22 CHAEACTER OF THE MORE IMPASSIONED WOMAN. 



laughs musically, or Mrs. Somerset dresses with taste, 

 she will talk like Mrs. Monmouth, laugh like Mrs. 

 Montgomery, and dress like Mrs. Somerset. So little 

 given to introspection is the markedly active tem- 

 perament that she is but dimly conscious of her 

 imitations. The more impassioned woman's affecta- 

 tion (if it be affectation) is less an imitation than a 

 pronounced change of manners and speech with 

 changing shades of thought and especially of feeling. 

 And here is another illustration of the similarity of 

 character in men and women. The extremely active, 

 voluble, and quickly-apprehending man is especially 

 given to imitation, and it is sometimes amusingly easy 

 to guess who is his favourite politician, or who is the 

 preacher he ' sits under/ 



The more impassioned woman tends however to be 

 the same in all circles. How she acquits herself in 

 social or in public life depends partly on her emotions 

 but possibly even more on her capacity, her training, 

 health, experience and years. She may be witty, 

 entertaining, instructive, brilliant; she may also be 

 silent, or dogmatic, or self-willed, or neglectful, or 

 dull. 



At home or elsewhere she is, as a rule, not difficult 

 to please. In both domestic and social life she spon- 

 taneously appreciates, congratulates, praises. She can 

 soothe the mentally bruised and encourage the unsuc- 

 cessful. In her there is compassion for all weak 

 things two-footed or four. When at her best she is 

 deeply sympathetic; to adapt the words of a dis- 

 tinguished writer, she rises to the high and stoops to 

 the low ; she is the sister and playmate of all nature. 

 Like George Eliot, she can judge the unjust leniently, 

 sympathise with narrowness, and tolerate intolereuce. 



