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    own judgments as to the relative importance of the studies of their pupils , or the distribution of their time , they are themselves merely agents and instruments , it is not what they judge right and best , but what is required from them that they must perform , Bven where their good sense leads them to exact from their pupils some attention to the more solid acquirements , grammar ,

    history , geography , &c , the time allowed for these studies is necessarily so short as to permit with them only a very superficial acquaintance . This mode of education affords no encouragement to women of superior talents to undertake the management of schools , which , consequently , for the most part , fall into the hands of persons little fitted to be the guides of youth , and whom speculations of interest merely prompt to the undertaking .

    Another evil also necessarily results from the multifarious objects that claim the attention of the youthful student , that no one can be completely or adequately attained ; even from the most industrious and diligent , a mere smattering in the majority of them is only to be expected . The freshness and vigour of health , the buoyant elasticity of spirits , the careless joys of youth are all perilled by the sedentary habits which modern female

    education necessarily imposes . The writer of these remarks knew of one instance in which , by an over-excited emulation and ardour for success , the reason of a young and talented female was actually unsettled ; and another , where a most alarming case of hysteria , threatening life and intellect , was the result of

    faculties overstrained . Women are , by nature , from a less solid structure , a more sensitive and delicate organization than man , more easily excited , and more susceptible of excess and enthusiasm in their pursuits , but the same delicacy of structure renders them less able to sustain that intenseness and continuity of attention which the more robust constitution of man cannot with

    impunity long support . This constant application , this tension of the nerves , is still more prejudicial at an immature period of life , before the bodily organs have attained their full developement and firmness . But , from the hapless female who laudably proposes to procure from her acquirements *» n independent support , almost superhuman powers are demanded . The advertisements

    and requisitions for private governesses , in the families of the nobility and gentry , would be ridiculous , were they not melancholy . A poor young creature has no chance for success , unless she professes with the modern languages ( and not unfrequently to these the Latin is added ) all the sciences and arts . In the

    short space of time , from twelve to eighteen or twenty , for earlier the faculties can scarcely be roused , and in the volatile and tender period of youth , attainments are expected and called for , each of which , to acquire properly , it would take a life to mature . The delusion , the inconsistency and absurdity of such expectations are too obvious and glaring to require being exposed . To the

    Untitled Article

    194 On Female Education and Occupations .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 494, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/54/