who died of the plague at Constantinople in 1733. His daughter returned, in the ensuing year, to her country, accompanied by several ladies, with whom she had formed an acquaintance in her travels. From observations on the monastic institutions of foreign countries, which she had been accustomed to visit, a plan of forming an institution upon similar, though improved principles, occurred to her thoughts. This project, on her return to England, she determined to execute.

A beautiful cloister was constructed, according to her directions, on her estate at Richmond; also a delightful summer villa in one of the western isles of Scotland, called the Green Island, which had been the property of her father. In these retreats she alternately resided with an agreeable society of her own sex, among whom were several ladies of distinction and fortune. A system of perfect equality prevailed in the institution, over which each presided in turn: the members were bound by no vows, and at liberty, when weary, to withdraw themselves from the society, upon the forfeiture of the sum of one hundred pounds, paid by each on admittance; a fund dedicated towards the maintenance of the house. A portion of their time was devoted by the society to the exercises of religion, and the remainder occupied by elegant and rational amusements, by attention to the fine arts, the study of science, the belles-lettres, ornamental works, and conversation.

The foundress added to every elegant accomplishment, a peculiar taste for music, drawing, and painting: her untaught sketches with a pencil, at nine years of age, promised a genius for the art, which her father took pains to cultivate: a master of eminence was procured for her; under whose instructions she made a rapid progress: she is said to have infused into her compositions, soul, character, and motion.

She died at her seat at Richmond, December 1st, 1745, in the 39th year of her age. She bequeathed the greater part of her fortune to her institution, on condition that the society should be supported and continued according to its original de.. sign, and to the directions which she left in writing.

Biographium Fæmineum-The Female Worthies.

ELIZABETH HARDWICK.

ELIZABETH, daughter of John Hardwick, esq. of Hardwick, in the county of Derby, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Leeke, of Loasland, in the same county, was, by the death of her brother, coheiress with her sister to the fortunes of their father. She was born about the beginning of the 16th century. When scarcely fourteen years of age, she captivated, by her beauty and accomplishments, the affections of Robert Barley, esq. of Barley, in Derbyshire, who, possessing a large estate, settled the whole upon his bride at their marriage. In 1532 she was left, by the death of Mr. Barley, a young and rich widow, without issue; in which state she remained twelve years. At the end of that period she gave her hand to Mr. Cavendish, to whom she bore three sons and three daughters. Becoming a second time a widow, she espoused sir William St. Lowe, captain of the guard to queen Elizabeth; a man of large estate and affluent fortunes, the whole of which he settled upon her, to the exclusion of his brothers, his heirs male, and of his daughters by a former marriage. Of the date of this union, and that of its dissolution by the death of sir William, there is no certain information; but it appears that, in her third widowhood, the charms of this lady were sufficiently powerful to attract the attention, and engage the heart, of George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, and one of the greatest subjects in the English nation. To this engagement the lady could not be induced to consent, but by conditions very advantageous to her family; the earl agreeing to give his youngest daughter, the lady Grace, to her eldest son, Henry Cavendish esq.; while Mary, her youngest daughter, was to become the wife of Gilbert, the earl's second son, and afterwards heir to his honours and estates. By these connexions the fortunes and estates of the widow, were preserved to her children.

Some little interruption seems to have been given to the conjugal peace of the countess, after her marriage, by Mary Stuart, the unfortunate queen of Scots, of whom the earl of Shrewsbury had the charge during her captivity in England. The countess being interrogated by queen Elizabeth, respecting the welfare of her captive, replied, 'She cannot, madam,

do ill while she is with my husband; and I begin to grow jealous, they are so great together.' Mary, in consequence of calumnies circulated on this occasion, was removed into the custody of sir Amias Paulet, with whom she remained till her execution. The earl of Shrewsbury dying, November 18th, 1590, the countess became a fourth time a widow, in which state she remained till her death.

She is not less celebrated for an uninterrupted series of prosperity, than for the liberality and magnificence of her temper. She erected three elegant seats, Chatsworth, Hardwick, and Oldcotes; all of which were transmitted entire to the first duke of Devonshire. At Hardwick she left the old family mansion standing, in which there was one room of proportions so exact, and with lights so advantageous, that it was taken as a model of a room at Blenheim. Some memorials still remain at Hardwick of the royal prisoner, who resided there fifteen years. The chamber of Mary, rooms of state, her arms, and other ensigns of her dignity, are preserved. Her bed was taken away as plunder during the civil wars. At Chatsworth, the new lodgings, answering to the old, are yet called the queen of Scots' apartments; and an island plat, on the top of a square tower, built in a large pool, is called the queen's garden, Some of her work is preserved among the treasures of the family; an embroidered carpet, and a suit of hangings, in which the virtues are represented in symbolical figures and allusive mottos.

An hospital at Derby was endowed by the countess for the entertainment of twelve poor persons, who receive each ten pounds annually for their subsistence. The countess of Shrewsbury was greatly admired and celebrated in her times; she died February 18th, 1607, and was buried in the south aisle of All-hallows church, in Derby, under a superb monument, erected during her life, on which her statue, lying at full length, is curiously wrought. An inscription was placed on her tomb, many years after, in which she is said to have been, at her death, in her 87th year, but this seems to have been a mistake, as circumstances prove her to have been older.

Her funeral eulogy was spoken by Dr. Toby Matthew, archbishop of York, from Prov. xxxi. 25, to the end of the chapter. The doctor was, on this occasion, lavish in her

praise. Bishop Kennet, in his "Memoirs of the Cavendish Family," thus speaks of this lady, after recapitulating the principal circumstances of her life: "A change of conditions, that perhaps never fell to any one woman; to be four times a happy and creditable wife; to rise by every husband into greater wealth and higher honours; to have an unanimous issue by one husband only; to have all these children live; and all, by her advice, honourably and creditably disposed of during her lifetime; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty."

Biographia Britannica, &c.

LUCIA HAERIN.

LUCIA, the sister and coheir of John, the second lord Harrington, and wife to Edward earl of Bedford, was a woman of uncommon taste and spirit: she was vain, generous, and bountiful to excess. She was the patroness of poets, and men of genius: she distinguished more particularly Donne, Jonson, Drayton, and Daniel, who repeatedly experienced her munificence. Drayton says, "that she rained upon him her sweet showers of gold." He was lavish, in return, of incense and adulation, in poems, dedications, &c. She expended her own, and a great part of her husband's fortune, in these liberalities. Ben Jonson praises this lady in his 76th epigram. He also addresses to her the 84th and 94th. Sir Thomas Roc speaks of her in a letter, as "one skilled in ancient medals." She is celebrated by sir William Temple, for having projected "the most perfect figure of a garden that he ever saw." She died, without issue, May 3, 1627.

Granger's Biographical History of England.

LADY ELIZABETH HASTINGS.

LADY ELIZABETH HASTINGS, daughter of Theophilus earl of Huntingdon, was born April 19, 1682. Her mother was the daughter of sir John Lewis, of Ledstone, in the county of York. The virtues of lady Elizabeth, though exemplary, were silent and unobtrusive. The accession of a

large fortune, after the death of her brother, George earl of Huntingdon, enabled her to afford an illustrious example of active goodness and benevolence. When in her twenty-eighth year, she is thus described, under the name of Aspasia, by sir Richard Steele in the Tatler: "But these ancients would be as much astonished to see in the same age so illustrious a pattern to all who love things praiseworthy as the divine Aspasia. Methinks I now see her walking in her garden like our first parent, with unaffected charms, before beauty had spectators, and bearing celestial, conscious virtue in her aspect. Her countenance is the lively picture of her mind, which is the seat of honour, truth, compassion, knowledge, and innocence:

'There dwells the scorn of vice and pity too.'

"In the midst of the most ample fortune, and veneration of all that behold and know her, without the least affectation, she consults retirement, the contemplation of her own being, and that supreme power which bestowed it. Without the learning of schools, or knowledge of a long course of arguments, she goes on in a steady course of virtue, and adds to the severity of the last age all the freedom and ease of the present. The language and mien of a court she is possessed of in the highest degree; but the simplicity and humble thoughts of a cottage are her more welcome entertainment. Aspasia is a female philosopher, who does not only live up to the resignation of the most retired lives of the ancient sages, but also to the schemes and plans which they thought beautiful, though inimitable. This lady is the most exact economist, without appearing busy; the most strictly virtuous, without tasting the praise of it; and shuns applause with as much industry as others do reproach. This character is so particular, that it will be very easily fixed on her, only, by all that know her, but I say she will herself be the last to find it out."*

dare

Lady Elizabeth fixed her principal residence at Ledstonehouse, where she became the patroness of merit, the benefactress of the indigent, and the intelligent friend and counsellor of the surrounding neighbourhood. Temperate, chaste, and simple, in her habits, she devoted her time, her fortune, and *Tatler No. 42, July 16, 1709. 3 F

VOL. II.