LIVES
OF
CELEBRATED WOMEN:
BY THE AUTHOR OF
PETER PARLEY’S TALES.
BOSTON:
BRADBURY, SODEN & CO.
MDCCCXLIV.
Entered according to Act of Congress,
in the year 1844,
By S. G. GOODRICH,
In the Clerk’s Office of the DistrictCourt of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.
WM. A. HALL & CO., PRINTERS,
12 Water Street.
It is an oft-quoted proposition of Rousseau, that “the glory of womanlies in being unknown.” If this be true, we shall deserve little credit forplacing before the world these brief sketches of a few of the sex who haveacquired celebrity among mankind. We are disposed to think, however,that the oracular words of the Genevan philosopher—though they maycoincide with the despotism of the lords of creation, who would arrogate,not merely the sceptre of power, but the trump of fame, entirely to themselves—likemost other oracles, are liable to many exceptions.
It may indeed be true that the happiness of women is generally to befound in the quiet of the domestic circle; but that all, without distinction,should be confined to it, and that whenever one of the sex departs from it,she departs from her allotted sphere, is no more true than a similar propositionwould be of men. Elizabeth of England, though little to beesteemed as a woman, did as much credit to her sex as her father did tohis; and while he enjoys the renown of having achieved the reformation inEngland, she is entitled to the credit of having been not only his superioras a sovereign, but one of the greatest sovereigns that ever occupied athrone. Joan of Arc performed achievements for her country scarcely lessthan miraculous; and Hannah More afforded, by her pen, more efficientprotection to the three kingdoms against the volcanic shock of the Frenchrevolution than the entire army and navy of Great Britain.
Will any one pretend that these persons would have better fulfilledtheir destiny, if confined to the quiet precincts of the fireside? If womanis only to be a housewife, why are gifts bestowed upon her, that makeher often the rival, and sometimes the master, of the other sex, even in6the higher walks of ambition? Was Sappho’s harp, the mere echo ofwhich has thrilled upon the ear of nearly thirty centuries, given only to betouched in the secluded harem of some Lesbian lord? Why had Sévignésuch a magic pen, Roland so noble and dauntless a soul, the maid of Saragossaa patriotism so inspired and inspiring, if they were designed bytheir Creator only to preside over the nursery, the dairy, and the kitchen?If women are created but to attend to the comforts of the other sex athome, why are such spirits as those of the lovely and lamented Davidsonsever formed—spirits bursting with music and poetry, like theEolian strin