Saturday, January 19, 2013

A Back-Handed Compliment If Ever There Was One

But there is another glory belonging to this age, and almost to this age alone of our poetry--the glory of Female Genius. We have heard and seen it seriously argued whether or not women are equal to men; as if there could be a moment's doubt in any mind unbesotted by sex, that they are infinitely superior; not in understanding, thank Heaven, nor in intellect, but in all other "impulses of soul and sense" that dignify and adorn human beings, and make them worthy of living on this delightful earth. Men for the most part are such worthless wretches, that we wonder how women condescend to allow the world to be carried on; and we attribute that phenomenon solely to the hallowed yearnings of maternal affection, which breathes as strongly in maid as in matron, and may be beautifully seen in the child fondling its doll in its blissful bosom.

~ John Wilson from "An Hour's Talk about Poetry," in Recreations of Christopher North, Volume I (MDCCCLXVIII) ~

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