Opening material

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND THE BEGINNINGS OF FEMALE EMANCIPATION IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND

[Illustration: Logo]

J. BOUTEN

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND THE BEGINNINGS OF FEMALE EMANCIPATION IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRIJGING VAN DEN GRAAD VAN DOCTOR IN DE LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE AAN DE UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM OP GEZAG VAN DEN RECTOR-MAGNIFICUS Dr P. ZEEMAN, HOOGLEERAAR IN DE FACULTEIT DER WIS- EN NATUURKUNDE, IN HET OPENBAAR TE VERDEDIGEN IN DE AULA DER UNIVERSITEIT OP VRIJDAG 17 NOV. 1922 DES NAMIDDAGS TE 4 UUR DOOR

JACOB BOUTEN, GEBOREN TE DORDRECHT

TO

MY WIFE

PREFACE.

There is something particularly fascinating about the study of the literature and philosophy of the eighteenth century, with its gradual evolution of lofty social ideals which the Revolution failed to realise. When the altered circumstances brought promotion within my reach, it completely brought me under its sway, and ultimately came to determine my choice of a subject for an inaugural dissertation. It was while engaged upon tracing the influence of Rousseau's hopebringing theories on his English disciple William Godwin, that the less boldly assertive, but all the more humanly attractive personality of the latter's first wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, attracted my attention. My admiration of her husband's intellect paled before my sympathy for her more modest, but at the same time more emotional character. Where the indebtedness of Godwin to Rousseau and the Encyclopedians has been manifested so clearly in different works, the absence of any direct attempt to prove and determine the extent of the relations between Mary Wollstonecraft and the early French philosophers struck me as an omission for which I found it difficult to account, and made me turn to a subject to which I am fully aware that a book of the size of the present little volume does but scant justice.

I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to thankfully acknowledge the valuable help and friendly encouragement received from _Professor Dr. A. E. H. Swaen_, of the University of Amsterdam, whose unceasing kindness and ever-ready interest in the preparation of this treatise I shall never forget.

_Mr. K. R. Gallas_, Lecturer on French Literature in the same University, has likewise a claim to my heartfelt gratitude for giving me the benefit of his extensive knowledge in making various suggestions with regard to the chapters dealing with the literature of France.

My best thanks are also due to _Mr. M. G. van Neck_ and _Dr. P. Fijn van Draat_ for guiding my reading for the B.-examination, and particularly to my first teacher of English, _Mr. L. P. H. Eijkman_, for giving me that interest in England and her language and literature which has determined my subsequent career.

_Amsterdam_, November 1922.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE I. THE MAIN THEORIES REGARDING THE POSITION OF WOMEN 1

II. THE BEGINNINGS OF A FEMINIST MOVEMENT IN FRANCE 11

III. THE POSITION OF FRENCH WOMEN IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SOCIETY 52

IV. FEMINIST AND ANTI-FEMINIST TENDENCIES AMONG THE ENGLISH AUGUSTANS 73