Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/274

This page has been validated.
252
DUF. DUM.

the Revolution of 1848, to connect herself with the Socialist Party; but she will learn, if she has not already, that political combinations do not remove moral evils. Her genius should teach truth, and inspire hearts to love the good; thus her Influence would have a mightier effect on her country than any plan of social Inform political expediency could devise. That she does now write in this manner, a glance at one of her late works will show. "La Mare au Diable," (The Devil's Pond,) notwithstanding its name, is as sweet a pastoral as we have ever read. There is a naive tenderness in its rural pictures, which reminds one of the "Vicar of Wakefield," while its feminine purity of tone invests it with a peculiar charm.

DUFFERIN, LADY,

Is the grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and a sister of the Hon. Mrs. Norton. She was educated with much care by an accomplished mother, and, like her more celebrated sister, displayed great precocity of talent, writing in rhyme as soon as she was able to write at all. She married the Hon. Captain Price Blackwood, who died soon after he had succeeded to the title of Dufferin and Claneboy. Lady Dufferin has not published much; she is principally known by her songs and ballads, which, both for comic humour and pathos, are among the best in our language. "The Irish Emigrant's Lament," written by her, will compare favourably with any lyric in the English tongue. Indeed, for its simple, touching pathos, it is almost unequalled. The great source of regret is that she has written so little.

DUFRESNOY, MADEMOISELLE,

Was born in Paris, and entered "La congregation des filles de la Croix," Her poems were very popular, and she holds a respectable rank among the female poets of France. She died in 1825.

DUMEE, JOAN,

Was born in Paris, and instructed, from her earliest infancy, in belles-lettres. She married very young, and was scarcely seventeen when her husband was killed in Germany, at the head of a company he commanded. She employed the liberty her widowhood gave her in ardent application to study, devoting herself especially to astronomy. She published, in 1680, at Paris, a quarto volume under the title of "Discourses of Copernicus, touching the Mobility of the Earth, by Madame Joanne Dumée, of Paris." She explains with clearness the three motions attributed to the earth, and the arguments that establish or militate against the system of Copernicus.

DUMESNIL, MARIE FRANCES,

A celebrated tragic actress, was born in Paris in 1713, went upon the stage, in 1737, and remained popular until the moment of her retirement, in 1776. She died in 1803, having preserved her intellectual powers to the last. She displayed her talents most strikingly in queens and lofty characters, especially in the parts of Merope, Clytemuestra, Athaliah, and Agrippina. When she ex