forth a dozen or more works; among which, "The Grumbler;" "The Fright;" "Nan Darrell;" and "The Quiet Husband," are distinguished for the unflagging interest, which they exercise over the imagination of young readers.
Miss Pickering, judging from her books, must have had a mind which felt and cultivated the feminine qualities of delicacy and purity; her principles are excellent; nothing coarse in thought or language ever sullied her page. Her enthusiasm is always in favour of virtue and truth. But she too often sacrifices probability to the wish of showing the perfection of her heroine in the most attractive light. For instance, the "Admirable Crichton" could hardly have equalled the facility with which her poor heroine, under the most adverse circumstances, becomes perfectly accomplished; arts and sciences which usually require time, money, and excellent instructors, are attained by her in one brief visit, where a well-educated friend imparts both practice and theory; or the crumbs let fall by a half-educated governess, work miracles for the neglected child. The young lady, too, is at fifteen or sixteen equal to the most complicated situations; her judgment is never at fault; and as to human frailty, that is an inadmissible supposition.
As a pendant, the uncle, grandfather, cousin, or whoever may be the oppressor, is a wretch quite devoid of the milk of human kindness. All the mixed motives that sway this earth's denizens have been without impression upon the adamant of his heart, until the right moment comes for him to show the sunny side of his nature; the habits of thirty or forty years are laid aside as easily as gloves when we return from a walk. These are blemishes in the character of Miss Pickering's novels, and may have an injurious influence on those who expect to realise scenes similar in actual life. But the author is always sedulous to point a wise moral, though not always judicious in the means.
Miss Pickering's last work was "The Grandfather," which she did not live to finish. She died near London, in 1843. The novel was completed by her friend, Elizabeth Youatt, and published in 1844. All her works have been republished in the United States, and widely circulated, in the cheap form principally.
PIENNE, JOAN DE HALLUIN,
Maid of honour to Catharine de Medicis, was passionately beloved by Francis de Montmorenci, eldest son of the constable, Aun de Montmorenci. He engaged himself to her, but his parents opposed it, as they wished him to marry the widow of the Duke de Castro, Henry's natural daughter. They sent to Pope Paul the Fourth, to obtain a dissolution of the engagement, which he would not grant, as he wished the Duchess de Castro to marry a nephew of his. Henry the Second then published an edict declaring clandestine marriages null and void, and ordered the Lady de Pienne to be shut up in a monastery, and Francis de Montmorenci married the duchess. The Lady de Pienne was married some time after, to a man inferior in rank to her first lover.
PILKINGTON, LETITIA,
Was the daughter of Dr. Tan Lewen, a Dutch gentleman, who settled in Dublin, where she was born, in 1712. She wrote verses
