Chapter C

[Footnote 1: Professor of Greek at Cambridge, who edited Homer, Euripides, Anacreon, &c., and wrote in Greek verse a History of Esther. He died in 1714.]

[Footnote 2:

It is Greek. It cannot be read.

This passed into a proverb from Franciscus Accursius, a famous Jurisconsult and son of another Accursius, who was called the Idol of the Jurisconsults. Franciscus Accursius was a learned man of the 13th century, who, in expounding Justinian, whenever he came to one of Justinian's quotations from Homer, said Græcum est, nec potest legi. Afterwards, in the first days of the revival of Greek studies in Europe, it was often said, as reported by Claude d'Espence, for example, that to know anything of Greek made a man suspected, to know anything of Hebrew almost made him a heretic.]

* * * * *

No. 246. Wednesday, December 12, 1711. Steele

[Greek: Ouch ara soi ge patàer aen ippóra Paeleùs Oudè Thétis máetaer,
glaukàe dè d étikte thálassa Pétrai t aelíbatoi, hóti toi nóos estìn
apaenàes.]

_Mr. SPECTATOR_,

As your Paper is Part of the Equipage of the Tea-Table, I conjure you
to print what I now write to you; for I have no other Way to
communicate what I have to say to the fair Sex on the most important
Circumstance of Life, even the Care of Children. I do not understand
that you profess your Paper is always to consist of Matters which are
only to entertain the Learned and Polite, but that it may agree with
your Design to publish some which may tend to the Information of
Mankind in general; and when it does so, you do more than writing Wit
and Humour. Give me leave then to tell you, that of all the Abuses
that ever you have as yet endeavoured to reform, certainly not one
wanted so much your Assistance as the Abuse in [nursing [1]] Children.
It is unmerciful to see, that a Woman endowed with all the Perfections
and Blessings of Nature, can, as soon as she is delivered, turn off
her innocent, tender, and helpless Infant, and give it up to a Woman
that is (ten thousand to one) neither in Health nor good Condition,
neither sound in Mind nor Body, that has neither Honour nor
Reputation, neither Love nor Pity for the poor Babe, but more Regard
for the Money than for the whole Child, and never will take further
Care of it than what by all the Encouragement of Money and Presents
she is forced to; like _Æsop's_ Earth, which would not nurse the Plant
of another Ground, altho never so much improved, by reason that Plant
was not of its own Production. And since anothers Child is no more
natural to a Nurse than a Plant to a strange and different Ground, how
can it be supposed that the Child should thrive? and if it thrives,
must it not imbibe the gross Humours and Qualities of the Nurse, like
a Plant in a different Ground, or like a Graft upon a different Stock?
Do not we observe, that a Lamb sucking a Goat changes very much its
Nature, nay even its Skin and Wooll into the Goat Kind? The Power of a
Nurse over a Child, by infusing into it, with her Milk, her Qualities
and Disposition, is sufficiently and daily observed: Hence came that
old Saying concerning an ill-natured and malicious Fellow, that he had
imbibed his Malice with his Nurses Milk, or that some Brute or other
had been his Nurse. Hence _Romulus_ and _Remus_ were said to have been
nursed by a Wolf, _Telephus_ the Son of _Hercules_ by a Hind, _Pelias_
the Son of _Neptune_ by a Mare, and _Ægisthus_ by a Goat; not that
they had actually suck'd such Creatures, as some Simpletons have
imagin'd, but that their Nurses had been of such a Nature and Temper,
and infused such into them.

Many Instances may be produced from good Authorities and daily
Experience, that Children actually suck in the several Passions and
depraved Inclinations of their Nurses, as Anger, Malice, Fear,
Melancholy, Sadness, Desire, and Aversion. This _Diodorus, lib._ 2,
witnesses, when he speaks, saying, That _Nero_ the Emperors Nurse had
been very much addicted to Drinking; which Habit _Nero_ received from
his Nurse, and was so very particular in this, that the People took so
much notice of it, as instead of _Tiberius Nero,_ they call'd him
_Biberius Mero_. The same _Diodorus_ also relates of _Caligula,_
Predecessor to _Nero_, that his Nurse used to moisten the Nipples of
her Breast frequently with Blood, to make _Caligula_ take the better
Hold of them; which, says _Diodorus,_ was the Cause that made him so
blood-thirsty and cruel all his Life-time after, that he not only
committed frequent Murder by his own Hand, but likewise wished that
all human Kind wore but one Neck, that he might have the Pleasure to
cut it off. Such like Degeneracies astonish the Parents, [who] not
knowing after whom the Child can take, [see [2]] one to incline to
Stealing, another to Drinking, Cruelty, Stupidity; yet all these are
not minded. Nay it is easy to demonstrate, that a Child, although it
be born from the best of Parents, may be corrupted by an ill-tempered
Nurse. How many Children do we see daily brought into Fits,
Consumptions, Rickets, &c., merely by sucking their Nurses when in a
Passion or Fury? But indeed almost any Disorder of the Nurse is a
Disorder to the Child, and few Nurses can be found in this Town but
what labour under some Distemper or other. The first Question that is
generally asked a young Woman that wants to be a Nurse, [Why[3]] she
should be a Nurse to other Peoples Children; is answered, by her
having an ill Husband, and that she must make Shift to live. I think
now this very Answer is enough to give any Body a Shock if duly
considered; for an ill Husband may, or ten to one if he does not,
bring home to his Wife an ill Distemper, or at least Vexation and
Disturbance. Besides as she takes the Child out of meer Necessity, her
Food will be accordingly, or else very coarse at best; whence proceeds
an ill-concocted and coarse Food for the Child; for as the Blood, so
is the Milk; and hence I am very well assured proceeds the Scurvy, the
Evil, and many other Distempers. I beg of you, for the Sake of the
many poor Infants that may and will be saved, by weighing this Case
seriously, to exhort the People with the utmost Vehemence to let the
Children suck their own [Mothers, [4]] both for the Benefit of Mother
and Child. For the general Argument, that a Mother is weakned by
giving suck to her Children, is vain and simple; I will maintain that
the Mother grows stronger by it, and will have her Health better than
she would have otherwise: She will find it the greatest Cure and
Preservative for the Vapours and future Miscarriages, much beyond any
other Remedy whatsoever: Her Children will be like Giants, whereas
otherwise they are but living Shadows and like unripe Fruit; and
certainly if a Woman is strong enough to bring forth a Child, she is
beyond all Doubt strong enough to nurse it afterwards. It grieves me
to observe and consider how many poor Children are daily ruin'd by
careless Nurses; and yet how tender ought they to be of a poor Infant,
since the least Hurt or Blow, especially upon the Head, may make it
senseless, stupid, or otherwise miserable for ever?

But I cannot well leave this Subject as yet; for it seems to me very
unnatural, that a Woman that has fed a Child as Part of her self for
nine Months, should have no Desire to nurse it farther, when brought
to Light and before her Eyes, and when by its Cry it implores her
Assistance and the Office of a Mother. Do not the very cruellest of
Brutes tend their young ones with all the Care and Delight imaginable?
For how can she be call'd a Mother that will not nurse her young ones?
The Earth is called the Mother of all Things, not because she
produces, but because she maintains and nurses what she produces. The
Generation of the Infant is the Effect of Desire, but the Care of it
argues Virtue and Choice. I am not ignorant but that there are some
Cases of Necessity where a Mother cannot give Suck, and then out of
two Evils the least must be chosen; but there are so very few, that I
am sure in a Thousand there is hardly one real Instance; for if a
Woman does but know that her Husband can spare about three or six
Shillings a Week extraordinary, (altho this is but seldom considered)
she certainly, with the Assistance of her Gossips, will soon perswade
the good Man to send the Child to Nurse, and easily impose upon him by
pretending In-disposition. This Cruelty is supported by Fashion, and
Nature gives Place to Custom. _SIR, Your humble Servant_.

T.

[Footnote 1: [nursing of], and in first reprint.]

[Footnote 2: [seeing], and in 1st r.]

[Footnote 3: [is, why], and in 1st. r.]

[Footnote 4: Mother,]

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No. 247. Thursday, December 13, 1711. Addison.

[Greek:--Tôn d akámatos rhéei audàe Ek stomátôn haedeia--Hes.]

We are told by some antient Authors, that _Socrates_ was instructed in Eloquence by a Woman, whose Name, if I am not mistaken, was _Aspasia_. I have indeed very often looked upon that Art as the most proper for the Female Sex, and I think the Universities would do well to consider whether they should not fill the Rhetorick Chairs with She Professors.

It has been said in the Praise of some Men, that they could Talk whole Hours together upon any Thing; but it must be owned to the Honour of the other Sex, that there are many among them who can Talk whole Hours together upon Nothing. I have known a Woman branch out into a long Extempore Dissertation upon the Edging of a Petticoat, and chide her Servant for breaking a China Cup, in all the Figures of Rhetorick.

Were Women admitted to plead in Courts of Judicature, I am perswaded they would carry the Eloquence of the Bar to greater Heights than it has yet arrived at. If any one doubts this, let him but be present at those Debates which frequently arise among the Ladies [of the [1]] _British_ Fishery.

The first Kind therefore of Female Orators which I shall take notice of, are those who are employed in stirring up the Passions, a Part of Rhetorick in which _Socrates_ his Wife had perhaps made a greater Proficiency than his above-mentioned Teacher.

The second Kind of Female Orators are those who deal in Invectives, and who are commonly known by the Name of the Censorious. The Imagination and Elocution of this Set of Rhetoricians is wonderful. With what a Fluency of Invention, and Copiousness of Expression, will they enlarge upon every little Slip in the Behaviour of another? With how many different Circumstances, and with what Variety of Phrases, will they tell over the same Story? I have known an old Lady make an unhappy Marriage the Subject of a Months Conversation. She blamed the Bride in one Place; pitied her in another; laughed at her in a third; wondered at her in a fourth; was angry with her in a fifth; and in short, wore out a Pair of Coach-Horses in expressing her Concern for her. At length, after having quite exhausted the Subject on this Side, she made a Visit to the new-married Pair, praised the Wife for the prudent Choice she had made, told her the unreasonable Reflections which some malicious People had cast upon her, and desired that they might be better acquainted. The Censure and Approbation of this Kind of Women are therefore only to be consider'd as Helps to Discourse.

A third Kind of Female Orators may be comprehended under the Word _Gossips_. Mrs. _Fiddle Faddle_ is perfectly accomplished in this Sort of Eloquence; she launches out into Descriptions of Christenings, runs Divisions upon an Headdress, knows every Dish of Meat that is served up in her Neighbourhood, and entertains her Company a whole Afternoon together with the Wit of her little Boy, before he is able to speak.

The Coquet may be looked upon as a fourth Kind of Female Orator. To give her self the larger Field for Discourse, she hates and loves in the same Breath, talks to her Lap-dog or Parrot, is uneasy in all kinds of Weather, and in every Part of the Room: She has false Quarrels and feigned Obligations to all the Men of her Acquaintance; sighs when she is not sad, and Laughs when she is not Merry. The Coquet is in particular a great Mistress of that Part of Oratory which is called Action, and indeed seems to speak for no other Purpose, but as it gives her an Opportunity of stirring a Limb, or varying a Feature, of glancing her Eyes, or playing with her Fan.

As for News-mongers, Politicians, Mimicks, Story-Tellers, with other Characters of that nature, which give Birth to Loquacity, they are as commonly found among the Men as the Women; for which Reason I shall pass them over in Silence.

I have often been puzzled to assign a Cause why Women should have this Talent of a ready Utterance in so much greater Perfection than Men. I have sometimes fancied that they have not a retentive Power, or the Faculty of suppressing their Thoughts, as Men have, but that they are necessitated to speak every Thing they think, and if so, it would perhaps furnish a very strong Argument to the _Cartesians_, for the supporting of their [Doctrine,[2]] that the Soul always thinks. But as several are of Opinion that the Fair Sex are not altogether Strangers to the Art of Dissembling and concealing their Thoughts, I have been forced to relinquish that Opinion, and have therefore endeavoured to seek after some better Reason. In order to it, a Friend of mine, who is an excellent Anatomist, has promised me by the first Opportunity to dissect a Woman's Tongue, and to examine whether there may not be in it certain Juices which render it so wonderfully voluble [or [3]] flippant, or whether the Fibres of it may not be made up of a finer or more pliant Thread, or whether there are not in it some particular Muscles which dart it up and down by such sudden Glances and Vibrations; or whether in the last Place, there may not be certain undiscovered Channels running from the Head and the Heart, to this little Instrument of Loquacity, and conveying into it a perpetual Affluence of animal Spirits. Nor must I omit the Reason which _Hudibras_ has given, why those who can talk on Trifles speak with the greatest Fluency; namely, that the Tongue is like a Race-Horse, which runs the faster the lesser Weight it carries.

Which of these Reasons soever may be looked upon as the most probable, I think the _Irishman's_ Thought was very natural, who after some Hours Conversation with a Female Orator, told her, that he believed her Tongue was very glad when she was asleep, for that it had not a Moments Rest all the while she was awake.

That excellent old Ballad of _The Wanton Wife of Bath_ has the following remarkable Lines.

_I think, quoth_ Thomas, _Womens Tongues
Of Aspen Leaves are made._

And Ovid, though in the Description of a very barbarous Circumstance, tells us, That when the Tongue of a beautiful Female was cut out, and thrown upon the Ground, it could not forbear muttering even in that Posture.

--Comprensam forcipe linguam
Abstulit ense fero. Radix micat ultima linguæ,
Ipsa jacet, terræque tremens immurmurat atræ;
Utque salire solet mutilatæ cauda colubræ
Palpitat:--[4]

If a tongue would be talking without a Mouth, what could it have done when it had all its Organs of Speech, and Accomplices of Sound about it? I might here mention the Story of the Pippin-Woman, had not I some Reason to look upon it as fabulous.

I must confess I am so wonderfully charmed with the Musick of this little Instrument, that I would by no Means discourage it. All that I aim at by this Dissertation is, to cure it of several disagreeable Notes, and in particular of those little Jarrings and Dissonances which arise from Anger, Censoriousness, Gossiping and Coquetry. In short, I would always have it tuned by Good-Nature, Truth, Discretion and Sincerity.