"Nor, indeed, am I prepared to say what is a good woman.

I consider the subject too deep and too complicated for any mere human being to give judgment upon.

But I _am_ talking of the women who conformed to the popular idea of maidenly goodness in the age when these books were written.

You must remember goodness is not a known quantity.

It varies with every age and every locality, and it is, generally speaking, your 'silly persons' who are responsible for its varying standards.