lent, but, in our opinion, they stand in need of many alterations. They would be thought oppressive in many instances, if they were always carried into effect. In this country, many of the hard features of the common law are ameliorated by statutory provisions, and others will be, as soon as the people become more enlightened.

Within a few years, much attention has been paid to female education in this country. Take the whole number of females, from ten years of age up to twenty, in our country, particularly in cities and villages, and we find them better educated than the males of the same age; but as yet there has not been a good and sufficient system in their pursuits of knowledge, after their domestic duties commence, to keep the superiority through life; as they have not the same opportunities for gaining that kind of chance information, arising from the intercourse with all sorts of men in the bustle of life, as males have. A good treatise for young married people, on the proper course of keeping and increasing information, would do much service to society. A love of reading does something towards this, but without a system, this reading is too cursory, and has in general no classification. But with these defects in their education, we have produced several distinguished female scholars and writers; if not as great a number as England, according to our census, it must be remembered, that our population, with the exception of our cities, is as yet sparse, and in former times, the best books, were difficult to be obtained. These evils are passing away, and in a few years books of all kinds will be of easy access.

Some may say that women are becoming too learned; that they do not like a learned woman; forgetting that the more learned any one becomes, the less is the affectation of knowledge, and the appearance of superiority. When the air is pure, and the sun is bright, the more acute is our vision, and the better our feelings; but when the air is misty and light, the more relaxed our nerves, and the more liable are we to be deceived by optical illusions. So in the mental world it often happens, that he who sees but little, sees wrong. The information now acquired is brought down to the business of life, and so many may obtain a good share of knowledge, that the superficial have but little chance to deceive us. Women are often situated, so as to be free from absorbing duties, and when any mind is idle, and there are no attempts for its improvement, fashion and whim will occupy all the vacant ground. It is education then, began early and continued long, that will ever give women their true rank and influence in every grade of society. I contend for an equality among the sexes, but it would be worse than idle to urge a similarity of pursuits, as some have done. The doctrine that each should fill their proper sphere, such as nature and reason teach us, is finely enforced in a paragraph

from the pen of Mrs. Sigourney, who stands confessedly at the head of female writers in our country; and whose taste is only surpassed by her judgment, and whose piety consecrates what her muse inspires.

"Man might be initiated into the varieties and mysteries of needle-work; taught to have patience with the feebleness and waywardness of infancy, and to steal with noiseless steps around the chamber of the sick: and the woman might be instructed to contend for the palm of science; to pour forth eloquence in senates, or to 'wade through fields of slaughter to a throne.' Yet revoltings of the soul would attend this violence to nature, this abuse of physical and intellectual energy; while the beauty of social order would be defaced, and the fountain of earth's felicity broke up. We arrive, then, at the conclusion, that the sexes are intended for different spheres, and constructed in conformity to their respective destinations, by Him who bids the oak brave the fury of the tempest, and the alpine flower lean its cheek on the bosom of eternal snows. But disparity does not imply inferiority. The high places of the earth, with all their pomp and glory, are indeed accessable only to the march of ambition, or the grasp of power; yet those who pass with faithful and unapplauded zeal through their humble round of duty, are not unnoticed by the 'Great Taskmaster's eye;' and their endowments, though accounted poverty among men, may prove durable riches in the kingdom of heaven."

In the volume we now present to the public, the end and aim has been, to present such characters as have been ornaments to their sex, and benefactors of mankind, by a display of more than ordinary talents, or by exhibiting exemplary bearing, or superior virtues, or pious acts. We have been careful that no one of equivocal reputation should be found in our pages, nor will they be, unless the reader should examine too closely the memoirs of queens. The few of this grade we have mentioned, are only brought forward as displaying great talents in high places, in which domestic relations are in a manner forgotten.

We believe it to be a well authenticated fact in the history of man, that a child is more indebted to his mother for his genius, disposition, and constitution, than to all others. History supports this opinion, if carefully examined; and from the earliest ages, most of the great men who have come down to us, substantiate the fact by their own testimony. In more modern times, likewise, distinguished individuals have been enthusiastic in praise of their mothers. Francis Bacon's mother was pre-eminent in genius and learning; and in the depths of his philosophical researches, he never forgot how much he was indebted to her for what he was. The beautiful and sentimental verses of Cowper, upon the picture of his mother, is known to every one who opens a book. Sir William Jones attributes his learning to his mother.

Cuvier, who has lately gone down to the tomb with such a wonderful share of fame, found in his learned and accomplished mother, his earliest and best instructor. The fortunate son of a noble woman, if a victor, feels the laurel grow greener and fresher on his brow, in thinking that his mother lives to enjoy his fame; but half the leaves of his crown wither, if she is gone before his honors fall upon him. The author pursues his midnight labors, cheered with the knowledge that there is some one who will rejoice in his fame, if his mother is alive.

Every one will agree, that the purest and best of models should be presented to youth who are forming their character; still but little effort has been made to select such characters, as may safely, in all things, be held up for imitation. The good has too often been mingled with the bad, and thrown into the market. The chaff has seldom been separated from the wheat, as it should have been. It is true, we have the lives of saints and martyrs, and those eminently pious presented to us, but these are not so proper for general imitation, as those pure and good in the every day walks of life. In our country, as yet, but few have been held up to the admiration and respect of mankind. The growth of our country has been peculiar; it has no parallel in history. Two centuries have produced a new empire, and the purity and elevation of the female character has done more towards its prosperity, than the world can understand. Those only can form an opinion upon their influence, who have lived for many years among all classes in our society, and watched the course of discipline and education among us.

Some have objected to bringing women forward, as inconsistent with female delicacy. The great writers of the old testament did not think so. They have given us many models of excellence in public and private life, which have been read with delight for four thousand years, and will be, as long as the sun and moon shall endure. If it were not proper and just to hold the worthy up to notice, would the apostles have filled their writings with the names and deeds of women; those too, not remarkable for birth, fortune, or standing in society, but those who, by their virtues and their zeal, assisted to spread the truths of the gospel. Shall it be asked by our posterity, when they read of the deeds of their fathers, why were not the virtues of our primitive mothers put on record also? would the answer be satisfactory, their delicacy forbade it? Shall all nature be examined for knowledge, every shrub and flower transplanted from the wilderness to the garden, and those of the sweetest perfume in the moral and intellectual world be forgotten?

Some may ask, if it be an object of so much importance in your creed, to present the females of our country to the public, why do you not fill a volume with them at once, unconnected with others? Our answer to this is, that

we wrote and compiled this volume to be attractive to young ladies in our schools and at home; and we believed that it would suit their tastes better, and be more beneficial to them, in taking a general view of their sex, to present them with characters drawn from many countries, who had lived in different ages. Those who would make a large party would not wish the visitors to be all family connections. It is not so much what is written at any time, as what you can make others read. The beauty of family pictures are not always seen until compared with others.

It must be confessed, that much of the general reading of the present time among females, as well as others, has been novels. These, properly chosen, may do much good; but they should be mixed with history and other studies. But that education which greatly abounds in them before the mind in enriched with the treasures of history and biography, and other branches of knowledge, is apt to have more wing and feather than body. The learning of the females of our country has not been sufficiently masculine, if we may use the expression. They have been more directed to what is called accomplishments, than to sound knowledge. In all the elements of education, the difference of sex should never be thought of. Philosophy knows no difference of sexes, in her beginnings. It is only in manners that a difference should be insisted upon. In manners, a female should never forget her sex; even from the cradle, she should know the delicacy that is expected of a female, in the first lispings of infancy. Nature assists the suggestions of education. Mind has, in the early hours of life, no sex, but sex should have its manners; and the courtesies of life will soon serve to keep the distinction. The science and letters of the boudoir, may have something in them different from the lecture room in form, but not in substance. History, biography, poetry, painting, and all matters of taste, may be differently arranged, according, if you please, to a sexual discrimination; but, if this is done naturally, there can be no great difference after all. Well educated women have always an opportunity, greater or less, to add some ornaments of botany, conchology, natural history, painting, and poetry. When we name poetry, we do not mean that every female should write poetry against inclination or taste; but we do distinctly mean, that a part of every woman's education, should be an acquaintance with the laws of rhyme, and rhythm. A little attention to the principles and rules of rhetoric and poetry would soon teach them this; but if it is neglected at school, it is seldom acquired afterwards. Two days attention to these rules would be sufficient, with a little practice in scanning, to give a young lady a knowledge of the "measure of verse." We have known women much more learned than men, who always thought themselves inferior to these men, because the men had attended to a few technicalities, and rules

of different sciences, which the females had neglected. Forms seldom make any part of a female's knowledge; she reasons often admirably without thinking of a logical rule. If females, to use a legislative phrase, would learn a few of the rules and orders of presenting a subject to the understanding, they would find their account in it. Miss Edgeworth and Hannah More, were wise enough in early life, to study the technicalities of logic, as well as the best mode of reasoning. They have found an advantage in this. When feeble or ill natured men criticise the works of women, their first charge is, their want of the knowledge of the rules of dialectic philosophy. By understanding these rules, Miss Hannah More has enlightened prelates, and written models for young divines to form their sermons upon. Her character of Saint Paul is not only an admirable piece of biography, with connections and dependences, but every trait is thrown into the picture, with a skill that would do honor to a master painter. There have been those who saw as clearly, felt as strongly, and perhaps had more genius than Hannah More, who have been surpassed by her, from the skill with which she managed her subject: and this skill probably arose from her having been obliged to learn those rules that she might be able to teach them to others, in her school. This skill is seen in the writings of Mrs. Barbauld, for she, too, had to instruct others. But they are not well regarded by Shakspearian Bailie; she studied the bard of Avon more than the rules of Quintilian or Lilly. The Newtonian Somerville found her rules in her subject. The females of our country hardly know that one of their sex, Mrs. Somerville, has written the "Mechanism of the Heavens," so deeply, so clearly, so happily, that the sage reviewers, in works of standard authority, have lavished more praise on the extraordinary talents, displayed in her work on astronomy, than has ever been given in modern times to any but Newton, La Place, and Bowditch. The style of this rare woman is as lovely as the light that shone upon her mind, as she traversed the zodiac, and measured the parallaxes of the stars. She not only trod the impalpable and pathless heavens, but on her journey, saw the God who made them, as she contemplated his works.

The females of this age are, indeed, thrice blessed in their advantages for gaining information, and they do credit to their opportunities. After the adoption of the federal constitution, when the country began to feel the prosperity that followed that glorious event, many judicious parents became fully sensible, that the schools for female education were not sufficient in number and respectability, to answer the wishes and expectations of the people. Academies were soon incorporated and endowed, for the purpose of advancing female education, united with the intention of giving males a better opportunity of getting information, than the common schools could furnish.