reserve or stiffness; and communicative without intrusion or self-sufficiency. She became an authoress entirely from taste and inclination. Neither the hope of fame nor profit mixed with her early motives. Most of her works, as already observed, were composed many years before their publication. It was with extreme difficulty that her friends, whose partiality she suspected, whilst she honoured their judgment, could prevail on her to publish her first work. Nay, so persuaded was she that its sale would not repay the expense of publication, that she actually made a reserve from her very moderate Income to meet the expected loss. She could scarcely believe what she termed her great good fortune when 'Sense and Sensibility' produced a clear profit of about £150. ****** "One trait only remains to be touched on. It makes all others unimportant. She was thoroughly religious and devout; fearful of giving offence to God, and incapable of feeling it towards any fellow-creature.
She retained her faculties, her memory, her fancy, her temper, and her affections, warm, clear, and unimpaired, to the last. Neither her love of God, nor of her fellow-creatures, flagged for a moment She made a point of receiving the sacrament before excessive bodily weakness might have rendered her perception unequal to her wishes. She wrote Whilst she could hold a pen, and with a pencil, when a pen was become too laborious. Her last voluntary speech conveyed thanks to her medical attendant; and to the final question asked of her purporting to know her wants, she replied, 'I want nothing but death.'"
AUSTIN, SARAH,
Belongs to a family of literary celebrity—the Taylors of Norwich. She is perhaps better acquainted with German literature than any living writer, not a native of Germany. She is also a good classical scholar, and generally accomplished. Her translations are numerous and successful: among them are "Ranke's History of the Popes," and "History of the Reformation." Her "Fragments from the German Prose Writers, illustrated with Biographical Notes" has attained considerable popularity, and gone through several editions.
AVOGADRO, LUCIA,
An Italian poetess, displayed early poetical talent, and won the praise even of Tasso. Only a few of her lyrics still remain, but they justify the praise that was bestowed upon her. She died in 1568.
AVRILLOT, BARBE,
Better known by the name of Acarie which was that of her husband, was born in Paris in 1565. In 1582 she married Perre Acarie, Maitre des Comptes of Paris, one of the most active partizans of the League. In 1594, when the city submitted to Henry the Fourth, M. Acarie was obliged to fly with his wife and six children; he was quite destitute, deeply in debt, and altogether in a state of great poverty and embarrassment. By the exertions of his wife, however, his children were placed in safe asylums, and a satisfactory arrangement made of the family affairs. After this
