CHAPTER VI

PROFESSIONS

_Introductory_—Tendencies similar to those in Industry.—Army—Church—Law closed to women. Teaching—Nursing—Medicine chiefly practised by women as domestic arts. Midwifery.

(A). _Nursing._ The sick poor nursed in lay institutions—London Hospitals—Dublin—Supplied by low class women—Women searchers for the plague—Nurses for small-pox or plague—Hired nurses in private families.

(B) _Medicine._ Women’s skill in Middle ages—Medicine practised extensively by women in seventeenth century in their families, among their friends and for the poor—Also by the village wise woman for pay—Exclusiveness of associations of physicians, surgeons and apothecaries.

(C) _Midwifery._ A woman’s profession—Earlier history unknown—Raynold’s translation of “the byrthe of mankynd.”—Relative dangers of childbirth in seventeenth and twentieth centuries—Importance of midwives—Character of their training—Jane Sharp—Nicholas Culpepper—Peter Chamberlain—Mrs. Cellier’s scheme for training—Superiority of French training—Licences of Midwives—Attitude of the Church to them—Fees—Growing tendency to displace midwives by Doctors.

_Conclusion._ Women’s position in the arts of teaching and healing lost as these arts became professional.

_Introductory._

SIMILAR tendencies to those which affected the industrial position of women can be traced in the professions also, showing that, important as was the influence of capitalistic organisation in the history of women’s evolution, other powerful factors were working in the same direction.

Three professions were closed to women in the seventeenth century, Arms, the Church and the Law.

_The Law._—It must be remembered that the mass of the “common people” were little affected by “the law” before the seventeenth century. “Common law” was the law of the nobles,[547] while farming people and artizans alike were chiefly regulated in their dealings with each other by customs depending for interpretation and sanction upon a public opinion which represented women as well as men. Therefore the changes which during the seventeenth century were abrogating customs in favour of common law, did in effect eliminate women from what was equivalent to a share in the custody and interpretation of law, which henceforward remained exclusively in the hands of men. The result of the elimination of the feminine influence is plainly shown in a succession of laws, which, in order to secure complete liberty to individual men, destroyed the collective idea of the family, and deprived married women and children of the property rights which customs had hitherto secured to them. From this time also the administration of the law becomes increasingly perfunctory in enforcing the fulfilment of men’s responsibilities to their wives and children.

Footnote 547:

_Holdsworth_, Vol. III., p. 408.

_Church_.—According to modern ideas, religion pertains more to women than to men, but this conception is new, dating from the scientific era.

Science has solved so many of the problems which in former days threatened the existence of mankind, that the “man in the street” instinctively relegates religion to the region in which visible beauty, poetry and music are still permitted to linger; to the ornamental sphere in short, whither the Victorian gentleman also banished his wife and daughters. This attitude forms a singular contrast to the ideas which prevailed in the Middle Ages, when men believed that supernatural assistance was their sole protection against the “pestilence that walketh in darkness” or from “the arrow that flieth by day.” Religion was then held to be such an awful power that there were men who even questioned whether women could, properly speaking, be considered religious at all. Even in the seventeenth century the practice of religion and the holding of correct ideas concerning it were deemed to be essential for the maintenance of human existence, and no suggestion was then made that religious observances could be adequately performed by women alone.

Ideas as to the respective appropriateness of religious power to men and women have differed widely; some races have reserved the priesthood for men, while others have recognised a special power enduing women; in the history of others again no uniform tendency is shown, but the two influences can be traced acting and reacting upon each other.

This has been the case with the Christian religion, which has combined the wide-spread worship of the Mother and Child with a passionate splitting of hairs by celibate priests in dogmatic controversies concerning intellectual abstractions. The worship of the Mother and Child had been extirpated in England before the beginning of the seventeenth century; pictures of this subject were denounced because they showed the Divine Son under the domination of a woman. One writer accuses the Jesuits of representing Christ always “as a sucking child in his mothers armes”—“nay, that is nothing they make him an underling to a woman,” alleging that “the Jesuits assert (1) no man, but a woman did helpe God in the work of our Redemption, (2) that God made Mary partaker and fellow with him of his divine Majesty and power, (3) that God hath divided his Kingdom with Mary, keeping Justice to himselfe, and yielding mercy to her.” He complains that “She is always set forth as a woman and a mother, and he as a child and infant, either in her armes, or in her hand, that so the common people might have occasion to imagine that looke, what power of overruling and commanding the mother hath over her little child, the same hath she over her son Jesus ... the mother is compared to the son, not as being a child or a man, but as the saviour and mediator, and the paps of a woman equalled with the wounds of our Lord, and her milke with his blood.... But for her the holy scriptures speake no more of her, but as of a creature, a woman ... saved by Faith in her Saviour Jesus Christ ... and yet now after 1600 yeares she must still be a commanding mother and must show her authority over him ... she must be saluted as a lady, a Queen, a goddesse and he as a child.”[548]

Footnote 548:

_C.W._ 1641. _The Bespotted Jesuite._

The ridicule with which Peter Heylin treated the worship of the Virgin Mary in France seems to have been pointed more at the notion of honouring motherhood, rather than at the distinction given to her as a woman, for he wrote “if they will worship her as a Nurse with her Child in her arms, or at her breast, let them array her in such apparel as might beseem a Carpenter’s Wife, such as she might be supposed to have worn before the world had taken notice that she was the Mother of her Saviour. If they must needs have her in her state of glory as at Amiens; or of honour (being now publikely acknowledged to be the blessedness among Women) as at Paris: let them disburden her of her Child. To clap them thus both together, is a folly equally worthy of scorn & laughter.”[549]

Footnote 549:

Heylin (Peter), _The Voyage of France_, p. 29, 1673.

The reform which had swept away the worship of divine motherhood had also abolished the enforced celibacy of the priesthood; but the priest’s wife was given no position in the Church, and a tendency may be noted towards the secularisation of all women’s functions. Convents and nunneries were abolished, and no institutions which might specially assist women in the performance of their spiritual, educational or charitable duties were established in their place. There was, in fact, a deep jealousy of any influence which might disturb the authority and control which the individual husband exercised over his wife, and probably the seventeenth century Englishman was beginning to realise that nothing would be so subversive to this authority as the association of women together for religious purposes. If a recognised position was given to women in the Church, their lives must inevitably receive an orientation which would not necessarily be identical with their husband’s, thus creating a danger of conflicting loyalties. Naturally, therefore, women were excluded from any office, but it would be a mistake to suppose that their subordination to their husbands in religious matters was rigidly enforced throughout this period. Certainly in the first half of the century their freedom of thought in religion was usually taken for granted, and possibly amongst the Baptists, certainly amongst the Quakers, full spiritual equality was accorded to them. Women were universally admitted to the sacraments, and therefore recognised as being, in some sort, members of the Church, but this was consistent with the view of their position to which Milton’s well known lines in “Paradise Lost” give perfect expression, the ideal which, in all subsequent social and political changes, was destined to determine women’s position in Church and State:—

“Whence true authoritie in men, though both Not equal, as their sex not equal seem’d, For contemplation hee and valour form’d For softness shee, and sweet attractive Grace, Hee for God only, shee for God in him:

* * * * To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adornd My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst Unargu’d I obey; so God ordains, God is thy Law, thou mine; to know no more Is woman’s happiest knowledge and her praise.”

Nevertheless, though excluded from any position in the hierarchy of recognised servants of the Church, it must not be supposed that the Church was independent of women’s service. To their hands necessity rather than the will of man had entrusted a duty, which when unfulfilled makes all the complicated organisation of the Church impotent; namely, the bending of the infant mind and soul towards religious ideals and emotions. The lives of the reformers of the seventeenth century bear witness to the faithfulness with which women accomplished this task. In many cases their religious labours were extended beyond the care of their children, embracing the whole household for their field of service. The life of Letice, Viscountess Falkland, gives an example of the sense of responsibility under which many religious women lived. Lady Falkland passed about an hour with her maids, early every morning “in praying, and catechizing and instructing them; to these secret and private prayers, the publick morning and evening prayers of the Church, before dinner and supper; and another form (together with reading Scriptures and singing Psalms) before bedtime, were daily and constantly added ... neither were these holy offices appropriate to her menial servants, others came freely to joyn with them, and her Oratory was as open to her neighbours as her Hall was ... her Servants were all moved to accompany her to the Sacrament, and they who were prevailed with gave up their names to her, two or three dayes before, and from thence, she applied herself to the instructing of them ... and after the Holy Sacrament she called them together again and gave them such exhortations as were proper for them.”[550]

Footnote 550:

_Falkland, Lady Letice, Vi-countess, Life and Death of._

The quarrel between Church and State over the teaching profession is an old story which does not concern this investigation. It is sufficient to note that in England neither Church nor State considered that the work of women in training the young entitled them to a recognised position in the general social organisation, or required any provision apart from the casual arrangements of family life.

_Teaching._—The question of the standard and character of the education given to girls is too large a subject to be entered into here; it can only be remarked that the number of professional paid women teachers was small. The natural aptitude of the average woman for training the young, however, enabled mothers to provide their children, both boys and girls, with a very useful foundation of elementary education.

The professions of medicine, midwifery and nursing are very closely allied to each other; for neither was there any system of instruction on a scientific basis available for women, whose practice was thus empirical; but as yet science had done little to improve the skill even of the male practitioner.

_Nursing._—Nursing was almost wholly a domestic art.

_Medicine._—Though we find many references to women who practised medicine and surgery as professions, in the majority of cases their skill was used only for the assistance of their family and neighbours.

_Midwifery._—Midwifery was upon a different footing, standing out as the most important public function exercised by women, and being regarded as their inviolable mystery till near the beginning of the seventeenth century. The steady process through which in this profession women were then supplanted by men, furnishes an example of the way in which women have lost their hold upon all branches of skilled responsible work, through being deprived of opportunities for specialised training.

The relative deterioration of woman’s capacity in comparison with the standard of men’s efficiency cannot be more clearly shown than in the history of midwifery. Even though the actual skill of midwives may not have declined during the seventeenth century men were rapidly surpassing them in scientific knowledge, for the general standard of women’s education was declining, and they were debarred from access to the higher branches of learning. As the absence of technical training kept women out of the skilled trades, so did the lack of scientific education drive them from the more profitable practice of midwifery, which in former times tradition and prejudice had reserved as their monopoly.

A. _Nursing._

Whatever arrangements had been made by the religious orders in England for the care of the sick poor were swept away by the Reformation. The provision which existed in the seventeenth century for this purpose rested on a lay basis, quite unconnected with the Church. Amongst the most famous charitable institutions were the four London Hospitals; Christ’s Hospital for children under the age of sixteen, St. Bartholomew’s and St. Thomas’s for the sick and impotent poor, and Bethlehem for the insane.

There is no evidence that the women of the upper classes took any part in the management of these hospitals. The squalor and the ugly and disgusting details which are associated with nursing the diseased and often degraded poor, was unredeemed by the radiance with which a mystic realisation of the Divine Presence had upheld the Catholic Saints, or by the passionate desire for the service of humanity which inspired Florence Nightingale. Thus it was only the necessity for earning their daily bread which induced any women to enter the profession of nursing during this period, and as the salaries offered were considerably lower than the wages earned by a competent servant in London, it may be supposed that the class attracted did not represent the most efficient type of women.

The rules appointed for the governance of nurses show that the renunciations of a nun’s life were required of them, but social opinion in Protestant England set no seal of excellence upon their work, however faithfully performed, and the sacrifices demanded from the nurses were unrewarded by the crown of victory.

During the reign of Edward VI. there were a matron and twelve sisters at St. Bartholomew’s who received in wages £26 6s. 8d. In addition the matron received 1s. 6d. per week for board wages and the sisters 1s. 4d. per week, and between them £6 per year for livery, while the matron received 13s. 4d. for this purpose.[551] The rules for the governance of the sisters were as follows:—“Your charge is, in all Things to declare and shew yourselves gentle, diligent, and obedient to the Matron of this House, who is appointed and authorised to be your chief Governess and Ruler. Ye shall also faithfully and charitably serve and help the Poor in all their Griefs and Diseases, as well by keeping them sweet and clean, as in giving them their Meats and Drinks, after the most honest and comfortable Manner. Also ye shall use unto them good and honest Talk, such as may comfort and amend them; and utterly to avoid all light, wanton, and foolish Words, Gestures, and Manners, using yourselves unto them with all Sobriety and Discretion, and above all Things, see that ye avoid, abhor, and detest Scolding and Drunkenness as most pestilent and filthy Vices. Ye shall not haunt or resort to any manner of Person out of this House, except ye be licensed by the Matron; neither shall ye suffer any light Person to haunt or use unto you, neither any dishonest Person, Man or Woman; and so much as in you shall lie, ye shall avoid and shun the Conversation and Company of all Men. Ye shall not be out of the Woman’s Ward after the Hour of seven of the Clock in the Night, in the Winter Time, nor after Nine of the Clock in the Night in the Summer: except ye shall be appointed and commanded by the Matron so to be, for some great and special cause that shall concern the Poor, (as the present Danger of Death or extreme Sickness), and yet so being commanded, ye shall remain no longer with such diseased Person than just Cause shall require. Also, if any just Cause of Grief shall fortune unto any of you, or that ye shall see Lewdness in any Officer, of other Person of this House, which may sound or grow to the Hurt or Slander thereof, ye shall declare the same to the Matron, or unto one or two of the Govenours of this House, that speedy Remedy therein may be had; and to no other Person neither shall ye talk or meddle therein any farther. This is your Charge, and with any other Thing you are not charged.”[552]

Footnote 551:

Stow, _London_, I., pp. 185-186.

Footnote 552:

Stow, _London_, app., p. 58.

The Matron was instructed to “receive of the Hospitaler of this House all such sick and diseased Persons as he ... shall present unto you,” and to “have also Charge, Governance & Order of all the Sisters of this House ... that every of them ... do their Duty unto the Poor, as well in making of their Beds, and keeping their Wards, as also in washing and purging their unclean Cloaths, and other Things. And that the same Sisters every night after the Hour of seven of the Clock in the Winter, and nine of the Clock in the Summer, come not out of the Woman’s Ward, except some great and special Cause (as the present Danger of Death, or needful Succour of some poor Person). And yet at such a special time it shall not be lawful for every Sister to go forth to any Person or Persons (no tho’ it be in her Ward) but only for such as you shall think virtuous, godly, and discreet. And the same Sister to remain no longer with the same sick Person then needful Cause shall require. Also at such times as the Sisters shall not be occupied about the Poor, ye shall set them to spinning or doing some other Manner of Work, that may avoid Idleness, and be profitable to the Poor of this House. Also ye shall receive the Flax ... the same being spun by the Sisters, ye shall commit to the said Governors.... You shall also ... have special Regard to the good ordering & keeping of all the Sheets, Coverlets, Blankets, Beds, and other Implements committed to your Charge, ... Also ye shall suffer no poor Person of this House to sit and drink within your House at no Time, neither shall ye so send them drink into their Wards, that thereby Drunkenness might be used and continued among them.”[553]

Footnote 553:

Stow, _London_, App., pp. 57-58.

In Christ’s Hospital there were two Matrons with salaries of £2 13s. 4d. per annum and forty-two women keepers with salaries of 40s. per annum. Board wages were allowed at the rate of 1s. 4d. per week for the “keepers” and 1s. 6d. for the Matrons. There was one keeper for fifteen persons.[554] The Matron was advised “Your office is an office of great charge and credite. For to yow is committed the Governance and oversight of all the women and children within this Hospital. And also to yow is given Authoritie to commaunde, reprove, and rebuke them or any of them.... Your charge is also to searche and enquire whether the women do their Dutie, in washing of the children’s sheets and shirts, and in kepeing clean and sweet those that are committed to their Charge; and also in the Beddes, Sheets, Coverlets, and Apparails (with kepeing clean Wards and Chambers) mending of such as shall be broken from Time to Time. And specially yow shall give diligent Hede, that the said Washers and Nurses of this Howse be alwaies well occupied and not idle; ... you shal also once every Quarter of the Year examine the Inventorie.”[555]

Footnote 554:

_Ibid._ I., pp. 175-6.

Footnote 555:

Stow, _London_, app., p. 42.

The nurses were instructed that they must “carefully and diligently oversee, kepe, and governe all those tender Babes & yonglings that shal be committed to your Charge, and the same holesomely, cleanely and swetely nourishe and bring up ... kepe your Wardes and every Part thereof swete and cleane ... avoid all Idleness when your Charge and Care of keping the Children is past, occupie yourselves in Spinning, Sewing, mending of Sheets and Shirts, or some other vertuous Exercise, such as you shal be appointed unto. Ye shal not resort or suffer any Man to resort to you, before ye have declared the same to the almoners or Matron of this Howse and obtained their Lycense and Favour, so to do ... see that all your children, before they be brought to Bed, be washed and cleane, and immediately after, every one of yow quietly shal go to your Bed, and not to sit up any longer; and once every night arise, and see that the Children be covered, for taking of Colde.”[556]

Footnote 556:

Stow, _London_, app., p. 43.

Some idea of the class of women who actually undertook the important duties of Matron for the London Hospitals may be gathered from a petition presented by Joane Darvole, Matron of St. Thomas’s Hospital, Southwark, to Laud. She alleged “that she was dragged out of the Chapel of the Hospital at service and dragged along the streets to prison for debt, to the hazard of her life,” she being a “very weak sickly and aged woman,” clothes torn from her back and cast into a swoon. She petitions against the profanation of God’s house and the scandal to the congregation.[557]

Footnote 557:

_S.P.D._, cccclv., 87., May 30th, 1640.

Sick and wounded soldiers were tended at the Savoy, where there were thirteen Sisters, whose joint salaries amounted to £52 16s. 8d. per annum.[558] Among the orders for the patients, nurses and widows in the Savoy and other hospitals in and about London occur the following regulations:—4ᵗʰˡʸ “That every soldier or nurse ... that shall profanely sweare” to pay 12d. for the first offence, 12d. for the second, and be expelled for the third. 8ᵗʰˡʸ “That if any souldier shall marye any of the nurses of the said houses whilst hee is there for care or (recov)ery they both shall be turned forth of the House. 11ᵗʰˡʸ No soldier under cure to have their (wiv)es lodge with them there except by the approbation of the Phisicion. 12ᵗʰˡʸ No nurse to be dismissed without the approval of 2 of the Treasurers for the relief of maimed soldiers at least. Nurses to be chosen from among the widows of soldiers if there are among them those that be fit, and those to have 5s. per weeke as others usually have had for the service. 14ᵗʰˡʸ soldiers, wounded and sick, outside the hospitals not to have more than 4s. per week. Those in St. Thomas’s and Bartholomew’s hospital 2s. a week, those in their parents’, masters’ or friends’ houses, according to their necessities, but not more than 4s. per week. 15ᵗʰˡʸ Soldiers’ widows to receive according to their necessities, but not more than 4s. a week. 19ᵗʰˡʸ If any of the nurses ... shalbee negligent in their duties or in giving due attendance to the ... sicke souldiers by daye or night or shall by scoulding, brawlinge or chidinge make any disturbance in the said hospitall, she shall forfeite 12d. for 1st offence, week’s pay for second, be dismissed for the third. 20ᵗʰˡʸ If any widow after marriage shall come and receive weekly pensions as a soldier’s widow contrary to the ordinance of parlᵗ he which hath married her to repay it, & if he is unable she shall be complained of to the nearest J.P. and be punished as a de(ceiver).”[559]

Footnote 558:

Stow, _London_ I., p. 211.

Footnote 559:

_S.P.D._, dxxxix, 231., November 15, 1644.

There was one nurse for every ten patients in the Dublin hospitals, and the salary was £10 per annum, out of which she had to find her board.[560]

Footnote 560:

_S.P.D._, Interreg: I, 62, p. 633., 17 Aug., 1649.

The opportunity which the hospitals afforded for training in the art of nursing was entirely wasted. The idea that the personal tending of the sick and forlorn poor would be a religious service of special value in the sight of God had vanished, and their care, no longer transformed by the devotion of religious enthusiasm, appeared a sordid duty, only fit for the lowest class in the community. Well-to-do men relieved their consciences by bequeathing money for the endowment of hospitals, but the sense of social responsibility was not fostered in girls, and the expression of charitable instincts was almost confined in the case of women to their personal relations.

Outside the hospitals employment was given to a considerable number of women in the tending of persons stricken with small-pox or the plague, and in searching corpses for signs of the plague. London constables and churchwardens were ordered in 1570 “to provide to have in readiness Women to be Provyders & Deliverers of necessaries to infected Howses, and to attend the infected Persons, and they to bear reed Wandes, so that the sick maie be kept from the whole, as nere as maie be, needful attendance weyed.”[561]

Footnote 561:

Stow, _London_, V., p. 433.

In the town records of Reading it is noted “at this daye Marye Jerome Wydowe was sworn to be a viewer and searcher of all the bodyes that shall dye within this boroughe, and truly to report and certifye to her knowledge of what disease they dyed, etc.; and Anne Lovejoy widowe, jurata, 4ˢ a weeke a peice, allowing iiijs. a moneth after.”[562] “Mary Holte was sworne to be a searcher of the dead bodyes hencefovrth dyeinge within the boroughe (being thereunto required) having iiijs. a weeke for her wages, and iiid. a corps carryeing to buryall, and iiijs. a weeke a moneth after the ceassinge of the plague.”[563]

Footnote 562:

Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 241, 1625.

Footnote 563:

_Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 244, 1625.

In 1637 it was “agreed ... with old Frewyn and his wief, that she shall presentlye goe into the house of Henry Merrifeild and be aidinge & helpinge to the said Merrifeild and his wief, during the time of their visitacion [plague].... She shall have dyett with them, and six weekes after their visitacion ended. And old Frewin to have 2s. a week duringe all that tyme paid him, and 2s. in hand. And she shall have 2ˢ a weeke kept for her & paid her in th’end of the sixe weekes after.”[564] Later “it was thought fitt the Woman keeper and Merifielde’s wenche in the Pest-house, it beinge above vj weekes past since any one dyed there, should be at libertie and goe hence to her husbande’s house, she havinge done her best endevour to ayre and cleanse all the beddes & beddinge & other things in both the houses ... for her mayntenance vj weekes after the ceassinge of the sicknes, she keepinge the wenche with her, they shalbe paid 3s. a weeke for and towardes their mayntenance duringe the vj weekes.”[565] In 1639 the Council “Agree to geve the Widowe Lovejoye in full satisfaccion for all her paynes taken in and about the visited people in this Towne in this last visitacion xls. in money, and cloth to make her a kirtle and a wascote, and their favour towards her two sonnes-in-lawe (beinge forreynours) about their fredome.”[566] On a petition in 1641 from Widow Lovejoy “for better allowance & satisfaction for her paines aboute the visited people; ... it was agreed that she shall have xxxs. soe soone as the taxe for the visited people is made uppe.”[567]

Footnote 564:

_Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 371.

Footnote 565:

_Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 384, 1637.

Footnote 566:

Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. III., p. 459.

Footnote 567:

_Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 8.

In rural districts where hospitals were seldom within reach, entries are not infrequently found in the parish account books of payments made to women for nursing the poor. “Item. To Mother Middleton for twoe nights watchinge with Widow Coxe’s child being sick.”[568] “To Goody Halliday, for nursing him & his family 5 weeks £1 5; to Goody Nye, for assisting in nursing, 2s. 6d.[569] ... to Goody Peckham for nursing a beggar, 5s. For nursing Wickham’s boy with the small pocks 12s.”[570] A Hertfordshire parish paid a woman 15s. for her attendance during three weeks on a woman and her illegitimate child.[571] A Morton man was ordered to pay out of his next half-year’s rent for the grounds he farmed of Isabelle Squire “20s. to Margt. Squire, who attended and looked to her half a year during the time of her distraction.”[572]

Footnote 568:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XXIII., p. 90. _Hastings Documents_, 1601.

Footnote 569:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XX., p. 117. _Acc. Book of Cowden,_ 1704.

Footnote 570:

_Ibid._ p. 118.

Footnote 571:

_Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 435, 1698.

Footnote 572:

Atkinson, J. C., _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. VII., p. 91. 1688.

Sometimes nurses were provided for the poor by religious and charitable ladies, who, like Letice, Viscountess Falkland, “hired nurses to serve them.”[573] Sick nurses were also engaged by well-to-do people to attend upon themselves or their servants. Thus the Rev. Giles Moore enters in his journal “My mayde being sicke I payd for opening her veine 4d. to the Widdow Rugglesford, for looking to her, I gave 1s. and to old Bess for tending her 3 days and 2 nights I gave 1ˢ; in all 2ˢ 4ᵈ.”[574] A little later, when the writer himself was “in an ague. Paid Goodwyfe Ward for being necessary to me 1s.”[575] Though his daughter was with him, a nurse watched in the chamber when Colonel Hutchinson died in the prison at Dover.[576]

Footnote 573:

_Falkland, Lady Letice, Vi-countess, Life and Death of._

Footnote 574:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 72. _Rev. Giles Moore’s Journal._

Footnote 575:

_Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 100. 1667.

Footnote 576:

_Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 377.

A few extracts from account books will supply further details as to the usual scale of remuneration for nurses; no doubt in each case the money given was in addition to meat and drink. Sarah Fell enters “by mᵒ given Ann Daniell for her paines about Rachell Yeamans when she died 05.00.”[577] Timothy Burrell “pd. Gosmark for tending Mary 3 weeks 6s.”[578] Lady Grisell Baillie engaged a special nurse for her daughter Rachy at a fee of 5s.[579] At Herstmonceux Castle they “pd Hawkin’s wife for tending the sick maiden 10 days 3s. Pd. Widdow Weeks for tending sick seruants a fortnight 4s.”[580] Sir John Foulis in Scotland paid “to Ketherin in pᵗ paymᵗ & till account for her attendance on me the time of my sickness 12. 0. 0” [scots].[581] “To Katherine tueddie in compleat paymᵗ for her attendance on me wⁿ I was sick 20. 0. 0.” [scots].[582] “To my good douchter jennie to give tibbie tomsone for her attendance on my wife the time of her sickness 5. 16. 0. [scots].”[583]

Footnote 577:

Fell (Sarah), _Household Accounts_, p. 285. June 20, 1676.

Footnote 578:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. III., p. 123. _Journal of Timothy Burrell._ 1688.

Footnote 579:

_Baillie, Lady Grisell, Household Book._ Intro. lxvii.

Footnote 580:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XLVIII., p. 121. 1643-1649.

Footnote 581:

Foulis, Sir John, _Account Book_, p. 346. May 23, 1704.

Footnote 582:

_Ibid._ p. 396. August 22, 1705.

Footnote 583:

_Ibid._ p. 314. January 28, 1703.

All the above instances refer to professional nursing; that is to say to the tending of the sick for wages, but nursing was more often of an unprofessional character. Sickness was rife in all classes, and for the most part the sick were tended by the women of their household or family. The claim for such assistance was felt beyond the limits of kinship, and in the village community each woman would render it to her neighbour without thought of reward. The solidarity of the community was a vital tradition to the village matron of the early seventeenth century, and it was only in cases of exceptional isolation or difficulty, or where the sick person was a stranger or an outcast that the services of a paid nurse were called in. Probably the standard of efficiency was higher in domestic than in professional nursing, because professional nurses received no systematic training. Their rate of remuneration was low, the essential painfulness of their calling was not concealed by the glamour of a religious vocation, still less was it rewarded by any social distinction. Therefore the women who took up nursing for their livelihood did so from necessity, and were drawn from the lower classes.

Illness was so frequent in the seventeenth century that few girls can have reached maturity without the opportunity of practising the art of nursing at home; but amongst the “common people,” that is to say all the class of independent farmers and tradesmen, the housewife can hardly have found time to perfect her skill in nursing to a fine art. Probably the highest level was reached in the households of the gentry, where idleness was not yet the accepted hall-mark of a lady, and the mistress felt herself to be responsible for the training of her children and servants in every branch of the domestic arts, amongst which were reckoned both medicine and nursing.

B. _Surgery and Medicine._

The position held by mediæval women in the arts of healing is shown in such books as Mallory’s “Morte d’Arthur.” When wounds proved intractable to the treatment of the rough and ready surgeons who attended in the vicinity of tourneys, knights sought help from some high-born lady renowned for her skill in medicine. It is true that popular belief assigned her success to witchcraft rather than to the knowledge and understanding acquired by diligent study and experience, but a tendency to faith in the occult was universal, and the reputation of the ladies probably bore some relation to their success in the cures attempted, for, according to the author of “The Golden Bough,” science is the lineal descendant of witchcraft. The position of pre-eminence as consultants was no longer retained by women in the seventeenth century. Schools and Universities had been founded, where men could study medicine and anatomy, and thus secure for themselves a higher standard of knowledge and efficiency; but, though women were excluded from these privileges they were not yet completely ousted from the medical profession, and as a domestic art medicine was still extensively practised by them.

Every housewife was expected to understand the treatment of the minor ailments at least of her household, and to prepare her own drugs. Commonplace books of this period contain recipes for making mulberry syrup, preserving fruit and preparing meats, mingled with, for example, prescriptions for plague water, which is “very good against the plague, the small-pox, the measles, surfeitts ... and is of a sovereign nature to be given in any sickness.” “An oyle good for any ach—and ointments for sore eyes or breasts, or stone in the kidney or bladder.” And in addition, “my brother Jones his way of making inks.”[584] “The Ladies Dispensatory” contains “the Natures, Vertues and Qualities of all Herbs, and Simples usefull in Physick. Reduced into a Methodical Order,” the diseases to be treated including those of men, as well as women and children.[585]

Footnote 584:

_Add. MSS._ 36308.

Footnote 585:

Sowerby (Leonard). _The Ladies’ Dispensatory._ 1651.

As was the case in other domestic arts, girls depended for their training in medicine chiefly on the tradition they received from their mothers, but this was reinforced from other sources as occasion offered. “The Ladies Dispensatory” was not the only handbook published for their use; sometimes, though schools were closed to women, an opportunity occurred for private coaching. Thus Sarah Fell entered in her account book, “July ʸᵉ 5º 1674 by mᵒ to Bro: Loweʳ yᵗ hee gave Thomas Lawson foʳ comeinge over hitheʳ to Instruct him & sistʳˢ, in the knowledge of herbs. 10.00,”[586] and when Mrs. Hutchinson’s husband was Governor of the Tower she allowed Sir Walter Raleigh and Mr. Ruthin during their imprisonment to make experiments in chemistry “at her cost, partly to comfort and divert the poor prisoners, and partly to gain the knowledge of their experiments, and the medicines to help such poor people as were not able to seek physicians. By these means she acquired a great deal of skill, which was very profitable to many all her life.”[587]

Footnote 586:

Fell, (Sarah). _Household Accounts_, p. 95. July 5, 1674.

Footnote 587:

_Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 12.

Neither did ladies confine their services to their own household, but extended their benefits to all their suffering neighbours. The care of the sick poor was considered to be one of the duties of a “Person of Quality,” whose housekeepers were expected “to have a competent knowledge in Physick and Chyrurgery, that they may be able to help their maimed, sick and indigent Neighbours; for Commonly, all good and charitable Ladies make this a part of their Housekeepers business.”[588] The “Good Woman” is described as one who “distributes among the Indigent, Money and Books, and Cloaths, and Physick, as their severall Circumstances may require,” to relieve “her poorer Neighbours in sudden Distress, when a Doctor is not at Hand, or when they have no Money to buy what may be necessary for them; and the charitableness of her Physick is often attended by some cure or other that is remarkable. God gives a _peculiar Blessing_ to the Practice of those Women who have no other design in this Matter, but the doing Good: that neither prescribe where they may have the Advice of the Learned, nor at any time give or recommend any thing to try Experiments, but what they are assured from former Tryals is safe and innocent; and if it do not help cannot hurt.”[589]

Footnote 588:

_Compleat Servant-maid_, p. 40.

Footnote 589:

Rogers, Timothy. _Character of a Good Woman_, p. 42-43.

The provision made by Lady Falkland of “antidotes against infection and of Cordials, and other several sorts of Physick for such of her Neighbours as should need them, amounted yearly to very considerable summes ... her skil indeed was more than ordinary, and her wariness too.... Bookes of spiritual exhortations, she carried in her hand to these sick persons.”[590] Mrs. Elizabeth Bedell “was very famous and expert in Chirurgery, which she continually practised upon multitudes that flock’d to her, and still _gratis_, without respect of persons, poor or rich. It hapned occasionally that some would return like the heald Samaritan, with some token of thankfulness; though this was seldom. But God did not fail to reward them with (that which in Scripture is most properly call’d his reward) children, and the fruit of the womb. 3 sons and 4 daughters.”[591]

Footnote 590:

_Falkland, Lady Lettice, Vi-countess, The Life and Death of._

Footnote 591:

_Bedell, (Wm.), Life and Death of_, p. 2.

Expressions of gratitude to women for these medical services occur in letters and diaries of the time. The Rev. R. Josselin enters January 27th, 1672, “My L. Honeywood sent her coach for me: yᵗ I stayd to March 10, in wᶜʰ time my Lady was my nurse & Phisitian & I hope for much good: ... they considered yᵉ scurvy. I tooke purge & other things for it;”[592] Marmaduke Rawdon met with a carriage accident, in which he strained his “arme, but comminge to Hodsden his good cossen Mrs. Williams, with hir arte and care, quickly cured itt, and in ten dayes was well againe.”[593]

Footnote 592:

Jonson, (Ben.), _The Alchemist_, Act IV. Sc. I.

Footnote 593:

Josselin, (R.), _Diary_, pp. 163-4.

Nor was the practice of medicine confined to Gentlewomen; many a humble woman in the country, the wife of farmer or husbandman, used her skill for the benefit of her neighbours. In their case, though many were prompted purely by motives of kindness and goodwill, others received payment for their services. How much the dependence of the common people on the skill of these “wise women” was taken for granted is suggested by some lines in “The Alchemist,” where Mammon assures Dol Common

“This nook, here, of the Friers is no Climate For her to live obscurely in, to learne Physick, and Surgery, for the Constable’s wife Of some odde Hundred in Essex.”[594]

Footnote 594:

_Rawdon, (Marmaduke), Life of_, p. 85.

Though their work was entirely unscientific, experience and common sense, or perhaps mere luck, often gave to their treatment an appearance of success which was denied to their more learned rivals. Thus Adam Martindale describing his illness says that it was “a vehement fermentation in my body ... ugly dry scurfe, eating deep and spreading broad. Some skilfull men, or so esteemed, being consulted and differing much in their opinions, we were left to these three bad choices ... in this greate straite God sent us in much mercie a poore woman, who by a salve made of nothing but Celandine and a little of the Mosse of an ashe root, shred and boyled in May-butter, tooke it cleare away in a short time, and though after a space there was some new breakings out, yet these being annointed with the same salve ... were absolutely cleared away.”[595]

Footnote 595:

_Martindale (Adam), Life of_, p. 21. 1632.

The general standard of efficiency among the men who professed medicine and surgery was very low, the chief work of the ordinary country practitioner being the letting of blood, and the wise woman of the village may easily have been his superior in other forms of treatment. Sir Ralph Verney, writing to his wife advises her to “give the child no phisick but such as midwives and old women, with the doctors approbation, doe prescribe; for assure yourselfe they by experience know better than any phisition how to treate such infants.”[596] Of Hobbes it was said that he took little physick and preferred “an experienced old woman” to the “most learned and inexperienced physician.”[597]

Footnote 596:

_Verney Family_, Vol. 2, p. 270. 1647.

Footnote 597:

_Dictionary of National Biography._

Dr. Turbeville, a noted oculist in the West Country, was sent for to cure the Princess of Denmark, who had a dangerous inflammation of the eyes. On his return he is reported to have said that “he expected to learn something of these Court doctors, but, to his amazement he found them only spies upon his practice, and wholly ignorant as to the lady’s case; nay, farther, he knew several midwives and old women, whose advice he would rather follow than theirs.”[598] He died at Sarum in 1696, and his sister, Mrs. Mary Turbeville, practised afterwards in London “with good reputation and success. She has all her brother’s receipts, and having seen his practice, during many years, knows how to use them. For my part, I have so good an opinion of her skill that should I again be afflicted with sore eyes, which God forbid! I would rely upon her advice rather than upon any pretenders or professors in London or elsewhere.”[599]

Footnote 598:

Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 465.

Footnote 599:

Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 467.

Events, however, were taking place which would soon curtail the practice of women whose training was confined to personal experience, tradition and casual study. The established associations of physicians, surgeons and apothecaries, although of recent growth, demanded and obtained, like other companies, exclusive privileges. Their policy fell in with the Government’s desire to control the practice of medicine, in order to check witchcraft. Statute 3, Henry VIII., enacted that “none should exercise the Faculty of Physick or Surgery within the City of _London_ or within Seven Miles of the same, unless first he were examined, approved and admitted by the Bishop of _London_, or the Dean of _St. Paul’s_, calling to him or them Four Doctors of Physick, and for Surgery other expert Persons in that Faculty, upon pain of Forfeiture of £5 for every Month they should occupy Physick or Surgery, not thus admitted” because “that common Artificers, as Smiths, Weavers, and Women, boldly and accustomably took upon them great Cures, and Things of great Difficulty, in the which they partly used Sorceries and Witchcraft, and

## partly applied such Medicines unto the Diseased, as were very noyous,

and nothing meet therefore.”[600]

Footnote 600:

Stow, _London_ I., p. 132.

The restrictions were extended to the provinces. A Charter given to the Company of Barber-Surgeons at Salisbury in 1614 declared that “No surgeon or barber is to practise any surgery or barbery, unless first made a free citizen, and then a free brother of the company. Whereas, also, there are divers women and others within this city, altogether unskilled in the art of chirurgery, who do oftentimes take cures on them, to the great danger of the patient, it is therefore ordered, that no such woman, or any other, shall take or meddle with any cure of chirurgery, wherefore they, or any of them shall have or take any money, benefit or other reward for the same, upon pain that every delinquent shall for every cure to be taken in hand, or meddled with, contrary to this order, unless she or they shall be first allowed by this Company, forfeit and lose to the use of this Company the sum of ten shillings.”[601]

Footnote 601:

Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 341.

The Apothecaries were separated from the Grocers in 1617, the charter of their company providing that “No person or persons whatsoever may have, hold, or keep an Apothecaries Shop or Warehouse, or that may exercise or use the Art or Mystery of Apothecaries, or make, mingle, work, compound, prepare, give, apply, or administer, any Medicines, or that may sell, set on sale, utter, set forth, or lend any Compound or Composition to any person or persons whatsoever within the City of London, and the Liberties thereof, or within Seven Miles of the said city, unless such person or persons as have been brought up, instructed, and taught by the space of Seven Years at the least, as Apprentice or Apprentices, with some Apothecary or Apothecaries exercising the same Art, and being a Freeman of the said Mystery.” Any persons wishing to become an Apothecary must be examined and approved after his apprenticeship.[602]

Footnote 602:

Barrett, _History of Apothecaries_, Intro., p. xxxii.

It will be observed that there is little in their charters to distinguish the medical from other city Companies, and while the examination required by the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery in the City of London excluded women altogether, the Apothecaries still admitted them by marriage or apprenticeship. “Mʳⁱˢ Lammeere Godfrey Villebranke her son both Dutch Pothecarys” are included in a certificate made by the Justices of the Peace to the Privy Council, of the foreigners residing in the Liberty of Westminster.[603] A journeyman who applied for the freedom of the company, stated that he was serving the widow of an apothecary. His application was refused time after time through difficulties owing to a clause in the Charter. Counsel’s opinion was taken, and finally he was admitted provided he kept a journeyman and entered into a bond of £100 to perform the same, that he gave £10 and a spoon to the Company, took the oaths and paid Counsel’s fees.[604] He subsequently married the widow. Similar rules obtained in the provinces, as is shown by the admittance of Thomas Serne in 1698-9 to the freedom of the City of Dorchester on payment of 40s. because he had “married a wife who had lived as apprentice for 20 years to an apothecary.”[605]

Footnote 603:

_S.P.D._, ccc., 75., October 1635.

Footnote 604:

Barrett, _History of Apothecaries_, pp. 28-9.

Footnote 605:

Mayo, C. H., _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 428.

The jurisdiction of companies was local, and where no company existed boys were apprenticed to surgery for the sake of training, though such an apprenticeship conferred no monopoly privilege. Surgery was sometimes combined with another trade. John Croker describes in his memoir how he was bound apprentice in 1686 to one John Shilson “by trade a serge-maker, but who also professed surgery; with whom I went to be instructed in the art of surgery.”[606] The operation of these various Statutes and Charters being local and their enforcement depending upon the energy of the parties interested, it is difficult to determine what was their actual and immediate effect on the medical practice of women. Statute 3, Henry VIII., must have been enforced with some severity, for a later one declares “Sithence the making of which said Act the companie & felowship of surgeons of London, minding oonly their own lucres, and nothing the profit or ease of the diseased or patient, have sued, troubled and vexed divers honest persons as well men as women, whom God hath endued with the knowledge of the nature, kind, and operation of certain herbes, roots and waters, and the using & ministering of them to such as been pained with customable diseases, as women’s breasts being sore, a pin and the web in the eye, &c., &c., and yet the said persons have not taken any thing for their pains or cunning.”[607]

Footnote 606:

Croker, (John), _Brief Memoirs_, p. 5.

Footnote 607:

_Statutes at Large._ 34 Henry VIII. C. 8.

Not only the Surgeons but the Apothecaries also, enforced observance of the privileges which the King had granted to them, and in consequence a Petition of many thousands of citizens and inhabitants in and about London was presented on behalf of Mr. William Trigg, Practitioner of Physick, saying that he “did abundance of good to all sorts of people in and about this City: when most of the Colledge Doctors deserted us, since which time your Petitioners have for above twenty yeares, in their severall times of Sicknesses, and infirmities taken Physick from him ... in which time, we doe verily believe in our consciences, that he hath done good to above thirty thousand Persons; and that he maketh all his Compositions himselfe, not taking anything for his Physick from poor people; but rather releiving their necessities, nor any money from any of us for his advice; and but moderately for his Physick: his custome being to take from the middle sort of Patients 12d., 18d., 2s., 2s. 6d. as they please to give, very seldom five shillings unlesse from such as take much Physick with them together into the Countrey ... there is a good and wholesome law made in the 34th year of King Henry 8 C. 8. Permitting every man that hath knowledge and experience in the nature of Herbs, Roots and waters, to improve his Talent for the common good and health of the people,” and concluding that unless Dr. Trigg is allowed to continue his practice “many poore people must of necessity perish to death ... for they are not able to pay great fees to Doctors and Apothecaries bills which cost more then his advice and Physick; nor can we have accesse unto them when we desire, which we familiarly have to Dr. _Trigg_ to our great ease and comfort.”[608]

Footnote 608:

_Humble Petition of many thousands of Citizens, and Inhabitants in and about London._

Prudence Ludford, wife of William Ludford of Little Barkhampton, was presented in 1683 “for practising the profession of a chyrurgeon contrary to law,”[609] but many women at this time continued their practice as doctors undisturbed; for example, Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson casually mentions that one of her maids went to Colson, to have a sore eye cured by a woman of the town.[610] While Mrs. D’ewes was travelling from Axminster to London by coach, her baby boy cried so violently all the way, on account of the roughness of the road that he ruptured himself, and was left behind at Dorchester under the care of Mrs. Margaret Waltham, “a female practitioner.”[611]

Footnote 609:

_Hertford Co. Records_, Vol. I., p. 328.

Footnote 610:

_Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 427.

Footnote 611:

Yonge, Walter, _Diary_, Intro., xxii.

The account books of Boroughs and Parishes show that the poor received medical treatment from men and women indiscriminately. A whole series of such payments occur in the minute book of the Dorchester Corporation. “It is ordered that the Vˡⁱ to be paid to Peter Salanova for cutting of Giles Garrett’s leg shall be paid out of the Xˡⁱ yearly paiable out of the Hospitall for pious vses ... to have the one halfe having cutt of his leg already, and the other halfe when he is thoroughly cured.[612] ... Unto the Widdow Foote xs. for the curing of the Widow Huchins’ lame leg at present; and xs. more when the cure is finished[613].... Mr. Losse should be payed by the Steward of the Hospital the somme of viij li for his paynes and fee as Phisitian in taking care of the poore of the Towne for the last yeare ... as it hath bin formerly accustomed.... Vnto Mr. Mullens the somme of thirty shillings for curing Hugh Rogers of a dangerous fistula.”[614] Three pounds more (three having already been paid) was ordered to be given to “Cassander Haggard for finishing the great cure on John Drayton otherwise Keuse.”[615] In another case the Council tendered to Mr. Mullens, “the chirurgeon, the some of xxxˢ for curing of Thomas Hobbs, but he answered hee would consider of it next weeke [He declined].”[616]

Footnote 612:

_Ibid._ Vol. XVIII., p. 196. _Accounts of Parish of Mayfield._

Footnote 613:

_Cratfield Parish Papers_, p. 179., 1640.

Footnote 614:

Mayo, C. H., _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 516, 1640.

Footnote 615:

_Ibid._ p. 518, 1651.

Footnote 616:

_Ibid._ p. 518, 1649-50.

At Cowden the overseers paid to Dr. Willett for “reducing the arm of Elizᵗʰ Skinner, and for ointment, cerecloths and journeys, £2;” three years later a further sum of 10s. was given “to Goodwife Wells for curing Eliz Skinner’s hand.”[617] Mary Olyve was paid 6s. 8d. “for curing a boye that was lame” at Mayfield,[618] and 15s. was given to “Widow Thurston for healing of Stannard’s son,” by the churchwardens at Cratfield.[619] In Somerset £5 was paid to “Johane Shorley towards the cure of Thomas Dudderidge. Further satisfaction when cure is don.”[620]

Footnote 617:

_Ibid._ pp. 518-9. 1652-1654.

Footnote 618:

_Ibid._ p. 519.

Footnote 619:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XX., p. 114. _Account Book of Cowden_, 1690.

Footnote 620:

_Somerset Q.S. Records_, Vol. III., p. 212. 1653.

Such entries show that though women may have practised surgery and medicine chiefly as domestic arts, nevertheless their skill was also used professionally, their natural aptitude in this direction enabling them to maintain their position throughout the seventeenth century even when deprived of all opportunities for systematic study and scientific experiments, and in spite of the determined attacks by the Corporations of physicians and surgeons; but their success was owing to the fact that Science had as yet achieved small results in the standard of medical efficiency.

C. _Midwifery._

It has been shown that the employment of women in the arts of medicine, nursing and teaching was chiefly, though not entirely, confined to the domestic sphere; midwifery, on the other hand, though occasionally practised by amateurs, was, in the majority of cases, carried on by women who, whether skilled or unskilled, regarded it as the chief business of their lives, and depended upon it for their maintenance. Not only did midwifery exist on a professional basis from immemorial days, but it was formerly regarded as a mystery inviolably reserved for women; and though by the seventeenth century the barrier which excluded men had broken down, the extent to which the profession had in the past been a woman’s monopoly is shown by the fact that the men who now began to practise the art were known as men-midwives.

The midwife held a recognised position in Society and was sometimes well-educated and well-paid. Nothing is known as to the mediæval history of midwifery in England; and possibly nothing ever will be known concerning it, for the Englishwoman of that period had no impulse to commit her experience and ideas to writing. All the wisdom which touched her special sphere in life was transmitted orally from mother to daughter, and thus at any change, like the Industrial Revolution, which silently undermined the foundations of society, the traditional womanly wisdom could vanish, leaving no trace behind it. Even in the Elizabethan period and during the seventeenth century, when most women could read and many could write, they show little tendency to record information concerning their own affairs. But the profession of midwifery was then no longer reserved exclusively for women. The first treatise on the subject published in England was a translation by Raynold of “The Byrth of Mankynd.” He says in his preface that the book had already been translated into “Dutche, Frenche, Spanyshe and dyvers other languages. In the which Countries there be fewe women that can reade, but they wyll haue one of these bookes alwayes in readinesse ... it beinge lykewyse sette foorth in our Englyshe speeche ... it may supply the roome and place of a good Mydwyfe, ... and truly ... there be syth the fyrst settynge forth of this booke, right many honourable Ladyes, & other Worshypfull Gentlewomen, which have not disdayned the oftener by the occasion of this booke to frequent and haunt women in theyr labours, caryinge with them this booke in theyr handes, and causyng such part of it as doth chiefely concerne the same pourpose, to be read before the mydwyfe, and the rest of the women then beyng present; whereby ofttymes, then all haue been put in remembraunce of that, wherewith the laboryng woman hath bene greatly comforted, and alleuiated of her thronges and travayle.... But here now let not the good Mydwyves be offended with that, that is spoken of the badde. For verily there is no science, but that it hath his Apes, Owles, Beares and Asses ... at the fyrst commyng abroade of this present booke, many of this sorte of mydwyves, meuyd eyther of envie, or els of mallice, or both, diligented ... to fynde the meanes to suppresse ... the same; makyng all wemen of theyr acquayntaunce ... to beleeue, that it was nothyng woorth: and that it shoulde be a slaunder to women, forso muche as therein was descried and set foorth the secretes and priuities of women, and that euery boy and knaue hadd of these bookes, readyng them as openly as the tales of Robinhood &c.”[621]

Footnote 621:

Raynold, _The Byrth of Mankynd_, Prologue.

It is sometimes supposed that childbirth was an easier process in former generations than it has become since the developments of modern civilisation. The question has a direct bearing on the profession of midwifery, but it cannot be answered here, nor could it receive a simple answer of yes or no, for it embraces two problems for the midwife, the ease and safety of a normal delivery and her resources in face of the abnormal.

No one can read the domestic records of the seventeenth century without realising that the dangers of childbed were much greater then than now; nevertheless the travail of the average woman at that time may have been easier. There was clearly a great difference in this respect between the country woman, inured to hard muscular labour, and the high-born lady or city dame. The difference is pointed out by contemporary writers. McMath dedicated “the _Expert Mid-wife_” to the Lady Marquies of Douglas because “as it concerns all Bearing Women ... so chiefly the more Noble and Honourable, as being more Excellent, more Tender, and Delicate, and readily more opprest with the symptoms.” Jane Sharp confirms this, saying that “the poor Country people, where there are none but women to assist (unless it be those that are exceeding poor and in a starving condition, and then they have more need of meat than Midwives) ... are as fruitful and as safe and well delivered, if not much more fruitful, and better commonly in Childbed than the greatest Ladies of the Land.”[622]

Footnote 622:

Sharp (Jane), _The Midwives Book_, p. 3.

Rich and poor alike depended upon the midwife to bring them safely through the perils of childbirth, and it is certain that women of a high level of intelligence and possessing considerable skill belonged to the profession. The fees charged by successful midwives were very high, and during the first half of the century they were considered in no way inferior to doctors in skill. It was natural that Queen Henrietta Maria should send for one of her own country women to attend her, French midwives enjoying an extraordinarily high reputation for their skill at this time. The payment in 1630 of £100 to Frances Monnhadice, Nurse to the Queen, “for the diet & entertainment of Madame Peron, midwife to the Queen,” and further of a “Warrant to pay Madame Peron £300 of the King’s gift”[623] shows the high value attached to her services.

Footnote 623:

_S.P.D._ 1630. Sign Manual Car. I., Vol. VII. No. 11.

That English midwives were often possessed of ample means is shown by a deposition made by “Abraham Perrot, of Barking parish, Gentleman,” who “maketh oath that a month before the fire ... he ... paid unto Hester Shaw Widow, ... the summe of £953.6.8.”[624] the said Mrs. Shaw being described as a midwife; but relations who were members of this profession are never alluded to in letters, diaries or memoirs. From this absence of any social reference it is difficult to determine from what class of the community they were drawn, or what were the circumstances which led women to take up this responsible and arduous profession. No doubt necessity led many ignorant women to drift into the work when they were too old to receive new ideas and too wanting in ambition to make any serious effort to improve their skill, but the writings of Mrs. Cellier and Mrs. Jane Sharp prove that there were others who regarded their profession with enthusiasm, and who possessed an intelligence acute enough to profit by all the experience and instruction which was within their reach.

Footnote 624:

_Mrs. Shaw’s Innocency Restored._ 1653.

The only training available for women who wished to acquire a sound knowledge of midwifery was by apprenticeship; this, if the mistress was skilled in her art, was valuable up to a certain point, but as no organisation existed among midwives it was not possible to insist upon any general standard of efficiency, and many midwives were ignorant of the most elementary circumstances connected with their profession. In any case such an apprenticeship could not supply the place of the more speculative side of training, which can only be given in connection with schools of anatomy where research work is possible, and from these all women were excluded.

As has been said, many women who entered the profession did not even go through a form of apprenticeship, but acquired their experience solely, to use Raynold’s words, “by haunting women in their labours.” In rural England it was customary when travail began, to send for all the neighbours who were responsible women, partly with the object of securing enough witnesses to the child’s birth, partly because it was important to spread the understanding of midwifery as widely as possible, because any woman might be called upon to render assistance in an emergency.

Several handbooks on Midwifery were written in response to the demand for opportunities for scientific training by the more intelligent members of the profession. One of the most popular of these books, which passed through many editions, was published in 1671 by Jane Sharp “Practitioner in the art of Midwifery above 30 years.” The preface to the fourth edition says that “the constant and unwearied Industry of this ingenious and well-skill’d midwife, Mrs. Jane Sharp, together with her great Experience of Anatomy & Physick, by the many years of her Practice in the art of Midwifery hath ... made them ... much desired by all that either knew her Person ... or ever read this book, which of late, by its Scarceness hath been so much enquired after ... as to have many after impressions.” The author says that she has “often sate down sad in the Consideration of the many Miseries Women endure in the Hands of unskilful Midwives; many professing the Art (without any skill in anatomy, which is the Principal part effectually necessary for a Midwife) meerly for Lucres sake. I have been at Great Cost in Translations for all Books, either French, Dutch or Italian of this kind. All which I offer with my own Experience.”[625]

Footnote 625:

Sharp, Mrs. Jane, _The Midwives Book, or the whole Art of Midwifery discovered_.

Jane Sharp points out that midwives must be both speculative and practical, for “she that wants the knowledge of Speculation, is like one that is blind or wants her sight: she that wants the Practice, is like one that is lame & wants her legs.... Some perhaps may think, that then it is not proper for women to be of this profession, because they cannot attain so rarely to the knowledge of things as men may, who are bred up in Universities, Schools of Learning, or serve their Apprenticeship for that end and purpose, where anatomy Lectures being frequently read the situation of the parts both of men and women ... are often made plain to them. But that objection is easily answered, by the former example of the Midwives amongst the Israelites, for, though we women cannot deny that men in some things may come to a greater perfection of knowledge than women ordinarily can, by reason of the former helps that women want; yet the Holy Scriptures hath recorded Midwives to the perpetual honour of the female Sex. There not being so much as one word concerning men midwives mentioned there ... it being the natural propriety of women to be much seeing into that art; and though nature be not alone sufficient to the perfection of it, yet further knowledge may be gain’d by a long and diligent practice, and be communicated to others of our own sex. I cannot deny the honour due to able Physicians and Chyrurgions, when occasion is, Yet ... where there is no Men of Learning, the women are sufficient to perform this duty.... It is not hard words that perform the work, as if none understood the Art that cannot understand Greek. Words are but the shell, that we oftimes break our Teeth with them to come at the kernel, I mean our brains to know what is the meaning of them; but to have the same in our mother tongue would save us a great deal of needless labour. It is commendable for men to employ their spare time in some things of deeper Speculation than is required of the female sex; but the art of Midwifery chiefly concerns us.”[626]

Footnote 626:

Sharp, Mrs. Jane, _The Midwives Book_, pp. 2-4.

Though the schools of Medicine and Anatomy were closed to women, individual doctors were willing to teach the more progressive midwives some of the science necessary for their art; thus Culpeper dedicated his “Directory” to the midwives of England in the following words:—“Worthy Matrons, You are of the number of those whom my soul loveth, and of whom I make daily mention in my Prayers: ... If you please to make experience of my Rules, they are very plain, and easie enough; ... If you make use of them, you wil find your work easie, you need not call for the help of a Man-Midwife, which is a disparagement, not only to yourselves, but also to your Profession: ... All the Perfections that can be in a Woman, ought to be in a Midwife; the first step to which is, To know your ignorance in that part of Physick which is the Basis of your Act.... If _any want Wisdom, let him ask it of God_ (not of the _Colledg of Physitians_, for if they do, they may hap to go without their Errand, unless they bring Money with them).”[627]

Footnote 627:

Culpeper, Nich., Gent., Student in Physick and Astrologie, _Directory for Midwives_.

Efforts made by Peter Chamberlain to secure some systematic training for midwives drew upon himself the abuse, if not persecution, of his jealous contemporaries. In justifying the course he had taken he pleads “Because I am pretended to be Ignorant or Covetous, or both, therefore some ignorant Women, whom either extream Povertie hath necessitated, or Hard-heartedness presumed, or the Game of Venus intruded into the calling of Midwifry (to have the issues of Life & Death of two or three at one time in their hands, beside the consequence of Health and Strength of the Whole Nation) should neither be sufficiently instructed in doing Good, nor restrained from doing Evil?... The objection infers thus much. Because there was never any Order for instructing and governing of Midwives, therefore there never must be.... It may be when Bishops are restored again, their Ordinaries will come in to plead their care. Of what? Truly that none shall do good without their leave. That none shall have leave, but such as will take their Oath and pay Money. That taking this Oath and paying their Money with the testimonie of two or three Gossips, any may have leave to be as ignorant, if not as cruel as themselves, ... but of Instruction or Order amongst the Midwives, not one word.”[628]

Footnote 628:

Chamberlain (Peter), _A Voice in Rhama, or the Crie of Women and Children_. 1646.

The danger which threatened midwives by the exclusion of women from the scientific training available for men, did not pass unnoticed by the leading members of the Profession. They realised that the question at stake did not concern only the honour of their Profession, but involved the suffering, and in many cases even the death, of vast numbers of women and babies who must always depend on the skill of midwives and urged that steps should be taken to raise the standard of their efficiency. Mrs. Cellier[629] pointed out “That, within the Space of twenty years last past, above six thousand women have died in childbed, more than thirteen thousand children have been born abortive, and above five thousand chrysome infants have been buried, within the weekly bills of mortality; above two-thirds of which, amounting to sixteen thousand souls, have in all probability perished, for want of due skill and care, in those women who practise the art of midwifery.... To remedy which, it is humbly proposed, that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to unite the whole number of skilful midwives, now practising within the limits of the weekly bills of mortality, into a corporation, under the government of a certain number of the most able and matron-like women among them, subject to the visitation of such person or persons, as your Majesty shall appoint; and such Rules for their good government, instruction, direction, and administration as are hereunto annexed.”

Footnote 629:

Cellier (Mrs.). _A scheme for the foundation of a Royal Hospital, Harleian Miscellany, Vol. IV. pp. 142-147._

The scheme was well thought out, and some details from it may be given here as showing the aspirations of an able woman for the development of her profession. Mrs. Cellier proposed that the number of midwives admitted to the first rank should be limited to 1000, and that these should pay a fee of £5 on admittance and the like sum annually. All the midwives entering this first rank should be eligible for the position of Matron, or assistant to the Government.

Other midwives may be admitted to the second thousand on payment of half the above fees.

The money raised by these fees is to be used for the purpose of erecting “one good, large and convenient House, or Hospital,” ... for the Receiving and Taking in of exposed Children, to be subject to the Care, Conduct and Management of one Governess, one female Secretary, and twelve Matron Assistants, subject to the visitation of such Persons, as to your Majesty’s Wisdom shall be thought necessary ... the children to be afterwards educated in proper Learning, Arts and Mysteries according to their several capacities. As a further endowment for this institution, Mrs. Cellier asks for one fifth part of the voluntary charity collected in the Parishes comprised within the Limits of the weekly Bills of Mortality, and that in addition collecting Boxes may be placed in every Church, Chapel, or publick Place of Divine Service of any Religion whatsoever within their limits. The scheme further provides “that such Hospital may be allowed to establish twelve lesser convenient houses, in twelve of the greatest parishes, each to be governed by one of the twelve Matrons, Assistants to the Corporation of the Midwives, which Houses may be for the taking in, delivery and month’s Maintenance, at a price certain of any woman, that any of the parishes within the limits aforesaid, shall by the overseers of the poor place in them; such women being to be subject, with the Children born of them, to the future care of that parish, whose overseers place them there to be delivered, notwithstanding such House shall not happen to stand in the proper Parish.” ...

Then follow proposals for the care of the children, requiring that they may be privileged to take to themselves Sirnames and to be made capable, by such names, of any honour or employment, without being liable to reproach, for their innocent misfortune, and that the children so educated may be free members of every city and corporation.

After the first settlement, no married woman shall “be admitted to be either governess, secretary, or any of the twelve principal assistants to the Government and that no married person of either sex shall be suffered to inhabit within the said Hospital, to avoid such inconveniences as may arise, as the children grow to maturity; ... if any of these Persons do marry afterwards, then to clear their accounts and depart the house, by being expelled the society.”

Among many interesting rules for governing the Hospital, Mrs. Cellier appoints “That a woman, sufficiently skilled in writing and accounts, be appointed secretary to the governess and company of midwives, to be present at all controversies about the art of midwifery, to register all the extraordinary accidents happening in the practise, which all licensed midwives are, from time to time, to report to the society; that the female secretary be reckoned an assistant to the government, next to the governess and capable of succeeding in her stead.”

“That the principal physician or man-midwife, examine all extraordinary accidents and, once a month at least, read a publick Lecture to the whole society of licensed midwives, who are all to be obliged to be present at it, if not employed in their practise.” The lectures to be kept for future reference by the midwives.

“That no men shall be present at such public lectures, on any pretence whatsoever, except such able doctors and surgeons, as shall enter themselves students in the said art, and pay, for such their admittance, ten pounds, and ten pounds a year.” The physicians and surgeons so admitted were to be “of Council with the principle man-midwife and be capable of succeeding him, by election of the governess, her secretary, twelve assistants, and the twenty-four lower assistants.”

Mrs. Cellier succeeded with her proposal, in so far that His Majesty agreed to unite the midwives into a Corporation by Royal Charter, but there the matter rested.[630]

Footnote 630:

Cellier, (Eliz.). _To Dr. ——, an answer to his Queries concerning the Colledg of Midwives_, p. 7.

In France women were more fortunate, for a noted school of midwifery had already been established at the Hotel Dieu in Paris, at which every six weeks dissections and anatomies were especially made for the apprentices of the institution, both past and present.[631] Before entering on their profession the French midwives were required to pass an examination before the chirurgeons. Their professional reputation stood so high that Pechey alludes to one of them as “that most Famous Woman of the World, _Madam Louise Burgeois_, late Midwife to the Queen of _France_. The praises that we read of all those that ever heard of her are not so much a flourish as truth; for her reasons are solid experiences, and her witnesses have been all of the most eminent Persons of _France_: and not only of her, but as we have already exprest, of the most excellent known Men and Women of this Art of other Countries.”[632]

Footnote 631:

Carrier (Henriette.) _Origine de la Maternité de Paris._

Footnote 632:

Pechey, _Compleat Midwife_, Preface.

According to Mrs. Cellier, English midwives were for a time examined by the College of Surgeons, but as their records for the years in question are missing there is no means of ascertaining the numbers of those who presented themselves for examination. She says that Bishops did not “pretend to License Midwives till Bp. _Bonner’s_ time, who drew up the Form of the first License, which continued in full force till 1642, and then the Physicians and Chirurgeons contending about it, it was adjudged a Chyrurgical operation, and the Midwives were Licensed at _Chirurgions-Hall, but not till they had passed three_ _examinations, before six skilful Midwives, and as many Chirurgions expert in the Art of Midwifery_. Thus it continued until the Act of Uniformity passed, which sent the Midwives back to _Doctors Commons_, where they pay their money (_take an oath which it is impossible for them to keep_) and return home as skilful as they went thither. I make no reflections on those learned Gentlemen, the Licensers, but refer the curious for their further satisfaction to the Yearly Bills of Mortality, from 42 to 62; Collections of which they may find at _Clerkshall_. Which if they please to compare with these of late Years, they will find there did not then happen the eight part of the Casualities either to Women or Children, as do now.”[633]

Footnote 633:

Cellier (Eliz.). _To Dr. —— an answer to his Queries concerning the Colledg of Midwives_, p. 6.

In granting licences to midwives the Bishops were supposed to make some enquiry as to their professional attainments. Among the “articles to be enquired of” during Diocesan visits was one “whether any man or woman within your Parish, hath professed or practised Physick or Chyrurgery; by what name or names are they called, and whether are they licensed by the Bishop of the Diocesse, or his Vicar Generall, and upon whom have they practised, and what good or harm have they done?”[634] And again, “whether any in your Parish do practise Physicke or chirurgery, or that there be any midwife there, or by what authority any of them do practise, or exercise that profession.”[635] But the interest of the Bishops was concerned more with the orthodoxy of the midwife than with her professional skill.

Footnote 634:

_Exeter, Articles to be enquired of by the Churchwardens._ 1646.

Footnote 635:

_Canterbury, Articles to be enquired._ 1636.

A midwife’s licence was drawn up as follows: beginning:—“Thomas Exton, knight, doctor of laws, commisary general, lawfully constituted of the right worshipful the dean & chapter of St. Paul’s in London; to our beloved in Christ, Anne Voule, the wife of Jacob Voule, of the parish of St Gile’s Cripplegat, sendeth greeting in our Lord God everlasting: Whereas, by due examination of diverse, honest, and discreet women, we have found you apt and able, cunning and experte, to occupy & exercise the office, business & occupation of midwife,” and continuing after many wise and humane rules for her guidance with an exhortation “to be diligent, faithful and ready to help every woman travelling of child, as well the poor as the rich, and you shall not forsake the poor woman and leave her to go to the rich; you shall in no wise exercise any manner of witchcraft, charms, sorcery, invocation, or other prayers, than such as may stand with God’s laws, and the king’s,” concluding thus:—“Item, you shall not be privy to or consent that any priest or other party shall in your absence, or your company, or of your knowledge or sufferance, baptize any child by any mass, Latin service, or prayers than such as are appointed by the laws of the Church of England; neither shall you consent that any child borne by any woman, who shall be delivered by you, shall be carried away without being baptized in the parish by the ordinary minister where the said child is born.”[636]

Footnote 636:

_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. IV., pp. 249-50. Extracts from Parish Registers.

The Bishops’ interest in midwives may have been caused partly by a praiseworthy desire to secure an adequate supply for the assistance of women in each parish. But from the Church’s point of view, the midwife’s chief importance was not due to the fact that the life of mother and child might depend on her skill, but to her capacity for performing the rites of baptism. The reasons for granting her this authority are explained as follows:—“in hard Labours the Head of the Infant was sometimes baptized before the whole delivery. This Office of Baptizing in such Cases of Necessity was commonly performed by the Midwife; and ’tis very probable, this gave first Occasion to Midwives being licensed by the Bishop, because they were to be first examined by the Bishop or his delegated Officer, whether they could repeat the Form of Baptism, which they were in Haste to administer in such extraordinary Occasion. But we thank God our times are reformed in Sense, and in Religion.”[637] Though the midwife was only expected to baptize in urgent cases she might strain her privilege, and baptize even a healthy infant into the Roman Church. Her power in this respect was regarded with suspicion and jealousy by English Protestants, not only because she might inadvertently admit the infant to the wrong fold, but because it resembled the conferring of office in the Church upon women; however, as no man was usually present at the birth of a child, and it was fully believed that delay might involve the perpetual damnation of the dying infant’s soul, no alternative remained. Peter Heylyn, in writing of Baptism, comments on the difficulty, saying that “the first Reformers did not only allow the administration of this Sacrament [Baptism] in _private_ houses, but permitted it to private persons, even to women also.” He continues that when King James, in the Conference at Hampton Court, seemed offended because of this liberty to women and laicks, Dr. Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, denied that the words gave this liberty, and Dr. Babington alledged “that the words were purposely made ambiguous as otherwise the Book might not have passed Parliament.” To whom it was replied by the Bishop of London that there was no intent to deceive any, but the words did indeed “intend a permission of private persons to Baptize in case of _necessity_.”[638]

Footnote 637:

Watson, _Clergyman’s Law_, p. 318.

Footnote 638:

_Heylyn (Peter), Cyprianus Anglicus_, p. 27.

The fear of secret baptisms into the Catholic Church is shown in a letter which states that “the wief of Frances Lovell esqʳ of West Derhᵐ is noted for a recusant. And the said Frances had a childe about three yeares past christianed by a midwief sent thither by the La. Lovell, and the midwief’s name cannot be learned.”[639]

Footnote 639:

Bacon, (Sir Nat.), _Official Papers_, p. 176. 1591.

It was this danger which led to the prosecution of women who practised without licences. The Churchwardens at Lee presented “the Widow Goney and the wife of Thomas Gronge being midwives & not sworne.” In Hadingham they report “We have two poore women exercising the office of midwives, one Avice Rax and the wife of one John Sallerie,”[640] and elsewhere “Dorothye Holding wief of Jo. Holding & Dorothye Parkins wief of Wᵐ Parkins” were presented “for exercising the office of midwives without License.”[641]

Footnote 640:

_S.P.D._, ccxcvi., 17. August 21, 1635. _Visitation presentments by the Churchwardens._

Footnote 641:

_S.P.D._, ccxcv., 6. August 19, 1636.

The fees charged by midwives varied from £300 in the case of the French Midwife who attended the Queen, to the sum of 1s. 6d. paid by the Parish of Aspenden to the midwife who delivered a woman “received by virtue of a warrant from the justices.”[642] In most cases the amount paid by the parents was supplemented by gifts from the friends and relations who attended the christening.[643] Thus the baby’s death meant a considerable pecuniary loss to the midwife. An example of her payment in such a case is given in Nicholas Assheton’s diary; he enters on Feb. 16, 1617. “My wife in labour of childbirth. Her delivery was with such violence as the child dyed within half an hour, and, but for God’s wonderful mercie, more than human reason could expect, shee had dyed, ... divers mett and went with us to Downham; and ther the child was buried ... my mother wᵗʰ me laid the child in the grave.... Feb. 24, the midwyfe went from my wyffe to Cooz Braddyll’s wyffe. She had given by my wyffe xxs and by me vs.”[644]

Footnote 642:

_Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 435. 1698.

Footnote 643:

The Rev. Giles Moore “gave Mat [his adopted daughter] then answering for Edwd. Cripps young daughter 5s. whereof shee gave to the mydwyfe 2s. & 1s. to the Nurse. Myself gave to the mydwyfe in the drinking bowle 1s.” (_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 113. _Rev. Giles Moore, Journal._)

Later is entered in the Journal, he being god-father “1674. Mat was brought to bed of a daughter. Gave the mydwyfe, goodwyfe & Nurse 5s. each.” (_Ibid._ p. 119.)

After Lady Darce’s confinement at Herstmonceux Castle, is entered in the accounts “paid my Lord’s benevolence to Widdow Craddock the midwife of Battle £5. 0. 0.” (_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. xlviii. 1643-1649.)

Entries in a similar book of the Howard family give “To my young ladye’s midwyfe xxˢ (p. 227-8). To Mrs. Fairfax her Midwife by my Lord xxˢ ... by my Ladie xxˢ. More to Mrs. Fairefax her midwife by my Ladie’s commaund iijˡⁱ” (_Howard Household Book_, p. 263. 1629.)

Sarah Fell records the presents given to her sister’s midwife—Jan yᵉ 1st 1675

by mᵒ Bro. Loweʳ to give Jane Chorley his wifes midwife 1. 00.00 by mᵒ Motheʳ gave to sᵈ midwife 5. 00 by mᵒ Sistʳ Sus: sistʳ Rach: & I gave heʳ 5. 00

Dec. 6. 1676. By M° Given ffran. Laite Sister Lowers middwife by ffatheʳ & Motheʳ 5s. by sistʳ Sus: 2s. by sistʳ Rach: 2s. myselfe 4s. Dec. 10, 1677 by mᵒ Motheʳ gave ffrances Layte when she was middwife to Sistʳ Lower of litle Love-day Loweʳ 02.06, by mᵒ sistʳ Susannah gave heʳ then 01.00 by mᵒ sister Rachell gave her then 01.00 (Fell, Sarah, _Household Accounts_).

Footnote 644:

Assheton (Nicholas), _Journal_, p. 81.

The Churchwardens at Cowden entered in their account book 1627 “Item, paide for a poore woman’s lying in 3. 0.” 1638. “to John Weller’s wife for her attendance on the widow Smithe when she lay in 2. 0.”[645]

Footnote 645:

_Sussex Arch. Coll_., Vol. XX., p. 101 and p. 104. _Account Book of Cowden._

The account book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelstone gives many details of the expenses incurred at confinements in Scotland. His wife appears to have been attended by a doctor, as well as a midwife, and the latter’s fee was the higher of the two. The payments are in Scots money.[646] “Mar. 26 1680, to the doctor Steinsone for waiting on my wife in her labour 2 guines at 33 P. sterl. p.piece, 27. 16. 0, to Elspie dicksone, midwife, 40. 12. 0, to her woman 2. 18. 0.” On November 26, 1692 there is another payment “to my wife to give doctor Sibbald for his attendance on her in childbed and since to this day 5 guineas 66. 0. 0.” Jan. 31, 1704 “to my son Wᵐ to give the midwife when his wife was brought to bed of her sone Joⁿ 3 guineas 42. 12. 0. to my douchter Crichtoune to give the midwife for me halfe a guinie 7. 2. 0.”

Footnote 646:

One pound Scots—20d. sterling.

The size of the gratuities given to the midwife by the friends and acquaintances who gathered at a society christening in London may be judged from Pepys, who enters in his diary when he was Godfather with Sir W. Pen to Mrs. Browne’s child “I did give the midwife 10s.”[647] His gratuities to people of lower rank were smaller, and of course the gifts made by the “common people” and those of the gentry in the provinces were much more modest.

Footnote 647:

Pepy’s _Diary_, Vol. I., p. 308. 1661.

In the latter part of the century there are indications of a growing tendency among the upper classes to replace the midwife by the doctor. The doctors encouraged the tendency. Their treatises on midwifery, of which several were published during this time, deprecate any attempt on the midwife’s part to cope with difficult cases. Dr. Hugh Chamberlain points out “nor can it be so great a discredit to a Midwife ... to have a Woman or Child saved by a Man’s assistance, as to suffer either to die under her own hand.”[648] In making this translation of Maurice’s work on Midwifery, Chamberlain omitted the anatomical drawings, “there being already severall in English; as also here and there a passage that might offend a chast English eye; and being not absolutely necessary to the purpose; the rest I have, as carefully as I could, rendered into English for the benefit of our midwives.”[649] This line of thought is carried yet further by McMath, who says in the preface to “The Expert Mid-wife” that he has “of purpose omitted a Description of the parts in a woman destined to Generation, not being absolutely necessary to this purpose, and lest it might seem execrable to the more chast and shamfaced through Baudiness and Impurity of words; and have also endeavoured to keep all Modesty, and a due Reverence to Nature: nor am I of the mind with some, as to think there is no Debauchery in the thing, except it may be in the abuse.”[650]

Footnote 648:

Chamberlain (Dr. Hugh). _Accomplisht Midwife: Epistle to the Reader._

Footnote 649:

_Ibid._

Footnote 650:

McMath (Mr. James, M.D.). _The Expert Mid-wife._

The notion that it was indecent for a woman to understand the structure and functions of her own body fitted in with the doctors’ policy of circumscribing the midwife’s sphere; McMath continues “Natural Labour, where all goes right and naturally, is the proper work of the Midwife, and which she alone most easily performs aright, being only to sit and attend Nature’s pace and progress ... and perform some other things of smaller moment, which Physicians gave Midwifes to do, as unnecessary & indicent for them, and for the Matronal chastity (tho some of Old absurdly assigned them more, and made it also their office to help the Delivery, and not by Medicaments only and others, but Inchantments also.)”[651]

Footnote 651:

_Ibid._

Clearly in a profession which often holds in its hands the balance between life and death, those members who are debarred from systematic study and training must inevitably give way sooner or later to those who have access to all the sources of learning, but the influences which were prejudicing women’s position in midwifery during the seventeenth century were not wholly founded on such reasonable grounds; they were also affected by much more general, undefined and subtle causes. It may even be doubted whether the superior knowledge of the seventeenth century doctor actually secured a larger measure of safety to the mother who entrusted herself to his management than was attained by those who confided in the skill of an experienced and intelligent midwife. Chamberlain admits that the practice of doctors “not onely in England but throughout Europe; ... hath very much caused the report, that where a man comes, one or both [mother or child] must necessarily dye; and makes many for that reason forbear sending, untill either be dead or dying.”[652] He continues “my Father, Brothers and myself (though none else in Europe that I know) have by God’s blessing, and our industry, attained to, and long practised a way to deliver a woman in this case without any prejudice to her or her Infant.”

Footnote 652:

Chamberlain (Hugh). _Accomplisht Midwife: Epistle to Reader._

The discovery to which Chamberlain refers was the use of forceps, which he and his family retained as a profound secret. Therefore this invention did not rank among the advantages which other doctors possessed over midwives at this period. Even when, a century later, the use of forceps became generally understood, the death rate in childbed was not materially reduced, for it was only with the discovery of the value of asepsis that this heavy sacrifice was diminished. We must therefore look for the explanation of the growing ascendancy of male practitioners to other causes beside the hypothetical standard of their greater efficiency. Their prestige rested partly on an ability to use long words which convinced patients of their superior wisdom; it was defended by what was fast becoming a powerful corporation; and more potent in its effect was the general deterioration in the position of women which took place during the century. A lessening of confidence in womanly resourcefulness and capacity in other walks of life, could not fail to affect popular estimation of their value here too; and added to this were the morbid tendencies of the increasing numbers of oversexed society women who were devoted to a life of pleasure. The fact that similar tendencies were visible in France, where an excellent scientific training was open to women, shows that the capture of the profession by men was not only due to superior skill.

The famous French Midwife, Madame Bourgeois, told her daughter “There is a great deal of artifice to be used in the pleasing of our Women, especially the young ones, who many times do make election of Men to bring them to bed. I blush to speak of them, for I take it to be a great peice of impudence to have any recourse unto them, unless it be a case of very great danger. I do approve, I have approved of it, and know that it ought to be done, so that it be concealed from the Woman all her life long; nor that she see the surgeon any more.”[653]

Footnote 653:

Pechey, _Compleat Midwife_, p. 349. Secrets of Madame Louyse Bourgeois, midwife to the Queen of France, which she left to her Daughter as a guide for her.

Whatever may have been the explanation, midwifery had ceased to be a monopoly for women when the “man-midwife” made his appearance in the sixteenth century, but it is only in the latter half of the seventeenth century that the profession passes definitely under the control of men. The doctors who then secured all the more profitable class of work, were united in a corporation which was often directed by men possessed of a disinterested enthusiasm for truth, and considerable proficiency in their art, even though many in their ranks might regard their profession merely as a means for acquiring personal fame or wealth. But the interest of the corporations of physicians and surgeons was centred more upon their profession than upon the general well-being of the community, and they did not regard it as part of their duty to secure competent assistance in childbirth for every woman in the community. They took a keen professional interest in the problems of midwifery, but the benefits of their research were only available for the wives or mistresses of rich men who could afford to pay high fees. Far from making any effort to provide the same assistance for the poor, the policy of the doctors, with some exceptions, was to withold instruction from the midwives on whom the poor depended, lest their skill should enable them to compete with themselves in practice among the wealthy.

_Conclusion._

The foregoing examination of the character and extent of women’s professional services has brought several interesting points to light. It has been shown that when social organisation rested upon the basis of the family, as it chiefly did up to the close of the Middle Ages, many of the services which are now ranked as professional were thought to be specially suited to the genius of women, and were accordingly allotted to them in the natural division of labour within the family. The suggestions as to the character and conditions of these services during the Middle Ages, rest upon conjectures drawn from the comparison of a few generally accepted statements concerning the past, with what appears at the opening of the seventeenth century to be a traditional attitude to women, an attitude which was then undergoing rapid modifications. A more thorough and detailed examination of their position in the preceding centuries may show that it was far less stable than is generally supposed, but such a discovery need not disturb the explanation which is here given of the tendencies deciding the scope of women’s professional activity within in the seventeenth century.

First among these was the gradual emergence of the arts of teaching and healing, from the domestic or family sphere to a professional organisation. Within the domestic sphere, as women and men are equally members of the family, no artificial impediment could hinder women from rendering the services which nature had fitted them to perform; moreover, the experience and training which family life provided for boys, were to a large extent available for girls also. Coincident with a gradual curtailment of domestic activities may be observed a marked tendency towards the exclusion of women from all interests external to the family. The political theories of the seventeenth century regarded the State as an organisation of individual men only or groups of men, not as a commonwealth of families; in harmony with this idea we find that none of the associations which were formed during this period for public purposes, either educational, economic, scientific or political, include women in their membership. The orientation of ideas in the seventeenth century was drawing a rigid line between the State, in which the individual man had his being, and family matters. The third tendency was towards the deterioration of women’s intellectual and moral capacity, owing to the narrowing of family life and the consequent impoverishment of women’s education. The fourth tendency was towards an increasing belief in the essential inferiority of women to men.

It will be seen that these tendencies were interdependent. Their united effect was revolutionary, gradually excluding women from work for which in former days, nature, it was supposed, had specially designed them. Thus the teaching of young children, both girls and boys, had been generally entrusted to women, many men acknowledging in later life the excellence of the training which they had received from their mothers, and it cannot be doubted that women were upon the whole successful in transmitting to their children the benefit of the education and experience which they had themselves received. But no amount of didactic skill can enable persons to teach what they do not themselves possess, and so the scope of the training given by women depended upon the development of their own personalities. When family traditions and family organisation were disturbed, as perhaps they would have been in any case sooner or later, but as they were to a more marked extent during the Civil War, the sources from which women derived their mental and spiritual nourishment were dried up, and without access to external supplies their personality gradually became stunted.

Women were virtually refused access to sources of knowledge which were external to the family, and hence, with a few exceptions they were confined in the teaching profession to the most elementary subjects. Women were employed in the “dames schools” attended by the common people, or, when they could read and write themselves, mothers often instructed their children in these arts; but the governesses employed by gentlefolks, or the schoolmistresses to whom they sent their daughters for the acquisition of the accomplishments appropriate to young ladies, were seldom competent to undertake the actual teaching themselves; for this masters were generally engaged, because few women had gone through the training necessary to give them a sound understanding of the arts in question. Women were not incapable of teaching, but as knowledge became more specialized and technical, the opportunities which home life provided for acquiring such knowledge proved inadequate; and consequently women were soon excluded from the higher ranks of the teaching profession.

The history of their relation to the arts of Healing is very similar. Other things being equal, as to some extent they were when the greater part of human life was included within the family circle, the psychic and emotional female development appears to make women more fitted than men to deal with preventive and remedial medicine. The explanation of this fact offers a fascinating field for speculation, but involves too wide a digression for discussion here, and in its support we will only point out the fact that in the old days, when no professional services were available, it was to the women of the family, rather than to the men, that the sick and wounded turned for medicine and healing. Yet in spite of this natural affinity for the care of suffering humanity, women were excluded from the sources of learning which were being slowly organised outside the family circle, and were thus unable to remain in professions for which they were so eminently suited.

The suspicion that the inferior position which women occupied in the teaching profession and their exclusion from the medical profession, was caused rather by the absence of educational opportunities than by a physiological incapacity for the practice of these arts, is strengthened by the remarkable history of Midwifery; which from being reserved exclusively for women and practised by them on a professional basis from time immemorial, passed in its more lucrative branches into the hands of men, when sources of instruction were opened to them which were closed to women. Just as the amateur woman teacher was less competent than the man who had made art or the learned languages his profession, so did the woman who treated her family and neighbours by rule of thumb, appear less skilful than the professional doctor, and the uneducated midwives brought their profession into disrepute. The exclusion of women from all the sources of specialised training was bound to re-act unfavourably upon their characters, because as family life depended more and more upon professional services for education and medical assistance, fewer opportunities were offered to women for exerting their faculties within the domestic sphere and the general incompetence of upper-class women did in fact become more pronounced.

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