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

PROFESSIONS PROFESSIONS 273the number of those whom my soul loveth, and of whomI make daily mention in my Prayers : . . . . If youplease to make experience of my Rules, they are very. . . . If you make' plain, and easie enough;use of them, you wil find your work easie, you neednot call for the help of a Man-Midwife, which is adisparagement, not onIy to yourselves, but also toyour Profession : . . . . All the Perfections thatcan be in a Woman, ought to be in a Midwife ; thefirst step to which is, To know your ignorance in thatpart of Physick which is the Basis of your Act . . . .If any want Wisdom, let him ask it of God (not ofthe Colledg of Phyritians, for if they do, they mayhap to go without their Errand, unless they bringMoney with them)."'Efforts made by Peter Chamberlain to secure somesystematic training for midwives drew upon himselfthe abuse, if not persecution, of his jealous contemporaries.In justifying the course he had taken hepleads " Because I am pretended to be Ignorant orCovetous, or both, therefore some ignorant Women,whom either extream Povertie hath necessitated, orHard-heartedness presumed, or the Game of Venus intrudedinto the calling of Midwifry (to have the issuesof Life & Death of two or three at one time in theirhands, beside the consequence of Health and Strengthof the Whole Nation) should neither be sufficientlyinstructed in doing Good, nor restrained from doingEvil ? . . . . . The objection infers thus much.Because there was never any Order for instructing andgoverning of Midwives, therefore there never mustbe . . . . It may be when Bishops are restoredagain, their Ordinaries will come in to plead theircare. Of what ? Truly that none shall do goodwithout their leave. That none shall have leave,but such as will take their Oath and pay Money. ThatCulpeper, Nich., Gent.,Midwk.Student in Phvsick and Aatrologie, Directory fortaking this Oath and paying their Money with thetestimonie of two or three Gossips, any may have leaveto be as ignorant, if not as cruel as themselves, . . . .but of Instruction or Order amongst the Midwives,not one word."'The danger which threatened midwives by theexclusion of womerr from the scientific trainingavailable for men, did not pass unnoticed by the leadingmembers of the Profession. They realised that thequestion at stake did not concern only the honourof their Profession, but involved the suffering, and inmany cases even the death, of vast numbers of womenand babies who must always depend on the skill of midwivesand urged that steps should be taken to raise thestandard of their efficiency. Mrs. Cellier2 pointed outChamberlain (Peter), A Voice in Rbama, or the Crie of Women and Cbildren. 1646.' Cellier (Mrs.). A scbeme fw rbe foundation of a Royal Hospital, HarleianMiscellany, Vol. IV. pp. 142-147.The scheme was well thought out, and some details from it may be given hereas showing the aspirations of an able woman for the develupment of her profession.Mrs. Cellier proposed that the number of midwives admitted to the first rank shouldbe limited to 1000, and that these should pay a fee of on admittance and the likesum annually. All the midwives entering this first rank should be eligible for theposition of Matron, or assistant to the Govenment.Other midwives may be admitted to the second thousand on payment of half theabove fees.The money rpised bv these fees is to be used for the purpooe of erecting "one good,large an3 ronvenient House, or Hospital," . . . . for the Receiving and Takingin of exposed Ch~ldren, to be subject to the Care, Conduct and Management of oneGoverness, one female Secretary, and twelve Matron Assistants, subject to thevisitation of such Persons, as to yovr Maiesty's Wisdom shall be thought necessary. . . . the children to be afterwards educated in proper Learning, Arts andMysteries according to their several capacities. As a further endowment for thisinstitution, Mrs. Cellier asks for one fifth part of the voluntary charity collectedin the Parishes comprised within the Limits of the weekly Bills of Mortality, and thatin addit~on collecting Boxes may be placed iu every Church, Chapel, or publ~ck Placeof l'ivine Service of any Religion whatsoever within their limits. The schemefurther provides "that such Hospital may be allowed to establish twelve lesserconvenient houses, in twelve of the greatest parishes, each to be governed by one ofthe twelve Matrons, Assistants to the Corporation of the Midwives, which Housesmay be for the taking in, delivery and month's Maintenance, at a price certain ofany woman, that any of the parishes within the limits aforesaid, shall by the overseersof the poor place in them ; such women being to he s~ibject, with the Children bornof them, to the future care of that parish, whose overseers place them there to bedelivered, notwithstanding such House shall not happen to stand in the properParish." , . . .