Mary Wollstonecraft

"The lily cheek, the 'purple light of love,' The liquid lustre of the melting eye, Mary! of these the Poet sung, for these Did Woman triumph ... turn not thou away Contemptuous from the theme. No Maid of Arc Had, in those ages, for her country's cause Wielded the sword of freedom; no Roland Had borne the palm of female fortitude; No Condé with self-sacrificing zeal Had glorified again the Avenger's name, As erst when Cæsar perished; haply too Some strains may hence be drawn, befitting me To offer, nor unworthy thy regard."

Shelley too offered her the tribute of his praise in verse. In the dedication of the "Revolt of Islam," addressed to his wife, he thus alludes to the latter's famous mother:--

"They say that thou wert lovely from thy birth, Of glorious parents, thou aspiring child. I wonder not; for one then left the earth Whose life was like a setting planet mild Which clothed thee in the radiance undefiled Of its departing glory."

But the mere admiration