wheel, or the churn.

Of those who were under her care, and there were many in the course of the long period she was able to look after her family, no one ever complained of ill treatment or neglect. All were satisfied. She and her husband were members of the congregational church in the place, and were as regular as the holy sabbath came, at divine service; and every boy was required to be in readiness to attend her to the place of worship; and there the slightest misconduct or neglect was noticed and reproved. Times passed on, and seasons changed; but, nothing but death made changes in her arrangements. As one boy went off to college, another took his place, and was soon acquainted with her discipline; and if he felt it a little too strict at first, he soon found comfort and happiness in it. Mrs. Abbot was a woman of a strong mind, which was most admirably disciplined, of excellent principles, of great equanimity of temper, and of fine health; always at, or near home, ready for every care which her family demanded. She took a deep interest in all her friends and acquaintances, and spared no pains to oblige them. She had no meanness, or selfishness in her nature, but was just and generous to all. Such a woman was a good guide to youth; and she read their characters at a glance. She excited her boys to study, and felt as delighted as a mother, when they wore testimonials of improvement. On such occasions some little nicety was provided for them, to show that she had an interest in their reputation.

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Nature had done

She had the misfortune to lose her only daughter, when full grown, and just entering into life with fair prospects; but even this calamity did not disturb her composure. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be his name," was all that escaped her lips under this bereavement. much towards making her a woman of fortitude, but religious discipline had done more. She lived until the summer of 1833, and then died of old age. For a few years before her death, she had been afflicted with blindness, but this did not change her temper. She said that the great disposer of events had done all this to detach her from the world, and to teach her to contemplate the great change about to take place. It was

delightful to her in later times, to talk of those who had lived with her, in past days; they were all remembered under the denomination of children. She was discriminating and just in marking their characteristics, and, indeed, was seldom out in her calculations. Her predictions among the boys, if unfavorable, were dreaded as bad omens; and her affectionate expressions cheered the poor fellow who was delving upon his Greek lesson. If it gave permanent glory in Rome to have educated two bright boys, what honors belong to her, who had, during her pilgrimage, more than two hundred under her maternal care, and all of them having cause for blessing her name. It requires wisdom to direct minds, and it is a proof of virtue to have educated others to good habits. If the mothers of our country cannot boast of the glories of fashion, or their taste in the arts, it must be acknowledged, that those virtues, which give strength to principle, and security to society, were eminently theirs. It is not in the higher regions of life, that its value can be truly ascertained. The elevated must act for others, as well as themselves; those depressed below the ordinary level of existence, have seldom sufficient fortitude to see all the bearings of human duties. It is in the more common walks of society that the true nature of man is best ascertained; those who have neither poverty or riches, have but few temptations.

The latter days of Mrs. Abbot were not so prosperous as those which had preceded them; for her children were not very fortunate in life; but she found consolation in those principles she had from youth professed, and they bore her on triumphantly, until she bade adieu to all things of time and sense.

ISABELLA ANDREINI, was born at Padua, in 1653. She became an actress of great fame, and was flattered by the ap plauses of men of wit and learning of her time. The Italian theatre was considered, in that day, a literary institution. She is described as a woman of elegant figure, beautiful countenance, and melodious voice; of taste in her profession, and conversant with the French and Spanish languages; nor was she unacquainted with philosophy and the sciences. She was a votary

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of the muses, and cultivated poetry with ardor and success. The Intenti academicians of Pavia, conferred upon her the honors of their society, and the title of Isabella Andreini, Comica Gelosa, Academica Intenta, detta l'Accesa. She dedicated her works to Cardinal Aldobrandini, (nephew to Pope Clement VIII.) by whom she was greatly esteemed, and for whom many of her poems were composed. In France, whither she made a tour, she met with a most flattering reception from the king, the queen, and the court. She died in 1604, at Lyons, in the fortysecond year of her age. Her husband was overwhelmed with affliction at her loss, and erected a monument to her memory, in the city in which she expired, inscribed with an epitaph commemorative of her virtues. The learned strove to outdo each other in pronouncing panegyrics on her character. Even a medal was struck, with this inscription, " Æterna Fama." Her works are numerous, and still much admired by the lovers of Italian literature; they are readily found in print. She left a son, born in 1578, who was also a poet; he wrote, among other things, "Adamo," a sacred drama, in five acts, with chorusses, &c., Milan, 1613, and 1617, with prints, designed by Carlo Antonio Proccachini, a celebrated landscape painter of his time, and of the school of the Carracci; but in a wretched style, paradise being represented as full of clipt hedges, square parterres, straight walks, &c. But what is more interesting, Voltaire, in his visit to England, in 1727, suggested that Milton took his hint of his Paradise Lost from this drama. This obtained little credit at the time, and was contemptuously rejected by Dr. Johnson, in his life of Milton. Mr. Hayley, however, has revived the question, and with considerable advantage to Voltaire's supposition; and it seems now to be the opinion, that the coincidence between Andreini's plan, and Milton's, is too great to be the effect of chance. But no matter from whence the mighty bard drew his hint, from the sparks he may have taken from another author, he set the Empyrean in a blaze.

JOAN D'ARC was born of humble parentage, in the village of Domsemi, near Tancouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine, in

1402. The instructions she received during her childhood and youth, were suited to her humble condition. She left her parents at an early age, to relieve them from the burden of her subsistence, and engaged herself as a servant at a small inn. Here she employed herself in attending the horses of her guests, and riding them without a saddle to the watering place; and in performing other duties, which at larger inns are the duties of men. By these exercises she acquired an active spirit, and a robust, and hardy frame. Without displaying, in such an exposed situation, any superiority of talent or character, she preserved her manners and conduct free from reproach.

The critical and interesting situation of France at that time, became a frequent subject of conversation, even with people of the lowest rank. Joan had been taught to hold in detestation the English name, and the ravages of war, extending even to her father's cottage, increased this abhorrence. She eagerly listening to the daily and varying tale, became interested in political affairs, and caught the spirit of the times The misfortunes of the dauphin, his gentle and amiable character, and the perils which threatened him, awakened in her heart a sentiment of loyal and generous attachment. She meditated on the means of his deliverance, and on the calamities of her bleeding country, till her imagination became inflamed, the delusions of which she mistook for an impulse from heaven. Excited by these ideas, she repaired to Vaucouleurs, had an interview with Baudricourt, the governor, to whom she imparted her mission, and conjured him not to neglect the voice of God, of which she was the organ; but to second her heavenly revelations. The governor was not disposed to hear her at first, but she, not daunted, renewed her solicitations. She waited upon him daily, and at each successive visit, her importunity was increased. He, at length, adopted the scheme of Joan; gave her some attendants, and accompanied her to the French court, then residing at Chinon.

Not the marvelous alone, but the miraculous also, is attached to the history of this extraordinary woman. It is pretended, that Joan, immediately on her admission, knew the king, though she had never seen him before, and though he purposely kept

himself in the crowd of courtiers, and had laid aside every thing in his dress, which might distinguish him: that she offered him, in the name of the supreme creator, to raise the siege of Orleans, and conduct him to Rheims, there to be crowned; and on his expressing some doubts of her mission, revealed to him a secret, which was unknown to every person except himself, and which nothing but a heavenly inspiration could have discovered to her; and that she demanded as the instrument of her future victories, a particular sword, kept in the church of St. Catharine, of Fierbois, and which, though she had never seen it, she described, by all its marks, and by the place where it had long lain neglected.

An assembly of grave divines examined Joan's mission, and pronounced it to be undoubted; and the parliament, collected at Poicters, confirmed the decisions of the theologians. Joan was dressed in a complete suit of armor, mounted on a prancing charger, and shown to the admiring people. Her fine person; the comeliness of her countenance, and the grace with which she managed her steed, completed the popular delusion: the air was rent by the shouts and acclamations of the spectators. Her former occupation was, by her admirers, softened into that of a shepherdess; from her age, which was seven and twenty, ten years were subtracted; chivalry, religion, and sentiment, were the powerful auxiliaries that united on this occasion, to captivate the fancy, and to inflame the hearts of the multitude.

It was now determined to try her force against the enemy. She was sent to Blois, were a large convoy was preparing for the supply of Orleans; and an army of ten thousand men had assembled, as an escort. Before marching, she ordered all the soldiers to confess their sins, and banished from the camp all women of ill fame. Joan covered with her troops the embarkation. Suffolk, the English commander, did not venture to attack her; and the French general reconducted the escorting army in safety to Blois.

Under Joan's sacred influence, the garrison now believed themselves invincible. The next convoy passed without any obstruction, and silence and astonishment prevailed among the English troops. Joan, seizing the moment of ardor, exhorted