ABSTRACT
In Germany, Stael writes at length on the damaging effects of the demand for social conformity, and the fear of ridicule it brings in its wake. She locates the origins of the 'mocking scepticism' not just in the longstanding traits of French society, but in the philosophical trends of the preceding century. Stael's valuing of the British political system is again relevant. Although she acknowledged that it was not perfect, she believed that a Parliament which represented the wishes of the nation, and a situation where the government was eager to debate (rather than persecute) the opposition, resulted from the country's existing intellectual freedom, and fostered further intellectual and political development. On reissuing her study of Rousseau in 1814, Stael observed that in women's lives, everything goes into decline except their intellects, and that for her the cultivation of letters, despite the criticism she had attracted, had given her more pleasure than pain.
