New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-09
RECOLLECTIONS OF A READER.
BY CHARLES T. CONGDON.
SAINTS AND NO SAINTS


uArcADrr GODOLPHIN-EvELYNS BIOGRAPHY
CHARLES THE SECONDS ORANGE GIRI-MRs
.puRA (,srRArA) BEHN-CoLLEY CIBBER's APoL-
OGY-MRs. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. CLARKE
MRS. INCHBALD-PRRDITA ROBINSON.
In the month Of April, in the year of our Lord
1904. that excellent old American printer
Isaiah Thomas, jr., sent from his press little
book the title page of which IS worth giving as
a curiosity Eccentric Biography or, Memoirs
of Remarkable Characters, Ancient anu
Modern. Including Actresses, AdVentaIefts'
AutbOresses, Fortunetellers, GiDses, Dwarfs,
Swindlers, and Migrants, Also Many others
who have Distinguished Themselves ny tneIr
Abstinence, Credulity, etc, etc. AipnaDeticdn,y
Arranged Forming Pleasing Mirror OF Re
Election for the Female Sind" The book
seems a little small compared with the pom
derOus Womans Record, from the Creation TO
AID. 1865" which remains ample evidence OF
the tireless industry of the late MIS-. SaIah
.Iosepha Hale, who gives notices, more or less
ample, OF some three bundled women: IRON
world to discuss the WOman's Rights ques-
ton. With my hat Oft, with my frame at the
proper polite angle and in The most euphOmons
tones of which ! am the humble master, az
ways beg my aspiring sisters TO lear,, ",I .na,
cleach if called to preach; to practice me .icihe
n thev can find patients, and law II clients
bring rttalneIs; to fiddle if they, are fond OF
fddling; to paint if painting is i'll their way 10
make statues if they can make not very bao
ones and, in short, to do anything ana every
thing else if only they will not put on those
lldeOus while garments which 40 not become
us and still less become them. L confess that
have been n little amused while reading oven
again the General Preface" of Mrs. Hale. she
Is beautifully old-iashiOned, and holds TO the
wel-worn smile which compares Man TO the
sturdy oak and Woman to the graceful VINE
cjinrinC to The brave tree and twining about
a.. branches
the Worker or PrOvidcr; the Protector; and
the Lawgiver" Woman is "t!e Preserver.;
the Teacher or InSpiIcr; and the Exemplar.
| have not the least doubt OF it, nor do DIS
nuto the statement of this learned lady that
aAdam and Eve We're created on FRIDAY,
October %, 1904 BE- 1t is father INITIATING
to he left III ignorance of the hour OF the day !;
hut We cannot expect to knew everything.
When mr. authoress accuses Adam of seeking,
after the Fall, "to excuse himself by throwing
the blame Oh his wife," | fully agree with her.
When it is asserted that Ewes nature was more
"purely spiritual" than that OF ADAM j., i
haven't word to say. 1t was SO doubtless IN
the Garden t is so now and fear that it Will
be so to the end OF tic wClld
| shall attempt III this paper to proceed IN no
particular chronological order. MIS-, Hales
assertion OF woman's superior splrlIuail'y mas
reminded me of one OF the sweetest ana purest
of women | refer to Mrs. Margaret GCdol'
min, whose Lite was so charmlngly written ny
John Evelyn. She was so good that IL seems
lit and proper that her Lite should be reprinted
by Wbittingham, at the Chiswlck Press, and
rcpublshed by William Pickering i'll lS4S: 1T
is one Of the daintieSt volumes of Pickering S
exquisite stock. This was first edition from
Evclyns Ms. which had remained with the
family of the author, and was one of the things
which he would write out fair and reform II
he had leisure" Sweet Margaret Godophin
(boIn Blagge) was at first maid OF honor to the
duchess of York, but alter the death or that
princess she went from st. James to Whitehall
fha n Mace
for an innocent and even then deeply leiigous
earl of sixteen, and perilOus one indeed consld-
eriDg that she was or extraordinary beauty ana
wit. Everybody" says Evelyn, was III AYE
with, and some almost dying for her, whilst
with all the mOdesty and clTcumspectlon I'M
aginablc she strOve to eclipse the lustre winch
she gave and would often check the vlVaclty
which was natural and perfectly became her,
wait to deceive' For no less than nine long
wears her lover sighed tor her. She wrote IN a
letter to Evelyn: "The first thing which
trmpts young women is vanity, and MADE
me another Lesson, and found the trouble OF
being tied to the hearing of any save him
which made me resolve that either he or none
should have the possession OF yOnl friend; BE-
ing thus soon sensible of love myself, L was
easily persuaded to keep myself from giving
him any cause of Jealousy, and in so long tiIre
never has there been the least" Ii one Wishes
to know the men and women by whom TINS
the veraciOus pages of Pepys, or the Memoirs
of Phillbert Count de GramOnt! After she
went away from the royal residence, Evelyn
confesses that he looked upon Mhltehaii
become" he said, "Ot COrinthus, the City Of
Luxury, when the graces have abandoned it,
whose piety and example is so highly neces-
sary ? And for my part, never set my 1901 IN
it afterwards, but as entering into Solitude
and was ready to cry out With the VIE n,eo OF
Phineas, that its glory was departed" There
is pretty little notice of her preparations tor
leaving the palace: All her h0uschoiq stan
besides Bible and bundle of Prayer Books,
was packed up in a neat little compass, Tor she
lived so far from superfluity thar she carried
all that was valuable i'll her person; and though
she had cOurtly wardrobe she affected 1t not
because ererytking became her that she put on.
and she became ererything that ,caS put on her."
Eyelyn's description of her JOY i'll attaining
privacy of life is beautiful, and | am sorry that
/ have not space tor it, Yet here she was still
so devOut that notwithstanding that long pc
trOthal she had serious doubts about marrying
her faithful GOdOlphin alter all She went III
this perplexity, as usual, to Evelyn tor advice,
and to this circumstance we are indebted Tor an
excellent specimen OF his common sense 49,,
consented" he says, d" to all her eulOgleS OF the
virgin state, but that there were no less due to
the cOnjugal; and that If there we've some
temptations in it, her merits would be ne
greater, and the exercise OF heI virtue, clIcled
indeed it was with some tOlerabe thorns, but
rewarded with illustriOus cOrOnets. for the good
it Produced. That as to the perfection and
purity of the state. it was one thing to be mar.
RED to Man and another to Husband"
Marry, then, IN Gods NAME" says Evelyn,
asince my advice you ask" He mentions per-
haps a little silly, that while these virgin
doubts we're at their highest, Godolphin often
came to visit the lady of his love at Twjcknam,
and it broke her heart # ne abstalned from
perplexity, and indecislon was that the lovers
awere married in the Temple Church, by the
Reverend Doctor Lake, one of His Royal
Highness's chaplains, my Lady BeIkley and
servant of the bride only being present. Poor
Eve after all the trouble which he had
taken in tue matter, Was not invited 10 the