What Great Men Have Said About Women Part 8

O Lady, worthy of earth's proudest throne!

Nor less, by excellence of nature, fit Beside an unambitious hearth to sit Domestic queen, where grandeur is unknown; What living man could fear The worst of Fortune's malice, wert thou near, Humbling that lily-stem, thy sceptre meek, That its fair flowers may from his cheek Brush the too happy tear!

_The Triad._

Queen, and handmaid lowly!

Whose skill can speed the day with lively cares, And banish melancholy By all that mind invents or hand prepares; * * * * *

Who that hath seen thy beauty could content His soul with but a glimpse!

_The Triad._

Dear girl ...

If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine; Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; And wors.h.i.+pp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, G.o.d being with thee when we know it not.

_Sonnet._

I knew a maid, A young enthusiast ...

Her eye was not the mistress of her heart; Far less did rules prescribed by pa.s.sive taste Or barren, intermeddling subtleties, Perplex her mind; but wise as women are When genial circ.u.mstance hath favoured them, She welcomed what was given, and craved no more, Whate'er the scene presented to her view.

That was the best, to that she was attuned By her benign simplicity of life, ... G.o.d delights In such a being; for her common thoughts Are piety, her life is grat.i.tude.

_The Prelude._

Sweet girl, a very shower Of beauty is thy earthly dower!...

Never saw I mien, or face, In which more plainly I could trace Benignity and homebred sense Ripening in perfect innocence.

A face with gladness overspread!

Soft smiles, by human kindness bred!

And seemliness complete, that sways Thy courtesies, about three plays.

_To A Highland Girl._

A maiden ...

Lovely as spring's first note ... Pure As beautiful, and gentle and benign.

A Flower....

Fairest of all flowers was she....

She hath an eye that smiles into all hearts, * * * * *

Soon would her gentle words make peace.

_The Borderers._

Yes! thou art fair, yet be not moved To scorn the declaration, That sometimes I in thee have loved My fancy's own creation.

Imagination needs must stir; Dear Maid, this truth believe, Minds that have nothing to confer, Find little to perceive.

Be pleased that Nature made thee fit To feed my heart's devotion, By laws to which all forms submit In sky, air, earth, and ocean.

_Poems of the Affections, 16._

THOMAS CARLYLE.

Clearly a superior woman.--That is the way with female intellects when they are good; nothing equals their acuteness, and their rapidity is almost excessive.--_Frederick the Great._

Perfection of housekeeping was her clear and speedy attainment in that new scene. Strange how she made the desert blossom for herself and me there; what a fairy palace she had made of that wild moorland home of the poor man! From the baking of a loaf, or the darning of a stocking, up to comporting herself in the highest scenes or most intricate emergencies, all was insight, veracity, graceful success (if you could judge it), fidelity to insight of the fact given.--_Reminiscences._

Meek and retiring by the softness of her nature, yet glowing with an ethereal ardour for all that is ill.u.s.trious and lovely.--_Life of Schiller._

She was of a compa.s.sionate nature, and had a loving, patient, and n.o.ble heart; prudent she was; the skilfulest and thriftiest of financiers; could well keep silence, too, and with a gentle stoicism endure much small unreason.--_Life of Schiller._

Her life was busy and earnest; she was help-mate, not in name only, to an ever-busy man.--_Frederick the Great._

Peculiar among all dames and damosels, glanced Blumine, there in her modesty, like a star among earthly lights. n.o.blest maiden! whom he bent to, in body and in soul; yet scarcely dared look at, for the presence filled him with painful yet sweetest embarra.s.sment.

--_Sartor Resartus._

A bright airy lady; very graceful, very witty and ingenious; skilled to speak, skilled to hold her tongue.--_Frederick the Great._

Far and wide was the fair one heard of, for her gifts, her graces, her caprices; from all which vague colourings of Rumour, from the censures no less than from the praises, had our friend painted for himself a certain imperious Queen of Hearts, and blooming warm Earth-angel, much more enchanting than your mere white Heaven-angels of women, in whose placid veins circulates too little naphtha-fire.--_Sartor Resartus._

A tall, rather thin figure; a face pale, intelligent, and penetrating; nose fine, rather large, and decisively Roman; pair of bright, not soft, but sharp and small black eyes, with a cold smile as of enquiry in them; fine brow; fine chin; thin lips--lips always gently shut, as if till the enquiry were completed, and the time came for something of royal speech upon it. She had a slight accent, but spoke--Dr. Hugh Blair could not have picked a hole in it--and you might have printed every word, so queen-like, gentle, soothing, measured, prettily royal toward subjects whom she wished to love her. The voice was modulated, low, not inharmonious; yet there was something of metallic in it, akin to that smile in the eyes. One durst not quite love this high personage as she wished to be loved! Her very dress was notable; always the same, and in a fas.h.i.+on of its own;--and must have required daily the fastening of sixty or eighty pins.--_Reminiscences._

She had a pleasant, attractive physiognomy; which may be considered better than strict beauty.--_Frederick the Great._

That light, yet so stately form; those dark tresses, shading a face where smiles and sun-light played over earnest deeps.... He ventured to address her, she answered with attention: nay, what if there were a slight tremour in that silver voice; what if the red glow of evening were hiding a transient blus.h.!.+--_Sartor Resartus._

The whims of women must be humoured.--_French Revolution._

A woman of many household virtues; to a warm affection for her children and husband she joined a degree of taste and intelligence which is of much rarer occurrence.--_Life of Schiller._