An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex/Preface

''Refaces to mot Books, are like Prolocutors to Puppet-Shows, they come firt to tell you what Figures are to be preented, and what Tricks they are to play. According therefore to ancient and laudable Cutom, I have thought fit to let you know by way of Preface, or Advertiement, (call it which you pleae) that here are many fine Figures within to be een, as well worth your curioity, as any in Smithfield at Bartholomew Tide. I will not deny, Reader, but that you may have een ome of &rsquo;em there already; to thoe that have, I have little more to ay, than that if they have a mind to ee them again in Effigie, they may do it here. What is it you wou&rsquo;d have? Here are St. George&rsquo;s, Batemans, John Dories, Punchinello&rsquo;s, and the Creation of the World, or what&rsquo;s as good; here&rsquo;s the German Artit too, or one that can hew more Tricks than he: If all this will not invite you, y&rsquo;are grown more queamih of late, Gentlemen, than you us&rsquo;d to be, and the poor Bookeller will make but an indifferent Market of you. Well, let the wort come to the wort, &rsquo;tis but hifting the cene to Smithfield, and making an Interet in half a dozen Vizor-Masks to be ure of your Company: But he, good Man, is deirous to pleae you at firt hand, and therefore has put a fine Picture in the front to invite yonyou [sic] in, o like ome of you (as he protets) that you ought never look in a Glas again, if it offends you. For my part, I declare, he has acted clear againt my Opinion in this cae, and o he has been told; for many a poor Man has lot the howing of his Monter, by gratifying the curioity of the gaping Crowd with too exact a picture without doors. Beides, there&rsquo;s an unlucky Rogue of a left-handed Barber, that looks like an ill Omen in the beginning. He was told too, that if he wou&rsquo;d pleae mot of you, he ought to take example by your Glaes, and flatter you. Yet he continued obtinate and unmoveable to all thee weighty Reaons, and is o fondly bent for his Picture, that he reolv&rsquo;d againt all advice to have it. Nay, and he wou&rsquo;d have Rhimes underneath it too, which, he ays, weigh more with you, than all the Reaon in the world. I thought fit to let you know this, that the Bookeller might not loe the credit of his Fancy, if it takes with you, as he is perwaded it will. For you mut know, I am a great lover of trict Jutice, and therefore would by no means Rob, or Defraud him of the Glory of his Invention, or by any initer way ullie, or diminih the Honour, or Reputation of his Parts and Ingenuity. For the ame reaon likewie I mut acquaint you, that the Rhimes are none of mine neither; and now my Hand is in, I don&rsquo;t much care if I tell you, that I am not very good at that ingenious Recreation, called Crambo, from which ome rie to be very coniderable Rhimers. This now is more than I was oblig&rsquo;d to tell you, and therefore I hope no body will deny, but that I deal ingenuoly at leat with you.''

''This one would think were Preface ufficient; but there are ome Men o impertinently curious, that they mut needs have a Reaon for every thing, that is done in the World, tho&rsquo; it were in their favour (for which perhaps it were hard to give a good one) when it were their Interet to be atisfied, and thankful without further enquiry. To comply therefore in ome meaure with the humour of thee People, if any one think fit to perue this Book, I mut tell &rsquo;em very freely, that I was o far from aiming to oblige, or dioblige &rsquo;em by it, that it was never intended for their View. It was occaion&rsquo;d by a private Converation, between ome Gentlemen and Ladies, and written at the requet, and for the Diverion of one Lady more particularly, by whom with my conent it was communicated to two or three more of both Sexes, my Friends likewie.''

''By them I was with abundance of Complements importun&rsquo;d to make it publick; now tho&rsquo; I do with good reaon attribute much more, of what was aid to me upon this Occaion, to their good Breeding and Friendhip, than to their real Opinions of my Performance; yet I have o much atisfaction in their Sincerity and Friendhip, as to be confident they would not uffer, much les perwade me to expoe to the world any thing, of which they doubted o far, as to think it would not be tollerably acceptable. Nor have I les aurance of their Judgment and Skill in things of this nature, beide that I have been inform&rsquo;d by ome of &rsquo;em, that it has been een, and favourably receiv&rsquo;d by ome Gentlemen, whom the world thinks no incompetent Judges. After all this Encouragement, I uppoe, I hall not be thought vain, if, as I pretend not to the applaue, o I fear not the contempt of the world: Yet I preume not o far upon the Merits of what I have written, as to make my Name publick with it. I have elewhere held, that Vanity was almot the univeral mover of all our Actions, and conequently of mine, as well as of others; yet it is not trong enough in me, to induce me to bring my Name upon the publick tage of the World.''

''There are many Reaons, that oblige me to this cautious, reerv&rsquo;d way of procedure; tho&rsquo; I might otherwie be very ambitious of appearing in the defence of my Sex, cou&rsquo;d I perwade my elf, that I was able to write any thing utable to the dignity of the Subject, which I am not vain enough to think. This indeed is one Reaon becaue I am enible it might have been much better defended by abler Pens, uch as many among our own Sex are; though I believe carce thus much wou&rsquo;d have been expected from me, by thoe that know me. There is likewie another Reaon, which was yet more prevalent with me, and with thoe few Friends whom I conulted about it, which is this; There are a ort of Men, that upon all occaions think themelves more concern&rsquo;d; and more thought of than they are, and that, like Men that are deaf, or have any other notorious Defect, can ee no body whiper, or laugh, but they think &rsquo;tis at themelves. Thee Men are apt to think, that every ridiculous decription they meet with, was intended more particularly for ome one or other of them; as indeed it is hard to paint any thing compleat in their everal Kinds, without hitting many of their particular Features, even without drawing from them. The knowledge of this, with the conideration of the tendernes of Reputation in our Sex, (which as our delicatet Fruits and finet Flowers are mot obnoxious to the injuries of Weather, is ubmitted to every infectious Blat of malicious Breath) made me very cautious, how I expos&rsquo;d mine to uch poionous Vapours. I was not ignorant, how liberal ome Men are of their Scandal, whenever provok&rsquo;d, epecially by a Woman; and how ready the ame Men are to be o, tho&rsquo; upon never o mitaken Grounds. This made me reolve to keep &rsquo;em in Ignorance of my Name, and if they have a mind to find me out, let &rsquo;em catch me (if they can) as Children at Blind-mans Buff do one another, Hoodwinkt; and I am of Opinion I have room enough to put &rsquo;em out of Breath before they come near me.''

''The Event has in Effect prov&rsquo;d my upicious Prophetick; for there are (as I am inform&rsquo;d) already ome, o forward to interet themelves againt me, that they take Characters upon themselves, before they ee &rsquo;em; and, for fear they hould want ome Body to throw their Dirt at, with equal Ignorance and Injutice, Father this Piece upon the Gentleman, who was o kind as to take care of the Publication of it, only to excue me from appearing. This made me once reolve to oppoe my Innocence to their Clamour, and perfix my Name, which I thought I was bound to do in Jutice to him. In this Reolution I had perited, had not the ame Gentleman generouly perwaded, and over-rul&rsquo;d me to the contrary, repreenting how weak a defence Innocence is againt Calumny, how open the Ears of the WoldWorld [sic] are, and how greedily they uck in any thing to the prejudice of a Woman; and that (to ue his own Expreion) the candal of uch Men, was like Dirt thrown by Children, and Fools at random, and without Provocation, it would dawb filthily at firt, though it were eaily waht off again: Adding, that he deird me not to be under any concern for him; for he valued the Malice of uch men, as little, as their Friendhip, the one was as feeble as t&rsquo;other fale.''

I uppoe I need make no Apology to my own Sex for the meanes of this defence; the bare intention of erving &rsquo;em will I hope be accepted, and of Men, the Candid and Ingenuous I am ure will not quarrel with me for any thing in this little Book; ince there is nothing in it, which was not drawn from the trictet Reaon I was Mitres of, and the bet Obervations I was able to make, except a tart or two only concerning the Salique Law, and the Amazons, which, if they divert not the Reader, can&rsquo;t offend him.

''I hall not trouble the Reader with any account of the Method I have oberv&rsquo;d, he will eaily dicover that in reading the Piece it elf. I hall only take notice to him of one thing, which with a little attention to what he reads he will readily find to be true, that is, that the Characters were not written out of any Wanton Humour, or Malicious Deign to characterize any Particular Perons, but to illutrate what I have aid upon the everal Heads, under which they are rang&rsquo;d, and repreent not ingle Men, that play the Fool eriouly in the World. If any Individual eem to be more peculiarly markt, it is becaue he is perhaps more notorious to the World, by ome one or more Articles of the General Character here given. I am ure that there is no Man, who is but moderately Acquainted with the World, epecially this Town, but may find half a Dozen, or more Originals for every Picture. After all, if any Man have o little Wit, as to appropriate any of thee Characters to himelf, He takes a liberty I have hitherto never given him, but hall do it now in the Words of a Great Man,'' If any Fool finds the Cap fit him, let him put it on.

''There are ome Men, (I hear) who will not allow this Piece to be written by a Woman; did I know what Etimate to make of their Judgments, I might perhaps have a higher Opinion of this Triffle, than I ever yet had. For I little thought while I was writing this, that any Man (epecially an Ingenious Man) hould have the candal of being the reputed Author. For he mut think it candalous to be made to Father a Womans Productions unlawfully. But thee Gentlemen, I uppoe, believe there is more Wit, that they&rsquo;l find in this Piece, upon the Credit of the Bookeller, whoe Interet it is to flatter it. But were it as well written as I could wih it, or as the Subject wou&rsquo;d bear, and deerves; I ee no reaon why our Sex hou&rsquo;d be robb&rsquo;d of the Honour of it; Since there have been Women in all Ages, whoe Writings might vie with thoe of the greatet Men, as the Preent Age as well as pat can tetifie. I hall not trouble the Reader with their names, becaue I wou&rsquo;d not be thought o vain, as to rank my elf among &rsquo;em; and their names are already too well known, and celebrated to receive any additional Lutre from o weak Encomiums as mine, I pretend not to imitate, much les to Rival thoe Illutrious Ladies, who have done o much Honour to their Sex, and are unanwerable Proofs of what I contend for. I only wih, that ome Ladies now living among us (whoe names I forbear to mention in regard to their Modety) wou&rsquo;d exert themelves, and give us more recent Intances, who are both by Nature and Education ufficiently qualified to do it, which I pretend not to. I freely own to the Reader, that I know no other Tongue beides my Native, except French, in which I am but very moderately skill&rsquo;d. I plead not this to excue the meanes of my Performance; becaue I know, I may reaonably be ask&rsquo;d, why I was o forward to write; for that I have already given my reaons above, if they will not atisfie the Reader, he mut endeavour to pleae himelf with better, for I am very little olicitous about the matter. I hall only add, that for my Good Will I hope the Favour of my own Sex, which will atisfie my Ambition.''