man of fifty." What do we say to such a criticism from so acute a mind? [1] See _The Education of Henry Adams_, p. 442 It is easier to ask questions than to answer them, and I propose to shirk the harder part of the task. Questions cannot be satisfactorily answered for other people, and, where everyone has to make up his or her mind, the mere asking of questions is in itself an aid to their solution. Each reader will answer the questions I have asked in a different way: having done so, he must pass to another consideration. We are proud of the Englishwoman, but we criticise her, again each one of us differently. We must consider the grounds of our criticism. She dresses badly, some will say; her hair is always untidy, say others; foreigners assert that she is proud and stupid; Englishmen, secretly glad that she is proud, try to forget that she is poorly educated. That she walks gracefully, none will say, but as an athlete she is second to none: it would be rash to say that her taste in the home is remarkable, but the atmosphere of home, which not even the most hideous decoration can kill nor the most beautiful create, emanates from her alone. As a housewife she has her glories and her failings. She has not the almost brutish industry of the German nor the avaricious acuteness of the French _bourgeoise_; she is, in general, neither expert in household industry nor in business. Nevertheless, the Englishman is only really contented in a household presided over and served by Englishwomen, and that is not only because they understand his wants, but because they are genial and simple, neither servile nor imperious, good comrades who do not expect too little or exact too much. Fearless in her actions, the Englishwoman is timid in her ideas: what she may do in the future is incalculable, her possibilities are unbounded; but there seem to be limits to the expansion, except by imitation, of her power of thought. As an administrator she will find no superior, but the political thinkers, as well as the artists, will for the most part come from other nations. These are but random criticisms which, among others, will occur to any mind that reflects upon the subject. They show, once more, that the essence of the Englishwoman or of her goodness is not a simple one. She is therefore an excellent topic for a conversation that should be provocative and stimulating. If I sustain one part, the reader will mentally sustain the other. Let us continue it.