in a man. I do not except even modesty and
gentleness of nature; nor do I know one vice or folly which is not
equally detestable in both."

Mrs. Jameson, in her delightful "Commonplace Book," illustrates this
admirably by one or two test cases. She takes, for instance, from one of
Humboldt's letters a much-admired passage on manly character:--

"Masculine independence of mind I hold to be in reality the first
requisite for the formation of a character of real manly worth. The
man who allows himself to be deceived and carried away by his own
weakness may be a very amiable person in other respects, but cannot
be called a good man: such beings should not find favor in the eyes
of a woman, for a truly beautiful and purely feminine nature should
be attracted only by what is highest and noblest in the character of
man."

"Take now this same bit of moral philosophy," she says, "and apply it to
the feminine character, and it reads quite as well:--

"'Feminine independence of mind I hold to be in reality the first
requisite for the formation of a character of real feminine worth.
The woman who allows herself to be deceived and carried away by her
own weakness may be a very amiable person in other respects, but
cannot be called a good woman; such beings should not find favor in
the eyes of a man, for a truly beautiful and purely manly nature
should be attracted only by what is highest and noblest in the
character of woman.'"

I have never been able to perceive that there was a quality or grace of
character which really belonged exclusively to either sex, or which failed
to win honor when wisely exercised by either. It is not thought necessary
to have separate editions of books on ethical science, the one for man, the
other for woman, like almanacs calculated for different latitudes. The
books that vary are not the scientific works, but little manuals of
practical application,--"Duties of Men," "Duties of Women." These vary with
times and places: where women do not know how to read, no advice on reading
will be found in the women's manuals; where it is held wrong for women to
uncover the face, it will be laid down in these manuals as a sin. But
ethics are ethics: the great principles of morals, as proclaimed either by
science or by religion, do not fluctuate for sex; their basis is in the
very foundations of right itself.

This grows clearer when we rem