"
This satire characteristically occurs in the poet's 'Epistle to
Martha Blount,' the housekeeper who so tyrannically ruled him; and
in the same verses he spitefully girds at Lady Mary Wortley
Montague, at whose feet he had thrown himself as a lover, and been
contemptuously rejected. But Pope was no judge of women, nor was
he even a very wise or tolerant judge of men.
It is still too much the practice to cultivate the weakness of
woman rather than her strength, and to render her attractive
rather than self-reliant. Her sensibilities are developed at the
expense of her health of body as well as of mind. She lives,
moves, and has her being in the sympathy of others. She dresses
that she may attract, and is burdened with accomplishments that
she may be chosen. Weak, trembling, and dependent, she incurs the
risk of becoming a living embodiment of the Italian proverb--"so
good that she is good for nothing."
On the other hand, the education of young men too often errs on
the side of selfishness. While the boy is incited to trust mainly
to his own efforts in pushing his way in the world, the girl is
encouraged to rely almost entirely upon others. He is educated
with too exclusive reference to himself and she is educated with
too exclusive reference to him. He is taught to be self-reliant
and self-dependent, while she is taught to be distrustful of
herself, dependent, and self-sacrificing in all things.
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