Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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THE AUGUSTA SEMINARY ANNUAL. 7 enjoy the wit and wisdom of the Spectator. The essay sub- jects at this time were to test our individual work. The Lovable Traits of Sir Roger de Coverley; The Moral Influ- ence of Addison; Addison ' s Wit; Addison ' s Successes; Ad- dison ' s Times as Shown in His Works, and Addison ' s Cato. Then we read Macaulay and Thackeray with ever increas- ing delight; Macaulay ' s great third chapter giving us a pic- ture of the State of Kngland at this time, and his Essays we read, when there might be any on the subjects we were study- ing. Some of us were able to read Hairy Esmojid and The Virghiians — as supplementary to the English Humorists in pictures o f the Age. It would require more space than I am allowed in this article to mention all the writers we studied carefully, and the essays we read; the w ork was varied by studying the lives, reviews, and works themselves of our authors, and an occasional essay showed how we had been working. We loved Scott dearly, and grew vexed with Carlyle, in true school girl fashion, because he said Scott was not a great man. But we forgave Carlyle a great deal when we read his sympathetic essay on Burns. But this is not our course, it is a mere suggestion of what we have done. The Victorian Age we have studied in McCarthy ' s History of Our Ozvn Times, enlarging on the writers of special note. The course of collateral reading we have been pursuing is very full, comprising some of the writings of all the authors we have studied; our favorite books of reference have been Carlyle, Lowell, Macaulay, Mrs. Oliphant, Shaw, Welsh, Ward and Taine; w hile the others we have used would swell the list to a formidable array. Each student at the end of the session has a pile of neat note books, numbered and indexed awaiting the review of Miss Wright ' s critical eye. While studying Shakespeare, we read a play a week, out of class — and then each one wrote impromptu compositions on a subject given from the play read. While studying the English Drama we read Addison s Cato, Marloioe ' s Dr. Faustus and Edward H . ; also the plays of Sheridan and Goldsmith. A unique feature in our course is the memorizing daily

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6 THE AUGUSTA SEMINARY ANNUAL. Irish Character as Illustrated in Fiction ; The Gordon Riots ; The Laws Against Roman Catholics; The Punish- ment of Debtors, in Fact and in Fiction. Our review of Burke consisted in an out-line of the Speech, and illustrations of his style from the Speech — ar- ranged according to Minto ' s plan. In the first summing up, we found that a few of the advantages of studying Burke were the culture of high and pure literary taste with the at- tainment of useful and liberal knowledge. When Burke wa laid aside, his life and his position as an orator having been duly discussed, we took up Anthony and Clcopab a. Last year some of us had studied and loved The Merchant of Venice. The Roman, noble, cour- ageous, high, unmatchable, as he was, and his Ser- pent of old Nile, did not fascinate us as did Portia and her lovers; but the play afforded ample food for thought. After tw o or three weeks of careful study of the text, came the review — (we feel that our reviews are not pro- perly emphasized in the catalogue,) in this we studied the external and internal evidences fixing the date of the play ; endeavored to find how closely the poet followed his author- ity, North ' s Plutarch, and to see how he shed over the whole the light of his genius and poetry. Then we drew up an out-line of the play, and wrote short essays showing the poet ' s use of Narrative, and Historical Perspective, studied particularly some of the characters, and after show- ing how skilfully Shakespeare discriminates in the uses of thou and you, we regretfully put our Shakespeares away. Thus we have first studied the greatest philosopher, the greatest master of prose, and the greatest dramatist, a noble trio, whose works in themselves furnish an education. After this we took up the History of Literature at the period we left off last year, — the Age ushered in by Drj ' -den. Of Dry den ' s Works we studied Afac F ecknoe and some of The Hind and the Panther, and memorized St. Cecelia ' s Day and Alexa7ider ' s Feast. Then we studied Pope ' s Meruni s in Pape of the Lock, and thanks to Thacker- ay ' s charming English Hzmiorists our hearts softened to the little Wasp of Twickenham. Now we gave a good deal of time to reading Addison, learned to love Sir Roger, and to

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8 THE AUGUSTA SEMIXARY ANNUAL. of a few lines of poetry, we have this year learned about nineteen hundred lines. The favorite poets are Milton, Dry- den, Gray, Burns, Wordsworth and Shelley; Wordsworth perhaps should head the list. Those who receive the certifi- cates of the English Literature department at the end of the tw o years work feel that they have earned the honor. That we all may succeed is the hope of the class of ' 91. Emma Baldwin. Cliau.cer ' s Study of Women. IV Tore satire, more sarcasm, irony and fun have - - been lavished in all ages upon the one theme. Wo- man, than upon any other. Probably no one of our poets has made a more careful and more accurate study of this subject than Dan. Chaucer. Are not his eyes twinkling as he is describing the two women pilgrims ? When, along with the courtesy, dainti- ness and tenderness of heart of Madame Eglantine, he tells of her singing Entuned in her nose full seemly, of her French, After the school of Stratford Alte Bowe, For French of Paris was to her unknowe, and of the floods of tears at sight of a bleeding or dead mouse, or an ill-treated lap dog; and then when he tells of the hosen, hat, spurs, the travels and the husbands of the good wif of byside Bath. Not in the Prologue onl} does Chaucer ridicule wo- men, but pilgrim after pilgrim has his joke at the expense of the sex. Even the verraj perfight gentil knight can- not refrain from observing that, Womnien as to speken in commune, Thay folwen all the favour ot fortune;