I meant she should be courteous, facile, sweet,
Free from that solemn vice of greatness, pride;
I meant each softest virtue there should meet,
Fit in that softer bosom to abide,
Only a learned and a _manly_ soul
I purposed her, that should with even powers
The rock, the spindle, and the shears control
Of destiny, and spin her own free hours.'"


"Me thinks," said I, "you are too fastidious in objecting to this.
Jonson, in using the word 'manly,' only meant to heighten the picture
of this, the true, the intelligent fate, with one of the deeper
colors."

"And yet," said she, "so invariable is the use of this word where a
heroic quality is to be described, and I feel so sure that persistence
and courage are the most womanly no less than the most manly
qualities, that I would exchange these words for others of a larger
sense, at the risk of marring the fine tissue of the verse. Read, 'A
heavenward and instructed soul,' and I should be satisfied. Let it not
be said, wherever there is energy or creative genius, 'She has a
masculine mind.'"

* * * * *

This by no means argues a willing want of generosity toward Woman. Man
is as generous towards her as he knows how to be.

Wherever she has herself arisen in national or private history, and