Women of History. By Eminent Writers. (Nimmo, Edinburgh.)— This attractive
volume is a further development of the idea of which we spoke with commendation in our notice of the Men of History. It consists of a series of extracts from well known authors, each com- prising a biography more or less complete of a distinguished woman. Writers of history concentrate in a sort of epigrammatic terseness the features of the career and character of a single person, and nothing can be more valuable to the students of English composition than such gems of thought and diction strung together judiciously. The biographical information contaihed in these selections is of the most unequal amount, and almost seems to vary in an inverse ratio to the importance of the personage treated of, but the result will often be no doubt to lead the student to the original source. We must take special exception as a specimen of style to the notice of the Margravine of Anspach from a current periodical, the lady's name being absurdly spelt Berkeleigh," and the short memoir being filled with similar affectations. A blemish like this can easily be removed in a subsequent edition, and perhaps some of the coarser features in the earlier biographies should be omitted. In that case the book might come into use as a class-book in places of female education, and deserve to be generally popular.
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