CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN

MORAL, POETICAL, AND HISTORICAL

BY

MRS. JAMESON

From the last London Edition

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press,Cambridge
1889

PREFACE

TO THE NEW EDITION.

In preparing for the press a new edition of this little work, the authorhas endeavored to render it more worthy of the approbation and kindlyfeeling with which it has been received; she cannot better express hersense of both than by justifying, as far as it is in her power, thecordial and flattering tone of all the public criticisms. It is to thegreat name of Shakspeare, that bond of sympathy among all who speak hislanguage, and to the subject of the work, not to its own merits, thatshe attributes the success it has met with,—success the moredelightful, because, in truth, it was from the very first, so entirelyunlooked for, as to be a matter of surprise as well as of pleasure andgratitude.

In this edition there are many corrections, and some additions which theauthor hopes may be deemed improvements. She has been induced to insertseveral quotations at length, which were formerly only referred to, fromobserving that however familiar they may be to the mind of the reader,they are always recognized with pleasure—like dear domestic faces; andif the memory fail at the moment to recall the lines or the sentiment towhich the attention is directly required, few like to interrupt thecourse of thought, or undertake a journey from the sofa or garden-seatto the library, to hunt out the volume, the play, the passage, forthemselves.

When the first edition was sent to press, the author contemplatedwriting the life of Mrs. Siddons, with a reference to her art; anddeferred the complete development of the character of Lady Macbeth, tillshe should be able to illustrate it by the impersonation and commentaryof that grand and gifted actress; but the task having fallen into otherhands, the analysis of the character has been almost entirely rewritten,as at first conceived, or rather restored to its original form.

This little work, as it now stands, forms only part of a plan which theauthor hopes, if life be granted her, to accomplish;—at all events,life, while it is spared, shall be devoted to its fulfilment.

CONTENTS.

Page
Introduction 8

CHARACTERS OF INTELLECT.
Portia 53
Isabella 83
Beatrice 99
Rosalind 110

CHARACTERS OF PASSION AND IMAGINATION.
Juliet 119
Helena 153
Perdita 172
Viola 181

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