I think that you will find it both new and interesting. Thundered then her lord of thunders; Burst the door, and flashing sword, Loud disgorged the woman's title: Condemnation in one word. Grand by righteous wrath transfigured, Towers the husband who provides In his person judge and witness, Death's black doorkeeper besides! . . . . . . . How though he hath squandered Honour! High of Honour let him scold: Gilding of the man's possession, 'Tis the woman's coin of gold. She, inheriting from many Bleeding mothers bleeding sense, Feels 'twixt her and sharp-fanged nature Honour first did plant the fence. Nature, that so shrieks for justice; Honour's thirst, that blood will slake; These are women's riddles, roughly Mixed to write them saint or snake. Never nature cherished woman; She throughout the sexes' war Serves as temptress and betrayer, Favouring man, the muscular. . . . . . . . Hard the task: your prison-chamber Widens not for lifted latch Till the giant thews and sinews Meet their Godlike overmatch. Read that riddle, scorning pity's Tears, of cockatrices shed; When the heart is vowed for freedom, Captaincy it yields to head. The point upon which the poet here insists is the evolutional signification of female virtue and of all that relates to it. Evidently he does not believe that either men or women were very virtuous in the beginning--not at all; their knowledge of right and wrong had to be developed slowly through great sufferings in the course of thousands of years. In order that the modern woman may be virtuous as she is, millions of her ancestors must have suffered the experience that teaches the social worth of female honour. And a woman who to-day proves unfaithful to her marriage duty is sinning, not simply against modern society, but against the whole experience, the whole modern experience, of the human race. This would make the fault a great one, of course, but would not the fault of the man be as great? By what right, except the right of force, can he punish her, if he himself be guilty of unfaithfulness? I am not sure what answer religion would give to these questions. But Meredith answers immediately and clearly. The fault of the woman is incomparably worse than the fault of the man. It is worse in relation to the injury done to society, to morality, to progress. Society is founded upon the family; the strength of society to defend itself against the enemy, to accumulate wealth, and to find happiness, depends upon the care and the love given to the children. It is in proportion to the love and care given to the young that a nation becomes strong. Now it is especially the mother's duty to look after the interests of the young. This requires no argument. And a sexual weakness upon her part means an injury done to the family in the