Regency Culture and Society: Fordyce’s Sermons

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Mentioned in Pride and Prejudice in what I think is a comedically brilliant exchange, Fordyce’s Sermons (properly titled Sermons to Young Women) would have been a book of sermons most families had in their home by the Regency era.

Published in 1766, by 1814 there were fourteen editions of the two volume compilation of sermons compiled by James Fordyce. Some of the sermons were delivered by Fordyce, a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, and others from like minded clergy. Fordyce was considered amiable and a top tier orator:

FORDYCE JAMES DD a dissenting clergyman of considerable eminence was born about 1720 in the city of Aberdeen and was brother to the preceding David Fordyce Having acquired the foundation of classical knowledge at the grammar school of his native place and completed the usual course of study in philosophy and divinity at the Marischal college Mr Fordyce was licensed when very young according to the forms of the church of Scotland and was settled soon after as one of the ministers of Brechin in the county of Angus He was removed from this after some years to the parish of Alloa near Stirling where at first he had many prejudices to encoun ter but the amiableness of his manners his affectionate temper and the assiduous discharge of his parochial duties not only by preaching but by visiting catechizing & c
his parishioners as is the custom in Scotland soon enabled him to overcome their dislike and their attachment be came so unbounded that when he afterwards left them to settle in London his departure occasioned universal re gret During his residence at Alloa he printed three occasional sermons which attracted much notice and he still farther increased his fame by publishing in 1760 a sermon preached before the general assembly of the church of Scotland On the folly infamy and misery of Un Jawful Pleasures The delivery of this sermon entitled him to rank among the most popular orators of his country and the style and sentiments when it came to be examined in the closet claimed the admiration not only of general readers but of the best judges It struck also with all the force of novelty for nothing of that kind had hitherto been heard from the pulpits of Scotland About this time he received the degree of DD from the university of Glasgow and was invited by the society of protestant dissenters in Monkwell street London to be co pastor with Dr Lawrence then aged and infirm This invitation he accepted and upon Dr Lawrence's death which happened soon after he became sole pastor and continued to discharge the duties of that office till 1782 when his health which had long been declining rendered it necessary to discontinue his public services But during his ministry in this place he acquired a higher degree of popularity than probably ever was or will be attained by the same means It was the strong force of his eloquence which drew men of all ranks and all per suasions to hear him His action and elocution were ori ginal and peculiarly striking and not a little assisted by his figure which was tall beyond the common standard and by a set of features which in preaching displayed great variety of expression and animation Besides his regular attendants who subscribed to his support his meet ing was frequented by men curious in eloquence and it is said that the celebrated David Garrick was more than once a hearer and spoke of Dr Fordyce's skill in oratory with great approbation With respect to his theological senti ments he appears to have possessed that general liberality which is civil to all systems without being attached to any From his printed works it would be easier to prove that he belonged to no sect than that he held the principles of any As to the matter morality appears to have been his
chief object and as to the manner he evidently a polish and a spirit which is seldom met with in pulpits although it has not been unusual in those of In private life his piety was so conspicuous as to be uni versally acknowledged and there was a fervour in his lan guage and expression when he conversed on religious sub jects of the general kind which procured him the respect During the prosperity of his brother the banker whose failure has made the name memorable in the of bankruptcy he had probably access to much of the upper ranks and it is certain that from this from a disposition naturally graceful his manners peculiarly elegant and courtly After he had been some years at Monkwell street he an assistant Mr Toller but an unhappy dispute aggra vated by contradiction and perhaps obstinacy on sides separated them and very much thinned Dr For dyce's congregation Towards his latter years his ser mons were poorly attended and the public appeared have been fully gratified with the past displays of oratory so uncertain is the popularity that depends prin cipally on curiosity and fashion After resigning the pas toral care of the society in Monkwell street he lived greater part of his remaining years at a retirement Hampshire in the neighbourhood of lord Bute with he lived in great intimacy and to whose valuable he had free access Soon after the death of his brother sir William Fordyce MD he removed to Bath where after suffering much from an asthmatic complaint to which he had been subject many years he departed this life Oct 1 1796 in his 76th year His printed works were besides the occasional sermons already mentioned Sermons to Young Women 1765 2 vols 12mo Addresses to Young Men 1777 2 vols 12mo Addresses to the Deity 1785 12mo A vo lume of Poems 1786 and some sermons the most valuable of which is A charge at the ordination of the rev James Lindsay his successor in Monkwell street to whose eloquent and affectionate discourse on his funeral we are indebted for the principal part of this account He printed also when at Bath A Discourse on Pain 1791 remarkable for a certain cure for the cramp which we dare not transcribe but of which the original thought seems to be borrowed from Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the
burning Pestle Act 3 Of these works his Sermons to young Women were once in high esteem The novelty of the title and of the subjects as coming from the pul pit made them universally read but neither in them nor in the greater part of his other works do we discover ta lents that are more than superficial He was perhaps the first of sentimental preachers but we question whether that pre eminence be enviable He drew largely on his imagination and by striking allusions and graceful turns of expression produced all that eloquence can produce when it is not addressed to the judgment a temporary persuasion But he made no additions to our stock theological knowledge and although he appealed in general way to the fundamental articles of the Christian belief he illustrated none of its doctrines His chief aim in truth seems to have been to refine and polish the lan guage of devotion and in this it must be confessed he has eminently succeeded 1 FORDYCE SIR WILLIAM another The General Biographical Dictionary: Containing an Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation: Particulary the British and Irish; from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time. (1814). United Kingdom: J. Nichols.

Sermons to Young Women speaks on everything from modesty of dress to accomplishments, and  although there is some debate about whether Jane Austen includes it comically or, in part, reverently (Susan Allen Ford), I think there is probably a mixture of both.  As the biographical passage above indicates, Sermons to Young Women was once in high esteem but long term they don’t stand up as more than sentimental dreck. Wollestonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) takes Fordyce head-on, claiming the text is filled with “condescending endearment” and compliments often given to women by men like Fordyce. The interchange between Collins and Lizzy in the 2005  adaptation, when he is speaking of thinking up “elegant compliments,” is not in the original text, but I think likely a nod to Wollestonecraft’s take down of Fordyce. Collins is described as just the sort of self-important clergyman who has no real substance other than the power of his position and proximity to Lady Catherine.

There is a really great analysis of Jane Austen’s use of Fordyce (Vorachek, L. (2005). Intertextuality and Ideology: Jane Austen’s’ Pride and Prejudice’and James Fordyce’s’ Sermons to Young Women’.) that you can read: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=eng_fac_pub

Fordyce’s thoughts on apparel and modesty, for instance, reveal the sort of compliment sandwich strategy and moral outrage disguised as concern that unfortunately are still pervasive, with respect to women, in today’s culture:

On Modesty of Apparel 1 Tim ii 8 9 Iwill that women adorn themselves in modest apparel LET me recall the attention of my female friends to a subject that concerns them highly I hope that hitherto I have said nothing unkind I would not rob your sex of a single advantage they possess from nature Provi dence or legitimate custom I would not rob you of the smallest ornament that Judg ment has put on that Prudence allows or that Decency warrants On the contrary I would willingly add to your allurements I want to see you yet more engaging to see you still more completely adorned Superfluous unbecoming and unavailing decorations it is true I would persuade you to renounce but it should be only in order to make room
for such as will improve beauty where found or supply its place where wanting Your consequence in the creation I fear not to acknowledge I feel it all You have already heard me assert it I will assert it ever by pleading your cause against igno rance prejudice and malice Only take care my dear clients not to hurt it your selves Remember how tender a thing a woman's reputation is how hard to preserve and when lost how impossible to recover how frail many and how dangerous most of the gifts you have received what misery and what shame have been often occasioned by abusing them I tremble for your situation Suffer me again to put you on your guard My text you have seen has nothing in it really severe St Paul is in fact a better friend to women than has been commonly supposed he seems to have understood per fectly what became them and to have con sulted their interests more truly than the most passionate of their admirers While these by corrupting or misleading you whether with or without design would lessen your in fluence and obstruct your felicity he would
effectually contribute to both by inculcating every thing that can make you at once more amiable and more happy

 

I found, in my research, this brief review of Fordyce’s wife’s memoir whihc I think is telling:

Memoir of the late Mrs Henrietta Fordyce Relict of James Fordyce DD contain ing Original Letters Anecdotes and Pieces of Poetry To which is added A Sketch of the Life of James Fordyce DD London Hurst Robinson and Co 1823 THIS is as charming a mélange of amus ing incident and light and graceful chit chat as we have for a long time met with Dr Fordyce it will be recollected was one the respected friends of Dr Johnson and particularly known as the author of sermons addressed to the gentler sex Neither he nor his lady seems ever to have been scorched by the fire of love though they were much cheered and by its genial warmth The his tory of their courtship and marriage as detailed in this memoir is very curious Miss Cummyng protected by the Countess Balcarras contracted an intimacy with the sister of Dr Fordyce at a dancing school at Edinburgh Some of her letters were shewn by Miss Fordyce to her bro ther who it appears became instantly ena moured of the fair writer A correspon dence commenced between them and last two years without a meeting of the At length when the lady was first
blest with a sight of the Doctor she was delighted to find in him a living representa tive of Cicero with whose bust and writings she was familiarly acquainted Their at tachment thus classically cemented was not however immediately brought to a point The lady gave utterance to many prudish not yets no occasion for precipitancy & c and procrastination that thief of time seemed to throw the lover's anticipated happiness to a teas ing and indefinable distance At ength by a pleasant stratagem on the part of Lady Balcarras Miss Cummyng was all at once surprised into a wedding A gay and full dress party was formed the object of which the fair Henrietta was not ap prized of till the very evening that was to make her a wife The parties having as sembled round the altar in the chapel be longing to the mansion The Dean of who had been engaged to perform the ceremony began and continued to pronounce the words with impressive solem nity till the Doctor had to say With my body I thee worship when he substituted the words With my body I thee honour The Dean repeated worship the Doctor repeated ho nour Three times the Dean reiterated wor ship and as often the Doctor in a voice which inspired awe repeated honour The dignitary paused a momentary red suffused his cheek but he proceeded and the ceremony was con cluded It is pleasing to know that a marriage so singularly effected proved as singularly happy The book we very cordially recommend to the attention of our readers La Belle assemblée: or, Bell’s court and fashionable magazine. (1824). United Kingdom: J. Bell.

A curious courtship, un”scorched by the fire of love” then brought to pass by a surprise wedding in which Fordyce insisted on correcting the Dean giving the vows. I have the ick shivers, and am controlling myself from going on a fast-typed rant.  But there you go.  That’s the dude women were supposed to take advice from.

I think knowing more about Fordyce adds a depth to reading Pride and Prejudice and an overall appreciation for just how darn funny Jane Austen was.

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