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._
She is meek and soft and maiden-like....
A young woman fair to look upon.
_Life of Schiller._
My dear mother, with the trustfulness of a mother's heart,
ministered to all my woes, outward and inward, and even against
hope kept prophesying good.--_Reminiscences._
Women are born worshippers; in their good little hearts lies the
most craving relish for greatness; it is even said, each chooses
her husband on the hypothesis of his being a great man--in his way.
The good creatures, yet the foolish!--_Essay on Goethe's Works._
She is of that light unreflecting class, of that light unreflecting
sex: _varium semper et mutabile_. And then her Fine-ladyism, though
a purseless one: capricious, coquettish, and with all the finer
sensibilities of the heart; now in the rackets, now in the sullens;
vivid in contradictory resolves; laughing, weeping, without
reason,--though these acts are said to be signs of season.
Consider, too, how she has had to work her way, all along, by
flattery and cajolery; wheedling, eaves-dropping, namby-pambying;
how she needs wages, and knows no other productive trades.--_The
Diamond Necklace._
Thought can hardly be said to exist in her; only Perception and
Device. With an understanding lynx-eyed for the surface of things,
but which pierces beyond the surface of nothing, every individual
thing (for she has never seized the heart of it) turns up a new
face to her every new day, and seems a thing changed, a different
thing.--_The Diamond Necklace._
Reader! thou for thy sins must have met with such fair Irrationals;
fascinating, with their lively eyes, with their quick snappish
fancies; distinguished in the higher circles, in Fashion, even in
Literature; they hum and buzz there, on graceful
film-wings:--searching, nevertheless, with the wonderfullest skill
for honey; _un_tamable as flies!--_The Diamond Necklace._
Nature is very kind to all children, and to all mothers that are
true to her.--_Frederick the Great._
She is of stately figure;--of beautiful still countenance.--A
completeness, a decision is in this fair female figure; by energy
she means the spirit that will prompt one to sacrifice himself for
his country.--_French Revolution._
A clever, high-mannered, massive-minded old lady; admirable as a
finished piece of social art, but hardly otherwise
much.--_Reminiscences._