others the repose of the heart. Our board and fireside must again become our own; we must no longer find, instead of repose, at home, the old dispute which has been settled by science and the world, nor hear from our wife or child, on our pillow, a lesson learnt by heart, and the words of another man. Women follow willingly the strong. How comes it, then, that in this case they have followed the weak? It must be that there is an art which gives strength to the weak. This dark art, which consists in surprising, fascinating, lulling, and annihilating the will, has been investigated by me in this volume. The seventeenth century had the theory of it, and ours continues the practice. are Usurpation does not make right. These persons neither stronger nor better for their furtive usurpation. The heart alone and reason give right to the strong over the weak, not indeed to weaken, but to strengthen them. The man of the present and future age will not give up woman to the influence of the man of the past. The direction* of the latter is, as I shall show, a marriage more powerful than the other; a spiritual marriage. But he who has the mind has all. To marry a woman whose soul is in the possession * This word occurs often in the work, and means "spiritual guidance;" it is deemed advisable to retain it, as an equivalent does not exist in the English language. TRANSL. of another (remember it, young man,) is to marry a divorce. Things cannot go on so. Marriage must become marriage again, and the husband must associate with his wife in the march of ideas and progress, more intimately than he has hitherto done, assisting her when weary, and helping her to advance at an equal pace. Man is not altogether innocent of what he suffers now, he must also blame himself. In this age of eager emulation and sharp research, impatient every day to advance towards the future, he has left woman behind. He has rushed forward, and she has drawn back. Let this no longer happen. Come, join hands. Do you not hear your infant cry?... You were about to seek the past and the future by different roads, but they are here: you will find them both in the cradle of this child! January 10. 1845. xlix DIVISION OF THE WORK. My course of lectures of 1844 will shortly appear, entitled "Rome and France." The subject of the present volume, mentioned in two or three of these lectures, could not be treated of in them, as the nature of the subject is too private. It presented a serious difficulty, that of speaking with propriety of a matter in which our adversaries have given proof of an incredible liberty. "Omnia munda mundis," I know very well. However, I often preferred letting them escape, when I had them in my power, to following them in the mire. First part: on Direction in the Seventeenth Century. -I have taken my historical proofs from among the purest and best of my adversaries, not among those who are the most open to reproach. The seventeenth century could furnish me with written testimony: it is the only period that has not feared to expose in broad daylight the theory of direction. I could have multiplied my quotations ad infinitum. Those who have read the History of Louis XI. know how much I value truth in the most minute details. I have quoted but little, and have accurately and care b fully verified it. The falsifiers whom, at every step in our historical studies, we catch in the fact, are marvellously bold, to speak of correctness. They may say at their ease, They shall never make us bring forward, in opposition to theirs, names noted for their loyalty." 66 Second part: Direction in general, and especially in the Nineteenth Century. A serious inquiry into contemporary facts has given me the second part for a result. I have seen, listened, and questioned; I have weighed testimonies, and compared them side by side with a great number of analogous facts, known to me for a long time past; and I have controlled, before that inward jury, my conscience, the whole of those more ancient facts, and this new inquiry. Third part: on Families. -I was far from pretending to treat this vast subject. I wanted only to point out what marriage and family are in truth, and by what means the family-hearth, disturbed by a foreign influence, may become strong again. 66 I shall conclude with a single word to my opponents. I have written without hatred. I will add willingly (just the contrary of the pagan's language): "O my enemies, there are no enemies." If this book, severe towards the priests, should have any influence on the future, they are the persons, who will most profit by it. Many among them have already pronounced this opinion, and are willing to reply to my |