Chapitre XII — Suite des devoirs des femmes

The Art of Household Governance

A mistress must govern her household with Christian charity, discernment, and a rejection of prideful attitudes toward servants.

There is an art to being well served, and it's not a small one. You need to choose servants who have honor and religion; you need to understand the tasks you intend to assign them, the time and effort each requires, the right way to do them well, and the proper cost involved. You'll scold a household officer, for example, for no good reason if you expect him to have prepared a fruit dish faster than is possible, or if you don't roughly know the price and quantity of the sugar and the other things that should go into what you have him make: so you're in danger of being either the dupe or the scourge of your servants if you have no knowledge of their trades.¹ You also need to learn their temperaments, handle their spirits with care, and govern this whole little republic in a Christian way—it’s usually quite turbulent. You certainly need authority; because the less reasonable people are, the more fear has to hold them in check. But since they are Christians, your brothers in Jesus Christ, and people you must respect as His members, you’re bound to use authority only when persuasion fails.^✦^✦² Try to earn the love of your household staff without becoming overly familiar. Avoid chatty intimacy, but don't be afraid to speak to them often with genuine warmth and without haughtiness regarding their needs. Let them be sure of finding counsel and compassion in you: don't rebuke them harshly for their faults; don't seem shocked or put off by them, as long as you still hope they aren't past correction; gently help them see reason, and put up with a good deal from them in the course of service, so that you can calmly convince them that you speak without irritation and without impatience—far less for your own convenience than for their good.³ It won't be easy to train young people of rank in this gentle and charitable way of acting; for the impatience and heat of youth, joined to the false idea they're given of their birth, makes them look on servants almost like horses: people believe themselves of another nature than their servants, and assume servants were made for their masters' comfort. Try to show how contrary these maxims are to modesty about oneself, and to humanity toward one's neighbor. Make them understand that human beings aren't made to be waited on; that it's a crude error to believe some people are born to flatter the laziness and pride of others; that since domestic service was set up against the natural equality of human beings, it must be softened as much as possible; that masters, who are better brought up than their servants and yet full of faults, shouldn't expect servants to have none—servants who have lacked instruction and good examples; that finally, if servants are spoiled by serving badly, what people ordinarily call being well served spoils the masters even more; for this ease of getting everything one wants only softens the soul, makes it greedy and passionate for the smallest comforts, and at last hands it over to its desires.

Practical Education and Stewardship

Girls should be trained early in practical skills, literacy, arithmetic, and the responsibilities of managing estates and legal affairs.

When it comes to managing a household, nothing works better than getting girls used to it early. Give them responsibilities, provided they report back to you; they’ll be delighted by that trust, because young people take incredible pleasure in being trusted and brought into serious business.⁴ You can see a great example of this in Queen Margaret. This princess recounts in her Memoirs that the keenest pleasure she ever had in her life was seeing that the Queen her mother began to speak to her, while she was still very young, as to a grown person: she felt carried away with joy at being admitted into the confidence of the Queen and of her brother the Duke of Anjou concerning the secrets of state—she who until then had known nothing but children's games. Even if a girl makes a mistake during these trials, be willing to sacrifice a little for her instruction. Gently point out what she should have done or said to avoid the trouble, share your own past experiences, and don't be afraid to admit the mistakes you made in your own youth; that’s how you’ll inspire the trust without which education just becomes a series of stiff formalities. Teach a girl to read and write correctly. It's shameful, but common, to see women who have wit and good manners not knowing how to pronounce well what they read: either they hesitate, or they sing as they read, when they ought to speak in a simple and natural tone, yet firm and even.⁵ They fail even more grossly in spelling, or in the way they form and join their letters when writing: at the very least, get them used to keeping their lines straight and making their hand neat and legible.⁶ A girl should also know grammar. For her native language, there's no need to teach it through formal rules the way schoolboys learn Latin; simply get them used to never mixing tenses, using the right words, and explaining their thoughts clearly, in order, and concisely—without affectation. You'll prepare them to teach their own children to speak well one day without any formal study.⁷ We know that in ancient Rome, the mother of the Gracchi did a great deal through a sound education to shape the eloquence of her children, who became such great men. They should also know the four rules of arithmetic; you'll put that knowledge to good use by having them work accounts often. It's a very thorny task for many people; but habit formed from childhood, joined to the ease of working out quickly, with the help of the rules, all sorts of even the most tangled accounts, will greatly lessen that dislike. It's well known that careful, frequent accounting leads to good order in a household. It would also be beneficial for them to understand the basic rules of justice: for example, the difference between a will and a gift; what defines a contract, a substitution of heirs, or a division among co-heirs; the primary legal rules or local customs required to make these acts valid; and the distinctions between separate property, community property, and movable versus immovable goods.⁸ If they marry, their most important affairs will depend on this. But at the same time show them how little they can dig into the difficulties of the law; how the law itself, through the weakness of the human mind, is full of obscurities and doubtful rules; how jurisprudence varies; how everything that depends on the judges, however clear it may seem, becomes uncertain; how the delays even of the best cases are ruinous and unbearable. Show them the turmoil of the courts, the fury of legal wrangling, the harmful twists and subtleties of procedure, the immense costs it draws after it, the misery of those who litigate, and the craft of lawyers, attorneys, and court clerks at quickly enriching themselves by impoverishing the parties.⁹ Add the devices that make a case sound in substance lose on technical form; the conflicting maxims from one court to another: if you are sent to the Grand Chamber, your suit is won; if you go to the inquiries, it is lost.¹⁰ Don't forget the conflicts of jurisdiction and the danger of litigating before the council for years, only to find out where the case will actually be tried.¹¹ Finally, note the discrepancy often found between the lawyers and the judges on the same case: in consultation you win your cause, but then the final judgment condemns you to pay the costs. All of this seems important to me for keeping women from getting carried away by legal affairs, and from blindly abandoning themselves to certain advisors who are enemies of peace, whether they are widows or in some other situation where they control their own property. They should listen to their business agents, but they shouldn't put themselves entirely in their hands. They must be wary of them in the lawsuits those men want them to take on, consult people of broader judgment who are more attentive to the advantages of a settlement, and finally be persuaded that the chief skill in business is to foresee its drawbacks and know how to avoid them. Girls of high birth and significant wealth need to be taught the responsibilities of landowners. So, teach them how to prevent the abuses, violence, legal trickery, and dishonesty that are so common in the countryside. Add to that the means of founding small schools, and charity societies for the relief of the sick poor. Also show the trade that can sometimes be set up in certain regions to lessen poverty there, but above all how one can give the people a solid education and a Christian public order.¹² All of that would require a more detailed discussion than fits here. When explaining the duties of lords, don't forget their rights: explain what fiefs are, a suzerain, a vassal, homage, rents, enfeoffed tithes, the right of champart, lods and sales, indemnity, amortization and acknowledgments, land registers, and other similar things.¹³ This knowledge is necessary, since managing an estate consists entirely of these things.

The Discernment of Arts and Leisure

Education in history, languages, music, and painting must be carefully curated to avoid vanity and the corruption of the passions.

After these instructions, which must come first, I think it's not useless to let girls, according to their free time and the reach of their minds, read secular books that hold nothing dangerous for the passions: it's even a way to put them off comedies and novels. So, give them Greek and Roman histories; there, they'll see wonders of courage and selflessness. Don't let them remain ignorant of the history of France, which has its own beauties; mix in histories of neighboring countries and well-written accounts of distant lands.¹⁴ All of this serves to enlarge the mind and lift the soul toward great sentiments, provided one avoids vanity and affectation. People usually think that a high-ranking girl you want to raise well needs to learn Italian and Spanish, but I see nothing less useful than that, unless she happens to be attached to a Spanish or Italian princess, like our queens of Austria and of Medici. Besides, those two languages serve little purpose other than reading dangerous books that can worsen a woman's faults; there's much more to lose than to gain in that study. Latin would be far more reasonable, since it's the language of the Church; there's invaluable fruit and consolation in understanding the meaning of the words of the divine office, which one attends so often. Even those looking for beauty of style will find far more perfect and solid examples in Latin than in Italian and Spanish, where a play of wit and an unbridled liveliness of imagination hold sway. But I would only want Latin taught to girls of firm judgment and modest conduct, who would know how to take that study only for what it's worth, who would renounce vain curiosity, who would hide what they had learned, and who would seek in it only their own edification. I would also allow them, but only with great care in the choice, to read works of eloquence and poetry—if I saw that they had a taste for it, and that their judgment was solid enough to keep to the true use of such things; but I would fear stirring up lively imaginations too much, and in all of this I would want exact sobriety: anything that can make love felt seems more dangerous to me the more it is softened and veiled. Music and painting require the same precautions; all these arts spring from the same temperament and the same taste. As for music, we know the ancients believed nothing was more harmful to a well-ordered republic than allowing an effeminate melody to take hold: it weakens men and makes souls soft and sensual. Languishing, passionate tones provide such pleasure only because the soul abandons itself to the pull of the senses until it becomes intoxicated by them.¹⁵ That is why in Sparta the magistrates broke every instrument whose harmony was too delicious, which was one of their most important regulations. That is also why Plato severely rejected all the delicious tones found in the music of the Asiatics. There is all the more reason, then, that Christians—who must never seek pleasure for pleasure's sake alone—should hold these poisoned amusements in horror.¹⁶ If you strip away everything that doesn't serve their true purpose, poetry and music can be put to excellent use in stirring vivid and lofty feelings for virtue in the soul. Think of how many poetic works of Scripture we have that the Hebrews apparently used to sing!¹⁷ Canticles were the first monuments that most distinctly preserved, before writing, the tradition of divine things among humankind. We have seen how powerful music was among pagan peoples for lifting the soul above ordinary feelings. The Church has believed she could not better console her children than by the singing of God's praises. Therefore, we cannot abandon these arts, which the Spirit of God himself has consecrated.¹⁸ Christian music and poetry would be the greatest of all aids in turning us away from worldly pleasures; but given the false prejudices of our nation, a taste for these arts is almost never free of danger. So you must hurry to make a young girl who seems highly sensitive to such impressions feel how much charm can be found in music without leaving pious subjects. If she has a voice and a gift for the beauties of music, don't expect to keep her forever ignorant of them: forbidding them would only inflame the passion; it's better to give this torrent a regulated channel than to try to stop it. Painting among us turns more readily toward the good; besides, it has a special advantage for women: without it, their handiwork can't be well guided. I know they could limit themselves to simple tasks that would call for no art; but given the aim it seems to me one ought to have—of occupying the mind as well as the hands of women of rank—I would want them to make works in which skill and ingenuity seasoned the labor with some pleasure.¹⁹ Such works can't have any true beauty unless they are guided by a knowledge of the rules of drawing. That's why almost everything you see now in fabrics, lace, and embroidery is in bad taste: it's all confused, without design, without proportion. These things pass for beautiful because they cost a great deal of labor to those who make them, and a lot of money to those who buy them; their brilliance dazzles people who see them from a distance or don't know anything about them. Women have created their own fashionable rules about this; anyone who tried to challenge them would be dismissed as a dreamer.²⁰ They could still undeceive themselves, however, by consulting painting, and thus be in a position to create—at a moderate cost and with great pleasure—works of a noble variety and a beauty that would stand above the irregular whims of fashion.

Vocation and the Rejection of Idleness

All Christians are called to industrious work, and a girl's education should be tailored to her specific station in life or religious calling.

They must also fear and despise idleness. They should remember that all the first Christians, regardless of their station, worked—not to amuse themselves, but to make work a serious, steady, and useful occupation.^✦ The natural order, the penance imposed on the first man—and in him on all his descendants—the penance of which the new man, who is Jesus Christ, has left us such a great example: everything binds us to a life of work, each in our own way.^✦^✦²¹ When educating a young girl, you must consider her social standing, the places where she will likely spend her life, and the vocation she will probably pursue. Be careful that she doesn't form hopes that exceed her means and her station. There are hardly any people who haven't paid dearly for hoping too much; what would have made them happy becomes nothing but distasteful once they've set their sights on a higher station. If a girl is to live in the country, direct her mind early toward the work she will have there, and don't let her get a taste for city amusements; show her the advantages of a simple, active life. If she is of a middle-class background in town, don't let her associate with people from the Court; that company would only give her a ridiculous and ill-suited manner. Keep her within the bounds of her station, and hold up as models those who succeed best in it. Prepare her mind for the tasks she will have to perform all her life: teach her how to manage a household, how to oversee country revenues, rents, and urban property, how to handle the education of children, and finally, the details of the business or trade you foresee she will enter once she is married.²² If, on the contrary, she resolves to become a religious without being pushed into it by her parents, turn her whole education from that moment toward the state she aspires to; have her put the strength of her mind and body through serious trials without waiting for the novitiate, which is already a kind of commitment as far as the world's honor is concerned; accustom her to silence; train her to obey in things contrary to her temper and habits; test little by little what she is capable of for the rule she wants to take; try to get her used to a rough, sober, and hardworking life; show her in detail how free and happy one is when one knows how to do without the things that vanity and softness, or even the propriety of the age, make necessary outside the cloister; in a word, by having her practice poverty, make her feel the happiness in it that Jesus Christ has revealed to us.^✦²³ Finally, leave nothing undone to ensure that no taste for any of the world's vanities remains in her heart when she leaves the world behind.^✦ Without putting her through experiences that are too dangerous, uncover for her the thorns hidden beneath the false pleasures the world offers; show her people who are unhappy there, even in the midst of those pleasures.^✦

Read the original Latin

Il y a la science de se faire servir, qui n’est pas petite. Il faut choisir des domestiques qui aient de l’honneur et de la religion ; il faut connaître les fonctions auxquelles on veut les appliquer, le temps et la peine qu’il faut donner à chaque chose, la manière de la bien faire, et la dépense qui y est nécessaire. Vous gronderez mal à propos un officier, par exemple, si vous voulez qu’il ait dressé un fruit plus promptement qu’il n’est possible, ou si vous ne savez pas à peu près le prix et la quantité du sucre et des autres choses qui doivent entrer dans ce que vous lui faites faire : ainsi vous êtes en danger d’être la dupe ou le fléau de vos domestiques, si vous n’avez quelque connaissance de leurs métiers.

Il faut encore savoir connaître leurs humeurs, ménager leurs esprits, et policer chrétiennement toute cette petite république, qui est d’ordinaire fort tumultueuse. Il faut sans doute de l’autorité ; car moins les gens sont raisonnables, plus il faut que la crainte les retienne : mais comme ce sont des Chrétiens, qui sont vos frères en Jésus-Christ, et que vous devez respecter comme ses membres, vous êtes obligé de ne payer d’autorité que quand la persuasion manque.

Tâchez de vous faire aimer de vos gens sans aucune basse familiarité : n’entrez pas en conversation avec eux ; mais aussi ne craignez pas de leur parler assez souvent avec affection et sans hauteur sur leurs besoins. Qu’ils soient assurés de trouver en vous du conseil et de la compassion : ne les reprenez point aigrement de leurs défauts, n’en paraissez ni surpris ni rebuté, tant que vous espérez qu’ils seront pas incorrigibles ; faites-leur entendre doucement raison, et souffrez souvent d’eux pour le service, afin d’être en état de les convaincre de sang-froid que c’est sans chagrin et sans impatience que vous leur parlez, bien moins pour votre service que pour leur intérêt. Il ne sera pas facile d’accoutumer les jeunes personnes de qualité à cette conduite douce et charitable ; car l’impatience et l’ardeur de la jeunesse, jointe à la fausse idée qu’on leur donne de leur naissance, leur fait regarder les domestiques à peu près comme des chevaux : on se croit d’une autre nature que les valets ; on suppose qu’ils sont faits pour la commodité de leurs maîtres. Tâchez de montrer combien ces maximes sont contraires à la modestie pour soi, et à l’humanité pour son prochain. Faites entendre que les hommes ne sont point faits pour être servis ; que c’est une erreur brutale de croire qu’il y ait des hommes nés pour flatter la paresse et l’orgueil des autres ; que le service étant établi contre l’égalité naturelle des hommes, il faut l’adoucir autant qu’on le peut ; que les maîtres, qui sont mieux élevés que leurs valets, étant pleins de défauts, il ne faut pas s’attendre que les valets n’en aient point, eux qui ont manqué d’instructions et de bons exemples ; qu’enfin, si les valets se gâtent en servant mal, ce que l’on appelle d’ordinaire être bien servi, gâte encore plus les maîtres ; car cette facilité de se satisfaire en tout, ne fait qu’amollir l’âme, que la rendre ardente et passionnée pour les moindres commodités, enfin que la livrer à ses désirs.

Pour ce gouvernement domestique, rien n’est meilleur que d’y accoutumer les filles de bonne heure. Donnez-leur quelque chose à régler, à condition de vous en rendre compte : cette confiance les charmera ; car la jeunesse ressent un plaisir incroyable lorsqu’on commence à se fier à elle, et à la faire enter dans quelque affaire sérieuse. On en voit un bel exemple dans la reine Marguerite. Cette princesse raconte, dans ses Mémoires, que le plus sensible plaisir qu’elle ait eu en sa vie, fut de voir que la Reine sa mère commença à lui parler, lorsqu’elle était encore très jeune, comme à une personne mûre : elle se sentit transportée de joie d’entrer dans la confidence de la Reine, et de son frère le duc d’Anjou, pour le secret de l’Etat, elle qui n’avait connu jusque là que des jeux d’enfants. Laissez même faire quelque faute à une fille dans de tels essais, et sacrifiez quelque chose à son instruction ; faites-lui remarquer doucement ce qu’il aurait fallu faire ou dire, pour éviter les inconvénients où elle est tombée ; racontez-lui vos expériences passées, et ne craignez point de lui dire les fautes semblables aux siennes, que vous avez faites dans votre jeunesse : par là vous lui inspirerez la confiance, sans laquelle l’éducation se tourne en formalités gênantes.

Apprenez à une fille à lire et à écrire correctement. Il est honteux, mais ordinaire, de voir des femmes qui ont de l’esprit et de la politesse, ne savoir pas bien prononcer ce qu’elles lisent : ou elles hésitent, ou elles chantent en lisant ; au lieu qu’il faut prononcer d’un ton simple et naturel, mais ferme et uni. Elles manquent encore plus grossièrement pour l’orthographe, ou pour la manière de former ou de lier les lettres en écrivant : au moins accoutumez-les à faire leurs lignes droites, à rendre leur caractère net et lisible. Il faudrait aussi qu’une fille sût la grammaire : pour sa langue naturelle, il n’est pas question de la lui apprendre par règle, comme les écoliers apprennent le latin en classe ; accoutumez-les seulement sans affectation à ne prendre point un temps pour un autre, à se servir des termes propres, à expliquer nettement leurs pensées avec ordre, et d’une manière courte et précise : vous les mettrez en état d’apprendre un jour à leurs enfants à bien parler sans aucune étude. On sait que, dans l’ancienne Rome, la mère des Gracques contribua beaucoup, par une bonne éducation, à former l’éloquence de ses enfants, qui devinrent de si grands hommes.

Elles devraient aussi savoir les quatre règles de l’arithmétique ; vous vous en servirez utilement pour leur faire faire souvent des comptes. C’est une occupation fort épineuse pour beaucoup de gens ; mais l’habitude prise dès l’enfance, jointe à la facilité de faire promptement, par le secours des règles, toutes sortes de comptes les plus embrouillés, diminuera fort ce dégoût. On sait assez que l’exactitude de compter souvent fait le bon ordre dans les maisons. Il serait bon aussi qu’elles sussent quelque chose des principales règles de la justice ; par exemple, la différence qu’il y a entre un testament et une donation ; ce que c’est qu’un contrat, une substitution, un partage de cohéritiers ; les principales règles du droit, ou des coutumes du pays où l’on est, pour rendre ces actes valides ; ce que c’est que propre, ce que c’est que communauté ; ce que c’est que biens meubles et immeubles. Si elles se marient, toutes leurs principales affaires rouleront là-dessus.

Mais en même temps montrez-leur combien elles sont incapables d’enfoncer dans les difficultés du droit ; combien le droit lui-même, par la faiblesse de l’esprit des hommes, est plein d’obscurités et de règles douteuses ; combien la jurisprudence varie ; combien tout ce qui dépend des juges, quelque clair qu’il paraisse, devient incertain ; combien les longueurs des meilleures affaires même sont ruineuses et insupportables. Montrez-leur l’agitation du palais, la fureur de la chicane, les détours pernicieux et les subtilités de la procédure, les frais immenses qu’elle attire, la misère de ceux qui plaident, l’industrie des avocats, des procureurs et des greffiers, pour s’enrichir bientôt en appauvrissant les parties. Ajoutez les moyens qui rendent mauvaise, par la forme, une affaire bonne dans le fond ; les oppositions des maximes de tribunal à tribunal : si vous êtes renvoyé à la grand’chambre, votre procès est gagné ; si vous allez aux enquêtes, il est perdu. N’oubliez pas les conflits de juridiction, et le danger où l’on est de plaider au conseil plusieurs années pour savoir où l’on plaidera. Enfin remarquez la différence qu’on trouve souvent entre les avocats et les juges sur la même affaire ; dans la consultation vous avez gain de cause, et votre arrêt vous condamne aux dépens.

Tout cela me semble important pour empêcher les femmes de se passionner sur les affaires, et de s’abandonner aveuglément à certains conseils ennemis de la paix, lorsqu’elles sont veuves, ou maîtresses de leur bien dans un autre état. Elles doivent écouter leurs gens d’affaires, mais non pas se livrer à eux.

Il faut qu’elles s’en défient dans les procès qu’ils veulent leur faire entreprendre, qu’elles consultent les gens d’un esprit plus étendu et plus attentif aux avantages d’un accommodement, et qu’enfin elles soient persuadées que la principale habileté dans les affaires est d’en prévoir les inconvénients, et de les savoir éviter.

Les filles qui ont une naissance et un bien considérables, ont besoin d’être instruites des devoirs des seigneurs dans leurs terres. Dites-leur donc ce qu’on peut faire pour empêcher les abus, les violences, les chicanes, les faussetés si ordinaires à la campagne. Joignez-y les moyens d’établir de petites écoles, et des assemblées de charité pour le soulagement des pauvres malades. Montrez aussi le trafic qu’on peut quelquefois établir en certains pays pour y diminuer la misère, mais surtout comment on peut procurer au peuple une instruction solide et une police chrétienne. Tout cela demanderait un détail trop long pour être mis ici. En expliquant les devoirs des seigneurs, n’oubliez pas leurs droits : dites ce que c’est que fiefs, seigneur dominant, vassal, hommages, rentes, dîmes inféodées, droit de champart, lods et ventes, indemnité, amortissement et reconnaissances, papiers terriers et autres choses semblables. Ces connaissances sont nécessaires, puisque le gouvernement des terres consiste entièrement dans toutes ces choses.

Après ces instructions, qui doivent tenir la première place, je crois qu’il n’est pas inutile de laisser aux filles, selon leurs loisirs et la portée de leur esprit, la lecture des livres profanes qui n’ont rien de dangereux pour les passions : c’est même le moyen de les dégoûter des comédies et des romans. Donnez-leur donc les histoires grecques et romaines ; elles y verront des prodiges de courage et de désintéressement. Ne leur laissez pas ignorer l’histoire de France, qui à aussi ses beautés ; mêlez celles des pays voisins, et les relations des pays éloignés judicieusement écrites. Tout cela sert à agrandir l’esprit, et à élever l’âme à de grands sentiments, pourvu qu’on évite la vanité et l’affectation.

On croit d’ordinaire qu’il faut qu’une fille de qualité qu’on veut bien élever apprenne l’italien et l’espagnol ; mais je ne vois rien de moins utile que cette étude, à moins qu’une fille ne se trouvât attachée auprès de quelque princesse espagnole ou italienne, comme nos reines d’Autriche et de Médicis. D’ailleurs ces deux langues ne servent guère qu’à lire des livres dangereux, et capables d’augmenter les défauts des femmes ; il y a beaucoup plus à perdre qu’à gagner dans cette étude. Celle du latin serait bien plus raisonnable, car c’est la langue de l’Eglise : il y a un fruit et une consolation inestimable à entendre le sens des paroles de l’office divin, où l’on assiste si souvent. Ceux même qui cherchent les beautés du discours en trouveront de bien plus parfaites et plus solides dans le latin que dans l’italien et dans l’espagnol, où règne un jeu d’esprit et une vivacité d’imagination sans règle. Mais je ne voudrais faire apprendre le latin qu’aux filles d’un jugement ferme et d’une conduite modeste, qui sauraient ne prendre cette étude que pour ce qu’elle vaut, qui renonceraient à la vaine curiosité, qui cacheraient ce qu’elles auraient appris, et qui n’y chercheraient que leur édification.

Je leur permettrais aussi, mais avec un grand choix, la lecture des ouvrages d’éloquence et de poésie, si je voyais qu’elles en eussent le goût, et que leur jugement fût assez solide pour se borner au véritable usage des choses ; mais je craindrais d’ébranler trop les imaginations vives, et je voudrais en tout cela une exacte sobriété : tout ce qui peut faire sentir l’amour, plus il est adouci et enveloppé, plus il me paraît dangereux.

La musique et la peinture ont besoin des mêmes précautions ; tous ces arts sont du même génie et du même goût. Pour la musique, on sait que les anciens croyaient que rien n’était plus pernicieux à une république bien policée, que d’y laisser introduire une mélodie efféminée : elle énerve les hommes ; elle rend les âmes molles et voluptueuses ; les tons languissants et passionnés ne font tant de plaisir, qu’à cause que l’âme s’y abandonne à l’attrait des sens jusqu’à s’y enivrer elle-même. C’est pourquoi à Sparte les magistrats brisaient tous les instruments dont l’harmonie était trop délicieuse, et c’était là une de leurs plus importantes polices ; c’est pourquoi Platon rejette sévèrement tous les tons délicieux qui entraient dans la musique des Asiatiques : à plus forte raison les Chrétiens, qui ne doivent jamais chercher le plaisir pour le seul plaisir, doivent-ils avoir en horreur ces divertissements empoisonnés.

La poésie et la musique, si on en retranchait tout ce qui ne tend point au vrai but, pourraient être employées très utilement à exciter dans l’âme des sentiments vifs et sublimes pour la vertu. Combien avons-nous d’ouvrages poétiques de l’Ecriture que les Hébreux chantaient, selon les apparences ! Les cantiques ont été les premiers monuments qui ont conservé plus distinctement, avant l’écriture, la tradition des choses divines parmi les hommes. Nous avons vu combien la musique a été puissante parmi les peuples païens pour élever l’âme au-dessus des sentiments vulgaires. L’Eglise a cru ne pouvoir consoler mieux ses enfants, que par le chant des louanges de Dieu. On ne peut donc abandonner ces arts, que l’Esprit de Dieu même a consacrés. Une musique et une poésie chrétienne seraient le plus grand de tous les secours pour dégoûter des plaisirs profanes ; mais dans les faux préjugés où est notre nation, le goût de ces arts n’est guère sans danger. Il faut donc se hâter de faire sentir à une jeune fille qu’on voit fort sensible à de telles impressions, combien on peut trouver de charmes dans la musique sans sortir des sujets pieux.

Si elle a de la voix et du génie pour les beautés de la musique, n’espérez pas de les lui faire toujours ignorer : la défense irriterait la passion ; il vaut mieux donner un concours réglé à ce torrent, que d’entreprendre de l’arrêter.

La peinture se tourne chez nous plus aisément au bien : d’ailleurs elle a un privilège pour les femmes ; sans elle leurs ouvrages ne peuvent être bien conduits. Je sais qu’elles pourraient se réduire à des travaux simples qui ne demanderaient aucun art ; mais, dans le dessein qu’il me semble qu’on doit avoir d’occuper l’esprit en même temps que les mains des femmes de condition, je souhaiterais qu’elle fissent des ouvrages où l’art et l’industrie assaisonnassent le travail de quelque plaisir. De tels ouvrages ne peuvent avoir aucune vraie beauté, si la connaissance des règles du dessin ne les conduit. De là vient que presque tout ce qu’on voit maintenant dans les étoffes, dans les dentelles et dans les broderies, est d’un mauvais goût ; tout y est confus, sans dessein, sans proportion. Ces choses passent pour belles, parce qu’elles coûtent beaucoup de travail à ceux qui les font, et d’argent à ceux qui les achètent ; leur éclat éblouit ceux qui les voient de loin, ou qui ne s’y connaissent pas. Les femmes ont fait là-dessus des règles à leur mode ; qui voudrait contester passerait pour visionnaire. Elles pourraient néanmoins se détromper en consultant la peinture, et par là se mettre en état de faire, avec une médiocre dépense et un grand plaisir, des ouvrages d’une noble variété, et d’une beauté qui serait au-dessus des caprices irréguliers des modes.

Elles doivent également craindre et mépriser l’oisiveté. Qu’elles pensent que tous les premiers Chrétiens, de quelque condition qu’ils fussent, travaillaient, non pour s’amuser, mais pour faire du travail une occupation sérieuse, suivie et utile. L’ordre naturel, la pénitence imposée au premier homme, et en lui à toute sa postérité, celle dont l’homme nouveau, qui est Jésus-Christ, nous a laissé un si grand exemple, tout nous engage à une vie laborieuse, chacun en sa manière.

On doit considérer, pour l’éducation d’une jeune fille, sa condition, les lieux où elle doit passer sa vie, et la profession qu’elle embrassera selon les apparences. Prenez garde qu’elle ne conçoive des espérances au-dessus de son bien et de sa condition. Il n’y a guère de personnes à qui il n’en coûte cher pour avoir trop espéré ; ce qui aurait rendu heureux n’a plus rien que de dégoûtant, dès qu’on a envisagé un état plus haut. Si une fille doit vivre à la campagne, de bonne heure tournez son esprit aux occupations qu’elle y doit avoir, et ne lui laissez point goûter les amusements de la ville ; montrez lui les avantages d’une vie simple et active. Si elle est d’une condition médiocre de la ville, ne lui faites point voir des gens de la Cour ; ce commerce ne servirait qu’à lui faire prendre un air ridicule et disproportionné : renfermez-la dans les bornes de sa condition, et donnez-lui pour modèles les personnes qui y réussissent le mieux ; formez son esprit pour les choses qu’elle doit faire toute sa vie ; apprenez-lui l’économie d’une maison bourgeoise, les soins qu’il faut avoir pour les revenus de la campagne, pour les rentes et pour les maisons qui sont les revenus de la ville, ce qui regarde l’éducation des enfants, et enfin le détail des autres occupations d’affaires ou de commerce, dans lequel vous prévoyez qu’elle devra entrer, quand elle sera mariée. Si au contraire elle se détermine à se faire religieuse sans y être poussée par ses parents, tournez dès ce moment toute son éducation vers l’état où elle aspire ; faites-lui faire des épreuves sérieuses des forces de son esprit et de son corps, sans attendre le noviciat, qui est une espèce d’engagement par rapport à l’honneur du monde ; accoutumez-la au silence ; exercez-la à obéir sur des choses contraires à son humeur et à ses habitudes ; essayez peu à peu de voir de quoi elle est capable pour la règle qu’elle veut prendre ; tâchez de l’accoutumer à une vie grossière, sobre et laborieuse ; montrez-lui en détail combien on est libre et heureux de savoir se passer des choses que la vanité et la mollesse, ou même la bienséance du siècle, rendent nécessaires hors du cloître ; en un mot, en lui faisant pratiquer la pauvreté, faites-lui-en sentir le bonheur que Jésus-Christ nous a révélé. Enfin, n’oubliez rien pour ne laisser dans son cœur le goût d’aucune des vanités du monde, quand elle le quittera. Sans lui faire faire des expériences trop dangereuses, découvrez-lui les épines cachées sous les faux plaisirs que le monde donne ; montrez-lui des gens qui y sont malheureux au milieu des plaisirs.

Scripture echoes

↩Rom.8.29;Heb.2.11-Heb.2.12 — For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Heb.2.11 — For both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all from one; for this reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Heb.2.12 — saying, 'I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the assembly I will sing your praise.'
↩1Cor.12.12-1Cor.12.27;Rom.12.4-Rom.12.5;Eph.5.30 — For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1Cor.12.13 — For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor.12.14 — For the body is not one member, but many. 1Cor.12.15 — If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.16 — And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.17 — If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 1Cor.12.18 — But now God has placed each one of the members in the body just as he desired. 1Cor.12.19 — If they were all one member, where would the body be? 1Cor.12.20 — Now there are many parts, but one body. 1Cor.12.21 — The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 1Cor.12.22 — On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable. 1Cor.12.23 — and the parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe with greater honor; and our unpresentable parts receive greater propriety, 1Cor.12.24 — but our presentable parts have no such need. Rather, God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 1Cor.12.25 — so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 1Cor.12.26 — And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1Cor.12.27 — Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. Rom.12.4 — For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, Rom.12.5 — So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Eph.5.30 — because we are members of his body.
↩2Thess.3.10-2Thess.3.12;Acts.18.3 — For even when we were with you, this we commanded you: if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat. 2Thess.3.11 — For we hear that some among you are walking in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but being busybodies. 2Thess.3.12 — Now such persons we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and eat their own bread. Acts.18.3 — And because he was a tentmaker by trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
↩Gen.3.17-Gen.3.19 — And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Gen.3.18 — And thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
↩Rom.5.12-Rom.5.19;1Cor.15.45-1Cor.15.49;Eph.4.24;Col.3.10 — Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and so death spread to all people, because all sinned— Rom.5.13 — For sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Rom.5.14 — Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a type of the one who was to come. Rom.5.15 — But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the trespass of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many. Rom.5.16 — And the gift is not like what came through the one who sinned. For the judgment following one trespass led to condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses led to justification. Rom.5.17 — For if by the trespass of the one man death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Rom.5.18 — So then, just as through one trespass there was condemnation for all people, so also through one act of righteousness there was justification leading to life for all people. Rom.5.19 — For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 1Cor.15.45 — So also it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living soul'; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1Cor.15.46 — But the spiritual is not first; rather, the natural comes first, and then the spiritual. 1Cor.15.47 — The first human was from the earth, made of dust; the second human is from heaven." This harmonizes with v.21 while preserving Adam-Christ representation. 1Cor.15.48 — As was the one made of dust, so also are those made of dust; and as is the heavenly one, so also are those who are heavenly. 1Cor.15.49 — And just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we will also bear the image of the heavenly one. Eph.4.24 — and put on the new self, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Col.3.10 — and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator
↩Matt.5.3 — Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
↩1John.2.15-1John.2.17 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
↩Gen.3.18;Matt.13.22 — And thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. Matt.13.22 — And the one sown among thorns—this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Notes

1 ↩officier here is a household officer/steward (department head in domestic service), not a military officer; dressé un fruit means prepared/arranged a fruit confection or preserve.
2 ↩"payer d'autorité" means to stand on / assert authority rather than literally "pay with" authority; rendered as "use authority" for natural modern English.
3 ↩Source reads «qu’ils seront pas incorrigibles» (missing classical ne). Rendered as the intended sense: as long as you still hope they are not incorrigible / past correction.
4 ↩Source reads «faire enter»; translated as the intended «faire entrer» (bring them into / let them enter).
5 ↩«chantent en lisant» means a singsong delivery while reading, not literal singing.
6 ↩«caractère» here means handwriting/script, not moral character.
7 ↩«ne prendre point un temps pour un autre» refers to grammatical tenses (temps), not time in general.
8 ↩French legal terms of the Ancien Régime: 'donation' = inter vivos gift; 'substitution' = entail/heir substitution; 'propre' / 'communauté' = separate vs. marital community property; 'biens meubles et immeubles' = movable and immovable property (personal vs. real).
9 ↩«palais» is the law courts (Palais de Justice), not a royal palace; «chicane» is quibbling legal chicanery; «industrie» here is crafty skill, not industry as a sector.
10 ↩«grand’chambre» and «enquêtes» name chambers of the old French Parlement; kept as Grand Chamber and inquiries to preserve Fénelon’s court-specific contrast without modernizing away the institutional reference.
11 ↩«le conseil» likely points to the royal council (Conseil) as a forum for jurisdictional disputes, not ordinary legal advice.
12 ↩French police here means civil order/public discipline, not modern policing; trafic means trade/commerce.
13 ↩Technical Ancien Régime seigneurial terms retained: seigneur dominant rendered as suzerain; droit de champart is a seigneur's share of the harvest; lods et ventes are transfer dues on land sales; papiers terriers are estate land registers.
14 ↩Source reads «qui à aussi ses beautés»; translated as the intended «qui a aussi» (“which has … too”).
15 ↩efféminée: kept as 'effeminate' in the classical moral sense (softening, enervating music), not as a modern gender comment.
16 ↩polices: rendered as 'regulations' (civic public-order measures), not modern 'police'.
17 ↩«selon les apparences» rendered as «so it appears» (by all appearances / as far as we can tell), not as mere outward show.
18 ↩The comma before «que» marks a relative clause («arts which...»), not exclusive «ne... que» («only»).
19 ↩Source has « qu'elle fissent »; translated as plural « qu'elles fissent » to agree with « elles » and the plural verb form.
20 ↩« visionnaire » here is pejorative (impractical fantasist), not the modern positive sense of 'visionary'.
21 ↩French «celle» is feminine and most naturally resumes «la pénitence»: the penance laid on Adam, of which Christ (the new man) left the supreme example. Rendered as «the penance of which...» to keep that anaphora clear.
22 ↩condition médiocre: middling/ordinary social rank, not moral mediocrity. maison bourgeoise: middle-class town household. rentes: fixed income/annuities from property or investments.
23 ↩vie grossière: coarse/plain/rough living (ascetical simplicity), not vulgar manners. bienséance du siècle: worldly propriety/decorum of the age.

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