be searched out. In fine, criticism should examine with a stricter,
instead of a more indulgent eye, the merits of females at its bar,
because they are to justify themselves for an irregularity which men do
not commit in appearing there; and woman, when she feels the impulse of
genius like a command of Heaven within her, should be aware that she is
relinquishing a part of the loveliness of her sex, and obey the inward
voice with sorrowing reluctance, like the Arabian maid who bewailed the
gift of prophecy. Hinting thus imperfectly at sentiments which may be
developed on a future occasion, we proceed to consider the celebrated
subject of this sketch.

Mrs. Hutchinson was a woman of extraordinary talent and strong
imagination, whom the latter quality, following the general direction
taken by the enthusiasm of the times, prompted to stand forth as a
reformer in religion. In her native country, she had shown symptoms of
irregular and daring thought, but, chiefly by the influence of a
favorite pastor, was restrained from open indiscretion. On the removal
of this clergyman, becoming dissatisfied with the ministry under which
she lived, she was drawn in by the great tide of Puritan emigration, and
visited Massachusetts within a few years after its first settlement.
But she bore trouble in her own bosom, and could find no peace in this
chosen land. She soon began to promulgate strange and dangerous
opinions, tending, in the peculiar situation of the colony, and from the
principles which were its basis, and indispensable for its temporary
support, to eat into its very existence. We shall endeavor to give a
more practical idea of this part of her course.

It is a summer evening. The dusk has settled heavily upon the woods,
the waves, and the Trimountain peninsula, increasing that dismal aspect
of the embryo town, which was said to have drawn tears of despondency