The following Lectures, somewhat differently arranged, were delivered last winter in London to an audience of ladies, and were repeated at Clifton in the ensuing spring. The reader will kindly bear in mind that they were prepared with a view to such viva voce use, and not for perusal in a book; and also that the plan of their delivery included many extempore illustrations and lighter remarks. A few of these only have been preserved in the foot-notes of the present volume.

My purpose in delivering these Lectures originally, and now in publishing them, will become sufficiently apparent as the reader proceeds; but to avoid the risk of any possible misconstruction, I shall offer here a short explanation of my locus standi as regards the whole subject in question. I have been for many years deeply interested in what is called the “Woman's Movement,” and have taken part in pleading for the Higher Education of women; for the admission of women to University Degrees; for the protection of the property of Married women; for the Employment of women; for the protection of women from Aggravated Assaults; for the entrance of women into the Medical Profession; and, lastly, for extension of the Parliamentary Suffrage to women possessed of the requisite property qualification. Of the wisdom of many of these demands (so far as they were then formulated) I was not in my earlier life convinced.