first, because all these are inextricably connected with the fate of children, and hence with the destiny of the whole race; and secondly, because Woman being the weaker, in the grosser significance of strength, and at the same time the more refined and the more spiritual element of human society, her rise in the relative scale of being, marks and measures exactly the growing supremacy of the bigher over the inferior faculties in man. The installation of woman into her appropriate and God-intended relations with the whole human family, as an integral individual being-not the mere dependent and complement of the existence of another, will, for these reasons, place the seal of finality upon the present world-movement of radical reform. Hence, to understand the true sphere of Woman is to understand the whole circle of what relates to equity, and order, and freedom, and beauty in the constitution of human affairs; just as a knowledge of the right collocation of the keystone of an arch involves and implies a knowledge of the whole philosophy of the arch itself. Woman's rights, rightly understood, are, then, the epitome of all rights, and her wrongs but the highest expression of the general wrong and outrage inflicted upon humanity. Her rights will yet be understood to mean something far more significant than the exercise of the elective franchise, and her wrongs to be more grievous offences against her nature than exclusion from the military, or political, or ecclesiastical honors, which are monopolized by the other sex.

Modern reform has made its gradual approaches toward the central fortress of conservatism, which environs the character and functions of Woman, and has halted to take breath before the final onset. The last word upon this subject has seldom been uttered, and when it has, it has been in an undertone of dread at the reverberation of the voice which produced it. Timidity is about to be changed into the boldness of confidence in well considered and undeniable truth. The conflict may be short or long, but it is imminent and inevitable. It behooves those who would defend, as well as those who would assail, to be aware of the fact, and of the true nature of the case. This work of DR. NICHOLS was written and published several years since, though never brought so prominently before the public as its high appreciation among those few who are acquainted with it, and the substantial reputation of the author, would seem to demand. The work itself, notwithstanding the threatening nature of this preface, has in it nothing alarming to the most fastidious. It is a simple history, as its name implies, of the Condition of Woman in all Ages and Nations, heretofore and now, with an aspiration after and a prophetic foreshadowing of her higher and happier destiny in the future.

The facts are, for the most part, stated without comment, and where comments are added, they are unusually free from the taint of parti

zanship or fanaticism. A picture is laid before the mind of the reader for his or her own contemplation and improvement. Nor is it my purpose to make any other use of the book than that for which it was intended. I do not assume the right of committing the author to any of my individual conclusions, such as have been and will be more fully stated in my own publications, beyond what he may have announced or may choose to announce for himself. I have selected it as a work eminently calculated to enlarge and liberalize the mind of the reader in relation to all questions touching the position of Woman, simply by storing him with information, and preparing him to judge impartially of any and all theories relating to the subject. The perusal of it will be the next thing to a world-wide travel and personal familiarity with the manners and customs, the prejudices and predilections of all people upon a matter most intimately connected with their social and internal life. The last chapter, which glances with a hopeful vision at the dawn of a brighter future, will be especially interesting to all with whom Woman is an object of interest.

It is upon this latter subject that I have a slight word of criticism to offer. At the 234th page occurs the following paragraph:

"In the economies of an harmonious organization of society, men will be able to dispense with the vast, costly, and cumbersome machinery of trade. The exchanges of commerce will be managed but by a few individuals, and without the vices of competition. Our whole system of retail commerce is beginning to totter already, and cannot last a day after men understand their true interests, and combine together to secure them. This will stop another heavy drain on industry, and increase the productive strength and useful intelligence of society. Beside this, there are thousands of discontented hangers on, who will find some sphere of usefulness in a society where all honor, consideration, reputation, and enjoyment, will depend on

use."

These and some similar phrases occur elsewhere, which, to one acquainted with the technology of Social Science, rather than to the common reader, indicate that the author, at the time of writing this work, looked for the remedy of our existing social evils-to combination, technically so called; that is, to joint-stock associations of some sort, more or less extended, involving a unity of administration in the property and industrial relations of a Community. I am perhaps overstepping the bounds of legitimate criticism, by dragging to the light a feature which the author has chosen rather to conceal than to render prominent, and which appears, more despite his caution, than in accordance with his design. My apology must be the desire I have to make for myself an occasion for drawing the attention of the reader, in this connection, to the existence of certain other principles of Social Reform, more recently announced, and by means of which all the harmonious and beautiful results forshadowed in the last chapter of this

work can and will be attained, without resorting to combination at all. This feature of combination, which has pervaded every form of Socialism heretofore brought prominently before the public, has always shocked the instincts of the more conservative class of reformers, and has caused many persons, whose sympathies were really with the objects of social amelioration, to rank themselves among the opponents of change. The discoveries of JOSIAH WARREN, the founder of the American Practical School of Reform, furnish the demonstration that those conservative instincts were right, and that the "combined orders of society, proposed by FOURIER, OWEN, and others, considered as a method of procedure, is radically vicious. At the same time, the principles discovered and announced by MR. WARREN, and more extensively elaborated by myself in the works mentioned above-“ The True Constitution of Government," and Cost the Limit of Price"-furnish, in a simple, truly scientific, and incontestible method, the means of attaining all that has been aimed at by those eminent reformers, without resorting to those repulsive and erroneous combinations of interest suggested and deemed essential by them.

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Co-operation, the Organization of Industry, and all the Economies are now proved to be practicable, and best secured through simple Equity without Combination and the consequent incidental restraints upon individual freedom. The way is now opened. Practical and successful experiment has already begun. EQUITY VILLAGES have commenced to spring up at different points. The veritable "New Era" is quietly dawning. Relations of justice, and toleration, and INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY, are at this very day incipient. Let those who "hunger and thirst" after truth and harmony in this human world of ours read and understand, and take courage and be filled." Know that when the whole "Commerce" of mankind is rendered "Equitable," when "the Science of Society" is understood and translated into action, that the kingdom of Heaven will have come on earth, and that the will of God will be done here as it is on high.

STEPHEN PEARL ANDREWS.

NEW YORK. May, 1852.

INTRODUCTION.

THE history of Woman is one of the most interesting subjects that can engage thought or pen; and a more fascinating theme, both to writer and reader, we feel assured, cannot be found in the whole range of the visible universe. No intellectual employment is more delightful than the study of human nature, and in the female sex we find humanity in its fairest and more exquisite developments.

This is not the mere expression of an author's gallantry to the fair sex. Women are as conscious of the superior beauty, elegance, and delicacy of their sex, as men can be, though they may not give this consciousness the same expression. In statuary and in painting, women as naturally prefer feminine beauty as do men, though it may be that this preference is not accompanied with precisely the same emotions. So it is in poetry and in romantic fiction; the heroine retains her place of honor, whether the poet or novelist be male or female.

race.

The history of Woman is, of necessity, a history of the whole human It is broader and deeper than any ordinary history can be. The history of man is one of war, legislation, science, philosophy, and the arts. That of woman relates to education, love, marriage, social relations, fashions, and amusements-matters which, though they may seem less imposing, are really of no less importance, for these are the forming principles of human character, and in these are the hidden springs of human action. From the cradle to the grave, the influence of woman governs and controls us. We owe our tastes, inclinations, and peculiarities of temperament, in a great measure, to her influence, even before our eyes have opened to the light; in infancy she nurtures our bodies and forms our minds; she is the magnet which attracts us in our after years; and by these varied influences and attractions, Woman governs the world.

The choice of a proper plan for a work so vast in its range, and so comprehensive in its character, was a matter of careful deliberation.

In giving accounts of the manners, habits, customs, and conditions of woman, it was necessary to search into the obscurest depths of past history, to range over the four quarters of the globe, to view the sex in savage and civilized nations, and under the influences of every system of religion, and every form of government.

The plan we have adopted, is that of comparing and contrasting woman in various ages, and in different nations, in regard to particular qualities or circumstances. By this means we have sought to avoid the tedium of a continuous history, and to group our facts into a series of delightful pictures, which, owe they ever so little to the art with which they are presented, yet cannot fail to please by vivid colors and striking contrasts.

This work, as may be seen, has thus become one of many facts and few speculations. We have been engaged in the charming employment of culling from every field the flowers of history and of travel, and of combining them in a series of bouquets for our readers; of which, all that will be ours, the style and manner, will be the order in which they are arranged, and the string that ties them together. Or we may compare them, perhaps, to a collection of jeweled ornaments, where nature furnishes the brilliant gems of every hue, which the lapidary and jeweler polish and set to the best advantage; and should even the arrangement prove uncouth, or the setting untasteful, the consolation still is that the flowers are sweet and beautiful, and the gems of the purest water.

The poet or the novelist takes a single female for his heroine, and lavishes on her all his talents; we, with a wider scope, have taken for our subject the whole sex; not that with the monopolizing poet, we could wish that all the women of the world

"Had but one mouth,

That we might kiss them all, from North to South."

but because such a view of the loveliest portion of human nature seems to us desirable, on many accounts, at the present stage of human progress.

The careful reader of this history will not fail to perceive that Woman has had much to do with the condition of every stage of human society-her position being either a cause, a result, or an indicationfor one of these is often mistaken for the other. Thus, no nation ever advanced to a high, refined, and liberal civilization, unless the influence of Woman was very powerful; and wherever Woman is treated as a slave, or her influence is separated from that of man, the state of society is either fixed or retrogressive.

Thus, in the Hebrew nation, with whose history we are so well acquainted, women held an important social position, and even took the