In England, the political greatness of the nation and the appreciation of art among the nobility, more than any natural predisposition of the people, proved favorable to the progress of a cultivated taste, and rewarded talent from other countries. Corresponding to the improvement in the prospects of art, we find a number of women occupied diligently in its pursuit. A writer in one of the British reviews observes: “The profession of the painter would seem, in many respects, peculiarly fitted for woman. It demands no sacrifice of maiden modesty nor of matronly reserve; it leads her into no scenes of noisy revelry or unseemly license; it does not force her to stand up to be stared at, commented on, clapped or hissed by a crowded and often unmannered audience, who forget the woman in the artist. It leaves her, during a great portion of her time at least, beneath the protecting shelter of her home, beside her own quiet fireside, in the midst of those who love her and whom she loves. But, on the other hand, to attain high eminence, it demands the entire devotion of a life; it entails a toil and study, severe, continuous, and unbroken.” There is enough in this twofold truth to account both for the number of women artists and the failure of many to reach the distinction they aimed at. The assiduous cultivation of literature among ladies of the higher class in the eighteenth century is sufficiently attested by productions that yet remain for popular admiration. The names of Joanna Baillie, Mrs. Montague, Clara Reeve, Fanny Burney, Harriet and Sophia Lee, Mrs. Cowley, etc., posterity will not willingly let die; and the improvement in general education owes much to the beneficial influence of women who labored for this end, and strove also to introduce into society a less frivolous tone of manners and a more pervading respect for morality and religion. Mrs. Trimmer, Hannah More, Mrs. Barbauld, are remembered with gratitude as having done their part in the good work; as also Elizabeth Smith, who added to her literary acquirements extraordinary talents and accomplishments both in music and painting. It was after the introduction of a new manner by artists who had partaken of the inspiration of Carstens--such as Flaxman and Fuseli, near the close of the century--that the greater number of English female artists came into notice. It is necessary to mention only the most prominent. One third, at least, of the entire body in England were distinguished chiefly as amateurs, while in France the contrary was true, very few having been noted among the artists of this period.