"These graceful and delightful volumes afford a vivid instance of the strength and reach of the female talent of the present day; they are full of woman's keenness of observation, and her enthusiastic warmth of feeling, and of the rich elegance of her imagination.”—Athenæum. 11. SECOND EDITION. In 2 vols. post 8vo. CELEBRATED FEMALE SOVEREIGNS. THEIR LIVES. "This is a very delightful work, and, for the sex and the young, none more pleasant could be named."-Literary Gazette. III. FOURTH EDITION. 1 Vol. post 8vo. THE DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE. IV. In 1 vol. 4to. RETZCH'S FANCIES. A series of Original Designs in Outline, with Explanatory Notes. "There is exquisite taste as well as beauty of execution in all these outlines." -Athenæum. OF WOMEN, MORAL, POETICAL, AND HISTORICAL. With Filty Vignette Etchings. BY MRS. JAMESON, AUTHOR OF "THE DIARY OF AN ENNUYEE," FEMALE SOVEREIGNS," &c. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. Fourth Edition. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. In preparing for the press a second edition of this little work, the author has endeavoured to render it more worthy of the approbation and kindly feeling with which it has been received: she cannot better express her sense of both than by justifying, as far as it is in her power, the cordial and flattering tone of all the public criticisms. It is to the great name of SHAKSPEARE, that bond of sympathy among all who speak his language, and to the subject of the work, not to its own merits, that she attributes the success it has met with, -success the more delightful, because, in truth, it was from the very first, so entirely unlooked for, as to be a matter of surprise as well as of pleasure and gratitude. In this edition there are many corrections, and some additions which the author hopes may be deemed improvements. She has been induced to insert several quotations at length, which were formerly only referred |