he was perfectly indifferent, nor would he have it made a crime. to speak ill of him.' To that part of the accusation which respected Livia he made no immediate answer, excepting that which his countenance expressed, and, on the following day, he declared in the senate, that his mother passed by the slanders raised against her, nor would have them included in the accusation. This conduct, though in itself specious, and far from reflecting discredit upon Tiberius, seems on a comparison with his character, to have originated in his desire of repressing the pretensions of the empress, rather than in an honourable liberality.

Notwithstanding a behaviour thus humiliating, Livia, in securing to this favoured son a throne to which her intrigues had raised him, plunged deeper into guilt and blood. Those princes whose personal merit, or whose affinity to Augustus, gave them pretensions to the empire, were uniformly persecuted or exterminated. Among the most distinguished of these was Germanicus, grandson to the empress, son to Drusus and Antonia, a youth of great promise, distinguished for his, civil and military capacity, esteemed for his virtues, his courage, and his magnanimity, adored by the army, and revered by the people. Agrippina, grand-daughter to Augustus, whom he had espoused, was not less beloved and respected by the nation. Conscious of worth, of superior powers of mind, of high birth, and unblemished reputation, she disdained to pay the homage extorted by Livia, to whose prosperous fortunes the venal herd crowded to sacrifice. Agrippina, with a noble pride, stood aloof, and refused the tribute exacted from her. A mortal hatred, from this circumstance, seized the bosom of the empress, in which, roused by jealousy, sentiments of vengeance secretly festered. The talents, the great qualities, and dangerous popularity of Germanicus, had not been overlooked by the emperor, who conspired with his mother to rid himself of a rival. Emissaries are seldom wanting to approve and assist the crimes of princes: Germanicus perished in Syria, where he held the command of the army, a victim to his merits, and the jealousy of a tyrant.

Solicitous to escape the abhorrence due to a crime thus atrocious, Tiberius, on receiving news of the catastrophe, affected all the marks of sorrow, an hypocrisy which cost him

little, and which as little availed him: his secret orders for the destruction of Germanicus had been seen in the hands of Piso, who administered poison to the prince, and who, in justification of himself, had even resolved to produce them in the

senate.

Agrippina, collecting the ashes of her husband, and placing them in an urn, returned to Rome with the mournful deposit. The people went out to meet her, and, joining the cavalcade, mingled with hers their grief, while to the remains of their beloved hero they were scarcely restrained from paying divine honours. The emperor and his mother, on this solemn occasion, had not the temerity to appear: dreading the public indignation, and the discovery of their satisfaction in the success of their barbarous project, they immured themselves within the palace. Agrippina in vain solicited of the senate vengeance on her husband's murderers; whose cause was by Livia openly espoused. The triumph of Tiberius and his mother was complete: the cries of humanity were stifled by their authority, and the voice of justice silenced by their influence.

Livia, at the summit of an eminence to which her steps had been traced in blood, exacted and enjoyed a homage the most profound: the altars of the gods received a worship less fervent: new honours were lavished daily upon her: to her was allotted the high privilege of taking at the theatre a seat among the vestals. To have inquired into her pretensions to this dignity would have been no less imprudent than fruitless. The eyes of the vulgar were dazzled by her magnificent presents to the temples of the gods, more especially to that of Jerusalem, whither she sent vessels of gold, while her liberality was considered by the priests as an undoubted proof of her virtues.

Tiberius beheld with dissatisfaction the boundless ambition of his mother: fond of power, yet averse to pageantry, the ostentation of Livia inspired him with disgust: he dissembled nevertheless his vexations, till he perceived that the empress, not contented with the pomp of empire, grasped at the substance of absolute dominion. His displeasure was openly manifested on the dedication of a statue, near the theatre of Marcellus, to the memory of Augustus, whose name was preceded, in an inscription composed for the occasion, by that of Livia. Too indolent to assert his privileges, or unwilling to break with

his mother, this incident determined him on retiring from court, where he held only the shadow of sovereignty, to the island of Caprea, in which he abandoned himself to a dissolute life.

Livia, in the absence of her son, who had thus pusilanimously resigned the reins of government, held them with vigour and effect: she maintained to an advanced age her influence undiminished, and preserved through life the soundness and strength of an originally admirable constitution. She was accustomed to attribute the vigour of her health, perhaps erroneously, to the wine of Pezzino, and a preserved root* which she ate daily.

She was more than fourscore when she felt the approaches of death, an account of which was sent by express to the retirement of the emperor; but Tiberius, on various pretences, excused himself from paying the last duties to his mother.

The empress expired, after a long and prosperous life, and was interred in the mausoleum of Augustus: her funeral panegyric was pronounced by her grandson Caius Caligula. Honours, similar to those which had been paid to her when living, were decreed by the senate to her memory; but these Tiberius, under a pretence of moderation, absolutely prohibited; nor would he suffer the apotheosis to be granted to the manes of his mother.

Lives of the Roman empresses, by Monsieur de Serviez-Tacitus, &c.

DOROTHEA DUBOIS.

DOROTHEA DUBOIS, was the wife of a musician, and daughter to the earl of Anglesea, by Anne Sympson, who, disowned by the earl, declared herself to be his wife. Dorothea passed her life in indigence, and ineffectual claims for the recovery of her birth-right. She published her own story in a novel entitled "Theodora," two volumes, 1770. She also wrote a musical entertainment called "The Divorce," 4to, 1771. She died in Dublin, January, 1774.

This root is mentioned by Pliny under the name of elicampane, or enula campana.

MARIE DUPRE.

MARIAE DUPRE, surnamed the Cartésienne, on account of her taste for the philosophy of Descartes, was the daughter of Jean Desmaretz de S. Sorlin, of the French academy, brother-in-law to Roland Desmaretz. The latter, a man of distinguished talents and learning, having remarked in his niece indications of a superior capacity, charged himself with her education. Mariæ made, under the direction of her uncle, a rapid progress in the languages and sciences. After the death of her preceptor, in 1653, she continued her studies, to which she devoted herself through life. She wrote and spoke both the ancient and modern languages with equal purity. She also cultivated poetry, and corresponded with the most learned men of her time. Several of her poems may be found in Le Recuei! de Vers choisis, par le P. Bonheurs.

Dictionnaire Historique.

EBBA.

EBBA, abbess of the monastery of Coldingham, in Ireland, is celebrated for her courage and chastity. The Danes having ravaged the country with fire and sword, were approaching towards Coldingham, when Ebba persuaded her nuns to disfigure themselves by cutting off their noses and upper lips, that, thus exhibiting a spectacle of horror, they might be preserved from the brutal lust of the soldiery. To precept she added the example, which was immediately followed by the sisterhood. The barbarians, finding them in this terrible state, set fire to the monastery, and consumed in the flames these voluntary and respectable martyrs.

Dictionnaire Historique des Femmes Célébrées, &c.

EDESIE.

EDESIE, wife of the philosopher Hermias, was celebrated at Alexandria for her beauty, her talents, and her virtues. She

was beloved by her husband, adored by the poor, of whom she was the liberal benefactress, and respected and esteemed by the whole city. She became a widow, in which situation she remained, and ended her life at Athens, whither her reputation followed her.

Dictionaire Historique, &c.

EGEE.

EGEE, queen of the African Amazons, of whom it is related, that she passed from Lybia into Asia, with a powerful army, with which she made great ravages. Opposed by Laomedon, king of Troy, she set his power at defiance, and, charged with an immense booty, retook the way to her own. country. In repassing the sea, she perished with her whole

army.

Dictionnaire Historique.

ELEANOR.

ELEANOR, daughter of William duke of Guienne, was espoused, after the demise of her father, to Lewis VII. of France, and received as a dowry the provinces of Guienne and Poitou. This princess is thus described by the author of Anecdotes of the Queens of France: "Born in the year 1122, she was scarcely sixteen years of age at the death of the duke her father. Nature appeared to have showered upon her all her favours. To an elevated rank and rich possessions, she joined all the charms of finished beauty, and a figure the most captivating. Her eyes were the finest in the world, her mouth admirable, her aspect soft, and her air graceful. To natural talents she added polished manners, and a cultivated mind."

Lewis, among the other princes of christendom, caught the flame of enthusiasm from the preaching of St. Bernard, and determined to make a crusade to the Holy Land. In 1147 he set out on his expedition, accompanied by his queen, and an army of eighty thousand men. This enterprise, in which the flower of the nobility, with immense riches, were destroyed