THE

HEROINES OF HISTORY.

BY

MRS. OCTAVIUS FREIRE OWEN.

"Oh! how much

Those ladies are deceived and cheated, when
The clearness and integrity of their actions
Do not defend themselves and stand secure
On their own bases."-MASSINGER.

A NEW EDITION,

With Eight Illustrations by Gilbert.

LONDON:

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS,

THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE;

NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET.

PREFACE.

THE due appreciation of feminine influence in forming the character, is never denied to be a prominent feature of true statesmanship, nor that the decay of that influence, and the depreciation of woman, are unfailing signs of national fall or individual worthlessness. The time has passed when, in the darkness of barbarism, female sensibility or excellence was held in light estimation, and it is left only to meagre or perverted intellects, to satirize with Voltaire, the sex which, he held to possess neither of the masculine attributes, ideas, nor beards. Happily education now seconds the endowments of mind; the world concedes a tacit acquiescence to the claims of woman, for pre-eminence in many other powers besides that of simple endurance, and we leave to the Hottentots the singular custom of first proving their arrival at manhood, by beating their mothers. Indeed the high standard to which, history shows, womanly excellence may attain, and we may add in candour, the fearful power our sex can exercise, render the