misnomers of womanly reserve or feminine delicacy. My hope is that such may lay hold of the great truth-that nothing and nobody has any right to debar a woman from using and developing all her faculties to the full. She must herself work with both hands to effect the removal of all impediments to her own develop

And this, not from a basely selfish reason, but in order that the best work may be done and that its influence may extend over the widest possible sphere. H. M.

ART. III.-SECONDARY EDUCATION IN FRANCE. FRENCH girls will soon possess as fair a chance of a good education as their brothers. The Supreme Educational Council has unanimously sanctioned a scheme for girls' secondary education, in execution of the law carried by M. Camille Sée and warmly supported by M. Paul Bert. The entrance age is 12, and during the first three years all the lessons, four per diem, are obligatory, the chief subjects being the French language and literature, English and German, and geography. Arithmetic, elements of science, drawing, and singing are also included, with sewing and gymnastics twice a week: zoology in winter, and botany, accompanied by botanizing walks in summer. In the fourth and fifth years, French and modern languages, ancient history, astronomy and cosmography, domestic economy, and animal and vegetable physiology are obligatory, while ancient literature, elements of Latin, mathematics, physics, singing, and drawing are optional. An examination at the end of the fifth year will earn a diploma, and a sixth year will be devoted to training for teaching of special careers. Religious teaching, like Greek, is conspicuous by its absence.

The Municipal Council of Paris passed the following resolution on December 5th:—

The Municipal Council of Paris considering that the education of young girls constitutes one-half of the education of the nation, and

that where women are ignorant we cannot say there is any true public instruction; considering that the instruction and education of girls, which was left by monarchical governments in deplorable neglect, should be the first and constant care of a republican democracy; that this education of girls will become a guarantee of morals, the safeguard of liberty, the greatest moral force of the nation, the purest source of patriotism; considering that the town of Paris, in spite of the sacrifices she has imposed on herself for primary instruction, superior primary instruction, professional instruction, and schools of design for girls, will not have organised a complete system of education as long as girls are deprived of secondary instruction; considering that this secondary instruction is indispensable in order that young Frenchwomen, armed with the strength of reason, may become capable of rendering to their country and the Republic the eminent services which we may expect from their devotion-declares that it is necessary to found in Paris one or more colleges for girls.

Till the present time, there were only a very small number of superior schools for girls in France, and these only in Paris. The female teachers are still very badly paid. There are several departments where not a single woman teacher receives more than 900 francs (£36). No man would be paid at this rate. M. Paul Bert pointed out this inequality: "The same degrees and the same work are exacted, and the same duties and responsibilities are imposed. Equality of trouble demands equality of remuneration."

M. Paul Bert is not satisfied with claiming equality of instruction for women. He foresees the necessary consequences and is ready to accept them. In distributing the prizes at the Communal School of Auxerre, he made a speech remarkable for justness and clearness of thought. After combating the prejudice which appears to be as frequent in France now as it was in England twenty years ago, that women, if instructed, would abandon their duties, he continued:

When this barrier has fallen, thanks to the primary schools and the creation of girls' colleges, women will have the right to claim, not only equality in various professions, but equality under the Civil Code, Everywhere this code makes woman a minor: it takes away from her the guardiauship of her children if her dying husband pleases, and for other guardianships or for family councils it places her on the same level as idiots, infidels, men of notorious bad conduct or infamous criminals. Yet, by a strange contradiction, this woman-to whom legal incapacity ought to guarantee a certain degree of irresponsibility-is indistinguishable from man by the Penal Code. Her crimes receive the same punishment as a man's crimes, and even additional crimes are specified for her. This incredible want of logic has no excuse,

January 14th, 1882.

But you are afraid she will become political. Why, do you not know she is political already? How should she not be in a country of universal suffrage, where her father, brother, husband are incessantly taking a share in public affairs? Under a democratic and liberal government it is impossible to ignore her, for politics come in search of them at the domestic hearth. Besides, why should she not be political? Does she not feel the joys and sorrows of her country as much as man? She holds the household purse, can she not appreciate the weight of taxation? In bombardment and conflagration, does the bombshell make any difference between her and man? Does she feel cold, hunger, and the misery of beseiged cities less? And if man runs the risk of being killed at the frontier, does not a woman shed her own and her most precious blood in that of her sons?

You cannot escape this question. Women will concern themselves with politics, and if they do it badly the fault is yours. What have you done to instruct them, to associate them with your life and aspirations. You have abandoned them to the enemy, and now you are surprised that the enemy should make use of them against you.

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These are noble words, and we trust they will find their echo in the hearts of French statesmen.

REVIEWS.

European Slavery; or, Scenes from Married Life, by CLEPHANE ROSE, illustrated by Charles Doyle. Andrew Elliot, 17, Princes Street, Edinburgh.

THE European slavery so graphically described in this work is the cruel servitude to which the law exposes married women, not only in Europe, but in England and Scotland, when their hard fate has linked them with drunken and vicious husbands. To avoid all possible charge of exaggeration, the book is profusely illustrated by quotations from the real life of the police courts. We hope that for every drunken and brutal tyrant who mercilessly thrashes his wife whenever the whim seizes him, there are nine chivalrous and kindly husbands who really strive to be what the law presumes they all are the guardians and protectors of their wives. In the majority of cases the law works smoothly enough, for the simple reason that it is never

January 14th, 1882.

enforced, but when a woman has made the fatal mistake and has got a savage brute as her domestic master, is there any remedy for her? John Stuart Mill once said, "There is now no slave. in Britain except the mistress of a household." The sickening, saddening recital of the police court proceedings shows that "European slavery "is suffered not only by the lower, but among the middle and upper classes; there is not so much physical brutality, perhaps, among the latter, but its place is supplied by mental tyranny. Every newspaper we take up, unfortunately, gives confirmation strong to Clephane Rose's statements. "It would seem," she says, "as if men, unconsciously trained by grossly inequitable laws towards women and by a tradition of ancient growth, had got into an inveterately bad habit of maltreating women, as often as not out of mere sportiveness, like that with which ill-bred children torment flies or cats." And there is so strong a tradition in favour of wifely submission, that not only are neighbours or policemen extremely shy of interfering between man and wife, except in the most outrageous cases, but even the poor victim herself frequently defeats the ends of justice by refusing to testify against her tyrant, or begging him off. "Those who stand most in need of the protection of the law are those who have most difficulty in appealing to it. The difficulty in obtaining legal protection for a half-killed wife is so great, the probability that she (should she survive) will find it her wisest course to condone the grossest offences, is so strong as to almost deprive her of the protection of natural relations or friends, and even of that protection which, in a civilized country, is extended to every other human being, and to some brute beasts, by the common sentiment of humanity of the general public." Some of this tyranny is irremediable by law; education and temperance must do the work of reducing brutality slowly; but much, very much, may be changed when women become voters and can enforce better laws and a more careful observance of them, and when, a greater variety of occupations being open to them, they are not induced to undertake marriage as a "profession," regardless whether love has sanctified the joining of hands or not.

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China Painting, its Principles and Practice, by WALTER HARVEY. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand.

A most useful little book, with plenty of hints for beginners. Full directions are given for painting on tiles, terra cotta, porcelain, or majolica, and a few designs are added to guide the young amateur in selecting appropriate subjects for the material she has chosen.

Dictionary of Needlework, by S. F. A. CAULFIELD and B. C. SAWARD. Gill, 170, Strand.

This dictionary keeps up its reputation for excellent engravings and very clear descriptions. The January number is chiefly occupied with patterns of knitting.

RECORD OF EVENTS.

CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL TRIPOS, 1881.

Two ladies obtained the Second Class in the Historical Tripos-Miss B. Foxley, of Newnham, and Miss Mabel M. Taylor, Girton. These candidates would have been placed at the head of Class 2.

THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

A meeting of Convocation is summoned for Tuesday next, and it promises to be one of considerable interest and importance. There is first the nomination of a list of three persons to be submitted to the Crown for the selection therefrom of a member of the Senate. The next business on the paper is the adjourned debate on Mr. Hensman's motion with regard to the admission of women to Convocation and to the Parliamentary franchise of the University. The debate was adjourned at the last meeting in order that time might be given for further consideration of a matter so important, and because doubts were entertained whether Convocation has under the charter the power of admitting women to membership.