On the wall of the room in which the lady Jane was im prisoned in the Tower, she wrote with a pin the following lines: "Non aliena putes homini quæ obtingere possunt : "Think not, O mortal, vainly gay, “Deo juvante, nil nocet livor malus, "Harmless all malice if our God is nigh; Hume's History of England-Ballard's British Ladies-Gibbon's CONSTANTIA GRIERSON. CONSTANTIA, born in the county of Kilkenny, in Ireland, in 1706, was a prodigy of early talents and acquirements. We are told by Mrs. Pilkington, that this young woman was, at eighteen years of age, brought to the father of Mrs. Pilkington, to be instructed in midwifery; that she was then a perfect mistress of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French languages; and far advanced in the study of the mathematics: that her parents were poor, illiterate country people, who had no means of giving their daughter any advantages; " so that her learning appeared like the gift poured out on the apostles, of speaking all languages without the pains of study." Mr. Pilkington having inquired of her where she had gained this prodigious knowledge; she replied, modestly, that when she could spare time from her needle-work, to which she was closely kept by her mother, she had received some little instruction from the minister of the parish. "She wrote elegantly," says Mrs. Pilkington, "both in prose and verse; but the turn of her mind was chiefly to philosophical or divine subjects; nor was her piety inferior to her learning." The most delightful hours, this lady declares, that she had ever passed, were in the society and conversation of this "female philosopher." "My father," adds she, "readily consented to accept of Constantia as a pupil, and gave her a general invitation to his table, by which means we were rarely asunder. Whether it was owing to her own desire, or to the envy of those who survived her, I know not, but of her various and beautiful writings I have never seen any published, excepting one poem of hers in the works of Mrs. Barber. Her turn, it is true, was principally to philosophical or religious subjects, which might not be agreeable to the present taste; yet could her heavenly muse descend from its sublime heights to the easy and epistolary style, and suit itself to my then gay disposition." Mrs. Barber likewise gives her testimony to the merit of Constantia, of whom she declares, "that she was not only happy in a fine imagination, a great memory, an excellent understanding, and an exact judgment, but had all these crowned by virtue and piety. She was too learned to be vain, too wise to be conceited, and too clear-sighted and knowing to be irreligious. Her learning and abilities, which raised her above one sex, left her no cause to envy the other. She delighted in excellence wherever it was to be found, and was ready to give and to receive counsel with equal modesty and pleasure. Sa little did she value herself upon her uncommon excellences, that she has often recalled to my mind a fine reflection of a French author, 'That great geniuses should be superior to their own abilities."" Constantia married a Mr. Grierson,* for whom lord Carteret, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, obtained a patent, appointing him printer to the king; in which, to distinguish and reward the merit of his wife, her life was inserted. She died at the premature age of twenty-seven, in 1733, honoured and respected as an excellent scholar in Greek and Roman literature; in history, theology, philosophy, and mathematics. In her dedication of the Dublin edition of Tacitus to lord Carteret, and by that of Terence to his son, she gave a proof of her skill in the Latin language.t. She composed several English poems, * Her maiden name is not mentioned by her biographers. + She wrote also a Greek epigram. which are said to have possessed great merit, but on which she set so little value, that, excepting a very few, she neglected to leave copies of them. A complimentary address to Mrs. Bar ber, written by Constantia, is preserved in the poems of the former. She is also said to have written an abridgment of the history of England. As a daughter, a wife, and a friend, her conduct was amiable and exemplary. She was introduced by Dr. Delany, with her friend Mrs. Pilkington, to the acquaintance of dean Swift, from whom she met a very flattering reception. Towards the latter period of her life her constitution was very infirm. It is observed by Mrs. Barber, that, with the advantage of health and longer life, there is reason to believe, Mrs. Grierson might have made in the learned world a more distinguished figure than any woman who had preceded her; but this seems to be doubtful. Among those who have in early youth given extraordinary promise of talents, the majority appear to have been cut off by a premature mortality; and of those who have survived, but few have, in any degree, fulfilled the expectation given by the spirit and vigor of their first productions. Whether it is, as certain physiologists suppose, that genius, emphatically so called, or acute mental powers, is connected with a diseased state of the nerves and organs; or that the brain, and fibres connected with its substance, are exhausted and debilitated by premature exertions; is a curious and important question: the solution of which must be left to the future sagacity of the medical philosopher and experimentalist. Biographium Famineum, &c MADAME DE GUERCHEVILLE. THE beauty and admirable qualities of this lady captivated the affections of Henry IV. of France, who, inspired with respect for her virtues, made her first lady of the bed-chamber to his new queen. Had I,' said he, on this occasion, known any woman of more honour in France, to her I would have given the preference.' Henry, having one day hunted purposely in the neighbourhood of her château, sent a message to madame de Guercheville, that he would sup and lodge at her house; to which she replied, that all possible attention should be paid to his accommodation. The king, gratified by an answer so favourable, repaired in the evening to the château, where he found his hostess, elegantly attired, waiting his arrival at the foot of the great staircase, surrounded by her household. Having taken from one of her servants a light, she conducted the king to the best apartment, where she respectfully bowed to him, and retired to give orders, as he supposed, for the enter tainment of his retinue. When supper was served up, Henry sent to inquire after the lady. His messenger on returning to him, informed him, that madame de Guercheville had just entered her coach, and quitted the house. On inquiring respecting the motives of this conduct, the following reply was delivered to him as from the lady: 'A king, wherever he is, should always be master. With respect to myself, I also choose to be free.' Henry rose early the ensuing morning, and returned to Paris with mingled feelings of approbation and disappoint ment. JACQUETTE GUILLAUME. JACQUETTE GUILLAUME lived in the seventeenth century, and composed a work entitled "Les Dames illustres: où, par bonnes et fortes Raisons, il se prouve que le Sexe féminin surpasse en toute Sorte de Genre lé Sexe masculin." In this performance, published 1665, and dedicated to her royal highness mademoiselle d'Alençon, the writer attempts to prove the superiority of the female over the male sex, through the whole human and animal creation. The book is divided into fourteen chapters; in which, in support of this position, numberless examples are held forth of women illustrious for their talents and virtues, contrasted by recital of the cruelty, treachery, and wickedness of men. Though madame de Guillaume has weakened her cause by taking too wide a circuit, and, in her manner of treating it, discovered more zeal and emulation than sound philosophy, her production is not without merit: the composition is elegant and unaffected: the examples and observations display knowledge and research. Dictionnaire Historique, &c.-A. Thicknesse's Sketches. PERNETTE DU GUILLET. PERNETTE DU GUILLET, born at Lyons, a contemporary with Clemence de Bourges, and Louise Labe, was celebrated for her virtues and talents. Mistress of the Spanish and Italian languages, she likewise composed many Latin poems. Several of her productions are dedicated to the Lyonese ladies. In Pernette du Guillet, it is said, "all that is lovely in woman was united." A Thicknesse's Sketch of the Lives and Writings of the Ladies of JOHANNA MARY BOUVIERS, DE LA MOTHE GUYON. MADAME GUYON, the friend and preceptress of the celebrated Fenelon, archbishop of Cambray, and memorable for her fanaticism and her sufferings in defence of her opinions, was the descendant of a noble family, and born at Montarges, April 13th, 1648. At seven years of age she was sent to the convent of the Ursulines, and placed under the care of a halfsister by blood. The sensibility of her constitution and temper, aided by the impressions received in a monastic life, gave her an early propensity to enthusiasm, and a mystic kind of devotion. The confessor of Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I. struck by the character and ardour of the young devotee, presented her, when scarcely eight years of age, to the queen; who, but for the resistance of her parents, who chose not that she should leave the convent, would have retained her in her family. Johanna, as she advanced towards maturity, was desirous of taking the veil, but was over-ruled by her father, who obliged her to give her hand to a country gentleman. At twenty-eight years of age, she was left a widow, with two sons and a daughter, of whom she was appointed sole guardian. The first years of her widowhood she devoted to the regulation of her domestic affairs, the education of her children, and the management of their fortune; in which employments she discovered great activity and capacity. By these |