ceremony. The following
passage is a partial statement of these views, which proved very
exasperating to her contemporaries. It is the advice given to Maria,
after her flight, by a friendly uncle:--

"The marriage state is certainly that in which women, generally
speaking, can be most useful; but I am far from thinking that a
woman, once married, ought to consider the engagement as
indissoluble (especially if there be no children to reward her for
sacrificing her feelings) in case her husband merits neither her
love nor esteem. Esteem will often supply the place of love, and
prevent a woman from being wretched, though it may not make her
happy. The magnitude of a sacrifice ought always to bear some
proportion to the utility in view; and for a woman to live with a
man for whom she can cherish neither affection nor esteem, or even
be of any use to him, excepting in the light of a housekeeper, is
an abjectness of condition, the enduring of which no concurrence of
circumstances can ever make a duty in the sight of God or just men.
If indeed she submits to it merely to be maintained in idleness,
she has no right to complain bitterly of her fate; or to act, as a
person of independent character might, as if she had a title to
disregard general rules.

"But the misfortune is, that many women only submit in appearance,
and forfeit their own respect to secure their reputation in the
world. The situation of a woman separated from her husband is
undoubtedly very different from that of a man who has left his
wife. He, with lordly dignity, has shaken off a clog; and the
allowing her food and raiment is thought sufficient to secure his
reputation from taint. And, should she have been inconsiderate, he
will be celebrated for his generosity and forbearance. Such is the
respect paid to the master-key of property! A woman, on the
contrary, resigning what is termed her natural protector (though he
never was so but in name), is despised and shunned for asserting
the independence of mind distinctive of a rational being, and
spurning at slavery."

The incidents selected by Mary to prove her case are, it must be
admitted, disagreeable, and the minor details too frequently revolting.
The stories of Maria, Darnford, and Jemima are records of shame, crime,
and human bestiality little less unplea