Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-03-08

quest and adventure. The age vas es-
sentially barbarous, because woman
having lost the charm given her BY the
heather mytholOgies. lost also her In
Ruence over the minds Of men, and
sunk in popular estimation to the grade
Of al inferior and serFile being, want
ing as much IN the usefulness as In the
strength Of manhood. and so far at the
disposal 6fthe stronger sex as even to be
bought and sold Is chattel OF course
such thing as society. 10 its highest
sense, scarcely existed. and men, de-
void Of tender regard for women, were
equally devoid of refinement and hu-
manity.
At length the age Of cbiYalry came
and marked the dawn of returning civ
ilization. New empires had been or
ganized. and Christianity having ez-
tended its influence to nearly al races,
society was reconstructed upon more
enlightened principles. and the claims
Of woman 70 respect and consideration
we're more generally recognized than
at any former period. Her social pos
ition beiBg acknowledged, her inhu-
ence at once became potent, and while
it inspired itat the same time refined
theWarlike temper ofthe time. and at
traeted men from the rough occupa-
tions OF the camp to the elegances and
pleasures Of domestic life. But the
age, though reformed, was still igno-
rant aud superstitfous. Instead of the
vsgaries of mythology it substituted
the extravaga gances. Of romance, and in
vested the material world with its Sc
duetits ooloring. The ansients while
they degraded women to menials and
servants invented a supernatural type
Of wonanhood which they exalted and
Worshiped as a goddess the age Of
chivalrg improved upon this by assign
ing to real woman equally eztraOrdin-
airy qualities borrowed frOw fhe wild
inventions of poetry and fiction. The
age Of mythology, with little respect
for the female sex, exalted an imagiDa-
~ type of wOmaDhood to a place
among its gods the age Of ehivalry
adored womaB herself as a being Of
miraculous virtues and transcendent-
al nature. The one honored an imag-
mary and the other a real object. with
imaginary qualities. while both utter
Iy failed to appreciate woman as God
had created her, or to comprehend her
mission. The one was infatuated
about its goddesses the other ran mad
after its heroines, and both, estimating
woman BY her external charms, form
ed an estimation of her, either IN the
extreme of exaltation or Of degrsda-
zion, as deficient from her real charac-
ter as the 6shwomen of Dublin are re-
mote from the Peris Of Persian mytbol-
ogy or the Houris Of the Mahometsp
Paradise.
The age of chivqlFy assigned to the
sex artifeial virtues aud charms and
gave it an artificial influence Indulg-
Ing its heated imagination it made wo-
man toy. a beautiful bauble, gild-
ed butterfly. fantastic sreatuFs po-
esy and romance. Itcultivated a spir-
It OF galIa1tfy and of intense devo-
tioa to its imaginary paragons of fe
male perfection at tho sserifce, in a
great measure. of an earnest aud sP-
preciative regard for its matter-oe- fact
matrobs, aives and daughters. Yet
this extravaeaps ssutiment hed a whole-
some influence upbG f84 semi-barba-
rous nations Of the time snd formed
the foundation of their literature. It
inspired the romance and song Of later
periods, and, toned down by increased
refinement and Intelligence, was per-
petuated in the poetry Of Byron. Scott.
Burns. Moore, Goethe, aud others Of
their class. Schiller. who has been
styled par e.eceEleacs the dentleman's
Poet, had, perhaps, the purest and
most intelligent inspiration- Of it, and
Of al the lyric poets Of his time was
most truly the soul of honor to wo-
men, to whom be says,
"Itis given
10 garden the earth with the roses of IIeav-
en-,
They weave from sweet garlands the fstters
1- ofIove,
.In.the vail Of tho graoes their beauty con-
eealing,
They feed, on each alter that's hallowed to.
feeling
The flame that is won from above"
Moore IS far more eztravagant, and
no one can be found SO silly
as to believe shat such rose-Water orea-
tures as the tinseI beauties painted By
his fancy ever existed. The same may
be SAID Of Byron to whose portrait
lures of female charctor his own asser-
ton is too applicable, that's
'sof it's own beauty is the mind diseased,
And fevers into false creations
The female representations described
by Shakespeare aud Burns, are probably
the best poet7oal types of actual, living
Of any Of the modern
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the meretricious fancies of Goethe,
Shelley and Swinburne cannot be said
10 be faithful portraitures Of female
character. Tasso and Dante exalt and /
purify our ideas of womanhood, though /
t can scarcely. be said that the Beatrice
If the latter does not surpass human /
or that the Armida of the |
ormer is not an exaggeratiOn Of the /
worst possible female wickedness.
It were unfortunate indeed for the
ex if woman had to depend for her
rue estimation by the world upon its
formed of her either from
he airy phantoms of mythology, the
creatures of romance or
he dreamy indiyidualities of the po-
It's. Fortunately this matter-of-fae
ICE is too enlightened to be thus mis-
ed. It comedies that beautiful
,hautasm like Proserpiue might make
vary desirable sDouse for an absurd I