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+Project Gutenberg's What Great Men Have Said About Women, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: What Great Men Have Said About Women
+ Ten Cent Pocket Series No. 77
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Marcet Haldeman-Julius
+
+Release Date: August 2, 2005 [EBook #16418]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT GREAT MEN HAVE SAID ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Ted Garvin, Hemantkumar N Garach and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 77
+
+Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
+
+
+WHAT GREAT MEN HAVE SAID ABOUT WOMEN
+
+
+HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
+GIRARD. KANSAS
+
+
+
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+ Where is any author in the world
+ Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye?
+
+ _Love's Labour's Lost, A. 4, S. 3._
+
+
+ The idea of her life shall sweetly creep
+ Into his study of imagination;
+ And every lovely organ of her life
+ Shall come apparel'd in more precious habit,
+ More moving-delicate, and full of life,
+ Into the eye and prospect of his soul.
+
+ _Much Ado About Nothing, A. 4, S. 1._
+
+
+ Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,
+ Shall win my love.
+
+ _Taming of the Shrew, A. 4, S. 2._
+
+
+ Win her with gifts, if she respect not words;
+ Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,
+ More than quick words, do move a woman's mind.
+
+ _Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 3, S. 1._
+
+
+ You, that have so fair parts of woman on you,
+ Have too a woman's heart: which ever yet
+ Affected eminence, wealth, sovereignty.
+
+ _Henry VIII., A. 2, S. 3._
+
+
+ 'Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud;
+ 'Tis virtue that doth make them most admired.
+
+ _Henry VI., Pt. 3, A. 1, S. 4._
+
+
+ From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive;
+ They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
+ They are the books, the arts, the academes,
+ That show, contain, and nourish all the world.
+
+ _Love's Labour's Lost, A. 4, S. 3._
+
+
+ Her voice was ever soft,
+ Gentle, and low: an excellent thing in woman.
+
+ _King Lear, A. 5, S. 3._
+
+
+ Have you not heard it said full oft,
+ A woman's nay doth stand for naught?
+
+ _The Passionate Pilgrim, Line 14._
+
+
+ Thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise,
+ And make it halt behind her.
+
+ _The Tempest, A. 4. S. 1._
+
+
+ Good name in man and woman,
+ Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
+
+ _Othello, A. 3, S. 3._
+
+
+ Women are soft, pitiful, and flexible.
+
+ _Henry VI., Pt. 3, A. 1. S. 4._
+
+
+ Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
+ Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
+ And, when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
+ And not obedient to his honest will,
+ What is she, but a contending rebel,
+ And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
+
+ _Taming of the Shrew, A. 5, S. 2._
+
+
+ Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
+ Her infinite variety: other women cloy
+ The appetites they feed: but she makes hungry
+ Where most she satisfies.
+
+ _Antony and Cleopatra, A. 2, S. 2._
+
+
+ She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
+ She is a woman, therefore to be won.
+
+ _Henry VI., Pt. 1, A. 5, S. 3._
+
+
+ Say, that she rail; why, then I'll tell her plain
+ She sings as sweetly as a nightingale;
+ Say, that she frown; I'll say, she looks as clear
+ As morning roses newly wash'd with dew;
+ Say, she be mute, and will not speak a word;
+ Then I'll commend her volubility,
+ And say she uttereth piercing eloquence.
+
+ _Taming of the Shrew, A. 2, S. 1._
+
+
+ Flatter, and praise, commend, extol their graces;
+ ... Say they have angels' faces.
+ That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
+ If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
+
+ _Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 3. S. 1._
+
+
+ Bethink thee on her virtues that Surmount,
+ And natural graces that extinguish art;
+ * * * * *
+ And, which is more, she is not so divine,
+ So full-replete with choice of all delights,
+ But, with as humble lowliness of mind,
+ She is content to be at your command.
+
+ _Henry VI., Pt. 1, A. 5, S. 5._
+
+
+ Let still the woman take
+ An elder than herself; so wears she to him,
+ So sways she level in her husband's heart.
+ For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
+ Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
+ More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn.
+ Than women's are.
+
+ _Twelfth Night, A. 2, S. 4.
+
+
+ 'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
+ Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
+
+ _Twelfth Night, A. 1, S. 5._
+
+
+ Fresh tears
+ Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew
+ Upon a gather'd lily almost wither'd.
+
+ _Titus Andronicus, A. 3, S. 1._
+
+
+ Patience and sorrow strove
+ Who should express her goodliest. You have seen
+ Sunshine and rain at once; her smiles and tears
+ Were like a better day: those happy smilets,
+ That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know
+ What guests were in her eyes; which parted thence,
+ As pearls from diamonds dropp'd.
+
+ _King Lear, A. 4, S. 2._
+
+
+ She is mine own;
+ And I as rich in having such a jewel
+ As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
+ The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
+
+ _Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 2, S. 4._
+
+
+ A woman impudent and mannish grown
+ Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man
+ In time of action.
+
+ _Troilus and Cressida, A. 3, S. 3._
+
+
+ A woman's face, with Nature's own hand painted,
+ Hast thou ...
+ A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
+ With shifting change, as is false woman's fashion:
+ An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling
+ Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth.
+
+ _Sonnet XX._
+
+
+ No other but a woman's reason;
+ I think him so, because I think him so.
+
+ _Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 1, S. 2._
+
+
+ The hand that hath made you fair hath made
+ you good: the goodness that is cheap in beauty
+ makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace
+ being the soul of your complexion, should keep
+ the body of it ever fair.
+
+ _Measure for Measure, A. 3, S. 1._
+
+
+ If ladies be but young and fair,
+ They have the gift to know it.
+
+ _As You Like It, A. 2, S. 7._
+
+
+ If she do frown, 'tis not in hate of you,
+ But rather to beget more love in you:
+ If she do chide, 'tis not to have you gone;
+ * * * * *
+ Take no repulse, whatever she doth say;
+ For "_Get you gone_," she doth not mean "_Away!_"
+
+ _Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 3, S. 1._
+
+
+ She never told her love,
+ But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
+ Feed on her damask cheek: she pin'd in thought,
+ And, with a green and yellow melancholy,
+ She saw, like Patience on a monument,
+ Smiling at grief.
+
+ _Twelfth Night, A. 2, S. 4._
+
+
+ She shall be
+ A pattern to all ... living with her....
+ Holy and heavenly thoughts shall still counsel her;
+ She shall be lov'd and fear'd. Her own shall bless her....
+ ... Those about her
+ From her shall read the perfect ways of honour....
+ ... Yet a virgin,
+ A most unspotted lily shall she pass
+ To the ground, and all shall mourn her.
+
+ _Henry VIII., A. 5, S. 4._
+
+
+
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+
+ Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
+ In every gesture dignity and love.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ When I approach
+ Her loveliness, so absolute she seems
+ And in herself complete, so well to know
+ Her own, that what she wills to do or say
+ Seems wisest, virtuest, discreetest, best.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ Nothing lovelier can be found
+ In woman than to study household good,
+ And good works in her husband to promote.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ For contemplation he and valour form'd;
+ For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
+ He for God only, she for God in him.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 4._
+
+
+ Among daughters of men ...
+ Many are in each region passing fair
+ As the noon sky; more like to goddesses
+ Than mortal creatures; graceful and discreet;
+ ... Persuasive ...
+ Such objects have the power to soften and tame
+ Severest temper.
+
+ _Paradise Regained, Book 2._
+
+
+ Ladies, whose bright eyes
+ Rain influence.
+
+ _L'Allegro._
+
+
+ Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined.
+
+ _Sonnet._
+
+
+ O fairest of Creation, last and best
+ Of all God's works, creature in whom excell'd
+ Whatever can to sight or thought be form'd,
+ Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ Curiosity, inquisitive, importune
+ Of secrets, then with like infirmity
+ To publish them, both common female faults.
+
+ _Samson Agonistes._
+
+
+ In argument with men, a woman ever
+ Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.
+
+ _Samson Agonistes._
+
+
+ Thus it will befall
+ Him who to worth in woman overturning
+ Lets her will rule; restraint she will not brook,
+ And left to herself, if evil thence ensue,
+ She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ Daughter of God ...
+ I, from the influence of thy looks, receive
+ Access in every virtue: and in thy sight
+ More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were
+ Of outward strength; while shame, thou looking on.
+ Shame to be overcome or overreach'd.
+ Would utmost vigour raise, and raised unite.
+ Why shouldst not thou like sense within thee feel
+ When I am present, and thy trial choose
+ With me, best witness of thy virtue tried?
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ By his countenance he seem'd
+ Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
+ Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,
+ With lowliness majestic from her seat,
+ And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
+ Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
+ To visit how they prosper'd, bud and bloom,
+ Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
+ And, touch'd by her fair tendance gladlier grew.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity,
+ That, when a soul is found sincerely so
+ A thousand liveried angels lackey her,
+ Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
+ And in clear dream and solemn vision
+ Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear;
+ Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
+ Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape.
+
+ _Comus._
+
+
+ A smile that glow'd
+ Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ She has a hidden strength ...
+ ... The strength of Heaven,
+ It may be termed her own.
+ 'Tis chastity ... chastity....
+ She that has that, is clad in complete steel;
+ And, like a quiver'd Nymph with arrows keen,
+ May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths,
+ ... and sandy perilous wilds ...
+ She may pass on with unblench'd majesty
+ Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
+
+ _Comus._
+
+
+ O Woman, in thy native innocence, rely
+ On what thou hast of virtue: summon all,
+ For God toward thee hath done His part, do thine.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ What higher in her society thou find'st
+ Attractive, human, rational, love still;
+ In loving thou dost well, in passion not
+ Wherein true love consists not.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks,
+ Safest and seemliest by her husband stays,
+ Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 9._
+
+
+ Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat
+ Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
+ About her, as a guard angelic placed.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ Those graceful acts,
+ Those thousand decencies that daily flow
+ From all her words and actions mix'd with love
+ And sweet compliance, which declare unfeign'd
+ Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
+ Harmony to behold in wedded pair
+ More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure,
+ Sober, steadfast, and demure.
+ * * * * *
+ With even step and musing gait;
+ And looks commercing with the skies,
+ Thy wrapt soul sitting in thine eyes.
+
+ _Il Penseroso._
+
+
+ Innocence and virgin modesty
+ Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,
+ That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won
+ Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired
+ The more desirable.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ Lady, thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends
+ To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light.
+ And hope that reaps not shame.
+
+ _Sonnet._
+
+
+ A creature ...
+ ... So lovely fair,
+ That what seem'd fair in all the world seem'd now
+ Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ All things from her air inspired
+ The spirit of love and amorous delight.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 8._
+
+
+ It is for homely features to keep home--
+ They had their name thence: coarse complexions
+ And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply
+ The sampler and to tease the housewife's wool.
+
+ _Comus._
+
+
+ With dispatchful looks in haste
+ She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent.
+ What choice to choose for delicacy best,
+ What order, so contrived, as not to mix
+ Tastes, not well join'd, inelegant, but bring
+ Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change.
+
+ _Paradise Lost, Book 5._
+
+
+ I do not think my sister ...
+ ... So unprincipled in Virtue's book
+ And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever,
+ As that single want of light and noise
+ Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts,
+ And put them into misbecoming plight.
+ Virtue could see to do what Virtue would
+ By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
+ Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self
+ Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude:
+ Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation,
+ She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings.
+ That in the various bustle of resort
+ Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair'd.
+
+ _Comus._
+
+
+
+
+ LORD BYRON.
+
+
+ Around her shone
+ The nameless charms unmark'd by her alone:
+ The light of love, the purity of grace,
+ The mind, the music breathing from her face,
+ The heart whose softness harmonized the whole--
+ And, oh! that eye was in itself a soul!
+
+ _The Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare,
+ And Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair.
+
+ _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 1._
+
+
+ She was a form of life and light,
+ That, seen, became a part of sight;
+ And rose wher'er I turned mine eye,
+ The morning-star of memory!
+
+ _The Giaour._
+
+
+ You know, or ought to know, enough of women,
+ Since you have studied, them so steadily,
+ That what they ask in aught that touches on
+ The heart, is dearer to their feelings or
+ Their fancy than the whole external world.
+
+ _Sardanapalus, A. 4._
+
+
+ Oh! too convincing--dangerously dear--
+ In woman's eye the unanswerable tear!
+ That weapon of her weakness she can wield
+ To save, subdue--at once her spear and shield.
+
+ _Corsair, Canto 2._
+
+
+ Who hath not proved how feebly words essay
+ To fix one spark of beauty's heavenly ray?
+ Who doth not feel, until his failing sight
+ Faints into dimness with its own delight,
+ His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess
+ The might--the majesty of loveliness?
+
+ _Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._
+
+
+ So bright the tear in beauty's eye,
+ Love half regrets to kiss it dry;
+ So sweet the blush of bashfulness,
+ Even pity scarce can wish it less!
+
+ _The Bride of Abydos, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Her glossy hair was cluster'd o'er a brow
+ Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth;
+ Her eyebrow's shape was like the aerial bow
+ Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth
+ Mounting, at times to a transparent glow,
+ As if her veins ran lightning.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Man's love is of man's life a thing apart,
+ Is woman's whole existence.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet;
+ Her very nod was not an inclination;
+ There was a self-will even in her small feet,
+ As though they were quite conscious of her station;--
+ * * * * *
+ But nature teaches more than power can spoil,
+ And when a strong although a strange sensation
+ Moves--female hearts are such a genial soil
+ For kinder feelings, whatsoe'er their nation.
+ They naturally pour the "wine and oil,"
+ Samaritans in every situation.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 5._
+
+
+ The earth has nothing like a she epistle,
+ And hardly heaven--because it never ends.
+ I love the mystery of a female missal,
+ Which like a creed ne'er says all it intends.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 13._
+
+
+ Her chief resource was in her own high spirit,
+ Which judged mankind at their due estimation;
+ And for coquetry, she disdain'd to wear it:
+ Secure of admiration, its impression
+ Was faint, as of an every-day possession.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 13._
+
+
+ An eye's an eye, and whether black or blue,
+ Is no great matter, so 'tis in request.
+ 'Tis nonsense to dispute about a hue,
+ The kindest may be taken as a test.
+ The fair sex should be always fair; and no man
+ Till thirty, should perceive there's a plain woman.
+
+ _Beppo._
+
+
+
+ She was not violently lively, but
+ Stole on your spirit like a May-day breaking;
+ Her eyes were not too sparkling, yet, half shut,
+ They put beholders in a tender taking.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 6._
+
+
+ The very first
+ Of human life must spring from woman's breast,
+ Your first small words are taught you from her lips,
+ Your first tears quench'd by her, and your last sighs
+ Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing,
+ When men have shrunk from the ignoble care
+ Of watching the last hour of him who led them.
+
+ _Sardanapalus, A. 1._
+
+
+ Soft, as the memory of buried love;
+ Pure, as the prayer which childhood wafts above
+ Was she.
+
+ _Bride of Abydos; Canto 1._
+
+
+ She was a soft landscape of mild earth,
+ Where all was harmony, and calm and quiet,
+ Luxuriant, budding; cheerful without mirth,
+ Which, if not happiness, is more nigh it
+ Than are your mighty passions and so forth,
+ Which some call "the sublime": I wish they'd try it;
+ I've seen your stormy seas and stormy women,
+ And pity lovers rather more than seamen.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 6._
+
+
+ The tender blue of that large loving eye.
+
+ _The Corsair, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Now Laura moves along the joyous crowd,
+ Smiles in her eyes, and simpers on her lips;
+ To some she whispers, others speaks aloud;
+ To some she curtsies, and to some she dips;
+ Complains of warmth, and this complaint avow'd,
+ Her lover brings the lemonade,--she sips:
+ She then surveys, condemns, but pities still
+ Her dearest friends for being drest so ill.
+ One had false curls, another too much paint,
+ A third--where did she buy that frightful turban?
+ A fourth's so pale she fears she's going to faint,
+ A fifth's look's vulgar, dowdyish, and suburban,
+ A sixth's white silk has got a yellow tint,
+ A seventh's thin muslin surely will be her bane,
+ And lo! an eighth appears,--I'll see no more!
+ For fear, like Banquo's kings, they reach a score.
+
+ _Beppo._
+
+
+ She was blooming still, had made the best
+ Of time, and time return'd the compliment,
+ And treated her genteely, so that, drest,
+ She look'd extremely well where'er she went;
+ A pretty woman is a welcome guest,
+ And her brow a frown had rarely bent;
+ Indeed she shone all smiles, and seem'd to flatter
+ Mankind with her black eyes for looking at her.
+
+ _Beppo._
+
+
+ I think, with all due deference
+ To the fair _single_ part of the creation,
+ That married ladies should preserve the preference
+ In tete-a-tete or general conversation--
+ Because they know the world, and are at ease,
+ And being natural, naturally please.
+
+ _Beppo._
+
+
+ She walks in beauty, like the night
+ Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
+ And all that's best of dark and bright
+ Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
+ Thus mellow'd to that tender light
+ Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
+
+ One shade the more, one ray the less,
+ Had half impair'd the nameless grace
+ Which waves in every raven tress,
+ Or softly lightens o'er her face;
+ Where thoughts serenely sweet express
+ How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
+
+ And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
+ So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
+ The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
+ But tell of days in goodness spent,
+ A mind at peace with all below,
+ A heart whose love is innocent!
+
+ _Hebrew Melodies._
+
+
+ I saw thee weep--the big bright tear
+ Came o'er that eye of blue:
+ And then methought it did appear
+ A violet dropping dew;
+ I saw thee smile--the sapphire's blaze
+ Beside thee ceased to shine,
+ It could not match the living rays
+ That fill'd that glance of thine.
+
+ As clouds from yonder sun receive
+ A deep and mellow die,
+ Which scarce the shade of coming eve
+ Can banish from the sky,
+ Those smiles unto the moodiest mind
+ Their own pure joy impart;
+ Their sunshine leaves a glow behind
+ That lightens o'er the heart.
+
+ _Hebrew Melodies._
+
+
+ I have observed your sex, once roused to wrath,
+ Are timidly vindictive to a pitch
+ Of perseverance, which I would not copy.
+
+ _Sardanapalus, A. 2._
+
+
+ She was pensive more than melancholy,
+ And serious more than pensive, and serene,
+ It may be, more than either ...
+ The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was wholly
+ Unconscious, albeit turn'd of quick seventeen,
+ That she was fair, or dark, or short, or tall;
+ She never thought about herself at all.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 6.
+ _
+
+ A learned lady, famed
+ For every branch of every science known--
+ In every Christian language ever named,
+ With virtues equall'd by her wit alone.
+ She made the cleverest people quite ashamed,
+ And even the good with inward envy groan,
+ Finding themselves so very much exceeded
+ In their own way by all the things that she did.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 1._
+
+
+ 'Tis pity learned virgins ever wed
+ With persons of no sort of education,
+ Or gentlemen who, though well-born and bred,
+ Grow tired of scientific conversation:
+ * * * * *
+ Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual,
+ Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck'd you all?
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 1._
+
+
+ What a strange thing is man! and what a stranger
+ Is woman? what a whirlwind is her head,
+ And what a whirlpool full of depth and danger
+ Is all the rest about her! whether wed,
+ Or widow, maid, or mother, she can change her
+ Mind like the wind; whatever she has said
+ Or done, is light to what she'll say or do;--
+ The oldest thing on record, and yet new!
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 9._
+
+
+ Round her she made an atmosphere of life,
+ The very air seem'd lighter from her eyes,
+ They were so soft and beautiful, and rife
+ With all we can imagine of the skies;--
+ * * * * *
+ Her overpowering presence made you feel,
+ It would not be idolatry to kneel.
+
+ _Don Juan, Canto 3._
+
+
+ Through her eye the Immortal shone;
+ * * * * *
+ Her eyes' dark charm 'twere vain to tell,
+ But gaze on that of the gazelle,
+ It will assist thy fancy well;
+ As large, as languishingly dark,
+ But soul beamed forth in every spark
+ That darted from beneath the lid,
+ Bright as the jewel of Giamschid,
+ Yea, soul!
+
+ _The Giaour._
+
+
+ So--this feminine farewell
+ Ends as such partings end, in _no_ departure.
+
+ _Sardanapalus, A. 4._
+
+
+
+
+ SIR WALTER SCOTT.
+
+
+ Even the most simple and unsuspicious of the female sex have (God
+ bless them!) an instinctive sharpness of perception in love
+ matters, which sometimes goes the length of observing partialities
+ that never existed, but rarely misses to detect such as pass
+ actually under their observation.--_Waverley._
+
+
+ Her accents stole
+ On the dark visions of their soul,
+ And bade their mournful musings fly,
+ Like mist before the zephyr's sigh.
+
+ _Rokeby, Canto 4._
+
+
+ She sung with great taste and feeling, and with a respect to the
+ sense of what she uttered, that might be proposed in example to
+ ladies of much superior musical talent. Her natural good sense
+ taught her, that if, as we are assured, "music must be married to
+ immortal verse," they are very often divorced by the performer in a
+ most shameful manner. It was perhaps owing to this sensibility to
+ poetry, and combining its expression with those of the musical
+ notes, that her singing gave more pleasure to all the unlearned in
+ music, and even to many of the learned, than could have been
+ communicated by a much finer voice and more brilliant execution,
+ unguided by the same delicacy of feeling.--_Waverley._
+
+
+ Like every beautiful woman, she was conscious of her own power, and
+ pleased with its effects.... But as she possessed excellent sense,
+ she gave accidental circumstances, full weight in appreciating the
+ feeling she aroused.--_Waverley._
+
+
+ There was a soft and pensive grace,
+ A cast of thought upon her face,
+ That suited well the forehead high,
+ The eye-lash dark, and downcast eye;
+ The mild expression spoke a mind
+ In duty firm, composed, resign'd.
+
+ _Rokeby, Canto 4._
+
+
+ The rose, with faint and feeble streak
+ So slightly tinged the maiden's cheek,
+ That you had said her hue was pale;
+ But if she faced the summer-gale,
+ Or spoke, or sung, or quicker moved,
+ Or heard the praise of those she loved,
+ Or when of interest was express'd
+ Aught that waked feeling in her breast,
+ That mantling blood in ready play
+ Rivall'd the blush of rising day.
+
+ _Rokeby, Canto 4._
+
+
+ What woman knows not her own road to victory?--_The Talisman._
+
+
+ She had been beautiful, and was stately and majestic in her
+ appearance. Endowed by nature with strong powers and violent
+ passions, experience had taught her to employ the one, and to
+ conceal, if not to moderate, the other. She was a severe and strict
+ observer of the external forms, at least, of devotion; her
+ hospitality was splendid, even to ostentation; her address and
+ manners were grave, dignified, and severely regulated by the rules
+ of etiquette.... And yet, with all these qualities to excite
+ respect, she was seldom mentioned in the terms of love or
+ affection. Interest,--the interest of her family, if not her
+ own--seemed too obviously the motive of her actions: and when this
+ is the case, the sharp-judging and malignant public are not easily
+ imposed upon by outward show.--_The Bride of Lammermoor._
+
+
+ Reasoning--like a woman, to whom external appearance is scarcely in
+ any circumstance a matter of unimportance, and like a beauty who
+ has confidence in her own charms.--_Kenilworth._
+
+
+ Her affection and sympathy dictated at once the kindest course.
+ Without attempting to control the torrent of grief in its full
+ current, she gently sat her down beside the mourner.... She waited
+ a more composed moment to offer her little stock of consolation in
+ deep silence and stillness.--_The Betrothed._
+
+
+ Her kindness and her worth to spy
+ You need but gaze on Ellen's eye;
+ Not Katrine in her mirror blue,
+ Gives back the shaggy banks more true,
+ Than every free-born glance confess'd
+ The guileless movements of her breast;
+ Whether joy danced in her dark eye,
+ Or woe or pity claim'd a sigh,
+ Or filial love was glowing there,
+ Or meek devotion pour'd a prayer.
+ Or hate of injury call'd forth
+ The indignant spirit of the North.
+ One only passion unreveal'd,
+ With maiden pride, the maid conceal'd,
+ Yet no less purely felt the flame--
+ O need I tell that passion's name?
+
+ _The Lady of the Lake, Canto 1._
+
+
+ She is fairer in feature than becometh a man of my order to speak
+ of; and she has withal a breathing of her father's lofty spirit.
+ The look and the word of such a lady will give a man double
+ strength in the hour of need.--_The Betrothed._
+
+
+ Her smile, her speech, with winning sway,
+ Wiled the old harper's mood away.
+ With such a look as hermits throw
+ When angels stoop to soothe their woe,
+ He gazed, till fond regret and pride
+ Thrill'd to a tear.
+
+ _The Lady of the Lake, Canto 2._
+
+
+ All her soul is in her eye,
+ Yet doubts she still to tender free
+ The wonted words of courtesy.
+ * * * * *
+ Go to her now--be bold of cheer,
+ While her soul floats 'twixt hope and fear:
+ It is the very change of tide,
+ When best the female heart is tried--
+ Pride, prejudice ...
+ Are in the current swept to sea.
+
+ _Rokeby, Canto 2._
+
+
+ She was highly accomplished; yet she had not learned to substitute
+ the gloss of politeness for the reality of feeling.--_Waverley._
+
+
+ A deep-thinking and impassioned woman, ready to make exertions
+ alike, and sacrifices, with all that vain devotion to a favorite
+ object of affection, which is often so basely rewarded.--_The
+ Fortunes of Nigel._
+
+
+ The spotless virgin fears not the raging lion.--_The Talisman._
+
+
+ Sweet was her blue eye's modest smile ...
+ And down her shoulders graceful roll'd
+ Her locks profuse of paly gold ...
+ She charm'd at once, and tamed the heart.
+
+ _Marmion, Canto 5._
+
+
+ At length, an effort sent apart
+ The blood that curdled to her heart,
+ And light came to her eye,
+ And color dawn'd upon her cheek,
+ A hectic and a flutter'd streak.
+ * * * * *
+ And when her silence broke at length,
+ Still as she spoke she gather'd strength,
+ And arm'd herself to bear;--
+ It was a fearful sight to see
+ Such high resolve and constancy,
+ In form so soft and fair.
+
+ _Marmion, Canto 2._
+
+
+ She look'd down to blush, and she look'd up to sigh,
+ With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye.
+
+ _Marmion, Canto 5._
+
+
+ Her very soul is in home, and in the discharge of all those quiet
+ virtues of which home is the centre. Her husband will be to her the
+ object of all her care, solicitude, and affection. She will see
+ nothing, but by him, and through him. If he is a man of sense and
+ virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigue, and
+ share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of a churlish or
+ negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for she will not
+ long survive his unkindness.--_Waverley._
+
+
+ When there can be no confidence betwixt a man and his plighted
+ wife, it is a sign she has no longer the regard for him that made
+ their engagement safe and suitable.--_The Heart of Mid-Lothian._
+
+
+ She was by nature perfectly good-humoured, and if her due share of
+ admiration and homage was duly resigned to her, no one could
+ possess better temper, or a more friendly disposition; but then,
+ like all despots, the more power that was voluntarily yielded to
+ her, the more she desired to extend her sway. Sometimes, even when
+ all her ambition was gratified, she chose to be a little out of
+ health, and a little out of spirits.--- _The Talisman._
+
+
+ Her look composed, and steady eye,
+ Bespoke a matchless constancy.
+
+ _Marmion, Canto 2._
+
+
+ The noble dame, amid the broil,
+ Shared the gray seneschal's high toil,
+ And spoke of danger with a smile;
+ Cheer'd the young knights, and council sage
+ Held with the chiefs of riper age.
+
+ _The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto 3._
+
+
+ Woman's faith and woman's trust,
+ Write the characters in dust.
+
+ _The Betrothed._
+
+
+ Ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
+ A Nymph, or Naiad, or a Grace,
+ Of finer form, or lovelier face!
+ What though the sun, with ardent frown,
+ Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown,
+ The sportive toil, which, short and light
+ Had dyed her glowing hue so bright,
+ Served too in hastier swell to show
+ Short glimpses of a breast of snow;
+ What though no rule of courtly grace
+ To measured mood had train'd her pace,--
+ A foot more light, a step more true,
+ Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew;
+ E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head,
+ Elastic from her airy tread;
+ What though upon her speech there hung
+ The accent of the mountain tongue,
+ Those silver sounds, so soft, so clear,
+ The list'ner held his breath to hear.
+
+ _Lady of the Lake, Canto 1._
+
+
+ Spoilt she was on all hands.... But though, from these
+ circumstances, the city-beauty had become as wilful, as capricious,
+ and as affected, as unlimited indulgence seldom fails to render
+ those to whom it is extended; and although she exhibited upon many
+ occasions that affectation of extreme shyness, silence, and
+ reserve, which misses are apt to take for an amiable modesty; and
+ upon others, a considerable portion of that flippancy which youth
+ sometimes confounds with wit, she had much real shrewdness and
+ judgment, which wanted only opportunities of observation to refine
+ it--a lively, good-humoured, playful disposition, and an excellent
+ heart.--_The Fortunes of Nigel._
+
+
+ The buoyant vivacity with which she had resisted every touch of
+ adversity, had now assumed the air of composed and submissive, but
+ dauntless, resolution and constancy.--_Rob Roy._
+
+
+ Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her head
+ and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches to
+ fair beauties. Her clear blue eye, which sat enshrined beneath a
+ graceful eyebrow of brown, sufficiently marked to give expression
+ to the forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as to melt, to
+ command as well as to beseech.--_Ivanhoe._
+
+
+
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+ She was a Phantom of delight
+ When first she gleamed upon my sight;
+ A lovely Apparition, sent
+ To be a moment's ornament;
+ Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
+ Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
+ But all things else about her drawn
+ From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
+ A dancing Shape, and Image gay,
+ To haunt, to startle, and waylay.
+
+ _A Phantom of Delight._
+
+
+ A gentle maid, whose heart is lowly bred,
+ With joyousness, and with a thoughtful cheer.
+
+ _A Farewell._
+
+
+ A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
+ Her household motions light and free,
+ And steps of virgin liberty;
+ A countenance in which did meet
+ Sweet records, promises as sweet;
+ A Creature not too bright or good
+ For human nature's daily food;
+ For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
+ Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
+
+ _A Phantom of Delight._
+
+
+ Sister ... Thy mind
+ Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
+ Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
+ For all sweet sounds and harmonies.
+
+ _Tintern Abbey._
+
+
+ She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
+ And humble cares, and delicate fears;
+ A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
+ And love and thought and joy.
+
+ _The Sparrow's Nest._
+
+
+ 'Tis her's to pluck the amaranthine flower
+ Of faith, and 'round the sufferer's temples bind
+ Wreaths that endure affliction's heaviest shower,
+ And do not shrink from sorrow's keenest wind.
+
+ _Weak is the Will of Man._
+
+
+ I praise thee, Matron! and thy due
+ Is praise....
+ With admiration I behold
+ Thy gladness unsubdued and bold;
+ Thy looks, thy gestures, all present
+ The picture of a life well spent.
+
+ _The Matron of Jedborough._
+
+
+ A blooming girl, whose hair was wet
+ With points of morning due....
+ Her brow was smooth and white....
+ * * * * *
+ No fountain from its rocky cave
+ E'er tripped with foot so free,
+ She seemed as happy as a wave,
+ That dances on the sea.
+
+ _The Two April Mornings._
+
+
+ The floating clouds their state shall lend
+ To her; for her the willow bend;
+ Nor shall she fail to see,
+ Even in the motions of the storm,
+ Grace that shall mould the Maiden's form
+ By silent sympathy.
+ The stars of midnight shall be dear
+ To her; and she shall lean her ear
+ In many a secret place,
+ Where rivulets dance their wayward round,
+ And beauty born of murmuring sound
+ Shall pass into her face.
+ And vital feelings of delight
+ Shall rear her form to stately height,
+ Her virgin bosom swell.
+
+ _Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower._
+
+
+ How blest the Maid whose heart--yet free
+ From Love's uneasy sovereignty--
+ Beats with a fancy running high,
+ Her simple cares to magnify;
+ Whom Labour, never urged to toil,
+ Hath cherished on a healthful soil;
+ Who knows not pomp, who heeds not pelf;
+ Whose heaviest sin it is to look
+ Askance upon her pretty self
+ Reflected in some crystal brook;
+ Whom grief hath spared,--who sheds no tear
+ But in sweet pity; and can hear
+ Another's praise from envy clear.
+
+ _The Three Cottage Girls._
+
+
+ A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
+ A Traveller between life and death;
+ The reason firm, the temperate will,
+ Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
+ A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
+ To warn, to comfort, and command;
+ And yet a Spirit still, and bright
+ With something of angelic light.
+
+ _A Phantom of Delight._
+
+
+ She was happy,
+ Like a spirit of air she moved,
+ Wayward, yet by all who knew her
+ For her tender heart beloved.
+
+ _The Westmoreland Girl._
+
+
+ This light-hearted Maiden....
+ High is her aim as Heaven above,
+ And wide as either her good-will;
+ And, like the lowly reed, her love
+ Can drink its nurture from the scantiest rill;
+ Insight as keen as frosty star
+ Is to her charity no bar,
+ Nor interrupts her frolic graces.
+
+
+ _The Triad._
+
+
+ O Lady bright,
+ Whose mortal lineaments seem all refined
+ By favouring Nature, and a saintly mind,
+ To something purer and more exquisite
+ Than flesh and blood!
+
+ _Sonnet._
+
+
+ A maid whom there wore none to praise
+ And very few to love;
+ A violet by a mossy stone
+ Half hidden from the eye!
+ Fair as a star when only one
+ Is shining in the sky.
+
+ _Poems of the Affections, 8._
+
+
+ Whether in the semblance drest
+ Of Dawn, or Eve, fair vision of the west,
+ Come with each anxious hope subdued,
+ By woman's gentle fortitude,
+ Each grief, through weakness, settling into rest.
+
+ _The Triad._
+
+
+ How rich that forehead's calm expanse!
+ How bright that heaven-directed glance!
+
+ _Poems of the Affections, 17._
+
+
+ Softly she treads, as if her foot were loth
+ To crush the mountain dew-drops,--soon to melt
+ On the flower's breast; as if she felt
+ That flowers themselves, whate'er their hue,
+ With all their fragrance, all their glistening,
+ Call to the heart for inward listening.
+
+ _The Triad._
+
+
+ Let other bards of angels sing,
+ Bright suns without a spot;
+ But thou art no such perfect thing;
+ Rejoice that thou art not!
+
+ Heed not though none should call thee fair;
+ So, Mary, let it be
+ If naught in loveliness compare
+ With what thou art to me.
+
+ True beauty dwells in deep retreats,
+ Whose veil is unremoved
+ Till heart to heart in concord beats,
+ And the lover is beloved.
+
+ _Poems of the Affections, 15._
+
+
+ What heavenly smiles! O Lady mine,
+ Through my very heart they shine;
+ And, if my brow gives back their light,
+ Do thou look gladly on the sight;
+ As the clear moon with modest pride
+ Beholds her own bright beams
+ Reflected from the mountain's side
+ And from the headlong streams.
+
+ _Poems of the Affections, 18._
+
+
+ How beautiful when up a lofty height
+ Honour ascends.
+ * * * * *
+ A Widow ...
+ She wasted no complaint, but strove to make
+ A just repayment, both for conscience's sake
+ And that herself and hers should stand upright
+ In the world's eye.
+
+ _The Widow._
+
+
+ The Maiden grew
+ Pious and pure, modest and yet so brave,
+ Though young, so wise, though meek, so resolute.
+
+ _Grace Darling._
+
+
+ In her face and mien
+ The soul's pure brightness he beheld,
+ Without a veil between.
+
+ _The Russian Fugitive._
+
+
+ We her discretion have observed,
+ Her just opinions, delicate reserve,
+ Her patience, and humility of mind.
+ Unspoiled by commendation....
+
+ _The Borderers._
+
+
+ O Lady, worthy of earth's proudest throne!
+ Nor less, by excellence of nature, fit
+ Beside an unambitious hearth to sit
+ Domestic queen, where grandeur is unknown;
+ What living man could fear
+ The worst of Fortune's malice, wert thou near,
+ Humbling that lily-stem, thy sceptre meek,
+ That its fair flowers may from his cheek
+ Brush the too happy tear!
+
+ _The Triad._
+
+
+ Queen, and handmaid lowly!
+ Whose skill can speed the day with lively cares,
+ And banish melancholy
+ By all that mind invents or hand prepares;
+ * * * * *
+ Who that hath seen thy beauty could content
+ His soul with but a glimpse!
+
+ _The Triad._
+
+
+ Dear girl ...
+ If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,
+ Thy nature is not therefore less divine;
+ Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
+ And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
+ God being with thee when we know it not.
+
+ _Sonnet._
+
+
+ I knew a maid,
+ A young enthusiast ...
+ Her eye was not the mistress of her heart;
+ Far less did rules prescribed by passive taste
+ Or barren, intermeddling subtleties,
+ Perplex her mind; but wise as women are
+ When genial circumstance hath favoured them,
+ She welcomed what was given, and craved no more,
+ Whate'er the scene presented to her view.
+ That was the best, to that she was attuned
+ By her benign simplicity of life,
+ ... God delights
+ In such a being; for her common thoughts
+ Are piety, her life is gratitude.
+
+ _The Prelude._
+
+
+ Sweet girl, a very shower
+ Of beauty is thy earthly dower!...
+ Never saw I mien, or face,
+ In which more plainly I could trace
+ Benignity and homebred sense
+ Ripening in perfect innocence.
+ * * * * *
+ A face with gladness overspread!
+ Soft smiles, by human kindness bred!
+ And seemliness complete, that sways
+ Thy courtesies, about three plays.
+
+ _To A Highland Girl._
+
+
+ A maiden ...
+ Lovely as spring's first note ... Pure
+ As beautiful, and gentle and benign.
+ * * * * *
+ A Flower....
+ Fairest of all flowers was she....
+ She hath an eye that smiles into all hearts,
+ * * * * *
+ Soon would her gentle words make peace.
+
+ _The Borderers._
+
+
+ Yes! thou art fair, yet be not moved
+ To scorn the declaration,
+ That sometimes I in thee have loved
+ My fancy's own creation.
+
+ Imagination needs must stir;
+ Dear Maid, this truth believe,
+ Minds that have nothing to confer,
+ Find little to perceive.
+
+ Be pleased that Nature made thee fit
+ To feed my heart's devotion,
+ By laws to which all forms submit
+ In sky, air, earth, and ocean.
+
+ _Poems of the Affections, 16._
+
+
+
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+
+ Clearly a superior woman.--That is the way with female intellects
+ when they are good; nothing equals their acuteness, and their
+ rapidity is almost excessive.--_Frederick the Great._
+
+
+ Perfection of housekeeping was her clear and speedy attainment in
+ that new scene. Strange how she made the desert blossom for herself
+ and me there; what a fairy palace she had made of that wild
+ moorland home of the poor man! From the baking of a loaf, or the
+ darning of a stocking, up to comporting herself in the highest
+ scenes or most intricate emergencies, all was insight, veracity,
+ graceful success (if you could judge it), fidelity to insight of
+ the fact given.--_Reminiscences._
+
+
+ Meek and retiring by the softness of her nature, yet glowing with
+ an ethereal ardour for all that is illustrious and lovely.--_Life
+ of Schiller._
+
+ She was of a compassionate nature, and had a loving, patient, and
+ noble heart; prudent she was; the skilfulest and thriftiest of
+ financiers; could well keep silence, too, and with a gentle
+ stoicism endure much small unreason.--_Life of Schiller._
+
+
+ Her life was busy and earnest; she was help-mate, not in name only,
+ to an ever-busy man.--_Frederick the Great._
+
+ Peculiar among all dames and damosels, glanced Blumine, there in
+ her modesty, like a star among earthly lights. Noblest maiden! whom
+ he bent to, in body and in soul; yet scarcely dared look at, for
+ the presence filled him with painful yet sweetest embarrassment.
+ --_Sartor Resartus._
+
+
+ A bright airy lady; very graceful, very witty and ingenious;
+ skilled to speak, skilled to hold her tongue.--_Frederick the
+ Great._
+
+
+ Far and wide was the fair one heard of, for her gifts, her graces,
+ her caprices; from all which vague colourings of Rumour, from the
+ censures no less than from the praises, had our friend painted for
+ himself a certain imperious Queen of Hearts, and blooming warm
+ Earth-angel, much more enchanting than your mere white
+ Heaven-angels of women, in whose placid veins circulates too little
+ naphtha-fire.--_Sartor Resartus._
+
+
+ A tall, rather thin figure; a face pale, intelligent, and
+ penetrating; nose fine, rather large, and decisively Roman; pair of
+ bright, not soft, but sharp and small black eyes, with a cold smile
+ as of enquiry in them; fine brow; fine chin; thin lips--lips always
+ gently shut, as if till the enquiry were completed, and the time
+ came for something of royal speech upon it. She had a slight
+ accent, but spoke--Dr. Hugh Blair could not have picked a hole in
+ it--and you might have printed every word, so queen-like, gentle,
+ soothing, measured, prettily royal toward subjects whom she wished
+ to love her. The voice was modulated, low, not inharmonious; yet
+ there was something of metallic in it, akin to that smile in the
+ eyes. One durst not quite love this high personage as she wished to
+ be loved! Her very dress was notable; always the same, and in a
+ fashion of its own;--and must have required daily the fastening of
+ sixty or eighty pins.--_Reminiscences._
+
+
+ She had a pleasant, attractive physiognomy; which may be considered
+ better than strict beauty.--_Frederick the Great._
+
+
+ That light, yet so stately form; those dark tresses, shading a face
+ where smiles and sun-light played over earnest deeps.... He
+ ventured to address her, she answered with attention: nay, what if
+ there were a slight tremour in that silver voice; what if the red
+ glow of evening were hiding a transient blush!--_Sartor Resartus._
+
+
+ The whims of women must be humoured.--_French Revolution._
+
+
+ A woman of many household virtues; to a warm affection for her
+ children and husband she joined a degree of taste and intelligence
+ which is of much rarer occurrence.--_Life of Schiller._
+
+
+ She is meek and soft and maiden-like....
+ A young woman fair to look upon.
+
+ _Life of Schiller._
+
+
+ My dear mother, with the trustfulness of a mother's heart,
+ ministered to all my woes, outward and inward, and even against
+ hope kept prophesying good.--_Reminiscences._
+
+
+ Women are born worshippers; in their good little hearts lies the
+ most craving relish for greatness; it is even said, each chooses
+ her husband on the hypothesis of his being a great man--in his way.
+ The good creatures, yet the foolish!--_Essay on Goethe's Works._
+
+
+ She is of that light unreflecting class, of that light unreflecting
+ sex: _varium semper et mutabile_. And then her Fine-ladyism, though
+ a purseless one: capricious, coquettish, and with all the finer
+ sensibilities of the heart; now in the rackets, now in the sullens;
+ vivid in contradictory resolves; laughing, weeping, without
+ reason,--though these acts are said to be signs of season.
+ Consider, too, how she has had to work her way, all along, by
+ flattery and cajolery; wheedling, eaves-dropping, namby-pambying;
+ how she needs wages, and knows no other productive trades.--_The
+ Diamond Necklace._
+
+
+ Thought can hardly be said to exist in her; only Perception and
+ Device. With an understanding lynx-eyed for the surface of things,
+ but which pierces beyond the surface of nothing, every individual
+ thing (for she has never seized the heart of it) turns up a new
+ face to her every new day, and seems a thing changed, a different
+ thing.--_The Diamond Necklace._
+
+
+ Reader! thou for thy sins must have met with such fair Irrationals;
+ fascinating, with their lively eyes, with their quick snappish
+ fancies; distinguished in the higher circles, in Fashion, even in
+ Literature; they hum and buzz there, on graceful
+ film-wings:--searching, nevertheless, with the wonderfullest skill
+ for honey; _un_tamable as flies!--_The Diamond Necklace._
+
+
+ Nature is very kind to all children, and to all mothers that are
+ true to her.--_Frederick the Great._
+
+
+ She is of stately figure;--of beautiful still countenance.--A
+ completeness, a decision is in this fair female figure; by energy
+ she means the spirit that will prompt one to sacrifice himself for
+ his country.--_French Revolution._
+
+
+ A clever, high-mannered, massive-minded old lady; admirable as a
+ finished piece of social art, but hardly otherwise
+ much.--_Reminiscences._
+
+
+ Who can account for the taste of females?--_The Diamond Necklace._
+
+
+ A Beauty, but over light-headed: a Booby who had fine legs. How
+ these first courted, billed, and cooed, according to nature; then
+ pouted, fretted, grew utterly enraged and blew one another
+ up.--_Boswell's Life of Johnson._
+
+
+ With delicate female tact, with fine female stoicism too, keeping
+ all things within limits.--_Frederick the Great._
+
+
+ A true-hearted, sharp-witted sister.--_Essay of Diderot._
+
+
+ A graceful, brave, and amiable woman;--her choicest gift an open
+ eye and heart.--_Oliver Cromwell._
+
+
+ Every graceful and generous quality of womanhood harmoniously
+ blended in her nature.--_Life of Schiller._
+
+
+ She is a fair vision, the _beau ideal_ of a poet's first
+ mistress.--_Life of Schiller._
+
+
+ Heaven, though severe, is _not_ unkind; Heaven is kind, as a noble
+ mother; as that Spartan mother, saying while she gave her son his
+ shield, "With it, my son, or upon it!"--Complain not; the very
+ Spartans did not complain.--_Past and Present_.
+
+
+
+
+ VICTOR HUGO.
+
+
+ All her face, all her person, breathed an ineffable love and
+ kindness. She had always been predestined to gentleness, but Faith,
+ Hope, and Charity, those three virtues that softly warm the soul,
+ had gradually elevated that gentleness to sanctity. Nature had only
+ made her a lamb, and religion had made her an angel.--_Les
+ Miserables._
+
+
+ She was the very embodiment of joy as she went to and fro in the
+ house; she brought with her a perpetual spring.--_Toilers of the
+ Sea_.
+
+
+ Her entire person was simplicity, ingenuousness, whiteness, candor,
+ and radiance, and it might have been said of her that she was
+ transparent. She produced a sensation of April and daybreak, and
+ she had dew in her eyes. She was the condensation of the light of
+ dawn in a woman's form.--_Les Miserables._
+
+
+ The woman was weak, but the mother found strength.--_Ninety-Three._
+
+
+ Woman feels and speaks with the infallibility which is the tender
+ instinct of the heart.--_Les Miserables._
+
+
+ What is a husband but the pilot in the voyage of matrimony? Wife,
+ let your fine weather be your husband's smiles.--_Toilers of the
+ Sea._
+
+
+ No one knows like a woman how to say things which are at once
+ gentle and deep. Gentleness and depth,--in these things the whole
+ of woman is contained, and it is heaven.--_Les Miserables._
+
+
+ Beauty heightened by simplicity is ineffable, and nothing is so
+ adorable as a beauteous, innocent maiden, who walks along
+ unconsciously, holding in her hand the key of Paradise.--_Les
+ Miserables._
+
+
+ She had the prettiest little hands in the world, and little feet
+ to match them. Sweetness and goodness reigned throughout her
+ person; ... her occupation was only to live her daily life; her
+ accomplishments were the knowledge of a few songs; her intellectual
+ gifts were summed up in her simple innocence.--_Toilers of the
+ Sea._
+
+
+ The coquette is blind: she does not see her wrinkles.--_By Order of
+ the King._
+
+
+ A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly
+ in them.--_Les Miserables._
+
+
+ There are moments when a woman accepts, like a sombre and resigned
+ duty, the worship of love.--_Les Miserables._
+
+
+ She was pale with that paleness which is like the transparency of a
+ divine life in an earthly face.... A soul standing in the
+ dawn.--_By Order of the King._
+
+ He looked at her, and saw nothing but her. This is love; one may be
+ carried away for a moment by the importunity of some other idea,
+ but the beloved one enters, and all that does not appertain to her
+ presence immediately fades away, without her dreaming that perhaps
+ she is effacing in us a world.--_By Order of the King._
+
+ She walked on with a light and free step, so little suggestive of
+ the burden of life that it might easily be seen that she was young.
+ Her movements possessed that subtle grace which indicates the most
+ delicate of all transitions--the soft intermingling, as it-were,
+ of two twilights,--the passage from the condition of a child to
+ that of womanhood.--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ She had never been pretty, but her whole life, which had been but a
+ succession of pious works, had eventually cast over her a species
+ of whiteness and brightness, and in growing older she had acquired
+ what may be called the beauty of goodness. What had been thinness
+ in her youth had became in her maturity transparency, and through
+ this transparency the angel could be seen.--_Les Miserables._
+
+ A ray of happiness was visible upon her face. Never had she
+ appeared more beautiful. Her features were remarkable for
+ prettiness rather than what is called beauty. Their fault, if fault
+ it be, lay in a certain excess of grace.... The ideal virgin is the
+ transfiguration of a face like this. Deruchette, touched by her
+ sorrow and love, seemed to have caught that higher and more holy
+ expression. It was the difference between the field daisy and the
+ lily.--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ The glance of a woman resembles certain wheels which are apparently
+ gentle but are formidable.... You come, you go, you dream, you
+ speak, you laugh, and all in a minute you feel yourself caught, and
+ it is all over with you. The wheel holds you, the glance has caught
+ you.--_Les Miserables._
+
+ She had listened to nothing, but mothers hear certain things
+ without listening.--_Ninety-Three._
+
+ She was really a respectable, firm, equitable, and just person,
+ full of that charity which consists in giving, but not possessing
+ to the same extent the charity which comprehends and pardons.--_Les
+ Miserables._
+
+ She seemed a vision scarcely embodied; ... in her fairness, which
+ amounted almost to serenity of her look; ... in the sacred
+ innocence of her smile, she was almost an angel, and yet just a
+ woman.--_By Order of the King._
+
+ The girl becomes a maiden, fresh and joyous as the lark. Noting her
+ movements, we feel as if it were good of her not to fly away. The
+ dear familiar companion moves at her own sweet will about the
+ house; flits from branch to branch, or rather from room to room;
+ goes to and fro; approaches and retires.... She asks a question and
+ is answered; is asked something in return, and chirps a reply. It
+ is delightful to chat with her when tired of serious talk; for this
+ creature carries with her something of her skyey element. She is,
+ as it were, a thread of gold interwoven with your sombre thoughts;
+ you feel almost grateful to her for her kindness in not making
+ herself invisible, when it would be so easy for her to be even
+ impalpable; for the beautiful is a necessity of life. There is in
+ the world no function more important than that of being
+ charming.... To shed joy around, to radiate happiness, to cast
+ light upon dark days, to be the golden thread of our destiny, and
+ the very spirit of grace and harmony, is not this to render a
+ service?--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ She scarcely knew, perhaps, the meaning of the word love, and yet
+ not unwillingly ensnared those about her in the toils.--_Toilers of
+ the Sea._
+
+ She stopped. She walked back a few paces, stopped again; she
+ inclined her head, with those thoughtful eyes which look attentive
+ yet see nothing.... Her lowered eyelids had that vague contraction
+ which suggests a tear checked in its course, or a thought
+ suppressed.... Her face, which might inspire adoration, seemed
+ meditative, like portraits of the Virgin.--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ She broke the bread into two fragments, and gave them to the
+ children, who ate with avidity. "She has kept none for herself,"
+ grumbled the sergeant. "Because she is not hungry," said a soldier.
+ "Because she is a mother," said the sergeant.--_Ninety-Three._
+
+ Extreme simplicity touches on extreme coquetry.... They did not
+ speak, they did not bow, they did not know each other, but they
+ met; and like the stars in the heavens, they lived by looking at
+ each other. It was thus that she gradually became a woman, and was
+ developed into a beautiful and loving woman, conscious of her
+ beauty and ignorant of her love. She was a coquette into the
+ bargain, through her innocence.--_Les Miserables._
+
+ Does not beauty confer a benefit upon us, even by the simple fact
+ of being beautiful?--Here and there we meet with one who possesses
+ that fairy-like power of enchanting all about her; sometimes she is
+ ignorant herself of this magical influence, which is, however, for
+ that reason only the more perfect. Her presence lights up the home;
+ her approach is like cheerful warmth; she passes by, and we are
+ content; she stays awhile, and we are happy.--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ To behold her is to live; she is the Aurora with a human face. She
+ has no need to do more than simply to be, she makes an Eden of the
+ house; Paradise breathes from her: and she communicates this
+ delight to all, without taking any greater trouble than that of
+ existing beside them. Is it not a thing divine to have a smile
+ which, none know how, has the power to lighten the weight of that
+ enormous chain which all the living, in common, drag behind
+ them?--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+ On the day when a woman who passes before you emits light as she
+ walks you are lost, for you love. You have from that moment but one
+ thing to do: think of her so intently that she will be compelled to
+ think of you.--_Les Miserables._
+
+ The soul only needs to see a smile in a white crepe bonnet in order
+ to enter the palace of dreams.--_Les Miserables._
+
+ She had upon her lips almost the light of a smile, with the fulness
+ of tears in her eyes.... The reflection of an angel was in her
+ look.--_Toilers of the Sea._
+
+
+
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+
+ There is a vision in the heart of each
+ Of justice, mercy, wisdom, tenderness
+ To wrong and pain, and knowledge of its cure:
+ And these embodied in a woman's form
+ That best transmits them, pure as first received,
+ From God above her, to mankind below.
+
+ _Colombe's Birthday._
+
+
+ This woman ...
+ ... Being true, devoted, constant--she
+ Found constancy, devotion, truth, the plain
+ And easy commonplace of character.
+
+
+ _The Inn Album._
+
+
+ ... The good and tender heart,
+ Its girl's trust and its woman's constancy,
+ How pure yet passionate, how calm yet kind,
+ How grave yet joyous, how reserved yet free
+ As light where friends are--how imbued with lore
+ The world most prizes, yet the simplest.
+ * * * * *
+ Herself creates
+ The want she means to satisfy.
+
+ _A Blot on the 'Scutcheon._
+
+
+ Truly, the woman's way
+ High to lift heart up.
+
+ _Agamemnon._
+
+
+ And Michal's face
+ Still wears that quiet and peculiar light
+ Like the dim circlet floating 'round a pearl.
+ * * * * *
+ And yet her calm sweet countenance,
+ Though saintly, was not sad; for she would sing
+ Alone ... bird-like,
+ Not dreaming you were near.--Her carols dropt
+ In flakes through that old leafy bower.
+
+ _Paracelsus._
+
+
+ ... Such a lady, cheeks so round and lips so red,--
+ On her neck the small face buoyant like a bell-flower on its bed.
+
+ _Lyric._
+
+
+ There's a woman like a dew-drop, she's so purer than the purest;
+ And her noble heart's the noblest, yes, and her sure faith's the surest;
+ And her eyes are dark and humid, like the depth on depth of lustre
+ Hid i' the harebell, while her tresses, sunnier than the wild-grape cluster,
+ Gush in golden-tinted plenty down her neck's rose-misted marble;
+ Then her voice's music ... call it the well's bubbling, the bird's warble!
+
+ _A Blot on the 'Scutcheon._
+
+
+ How twinks thine eye, my Love,
+ Blue as yon star-beam.
+
+ _Ferishtah's Fancies._
+
+
+ That flower-like love of hers;
+ * * * * *
+ She was true--she only of them all!
+ True to her eyes, ... those glorious eyes.
+ * * * * *
+ With truth and purity go other gifts.
+ All gifts come clustering to that.
+
+ _The Return of the Druses._
+
+
+ Good as beautiful is she,
+ With gifts that match her goodness, no faint flaw
+ I' the white;--she were the pearl you think you saw.
+
+ _Daniel Bartoli._
+
+
+ Since beneath my roof
+ Housed she who made home heaven, in heaven's behoof
+ I went forth every day, and all day long
+ Worked for the world. Look, how the laborer's song
+ Cheers him! Thus sang my soul, at each sharp throe
+ Of laboring flesh and blood--"She loves me so!"
+
+ _A Forgiveness._
+
+
+ It is conspicuous in a woman's nature
+ Before its view to take a grace for granted:
+ Too trustful,--on her boundary, usurpature
+ Is swftly made;
+ But swftly, too, decayed,
+ The glory perishes by woman vaunted.
+
+ _Agamemnon._
+
+
+ That fawn-skin-dappled hair of hers;
+ And the blue eye
+ Dear and dewy,
+ And that infantine fresh air of hers!
+ * * * * *
+ Eyes and mouth too,
+ All the face composed of flowers....
+ * * * * *
+ ... The sweet face ...
+ Be its beauty
+ Its sole duty!
+
+ _A Pretty Woman._
+
+
+ Women hate a debt as
+ Men a gift.
+
+ _In a Balcony._
+
+
+ A pretty woman's worth some pains to see,
+ Nor is she spoiled, I take it, if a crown
+ Complete the forehead pale and tresses pure.
+
+ _Colombe's Birthday._
+
+
+ Sure, 'tis no woman's part to long for battle;
+ * * * * *
+ Who conquers mildly
+ God from afar benignantly regardeth.
+
+ _Agamemnon._
+
+
+ Man's best and woman's worse
+ Amount so nearly to the same thing.
+
+ _Daniel Bartoli._
+
+
+ Nature's law ...
+ Given the peerless woman, certainly
+ Somewhere shall be the peerless man to match.
+
+ _The Inn Album._
+
+
+ Show me where's the woman won without
+ The help of one lie which she believes--
+ That--never mind how things have come to pass,
+ And let who loves have loved a thousand times--
+ All the same he now loves her only, loves
+ Her ever....
+
+ _The Inn Album._
+
+
+ Girl with sparkling eyes....
+ * * * * *
+ What an angelic mystery you are--
+ * * * * *
+ You have a full fresh joyous sense of life
+ That finds you out life's fit food everywhere;
+ * * * * *
+ By joyance you inspire joy.
+
+ _The Inn Album._
+
+
+ Now makes twice
+ That I have seen her, walked and talked
+ With the poor pretty thoughtful thing,
+ Whose worth I weigh; she tries to sing:
+ Draws, hopes in time the eye grows nice;
+ Reads verse and thinks she understands;
+ Loves all, at any rate, that's great,
+ Good, beautiful....
+
+ _Dis Aliter Visum._
+
+
+ Wave my lady dear a last farewell,
+ Lamenting who to one and all of us
+ Domestics was a mother, myriad harms
+ She used to ward away from every one,
+ And mollify her husband's ireful mood.
+
+ _Balaustion's Adventure._
+
+
+ Men? say you have the power
+ To make them yours, rule men, throughout life's little hour,
+ According to the phrase: what follows?
+ Men, you make,
+ By ruling them, your own; each man for his own sake
+ Accepts you as his guide, avails him of what worth
+ He apprehends in you to sublimate his earth
+ With fire; content, if so you convey him through night,
+ That you shall play the sun, and he, the satellite,
+ Pilfer your light and heat and virtue, starry pelf,
+ While, caught up by your course, he turns upon himself.
+
+ _Fifine at the Fair._
+
+
+ Any sort of woman may bestow
+ Her atom on the star, or clod she counts for such,--
+ Each little making less bigger by just that much.
+ Women grow you, while men depend on you at best.
+
+ _Fifine at the Fair._
+
+
+ Woman, and will you cast
+ For a word, quite off at last
+ Me your own, your You,--
+ Love, if you knew the light
+ That your soul casts in my sight,
+ How I look to you
+ For the pure and true,
+ And the beauteous and the right,--
+ Bear with a moment's spite
+ When a mere mote threats the white!
+
+ _A Lover's Quarrel._
+
+
+ Love, you did give all I asked, I think--
+ More than I merit, yes, by many times.
+ And perfect eyes, and more than perfect mouth,
+ But had you--oh, with the same perfect brow,
+ And the low voice my soul hears, as a bird
+ The fowler's pipe, and follows to the snare--
+ Had you, with these the same, but brought a mind!
+ Some women do so. Had the mouth there urged,
+ "God and the glory! never care for gain;
+ The present by the future, what is that?
+ Live for fame, side by side with Agnolo!
+ Rafael is waiting: up to God, all three!"
+ I might have done it for you. So it seems;
+ Perhaps not. All is as God overrules.
+
+ _Andrea Del Sarto._
+
+
+ All women love great men
+ If young or old; it is in all the tales;
+ Young beauties love old poets who can love--
+ * * * * *
+ Who was a queen and loved a poet once
+ Humpbacked, a dwarf? ah, women can do that!
+
+ _In a Balcony._
+
+
+ For women
+ There is no good of life but love--but love!
+ What else looks good, is some shade flung from love;
+ Love gilds it, gives it worth. Be warned by me.
+ Never you cheat yourself one instant! Love,
+ Give love, ask only love, and leave the rest!
+
+ _In a Balcony._
+
+
+ Oh, the beautiful girl ...
+ ... Her flesh was the soft seraphic screen
+ Of a soul that is meant ...
+ To just see earth, and hardly be seen,
+ And blossom in heaven instead.
+ Yet earth saw one thing, one how fair?
+ One grace that grew to its full ...
+ ... She had her great gold hair.
+
+ Hair, such a wonder of flix and floss,
+ Freshness and fragrance--floods of it, too!
+ Gold, did I say? Nay, gold's mere dross!
+
+ _Gold Hair._
+
+
+ She had
+ A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,
+ Too easily impressed: she liked whate'er
+ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
+ * * * * *
+ 'Twas all one! My favour at her breast,
+ The dropping of the daylight in the West,
+ The bough of cherries some officious fool
+ Broke in the orchard for her,--all and each
+ Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
+ Or blush at least ...
+ ... Who'd stoop to blame
+ This sort of trifling?
+
+ _My Last Duchess._
+
+
+
+
+ W. M. THACKERAY.
+
+
+ To be doing good for some one else, is the life of most good women.
+ They are exuberant of kindness, as it were, and must impart it to
+ some one.--_Henry Esmond._
+
+
+ Who ever accused women of being just? They are always sacrificing
+ themselves or somebody for somebody else's sake.--_Pendennis._
+
+
+ I think it is not national prejudice which makes me believe that a
+ high-bred English lady is the most complete of all Heaven's
+ subjects in this world. In whom else do you see so much grace, and
+ so much virtue; so much faith, and so much tenderness; with such a
+ perfect refinement and chastity? And by high-bred ladies I don't
+ mean duchesses and countesses. Be they ever so high in station,
+ they can be but ladies, and no more. But almost every man who lives
+ in the world has the happiness, let us hope, of counting a few such
+ persons amongst his circle of acquaintance,--women, in whose
+ angelical natures there is something awful, as well as beautiful,
+ to contemplate; at whose feet the wildest and fiercest of us must
+ fall down and humble ourselves, in admiration of that adorable
+ purity which never seems to do or to think wrong.--_Pendennis._
+
+
+ What kind-hearted woman, young or old, does not love
+ match-making?--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ Who does not know how ruthlessly women will tyrannize when they are
+ let to domineer? And who does not know how useless advice is?... A
+ man gets his own experience about women, and will take nobody's
+ hearsay; nor, indeed, is the young fellow worth a fig that
+ would.--_Henry Esmond._
+
+
+ Stupid! Why not? Some women ought to be stupid. What you call
+ dullness I call repose. Give me a calm woman, a slow woman,--a
+ lazy, majestic woman. Show me a gracious virgin bearing a lily;
+ not a leering giggler frisking a rattle. A lively woman would be
+ the death of me.... Why shouldn't the Sherrick be stupid, I say?
+ About great beauty there should always reign a silence. As you look
+ at the great stars, the great ocean, any great scene of nature, you
+ hush, sir. You laugh at a pantomime, but you are still in a temple.
+ When I saw the great Venus of the Louvre, I thought,--Wert thou
+ alive, O goddess, thou shouldst never open those lovely lips but to
+ speak lowly, slowly; thou shouldst never descend from that pedestal
+ but to walk stately to some near couch, and assume another attitude
+ of beautiful calm. To be beautiful is enough. If a woman can do
+ that well; who shall demand more from her? You don't want a rose to
+ sing. And I think wit is as out of place where there's great
+ beauty; as I wouldn't have a queen to cut jokes on her
+ throne.--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ And so it is,--a pair of bright eyes with a dozen glances suffice
+ to subdue a man; to enslave him, and inflame him; to make him even
+ forget; they dazzle him so that the past becomes straightway dim to
+ him; and he would give all his life to possess 'em.--_Henry
+ Esmond._
+
+
+ She is as good a little creature as can be. She is never out of
+ temper; I don't think she is very wise; but she is uncommonly
+ pretty, and her beauty grows on you.... I look at her like a little
+ wild-flower in a field,--like a little child at play, sir. Pretty
+ little tender nursling. If I see her passing in the street I feel
+ as if I would like some fellow to be rude to her that I might have
+ the pleasure of knocking him down. She is like a little songbird,
+ sir,--a tremulous, fluttering little linnet that you would take
+ into your hand, and smooth its little plumes, and let it perch on
+ your finger and sing.--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ That fine blush which is her pretty symbol of youth, modesty, and
+ beauty.... I never saw such a beautiful violet as that of her eyes.
+ Her complexion is of the pink of the blush-rose.--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ He thought and wondered at the way in which women play with men,
+ and coax them and win them and drop them.--_Pendennis._
+
+
+ It was this lady's disposition to think kindnesses, and devise
+ silent bounties and to scheme benevolence, for those about her. We
+ take such goodness, for the most part, as if it were our due; the
+ Marys who bring ointment for our feet get but little thanks. Some
+ of us never feel this devotion at all, or are moved by it to
+ gratitude or acknowledgment; others only recall it years after,
+ when the days are past in which those sweet kindnesses were spent
+ on us, and we offer back our return for the debt by a poor tardy
+ payment of tears. The forgotten tones of love recur to us, and kind
+ glances shine out of the past--O so bright and clear!--O so longed
+ after! because they are out of reach; as holiday music from
+ with-inside a prison wall--or sunshine seen through the bars; more
+ prized because unattainable, more bright because of the contrast of
+ present darkness and solitude, whence there is no escape.--_Henry
+ Esmond._
+
+
+ In houses where, in place of that sacred, inmost flame of love,
+ there is discord at the centre, the whole household becomes
+ hypocritical, and each lies to his neighbor.... Alas that youthful
+ love and truth should end in bitterness and bankruptcy.... 'Tis a
+ hard task for women in life, that mask which the world bids them
+ wear. But there is no greater crime than for a woman who is ill
+ used and unhappy to show that she is so. The world is quite
+ relentless about bidding her to keep a cheerful face.--_Henry
+ Esmond._
+
+
+ O, what a mercy it is that these women do not exercise their powers
+ oftener. We can't resist them if they do. Let them show ever so
+ little inclination and men go down on their knees at once; old or
+ ugly it is all the same, and this I set down as a positive truth. A
+ woman with fair opportunities, and without an absolute hump, may
+ marry whom she likes. Only let us be thankful that the darlings are
+ like the beasts of the field and don't know their own powers. They
+ would overcome us entirely if they did.--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ As for women--O my dear friends and brethren in this vale of
+ tears--did you ever see anything so curious and monstrous and
+ annoying as the way in which women court Princekin when he is
+ marriageable!--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ She was as gentle and amenable to reason, as good-natured a girl
+ as could be; a little vacant and silly, but some men like dolls for
+ wives.--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ She had been bred to measure her actions by a standard which the
+ world may nominally admit, but which it leaves for the most part
+ unheeded. Worship, love, duty, as taught her by the devout study of
+ the sacred law which interprets and defines it--if these formed the
+ outward practice of her life, they were also its constant and
+ secret endeavor and occupation. She spoke but very seldom of her
+ religion, though it filled her heart and influenced all her
+ behavior. What must the world appear to such a person?--_The
+ Newcomes._
+
+
+ There are ladies, who may be called men's women, being welcomed
+ entirely by all the gentlemen, and cut or slighted by all their
+ wives.... But while simple folks who are out of the world, or
+ country people with a taste for the genteel, behold these ladies in
+ their seeming glory in public places, or envy them from afar off,
+ persons who are better instructed could inform them that these
+ envied ladies have no more chance of establishing themselves in
+ "Society," than the benighted squire's wife in Somersetshire, who
+ reads of their doings in the _Morning Post_. Men living about town
+ are aware of these awful truths. You hear how pitilessly many
+ ladies of seeming rank and wealth are excluded from this "Society."
+ The frantic efforts which they make to enter this circle, the
+ meannesses to which they submit, the insults which they undergo,
+ are matters of wonder to those who take human or woman kind for a
+ study; and the pursuit of fashion under difficulties would be a
+ fine theme for any very great person who had the wit, the leisure,
+ and the knowledge of the English language necessary for the
+ compiling of such a history.--_Vanity Fair._
+
+
+ I can fancy nothing more cruel than to have to sit day after day
+ with a dull handsome woman opposite; to answer her speeches about
+ the weather, housekeeping, and what not.... Women go through this
+ simpering and smiling life and bear it quite easily. Theirs is a
+ life of hypocrisy. What good woman does not laugh at her husband's
+ or father's jokes and stories time after time and would not laugh
+ at breakfast, lunch, and dinner if he told them? Flattery is their
+ nature,--to coax, flatter, and sweetly befool some one is every
+ woman's business. She is none, if she declines this office.--_The
+ Newcomes._
+
+
+ He had placed himself at her feet so long that the poor little
+ woman had been accustomed to trample upon him. She didn't wish to
+ marry him, but she wished to keep him. She wished to give him
+ nothing, but that he should give her all. It is a bargain not
+ unfrequently levied in love.--_Vanity Fair._
+
+
+ Every woman would rather be beautiful, than be anything else in the
+ world,--ever so rich, or ever so good, or have all the gifts of the
+ fairies.--_The Virginians._
+
+
+ If a man is in grief, who cheers him; in trouble, who consoles
+ him; in wrath, who soothes him; in joy, who makes him doubly happy;
+ in prosperity, who rejoices; in disgrace, who backs him against the
+ world, and dresses with gentle unguents and warm poultices the
+ rankling wounds made by the stings and arrows of outrageous
+ Fortune? Who but woman, if you please? You who are ill and sore
+ from the buffets of Fate, have you one or two of these sweet
+ physicians? Return thanks to the gods that they have left you so
+ much of consolation. What gentleman is not more or less a
+ Prometheus? Who has not his rock, his chain? But the sea-nymphs
+ come,--the gentle, the sympathizing; ... they do their blessed best
+ to console us Titans; _they_ don't turn their backs upon us after
+ our overthrow.--_The Virginians._
+
+
+ Is not a young mother one of the sweetest sights which life shows
+ us? If she has been beautiful before, does not her present pure joy
+ give a character of refinement and sacredness almost to her beauty,
+ touch her sweet cheeks with fairer blushes, and impart I know not
+ what serene brightness to her eyes?--_The Newcomes._
+
+
+ This lady moved through the world quite regardless of all the
+ comments that were made in her praise or disfavor. She did not seem
+ to know that she was admired or hated for being so perfect, but
+ went on calmly through life, saving her prayers, loving her family,
+ helping her neighbors, and doing good.--_Pendennis._
+
+
+ She had a fault of character which flawed her perfections. With
+ the other sex perfectly tolerant and kindly, of her own she was
+ invariably jealous; and a proof that she had this vice is, that
+ though she would acknowledge a thousand faults that she had not, to
+ which she had she could never be got to own.--_Henry Esmond._
+
+
+ She was a critic, not by reason, but by feeling. Feeling was her
+ reason.--_Henry Esmond._
+
+
+ Her eyes were gray; her voice low and sweet: and her smile when it
+ lighted up her face and eyes as beautiful as spring sunshine, also,
+ they could brighten and flash often, and sometimes though rarely
+ rain.--_Pendennis._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's What Great Men Have Said About Women, by Various
+
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