ABSTRACT
The lady is almost the only picturesque survival in a social order which tends less and less to tolerate the exceptional. Her history is distinct from that of woman though sometimes advancing by means of it, as a railway may help itself from one point to another by leasing an independent line. At all striking periods of social development her status has its significance. In the agelong war between men and women, she is a hostage in the enemy’s camp. Her fortunes do not rise and fall with those of women but with those of men.
