working life of women seventeenth century - School of Economics ...

CAPITALISTSbusiness. " At O~tend, Newport, and Dunkirk,where, and when, the Holland pinks come in, theredaily the Merchants, that be but Women (but notsuch Women as the Fishwives of Billingsgate ; for theseNetherland Women do lade many Waggons with freshFish daily, some for Bruges, and some for Brussels,etc., etc.) I have seen these Women-merchantsI say, have their Aprons full of nothing but EnglishJacobuses, to make all their Payment of."'Sir J. Child mentions " the Education of theirChildren as well Daughters as Sons ; all which, be theyof never so great quality or estate, they always take careto bring up to write perfect good Hands, and tohave the full knowledge and use of Arithmetick andMerchant Accounts," as one of the advantages whichthe Dutch possess over the English ; " the wellunderstanding and practise whereof doth strangelyinfuse into most that are the owners of that Quality,of either Sex, not only an Ability for Commerce of allkinds, but a strong aptitude, love and delight in it ;and in regard the women are as knowing therein asthe Men, it doth incourage their Husbands to hold onin their Trades to their dying days, knowing thecapacity of their Wives to get in their Estates, andcarry on their Trades after their Deaths : Whereas ifa Merchant in England arrive at any considerableEstate, he commonly with-draws his Estate from Trade,before he comes near the confines of Old Age ;reckoning that if God should call him out of the Worldwhile the main of his Estate is engaged abroad inTrade, he must lose one third of it, through the unexperienceand unaptness of his Wife to such Affairs,and so it usually falls out. Besides it hath been observedin the nature of Arithmetick, that like other partsof the Mathematicks, it doth not only improve theRational Faculties, but inclines those that are expertl England's Way, 1614. Harleian Misc., Vol. III., p. 383.CAPITALISTSin it to Thriftiness and good Husbandry, and preventsboth Husbands and Wives in some measure fromrunning out of their estates."'This account is confirmed by Howell who writes ofthe Dutch in 1622 that they are " well versed in allsorts of languages . . . Nor are the Men only experttherein but the Women and Maids also in their commonHostries ; & in Holland the Wives are so well versedin Bargaining, Cyphering & Writing, that in theAbsence of their Husbands in long sea voyages theybeat the Trade at home & their Words will pass inequal Credit. These Women are wonderfully sober,tho' their Husbands make commonly their Bargainsin Drink, & then are they more ca~telous."~This unnatural reversing of the positions of men andwomen was censured by the Spaniard Vives who wrote" In Hollande, women do exercise marchandise andthe men do geue themselues to quafting, the whichcustomes and maners I alowe not, for thei agre not fiithnature, ye which hath geuen unto man a noble, a high& a diligent minde to be busye and occupied abroade,to gayne & to bring home to their wiues & familiesto rule them and their children, . . . . and to yewoman nature hath geuen a feareful, a couetous & anhumble mind to be subject unto man, & to kepe ythe doeth gayne."'The contrast which had arisen between Dutch andEnglish customs in this respect was also noticed byWycherley, one of whose characters, Monsieur Paris,a Francophile fop, describes his tour in Holland in thefollowing terms : " I did visit, you must know, one ofde Principal of de State General . . . and did find hisExcellence weighing Sope, jarnie ha, ha, ha, weighingsope, ma foy, for he was a wholesale Chandeleer ; and-l Child, Sir J., A N m Discourse ofTrade, pp. 4-5. 1694,Howell, (Jas ), Familiar Letters, p. 103,a Vives, Ofice and Duties ofa Husband, trans. by Thos. Papell.