er, is this contradictory temperament solely to
be attributed, but to the long years of denationalization which have
made Ireland the wailing place of women whose traditions are glorious
with the deeds of mighty queens and amazons like Macha, Meave,
Dearbhguill and Eva; the dawn of whose cycles of religious glory is
marked by the life and deeds of a Bridget.

To write a history of the women of Great Britain and not speak of the
differences which the names Scot and Irish connote would be as grave
an error as to describe the flora of the islands and omit mention of
the shamrock and the thistle. Not that the flora of the island group
is essentially distinctive any more than that the differences in
society, in manners and customs of the separate peoples, are radical.
It is not that there is much of diverse interest in the broad aspects
of the life of the women that the recital of the history of the women
of Scotland and Ireland is to have separate treatment, but to throw
in strong light upon the pages of history the figures of women who
belonged not to Great Britain, as such, but to Scotland or to Ireland,
and who, if they date after the cementing of the union of the peoples,
still perpetuate that which is distinctive in quality of life and of
character.

To figure forth the famous women of these peoples will serve as
sufficient commentary upon the effect of difference of life and of
customs. All else has entered into the story of the women of Great
Britain as it has been told, for, after all, there is a real oneness
between them.

The tribal influence in both Ireland and Scotland continued to be the
predominant force of patriotic purpose long after the welding of its
various elements had eliminated this influence in English life. In the
earlier history of both the Scotch and Irish peoples, we have to
do with the force in society of this family idea, centred in
great chieftains and kings, but none the less a fact of prevailing
influence, an idea incarnate that served to quell the strife of
warring factions in the face of a common enemy. The patriotism of both
peoples has been the patriotism of the family and the fireside. The
love of the tartan among the Scotch and the perpetuation of the Irish
clans attest this fact to-day.

Many are the pages of British history rendered glorious by the deeds
of the women of Scotland. In those early days, when the light of
history is too faint to show clearly their characters or their