An Essay Upon Projects

by Daniel Defoe

speech, and all the necessary air of conversation, which our common

  education is so defective in that I need not expose it. They should

  be brought to read books, and especially history, and so to read as

  to make them understand the world, and be able to know and judge of

  things when they hear of them.

  To such whose genius would lead them to it I would deny no sort of

  learning: but the chief thing in general is to cultivate the

  understandings of the sex, that they may be capable of all sorts of

  conversation; that, their parts and judgments being improved, they

  may be as profitable in their conversation as they are pleasant.

  Women, in my observation, have little or no difference in them but

  as they are, or are not, distinguished by education. Tempers indeed

  may in some degree influence them, but the main distinguishing part

  is their breeding.

  The whole sex are generally quick and sharp; I believe I may be

  allowed to say generally so; for you rarely see them lumpish and

  heavy when they are children, as boys will often be. If a woman be

  well bred, and taught the proper management of her natural wit, she

  proves generally very sensible and retentive; and, without

  partiality, a woman of sense and manners is the finest and most

  delicate part of God's creation, the glory of her Maker, and the

  great instance of His singular regard to man (His darling creature),

  to whom He gave the best gift either God could bestow or man

  receive; and it is the most sordid piece of folly and ingratitude in

  the world to withhold from the sex the due lustre which the

  advantages of education gives to the natural beauty of their minds.

  A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional

  accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without

  comparison; her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments; her

  person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly; she is all

  softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight; she is every

  way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one

  to his portion has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be

  thankful.

  On the other hand, suppose her to be the very same woman, and rob

  her of the benefit of education, and it follows thus:

  If her temper be good, want of education makes her soft and easy.

  Her wit, for want of teaching, makes her impertinent and talkative.

  Her knowledge, for want of judgment and experience, makes her

  fanciful and whimsical.

  If her temper be bad, want of breeding makes her worse, and she

  grows haughty, insolent, and loud.

  If she be passionate, want of manners makes her termagant and a

  scold, which is much at one with lunatic.

  If she be proud, want of discretion (which still is breeding) makes

  her conceited, fantastic, and ridiculous.

  And from these she degenerates to be turbulent, clamorous, noisy,

  nasty, and "the devil."

  Methinks mankind for their own sakes (since, say what we will of the

  women, we all think fit one time or other to be concerned with them)

  should take some care to breed them up to be suitable and

  serviceable, if they expected no such thing as delight from them.

  Bless us! what care do we take to breed up a good horse, and to

  break him well! And what a value do we put upon him when it is

  done!--and all because he should be fit for our use. And why not a

  woman?--since all her ornaments and beauty, without suitable

  behaviour, is a cheat in nature, like the false tradesman who puts

  the best of his goods uppermost, that the buyer may think the rest

  are of the same goodness.

  Beauty of the body, which is the women's glory, seems to be now

  unequally bestowed, and nature (or, rather, Providence) to lie under

  some scandal about it, as if it was given a woman for a snare to

  men, and so make a kind of a she-devil of her: because, they say,

  exquisite beauty is rarely given with wit, more rarely with goodness

  of temper, and never at all with modesty. And some, pretending to

  justify the equity of such a distribution, will tell us it is the

  effect of the justice of Providence in dividing particular

  excellences among all His creatures, "Share and share alike, as it

  were," that all might for something or other be acceptable to one

  another, else some would be despised.

  I think both these notions false; and yet the last, which has the

  show of respect to Providence, is the worst; for it supposes

  Providence to be indigent and empty, as if it had not wherewith to

  furnish all the creatures it had made, but was fain to be

  parsimonious in its gifts, and distribute them by piece-meal, for

  fear of being exhausted.

  If I might venture my opinion against an almost universal notion, I

  would say most men mistake the proceedings of Providence in this

  case, and all the world at this day are mistaken in their practice

  about it. And, because the assertion is very bold, I desire to

  explain myself.

  That Almighty First Cause which made us all is certainly the

  fountain of excellence, as it is of being, and by an invisible

  influence could have diffused equal qualities and perfections to all

  the creatures it has made, as the sun does its light, without the

  least ebb or diminution to Himself; and has given indeed to every

  individual sufficient to the figure His providence had designed him

  in the world.

  I believe it might be defended if I should say that I do suppose God

  has given to all mankind equal gifts and capacities, in that He has

  given them all souls equally capable; and that the whole difference

  in mankind proceeds either from accidental difference in the make of

  their bodies, or from the foolish difference of education.

  1. FROM ACCIDENTAL DIFFERENCE IN BODIES.--I would avoid discoursing

  here of the philosophical position of the soul in the body: but if

  it be true, as philosophers do affirm, that the understanding and

  memory is dilated or contracted according to the accidental

  dimensions of the organ through which it is conveyed, then, though

  God has given a soul as capable to me as another, yet if I have any

  natural defect in those parts of the body by which the soul should

  act, I may have the same soul infused as another man, and yet he be

  a wise man and I a very fool. For example, if a child naturally

  have a defect in the organ of hearing, so that he could never

  distinguish any sound, that child shall never be able to speak or

  read, though it have a soul capable of all the accomplishments in

  the world. The brain is the centre of the soul's actings, where all

  the distinguishing faculties of it reside; and it is observable, a

  man who has a narrow contracted head, in which there is not room for

  the due and necessary operations of nature by the brain, is never a

  man of very great judgment; and that proverb, "A great head and

  little wit," is not meant by nature, but is a reproof upon sloth; as

  if one should, by way of wonder say, "Fie, fie, you that have a

  great head have but lit
tle wit; that's strange! that must certainly

  be your own fault." From this notion I do believe there is a great

  matter in the breed of men and women; not that wise men shall always

  get wise children: but I believe strong and healthy bodies have the

  wisest children; and sickly, weakly bodies affect the wits as well

  as the bodies of their children. We are easily persuaded to believe

  this in the breeds of horses, cocks, dogs, and other creatures; and

  I believe it is as visible in men.

  But to come closer to the business; the great distinguishing

  difference which is seen in the world between men and women is in

  their education; and this is manifested by comparing it with the

  difference between one man or woman and another.

  And herein it is that I take upon me to make such a bold assertion,

  that all the world are mistaken in their practice about women: for

  I cannot think that God Almighty ever made them so delicate, so

  glorious creatures, and furnished them with such charms, so

  agreeable and so delightful to mankind, with souls capable of the

  same accomplishments with men, and all to be only stewards of our

  houses, cooks, and slaves.

  Not that I am for exalting the female government in the least: but,

  in short, I would have men take women for companions, and educate

  them to be fit for it. A woman of sense and breeding will scorn as

  much to encroach upon the prerogative of the man as a man of sense

  will scorn to oppress the weakness of the woman. But if the women's

  souls were refined and improved by teaching, that word would be

  lost; to say, "the weakness of the sex," as to judgment, would be

  nonsense; for ignorance and folly would be no more to be found among

  women than men. I remember a passage which I heard from a very fine

  woman; she had wit and capacity enough, an extraordinary shape and

  face, and a great fortune, but had been cloistered up all her time,

  and, for fear of being stolen, had not had the liberty of being

  taught the common necessary knowledge of women's affairs; and when

  she came to converse in the world her natural wit made her so

  sensible of the want of education that she gave this short

  reflection on herself:

  "I am ashamed to talk with my very maids," says she, "for I don't

  know when they do right or wrong: I had more need go to school than

  be married."

  I need not enlarge on the loss the defect of education is to the

  sex, nor argue the benefit of the contrary practice; it is a thing

  will be more easily granted than remedied: this chapter is but an

  essay at the thing, and I refer the practice to those happy days, if

  ever they shall be, when men shall be wise enough to mend it.

  OF A COURT MERCHANT.

  I ask pardon of the learned gentlemen of the long robe if I do them

  any wrong in this chapter, having no design to affront them when I

  say that in matters of debate among merchants, when they come to be

  argued by lawyers at the bar, they are strangely handled. I myself

  have heard very famous lawyers make sorry work of a cause between

  the merchant and his factor; and when they come to argue about

  exchanges, discounts, protests, demurrages, charter-parties,

  freights, port-charges, assurances, barratries, bottomries, accounts

  current, accounts in commission, and accounts in company, and the

  like, the solicitor has not been able to draw a brief, nor the

  counsel to understand it. Never was young parson more put to it to

  make out his text when he is got into the pulpit without his notes

  than I have seen a counsel at the bar when he would make out a cause

  between two merchants. And I remember a pretty history of a

  particular case, by way of instance, when two merchants, contending

  about a long factorage account, that had all the niceties of

  merchandising in it, and labouring on both sides to instruct their

  counsel, and to put them in when they were out, at last they found

  them make such ridiculous stuff of it that they both threw up the

  cause and agreed to a reference, which reference in one week,

  without any charge, ended all the dispute, which they had spent a

  great deal of money in before to no purpose.

  Nay, the very judges themselves (no reflection upon their learning)

  have been very much at a loss in giving instructions to a jury, and

  juries much more to understand them; for, when all is done, juries,

  which are not always, nor often indeed, of the wisest men, are, to

  be sure, in umpires in causes so nice that the very lawyer and judge

  can hardly understand them.

  The affairs of merchants are accompanied with such variety of

  circumstances, such new and unusual contingencies, which change and

  differ in every age, with a multitude of niceties and punctilios

  (and those, again, altering as the customs and usages of countries

  and states do alter), that it has been found impracticable to make

  any laws that could extend to all cases. And our law itself does

  tacitly acknowledge its own imperfection in this case, by allowing

  the custom of merchants to pass as a kind of law in cases of

  difficulty.

  Wherefore it seems to me a most natural proceeding that such affairs

  should be heard before, and judged by, such as by known experience

  and long practice in the customs and usages of foreign negotiation

  are of course the most capable to determine the same.

  Besides the reasonableness of the argument there are some cases in

  our laws in which it is impossible for a plaintiff to make out his

  case, or a defendant to make out his plea; as, in particular, when

  his proofs are beyond seas (for no protests, certifications, or

  procurations are allowed in our courts as evidence); and the damages

  are infinite and irretrievable by any of the proceedings of our

  laws.

  For the answering all these circumstances, a court might be erected

  by authority of Parliament, to be composed of six judges

  commissioners, who should have power to hear and decide as a court

  of equity, under the title of a "Court Merchant."

  The proceedings of this court should be short, the trials speedy,

  the fees easy, that every man might have immediate remedy where

  wrong is done. For in trials at law about merchants' affairs the

  circumstances of the case are often such as the long proceedings of

  courts of equity are more pernicious than in other cases; because

  the matters to which they are generally relating are under greater

  contingencies than in other cases, as effects in hands abroad, which

  want orders, ships, and seamen lying at demurrage and in pay, and

  the like.

  These six judges should be chosen of the most eminent merchants of

  the kingdom, to reside in London, and to have power by commission to

  summon a council of merchants, who should decide all cases on the

  hearing, of both parties, with appeal to the said judges.

  Also to delegate by commission petty councils of merchants in the

  most considerable ports of the kingdom for the same purpose.

  The six judges themselves to be only judges of appeal; all trial
s to

  be heard before the council of merchants by methods and proceedings

  singular and concise.

  The council to be sworn to do justice, and to be chosen annually out

  of the principal merchants of the city.

  The proceedings here should be without delay; the plaintiff to

  exhibit his grievance by way of brief, and the defendant to give in

  his answer, and a time of hearing to be appointed immediately.

  The defendant by motion shall have liberty to put off hearing upon

  showing good cause, not otherwise.

  At hearing, every man to argue his own cause if he pleases, or

  introduce any person to do it for him.

  Attestations and protests from foreign parts, regularly procured and

  authentically signified in due form, to pass in evidence; affidavits

  in due form likewise attested and done before proper magistrates

  within the king's dominions, to be allowed as evidence.

  The party grieved may appeal to the six judges, before whom they

  shall plead by counsel, and from their judgment to have no appeal.

  By this method infinite controversies would be avoided and disputes

  amicably ended, a multitude of present inconveniences avoided, and

  merchandising matters would in a merchant-like manner be decided by

  the known customs and methods of trade.

  OF SEAMEN.

  It is observable that whenever this kingdom is engaged in a war with

  any of its neighbours two great inconveniences constantly follow:

  one to the king and one to trade.

  1. That to the king is, that he is forced to press seamen for the

  manning of his navy, and force them involuntarily into the service:

  which way of violently dragging men into the fleet is attended with

  sundry ill circumstances, as:

  (1.) Our naval preparations are retarded, and our fleets always

  late for want of men, which has exposed them not a little, and been

  the ruin of many a good and well-laid expedition.

  (2.) Several irregularities follow, as the officers taking money to

  dismiss able seamen, and filling up their complement with raw and

  improper persons.

  (3.) Oppressions, quarrellings, and oftentimes murders, by the

  rashness of press-masters and the obstinacy of some unwilling to go.

  (4.) A secret aversion to the service from a natural principle,

  common to the English nation, to hate compulsion.

  (5.) Kidnapping people out of the kingdom, robbing houses, and

  picking pockets, frequently practised under pretence of pressing, as

  has been very much used of late.

  With various abuses of the like nature, some to the king, and some

  to the subject.

  2. To trade. By the extravagant price set on wages for seamen,

  which they impose on the merchant with a sort of authority, and he

  is obliged to give by reason of the scarcity of men, and that not

  from a real want of men (for in the height of a press, if a

  merchant-man wanted men, and could get a protection for them, he

  might have any number immediately, and none without it, so shy were

  they of the public service).

  The first of these things has cost the king above three millions

  sterling since the war, in these three particulars:

  1. Charge of pressing on sea and on shore, and in small craft

  employed for that purpose.

  2. Ships lying in harbour for want of men, at a vast charge of pay

  and victuals for those they had.

  3. Keeping the whole navy in constant pay and provisions all the

  winter, for fear of losing the men against summer, which has now

  been done several years, besides bounty money and other expenses to

  court and oblige the seamen.

  The second of these (viz., the great wages paid by the merchant) has

  cost trade, since the war, above twenty millions sterling. The coal

  trade gives a specimen of it, who for the first three years of the

  war gave 9 pounds a voyage to common seamen, who before sailed for