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Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman-Part9_Mary Wollstonecraft(1759-1797)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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my narrative, my dear girl, you may gather the instruction, the

counsel, which is meant rather to exercise than influence your



mind.--Death may snatch me from you, before you can weigh my advice,

or enter into my reasoning: I would then, with fond anxiety, lead



you very early in life to form your grand principle of action, to

save you from the vain regret of having, through irresolution, let



the spring-tide of existence pass away, unimproved, unenjoyed.--

Gain experience--ah! gain it--while experience is worth having,



and acquire sufficient fortitude to pursue your own happiness;

it includes your utility, by a direct path. What is wisdom too often,



but the owl of the goddess, who sits moping in a desolated heart;

around me she shrieks, but I would invite all the gay warblers of



spring to nestle in your blooming bosom.--Had I not wasted years

in deliberating, after I ceased to doubt, how I ought to have



acted--I might now be useful and happy.--For my sake, warned by my

example, always appear what you are, and you will not pass through



existence without enjoying its genuine blessings, love and respect.

"Born in one of the most romantic parts of England, an



enthusiastic fondness for the varying charms of nature is the first

sentiment I recollect; or rather it was the first consciousness of



pleasure that employed and formed my imagination.

"My father had been a captain of a man of war; but, disgusted



with the service, on account of the preferment of men whose chief

merit was their family connections or borough interest, he retired



into the country; and, not knowing what to do with himself--married.

In his family, to regain his lost consequence, he determined to



keep up the same passiveobedience, as in the vessels in which he

had commanded. His orders were not to be disputed; and the whole



house was expected to fly, at the word of command, as if to man

the shrouds, or mount aloft in an elemental strife, big with life



or death. He was to be instantaneously obeyed, especially by my

mother, whom he very benevolently married for love; but took care



to remind her of the obligation, when she dared, in the slightest

instance, to question his absolute authority. My eldest brother,



it is true, as he grew up, was treated with more respect by my

father; and became in due form the deputy-tyrant of the house.



The representative of my father, a being privileged by nature--a

boy, and the darling of my mother, he did not fail to act like an



heir apparent. Such indeed was my mother's extravagant partiality,

that, in comparison with her affection for him, she might be said



not to love the rest of her children. Yet none of the children

seemed to have so little affection for her. Extreme indulgence



had rendered him so selfish, that he only thought of himself; and

from tormenting insects and animals, he became the despot of his



brothers, and still more of his sisters.

"It is perhaps difficult to give you an idea of the petty



cares which obscured the morning of my life; continual restraint

in the most trivial matters; unconditional submission to orders,



which, as a mere child, I soon discovered to be unreasonable,

because inconsistent and contradictory. Thus are we destined to






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