ARNAUDE DE ROCAS,

ONE of the daughters of Chypriotes, who, after the taking of Nicosie, in 1570, was carried away by the Turks and held in captivity. Arnaude, destined by her beauty for the seraglio of the sultan, was, with several of her companions, put into a vessel about to sail for Constantinople. But, preferring death to dishonour, the heroic maiden contrived, in the dead of night, to convey fire to the powder-room, and perished, amidst the wreck of the vessel, with the victims of her desperation.

ARNAULD, MARIE ANGELIQUE, SISTER of Robert, Antoine, and Henri Arnauld, was abbess of the Port-Royal convent, and distinguished herself by the reformation and sanctity she introduced there, and also at the convent of Maubuisson, where she presided five years. She returned to Port-Royal, and died in 1661, aged seventy. Her mother and six of her sisters passed the evening of their life in her convent.

She was early distinguished for her capacity and her virtues. While at Maubuisson, she became acquainted with St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, who continued through his whole life to correspond with her. She displayed peculiar skill and sagacity in the changes she introduced into the convents under her control. Careful to exact nothing of the nuns of which she had not set the example, she found, in the respect and emulation she inspired, an engine to which constraint is powerless. Self-denial, humility, and charity, were among the most prominent of her virtues.

ARNAULD, ANGELIQUE,

NIECE to the celebrated Marie Angelique Arnauld, abbess of Port-Royal, entered the cloister at six years of age, and formed herself upon the model of her aunts, by whom she was educated. She inherited their virtues and endowments, and was at length elevated to the same station, which she filled with equal dignity and capacity. She was distinguished for her taste and penetration, and for her eloquence and facility in speaking and composition. She died January 29th, 1684, at the age of fifty-nine.

ARNAULD, CATHARINE AGNES,

WAS chosen, while yet in her noviciate, by her elder sister, Marie Angelique, to be the mistress of the novices at the convent of Port-Royal. During the five years that Marie Angelique passed in the abbey at Maubuisson, Catharine was entrusted with the government of Port-Royal, and appointed coadjutrix with her sister, who was desirous of resigning it wholly to her management. Agnes, respected and beloved by the nuns, instructed them no less by her example than by her eloquent discourses. She was equally celebrated for her talents and her piety. She was the author of two small treatises, entitled "Le Chapelet Secret du Saint Sacrament," and "L'Image de la Réligeuse, parfaite et imparfaite." The former was censured by some members of the Sorbonne, and it was suppressed.

Catharine Agnes Arnauld died February 19th, 1671, at the age of seventy-seven.

ARNOULT, SOPHIE,

A PARISIAN actress, born at Paris, February 17th, 1740. Her father kept a hôtel garni, and gave her a good education. Nature endowed her with wit, sensibility, a charming voice, and great personal attractions. Chance brought her upon the stage, where she delighted the public from 1757 to 1778. The princess of Modena happened to be in retirement at the Val de Grâce, and was struck with a very fine voice that sang at evening mass. Sophie Arnoult was the songstress; and on the princess speaking of her discovery, she was obliged, against her mother's wish, to join the royal choir. This paved the way for Sophie to the Parisian opera, where she soon became queen. All persons of rank, and all the literati, sought her society; among the latter, were D'Alembert, Diderot, Helvétius, Duclos, and Rousseau. She was compared to Aspasia and Ninon de l'Enclos. Her wit was so successful, that her bons mots were collected. It was sometimes severe, yet it made her no enemies. She died in 1802. In the beginning of the revolution, she bought the parsonage at Luzarche, and transformed it into a country-house, with this inscription over the door, Ite missa est. Her third son, Constant Dioville de Brancas, colonel of cuirassiers, was killed at the battle of Wagram.

ARRAGON, JOAN OF,

WAS the wife of Ascanio Colonna, prince of Tagliacozza, who was made grand constable of the kingdom of Naples by Charles V., in 1520. He assisted the imperial forces when Rome was besieged, under the command of Bourbon, in 1527, and obtained a great reputation for bravery and military skill. Like all the petty sovereigns of that age of war and violence, his life was one of vicissitude and agitation. He died in the state prison of Castel Nuovo, at Naples, in 1557. He has been accused of traitorous practices with the French, at that time at war with his country; other authorities say that he was incarcerated by orders of the Inquisition. His son, Marc Antonio

Colonna, appears to have been one of those heroes, "Impiger iracundus, inexorabilis acer," born to give and take blows all his life. His gallantry at the battle of Lepanto, and daring actions while viceroy of Sicily, merit the praise of a good soldier. He died, it is supposed, by poison; no unusual close of the stormy existences of the leaders of that time.

Of Joan herself, there are no anecdotes recorded. Nothing is known of the events of her life; but a more widely-spread contemporary celebrity is attached to few women. All the writers of her epoch, speak of her in terms that appear hyperbolical, so very extravagant are their epithets divine, perfect, adorable, are the least of these. She is very much commended for her good judgment, practical sense, courage, and fortitude; but we are no where told how or where she exerted these qualities. Agostine Ninfo, a physician and philosophic writer, in speaking of perfect beauty, proposes Joan of Arragon as an example. Eulogies were composed to her honour by the greatest wits of her time; and in most languages, as Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Sclavonic, Polonese, Hungarian, and even Hebrew and Chaldean; one of the most singular monuments, undoubtedly, that gallantry ever raised to female merit. This homage was decreed her in 1555, at Venice, in the Academy of Dubbiosi, and a volume was published there in 1558, a few years before her death, with this magnificent title, "Temple to the divine Lady Signora Joan of Arragon-constructed by all the most elegant minds, in all the polite languages of the world." She died in 1577.

One of her most celebrated productions was a poem, entitled "Dell 'Infinita d'Amor." She also wrote "Il Meschino," or "The Unfortunate One," a poetical romance. In her early years, she resided at Ferrara, Rome and Venice; but the latter part of her life she spent at Florence, where she died.

ARUNDEL, LADY BLANCHE,

A DAUGHTER of the earl of Worcester, and wife of lord Arundel of Wardour, is celebrated for her heroic defence of Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, England. She was summoned to surrender, May 2d, 1643, by Sir Edward Hungerford, commanderin-chief of the parliamentary forces in Wiltshire, at the head of about thirteen hundred men; but

lady Arundel, whose husband was then at Oxford, replied, that she had the orders of her lord to keep the castle, and those orders she was determined to obey. On this reply the battery commenced, and continued without intermission for nearly six days. The castle contained but twentyfive fighting-men; and wearied with exertion their strength began to fail, when the ladies and their maid-servants took their place in keeping watch, and loading their muskets. The women and children were repeatedly offered safety if the besieged would surrender, but they chose rather to perish than to buy their own lives at the expense of those of their brave soldiers.

At length, reduced to extremity, lady Arundel was forced to surrender, after making stipulations that the lives of all in the fortress should be spared, &c. The conditions were agreed to, but all excepting that relating to their personal safety were violated. Lady Arundel, and her children, were carried prisoners to Shaftesbury, where her two sons, children of seven and nine, were taken from her. She died October 29th, 1649, at the age of sixty-six. Her husband had died at Oxford, in 1643, of wounds he received in the battle of Lansdown, in the service of Charles I.

Lady Arundel is buried with her husband, near the altar of an elegant chapel, at Wardour Castle. On the monument is an inscription, which, after giving their titles and ancestry, thus concludes: "This lady, as distinguished for her courage as for the splendour of her birth, bravely defended, in the absence of her husband, the castle of Wardour, with a spirit above her sex, for nine days, with a few men, against Sir Edward Hungerford, Edmund Ludlow, and their army, and then delivered it up on honourable terms. Obit. 28 October, 1649, Etat. 66. Requiescat in pace. 'Who shall find a valiant woman? The price of her is as things brought from afar off, and from the uttermost coast. The heart of her husband trusteth

ARUNDEL, MARY,

WAS the daughter of sir Thomas Arundel, knight. She was married, first to Robert Ratcliff, who died without issue, 1566; secondly, to Henry Howard, earl of Arundel.

She translated from English into Latin "The Wise Sayings and Eminent Deeds of the Emperor Alexander Severus." This translation is dedicated to her father; the manuscript is in the royal library at Westminster. She translated also from Greek into Latin, select "Sentences of the seven wise Grecian Philosophers." In the same library are preserved, of her writing, Similies collected from the books of Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, and other philosophers," which she also dedicated to her father.

66

ASCHAM, MARGARET,

WAS married in 1554 to Roger Ascham, the celebrated preceptor of queen Elizabeth. Margaret brought a considerable fortune to her husband, and what was of more worth, a heart and mind willing and qualified to aid him. To her

care the world is indebted for Mr. Ascham's book, entitled "The Schoolmaster;" to which she prefixed an epistle dedicatory, to the honourable Sir William Cecill, knight. The work was published in 4to, 1570, London, and reprinted in 1589. Mrs. Ascham is supposed to lie interred with her husband, in the church of St. Sepulchre, London.

ASKEW, ANNE,

DAUGHTER of Sir William Askew, of Kelsay, in Lincolnshire, England, was born in 1529. She received a liberal and learned education, and early manifested a predilection for theological studies. Her eldest sister, who was engaged to Mr. Kyme of Lincolnshire, died before the nuptials were completed. Sir William Askew, unwilling to lose a connexion which promised pecuniary advantages, compelled his second daughter, Anne, notwithstanding her remonstrances and resistance, to fulfil the engagement entered into by her sister. But, however reluctantly she gave her hand to Mr. Kyme, to whom she bore two children, she rigidly fulfilled the duties of a wife and mother.

Though educated in the Roman Catholic religion, Anne became interested in the Reformation, which was causing great excitement in the minds of all persons of thought and education at that time; and devoted herself to the examination of the Bible and other works from which both parties affected to derive their faith. She was at length convinced of the truth of the doctrine of the reformers, and declared herself a convert to their principles. Her presumption in daring to exercise her own judgment so incensed her husband, that, at the suggestion of the priest, he drove her with ignominy from his house. Anne, conceiving herself released by this treatment from the obligations that had been imposed on her, determined to su for a separation, and for this purpose she went to London.

Here she met with a favourable reception at court, and was particularly distinguished by the queen, Catharine Parr, who favoured in secret the doctrines of the reformation. But her husband and the priest accused her to Henry VIII., rendered more than usually irritable, vindictive, and tyrannical by declining health, of dogmatising on the subject of the real presence, a doctrine of which he was particularly tenacious. The sex and youth of the heretic aggravated the bitterness of her adversaries, who could not forgive a woman the presumption of opposing argument and reason to their dogmas.

Anne was seized, in March, 1545, and taken into custody. She was repeatedly examined respecting her faith, transubstantiation, masses for departed souls, &c. &c. Her answers to the questions proposed to her were more clear and sensible than satisfactory to her inquisitors. The substance and particulars of this examination were written by herself and published after her death.

On the twenty-third of March, a relation succeeded, after several ineffectual attempts, in bailing her. But she was soon apprehended again, and summoned before the king's council at Greenwich. She replied to their inquiries with firmness,

and without prevarication. She was remanded to Newgate, and not allowed to receive visits from any one, even from Dr. Latimer. She wrote herself to the king and chancellor, explaining her opinions; but her letter served only to aggravate her crime. She was then taken to the Tower, and interrogated respecting her patrons at court, but she heroically refused to betray them. Her magnanimity served but to incense her persecutors, who endeavoured to extort a confession from her by the rack; but she sustained the torture with fortitude and resignation. The chancellor, Wriothesely, commanded the lieutenant of the Tower to strain the instrument of his vengeance; on receiving a refusal, he threw off his gown, and exercised himself the office of executioner. When Anne was released from the rack, every limb was dislocated and she fainted with anguish. After she recovered, she remained sitting on the ground for two hours, calmly reasoning with her tormentors. She was carried back to her confinement, and pardon and life were offered to her if she would recant; but she refused, and was conIdemned to the stake.

A report having been circulated, that the prisoner had yielded, Anne wrote a letter to John Lascelles, her former tutor, and to the public, justifying herself of the charge. She also drew up a confession of her faith, and an attestation of her innocence, which she concluded by a prayer for fortitude and perseverance. A gentleman who saw her the day previous to her execution, observes, that amidst all her pains and weakness, (being unable to rise or stand without assistance) her expression of mingled enthusiasm and resignation showed a sweetness and serenity inexpressibly affecting.

At the stake, letters were brought to her from the chancellor, exhorting her to recant, and promising her pardon. Averting her eyes from the paper, she replied, that "She came not thither to deny her Lord and Master." The same proposition was made to her four fellow-sufferers, but without success. While Shaxton, an apostate from his principles, harangued the prisoners, she listened attentively, nicely distinguishing, even at that terrible moment, between what she thought true and what erroneous. She was burnt at Smithfield, July 16th, 1546, in the twenty-fifth year of her age.

ASTELL, MARY,

AN ornament of her sex and country, was the daughter of Mr. Astell, a merchant at Newcastleupon-Tyne, where she was born, about 1668. She was well educated, and amongst other accomplishments was mistress of the French, and had some knowledge of the Latin tongue. Her uncle, a clergyman, observing her uncommon genius, took her under his tuition, and taught her mathematics, logic, and philosophy. She left the place of her nativity when she was about twenty years of age, and spent the remaining part of her life at London and Chelsea. Here she pursued her studies with assiduity, made great proficiency in the above sciences, and acquired a more complete knowledge

few of her lyrics still remain, but they justify the praise that was bestowed upon her. She died in 1568.

AUSTEN, JANE,

AN English novelist, was born at Steventon, in Hampshire, on the 16th of December, 1775, her father being the rector of that parish. He died while Miss Austen was still young, and his widow and two daughters retired to Southampton, and subsequently to the village of Chawton, in the same county, where the novels of Jane Austen were written. "Sense and Sensibility;" "Pride and Prejudice;" "Mansfield Park;" and "Emma," were published anonymously during the author's life. Her other two works, "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion," were published after her death. In May, 1817, Miss Austen's health rendered it necessary that she should remove to some place where constant medical aid could be procured, and she went to Winchester, where she died on the 24th of July, aged forty-two. Her beauty, worth, and genius, made her death deeply lamented. The consumption, of which she died, seemed only to increase her mental powers. She wrote while she could hold a pen, and the day before her death composed some stanzas replete with fancy and vigour. The great charm of Miss Austen's works lie in their truth and simplicity, and in their high finish and naturalness. Sir Walter Scott speaks of her in the highest terms. Another writer, who appears to have known her well, thus describes her:

"Of personal attractions, she possessed a considerable share. Her stature was that of true elegance. It could not have been increased without exceeding the middle height. Her carriage and deportment were quiet, yet graceful. Her features were separately good. Their assemblage produced an unrivalled expression of that cheerfulness, sensibility, and benevolence, which were her real characteristics. Her complexion was of the finest texture. It might with truth be said, that her eloquent blood spoke through her modest cheek. Her voice was extremely sweet. She delivered herself with fluency and precision. Indeed, she was formed for elegant and rational society, excelling in conversation as much as in composition. In the present age, it is hazardous to mention accomplishments. Our authoress would, probably, have been inferior to few in such acquirements, had she not been so superior to most in higher things. She had not only an excellent taste for drawing, but, in her earlier days, evinced great power of hand in the management of the pencil. Her own musical attainments she held very cheap. Twenty years ago, they would have been thought more of, and twenty years hence, many a parent will expect her daughter to be applauded for meaner performances. She was fond of dancing, and excelled in it. It remains now to add a few observations on that which her friends deemed more important; on those endowments, which sweetened every hour of their lives.

If there be an opinion current in the world, that perfect placidity of temper is not reconcilable

to the most lively imagination, and the keenest relish for wit, such an opinion will be rejected for ever by those who have had the happiness of knowing the authoress of the following works. Though the frailties, foibles, and follies of others could not escape her immediate detection, yet even in their vices did she never trust herself to comment with unkindness. The affectation of candour is not uncommon; but she had no affectation. Faultless herself, as nearly as human nature can be, she always sought, in the faults of others, something to excuse, to forgive, or forget. Where extenuation was impossible, she had a sure refuge in silence. She never uttered either a hasty, a silly, or a severe expression. In short, her temper was as polished as her wit. Nor were her manners inferior to her temper. They were of the happiest kind. No one could be often in her company without feeling a strong desire of obtaining her friendship, and cherishing a hope of having obtained it. She was tranquil without reserve or stiffness; and communicative without intrusion or self-sufficiency. She became an authoress entirely from taste and inclination. Neither the hope of fame nor profit mixed with her early motives. Most of her works, as before observed, were composed many years previous to their publication. It was with extreme difficulty that her friends, whose partiality she suspected, whilst she honoured their judgment, could prevail on her to publish her first work. Nay, so persuaded was she that its sale would not repay the expense of publication, that she actually made a reserve from her very moderate income to meet the expected loss. She could scarcely believe what she termed her great good fortune when Sense and Sensibility' produced a clear profit of about £150. Few so gifted were so truly unpretending. She regarded the above sum as a prodigious recompense for that which had cost her nothing. Her readers, perhaps, will wonder that such a work produced so little at a time when some other authors have received more guineas than they have written lines. The works of our authoress, however, may live as long as those which have burst on the world with more eclât. But the public has not been unjust; and our authoress was far from thinking it so. Most gratifying to her was the applause which, from time to time, reached her ears from those who were competent to discriminate. Still, in spite of such applause, so much did she shrink from notoriety, that no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen. In the bosom of her own family she talked of them freely, thankful for praise, open to remark, and submissive to criticism. But in public she turned away from any allusion to the character of an authoress. She read aloud with very great taste and effect. Her own works, probably, were never heard to so much advantage as from her own mouth; for she partook largely in all the best gifts of the comic muse. She was a warm and judicious admirer of landscape, both in nature and on canvass. At a very early age, she was enamoured of Gilpin on the Picturesque; and she