Nothing New Under the Sun?

I was surfing on the ‘Net when I came across this gem …

“Alas, when people complain of men not marrying (even they who are able), they forget how little women offer in exchange for all they get by marriage. Girls are so seldom taught to be of any use whatever to a man that I am only astonished at the numbers of men who do marry! Many girls do not even try to be agreeable to look at, much less to live with. They forget how numerous they are, and the small absolute need men have of wives; but, nevertheless, men do still marry, and would oftener marry could they find mates – women who are either helpful to them, or amusing, or pleasing to their eye.”

Did some disgruntled MRA recently write this? Nope. It is a quote from the book The Art of Beauty by Mary Eliza Haweis, published in 1878.