humanfaculty4 - page 61 of 305

The fundamental and intrinsic differences of character that exist in

individuals are well illustrated by those that distinguish the two sexes, and

which begin to assert themselves even in the nursery, where all the

children are treated alike. One notable peculiarity in the character of the

woman is that she is capricious and coy, and has less straightforwardness

than the man. It is the same in the female of every sex about the time of

pairing, and there can be little doubt as to the origin of the peculiarity. If

any race of animals existed in whom the sexual passions of the female

were as quickly and as directly stirred as those of the male, each would

mate with the first who approached her, and one essential condition of

sexual selection would be absent. There would be no more call for

competition among the males for the favour of each female; no more

fighting for love, in which the strongest male conquers; no more rival

display of personal charms, in which the best-looking or best-mannered

prevails. The drama of courtship, with its prolonged strivings and doubtful

success, would be cut quite short, and the race would degenerate through

the absence of that sexual selection for which the protracted preliminaries

of love-making give opportunity. The willy-nilly disposition of the female

in matters of love is as apparent in the butterfly as in the man, and must

have been continuously favoured from the earliest stages of animal

evolution down to the present time. It is the factor in the great theory of

sexual selection that corresponds to the insistence and directness of the

male. Coyness and caprice have in consequence become a heritage of the

sex, together with a cohort of allied weaknesses and petty deceits, that

men have come to think venial and even amiable in women, but which

they would not tolerate among themselves.

Various forms of natural character and temperament would no doubt

be found to occur in constant proportions among any large group of

persons of the same race, but what those proportions may be has never yet

been investigated. It is extremely difficult to estimate it by observations of

adults, owing to their habit of restraining natural ill