Not Katrine in her mirror blue,
Gives back the shaggy banks more true,
Than every free-born glance confess'd
The guileless movement 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 tale of injury called forth

The indignant spirit of the North.'

"Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming' is another female character equally noble and charming. While Wordsworth, in a few stanzas, has given an epitome of personal, mental, and moral graces :—

«She was a phantom of delight

When first she gleam'd upon my sight-
A lovely apparition sent

To be a moment's ornament.

Her eyes like stars of twilight fair-
Like twilight too her dusky hair;
But all about her else was drawn
From May-time and the cheerful dawn.
A dancing shape and image gay,
To haunt, to startle, to waylay.

"I saw her upon nearer view

A spirit, yet a woman too.
With 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 and good
For human nature's daily food:
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.

"And now I see with eye serene

The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller 'twixt life and death;
The reason firm-the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

A perfect woman-nobly plann'd
To warn, to comfort, to command;
And yet a spirit too, and bright

With something of an angel's light.'

"This poem is to be studied, it contains so much. more than meets the ear. It is

"Strong without force, without o'erflowing full.'

แ Among living poets, few have a finer appreciation of the female character than Tennyson. His sketches are all studies worthy of a careful, reflective reading; none more so than his charming picture of a wife.

ISABEL.

"Eyes not down-dropt nor over-bright, but fed
With the clear-pointed flame of chastity;
Clear, without heat, undying, tended by
Pure vestal thoughts, in the translucent fäne
Of her still spirit: locks not wide dispread,
Madonna-wise on either side her head;
Sweet lips, whereon perpetually did reign
The summer calm of golden charity,
Were fixed shadows of thy firèd mood,
Revered Isabel! the crown and head,
The stately flower of female fortitude,
Of perfect wifehood, and pure lowlihead.
The intuitive decision of a bright
And thorough-edged intellect to part
Error from crime-a prudence to withhold.
The laws of marriage character'd in gold,
Upon the blanchèd tablets of the heart,
A love still burning upward, giving light
To read those laws-an accent very low
In blandishment, but a most silver flow
Of subtle-paced counsel in distress,

Right to the heart and brain, though undescribed,
Winning its way with extreme gentleness
Through all the outworks of suspicious pride.
A courage to endure and to obey;

A hate of gossip parlance, and of sway,
Crown'd Isabel, through all her placid life
The queen of marriage, a most perfect wife.'

K

"On the whole, I think it cannot be doubted that the female character in the present day is highly appreciated. I have not quoted from the gifted writers of my own sex for two reasons; first, because I thought they might not be held impartial, (though I see no reason why they should not be ;) but also because my time, and perhaps your patience, would not have held out longer."

"Certainly, Ellen," said Edward, "women have good right to think the poets the best historians of women, The only drawback to such sweet and lovely descriptions as we have heard this evening is, that it may make us slow of perceiving the resemblance of these pictures to real life.”

"Ah! that's just what I was thinking," said Jane; "surely such high standards will make poor dwarfs of real women in comparison, though I certainly take comfort in the sweet thought of Wordsworth:

A creature not too bright and good

For human nature's daily food."

And, my dear," interposed Mrs. Vernon, "when requirements from woman are so great, she will surely be brought to aim more frequently at fulfilling them; to have a high character stimulates a noble mind to try to deserve it. No sarcasm is so bitter as undeserved praise. It is one of the most hopeful signs of the present time, that people no longer utter merely trite truisms on woman and her influence, but they seem desirous so to direct it, that it may best promote the sacred cause of human improvement."

"I thank you, Ellen, for your string of gems," said Etty, "not wholly forgetting the thread that they are strung on; but I rather demur to something you have said about Milton. You have not told us all the truth. He certainly penned some harsh lines of woman. You did not give us them." "Would you have had me put pebbles with my gems?" gaily interposed Ellen.

"Hush, hush! no treason against the majesty of Milton," said Etty.

"It is not treason, surely," said Philip, "to say that some parts of his poetry are as much better than other parts, as gems are better than pebbles. If so, Etty, what did you mean about his harsh lines?"" "I mean to say that Milton taught, and made Eve herself say,

'He' (that is, man) for God only, She, for God in him.'

In that sentiment he evidently taught that the law of God was to be the guide of man, the law of man the guide of woman."

"Yes," said Edward, "but that referred to so different a state of being. Man then was perfect in intelligence and innocence, and reflected the image of his Maker. I think Milton would never have taught such a doctrine after man had fallen, and defaced the Divine likeness by his transgression. Milton was too good a Christian to put any object between the human soul and its Creator."

"In his Samson Agonistes," said Philip, "there are many derogatory sentiments on women, but they grew out of the circumstances of his hero,

betrayed by a woman, yet not so much by her as by his own passions."

"And there can be no doubt," said aunt Patty, Milton was somewhat influenced by his domestic sorrows. I allude to his unhappy marriage."

"As to that," said Etty, "I think, dear mother, when you tell us about social morals and domestic amenities, you must let me put in a few paragraphs about some celebrated matrimonial differences. I fancy too much has been made of Milton's case.”

"Agreed," replied Mrs. Vernon; "meanwhile, as I shall not be ready for some evenings, aunt Anna has a merry letter to read us to-morrow night, from our friend Peregrina Jot.”

CHAPTER VIII.

ODDITIES.

THE family circle were in high spirits when they assembled on the evening appointed for hearing aunt Anna read the letter of her friend; for the post of that day had brought the family good news from India. Three children, related to those who had been educated by Mrs. Vernon and her sisters, were on their voyage to England. Some negotiations, entered into the previous year, had been then broken off by unforeseen impediments in India. Now, these had been most opportunely surmounted, and in two months they were to expect their young charge. This would of course entirely obviate the necessity of Etty or Ellen leaving home; and in