to a fruitful manhood.

The strength and glory of England are in the keeping of the wives and
mothers of its men; and when we are questioned touching our "celebrated
women," we may in general terms refer to those who have watched over,
moulded, and inspired our "celebrated" men.

Happy is the country where the laws of God and nature are held in
reverence--where each sex fulfills its peculiar duties, and renders its
sphere a sanctuary! and surely such harmony is blessed by the
Almighty--for while other nations writhe in anarchy and poverty, our own
spreads wide her arms to receive all who seek protection or need repose.

But if we have few "celebrated" women, few, who impelled either by
circumstances or the irrepressible restlessness of genius, go forth amid
the pitfalls of publicity, and battle with the world, either as
poets--or dramatists--or moralists--or mere tale-tellers in simple
prose--or, more dangerous still, "hold the mirror up to nature" on the
stage that mimics life--if we have but few, we have, and have had
_some_, of whom we are justly proud; women of such well-balanced minds,
that toil they ever so laboriously in their public and perilous paths,
their domestic and social duties have been fulfilled with as diligent
and faithful love as though the world had never been purified and
enriched by the treasures of their feminine wisdom; yet this does not
shake our belief, that, despite the spotless and well-earned reputations
they enjoyed, the homage they received (and it has its charm), and even
the blessed consciousness of having contributed to the healthful
recreation, the improved morality, the diffusion of the best sort of
knowledge--the _woman_ would have been happier had she continued
enshrined in the privacy of domestic love and domestic duty. She may not
think this at the commencement of her career; and at its termination, if
she has lived sufficiently long to have descended, even gracefully from
her pedestal, she may often recall the homage of the _past_ to make up
for its lack in the _present_. But so perfectly is woman constituted for
the cares, the affections, the duties--the blessed duties of
_un_-public life--that if she give nature way it will whisper to her a
text that "celebrity never added to the happiness of a true woman." She
must look for her happiness to HOME. We would have young women ponder
over this, and watch carefully, ere the vail is lifted, and the hard
cruel eye of public critici