Page:Notable Irishwomen.djvu/39

 II.

,

1759-1829.

CCORDING to a theory of Charles Kingsley, the finest type of race is produced by the mixture of the Celt with the Saxon. Along with the brilliance, the dash, the living glow of the Celt, we have the steadiness, the perseverance, and the dogged determination of the Anglo-Saxon. However this may be, it is certain that some of the most remarkable women are the daughters of Irish fathers and English mothers, We have Maria Edgeworth, Felicia Hemans, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Lady Morgan, and, to this number, may be added the name of Elizabeth Farren, an actress of whom Ireland may well be proud. There is a good portrait of Miss Farren in the Dublin National Portrait Gallery, but the likeness by which she is best known is the famous full-length painting of her by Sir Thomas Lawrence. We see her tall, slight, willowy figure, gracefully draped in white, her large lustrous blue eyes, her fair curly hair, and the winning, appealing expres-