Of a sweeter womanhood?
It may be—how can I tell
Who, outside the garden wall,
Only hear the convent bell.
Only see the shadows fall?
Mary Lowe Dickinson.
ENGLISH WOMEN.
The consideration of the interesting subject which I now take up is not new to me. Long ago I found myself thinking about it when occasion to do so presented itself; and in this I was helped by the views of English society presented in the literature of the day, some of the most interesting studies of which are furnished in the novels written by Englishwomen. Indeed, the whole subject of English life and character has long been of the profoundest interest to me; and a recent visit to England is rather the occasion than the cause of much of what I shall write upon it. To say this is due to myself if not to my readers.[1 ]