On my repeating this criticism to Fanny Kemble, she replied just as I had anticipated: “Such criticism is the mere expression of the natural emotions or character of the critic. _She_ would have spoken the words in a whisper; _I_ should have made the exclamation aloud. If there had been a thousand people by, I should not have cared for them—I should not have been conscious of their presence. I should have exclaimed before them all, ‘Senseless linen!—happier therein than I!’” And thus the artist fell into the same mistake of which she accused her critic—she made Imogen utter the words aloud, because _she_ would have done so herself. This sort of subjective criticism in both was quite feminine; but the question was not how either A. B. or F. K. would have spoken the words, but what would have been most natural in such a woman as Imogen? And most undoubtedly the first criticism was as exquisitely true and just as it was delicate. Such a woman as Imogen would _not_ have uttered those words aloud. She would have uttered them in a whisper, and turning her face from her attendant. With such a woman, the more intense the passion, the more conscious and the more veiled the expression. [Illustration] 121. I read in the life of Garrick that, “about 1741, a taste for Shakespeare had lately been revived by the encouragement of some distinguished persons of taste of both sexes; but more especially by the ladies who formed themselves into a society, called the ‘Shakespeare Club.’” There exists a Shakespeare Society at this present time, but I do not know that any ladies are members of it, or allowed to be so. [Illustration] 122.