New-York tribune., 1885-01-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Mary WollstOnccrafts case, says tho "uen'' Va
3hia memoir, was "not to be judged by ordinary
standards" Why mott She was woman OF much
moro than average intelligence and independence;
and although she undoubtedly suffered from q de-
fectve early education. she was not the victim OF
circumstances. but the mistress of her own fate
There is an impression, we know, in many MINDS
that the ordinary standards" to Wit. the len
Commandments and the New Testament were not
meant to apply to literary women but our autnor
does not consciously 60 30 far as this Mary VOL
stonecraft sne declares, whatever we may tn'hA Vi
her ciplesand conduct" must always DC nom
Grad for her integrity of motive her fearlessness OF
action. and her faithful devotion to the cause Oh
humanity" But this rule OF Judgment is party
selfcontradictory and wholly false 1t is lmpossipie
to take account of the cause OF humanity IN .no
abstract, without reference to prihcipies. ~,
~ the principles are bad the cause maintained
Inv them is not the cause of humanity Ii prnhci
nIes and conduct are wrong, fearlessness OF
action is not commendable; and If we are to
honor integrity of motive and fearlessness OF
action. irrespective of principles and conduct 1t Is
not quite clear why shoot our Wilkes Booths
and hang our dynamite assassins. The author
further remarks of her heroine: |" That truth Is
mighty above all things Is shown by this story 10
have been her creod. BY it she regulated her iee-
ings her thoughts and her deeds" This Is incorrect
as statement of facts and absurd as an expression
of philosophy. Neither a creed nor code OF ethcs
can be built upon so narrow foundation as the
maxim that truth is mighty; and II IL is meant
that Mary Wollstonecraft having soughV "u' "h"s
she believed to be the true rule OF life. goVerheo
herself in6exbly by that, the assertion is nnwar-
ranted. In her one famous book, the "Vindicatlcn
of the Rights of Women" she upheld the sanctity
of marriage, on the ground that the orderly main
tenance of the family relation is essential 10 the
welfare of society," But when it came to the reula-
tion OF her own conduct, she repudated this truth
Becoming the mistress Of Mr.. Inlay, she emancl-
pated herself from what her preposterous bographer
calls ssocial conventions" las if the law OF
Christian marrgae were nothing but rule OF
etiouetteD y: she now held that mutual ahection
was the only marriage, and that the tie ought not
TO bind after the death of love. Her theory Oh
cohabitation in fact substantially the same aS
the modern gospel of free love-
Imlays desertion of her has been violently de
nounced by her friends yet it was exactly IN the
line of her principles. When his love died, he left
her and went to somebody else That is Just what
she said onght to be done in such case perhaps
NO, REALIZING that his love might die first. Her
letters during the progress of the estrangement
discuss the advsablity Of a complete break ana
Imlay,s @chance of enjoyment" with other
women: sometimes she assumes a tone OF philoso-
phic fortitude but she twice tried TO XII herse1'
and once she was taken out OF the IhameS h7aiS
dead In the end, however, emancipation
rcasserted itself for she offered to SHARE lmlays
establishment with his new MISTRESS proposal
which the man. not being a gibbermR idlot' de-
cined The author of the present biography refuses
to believe this story but 1T rests upon the auhor
ity of William win, who afterward became Mary
Wollstonecraft's husband and apologist, and we
for
not pretty Goodwin, with whom Mss Wollstone-
craft formed bcr second connection, embodied IN
his debased social philosophy the same ideas OF the
sexuaI relation which she had reduced to practice
After living together some time the PAIR were Tegu'
larly married when Miss Wollstonecraft was about
to become a mother this act OF homage 20 the
social conventions was not owing to any chan8e III
their sentiments but only for the convenience Oh
the expected child Now 1t may be true as the
biographer says, that Mary acted in way that
seemed TO her conscience right; nothing is more
common than for conscience to reason itself INTO
the approval of passion; and if Miss WollStone-
craft's conversion to radical views OF the marriage
relationiumped with her personal convenience, we
need not necessarily conclude that she was lnsin-
cere However il may have been at the first, she
probably dld in time convince herself that she had
right to do as she pleased. This according TO the
bographer sufhced to justify anything. The plea
NAV perhaps be accepted in the next world but in
this world We do not allow people to set up private
systems of morality. The book before us assumes
that we do; and only its conspicuous -toolshness
saves it from being more mischievous than ever
were tbe writings of Miss Wollstonecraft herself.
The svindieaton of the Rights of Women" was
a somewhat sensational publication in its day,
because many of the claims advanced in it were
novel, aud the public mind in England at that revo-
lutionary period was much turned to thoughts of
social reform Some of its positions have obtained
general acceptance; Others seen to he untena-
BILE: what is good in 1t long ago passed into the
common fund of argument; and it has ceased TO lie
read Miss Wollstonecrafts other writings are
many aud they too have been laid aside. There u
no likelihood that any of them will be revived.
There is no reason to wish that any of them should
be Her fragment of "An Historical and Moral
View of the Origin and Progress of the
French Revolution" is praised for quail
tiles which her earlier books lacked but it is al
most only specimen of what she might have done
The literary merit of her best work is not great. A:
for her character it is not unnatural that owing to
her association with certain distinguished names
and her audacity as pioneer of various reforms
there should have been of late years an attempt tc
relieve it of the odum cast upon 1t by her contem
poraries. The present biography is one of the wild
est of the underta kings in that line. But the verdict
of the future, though it may be gentler in tone
will not be more favorable in substance than that
the last two generations.
40 THE GOLD-sEEKER OF THE sIERRAS. b.
JOAQUIN MILLER. Funk Wassals.
The author Of this worry poor and badly told tale
certainly has not succeeded ia showing the
Argonauts as they really were. not as resrescnted
in the dime novels and third-class theatres" II
fact, it would have to be very clumsy dime novel
indeed which was not moro interesting than '''49,
and as regards literary skill, the average dime
novel is far beyond Mr.. Millers work. If the
story is really founded on facts. these have been
so inartistcally handled as TO give them the