OF SIX MEDLEVAL WOMEN 



still strange extremes have flourished side by 

 side all down the ages. Turning to but com- 

 paratively recent times, the coarseness we associate 

 with much of the reign of Charles II. stands 

 out in glaring contrast with the delicate, graceful 

 poetry that found expression then. And coming 

 still nearer to our own days, we think of the 

 unseemly manners in the reigns of George III. 

 and IV. and the dainty miniatures such as those 

 painted by Cosway, and wonder how these could 

 exist together. Might we not just as well 

 wonder why the olive tree has a gnarled, dis- 

 torted stem, whilst its delicate, symmetrical leaves, 

 of the tenderest green grey, glisten in the sunshine 

 like silvery shells fresh from ocean's bed ? 



Renan, amongst the many thinkers on life's 

 mysteries, tells us that " Life is the result of a 

 conflict between contrary forces." But to philo- 

 sophise is useless, and it is still more useless to 

 question life's seeming anomalies. We can only 

 bow in silence before " what Time in mists 

 confounds." 



As has been already said, it is only a general 

 idea of the women of the Middle Ages that can 

 be gleaned from the Romances. For something 

 to bring us into more real touch with them, and 

 to reveal more of their personality, we must 

 consider some who have made themselves known 

 to us through their work, since history, until 



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