82 
CONSTANCE C. W. NADEN. 
Apk., 1890. 
Miss Naden was a member of the Ladies’ Debating 
Society in Birmingham, and succeeded Mrs. R. W. Dale and 
Mrs. Crosskey as president. Her address for the session 
1882-8—a most finished performance—is founded on a belief 
that “the watchword of the coming day is Unity, built up 
from Diversity,” and thus concludes :—“ Every utterance of 
a true and lofty idea, in word or deed, helps to render possible 
a new heroic age—an age which shall find its chief glory, not 
in commerce or manufactures, not in discoveries and inven¬ 
tions, but in a life moulded to that higher expediency, which 
we call Truth and Justice, instead of the lower expediency, 
which may take the shape of Justice or Injustice, Truth or 
Falsehood.” 
Miss Naden published two volumes of poems. The first of 
these “ Songs and Sonnets of Spring Time,” 1881, contains 
beautiful specimens of the “ opening flowers ” which subse¬ 
quently developed into rich fruit. Next to the “ Dedication,” 
which has been previously referred to, the masterpiece is 
undoubtedly “The Pantheist’s Song of Immortality,” described 
by Mr. Gladstone as “ a short but singularly powerful produc¬ 
tion.” The charming little poem, “ Six Years Old,” indicates 
her early and remarkable powers of observation. Her second 
volume, “ A Modern Apostle, The Elixir of Life, The Story 
of Clarice, and other Poems,” 1887, unmistakably shows an 
advance on her earlier publication, influenced, no doubt, by 
her studies in evolution, and especially in psychology. As 
regards the “Evolutional Erotics”—one of the divisions of 
the book—we must go to Dr. Wendell Holmes if we want 
finer expositions of the marvellous blending of science with 
poetry than those gems which Miss Naden here presents. One 
of them “Solomon redivivus,” 1886,which illustrates the devel¬ 
opment of life “from Darwin and from Buddli,” astonished us 
by the remarkable spontaneity of her genius. At one of our 
sectional meetings the subject had been discussed in the 
evening, and the next morning the President received a copy 
of this poem by post. Those who were present at a social 
gathering of the Section held in the autumn of the same 
year at Handswortli Wood, will not easily forget the bright and 
playful humour with which she recited “Scientific Wooing,” 
another poem in the same series. On its publication the 
author of this memoir sent a short critical notice of this beau¬ 
tiful volume to the “ Midland Naturalist ” for July, 1887, and 
he treasures among other relics of his beloved friend the follow¬ 
ing appreciative acknowledgment, which it is most interesting 
to record as showing her feelings generally towards her Bir¬ 
mingham friends:— 
