ment of life's fitful fever, and when it throws off the mortal coil. In the innocence of the new-born babe, in the wonderful mystery of the newly-begun life; in the solemn presence of death, when passion has vanished, and the meanest features are clothed with a certain ineffable dignity, woman perceives the true significance of life, its passage, so short, so transitory, from God to God again; the Divine essence leaving its impress on the Alpha and Omega of the poor feeble human frame. Thus it is, that looking back on woman's history in the past, the apparently insurmountable obstacles she had to overcome, the injustices she had to bear, the iniquities with which she had to contend, the indignities she had to suffer, and comparing her previous condition with her present recognised position in civilised nations, one is struck by the phoenix-like vigour of her nature. Her spirit has ever risen undaunted above the vilest oppression, the grossest tyranny, and the severest discipline. Propelled by a noble discontent of things present, she has ever striven undismayed to accelerate the advent of a better state in the future, and yearned for the coming of a new era when righteousness and justice should prevail. For woman there has been no going back since she has started on her own emancipation. She has had faith in her cause, in her right, in herself. Through all her vicissitudes a sublime optimism has upheld her, and her way has ever been lightened by the vision of a happier, juster life, of a time when 66 The high soul is left, And faith, which is but hope grown wise; and love Above all, it is a matter of importance and unqualified satisfaction to the women of Great Britain to consider in what a considerable measure Anglo-Saxon women have contributed towards obtaining the freedom of their sex, and have ever led the van in female intelligence. They have been the pioneers bearing the banner of progress into the Land of Promise; the advance guard opening out the way for weaker sisters to follow in their steps; they have been the initiators of all the principal women's movements; and to them the mothers and daughters of other nations have ever looked, and not in vain, for sympathy, encouragement, and guidance. Women in Great Britain and America are fast approaching the long-hoped-for consummation, the goal for which they have so arduously striven, when by right, by justice, through their own best and earnest labours, they will have earned the supreme position to which they are entitled, by every law, human or divine, viz., that of perfect equality with man, in all conditions that affect the interest and welfare of both halves of humanity. One-half of mankind will then be the true complement of the other, the balance of the human race will hang true; and women will retain that position, not as tolerated inferiors, but as intelligent, sympathetic, inspiring helpmeets, coadjutors in the evolution of the highest human development. 1 Long ago Socrates, with prophetic vision, gave utterance to the following remarkable opinion, the more remarkable, when one considers the actual status of women in his period:"Woman, made first the equal of man, has now become his superior." However, with the true woman, there is no question of odious comparison; she is not ambitious of being better than man, but she would strive that both sexes should be the best of their kind; and combine for the common good in all great and noble works on a mutual foundation of justice and equality. Both sexes have much to deplore, much to condone, much to eradicate, much to achieve; and to each individual, man or woman, no rule for personal conduct in the future can be purer in motive, or more practical in action, than that advocated in olden times by Plato-"I find nothing more certain than this, that I must be as good and noble as I can. 1 "Woman's power is over the affections."-Bovee. "Woman's power is for rule, not for battle; and her intellect is not for invention or creation, but for sweet ordering, arrangement, and decision."-Ruskin. "Woman, deeply thoughtful and moral, alone can heal the sores of the present time; alone can take up anew the education of man, and bring back the taste for the beautiful and the good."—Renan. "Instruction is given in the class, the lyceum, and the school. Education takes place in the father's house; the masters are the mothers and the sisters." "Education and Heredity."-J. M. Guyaw.u PART VII WOMAN'S WORK IN THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE In comparison with the preceding ages, the intellectual development of women and their abnormal activity in all the various relations of life, are the most strongly-marked features of the social evolution of the nineteenth century; more particularly is this the case in regard to the AngloSaxon woman's position. In the French salons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, intellectuality among women had already reached a certain recognised eminence. It was generally conceded that genius knew no sex, and that women, even under most unfavourable conditions, and beset with many narrow conventions, could yet attain to great mental ability. The names of Madame de Sevigné, Madame de Staël, "George Sand," and other celebrated women attest the fact; but it was reserved for the present age to develop female talent in the several branches of intellectual activity, under the stimulus of greater freedom and wider opportunities. We can point with triumph to women artists, musicians, poets, scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, lawyers, barristers, judges, novelists, historians, politicians, editors, and literati in every department of literature. Above all, the largest-hearted and most practical philanthropists have been women, whose charitable organisations for the amelioration of poverty and suffering are spread like a network over all civilised countries, and among most barbarous nations. The wisest of rulers over a vast empire has been a woman, honoured, loved, and revered wherever her name is breathed, "The Great White Queen," Victoria the Good-and from her throne downward, through all ranks of society, it is not difficult to collect a noble band of illustrious women, who have raised, and are raising, the standard of their sex, and whose example has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to their weaker sisters. Through their all-pervading influence, the whole body of womankind has been elevated. Of this noble army of women, marching ever upward in their peaceful crusade, and winning undying laurels in their conflicts with wrong, injustice, ignorance, and vice, we can only particularise the representative leaders, who have preeminently been in the van of progress, and broadened the way for the faltering steps of the majority. In England we may point to Harriet Martineau, as the first woman of the century who was sure of herself, and having independent opinions, freely expressed them. By this, I mean, she was the woman, more than any other, with the exception to a certain degree of Mary Wollstonecraft, who turned the scale from feminine subserviency to feminine independence; from feminine reliance on masculine opinion, to open speculation as to whether that reliance was justified by right and truth; from the limitations of a narrow conventionalism to free discussion and inquiry upon all the abstruse, social, and political questions that hitherto had been beyond the province of women. It is this independence of thought, character, and action that is now a marked feature of the women of this last decade of the century. With Harriet Martineau's bold defiance of preconceived theories, opinions, and dictums, the first seeds were sown of feminine liberty, and a debt of gratitude is due to this brave, undaunted pioneer, much as many may disagree with and disapprove of her ultimate dogmatic conclusions. Next in the list of distinguished women may assuredly be placed Mary Somerville, who, above all others of her period, distinctly raised the world's estimate of woman's capacity for the severest and the loftiest of scientific pursuits. She was the first woman who attained to the foremost ranks among the professors of physical science, becoming a member of the Royal Society in 1837. This exceptionally talented woman lived to the age of ninetyone; to the last retaining her mental activity and powers of earnest research, thus showing conclusively that the severest intellectual studies are not prejudicial to longevity, when united to a healthy frame and a cheerful, serene spirit. In point of fact, it is noteworthy that intellectual women of unusual ability and mental development live longer and enjoy better health than women of fashion and pleasure. The mind rusts with disuse quite as much as the body wears away its energies in aimless frivolities. Among modern poetesses, Elizabeth Barrett Browning takes the highest rank, pre-eminent also as being the wife of one of England's greater poets. Twin stars, the husband and wife gathered increased lustre from each other, and shone resplendent in an equal glory. The authoress of "Aurora Leigh" was, above all, a woman feeling acutely the falsehoods and narrow mischievous conventionalities of modern life; she gave voice to what multitudes of women were thinking and feeling. She brought their inarticulate, unexpressed passions, sufferings, and aspirations, with consummate beauty, pathos, and lucidity, to the knowledge of the outside world. She was the eloquent pleader against injustice, arrogance, and wrong. She touched with the unerring hand of genius the chords that slumbered in every woman's breast; and to that initial tuning, as it were, of the human heart, we may trace the awakened sympathies, the higher and purer ideals among women of the present day; and their growing antagonism to all that is base, unjust, and untrue. Among the numerous distinguished women novelists it appears invidious to select a head; and one hesitates to give the award of merit to any one in particular, when the field is crowded with so many talented competitors. Perhaps, judged by various standards of excellence for style, diction, and expression, Marian Evans (George Eliot) possessed in the highest degree the qualities of a representative writer of fiction. She demonstrates in prose what Elizabeth Barrett Browning had sung in verse. She opened out to women new areas of thought, of speculation, of study, and activity. She may have appeared pessimistic of human nature, and inclined towards a saddened view of life, love, and death- —a reflex of her agnostic tendency; but apart from her self-involved limitations, her spirit gave utterance to sentiments that were great, pure, and noble in thought and influence. Having, however, denied herself the consolations of the larger hope, she could not look on life with calm serenity; its defects, its failures, its sorrows, and its enigmas outweighed in the balance the belief in ultimate unity, completeness, and satisfaction; and thus her books as a rule disappoint the reader in their final denouement; the sense of poetical justice is wanting, without which no P |