A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume III (of 3) by Thomas Clarkson

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CHAP. XVIII.

SECT. I.

_Character of the Quaker women--This differs a little from that of the
men--Women share in the virtues of the former--but do not always partake
of all their reputed imperfections--are not chargeable with a want of
knowledge--nor with the money-getting spirit--Modesty a feature in their
character._

Having now amply enquired into the character of the men, I shall say a
few words on the subject of that of the women of this society. For
though it might be supposed at the first sight (the Quakers being cast
as it were in one mould) that the same character would attach to both,
yet it must be obvious, on farther consideration, that it cannot be
wholly applicable to the female sex.

It may be laid down as a position, that the women of this society share
in the virtues of the men. They possess their benevolence, their
independence of mind, and the other good traits in their moral
character. But they do not always partake of all their reputed
imperfections.

The want of knowledge, which was reckoned among the failings of the
men, can have no room as a charge against the women.

For, first, let us compare the Quaker women with the Quaker men. Now it
generally happens in the world, that men have more literary knowledge
than women, but this is not so generally the case in this society. As
the women here are not taken from their books, like the men, at an early
age, and put into trade, they have no bar, like these, to the farther
improvement of their minds. They advance often in the acquisition of
knowledge, while the latter, in consequence of their attention to
business, are kept stationary. Hence it almost uniformly happens, that
they are quite as well informed, and that they have as great a variety
of knowledge as these, so that they suffer no disparagement, as the women
of the world do, by a comparison with the other sex.

Neither will the Quaker women be considered as deficient in knowledge,
if compared with women of other religious denominations. It is too much
the practice, but particularly in the higher circles, to educate females
for shew. We too seldom see a knowledge of the domestic duties. To dance
well, to sing well, and to play well, these are the usual
accomplishments that are insisted on, and they are insisted upon with an
earnestness, as if they included all the valuable purposes of life. Thus
the best part of youth is spent in the acquirement of trivial things:
or rather the acquirement of such things takes up so much time, as to
leave but little for the moral and intellectual improvement of the mind.
The great object, on the other hand, of the education of the Quaker
females, is utility and not shew. They are taught domestic economy, or
the cares and employments of a house. They are taught to become good
wives and good mothers. Prohibited the attainments of music and dancing,
and many of the corruptive amusements of the world, they have ample time
for the improvement of the understanding. Thus they have in general as
good an education as other females, as far as literary acquirements are
concerned; so that, whether they are compared with Quaker men, or with
the other women of the island, they will not incur the imputation of a
deficiency of knowledge.

It must be obvious too, that the money-getting spirit, which the world
has fixed upon as a trait in the character of some of the men, can
seldom be a trait in that of the women of this society. For men are the
principals in trade. They lay their plans for the getting of money. They
see the accumulating surplus rise. They handle it. They count it. They
remember it. The women, on the other hand, see it only in the
disposition of their husbands or parents, who make probably a larger
allowance for domestic wants or gratifications than before. Hence a
charge cannot be so frequently brought against them of a want of that
spiritual mindedness, which is the great characteristic of Quakerism, as
they have but little to do with the mammon of the world.

To these exceptions in Quaker women from the reputed imperfections of
Quaker men, I cannot help adding in this place, that the females of this
society are peculiarly distinguishable for that which has been at all
times considered as one of the brightest ornaments of their sex. Modesty
is particularly conspicuous in their looks and in their whole outward
demeanour. It is conspicuous in their conversation. It is conspicuous
also in their dress. And here it may not be improper to observe, that,
whatever objections may be made to the Quaker apparel, it is estimable,
as far as it gives this appearance of modesty to the females who wear
it, or rather as far as it hinders them from wearing the loose and
indelicate garments, which are frequently worn, without any scruple, by
many of the females of the world.

SECT. II.

_Quaker women, besides their private, have a public character--Low
light in which women have been held--Importance given them by
chivalry--and by the revival of learning in Europe--and by the
introduction of Christianity--but still held in an inferior
light--Quakers have given them their due importance in society--Influence
of their public character on their minds._

The Quaker women, independently of their private, have that which no
other body of women have, a public character. This is a new era in
female history. I shall therefore make a few observations on this,
before I proceed to another subject.

It is melancholy, when we look into the history of women, to see the low
estimation in which they have been held from the earliest times. It is
possible, because they have not possessed the strength of constitution,
that they may have been thought not to have had the intellect of men. It
is possible, because domestic cares and the rearing of children have
been consigned to them, that other occupations may not have been
considered as falling within the province of their stations. But
whatever may have been the causes, polygamy or concubinage has
unquestionably been the greatest, in hindering women from occupying an
useful, dignified, and important station in society. This custom has
held them up as little better than slaves, or than living toys or
play-things. And this custom has prevailed over a great portion of the
globe from times of the earliest antiquity to the present day.

Among the many circumstances which contributed to give importance to
women in Europe, we may reckon the introduction of chivalry. Honour and
humanity were the characteristics of this institution. Hence weakness
was to be protected by it. And as weakness was more particularly the lot
of women, so these became more peculiarly the objects of its care. Hence
women began to feel a consequence, which had been hitherto denied them.
They were treated with politeness and tenderness by all, and men began
to be even solicitous of their applause. But though this was the case,
chivalry did not elevate them beyond a certain height. It rendered a
polite attention to them essential. But this attention was an homage to
the weakness of females, and not to their intellect. It presupposed no
capacity of usefulness in them, for every thing, in fact, was to be done
for them, and they were to do but little for themselves.

The revival of learning in the twelfth century was another cause of
adding to the importance of women. As men became more learned, they
began to respect the power of the human understanding. They began to be
acquainted, by means of history, with the talents of women in former
ages. They began to give a better education to their families. These
circumstances produced a more enlarged opinion of female genius. Hence
learning became an instrument of giving new consequence to women. But it
gave it to them on a principle different from that of chivalry: for
whereas chivalry insisted upon a polite attention to them on account of
the weakness of their constitutions, learning insisted upon it on
account of the strength of their understanding, or because they were
intellectual and reasonable beings. But that which contributed most to
make women important in society, was the introduction of the Christian
religion. By the mild spirit which it diffused, it produced a certain
suavity of behaviour towards them. By the abolition of polygamy it
allowed of no division of a man's love among many women, but limited it
to one. Thus it made one woman dearer than another, and of course every
individual woman of consequence. By the abolition of polygamy, it added
to their consequence again, by raising them from the rank of slaves to
that of the companions of men. This importance it increased again by the
inculcation of specific duties towards them, and by the doctrine, that,
as all, without exception, were equally accountable for their actions,
and the Divine Being was no respecter of persons, so all, whether men or
women, were of equal importance in his sight.

But though Christianity has operated, as it always will, where it is
felt in the heart, to the production of a tender attention to women, and
to the procuring of an honourable station for them in society, we have
yet to lament, that this operation has not been more general,
considering our public profession of this religion, than we find it at
the present day. Women are still seldom appreciated as they ought to be.
They are still weighed in a different scale from men. Their education is
still limited, as if their understandings, notwithstanding the
honourable testimony which history has borne concerning them, were
incapable of high attainments. If homage be paid to their beauty, very
little is paid to their opinions. Limits also are assigned to the sphere
of their utility. To engage in other pursuits than they do would be
thought strange. In short, the education they receive marks the inferior
situation for which they are considered to be designed. Its tendency is
mostly to outward shew. Formed like dolls or play-things, which are
given to children to captivate by outside appearances, they are
generally rendered incapable of exhibiting great talents, or of
occupying an important station in life.

But it seems to have been reserved for the Quakers us a religious body,
to insist upon that full practical treatment and estimation of women,
which ought to take place wherever Christianity is professed. They have
accordingly given to the females of their own society their proper
weight in the scale of created beings. Believing them to have adequate
capacities, and to be capable of great usefulness, they have admitted
them to a share in the administration of almost all the offices which
belong to their religious discipline, so that, independently of their
private, they have a public character, like the men.

In the first volume, I had occasion to observe, when treating on the
subject of the discipline, that representatives were chosen by the men
out of their own body to the different meetings which were then named.
Just so it is with the Quaker women. Representatives are appointed out
of these by the other women on similar occasions. I stated also that, at
certain times, the men assembled by themselves; that they discussed the
business that came before them; that they replied to those who supported
opposite opinions to their own; and that the young men were present
during these discussions. So it is with the women. They sit in council
by themselves. They argue and reply in like manner. The young females
are also present. I stated also, that during these meetings of the men,
one of them held the office of drawing up and recording the minutes of
the proceedings or resolutions that had taken place. The women also
appoint one of their own body to the same office. I stated again, that,
in these meetings of the men, some were chosen as a committee to act in
particular cases. So also are women chosen to act as a committee by
their own meetings. I explained the nature of the office of overseer,
and I observed that there were overseers among the men. There are also
overseers among the women. I explained the nature of the office of
elder, and I observed that there were elders among the men. The women
have their elders likewise. The men were said to preach as in other
societies. The women are permitted to preach also. In short, if the men
consider themselves to be qualified for any office belonging their
religious discipline, they believe their women to be equally capable of
holding the same. No distinction is made as to the powers of usefulness
between the men and the women of this society. There are few offices
held by men, but there is a corresponding one for those of the other
sex.[41]

[Footnote 41: The principal exceptions are, that they are not
correspondents, arbitrators, legislators, or on committees of appeal.]

The execution of these and other, public offices, by which the Quaker
women have an important station allotted them in society, cannot but
have an important influence on their minds. It gives them, in fact, a
new cast of character. It imparts to them, in the first place, a
considerable knowledge of human nature. It produces in them thought, and
foresight, and judgment. It creates in them a care and concern for the
distressed. It elevates their ideas. It raises in them a sense of their
own dignity and importance as human beings, which sets them above every
thing that is little and trifling, and above all idle parade and shew.
Fond as they are of the animal creation, you do not see them lavishing
their caresses on lap-dogs, to the contempt of the poor and miserable of
their own species. You never see them driving from shop to shop to make
up a morning's amusement, by examining and throwing out of order the
various articles of tradesmen, giving them great trouble, and buying
nothing in return. You never find them calling upon those whom they know
to be absent from their homes, thus making their mimic visits, and
leaving their useless cards. Nothing, in short, so ridiculous or
degrading, is known among them. Their pursuits are rational, useful, and
dignified. And they may be said in general to exhibit a model for the
employment of time, worthy of the character they profess.

MISCELLANEOUS PARTICULARS
RELATIVE TO THE
QUAKERS

_Quakers a happy people--Subordinate causes of this happiness--namely,
their comfortable situation--their attachment to domestic life--their
almost constant employment--this happiness not broken like that of
others, by an interruption of the routine of constituted pleasures--or
by anger and other passions or by particular enquiries and notions about
religion._

If a person were to judge of the Quakers by the general gravity of
their countenances, and were to take into consideration, at the same
time, the circumstance, that they never partook of the amusements of the
world, in which he placed a part of his own pleasures, he would be
induced to conclude, that they had dull and gloomy minds, and that they
could not be upon the whole a happy people. Such a conclusion, however,
would be contrary to the fact. On my first acquaintance with them I was
surprised, seeing the little variety of their pursuits, at the happiness
which they appeared to enjoy, but as I came to a knowledge of the
constitution and state of the society, the solution of the problem
became easy.

It will not be difficult to develope the subordinate causes of this
happiness.[42] To shew the first of these, I shall view the society in
the three classes of the rich, the middle, and the poor. Of the rich, I
may observe, that they are not so affluent in general as the rich of
other bodies. Of the middle, that they are upon the whole in better
circumstances than others of the same class in life. Of the poor, that
they are not so poor as others in a similar condition. Now the rich in
the Quaker society have of course as many of the comforts of life in
their power as they desire. The middle classes in this society have more
of these than the middle classes of other denominations. The poor in the
same society have also more of these, in consequence of the handsome
provision which is made for them, than others in a similar situation
with themselves. There is therefore upon the whole a greater
distribution of the comforts of life, among all the ranks of this
society, than is to be found in any other community, in proportion to
their numbers. But this superior state, in point of comfortable
circumstances, ought to be undoubtedly a source of superior happiness.
For where the comforts of life are wanting, it is in vain to suppose men
can be happy, unless their minds are more than usually comforted by
their religion.

[Footnote 42: Religion, which includes positive virtues, and an absence
from vices, joined to a peaceful conscience and a well grounded hope of
a better life, is the first and greatest cause of happiness, and may
belong to all. But I confine myself, in this chapter, to such causes
only as may be called subordinate, and in which the Quakers are more
particularly concerned.]

Another source of their happiness may be found in their domestic
situation. The Quakers, as I have observed before, in consequence of
denying themselves the pleasures of the world, have been obliged to
cherish those which are found in domestic life. In the fashionable
world, men and their wives seldom follow their pleasures together. They
resemble the little wooden figures of the man and the woman, which, by
moving backwards and forwards in a small painted house, denote the
changes of the weather. While one of these is within, the other is out
of doors. But this is not the case with the Quakers. The husband and
wife are not so easily separable. They visit generally together. They
are remarked as affectionate. You never hear of intrigues among them.
They are long in each others society at a time, and they are more at
home than almost any other people. For neither the same pleasures, nor
the same occupations, separate these as others. The husband is never
seen at a play, nor at a tavern, nor at a dance. Neither the naval nor
the military profession summons him abroad. He is seldom concerned in
voyages as a mariner. Hence he must of necessity be much at home. Add to
this, that the Quakers have generally families, with the power of
providing for them. But these circumstances render their homes agreeable
to them, and increase their domestic delights.

A third source of the happiness of the Quakers arises from the
circumstance of their being almost constantly employed. Few are so
miserable as those who have nothing to do, or who, unable to find
employment, feel a dull vacuum in their time. And the converse of this
proposition is equally true, that the time of those flies pleasantly
away, who can employ it rationally. But there is rarely such a being
among the Quakers as a lazy person, gaping about for amusement. Their
trades or callings occupy the greater portion of their time. Their
meetings of discipline, as has been already shewn, occupy their time
again. The execution of the various offices to which they may be
appointed, such as of overseers, or elders, or committee-men, or
arbitrators in disputes, occupies more. Few Quakers, but particularly
the more respectable, have many vacant hours. And here it may not be
improper to remark, that the discipline of the society, organized as it
is, is productive of a cheerful and friendly intercourse of the
members, or of a sociable manner of spending their time, one with
another. The monthly meetings usually bring two or three particular
meetings together. The members of these, when they have dispatched their
business, retire to the houses of their friends, where they take their
refreshment, and indulge in the pleasures of conversation. The quarterly
meetings again bring the monthly meetings of the county into one. Here
again, when the business is over, they partake of a similar repast.
Hence a renewal of conversation and of friendship. The yearly meeting
again brings many, from the quarterly together. And here the Quakers
from all parts of the kingdom have an opportunity of seeing and
conversing with one another. I may add too, that many individuals in the
interim, who travel, whether on business or on pleasure, or on religious
errands, enlarge this friendly intercourse; for few Quakers pass through
the towns where Quakers live, without calling upon these, so that there
are many sources within the customs and constitution of the society,
that are productive of cheerful hours.[43]

[Footnote 43: It may be mentioned here, that the Quakers acknowledge
their relations to a much farther degree of consanguinity, than other
people. This relationship, where it can be distinctly traced, is
commemorated by the appellation of cousin. This custom therefore is a
cause of endearment when they meet, and of course of additional
pleasure.]

But here it will probably be said, that these sources of happiness,
which have been hitherto described, are common to many others. I grant
they are to individuals, but not to communities at large. No society has
probably so many of the comforts of life in its power, number for
number, and rank for rank, as that of the Quakers. None probably so
wholly domestic. None, where the members of it have such frequent
intercourse with each other, or where they are so connected in the bonds
of brotherly love, and none, as far as I know men, who have such
constant employment for their time.

Having explained some of those, which may be considered as positive
sources of happiness to the Quakers, I shall now shew what may be causes
of unhappiness to others, and that the Quakers seldom partake of these.
Such an exposition, however strange it may appear at the first sight,
will be materially to the point. For though an exemption from the causes
of the uneasiness of others can never be admitted as a proof of the
existence of positive enjoyment among the Quakers, yet if the latter
have solid sources of happiness of their own, and these are not in any
material degree diminished by the causes of the uneasiness of the
former, there will be left to them, because there will be no drawback, a
certain portion of happiness with less alloy. And here it is obvious at
the first sight, that the Quakers have not the same, nor so many wants
as others, with respect to their pleasures, and that they do not admit
the same things to be component parts of them. Hence they have not the
same causes of uneasiness from the chance of interruption. Hence also
their happiness is more in their own power. What individual can
annihilate the comforts which arise from their own industry, or their
domestic enjoyments, or their friendly intercourse with each other, or
their employments, which arise from their discipline, and from their
trade and callings? But how easily are many of the reputed enjoyments of
the world to be broken? Some people place their happiness in a routine
of constituted pleasures. In proportion as these have been frequently
resorted to, they will have got into the habit as the necessary
enjoyments of life. Take away then from persons in such habits the power
of these their ordinary gratifications, and you will make them languid,
and even wretched. There will be a wide chasm, which they will not know
how to fill up; a dull vacuum of time, which will make their existence
insipid; a disappointment, which will carry with it a lacerating sting.
In some of the higher circles of life, accustomed to such rounds of
pleasure, who does not know that the Sunday is lamented as the most
cruel interrupter of their enjoyments?--No shopping in the morning--no
theatre or route in the evening--Nothing but dull heavy church stares
them in the face. But I will not carry this picture to the length to
which I am capable. I shall only observe that, where persons adopt a
routine of constituted pleasures, they are creating fictitious wants for
themselves, and making their own happiness subject to interruption, and
putting it into the power of others. The Quakers, however, by the total
rejection of all the amusements included in the routine alluded to, know
nothing of the drawbacks or disadvantages described.

The Quakers again are exempt from several of the causes of uneasiness,
which attach to the world at large. Some go to the gaming-table, and
ruin themselves and their families, and destroy the peace of their
minds. But the Quakers are never found injuring their fortunes or their
happiness by such disreputable means.

Others disturb the harmony of their lives by intemperate sallies of
passion. It has been well observed, that, whatever may be the duration
of a man's anger, so much time he loses of the enjoyment of his life.
The Quakers, however, have but few miserable moments on this account. A
due subjugation of the passions has been generally instilled into them
from early youth. Provocation seldom produces in them any intemperate
warmth, or takes away, in any material degree, from the apparent
composure of their minds.

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