Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-08
PoPE'S IDEAL WOMAN.
Eighteenth-Century Type Contrasted
and Compared With the Present.
From the London Spectator.

Eighteenth-Century Type Contrasted
and Compared With the Present.
From the London Spectator.
Pope's ideal woman belonged essentially
to the world OF fashion, to that little world
ruled over by great ladies, which was the
! only world that existed for him OF course,
| he knew there were some common people,
but he regarded them figures in the
| landscape of life, looked after by ProvI
| dence, who, doubt, made them very
| happy, but no concern of his. But to re-
turn to the lady She is he tells us, with
out the more snowy gifts. She does not
dazzle" but is able to raise the thought
and touch the heart"
That charm shall grow when what fatigues the
ring
| Fiaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing.
| She is clearly woman of ability, though
| perhaps not what is called a clever woman.
| A great many women with very little men
tai originality have an extraordinary apt-
tude for provoking thought. and are In
| directly the cause of many ideas they Ger
tainly did not create. But there is a charm
| OF still wider scope to which Pope alludes.
| In a few women there exists a quality
| which, while unconnected with melancholy,
| can only be compared to pathos. They do
! touch the heart. and quite unconsciously
| make some kind of appeal to every one
, with whom they come In contact. They
! wake an echo In that common humanity
| which lies behind the barriers of youth and
| age, wealth and poverty position and
! opinion. Power to do this is the highest
| of all social gifts, rarely to be found apart
| from social training, yet enabling her who
has it to snatch a grace beyond the reach
| of art 1t is the very genius of femininity.
| Besides all this our heroine is to be an
| optimfst, one
| Blest with a temper whose uncIouded ray
| Can make tomorrow cheerful as today
Good humor' Is quality which has lost
verbal rank of late years, but that cour-
| age for life we call optimism can never
| cease to attract. Dependency is bearable
! in man, but to dwell in a house with
pessimdstic woman is worse fate than
| Solomon dreamed of, and the woman who
| can dispense the shadows of the future Is
| a Providence to her household, and the
| only woman whose character justifies our
| Elizabethan ancestors in the false use OF
| the epithet divine" So far the eighteenth
| and the twentieth centuries are agreed.
| Every one adnrires these traits. But the
next lines bring before us real change
of taste. This paragon though 1t is limited
| that she rules her husband, never shows
she rules She charms by accepting
| ''by submitting sways," yet has her humor
most when she obeys" Pope here touches
| on an elemental feminine characteristic. the
| inevitable outcome of natural crcum-
| wits Those who have no power are
| tempted to plan,
But nowadays a poet desiring to praise
a woman would not speak as Pope spoke
whatever be the hard facts of practice, in
| theory has ceased to fascinate. Touched
| by sympathy, it rises into fact-the most
| endearing of all the graces, but one Inc
| fragrance of which Is always lost in analy-
| sis; in contact with Indifference it degen-
| crates into cunning. The bare suggestion
| -Pope's words convey the suggestlon-ls
ugly. AS we should expect, this lady has
| perfect self-control; but, oddly enough, as
! he begins TO tell US about it the spirit of
| the satirist re-enters the poet. She must
| VnSn har though
| China fall" Instantly he. as 1t were,
| takes up his proper role. His words be
come memorable, quotable' and indeed IN
this instance part of the language. But
| the happy mood does not last The next
two lines are poor philosophy and serve
| only as a peg on which to hang the rest
| of the character:
! Heaven. when 1t strives to polish all 1t can
picks from each sex to make the favorite best
Blends BHii in exception to all general rules
Your taste of foilies with our scorn of fools,
| Fixed principles with fancy ever new;
| Snakes all together and produces-you
Still she is lifeless! Still Pope illustrates
his own Wlsdomi The vitality he detected
| has vanished. Nevertheless, he is an anat-
| omist of genius, and can dissect the mind
| and heart of a highly civilized and sophis-
| ticated section of society as no man not
| specialist could ever hope to do woman
| belonging to his world without taste OF
! follies'' is as dull ditch water. and If she
| have but a masculine "scorn OF Tools, nef
| taste can never impair her character. TO
| be charming she must take some delight III
| the lighter aspects of life, be entertained
| and diverted by the sideshows of the Worio
which take her attention from the common
| task" The capacity to be thus entertained
| and pleased is analogous to a sense of
| humor ir a man. Yet for those who find
| their whole pleasure in such tflhes she
| should have an neradicable contempt she
! ought of course, to be dependable, yet she
| should have the element of the unforeseen
| in her composition, the charm without the
| poison of caprice. Even when her ilkea
principles might better be descflpeG as ila IKE
| prejudices, her alert fancy may OFTEN save
! her from bgotry woman Is not narrow
| minded because she has narrow opIilioliS
| The Hood of her imaginative sympathy WIZ
often overflow the limitations OF her intel
lect. -
| But it may be said, though Pope's declara-
| ton that woman is, after all, put softer
man" adds no attraction to his picture Is
| 1t certain that 1t is not true? sweeping
| condemnation of a class is almost Always
| unjust How much more concentration
| of a sex Women cannot stand the ordeal
| Of complete comparison with men without
| an appalling loss of dignity. The things OF
| the spirit defy computation Consequently
| women are crushed Immediately by the
/ mass of mans intellectual achleNeinents,
| which can be circumstantialiy proved. Out-
side this enormous tract of human affairs
| there remains. doubt. some common
| ground upon which the two sexes may be
| Judged as F1va1S we tiiliisA hositiiS 'i'ose
! fair was ever said on the subject than what
+ Coleridge said to his friends at dinner:
!, Man seems to have been designed for the
| superior being of the two, but as ,hings
ore think women arc generally better
| creatures than men With such verdict
1 any reasonable man or woman must. we
| think. have left the table Well satished-he
! with his potential she with ner Actual su-
periority.
/ The will Of the late Levi c. Merriek. who