* * * * *

CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN.

[The elegantly embellished volumes by Mrs. Jamieson, with
the above attractive title, present the prettiest code of
ladye-philosophy we have ever witnessed on paper. They aim
at illustrating the characters of Intellect, Passion, and
Imagination, the Affections, and what are purely Historical
Characters, in the females of Shakspeare's Plays. Such is the
design: of its beautiful execution we can give the reader but a
faint idea by extracting from Passion and Imagination, part of the
_Character of Juliet_:--]

It is not without emotion, that I attempt to touch on the character of
Juliet. Such beautiful things have already been said of her--only
to be exceeded in beauty by the subject that inspired them!--it
is impossible to say any thing better; but it is possible to say
something more. Such in fact is the simplicity, the truth, and the
loveliness of Juliet's character, that we are not at first aware
of its complexity, its depth, and its variety. There is in it an
intensity of passion, a singleness of purpose, an entireness, a
completeness of effect, which we feel as a whole; and to attempt to
analyze the impression thus conveyed at once to soul and sense, is
as if while hanging-over a half-blown rose, and revelling in its
intoxicating perfume, we should pull it asunder, leaflet by leaflet,
the better to display its bloom and fragrance. Yet how otherwise
should we disclose the wonders of its formation, or do justice to the
skill of the divine hand that hath thus fashioned it in its beauty?