New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-01

manners and foul of speech" given 20 beating
her husband when she was strong enough. fond
of hard drinking and Of eating cheese. laughing
to scorn the municipal enactnents she didn't
like.
DIR. Reich thinks that in the Renaissance the
personality of women was as yet nebulOUs. and
outside the details which he gives concerning
individual women his sketch of the period
shares in that quality. He presents anew the
now almost hackneyed portraits of the women
who have appeared in so many volumes in re-
cent years and he admits the fact that when
the Renaissance at it's zenith, women. who
were in the background at its inception, stood
on footing of perfect equality with men" He
ends the chapter with some plain paragraphs
devoted to the fanaticaI Isabella of Spain He
does not forget TO mention. as a pretty legend.
the myth that the Queen pledged her jewels 70
speed Columbus his voyage. The part she
bore in the establishment of the InquisitiOn OBJ
scures more and more the sentimental aspects
of her character; this latest commentator justly
notes her pre-eminence in history as "a SOW
ereign whose personal virtue is untarniShed, but
who inflicted suffering than any other
woman of modern times" Even in this life her
cruelty was punished-she had little happiness
Of another fanatic, IsabeIIa's granddaughter.
Mary of England. the author writes more ami
ably. He has something to say OF her learning.
he commends her failure TO cut off the head OF
her sister Elizabeth. and mentions her hesita-
ton in cOnsentng to the execution OF Jane Grey.
Mary was. in fact. a less vigorous replica of her
grandmother. Something less than justice IS
done in these pages TO Elizabeth, the truly great
Queen. though perhaps in one instance she is the
subject of undue lenity: The death of Mary
Queen OF Scots, planned by Elizabeth's min
listers. reused the Queens Indignation This was
not magnificent piece OF acting. as sometimes
supposed. but came from the heart; affairs Ct
state. however. were too intricate 10 allow the
dismissal of those who had deceived her" This
is lame enough Much less than justice. too. The
author accords to another great English queen.
that little but mighty lady. Victoria
HIS most vivid chapters are given TO RaTl-
bouillet and Port Royal 10 the women who or
namented-or debased-French society in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and 70
those who suffered who played tricks before
high Heaven during the French Revolution. He
begins TO carp when approaching the English
woman of the eighteenth century. After con-
templating her French sister Of the same
period. it is. he says. like eating a
penny bun after enjoying delicate 6cldir"
Beautiful truly. taIkative occasionally" he
adds but never saying what was terse or
memorable the English women of the eich-
teenth century plebeianIy respectable
and possessed dulness which was insuIar L
aristocratic' His notes on Miss Burney Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu and other famous Eng
hsh women of the time are themselves more or
less dull and we are relieved when he turns 20
the French Of the Empire. He writes with zest
OF the de Stae the brilliant creature of "opulent
figure. untidy attire and vociferous irrepressi-
biity." George Sand he regards as ian un-
worthy vampire" and her cleverness as the 'rV-
ceptive cleverness which adapted the genius ~
others TO her purpose"
The literary English women Of the last CEN
tury have not inspired DR.. Reich 10 any flights
OF eloquence. He approves Jane Austens now
els and her modest dOmesticity. and he does not
fall 10 note in respect To her writings that "ot
phllosophic and scientific study not trace is 70
be found" To the author OF The MIL on the
Floss and Adam Bede' he is Thoroughly I'M
Just-whatever may be said OF her later novels
those two deserve u remain q part OF English
fiction With his praises OF the Bronte sisters
no one will quarrel He passes from the literary
woman TO the contemporary feminist" and dis
cusses the latter with frank disgust. What
becomes daily more obvious" he says. lis