privileges?

FRANCISCA.

Are not these large enough?

ISABELLA.

Yes, truly; I speak, not as desiring more,
But rather wishing a more strict restraint
Upon the sisterhood!

Such women as Desdemona and Ophelia would have passed their lives in the
seclusion of a nunnery, without wishing, like Isabella, for stricter
bonds, or planning, like St. Theresa, the reformation of their order,
simply, because any restraint would have been efficient, as far as
_they_ were concerned. Isabella, "dedicate to nothing temporal," might
have found resignation through self government, or have become a
religious enthusiast: while "place and greatness" would have appeared to
her strong and upright mind, only a more extended field of action, a
trust and a trial. The mere trappings of power and state, the gemmed
coronal, the ermined robe, she would have regarded as the outward
emblems of her earthly profession; and would have worn them with as much
simplicity as her novice's hood and scapular; still, under whatever
guise she might tread this thorny world--the same "angel of light."

BEATRICE.

Shakspeare has exhibited in Beatrice a spirited and faithful portrait of
the fine lady of his own time. The deportment, language, manners, and
allusions, are those of a particular class in a particular age; but the
individual and dramatic character which forms the groundwork, is
strongly discriminated; and being taken from general nature, belongs to
every age. In Beatrice, high intellect and high animal spirits meet, and
excite each other like fire and air. In her wit (which is brilliant
without being imaginative) there is a touch of insolence, not unfrequent
in women when the wit predominates over reflection and imagination. In
her temper, too, there is a slight infusion of the termagant; and her
satirical humor plays with such an unrespective levity over all subjects
alike, that it required a profound knowledge of women to bring such a
character within the pale of our sympathy. But Beatrice, though wilful,
is not wayward; she is volatile, not unfeeling. She has not only an
exuberance of wit and gayety, but of heart, and soul, and energy of
spirit; and is no more like the fine ladies of modern comedy,--whose wit
consists in a temporary allusion, or a play upon words, and whose
petulance is displayed in a toss of the head, a flirt of the fan, or a
flourish of the pocket handkerchie