he
arts and bravery of the besieger, man. There is a letter of Swift's,
entitled "Advice to a very Young Married Lady", which shows the Dean's
opinion of the female society of his day, and that if he despised man he
utterly scorned women too. No lady of our time could be treated by any
man, were he ever so much a wit or Dean, in such a tone of insolent
patronage and vulgar protection. In this performance, Swift hardly takes
pains to hide his opinion that a woman is a fool: tells her to read books,
as if reading was a novel accomplishment; and informs her that "not one
gentleman's daughter in a thousand has been brought to read or understand
her own natural tongue". Addison laughs at women equally; but, with the
gentleness and politeness of his nature, smiles at them and watches them,
as if they were harmless, halfwitted, amusing, pretty creatures, only made
to be men's playthings. It was Steele who first began to pay a manly
homage to their goodness and understanding, as well as to their tenderness
and beauty.(102) In his comedies, the heroes do not rant and rave about
the divine beauties of Gloriana or Statira, as the characters were made to
do in the chivalry romances and the high-flown dramas just going out of
vogue, but Steele admires women's virtue, acknowledges their sense, and
adores their purity and beauty, with an ardour and strength which should
win the goodwill of all women to their hearty and respectful champion. It
is this ardour, this respect, this manliness, which makes his comedies so
pleasant and their heroes such fine gentlemen. He paid the finest
compliment to a woman that perhaps ever was offered. Of one woman, whom
Congreve had also admired and celebrated, Steele says, that "to have loved
her was a liberal education". "How often," he says, dedicating a volume to
his wife, "how often has your tenderness removed pain from my sick head,
how often anguish from my afflicted heart! If there are such beings as
guardian angels, they are thus employed. I cannot believe one of them to
be more good in inclination, or more charming in form than my wife." His
breast seems to warm and his eyes to kindle when he meets with a good and
beautiful woman, and it is with his heart as well as with his hat that he
salutes her. About children, and all that relates to home, he is not less
tender, and more than once speaks in apology of what he calls his
softness. He would have been nothing without that delightful weakness. It