The Half Sisters: A Tale, Volume 2Chapman and Hall, 1848 - Actresses |
From inside the book
Page 303
... Gentleness , Virtue , Wisdom , and Endurance , These are the seals of that most firm assurance , Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength ; And if , with infirm hand , Eternity , Mother of many acts and hours , should free The ...
... Gentleness , Virtue , Wisdom , and Endurance , These are the seals of that most firm assurance , Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength ; And if , with infirm hand , Eternity , Mother of many acts and hours , should free The ...
Common terms and phrases
actress Alice Alice rose amongst asked began believe beside better Bryant calm carriage cerned character child Clara Conrad cried dear desire dinner Don Giovanni door drawing-room dream dress écarté endure England eyes fancy fear feel felt Fornasari genius girl give glad hand happy hear heard heart honour hope Italy knew Lady Vernon Lathom leave live look matter mind misery Miss Bianca missis morning MOUNT SOREL nature never night once pain passed passion passionate emotion poor precious son racter real genius recognised replied Bianca replied Lord Melton seemed Semiramide sense servant Simmonds sister sorrow sort soul speak stood strong struggle stupified suffering talk tell theatre thing thought tion turned utter Vienna virtue voice weary whilst whole wild hope Willersdale Park wish woman women words young
Popular passages
Page 295 - Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom, and Endurance, These are the seals of that most firm assurance Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength; And if, with infirm hand, Eternity, Mother of many acts and hours, should free The serpent that would clasp her with his length; These are the spells by which to reassume An empire o'er the disentangled doom.
Page 189 - WOE to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled ; And dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee ! When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled ; And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
Page 16 - I am more jealous of the mind than of the body; and, to me, there is something revolting in the notion of a woman who professes to love and belong to you alone, going and printing the secrets of her inmost heart, the most sacred workings of her soul, for the benefit of all who can pay for them.
Page 88 - ... that they should be introduced into the private circles of the middle classes: it tends to destroy that sobriety and balance of conduct which makes their peculiar virtue, without introducing at the same time the abilities, and powers of pleasing, which are the redeeming qualities of the other class. I have a singular objection to meeting with authors, actors, artists, or professional people of any sort; except in the peculiar exercise of their vocation, which I am willing to pay for.
Page 89 - This is an industrial country," said Bryant; " the great mass of sympathy and intellect takes a practical direction—a direction that we understand; we have no real knowledge of art, no real instinct or genuine aspiration after it; and I should say that in our hearts we do not respect, love, or honour fine art in any of its manifestations, as we do that which is scientific or practical. To the Italians, to the French even, music and pictures are necessaries of life ; to us English they only take...
Page 21 - ... produce are graceful failures; their beauty lies in falling short, rather than achieving. A woman's work cannot be judged on the basis of its real merit, like that of men ; consequently, it never is ; there is always a gallant fiction which guides the judgment. All that a professional woman achieves, then, at such a grievous cost of all that is charming in her nature, is only to do what a man would have done much better. The intrinsic value of a woman's work out of her own sphere is nothing,...
Page 67 - I have had a definite employment all my life: when I rose in the morning my work lay before me, and I had a clear, definite channel in which all my energies might flow.
Page 68 - ... which all my energies might flow ... I was kept clear of ENNUI, which eats like a leprosy into the life of women. I was leading a life of my own, and was able to acquire a full control over my own faculties; and I have always had a sense of freedom, of enjoyment of my existence, which has rendered all my vexations easy to be borne ... I have had work to do, and I have done it.
Page 30 - rights of women,' if by those you mean becoming a soldier, or a lawyer, or a member of Parliament. The rights they really do want, though they cannot so well articulate them, is to have a sense of right or wrong inculcated for its own sake, and not to have the life choked out of them by having the decorums and
Page 90 - But do you allow nothing for the civilizing influence of men of cultivated intellect amongst you?" said Conrad. " Railroads will do more," replied Bryant ; " every people must work out its civilization in its own way. Love of the fine arts is not our specialty : we do not know a good thing from a bad one unless we are told ; and the pretence we make about it has a bad effect on our character.