Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Some Reflections Upon Marriage

London

Printed for John Nutt

1700

"She will discern a time when her Sex shall be no bar to the best Employments, the highest Honor; a time when that distinction, now so much us'd to her Prejudice, shall be no more, but provided she is not wanting to her self, her Soul shall shine as bright as the greatest Heroe's."

It is therefore very much a Man's Interest that Women should be good Christians, in this as in every other Instance, he who does his Duty finds his own account in it; Duty and true Interest are one and the same thing, and he who thinks otherwise is to be pitied for being so much in the Wrong; but what can be more the Duty of the Head, than to Instruct and Improve those who are under Government? She will freely leave him the quiet Dominion of this World whose Thoughts and Expectations are plac'd on the next. A Prospect of Heaven, and that only will cure that Ambition which all Generous Minds are fill'd with; not by taking it away but by placing it on a right Object. She will discern a time when her Sex shall be no bar to the best Employments, the highest Honor; a time when that distinction, now so much us'd to her Prejudice, shall be no more, but provided she is not wanting to her self, her Soul shall shine as bright as the greatest Heroe's. This is a true, and indeed the only consolation, this makes her a sufficient compensation for all the neglect and contempt the ill-grounded Customs of the World throw on her, for all the Injuries brutal Power may do her, and is a sufficient Cordial to support her Spirits, be her Lot in this World what it may.
(pp. 88-9)

Light::Shining

Reading

6 entries in ESTC (1700, 1703, 1706, 1730).

Some Reflections Upon Marriage, Occasion'd by the Duke & Dutchess of Mazarine's Case; Which Is Also Consider'd. (London: Printed for John Nutt near Stationers-Hall, 1700). <Link to ESTC><Link to Penn's Women Writers>

04/25/2014