THE foregoing chapters, strictly speaking, relate to educated women; but in enumerating the causes of the difficulties which surround them in these days, I laid great stress on the industrial changes which have affected the lower classes, and I am unwilling to close without saying a few especial words on this subject. It would require a separate book to deal properly with the details of woman's part in mechanical industry according to the last census. Ten years ago, the census of 1851 was thus analysed, and the result appeared in an admirable book from a man's hand, entitled, “The Industrial and Social Position of Women in the Middle and Lower Ranks;” and published by Messrs Chapman and Hall. The writer, however, takes a more favourable view of the moral results of the industrial revolution than I can do, although, when I first began investigating the subject, I was inclined to share his opinion.

At this threshold of the question we are met by two distinct theories, upon neither of which is it possible to speak or act exclusively; and yet it will make a great difference to our speech and to our action, whether, in the depths of intellectual and moral conviction, we abide by the one or the other theory. Putting the matter as shortly and simply as possible, Do we wish to see the majority of women getting their own livelihood; or do we wish to see it provided for them by men?