New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-12-21
SKETCHES OF LECTURES.
ROrRCICAULTS WINTER EVENINGS

BOURCICAULTS WINTER EVENINGS.
Mr. Dion Bourcicault gave another of his entertain
ments on Monday evening, the Hope Chapel The audi
ence large and select large portion of which was CON
posed Of ladies' The subject of his discourse was
Rights and Wrongs The lecturer said that he did not ip
near before them advocate particular doctrine or 10
expound particular He merely wished to consider
the character of woman as presenied in her social con
dtion 1t question of very great importance, and
ought 10 be treated in a suitable manner Ii might be ex
pected that be would the subject satricay, mas
much az he was a sart by profession. But those who
cane with that expectation would be disappointed lie
considered the who would ribad jest al the ex
pense Of wOmans feelings to be great mlscreant as
The fellow who would break stick across her back His
observ atoms would have but one aim and tendency
namely tie welfare of the One thing was certain
tie subject not for estng for all history philosophy
and experience proved that woman was no Joke when
he was school boy be undertook to write tragedy in
blank verse Of course and he sorry to admit that
was very blank the subject of the composition was
Woman II was presented at Covent Garden Theaer,
and be might have anticipated the seats deserted
Some cheerful critics and witty friends had rallied him
the affair but nOtN itaRdNg its future lac could safely
say that his intentions quite honorable The lecturer
then proceeded to consider the condition of Womanls pre-
seued in it's various phases from the COMMENCEMENT Of its
may be distributed into three divisions kinds. Her
divine rights those which she possesses Inheritance
from her Creator, her natural rights, which relate
to the various faculties OF her mind and body and
Her conventional r. hts which che possesses by virtue
Of their being accorded TO her By Man as member
Of society end common Eurae with her functions In
nan being. Il is common and an old complaint that
Man has dsregarded her divine right and reduced her -
the condition of domestic slavery, and thai the conse-
quence Of this policy Of Nan las been 20 create general
ard deerly seated prejudice by which the development Of
Woman has been restricted and she has been prevented
from gaining t-at natural position which was marked
out for Ter her destiny With respect 10 the divine right
Of Woman have only to TO he Sacred Scriptures
where efnd all the information required the subject
In Genesis we are told that Man and Woman created
On the same day-the sixth. The male first created
thene female. But they both sent forth on the
great tLCser of life the pOssessOrs OF joint inheritance
he owners Of the earh-the lords OF the soil There
VIII Erf
came Man to be her master Was il by divine 'tation
No Surely suppose that the Deity placed her
on aevel with the beasts Of the field which God had
given Man dominion. II was clear that Woman was ere
ated to be Mans companion she was ordained 70 De his
equal consistently Of course with those characteristics
which naturally distinguish the Bl. here he must
aude TO the mental Infancy Of Woman. thst charge
which il made against her for her original trans ession
Woman doubtless guilty Of the first gin Although
she could offer her offended God for the act
which she committed sithe circumstance OF the
quite sufficient silence Man feprOaches ChIrchmel n
Eve grave subject Of condemnation but Man should re-
collect that If Eve fell by listening TO the suggestion
tan Man fell by Yielding TO the temptation OF WOmgn
ard her doom a sad one, for she made subject
TO Man she wa told ha, her desire should be to her nus
band II was a. if her Creator had said 10 her,
would have had you conine your love to alone bit
you have turned away from me- bestow ell yOur az
lection on Man AM become sharer in his iabOr his
lows cnd biz mortality. As far regards her divine
rights al events she j. equal to Nan. Woman next ap
pears in the savage state, invested with ell her natural
rights But these rights all associated with the idea u
Might and in the eeessry progress OF things she became
slave But from thar erOdher existence nos been tran
siicna Her rights have grown Just incorporation society
itself has exp anded. Buf properly speaking Woman has
no natural rights for 90 ascertain these in the 0
or Woman sou must resolve society into lis oiginaNls
mems and 10 that state she inevitably becomes slave
The conventional rights which attributed % Woman
simply privileges tie e-ient and nature Of which de