Essays. By Dora Greenwell. (Alexander Strahan.)—Miss Greenwell's essays are very
graceful, and are written with a real knowledge of their subjects. The best essays, we think, seem to be those on "Our Single Women" and on "Prayer." They are both full of thought, and firm and steady in their view. The former,—which might go rather further than it does in claiming newer as welt as wider spheres for women's work,—has a certain intellectual humour as well as real insight. Take,- for instance, this admirable application of a sentence from Lord Macon to describe the painful timidity, hesitation, and trepidation felt by women of " no particular age " in asserting the place in society which they desire to take, lest they should be suspected of looking out for a husband!— "Let the eighteenth motion be that of trepidation, it is the motion, as it were, of' an eternal captivity:: when bodies, for instance, not exactly con- tented with their position, and not exactly ill, constantly tremble, and are restless, not contented with their position, and not daring to advance. This motion necessarily occurs in all bodies which are situated in a mean state, between conveniences and inconveniences, so that, being repulsed from their proper position, they strive to escape, are repulsed, and again continue to make the attempt." The book is really a good one.
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