PEN-PORTRAITS OF LITERARY WOMEN BY THEMSELVES AND OTHERS EDITED BY HELEN GRAY CONE AND JEANNETTE L. GILDER _WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES BY THE FORMER._ VOL. I. CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, 739 & 741 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. COPYRIGHT, 1887, By O. M. DUNHAM. Press W. L. Mershon & Co., Rahway, N. J. CONTENTS. PAGE. HANNAH MORE, 9 FRANCES BURNEY (MME. D’ARBLAY), 45 MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (GODWIN), 81 MARY W. GODWIN (SHELLEY), 109 MARY LAMB, 131 MARIA EDGEWORTH, 161 JANE AUSTEN, 195 JOANNA BAILLIE, 223 LADY BLESSINGTON, 245 MARY RUSSELL MITFORD, 269 PREFATORY NOTE. _This book was suggested by Mr. Mason’s “Personal Traits of British Authors,” published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. With a single exception--Charlotte Brontë--the editor of that excellent work excluded from his pages the literary women of England. The belief that the public would find interest in a presentation of the characteristics and surroundings of many of these women, has induced us to supplement Mr. Mason’s volumes with the present series of “Pen Portraits.”_ _The distinction in title implies a slight change of plan. We have not confined ourselves to the depicting of personal traits, but have admitted a descriptive background; beyond the figures of Charlotte and Emily Brontë, a glimpse is caught of the wild moors, purple with heather; and the Mediterranean, dark with storm, appears behind the graceful head of Mary Shelley. When a critical remark of some fellow-worker seemed to have point, we have included it; such passages may be regarded as pencillings, in various hands, on the margin of the catalogue of our gallery._