overtures for some time, but at last yielded, and became the mother of the famous Marshal Saxe. When the love of Augustus declined, the Countess of Königsmark conducted herself so discreetly that he always remained her friend. By his influence she was appointed superintendent of Quedlinberg, in 1700, where she remained till her death, in 1728. She was beloved by all around her, and was very kind to the poor.
KRÜDENER, JULIANNA, BARONESS OF VALERIA,
Was born in Riga, about 1776. Her father, Baron Vietinghoff one of the richest landed proprietors in Courland, gave her a careful education. When a young girl, her parents took her to Paris, where her father's house was the resort of men of talents; and her wit, beauty, and cheerfulness, were much admired. In her fourteenth year, she was married to Baron Krüdener, a Livonian, about thirty-six years old. She accompanied her husband to Copenhagen and Venice, where he was Russian minister. In these places, and in St. Petersburg, Madame Krüdener, placed by rank and wealth in the first circles, was one of their most brilliant ornaments. She was surrounded by admirers of her talents and beauty; but she was not happy. She became the mother of two children; but her natural liveliness of temperament, and the allurements of the world, led her into levities which finally caused a divorce from her husband. In 1791 she returned to her father's house, in Riga, where she was considered one of the most amiable and accomplished ladies, with a feeling heart and lively imagination. But Riga did not satisfy her, and she lived alternately at Paris and St. Petersburg. Her love of amusements involved her, in both places, in many difficulties. In the midst of these, she wrote a novel, of which she had formed the plan at an earlier period—"Valerie on Lettres de Gustave de Linar à Emeste de G."—in which she delineated certain scenes of her own life.
The disasters of Prussia arrived; and Madame Krüdener, being then about the person of the Queen of Prussia, and participating in her affliction, turned her mind from the pleasures of the world to the subject of religion, though, perhaps, little change may have been produced in the essentials of her character. Ambition, a lively sensibility, and love of excitement, seem to have remained the great springs of her actions. She was now attracted by the principles of the Moravians. She went again to Paris, where she found many disciples, chiefly among those who, having been accustomed to it on excitements from early youth, and having become sickened with those of fashionable life, turn with pleasure to those of devotion. On the commencement of the war of the northern powers against Napoleon, Madame Krüdener went to Geneva. She began to believe herself called to preach the gospel to the poor, and therefore visited the prison at Heidelbeiig, and preached to the criminals condemned to death. In 1814, she returned to Paris, where she became acquainted with Alexander, the Emperor of Russia, who had already shown a disposition to religious contemplations, and upon whom her conversation had great influence. In Paris she had prayer-meetings, attended by distinguished personages, where she was seen in the back-ground of a suite of rooms, in the dress of a priestess kneeling in prayer. It is very generally believed
