Rosa Bonheur has avowed her determination never to marry. Determined to devote her life to her favorite art, she may be expected to produce a long line of noble works that will worthily maintain her present reputation; while the virtues and excellences of her private character will win for her an ever-widening circle of admiration and respect. CHAPTER XVIII. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The Practice of Art in America.--Number of women Artists increasing.--Prospect flattering.--Imperfection of Sketches of living Artists.--Rosalba Torrens.--Miss Murray.--Mrs. Lupton.--Miss Denning.--Miss O’Hara.--Mrs. Darley.--Mrs. Goodrich.--Miss Foley.--Miss Mackintosh and others.--Mrs. Ball Hughes.--Mrs. Chapin.--Sketch of Mrs. Duncan.--The Peale Family.--Anecdote of General Washington.--Mrs. Washington’s Punctuality.--Miss Peale an Artist in Philadelphia.--Paints Miniatures.--Copies Pictures from great Artists.--She and her Sister honorary Members of the Academy.--Her prosperous Career.--Paints with her Sister in Baltimore and Washington.--Marriage and Widowhood.--Return to Philadelphia.--Second Marriage.--Happy Home.--Mrs. Yeates.--Miss Sarah M. Peale.--Success.--Removal to St. Louis.--Miss Rosalba Peale.--Miss Ann Leslie.--Early Taste in Painting.--Visits to London.--Copies Pictures.--Miss Sarah Cole.--Mrs. Wilson.--Intense Love of Art.--Her Sculptures.--Her impromptu Modeling of Emerson’s Head.--Mrs. Cornelius Dubois.--Her Taste for the Sculptor’s Art.--Groups by her.--Studies in Italy.--Her Cameos.--Her Kindness to Artists.--Miss Anne Hall.--Early Love of Painting.--Lessons.--Copies old Paintings in Miniature.--Her original Pictures.--Her Merits of the highest Order.--Groups in Miniature.--Dunlap’s Praise.--Her Productions numerous.--Mary S. Legaré.--Her Ancestry.--Mrs. Legaré.--Early Fondness for Art shown by the Daughter.--Her Studies.--Little Beauty in the Scenery familiar to her.--Colonel Cogdell’s Sympathy with her.--Success in Copying.--Visit to the Blue Ridge.--Grand Views.--Paintings of mountain Scenery.--Removal to Iowa.--“Legaré College.”--Her Erudition and Energy.--Her Marriage.--Herminie Dassel.--Reverse of Fortune.--Painting for a Living.--Visit to Vienna and Italy.--Removal to America.--Success and Marriage.--Her social Virtues and Charity.--Miss Jane Stuart.--Mrs. Hildreth.--Mrs. Davis.--Mrs. Badger’s Book of Flowers.--Mrs. Hawthorne.--Mrs. Hill.--Mrs. Greatorex.--Mrs. Woodman.--Miss Gove.--Miss May.--Miss Granbury.--Miss Oakley. In America the practice of art by woman is but in its commencement. Although many names of female artists are now familiar to the public, and the number is rapidly increasing, few have had time to accomplish all for which they may possess the ability. The prospect, however, is one most flattering to our national pride.