And I
would but ask any who slight the sex for their understanding, "What is a
man (a gentleman I mean) good for that is taught no more?" What has the
woman done to forfeit the privilege of being taught? Shall we upbraid
women with folly when it is only the error of this inhuman custom that
hindered them being made wiser?' Defoe then proceeds to elaborate his
scheme for the foundation of women's colleges, and enters into minute
details about the architecture, the general curriculum, and the
discipline. His suggestion that the penalty of death should be inflicted
on any man who ventured to make a proposal of marriage to any of the girl
students during term time possibly suggested the plot of Lord Tennyson's
Princess, so its harshness may be excused, and in all other respects his
ideas are admirable. I am glad to see that this curious little volume
forms one of the National Library series. In its anticipations of many
of our most modern inventions it shows how thoroughly practical all
dreamers are.

* * * * *

I am sorry to see that Mrs. Fawcett deprecates the engagement of ladies
of education as dressmakers and milliners, and speaks of it as being
detrimental to those who have fewer educational advantages. I myself
would like to see dressmaking regarded not merely as a learned
profession, but as a fine art. To construct a costume that will be at
once rational and beautiful requires an accurate knowledge of the
principles of proportion, a thorough acquaintance with the laws of
health, a subtle sense of colour, and a quick appreciation of the proper
use of materials, and the proper qualities of pattern and design. The
health of a nation depends very largely on its mode of dress; the
artistic feeling of a nation should find expression in its costume quite
as much as in its architecture; and just as the upholstering tradesman
has had to give place to the decorative artist, so the ordinary milliner,
with her lack of taste and lack of knowledge, her foolish fashions and
her feeble inventions, will have to make way for the scientific and
artistic dress designer. Indeed, so far from it being wise to discourage
women of education from taking up the profession of dressmakers, it is
exactly women of education who are needed, and I am glad to see in the
new technical college for women at Bedford, millinery and dressmaking are
to be taught as part of the ordinary curriculum. There has also been
started in London a Society of Lady Dressmakers for the purpose of
teaching educated girls and women, and the Scientific Dress Association
is, I hear, doing very good work in the same direction.

* * * * *

I have received some very beautiful specimens of Christmas books from
Messrs. Griffith and Farran. Treasures of Art and Song, edited by Robert
Ellice Mack, is a real edition de luxe of pretty poems and pretty
pictures; and Through the Year is a wonderfully artistic calendar.

Messrs. Hildesheimer and Faulkner have also sent me Rhymes and Roses,
illustrated by Ernest Wilson and St. Clair Simmons; Cape Town Dicky, a
child's book, with some very lovely pictures by Miss Alice Havers; a
wonderful edition of The Deserted Village, illustrated by Mr. Charles
Gregory and Mr.