The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of the Romance Countries (Illustrated), by
John R Effinger

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Title: Women of the Romance Countries (Illustrated)
Woman: In all ages and in all countries Vol. 6 (of 10)

Author: John R Effinger

Release Date: June 6, 2010 [EBook #32713]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF ROMANCE COUNTRIES ***

Produced by Renald Levesque

WOMAN

VOLUME VI

WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES

BY

JOHN R. EFFINGER, Ph.D.
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

[Illustration 1:
_BOCCACCIO'S MERRY RACONTEURS
After the painting by Jacques Wagrez
In the meantime, Naples, in the hands of the invaders, had been stained
with blood, and then ravaged by the great plague of which Boccaccio has
given us a picture, and of the idyllic way the rich people passed their
time, in his_ Decameron.]

Woman

In all ages and in all countries

VOLUME VI

WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES

BY

JOHN R. EFFINGER, Ph.D.
Of the University of Michigan

ILLUSTRATED

PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, Publishers

PREFACE

No one can deny the influence of woman, which has been a potent factor
in society, directly or indirectly, ever since the days of Mother Eve.
Whether living in Oriental seclusion, or enjoying the freer life of the
Western world, she has always played an important part in the onward
march of events, and exercised a subtle power in all things, great and
small. To appreciate this power properly, and give it a worthy
narrative, is ever a difficult and well-nigh impossible task, at least
for mortal man. Under the most favorable circumstances, the subject is
elusive and difficult of approach, lacking in sequence, and often
shrouded in mystery.

What, then, must have been the task of the author of the present volume,
in essaying to write of the women of Italy and Spain! In neither of
these countries are the people all of the same race, nor do they afford
the development of a constant type for observation or study. Italy, with
its mediaeval chaos, its free cities, and its fast-and-loose allegiance
to the temporal power of the Eternal City, has