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SHAKESPEARE'S MAIDENS AND WOMEN.

intoxication on the poor lamb's soul, that every feeling in it is reversed.

And King Richard speaks of his sufferings, of his grief, so that Anne cannot withhold her pity, all the more because this wild being is far from being of a plaintive nature. . . . And this wretched murderer has qualms of conscience speaks of repentance a good woman might perhaps lead him to the better path if she would sacrifice herself for him! And so Anne determines to be Queen of England.


QUEEN KATHARINE.

[KING HENRY VIII]

I cherish an insuperable prejudice against this queen, to whom I must, however, ascribe every virtue. As a wife she was a pattern of domestic fidelity. As queen she bore her part with the highest dignity and majesty. As a Christian she was piety itself. But Doctor Samuel Johnson was inspired by her to the most extravagantly soaring laudation. She is, among all Shakespeare's women, his choicest darling ; he speaks of her with tenderness and emotion . . . and that