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Let no look be turned, no word be said,

And lay the rose-leaves under your head;
Your sleep will be light, and pleasant your rest,
For your visions will be of the youth you love best.
Four days I had not my own love seen,—
Where, sighed I, can my wanderer have been?
I thought I would gather the magical flower,
And see him at least in my sleeping hour!
St. John's Eve came; to the garden I flew,
Where the white roses shone with the silver dew!
The nightingale sang as I passed along-
I startled to hear even her sweet song;
The sky was bright with moon and star shine,
And the wind was sweet as a whisper of thine,
Dear love; for whose sake I stripped the tree-rose,
And softly and silently stole to repose.
No look I turned, and no word I said,
But laid the white roses under my head.

Oh, sweet was the dream that came to me then!
I dreamt of a lonely and lovely glen,
There was a clear and beautiful sky,
Such as is seen in the blue July:

To the north was a forest of darkling pine;
To the south were hills all green with the vine,
Where the ruby clusters sparkled like gems
Seen upon princely diadems;

On the rocks were goats as white as snow,

And the sheep-bell was heard in the valley below;
And like a nest in the chestnut's shade,
As just for love and contentment made,
A little cottage stood, and the tree
Shadowed it over most gracefully;
A white rose grew up beside the door,

The porch with the blossoms was covered o'er;
Methought it was yours-you were standing by:
You welcomed me, and I felt your sigh
Warm on my cheek, and our lips met,-
On mine the touch is thrilling yet!
But alas! I awakened, and all I can do

Is to tell the sweet dream, my own love, to you!

LOVE.

She prest her slight hand to her brow, or pain
Or bitter thoughts were passing there. The room
Had no light but that from the fireside,
Which showed, then hid her face. How very pale
It looked, when over it the glimmer shone!

Is not the rose companion of the spring?
Then wherefore has the red-leaved flower forgotten
Her cheek? The tears stood in her large dark eyes-
Her beautiful dark eyes-like hyacinth stars,
When shines their shadowy glory through the dew
That summer nights have wept :-she felt them not,
Her heart was far away! Her fragile form,
Like the young willow when for the first time
The wind sweeps o'er it rudely, had not lost
Its own peculiar grace; but it was bowed

By sickness, or by worse than sickness-sorrow!
And this is love! Oh! why should woman love:
Wasting her dearest feelings, till health, hope,
Happiness, are but things of which henceforth
She'll only know the name? Her heart is seared:
A sweet light has been thrown upon its life,
To make its darkness the more terrible.
And this is Love!

LAST VERSES OF L. E. L.

In allusion to the Pole Star, during her voyage to Africa.

A star has left the kindling sky-
A lovely northern light;
How many planets are on high!
But that has left the night.

I miss its bright familiar face,
It was a friend to me;
Associate with my native place,
And those beyond the sea.

It rose upon our English sky,
Shone o'er our English land,
And brought back many a loving eye,
And many a gentle hand.

It seemed to answer to my thought.
It called the past to mind,

And with its welcome presence brought
All I had left behind.

The voyage it lights no longer, ends
Soon on a foreign shore;

How can I but recall the friends
That I may see no more?

Fresh from the pain it was to part-
How could I bear the pain?
Yet strong the omen in my heart
That says-We meet again.

Meet with a deeper, dearer love;
For absence shows the worth
Of all from which we then remove,
Friends, home, and native earth.

Thou lovely polar star, mine eyes Still turned the first on thee, Till I have felt a sad surprise, That none looked up with me.

But thou hast sunk upon the wave,
Thy radiant place unknown;

1 seem to stand beside a grave,
And stand by it alone.

Farewell! ah, would to me were given A power upon thy light!

What words upon our English heaven Thy roving rays should write!

Kind messages of love and hope
Upon thy rays should be;
Thy shining orbit should have scope
Scarcely enough for me.

Oh, fancy vain, as it is fond,
And little needed too;

My friends! I need not look beyond
My heart to look for you.

LANNOY, THE COUNTESS OF,

By birth, countess of Loos Coswaren. She was born at the castle of Gray, in Brabant, in 1767. In 1788 she espoused the count de Lannoy, and emigrated with him, when the Low Countries were overrun by the French armies of the republic. Having lost all their property by confiscation, like many other families of rank, they were reduced to the utmost need in a strange land. All their resources lay in the energy and ability of the countess. She had always devoted herself to music for the gratification of her taste, and had even attempted composition; she now made it a profession, and gave instructions with success in the city of Berlin. She published several trios for the piano, violin, and violoncello; several songs, with an accompaniment for the harp and the piano; with other pieces of music for those instruments. In 1801 she was permitted to return to Belgium with her family, but was obliged to go through with a tedious lawsuit, which involved all her fortune. After several anxious years, the suit was lost, and she was obliged to take refuge at Paris, with her daughters, where, by resuming her musical labours, she obtained a scanty living. died in 1822.

She

LAPIERRE, SOPHIE,

A PRETTY Parisian singer, was a member of the conspiracy, which was formed in 1795, to overthrow the Directory, and replace the authority in the hands of the people. Sophie, and several other women, were taken prisoners with the conspirators, and she confronted her judges with the greatest composure, and even levity. As, however, she could only be accused of singing republican songs, she was acquitted.

LASHFORD, JOAN,

DAUGHTER of Elizabeth Warne, by a former husband, was burned as a heretic by the Roman Catholics, during the reign of Mary of England, in the year 1556. A number of other women, about the same time, sealed their faith with their blood. Joan Lashford was about twenty years of age when she thus suffered and died a martyr.

The

LAVALETTE, EMILIE, COUNTESS DE, NIECE of the empress Josephine, married Marie Chamans Lavalette, aid-de-camp to Bonaparte. Her maiden name was Emilie Beauharnais. manner in which the marriage was brought about is well described in the "Memoirs of Lavalette." General Bonaparte, wishing to reward the bravery of his aid-de-camp, and being then restricted in his power, determined he should marry this niece of Madame Bonaparte. "I cannot make you a major," said Bonaparte, "I must therefore give you a wife. You shall marry Emilie Beauharnais. She is very handsome, and well educated."

Lavalette raised objections: he had no fortune, and was immediately to depart for Egypt with his chief; he urged that he might be killed there, or, which was perhaps his strongest objection, that the lady might not fancy him.

Bonaparte overruled all these objections, telling him that, if he, Lavalette, was killed, his widow would have a pension, and might marry again advantageously; and concluded by saying, "The wedding shall take place in eight days. I will

allow you a fortnight for the honeymoon. You must then come and join us at Toulon. Come, come, the thing is all settled. Tell the coachman to drive home."

Lavalette continues the story thus:

66

In the evening I went to see Madame Bonaparte. She knew what was going forward, and was kind enough to show some satisfaction, and call me her nephew. "To-morrow," she said, "we shall go to St. Germains-I will introduce you to my niece: you will be delighted with her -she is a charming girl." Accordingly, next day, the General, Madame Bonaparte, Eugene, and I, went in an open carriage to St. Germains, and stopped at Madame Campan's. The visit was a great event at the boarding-school; all the young girls were at the windows, in the parlours, or in the court-yard, for they had obtained a holiday. We soon entered the gardens. Among the forty young ladies I anxiously sought for her who was to be my wife. Her cousin, Hortense, led her to us, that she might salute the General and embrace her aunt. She was, in truth, the prettiest of them all. Her stature was tall, and most gracefully elegant, her features were charming, and the glow of her beautiful complexion was heightened by her confusion. Her bashfulness was so great, that the General could not help laughing at her, but he went no further. It was decided that we should breakfast in the garden. In the mean time I felt extremely uneasy. Would she like me? Would she obey without reluctance? This abrupt marriage, and this speedy departure grieved me. When we got up, and the circle was broken, I begged Eugene to conduct his cousin into a solitary walk. I joined them, and he left us; I then entered on the delicate subject. I made no secret of my birth, or of my want of fortune; and added "I possess nothing in the world but my sword, and the good-will of the General-and I must leave you in a fortnight. Open your heart to me. I feel myself disposed to love you with all my soul -but that is not sufficient. If this marriage does not please you, repose a full confidence in me; it will not be difficult to find a pretext to break it off-I shall depart: you will not be tormented, for. I will keep your secret." While I was speaking, she kept her eyes fixed on the ground; her only answer was a smile, and she gave me the nosegay she held in her hand; I embraced her. We returned slowly to the company, and eight days afterwards went to the municipality. The following day, a poor priest, who had not taken the oaths, married us in a small convent of the Conception, in the Rue St. Honore. This was in some manner forbidden, but Emilie set a great importance on that point; her piety was gentle and sincere."

In a fortnight after the marriage, Lavalette left his bride, and joined the expedition to Egypt. In eighteen months he returned, and was most affectionately welcomed by his wife, who presented to him their infant daughter; the happiness of the married pair was complete, and their affection for each other continued faithful and true during years of prosperity.

On the restoration of the Bourbons, the Count

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Lavalette was imprisoned and condemned to death. | lowing year, she was enabled to open a school at His wife tried every means to obtain his pardon; and, failing in this, she proposed to him, the night before his execution, to put on her dress, and imitating her walk and manner, holding his handkerchief to his face, as if he were weeping, to go out from the prison, and when once in the street, she had provided means for his safety. As they were about the same height, the deception succeeded, and Count Lavalette escaped to Belgium; but his wife was kept for six weeks in prison, and not allowed to see any one but her jailor. She passed twenty-five days without sleep, fearing at every moment that she might see her husband brought back a prisoner. This anxiety at length produced insanity, which continued, with some intervals of rationality, during her whole life. Lavalette left France in 1816; in 1822 he was allowed to return, and from that time till his death devoted himself to the care of his wife.

LEAPOR, MARY,

Was born in Northamptonshire, in 1712, her father having been many years gardener to a gentleman in that country. Her education was suitable to her humble rank, but her attainments far surpassed all expectation. Her modesty kept her merit concealed till it was too late for her to reap any temporal emoluments from her writings. She died in her twenty fourth year, and, when on her death-bed, gave her father a collection of papers, containing original poems, which were afterwards published. Some of these poems are very good. She also wrote a tragedy entitled "The Unhappy Father."

LEE, ANNE,

Was born at Manchester, England, in 1736. She was the daughter of a blacksmith, and also at an early age she became the wife of a blacksmith. She is distinguished as the person who introduced Shakerism into this country; and she became the leader of the sect. Her first "testimony of salvation and eternal life," borne in 1770, was the injunction of celibacy as the perfection of human nature; and next, she claimed to be a divine person. From this time she was honoured with the title of "Mother Anne," while she styled herself "Anne the Word." Having been persecuted in England, she came out to America, in 1774, with several members of the society, and formed the first community of Shakers, at Watervliet, near Albany, where she died, in 1784.

LEE, SOPHIA,

THIS amiable and ingenious lady was born in the metropolis in the year 1750. Her father, originally bred to the law, was an actor of merit, whose conduct gained him admission into the best circles, and who gave his children an excellent education. At an early age, the subject of this article exercised her pen in composition, and in 1780 produced the diverting comedy entitled the "Chapter of Accidents," which met with considerable success. With the profits of this play, on the death of her father, which took place the fol

Bath, which, aided by her sisters, she conducted for several years with great reputation. Her next performance, published in 1784, was the wellknown novel entited the Recess, or a Tale of Other Times," the story of which is founded on the fate of two supposed daughters of Mary queen' of Scots, by a secret marriage with the duke of Norfolk. It is ingeniously and pathetically wrought up; but some severe casuists have condemned the unfair liberty which it takes with some historical characters. This romance, which became very popular, was followed in 1787 by a ballad called a "Hermit's Tale, found in his Cell." In 1796, Miss Lee produced a tragedy, called "Almeyda, Queen of Grenada;" but, although aided by the great talents of Mrs. Siddons, it did not realize the expectations which her power of moving the passions in the "Recess" had created. In the succeeding year Miss Harriet Lee published the first five volumes of her " Canterbury Tales," three stories in which were from the pen of her sister; and of these three, one called "Krutzmar” was selected for the subject of a tragedy by Lord Byron. In 1803, having secured a handsome competence, she retired from teaching; soon after which appeared her "Life of a Lover," a novel written in early life. In 1807, a comedy by Miss Lee, termed the "Assignation," was unsuccessfully produced at Drury Lane; which drama terminated her literary career. She died at Clifton, near Bristol, March 13th, 1824.

LEGGE, ELIZABETH,

ELDEST daughter of Edward Legge, an ancestor of the Earl of Dartmouth, was born in 1580. She was particularly noted for her faculty of acquiring languages, having studied thoroughly the Latin, French, Spanish, and Irish tongues; besides cultivating her poetical genius. Unfortunately, these acquisitions soon proved nearly useless, as she lost her sight, indeed became totally blind, in consequence of severe study and midnight readings. She was never married, lived chiefly in Ireland, and died at the great age of 105.

LENNGREN, ANNA MARIA,

A SWEDISH poetess, was born, 1754, and died in 1817. She was the daughter of Professor Malmstadt, of Upsala. Her "Visit to the Parsonage;" "Portraits;" and other writings, are charming pictures of domestic life. The Swedish Academy honoured her memory by a medla, on one side of which is her bust, and on the other a muse holding a lyre, with this inscription: minus gloriam potebat eo magis assecuta."

"Quo

LENCLOS, ANNE or NINON DE, WAS born in Paris, in 1615. Her father, a man of good family, had served under Henry IV. and Louis XIV.; had gained considerable reputation for his bravery and knowledge of military tactics. Having resigned his commission, he determined to spend the rest of his life in the pleasures of society; perhaps we might say dissipated society. His wife, a timid, narrow-minded woman, had to

tally different views; but unfortunately, though she was pious and well-principled, her want of character and understanding reduced her to a negative position in the family; and Ninon, from her childhood, was submitted to very little discipline that did not accord with her own tastes. She manifested a precocious wit and aptness for learning which gratified her father's vanity highly; he delighted in the admiration she excited; and, totally neglecting the foundation of every good education, that moral and religious training of the heart, which gives strength for the vicissitudes of life; he raised a dazzling superstructure of accomplishments and graces, that adorned without exalting their possessor. Thus he formed a woman whose fame was her disgrace, whose glory was her shame.

The premature death of both her parents left Ninon an orphan at sixteen. Her inheritance being but moderate, she converted it into a lifeannuity, which gave her the means of living in the enjoyment of affluence. Her personal charms consisted not so much in surprising beauty as in unspeakable grace. She was of the middle height, and perfectly well proportioned; her eyes were remarkably fine; her voice soft and musical; and her manners were irresistibly winning. She was quite famous for her conversational powers and talents for repartée. As she was by no means particular in the selection of her society, and excluded none but the dull and tiresome, her attractions and the miscellaneous group around her rendered her soon celebrated; and all the distinguished men of the day, the courtly, the learned, and the military, resorted to her house.

She had two sons, one of whom entered the navy; the other, whose father was the Marquis de Gersey, was the wretched being, victim of an unhallowed passion he entertained for her: upon learning that she was his mother, he retreated into the garden and put an end to his own existence with his sword! She was then fifty-six years of age. This sad event appears to have greatly shocked her at the moment; but vicious habits

were too inveterate to be broken; she returned to her sallies of frivolity, allured new lovers, and again ran the giddy round of dissipation.

She was at one time upon intimate terms with that distinguished woman, Madame Scarron, who died the widow of Louis XIV. It is said that Madame de Maintenon, when at Versailles, offered Ninon the privilege of a residence in that royal chateau. Ninon, however, considered herself happier in her life of independence, and declined the proposal of the all-powerful favourite.

Christina of Sweden visited Ninon when in Paris, and offered to attach her to her household. Less sagacity than that of the witty Parisian would have been sufficient to reject a bondage to so whimsical a personage.

The most surprising circumstance in the history of this woman, a little apochryphal to be sure, is, that she excited a violent passion in the abbe Gedoyn, then twenty-nine years old, when she had actually attained her eightieth birth-day. She may be said, according to Horace Walpole's expression, to have "burned her candle to the snuff in public;" for she never changed her habits of living in company, and engaging in its diversions until her death, which took place in her ninetieth year.

A volume has been published, said to be her letters, written to the Marquis de Sevigné; but they are well known to be spurious. Some of her genuine letters are to be found in the correspondence of St. Evremond; they are written with simplicity, but by no means justify the reputation of her colloquial powers. St. Evremond is the author of that well-known madrigal in her praise, where he attributes to her nothing less than the "virtue of Cato." Whether we consider sex, place, character, or situation, a less appropriate parallel could scarcely have been found in the catalogue of distinguished persons.

That in an age of lax morality, the meretricious charms of Ninon de Lenclos should have gained her many admirers, and that indulgence should have been shown to her errors, may be understood. Her bon-mots are often repeated; her life of what is called pleasure and gayety; the attentions of the illustrious; the charms that lasted nearly a century; these things, with the thoughtless, sometimes obscure the true view of her career. It would be unpardonable, then, in this place, not to exhibit the reverse of the medal. Entitled by her birth, and by her individual talents, to an honourable place in society, she saw herself an object of dread and disgust to those really distinguished women whose rank was their least title to consideration. Madame Sevigné, whose "honest fame" is contemporary with the name of Ninon, shows in various passages the shallowness and mockery of the homage paid by those often cited great men to this celebrated courtezan. The boast frequently repeated by her admirers, that if not a virtuous woman she had the qualities of an honest man, is indeed an empty one. She was under no temptations to commit gross acts of fraud, intemperance, or other manly vices. If she had been brought to the trial, it is less than doubtful that she would

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have failed; as the much stronger barriers that fence woman's conduct were too feeble to resist her passions. It was her policy to carry off her course of life with a gay air; but, that she bitterly felt its emptiness and degradation, is evident from what she says in one of her letters to St. Evremond. "If I were told I had to go over again the life I have led, I would hang myself to-morrow," are her significant words. It is a well authenticated fact, that upon one occasion she narrowly escaped being sent to a house for the reformation of the lowest objects of public compassion. The queen, thinking her an object for punishment, issued an order to that effect; and it required powerful influence to get it countermanded. Despised, and justly, by her relatives, excluded from her natural station in life; a mother, without filial respect or affection; feeling her life worse than death itself! Such was Ninon de Lenclos!

"Count all the pleasure prosperous vice attains,— "Tis but what virtue flies from, and disdains."

LENNOX, CHARLOTTE,

She

THE friend of Johnson and Richardson, was born in 1720, at New York, of which her father, Colonel Ramsay, was lieutenant-governor. was sent to England to be educated; married; was left a widow with one child; and resorted to her pen for subsistence. Her latter days were clouded by poverty and sickness. Some of her works are, "The Female Quixote;" "Henrietta, Sophia, and Euphemia;" "Shakspeare Illustrated;" two plays, and various translations.

Dr. Johnson assisted her in drawing up proposals for an edition of her works, in three volumes, 4to.; but it does not appear to have been published. Dr. Johnson had such an opinion of Mrs. Lennox, that on one occasion, not long before his death, he went so far as to pronounce her talents as a writer, superior to those of Mrs. Carter, Miss Hannah More, and Miss Burney. She died January 4th, 1804.

LENORMAND, MADEMOISELLE,

some time, Mademoiselle Lenormand removed to No. 5, Rue de Tournon, where she continued to exercise her profession, without incurring the censure of government. She attracted people of all ranks in life. The Princess de Lamballe, the Count de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., Mirabeau, Murat, Robespierre, St. Just, Barrière, Madame Tallien, and even Madame de Stael, were among her frequent visitors. Josephine, wife of Napoleon, reposed the greatest confidence in her, and constantly sent to ask the result of any enterprise the emperor was about to undertake. She was several times on the point of imprisonment; at one time for foretelling the divorce of Josephine; at others, for prophesying the downfall of persons in power; but she always escaped. She bought lands and houses at Alençon, where she retired after the revolution of July, 1830. At this, her native place, she was unwilling to exercise her profession. She was a short, fat, and very plain woman, with remarkably bright piercing eyes. She left her property to her nephew, whom she adopted after her sister's death.

In 1827, she published "Mémoirs Historiques et Sécrets de l'imperatrice Joséphine." She foretold that her own death would not take place till she was one hundred and twenty-four, that is, till near the close of the present century. In this she proved a false prophet, as she died a few years ago.

LESCAILE, CATHARINE,

ONE of those learned and accomplished women, who have been honoured with the appellation of the "Tenth Muse," was a native of Holland. Her poems were published in 1728. They consist principally of tragedies, which, although they violate the ordinary rules, show frequent marks of superior genius. She died in 1711.

LESPINASSE, MADEMOISELLE DE, BORN about 1720, was the illegitimate daughter of Madame d'Albon, a married lady of rank. She was brought up in a convent, under the name of Lespinasse, and when she was of age, was placed Was born in Alençon. Being left an orphan at in the family of her mother, as a governess. Acan early age, she was educated, together with her quainted with the secret of her birth, her situation sister, in the convents of Alençon, and when of a was distressing, and the affection shown her in suitable age, she was apprenticed to a milliner. secret by her mother, was her only consolation. She commenced her vocation by announcing that But when she died, and the proofs of her birth, the superior of the convent of the Benedictines, as well as a large sum of money, left her by her where she was then living, would be deprived of mother, were wrested from her by her family, her her office, and she informed her companions of the condition became singularly humiliating and desoname, age, and other particulars of the successor late. At this juncture she met with Madame du of the deprived abbess. For this prophecy, Ma- Deffand, and readily accepted her proposal of redemoiselle Lenormand was obliged to undergo a siding with her as "demoiselle de compagnée." penance; but the event verifying the truth of her The cold, selfish Madame du Deffand treated her predictions, her pretensions as a prophetess were young dependant with little kindness. She made confirmed. Alençon was, however, 'too confined a her sleep, like her, during the day, and sit up all place for a spirit like hers, and when she was four- night, in order to read to her. This unnatural teen she set out for Paris, with nothing but the mode of life destroyed the health of Mademoiselle clothes she wore, and six francs in her pocket. de Lespinasse. Her chief consolation was in the Her step-father, who was in Paris, obtained for friendship of D'Alembert, the friend of Madame her a situation in a shop, where she soon became du Deffand. Born under similar circumstances, a great favourite, and studied arithmetic, book- his sympathy flowed out to the friendless girl, keeping, and mathematics. After remaining there and his devotion to her continued till death sepa

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