Miss Wright returned to America about 1825, and settled at Nashoba, Tennesee, with the avowed intention of cultivating the minds of some negroes whom she emancipated, and thus proving the equality of races. Her philanthrophy was doomed to disappointment. She finally abandoned her plan; came to the eastern cities and began a course of lectures, setting forth her particular views of liberty. She was followed and flattered by many men in New York, particularly; who formed Fanny Wright Societies," with notions of "reform" similar to the present communists of France. Rarely did an American woman join her standard, and so Miss Wright could find no true friend; for between the sexes there can be no real bond of generous sympathy without Christian sentiment hallows the intercourse. Miss Wright left America for France, where she had before resided. Here she married M. Darusmont; a man who professed her own philosophy; the result has not been happy for her. They separated some years ago; she returned with their only child, a daughter, to America, where she owns landed property. Her husband is endeavouring to wrest this from her, and the matter is now undergoing examination in the law courts of the West. Meantime, Madame Darusmont has recommenced her philanthropic labours on behalf of the coloured race. In justice to her, it must be said that she is not like the fanatics who would destroy the Union to carry out an abstract principle of human rightsshe seeks to prove the slave may be made worthy of freedom, and she does this at her own care and cost. There is no doubt that she has sought to do good, and it is a sorrowful thought that such a mind should have been so misdirected in its forming-time. We have been told by a lady who lately conversed with Madame Darusmont, that she ascribes her errors of opinion (there is no substantial charge against her purity of conduct) to the misfortune of her early training; that she has freed herself from many of these errors, and we hope she will yet be redeemed from the heavy servitude of infidelity, and find that true liberty and happiness which the Gospel only can give the human soul.

DUFFERIN, LADY,

Is the grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and a sister of the Hon. Mrs. Norton. She was educated with much care by an accomplished mother, and, like her more celebrated sister, displayed great precocity of talent; writing in rhyme as soon as she was able to write at all. She married the Hon. Capt. Price Blackwood, who died soon after he had succeeded to the title of Dufferin and Claneboy. Lady Dufferin has not published much; she is principally known through

her songs and ballads, which, both for comic humour and pathos, are among the best in our language. "The Irish Emigrant's Lament," written by her, will compare favourably with any lyric in the English tongue. Indeed, for its simple, touching pathos, it is almost unequalled. We have only to regret that she has written so little. Her poems have never been collected.

E.

EGERTON, LADY FRANCES, ACCOMPANIED her husband on a journey, which gave occasion to his "Mediterranean Sketches," and from her pen "Journal of a Tour in the Holy Land." The Quarterly Review says of this work, "Lady F. Egerton's little volume, taken all in all, well justifies the respect with which we have always heard her name mentioned. Although she travelled with all the comfort and protection which station and wealth could secure to her, and the smooth ways of pilgrimage now permit, yet that one indispensable qualification which the Christian reader demands in all who presume to approach the altar-place of our faith, the absence of which no array of learning and no brilliancy of talent can supply-namely, the genuine pilgrim's heart-that we find in Lady F. Egerton's unpretending journal, more than in any other modern expedition to the Holy Land we know." The sweetest praise Lady Egerton could receive for her literary genius, would be poor to the compliment her husband has paid her at the close of his work; the offices he awards to her of "Guide, companion, monitress and friend," are significant of the true womanly virtues of her heart, and of the entire sympathy of their intellectual pursuits. Fortunate is the woman thus wedded.

F.

FAWCETT, HELEN,

THE most popular English tragic actress now living. Her genius for the histrionic art is said, by good judges, to be remarkable. She is married to Mr. Theodore Martin, a gentleman of high attainments and cultivated taste, author of the Bon Gaultier Ballads. They reside in London. When the wife appears on the stage, now seldom, her name is given in the bills as Miss Helen Fawcett. FULLERTON, LADY GEORGIANA,

Is a novelist of extraordinary power; we scarcely know a fiction of the last ten years that so completely takes hold of the reader as "Ellen Middleton." The main incident is a most extraordinary one, and being introduced into the very beginning of the book, produces a situation that would have completely overthrown an ordinary writer; this author however maintains the interest without a pause. The work is made too long by the introduction of many useless characters and

G.

GASKILL, MRS.,

By birth Miss Stevenson, is the wife of a Unitarian clergyman at Manchester, where she resides. Her two largest works are "Mary Barton, a Tale of Manchester Life," and "Morland Cottage," which are written with power, and evince an earnest desire to alleviate the condition of the suffering lower classes of her own country, together with the ability to develop her thoughts in a narrative at once interesting and pathetic. Her characters are life-like and well sustained, and her language and descriptions of natural scenery are particularly fine. She promises to become a very popular authoress, judging by what she has already done. The Edinburgh Review thus compliments the author; "The literary merit of Mary Barton' is in some respects of a very high order. Its interest is intense: often painfully so; indeed, it is here, we think, that the charm of the book and the triumph of the author will chiefly be found. Its pictures and reflections are, however, also full of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin:' and its dialogues are managed with a degree of ease and naturalness rarely attained even by the most experienced writers of fiction." Yet the reviewer objects to the tendency of Mrs. Gaskill's work, because it exaggerates the picture of sufferings among the poor. We fancy those who endure the sad lot of factory life in England, will not think her statements are sufficiently darkened.

OUT OF EMPLOY.

"There were homes over which Carson's fire (his mill had been burnt down) threw a deep, terrible gloom; the homes of those who would fain work, and no man gave unto them; the homes of those to whom leisure was a curse. There the family music was hungry wails, when week after week passed by, and there was no work to be had, and consequently no wages to pay for the bread the children cried aloud for in their young impatience of suffering. Many a penny that would have gone little way enough in oatmeal or potatoes, bought opium to still the hungry little ones, and make them forget their uneasiness in heavy troubled sleep. The evil and the good of our nature came out strongly then. There were desperate fathers; there were bitter-tongued mothers (0 God! what wonder!); there were reckless children; the very closest bonds of nature were snapt in that time of trial and distress. There was faith such as the rich can never imagine upon earth; there was "love strong as death," and self-denial among rude, coarse men, akin to that of Sir Philip Sydney's most glorious deed. The

GRAHAM, MARIA,

HAS been a frequent traveller, and has recorded her experience in a pleasant and useful manner. Her first work, "Journal of a Residence in India,” was published in 1819. Her next was "Voyage to Brazil, and residence there during nearly three years," published in 1820. Then followed" Journal of a Residence in Chili during the year 1822;" and a " Voyage from Chili to Brazil;"-these are her principal works.

GRAY, JANE S.,

Is daughter of William Lewers, Esq., of Castle Clarney, in the north of Ireland. When very young she went to America, and was married to the Rev. John Gray, D. D., and since that event has resided at Easton, Pennsylvania, where her husband is pastor of one of the Presbyterian Churches. Her poems are the natural effusions of an imaginative and refined mind, inclined by a love for harmony to mould her thoughts to rhyme. They are stamped by a true womanly spirit of piety and household affection, and please both for the sentiment and the simple and graceful manner in which it is expressed.

GRIFFITH, MRS.,

In conjunction with her husband, Major George Darby Griffith, has produced a capital book of travels, called "A Journey across the desert from Ceylon to Marseilles." This very extended field has afforded scope to many sketches of scenery and circumstances new to the Western World. The style is attractive, and we are equally pleased with the lively descriptive powers of the lady — and the graphic illustrations of the gentleman.

GROSVENOR, LADY,

Now Marchioness of Westminster, has written one very clever work, "Narrative of a Yacht Voy age;' two volumes, published in London, 1842. An English critic says of this: "It is simply, a sensible, healthy, and well-written work, utterly free from all affectations, and especially from that which apes humility, and betraying the woman of rank chiefly in the total absence of all attempt to display it. None indeed can open these volumes without feeling that they are conversing with s high-bred, independent-spirited woman—too proud to condescend to be vain-who, having read well, and thought well, and been surrounded from infancy with society of the highest intellect, and objects of the finest art, becomes instructive without any pretension to teach, and interesting, though giving only the simple narrative of her every-day life." What enhances the interest, is that Lady Grosvenor appears to have written this work for her own daughters; the mother is often paramount to the author. Her duties are her pleasures; she makes no parade of sentiment; all is natural and therefore agreeable.

GUEST, LADY CHARLOTTE, WAS born in Wales, and has done much to elucidate its language and literature. She has translated, from "The Mabinogion," an ancient Welsh work, four tales into English, adding many valuable notes, which show much antiquarian lore and just philosophy. She has been a contributor to the Cambrian Quarterly; and her researches and translations have been highly commended. Another lady, Anna Gurney, of Norfolk, niece, we believe, of Mrs. Fry, has also given much time to these antiquarian pursuits. Through the unwearied efforts of these two women, much of the early history of their country has been sought out, set in order, and thus will be preserved.

1

H.

HODSON, MARGARET,

By birth Miss Holford, is very favourably known as a poetess. Her chief work, entitled,

Margaret of Anjou," is a poem in ten cantos, in which the story of this unfortunate Queen is eloquently and graphically told. She has also written "Wallace, or the Flight of Falkirk," and some miscellaneous verses. Her poetical writings display a strong, romantic, vigorous genius, lofty and daring in its flight, and essentially firm and healthy in its constitution. Like Miss Baillie, she finds that simplicity is the truest strength; and she never exhibits the slightest leaning towards the rhapsodical or the sentimental. Her stories are skilfully conducted, and like a thread of gold is the vivid interest which runs through them from the first to the last.

MARGARET OF ANJOU.

Now who is she, whose awful mien, Whose dauntless step's firm diguity, Whose high arch'd brow, sedate, serene, Whose eye, unbending, strong and keen, The solemn presence hint of conscious majesty?

But she is calm:-a peace profound
On the unruffled surface rests;
Yet is that breast in iron bound,
And fill'd with rude and sullen guests.
No female weakness harbour'd there,
Relentings soft, nor shrinking fear,
Within its centre deep abide:
The stern resolve, the purpose dire,

And grim revenge's quenchless fire,

The intrepid thought, cold, thawless pride,

And fortitude in torture tried,

These are its gentlest inmates now,

Tho' lawless love, they say, once heard its secret vow.

MATERNAL LOVE.

In Margaret's fierce and stormy breast
A thousand warring passions strove;
Yet now, unbid, a stranger-guest
Dispersed and silenced all the rest -
Thy voice, Maternal Love!
Ambition, Hatred, Vengeance wild,
Hot Ire, and frozen Pride were flown,
While gazing on her lifeless child,

On Heaven she cried, in frenzied tone, "Oh, save my gallant boy! oh, Edward! oh, my son!"

HOUSTON, MRS.

DAUGHTER of Mr. Jesse, an author of some celebrity, is a lively, fluent writer who has produced two books to enlighten the world by her travelling observations; the first is called, "Texas and the Gulf of Mexico," being an account of a yacht voyage she made to Texas with her husband in 1843; her last work, "Hesperos," describes a journey through the United States. This lady is not sufficiently particular in her sources of information; inferior authorities are always accessible to the ordinary traveller, and Mrs. Houston is as well satisfied with the lazy gossip of a lowbred rustic she meets in a steamboat, as if she had conversed with Washington Irving. This credulity has led her into the error natural to such a frame of mind, of depicting as general and national customs which prevail only partially, and in inferior society. Her works want accuracy and judgment. Such writings pass away like ephemera: even the faults are hardly worth comment; yet sometimes the statements and opinions of Mrs. Houston are so obviously incongruous that we are amazed she should have committed such a blunder as to record them.

A STEAMBOAT COMPANY.

There were some very fair faces and graceful figures in that motley crew. Some New York families had been picked up at their villas at Poughkeepsie, and other places on the river, and were returning to the city for "the season." Many of these were distingué and unexceptionable in dress, manners, and appearance; ladies, of whose ladyhood it would be impossible to doubt. But let them do anything but speak, anything but drawl forth their words, and scream out their surprise, and say, "What," "Ay," and "Ha, aw," in a lengthened tone, of which it would be impossible to convey an adequate idea. This is a great pity; for the American ladies are often agreeable, and almost always well read; indeed, I have every reason to think that they are superior to us in general knowledge and erudition, as they are in acuteness of observation. All these good gifts are, however, marred by a want of softness of manner, and by a deficiency of those "good gifts which grace a gentlewoman." The " guessing" and "expecting" are also by no means confined to the gentlemen; and the frequent use of those favourite verbs would, in my opinion, spoil the charm of any conversation.

HUGHS, MARY,

FORMERLY Robson, was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. She married Mr. Thomas Hughs, a native of Dundee in Scotland. Within the year after their marriage, 1818, they emigrated to America, and almost immediately on their arrival Mrs. Hughs with the active and efficient assistance of her husband, and under the patronage of the wellknown philanthropist John Vaughan, Esq., commenced a school for young ladies in Philadelphia, and it is believed few undertakings ever rose more rapidly into popularity, as many of the mothers

Mute lay the world. A sleep and a quiet like that of death was spread over all, and the still shape of repose brooded over the universe. Even the very airs were asleep around the trees and dreaming with the flowers; and the grass blades did not stir, nor the buds pour out their incense.

One faint line of glory in the east, quivering along the horizon like a thread of gold; the stars clustered near, paling away, and the dark-hued mist heaping up a gorgeous throne of purple; – one faint line, widening and growing brighterstealing over the mountain crests like a radiant messenger from the sky-touching the high branches of the trees-descending the temple's lofty pillars-glowing on the obelisks - circling the head of the statue with a crown of silver light -beaming on the eye, resting on the lip; and a voice of music, at first as soft as the whispering of young birds in the noontide, then deepening into a wild thrilling of spirit's melody poured out from the statue. And it spread round and about its living waves, full it grew, a sea, a very flood of harmony; -a hymn of praise- the articulate thanksgiving of dumb nature. - the kindling into life and worship, by the light of Love, the very stones of the ground.

M.

MARKHAM, MRS.,

As her cognomen is placed on the title-page of many books, though some assert it is fictitious. This writer has, however, laboured with much success for the improvement of the young. Three generations have had the benefit of her little "Histories of France," and of "England," where the leading facts are produced divested of philosophic comments so dry and useless to children. Her other works are judiciously prepared, and all have been successful. Many editions have been published in the United States.

MEREDITH, LOUISA A.,

WHOSE maiden name was Twamley, is an accomplished artist with her pencil, as well as an agreeable and well informed writer. Her first publications were in the fashion of very elegant gift books;-"Our Wild Flowers;" and "The Romance of Nature," and illustrated by exquisite flowers copied from drawings after nature by the authoress. The literary matter is full of information, where science, free from pedantry, instructs in every page. After her marriage in 1844, she accompanied her husband to Australia, and the journey "Notes and Sketches of New gave rise to South Wales;" a book which cannot fail to please every intelligent reader, though its day of novelty is over-and though the country it treats of is totally without any associations of interest except to the speculator or professed philanthropist. To the genuine lover of nature "no spot is waste"-and our authoress furnishes both pleasure and improvement, by her sprightly sallies, and accurate observations of natural phenomena. Her prose has almost made her poetry forgotten; here is one flower: