Excerpt from Brides and Bridals, Vol. 2 of 2 Though less fruitful Of physical anguish than it would have been had our men been less noble at heart and our women less beautiful in person, the discipline of the lash had upon the gentler sex the effects which it always produces on the weak, whose helplessness is not complete. The marital law, which resembled martial law in other particulars besides spelling, made its subjects imperfect Slaves. It cowed and silenced, without utterly crushing, the feminine multitude. Whether we attribute the fact to intellectual inability or moral defect, it is significant of the abject bondage in which the majority of women were held in feudal England, that, whilst they were incessantly shot at by masculine satirists, they lacked the cleverness or spirit to retort on their assailants with sayings sufficiently piquant and vigorous to live in folk-lore. If their silence was due to lack Of mental power, the want came from the debasing treatment accorded to secular womankind in every social grade but the highest. There is abundant evidence that, under circumstances favourable to intellectual health, woman in mediaeval England possessed the same mental quickness and subtlety, as well as the same earnestness and courage, that distinguish her at the present day. Pursuing their studies in the seclusion and tranquillity of a religious college, the feminine pupils Of the clergy acquired at least enough learning to show that stupidity was no attribute Of their sex, and displayed enough clever ness to prove that wit was one Of its special gifts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.