3 Comments
I’m researching scandalous marriages today and came across a lecture entitled “On Woman” delivered by Colonel Willyams at the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Society in 1819.
The good colonel spends some time extolling the virtues of women, but then turns to their more despicable qualities. Then he says he’s set up some “rules and regulations” for women that he intends to get passed as an act of parliament. For women who break these rules, he suggests a “female court martial” made up of “gentlewomen of tried candour.”
What are the proposed rules, you ask? Well, here they are. I have to chuckle when I relate this to the writing community/blogs/etc. Most of us would be in big trouble!
ARTICLE 1st:
RULE: All ladies must diligently attend holy services.
PUNISHMENT: If a lady goes to church and behaves improperly, if married, she will be brought before the court martial to be “publicly and severely reprimanded.” If she’s not married, she must forfeit twelve pence.
ARTICLE 2nd:
RULE: Ladies must never speak in a disrespectful manner towards their superiors.
PUNISHMENT: Any lady to use “treacherous or disrespectful” words against her superior in rank or reputation must be rejected by her own society and “put to the bottom of the list.”
ARTICLE 3rd:
RULE: A lady can’t be mean to anyone who’s prettier or more accomplished than her, and she can’t hurt their feelings or dishonor them.
PUNISHMENT: “Any married unmarried or widow lady who shall behave herself contemptuously or spitefully towards her superior in beauty or accomplishment or shall speak words tending to her hurt or dishonour shall be punished accordingto the nature of her offence by the judgment of a female court martial.”
(Yep, I hurt your feelings, so I must PAY!!!!)
ARTICLE 4th:
RULE: No lady can cause or join in any scandal.
PUNISHMENT: If a lady is found guilty, she must “suffer silence, or such other punishment as by a female court martial shall be awarded.”
(Yeah, “silence” was italicized. What is “silence,” I wonder? She’s not allowed to talk at all?)
ARTICLE 5th:
RULE: Any lady present at a scandal must immediately “impart the information to her husband, father, brother, or other commanding officer.”
PUNISHMENT: Those who break this rule shall suffer the same punishment as article 4th.
(‘Cause, you know, the guys MUST know all the gossip, too….)
Here is the lecture (from Ackerman’s Repository) in full from Google books:
Sometimes, we’ve just got to appreciate the fact that we don’t live in the 19th century!
August 9th, 2009 at 3:47 pm · Link
Great post! Wow! unbelievable. I hope we’ve come a long way baby! I hope this “gentleman” was shot down. And I hope his wife gave him what for! 😉
August 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am · Link
My my, how the world as changed in nearly 200 years! I’m sure Col Willyams would be appalled by today’s modern woman, lol.
I am fascinated by Victorian sociology and how it compares to our 21st century lifestyle!
This was an awesome post 😀 Thank you for sharing!
~Isalys
Book ? Soulmates
August 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm · Link
Isn’t it amazing! Sometimes I think people of that era were just like us in their passions, loves, hates, desires, etc., but then I read something like this and truly think they must have been a different species altogether! Thanks for your comments. 🙂