| Transcript or Index | Dear Sister.
When I asked your opinion of the third Canto of the Restoration
I was very much surprized when ^at^ you saying “That you wished I had not
entered so far into the secrets of Botany, as it had to you, and you had
no doubt it would have to many others, a great appearance of indelicacy
and that many people thought Botany a science which no female
ought to study”. I believe I have used your very words. Now my
dear sister, this is so exactly the contrary of all which I have ever
heard, that ^you^ must not wonder if I am at a loss to comprehend it.
I have all ways heard Botany considered as a study peculiarly
suited to the elegance and delicacy of female minds, and I must
say it is a very engaging one. If however what you have said
is by any means a general opinion, I am very glad that want
of time prevented my saying more on the subject, which is was my
intention to have done, as I have always thought Science, one
of the most appropriate ornaments of Poetry, and therefore
selected Botany as a subject very likely to engage the attention
of two lovers in a rural ramble, tho perhaps you, who know
more of the matter, may laugh at me. Indeed I do not remember
that you and Mr. Kay, botanized much in Lark Hall Lane.
But different persons have different pursuits. But to return
Almost all the information which I possess on the subject ^Science^
in question, I have received from Dr. Smith, and, I certainly
should never have imagined that there could be any indelicacy
in a study which had been made the subject of Public
Lectures, or felt the least scruple in communicating all I knew.
Indeed many Ladies have written on Botany, and a much
greater number have been distinguished as Botanists, yet I
never heard any of them censured and I cannot help thinking
As therefore I cannot see this
the indelicacy lies more in the minds of those who discover it
than in the Science itself. I do not mean you. You
once liked the study, and I am perfectly in the dark,
as to who or what, has changed your opinion of it, but it will
^need^ very substantial arguments to change mine.
As therefore I cannot see this real or supposed indelicacy
I have enclosed the Canto, and request you will either
Illumine me, or alter the passage to your own satisfaction.
But remember you must not cut it out ^entirely^ for I cannot
spare it.
I have [page creased – preferred?] writing not only because I might
never ^not^ have found opportunity of speaking top you, but because
we should probably [have?] digressed to fifty different subjects
instead of attending to [the?] one in question. I shall therefore
expect soon to hear from you, as I am rather at a stand
till I receive your answer and wish to have it ^the passage^ altered before it
is read again from the [?].
October 25th 1811
E.A. Porden
=
P.S.
I cannot help thinking the opinion of the impropriety
of Botany, must have originated with those who think
all knowledge unfit for the female mind, and indeed as coloured
glass, changes the hue of every thing that is seen thro it, so
there is no department of Science or of Learning, which the eye
of Prejudice may not lay under a similar imputation. There
is no language which might not be objected to, on account of
the indecency of some of the Authors who have written in it,
and even in our own, many of our best writers deserve
similar censure. But would a female select such authors
or dwell on such passages, would she not rather lament to
see exalted Genius and unbound Learning so misapplied,
and turn to Passages which display them in their fullest lustre.
What then is to be done. Surely you who have tasted
the pleasure and the advantages of a superior education,
cannot wish our sex to return to its ancient ignorance and
oppression. No great advantage can ^is to be^ gained without some
risk and let us, as Addison I think observes, beware that
our real depravity does not increase with this affected
delicacy.
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