STEELE, MRS. ANNE. STENGEL, FRANZISKA VON STEPHENS, ANN S. Our Homestead.... STRICKLAND, MISS AGNES British Queens ......................... Roman Catholic Queens STUART, ARABELLA STUART, FRANCES, DUCHESS OF RICH TALBOT, CATHARINE... The Happiness of Early Years 522 SUFFOLK, HENRIETTA, COUNTESS OF 523 SULPITIA 143 SURVILLE, CLOTILDE DE............................................. 144 SUZE, HENRIETTA COLIGNY DE LA........ 524 SYBELLA. 144 SYBILLA, OR SYBIL 59 TAMBRONI, CLOTILDE Page 792 TARNOW, FANNY 517 518 518 519 519 519 519 521 854 796 797 798 521 521 837 837 524 524 525 525 838 525 60 60 526 60 60 856 527 THISBE 59 798 799 THOMA 799 THOMAS, ELIZABETH.. 799 THURSTON, LAURA. ..... 522 THUSNELDA THYMELE....... THYNNE, FRANCES, DUCHESS OF SO SEPH MERSET......... .་་་་་་་་་བ་་་་་་་་་་་.. 531 ..... 532 533 533 534 ..................................... 534 Delay of Love compensated.. 61 61 TIMEA 534 535 535 535 TINTORETTO, MARIETTA 536 536 537 537 The Bible 537 TORNABUONI... 147 Page 800 60 60 527 873 800 527 527 528 528 61 61 850 529 145 530 61 530 61 61 61 146 800 800 146 146 530 530 530 61 531 61 146 531 888 146 61 VALADA................ VALDOR, OR WALDOR, MADAME VALENTINE...................................... VALERIA VALLIÈRE, DUCHESS DE LA. 805 805 TUTHILL, CORNELIA........ 838 838 TWAMLEY, LOUISA A. 62 VANHOMRIGH, ESTHER. VAN LENNEP, MARY ELIZABETH. VAN NESS, MARCIA ....... VARANO DI COSTANZA.......... VAROTARI, CHIARA VASHTI VELEDA, OR VELLEDA.......... VERDIER, MADAME DE. VERELST, MADEMOISELLE.. VERONESE, ANGELA VIEN, MADAME....................... VIGNE, ANNE DE LA. ........ Page 538 538 800 801 538 538 539 801 61 850 62 62 803 803 803 803 804 805 805 805 805 805 541 539 147 147 147 540 VILLEBRUNE, MARIE DE....... Madrigal.......... VILLENEUVE, GABRIELLE DE VIOT, MARIE ANNE HENRIETTE VIRGINIA.... VOLUMNIA...... VON DER WART, GERTRUDE 147 852 147 147 541 852 542 888 543 148 852 543 543 62 148 ... 543 543 .... 544 856 VERRUE, COUNTESS OF.. 544 VESTRIS, MADAME... 850 856 VERGA, SILVIA 148 544 WALDIE, MISS WAKEFIELD, PRISCILLA.............. 850 545 148 545 545 545 545 838 545 546 546 546 546 546 546 546 546 546 547 549 WASSER, ANNA 551 WATTS, JANE 551 WEBER, HELENE MARIE... 809 809 Synopsis of "Tracts," &c......................... WEISSERTHURM, JOHANNA F. V. VON.... 551 WELBY, AMELIA B. 811 My Sisters 811 811 812 812 813 813 To a Sea-shell.. 839 839 551 551 551 WESTMORELAND, COUNTESS OF. 552 552 ..... 552 552 The Death of the Rev. George Whitfield... 553 WHITMAN, SARAH HELEN 813 To the Spirit of Poetry.. WARE, KATHARINE AUGUSTA.. A New-Year's Wish Loss of the First-Born WARFIELD, CATHARINE........ WARNE, ELIZABETH..... WARREN, MERCY Suspicion Remorse Fortune....... ........ 544 .... 888 .......... 544 62 62 63 814 814 814 815 815 815 816 WHITTLESEY, ABIGAIL GOODRICH......... 872 553 553 Page 544 544 544 148 GENERAL PREFACE. THE want of the world is moral power. Philosophy has become clear-sighted to the importance of physical and mental improvement; new discoveries in science are rife on every side, each one designed to aid man in his appointed task of subduing the earth; but who has found out the way to attain that moral power which only can enable him to govern his own spirit, and thus fit him to rule in righteousness and peace over the world he is conquering? Schools of learning educate the mind, but not the soul; the world's school develops physical energies, sharpens the senses, enlightens the understanding, incites the passions; but does not purify the heart. Even the blessed Gospel, as set forth by its appointed teachers, fails to move the mass of mankind the right way. There is a dead weight of earthly propensities pressing down the Christian world; every advance in material prosperity and intellectual power brings in its train an increase of degradation and misery to a large class of society, and new devices of crime and sin to darken history and discourage hope. Are these things always to continue? Is the theory of those philosophers, who hold that mankind will remain to the end of time in this miserable state of perpetual change without moral advancement, true? Not if the Word of God is true. A better time is promised,— the "good time," when "the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever."* And the time will surely arrive, as the prophet predicted, when beholding by the spirit what the nations of the earth should become, he declared "They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid.”† There must then be somewhere an agent to promote this radical change, and, in harmony with the Gospel, and by the aid of the divine blessing, carry on and out the moral advancement of society. Now I believe (allow me to use the "pronoun in the first person singular," as I only am responsible for the views this preface contains) that I have found the true source of moral power in human nature, and also the way in which this power must be regulated and applied to ensure the absolute moral advancement of mankind. I believe, and trust I shall make it apparent, that WOMAN is God's appointed agent of morality, the teacher and inspirer of those feelings and sentiments which are termed the virtues of humanity; and that the progress of these virtues, and the permanent improvement of our race, depend on the manner in which her mission is treated by man. There are learned theologians who hold that the human heart is utterly corrupt by reason of the "first transgression." Other theologians, equally learned, reject this doctrine of total depravity, affirming that there are good dispositions or qualities inherent in human nature, which may be cultivated and become noble moral virtues. Without entering into the arguments on either side of this question, permit me to say that my theory satisfies both. Man, by the "fall," was rendered incapable of cultivating, by his * Isaiah, Chap. xxxii., verse 17. † Micah, Chap. iv., verse 40. own unassisted efforts, any good propensity or quality of his nature. Left to himself, his love becomes lust, patriotism, policy, and religion, idolatry. He is naturally selfish in his affections; and selfishness is the sin of depravity. But woman was not thus cast down. To her was confided, by the Creator's express declaration, the mission of disinterested affection; her "desire" was to be to her husband- - not to herself; she was endowed with the hope of the Good, which, in the fulness of time, developed by her seed, that is, by Christ, would make war with the Evil, and finally overcome Sin, Death, and the Grave. ―――――――― And now let us turn to the holy Bible, the only record of truths which teach divine wisdom, for confirmation of this theory I have ventured to propound. I entreat my readers, men, who I hope will read heedfully this preface, to lay aside, if possible, their prejudices of education, the erroneous views imbibed from poetical descriptions and learned commentaries, respecting the Creation and the Fall of Man. Go not to Milton, or the Fathers, but to the Word of God; and let us from it read this important history, the foundation of all true history of the natural character and moral condition of mankind. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."'* Here we are instructed that the term man included woman; the twain in unity, the female being the complement of the male, formed the perfect being made in the "likeness of God." Such was the recorded result of the human creation; the particular process of the formation of man is afterwards described. "And the Lord God made man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him the breath of life; and man became a living soul."-Genesis, Chapter II., ver. 7. The process of the creation of woman is detailed in the same chapter, verses 18, 21, 22, 23, 24. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; "And of the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh." Who can read this, and not fail to perceive that there was a care and preparation in forming woman which was not bestowed on man? Why was this recorded, if not to teach us that the wife was of finer mould, destined to the most spiritual offices, the heart of humanity, as her husband was the head? She was the last work of creation. Every step, from matter to man, had been in the ascending scale. Woman was the crown of all,- the last, and must therefore have been the best in those qualities which raise human nature above animal life; the link which pressed nearest towards the angelic, and drew its chief beauty and strength from the invisible world.† Men, ay, good men, hold the doctrine of woman's inferiority, because St. Paul says she was created "for man." Truly she was made "for man," but not in the sense this text has Genesis, Chapter I., verses 26, 27, 28. † See Biography of Eve, page 38. |