I t 1ginable, and fonns the pre­ Mary Astell f the heroes. ''Whal is this," 1666-1731 ) to JOSABl:,, fi nding her in HAN, the priest of BAAL, if DAVID speak to this trai­ Mary Astcll was born in 1666 in Newcastle, England. Her upper-middle-class d, lest the earth should open t devour you both? Or lest family pos!>esscd a comfortable income from her father's position as an official in uld fall and crush you to­ the local coal industry. The entire family, including Mary, was staunchly Royalist purpose? Why comes the and Anglican. Mary's uncle Ralph Astell, an Anglican clergyman suspended from to poison the air, which we his post for alcoholism, tutored her brother Peter, and Mary, a precocious student, Tid presence'!" Such senti­ was included in these lessons. Although she diclnot learn Latin and Greek, Mary .vith great applause on the read some classics in translation and also studied history, philosophy, mathematics, , at LONDON the .spectators theology, and probably French. :h pleased lo hear AcmLLES When Marywas thirteen, her family situation suddenly changed. Her uncle and 11 he was a clog in his fore­ father died within a year of each other, and the familyfi nances were found to be un­ is heart, or Jurrnm threaten sound. What little money remained was dedicated to furthering Peter's education, lrubbing, if she will not be while Mary lived with her mother and aunt in reduced circumstances. No dowry les arc also a blemish in any could be provided for Mary, and she never married. Rhetoric scholar Christine •hen they rise up to supcrsti­ Mason Sutherland has suggested that Mary, pious and learned, might have made a emsclves into every senli­ very successful career for herself in the Anglican Church - if only she had been .e from any connection with male.• Without this recourse, Aste II went to London in 1688 to try her fortunes as a sc for the poet, that the cus­ writer and educator after her mother and aunt had also died. had burthened life with so Astcll had e.xpected help from relatives in London, hut they soon abandonl!dher . mnies and observances, that Desperate, she appealed to the notably charitable archbishop of Canterbury, mpl from that yoke. It must William Sancroft, and he introduced her to his well·educated and devout aristoT IS in PETRARCH to compare cratic 11.!malefri ends and to a London bookseller, Rich Wilkin, who would promote to JESUS Cl!RlST. Nor is it her work. She settled in Chelsea, then a suburb of London and home to several !l agreeable libertine, Boe­ girls' schools. From the archbishop's circle, Astell gained a patron, Lady Elizabeth y to give thanks to Goo 1die.s, for their assistance in Hastings, ,md also became acquainted with other female intellectual leaders such as ,t hii;enemie .s . Lady Mary Wortley Monlagu and Lady Catherine Jones. Astell's new friends re­ spected her learning and intelligence and encouraged her to publish her views. Astell's first book was A Serious Proposal to the ladiesfor the Ad11a11ce111e11t of Their Tnw and Greatest lllterest ( I 694), published anonymously but with the au­ thor's gender identified ("A Lover of her Sex"). Whal Astell proposed was the . foundation of a women's college or, as she called it, a "Protestant Nunnery," where .� \'k!,{•h .... ·1 , ..�j young women could receive a serious secular education as well as instruction in Anglican Christianity. The institution would be governed by the inmates collec­ tively, without a supervisory hierarchy cithl!r male or female. Women might leave this institution to marry and thus benefitthe ir families with their piety and learning, or they might stay on, helping to educate the younger women and findingcharitable activities 10 perform for the larger community. Astell now knew firsthand how des­ perate lhc financial situation of an unemployable young woman could be without male supporters and protectors, no mailer what her social class, and how empty the 'Chr�llm: Mason Suthcrhmd, "Mary Ascell: Reclaiming Rhclorku in the Seventeenth Century," in Rer/11imi11# Rhetorica, ed. Andrea A. Lunsford (Pinshurgh: Univcn;ityof Pittsburgh Press, 1995), p. 95. MARY ASTELL A""'-41\_\,.._ lives of aristocratic women could be without intellectual pursuits lo engage them. mcnts too individuali!,tic, A. t,. ,-.... even if they faced no financial worries. Belter education for women could enable tians together. f-lcr proof them all to use their lime to serve God whatever their circumstances and to support ings' best interests at hem ~t\'!!.-L!\.~ themselves through teaching if that became necessary. tend their arguments to dl Astell's book was an immediate success and had four suhse{1uentprintings by felt that the best protectio lf;~\\A--1 .. "') ? 1701. Clearly it met a fell need for new ideas concerning the educution of women, relationships were inrusc<. since the convents where some had been educated had been disbanded long ago by These books won muc Henry Vlll, and the custom of providing private tutors at least for women of the she became queen. But th1 upper classes had fallen out of favor with the accession of the Stuarts. Astell was day, both on the stage and not the first seventeenth-century woman to advocate improved education for nus Pmpo.m/ in The Tm women; Bathsua Makin had published t\11Essa)' 10 Re1•ive the A111ie111Edm:alimt of bluestocking figure, "Mac Ge111/ewo111e11in 1673, but her proposal was not as extensive as Astcll's and throne upon Anne's dealt claimed only to better fit women for marriage. Astcll's Proposal established her StuarL-;.These pressures 1 reputation for wisdom and eloquence well beyond her immediate circle (it is said works after 1709, althoug that Samuel Richardson admired it tremendously and used its ideas in conceiving works. his heroine Clarissa), and it even attracted an aristocratic sponsor, probably Princess Aslell also had a new , Anne, who contemplated donating £to,{)(JO to establish the school Astell proposed. 1709 she became the head This donor was eventually discouraged by Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, who school movement was spr thought that the nunnery idea sounded a bit too "popish." Even though Protestant by private henefactions, ti women's institutions had been tried before, most notably at Lillie Giddings in the numeracy, inculcated hi1 1630s, they were always suspected of having Roman Catholic leanings, which were trained children for jobs , dangerous in a century of violent religious opinions (James II had been deposed in cially active in the charily 1688 after he converted lo Roman Catholicism). It was supported entirely I To argue further for her proposal, in 1697 Ai,;tcllpublished A Serious Pmpo.rnl to Astell specified in the ch the u.ulies, Part II. Wftereill a Metftml Is Offer'd j,,,.the /111prm1eme111of Their women. Ahhough it hac Mind\ (excerpted here), which detailed the curriculum for the college. Although women's college, this sd Astell recommended that women study virtually every subject that men studied ex­ from active teaching in 17 cept for classical languages, she did not advocate extensive reading. She wanted her In her later years, Aste program to be within the reach of every woman- she frequently deprecated any home with her friend Lad compliments that identified her as "exceptional" -- and the heart of her educational lum at the Chelsea school scheme was lo be a method of thinking that could be applied in any area. I-laving in 1731. developed one's rational powers, one could then read a'i extensively (or not) as one Although neglected in wished. Among the readings in French, Astell recommended Rene Descartes. from work has recently attractec whom she derived her intellectual method (sec below), and educational reformer "first English fcminist."11 and salon intellectual Madeleine de Scullery (sec p. 761 ). This book, too, attracted ical conliervative, never q1 wide notice, though not a donor, even though it was dedicated to Princess Anne. the state, or the family. S Between 1694 and 1709 Aslell published nine books. Along with the two de­ and this is one of several voted to women's education, she publbhed five on religious issues, one on politics, Pizan (sec p. 540). Astell, and her best-known work after the two volumes of Serious Proposal - Some Rejlec- temporaries when it fell sl· 1io11supon Marriage ( 1700), which indicted abusive husbands. She became a welt­ women were intcllcctuall) known figure in the intellectual controversies of the day. In addition lo defending conducted their lives. Wm the Anglican Church against dissenters, Astell was a political conservative who at­ tacked philosopher John Locke's arguments that reason endows individuals with the •D. N. DcLuna, "Mary Ash (1993): p, 231, right to overthrow tyrants (a hot issue in a century in which two English kings had i 'Sec , for cxmnplc. Britlgct H been forcibly removed from the throne, and one executed). She found these argu- ll'ri1i11t,:.v by Man • ,htcll (New Y1 ENLIGIHENMENT RHETORIC \\ ' Lrsuits to engage !hem, menls loo individualistic, devoid of the community feeling that should bind Chris­ \ r women could enable tian~ together. Her proof that such thinkers would really not keep !heir fellow be­ l!>tancc~and to support ings' best interests at heart was that they always refused, however illogically, to ex­ tend their arguments lo domestic tyranny and to address the rights of women. Astell ub!.equenl printings by fell that the hesl protection for women lay in a hiernrchical social order in which all e educalion of women, relation!.hips were infused with a spirit of Christian love. disbanded long ago by These books won much praise for Astell, as well as a pension from Anne when Sf-_..l,'L\.I wL,«,t.:, l,,.bi,,I, cast !'or women of the she hccame queen.