merchants, bankers, sinecurists, all further and further out of touch; the were jostling each other in their anxiety to help the little squire out of his difficulties by taking over his acres. The Scotts, the Addingtons, the Finches, the Duncombes, the Clives, the Somers, the Pratts, the Yorkes, the Churchills, are a few and only a few of the great fortunes which during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were turned into land. pressure to sell must have proved stronger and stronger. Once the ranks were broken the process of destruction went on with increased and increasing speed, for the survivors found themselves more and more isolated.1 Some of them, we know, by judicious marriages, or by thrift and consequent purchasing out their neighbors, rose into the higher ranks of the squire archy. Many without doubt simply dropped back into the yeomanry, and shared in the yeomanry's destruction. The great bulk were bought out; and upon the ruins of their order grew up the modern squire, with ten times their acreage and twenty times their rental. Social causes hastened the downfall. A drinking-bout was looked upon as the fitting close to a day's pleasure, and drunkenness as the most venal of peccadilloes. One of Mr. Spectator's correspondents in his four hundred and seventy-fourth number found himself compelled to protest against the forced It may be doubted whether any of tippling at these gatherings. Nor was the great agrarian changes of the eighdrinking the only form of extrav- teenth century was a more serious disagance. Sir Jeffrey Notch, the gentle- aster to rural society. No doubt the man of an ancient family "that came "bonnet laird" in his habits and ideas to a great estate some years before he resembled, as Macaulay puts it, the had discretion, and run it out in village miller or alc-house keeper of our hounds, horses, and cockfighting," was own day. Probably, as Cobbett says, not without his imitators among the he was a bigoted Tory, an obstinate smaller squires. There had come over opponent of all improvement, and a country life a new scale and a new ex- hard master. But his function in rural travagance, which was viewed with society was not a trivial one. He was undisguised dislike by such old-fash- a link, and a link the need of which we ioned Cavaliers as Squire Blundell. are sorely feeling to-day, between the The habits of visits to London or a great proprietor and his tenants, atwatering-place grew rapidly in the clos- tached to the one by the ties of traing years of the seventeenth century. dition and status, to the other by By 1710 the London season and the community of interest. Uncourtly, town-house were an accomplished fact, rough, almost brutal as he was, his inand Hanover and Grosvenor Squares, fluence was a factor to be considered, New Bond Street, the upper part of and must have made the rule of one Piccadilly, and a host of adjoining man impossible in rural society. He streets, had sprung into being within made for rural independence, even if seventy years of the death of Charles the Second for the housing of the gentry during the season. The earthen pot comes off worst in the race down stream. In the struggle for survival it was naturally the smaller squires who went to the wall. Their position tended to grow more and more untenable. With the greater gentry who could afford a town-house, who were versed in the affairs of the day, wore the latest fashion in perruques, and could quote the new plays, the smaller squires must have fallen that independence were only of a stolid and limited character. With all his faults and shortcomings, his destruction blotted an important feature out of country life. And occurring, as it did, as part and parcel, with the destruction of the yeoman and the peasant-farmer, of the agrarian revolution of the eighteenth century, it was the leading incident in a process which drained the rural districts of the very elements of rural life. See on the whole subject Toynbee's Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England. From The Nineteenth Century. THE AFTER-CAREERS OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATED WOMEN. October, 1871, to June, 1893, was seven hundred and twenty. Leaving out sixteen who have died, and thirtyMANY mothers among the upper seven foreigners who have gone back middle classes are in these days anx- to their own countries, we find that iously puzzling over the problem how three hundred and seventy-four are at best to educate their daughters. The the present time engaged in teaching old order of home-training by private as a profession. Forty-seven have governess education is passing away, married, including nine or teu of the and many harassed parents are now lecturers and teachers. Of the rest asking whether the new schemes for two hundred and thirty are living at the higher education of women are home, of whom one hundred and eight entirely satisfactory. The alert mother are married, five are engaged in medand the practical father of daughters ical work, two as missionaries, one as a want to know, What future does a market-gardener, one as a bookbinder, university education open out for two or three are working at charity women? and how much or how little organization, and the remainder are for do girls benefit by devoting some of the most part engaged in secretarial the brightest years of their young lives work. Of the three hundred and sevto acquiring a higher education than enty-four who are engaged in teaching was attained by their mothers and as a profession the following table gives grandmothers? Some valuable infor- particulars : mation about the after-careers of university-educated, women may be obtained by studying the various reports recently published by the principal women's colleges of Great Britain and Ireland. Any parent entering upon the exam-Private schools. ination of these reports should endeavor Elementary schools to do so with an unbiassed mind, and and training colleges without prejudice for or against the so-called "higher education of women." Preconceived ideas should as far as Endowed schools Head Assistant Mistresses. Mistresses. 14 23 24 2 ના 75 Principal of the Cambridge Train- Teachers under county or borough councils Teachers in the Colonies and in Private governesses 170=245 12 10 1 23 + 27 23 14 7 8 possible be laid aside, and the inquirer try to gain some practical knowledge as to what a university training leads to for women, and how far it is worth while for girls to spend some years and some money in acquiring a solid knowledge of the higher branches of learning, such as mathematics, classics, moral science, etc., and whether this course of training does really, ultimately, make women's lives freer and happier, and if the honors they gain at college enable them to earn their own living by newer and more interesting means than by the old-fashioned meth- At Girton the number of students ods of teaching, companionship, and who had been in residence since the needle-work. foundation of the college up to the Mrs. Sidgwick's report of Newnham time when the report was published in College gives us the following interest-June, 1893, was four hundred and ing particulars: The total number of sixty-seven. Of these seventy-five had students who have left the college from not yet completed their course of train Teachers looking for posts 374 ing; but of the three hundred and sixty-four in the historical tripos, nine thirty-five who obtained degree certifi- married; and of the thirty-eight in cates one hundred and twenty-three the medieval and modern language were engaged in teaching, forty-five tripos, one married. The only student were married, two were missionaries, who passed the law tripos has not yet six were in government employment, married. four were engaged in medical work, and six were dead. Judging from the reports issued by these two Cambridge colleges, the larger proportion of university-educated women do not seem to make marriage their career in life. Of the ex-students of Newnham only one hundred and twenty out of seven hundred and twenty have married, and at Girton forty-six out of three hundred and thirty-five. From the report of Girton College we may deduce the following interesting, and, if I may venture to say so, amusing particulars. It appears, therefore, that about one in ten of those who take honors at Girton marries, as against one in nine who take honors at Newnham; while about two in every five marry of those who take an ordinary degree at Girtou. Leaving out theology and law, as to which the data are insufficient, the order of precedence (matrimonially) of the various studies is as follows: At Girton: Elementary studies, natural science, moral science, history, classics, mathematics, and last of all mediæval and modern languages. At Newnham : moral science, history, natural science, classics, mathematics, and again last medieval and modern languages. Of the seventy-nine students who have obtained the certificate for the I am well aware that a large number mathematical tripos, six have married; of readers will consider these details of the ninety-seven who passed the viz., the percentages of marriages, etc. classical tripos, ten have married; of - puerile and foolish; nevertheless the forty-seven who passed the natural many men, and, I venture to think, science tripos, seven have married. some mothers, will consider them sugThe only student who passed the theo-gestive. logical tripos has married. Out of the thirty who passed the historical tripos, four have married. Of the twenty-one who passed the moral science tripos three bave married. But of the forty lady students who have taken the ordinary pass degree, fifteen have married, a much larger proportion, as will be seen, than among the students who have obtained the honors degree certificate. same Turning to the reports furnished for our information by the women's colleges at Oxford, we find that of the one hundred and seventy-three students who left Somerville College between the years 1879 and 1892 seventy-three are engaged in teaching, twenty-nine are married, and one is an assistant librarian of the Royal Society. Miss Cornelia Sorabji, a Parsee lady who was educated in England, after taking her B.A. degree at Oxford, returned to her native country, and is now a partner in a solicitor's firm in Bombay, and she comes over to London this year in charge of a case that has been unreservedly placed in her hands by one of the ranees of India. Miss Marshall, another ex-student of Somerville College, is on the staff of the National Observer. From the Newnham College report I have not been able to ascertain the percentages of marriages among the exstudents who have taken merely the ordinary degree; but an examination of the tripos lists gives very much the result as those of Girton namely, out of eighty-five who passed the mathematical tripos, five married; of the sixty-five in the classical tripos, eight married; of the thirty-three in The report printed by the principal the moral science tripos, six married; of Lady Margaret's Hall gives fewer of the seventy-four in the natural statistics, but one gathers that the science tripos, ten married; of the larger proportion of the ex-students now at work are engaged in teaching. "A kind of university settlement The number of students in residence from Victoria College instructs and at Lady Margaret's Hall averages trains for domestic service destitute thirty-eight. Holloway College has girls at Victoria Homes, Belfast. only been at work for seven years, and These are detached homes, in which there has not been time for much de- there is now room and appliances for velopment in the after-careers of stu- training eighty-eight girls in every kind dents, but of the one hundred and of household work." ninety-seven who have left seven are Alexandra College, Dublin, is a large married, about sixty-nine are teaching day-school where girls come up to study or preparing to teach, two are nurses, painting, music, and various other subtwo are studying at the School of Med-jects that are not taught at Newnham; icine for Women, and about forty-seven but of the sixty-one ex-students of the are residing at home. college who have taken the University From Victoria College, Belfast, Mrs. of Ireland B.A. degree from the colByers sends the following particulars: lege, and who would, therefore, be of "In addition to over fifteen hundred the same standing as those who have students of Victoria College certificated left Newnham and Girton, forty-one by the Queen's University, Ireland; are engaged in teaching, six have marTrinity College, Dublin; Cambridge, ried, one is a medical doctor, one is Edinburgh, and London Universities; assistant to Sir C. Cameron, city anathe College of Preceptors, London, and lyst, and the remaining eleven are apthe Intermediate Education Board, Ire-parently living at home. land, there are fifty-one graduates of The total number of ex-students from the Royal University, Ireland. These Girton, Newnham, Somerville Hall, include graduates in arts and medicine. Halloway College, and Alexandra Eight former Victorians are at present | College, whose after-careers we have medical undergraduates, with a view to mentioned above amounts to fourteen becoming medical missionaries. hundred and eighty-six; of these six "Many have become wives of mis- hundred and eighty are engaged in sionaries, and sixteen unmarried ladies, teaching, two hundred and eight have former Victorians, are at present en- married, eleven are doctors or prepargaged in zeuana medical and educa- ing to be doctors and medical missiontional work among the women of Syria, aries, two are nurses, eight or nine are India, and China. Twenty-one former in government employment, one is a students are now principals of flourish-bookbinder, one is a market-gardener, ing middle-class girls' schools in Ire- and one is a lawyer. Besides these land, in most cases of schools founded regular employments, which are enuby themselves, while a large number who were engaged as private or other teachers have since married. "Twelve are at present head mistresses or assistant mistresses in high schools and other middle-class schools in England and the colonies. "Many of our students have successfully taken up sick-nursing as a vocation. Some of these hold important posts as the heads of hospitals and other similar institutions at home and in the colonies. "The entire certificated staff of ladies at Victoria College, with the exception of four, has been educated at Victoria College. merated and duly scheduled in these reports, there must be, without doubt, a great deal of unpaid work done by those ex-students who live at home which it is difficult, indeed impossible, to put into any list. For instance, some university-educated women are engaged in literary work, while others employ themselves with various useful works connected with philanthropic and charitable undertakings around their homes, and are doubtless doing their business all the better and more practically for their university training; but these diverse occupations are hardly of a kind to be called a definite career. come The ladies' settlements in Southwark | less highly educated women is greater and Bethnal Green furnish an impor- than among university-trained maidtant career for highly educated ladies. ens. In 1887 a women's university settle- It is, of course, in these days of progment was established at 44 Nelson ress an open question, that must be Square, South London, and in 1889 a decided according to each woman's inguild of ladies from Cheltenham Col- dividuality, whether marriage is to be lege followed their example, and took a considered an achievement or a house in the Old Ford Road, Bethnal down;" but mothers will be prudent Green. In Mansfield the Congregation- if they realize that, on the whole, the alist College also started a settlement; statistics, so far as we can judge at and the influence of the Church settle- present, do not lead one to the conclument of the Oxford House, Bethnal sion that marriage is either desired or Greeu, established a ladies' brauch in attained by the majority of very highly St. Margaret's House, Victoria Square, educated women. There are some E. American ladies have promptly notable exceptions, which will readily taken up the same type of charitable suggest themselves, and doubtless many work in the United States, for educa- of the other students whose names are tion on university lines has taught many women the need for organization and co-operation in all their charitable undertakings, for few professions in this world need more careful and correct training than the difficult and complicated one of philanthropy. But whereas six hundred and eighty upon the list of those who are still “in maiden meditation fancy free" will marry eventually. But it must be remembered that education has, in most cases, this very valuable result: it does make women more fastidious in their choice, and as university training, In former days marriage, teaching, at any rate, enables many of them to and philanthropy were the principal earn their living more or less by teachprofessions that were open to women. ing, it obviates the necessity of their The careful study of the reports pub- having to rely on matrimony as a lished by the women's universities means of support, and therefore prewill, I think, incline parents to ques-vents many early, uncongenial, and tion if a university training has yet improvident marriages. succeeded in opening the doors of any other profession. A few exceptionally of the ex-students are engaged in teachgifted women have entered the medical profession, and a very few (as we can gather from the statistics published) have become workers in other fields, such as book-binding, market-gardening, etc. But with these very few exceptions nearly all ex-students are engaged in teaching or are preparing to teach, and therefore it would seem that unless a girl has some special capabilities of mind and brain which, combined with a power of organization, will place her at the head of the teaching profession after her training at the university is completed, she cannot, at present, hope that the years and the money devoted to her higher education will do very much for her in enabling her to enter upon a money-earning career in the future. ing only two hundred and eight can be traced as having yet married; therefore, according to the law of averages, if a mother sends her daughter to one of the universities she is more likely to become a teacher than a wife. Moreover, it is a question if the kind of training that girls receive at these universities does not, ou the whole, make them inclined to look upon the prospect of married life as a rather dull and unintellectual career. All women would be glad to marry their ideal hero; but heroes are scarce, and the average man who proposes marriage to the average girl can at best offer her no wider prospect than a round of careful housekeeping, motherhood, and thrift; and it must be doubted if, taking all things into consideration, a university training is adapted for developing |