A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Astell, (Mary)
ASTELL, (MARY) Daughter of Mr. Astell, a Merchant at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Died in 1731, aged 63.
An uncle of this lady, who was a clergyman, having observed in her proofs of a superior capacity, generously undertook to be her preceptor; and, under his tuition, she learned Italian and French, and made a considerable progress in logic, philosophy, and the mathematics.
At the age of twenty, she left Newcastle and went to London, where, and at Chelsea, she spent the remaining part of her life. Here she assiduously prosecuted her studies, and acquired very considerable attainments in all the branches of polite literature.
About this time, the Rev. John Norris published his Practical Discourses upon several Divine Subjects; which gave occasion for many excellent letters between him and Mrs. Astell on the love of God; which, at the request of Mr. Norris, she suffered him to publish in 1695, without her name; a precaution which their merit rendered useless.
She observed and lamented the defects in the education of her sex; which, she said, were the principal causes of their running into so many follies and improprieties.
To remedy so great an evil, she wrote and published, in 1696, an ingenious treatise, entitled, A serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their true and greatest Interest, &c. and, some time after, a second part, under the same title, with this addition; wherein a Method is offered for the Improvement of their Minds. Both these performances were published together in 1696, and had, in some measure, the desired effect. Nay, the scheme in her proposal seemed so rational, that a certain opulent lady intended to have given 10,000l. towards erecting a sort of college for the education and improvement of the female sex; and as a retreat to those ladies who preferred retirement and study to the noise and hurry of the world. Bishop Burnet, hearing of the design, went to the lady, and powerfully remonstrated against it, telling her it would look like paving the way for popish orders, and that it would be reputed a nunnery; in consequence of which, the design was relinquished.
I do not find that for seven years after she printed any thing, except An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex. In a Letter to a Lady. Written by a Lady. Yet she was as intent on her studies, during that time, as ever; and when she has accidentally seen needless visitors coming, whom she knew to be incapable of conversing on useful subjects, she would look out at the window, and jestingly tell them, Mrs. Astell was not at home.
By this time she was become intimately acquainted with many classic authors. Those she admired most were Xenophon, Plato, Hierocles, Tully, Seneca, Epictetus, and M. Antoninus.
In the year 1700, she published a book entitled Reflections on Marriage, occasioned, as it is said, by a disappointment she experienced in a marriage-contract with an eminent clergyman. However that might be, in the next edition of her book, 1705, she added a preface, in answer to some objections, which perhaps is the strongest defence that ever appeared in print, of the rights and abilities of her own sex.
Observing, as she thought, the pernicious artifices of the sectaries, she attacked them with vigour, and for a considerable time engaged the attention of the public by her productions. Nor was she less assiduous in examining and confuting the doctrines of some, who pretending to be true sons of the church, were introducing dangerous positions and tenets, derogatory to the honour of our blessed Saviour, his divinity, &c.
Among these treatises, she thought none threatened more danger to the establishment than Dr. d'Avenant's Moderation a Virtue; and Essay on Peace and War, In answer, and by way of antidote, she gave, in 1704, an admirable composition, entitled Moderation truly stated, &c. which will be a lasting proof how admirably she was versed in our constitution both in church and state. The same year Dr. d'Avenant published a new edition of his works, with remarks on her's, to which she immediately replied, in a postscript. However industrious she was to conceal herself, the learned soon discovered her to be the author, and gave her the applause due to her merit. Some very great men bear testimony to the merit of her works, such as Hickes, Walker, Norris, Dodwell, and Evelyn. The polished Atterbury also gives her credit for exerting the pen of controversy with masculine force and judgment; but remarks, that her objections and truths are pushed too home, and are expressed, when implication might have done as well, and been more polite. Yet simplicity and plainness are, perhaps, more essential in controversial points than in any other.
She wrote various other treatises, both on controversial and religious subjects, particularly, An impartial Inquiry into the Causes of Rebellion and Civil Wars in this Kingdom, in an Examination of Dr. Kennet's Sermon, Jan. 30, 1703-4. A fair way with dissenters and their patrons, not writ by Mr. Lindsay, or any other furious Jacobite, whether a clergyman or a layman; but by a very moderate person and dutiful subject of the Queen, 1704. The Christian Religion, as practised by a Daughter of the Church of England, 1705. Six familiar Essays upon Marriage, Crosses in Love, and Friendship, 1706. Bart'lemy Fair, or an Inquiry after Wit, 1700, occasioned by Colonel Hunter's celebrated Letter on Enthusiasm. It was republished in 1729, without the words 'Bart'lemy Fair.' Living and conversing with the fashionable world, she led a holy life: but though she practised the severest virtue, her mind was generally calm and serene, and her deportment and conversation highly entertaining and facetious. She would say, The good Christian only has reason, and he always ought to be cheerful; and that dejected looks and melancholy airs were very unseemly in a Christian.
But though she was easy and affable to others, she was severe towards herself. She was abstemious in a very great degree; frequently living many days together on bread and water: and at other times, when at home, rarely eat any dinner till night, and then sparingly. She would frequently say, abstinence was her best physic. And observe, that those who indulge themselves in eating and drinking, could not be so well disposed or prepared, either for study, or the regular and devout service of their Creator.
She enjoyed an uninterrupted state of health, till a few years before her death, when a cancer in her breast, which she concealed from every body, except a few of her most intimate acquaintance, impaired her constitution very much. She managed it herself, till it was absolutely necessary to submit to amputation, which she endured with the greatest intrepidity. But her health and strength, after this, declined apace, and at length being confined to her bed, and finding the time of her dissolution drew nigh, she ordered her coffin and shroud to be made, and brought to her bed-side, as a constant memento of her approaching fate, and that her mind might not stray one moment from God, its proper object. Her thoughts were so entirely fixed on another world, that for some days before her death she earnestly desired that no company, not even her dearest friends, might be permitted to come to her, that she might not be disturbed in her last moments. She was buried at Chelsea.