, they began to respect the power of the human understanding.  They began to be acquainted, by means of history, with the talents of women in former ages.  They began to give a better education to their families.  These circumstances produced a more enlarged opinion of female genius.  Hence learning became an instrument of giving new consequence to women.  But it gave it to them on a principle different from that of chivalry:  for whereas chivalry insisted upon a polite attention to them on account of the weakness of their constitutions, learning insisted upon it on account of the strength of their understanding, or because they were intellectual and reasonable beings.  But that which contributed most to make women important in society, was the introduction of the Christian religion.  By the mild spirit