Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed. The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. * * * * * [Illustration: Mary the Mother of our Lord] WOMAN IN SACRED HISTORY: A SERIES OF SKETCHES _DRAWN FROM SCRIPTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND LEGENDARY SOURCES_. BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. Illustrated with Sixteen Chromo-Lithographs, AFTER PAINTINGS BY RAPHAEL, BATONI, HORACE VERNET, GOODALL, LANDELLE, KOEHLER, PORTAËLS, VERNET-LECOMTE, BAADER, MERLE, AND BOULANGER: PRINTED BY MONROCQ, FROM STONES EXECUTED BY JEHENNE, PARIS. [Illustration: logo] NEW YORK: J. B. FORD AND COMPANY. 1874. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, BY J. B. FORD AND COMPANY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. I. WOMEN OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGES. 1. SARAH THE PRINCESS. 2. HAGAR THE SLAVE. 3. REBEKAH THE BRIDE. 4. LEAH AND RACHEL. II. WOMEN OF THE NATIONAL PERIOD. 5. MIRIAM, SISTER OF MOSES. 6. DEBORAH THE PROPHETESS. 7. DELILAH THE DESTROYER. 8. JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER. 9. HANNAH THE PRAYING MOTHER. 10. RUTH THE MOABITESS. 11. THE WITCH OF ENDOR. 12. QUEEN ESTHER. 13. JUDITH THE DELIVERER. III. WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 14. THE MYTHICAL MADONNA. 15. MARY THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 16. THE DAUGHTER OF HERODIAS. 17. THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 18. MARY MAGDALENE. 19. MARTHA AND MARY. THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THIS VOLUME. The notable characters among the women of Bible history present so attractive and variable a theme for pictorial representation, that they have been several times grouped in book form, both in Europe and America, within the past twenty years. The freshness of the present publication, therefore, consists not in the subject but in its mode of treatment.