don, the supporter of Whitfield, the Duchess of
Devonshire, and other women of position, had vital interest in public
questions.

The interest which English ladies took in politics was a matter
of constant surprise to foreigners, but it was significant of the
awakening to a sense of privilege which led in the next century to the
various female declarations of rights, of which the most extreme was
the claim to suffrage.

CHAPTER XIV

THE WOMEN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

At the opening of the nineteenth century, practically unfettered
opportunity extended in all directions before women; but it was
necessary for the century to spend its force before they had fully
availed themselves of the privileges which were objected to only by
those who still descanted on woman's sphere as a purely domestic one.
The "woman question" is very modern, because woman has so lately come
to be seriously regarded as a factor in the work of life. The changed
conditions of the nineteenth century resulted from those forces which
were operating for the larger liberty of the sex. Contributions to the
widening of the scope of their lives came from many sources. Religion
has been the evangel of woman; but even it cannot claim that the
modern woman, with her versatility of touch and her multiform
influence, is its product. Law reluctantly acknowledged the rights
of the sex where it was futile to deny them; but it has sinned too
grievously in the years that are past to receive recognition as a
promoter of the new Renaissance, although it cherishes the rights
which woman has achieved, and is to-day one of her most chivalrous
defenders. Convention is too unadaptive to do more than recognize
adjustments which have been otherwise brought about, but, as
representing the rules of society, it is promotive of the dignity and
the rights of the sex to the extent that these dignities and rights
have been otherwise afforded.

Acknowledgment for the position which woman attained during the last
century is due not to any one of these forces, but to all working
together, although Nature must be chiefly credited with having brought
it about. The great increase in population in England, and the excess
of the female portion, led women to ponder the question of other
spheres for their lives than solely the domestic. At the same time,
the complex nature of modern business offered, to some extent, a
practical solution of the problem. While the question of wo