Pleyel first appeared before the musical public of London in 1846; she has since then several times repeated her visits, ever with an increase of popular estimation. Her latest appearance here was in the winter of 1854, at a series of concerts got up by M. Jullien. The established home of this accomplished lady has been for many years in the environs of Brussels. Her domestic life is understood to have been far from happy. She has with her an only child, a little girl, who, it is said, bids fair to become as great a musician as her mother.
PLUMPTRE, ARABELLA,
Niece of the Rev. Dr. Plumptre, for many years president of Queen's College, Cambridge, wrote a number of books for the young, which were well received. Among these were "The Mountain Cottage," a tale; "The Foresters," a drama; "Domestic Stories from various Authors;" "The Guardian Angel," a tale, translated firom the German of Kotzebue; "Montgomery, or Scenes in Wales," two volumes; "Stories for Children," etc.
PLUNKETT, MRS.,
Whose maiden name was Gunning, an English writer, acquired considerable celebrity as an ingenious novelist. She published "The Packet," four volumes; "Lord Fitzhenry," three volumes; "The Orphans of Snowdon," three volumes; "The Gipsy Countess," four volumes; "The Exiles of Erin," three volumes; "Dangers through Life," three volumes; "The Farmer's Boy," four volumes; "Malvina," three volumes; "Family Stories for Young Persons," two volumes; "The Village Library for the Use of Young Persons," three volumes; and "Memoirs of a Man of Fashion."
POCAHONTAS,
The daughter of Powhatan, a celebrated Indian chief of Virginia, was born about the year 1594. According to a custom common among the Indians, of bestowing upon their children several symbolic names, she was sometimes called Matoaka. When the well-known and adventurous Captain John Smith went to America for the purpose of promoting its settlement by the English, while exploring the James river, he was taken prisoner by some of the warriors of the tribes under Powhatan, and brought before this powerful chief to be disposed of. The fame and exploits of Smith had reached Powhatan, and he was considered too dangerous an enemy to be permitted to live. A council was called, and his fate decided; he was condemned to be bound and placed upon the earth, with his head upon a stone, and his brains beaten out with clubs. Pocahontas, though but a child of twelve or thirteen years, was present at this council, and heard the sentence; but when it was about to be executed, yielding to the generous impulses of her nature, she flung herself upon the body of Smith, beneath her father's uplifted club, and protected his life at the risk of her own. Touched by this act of heroism, the savages released their prisoner, and he became an inmate of the wigwam of Powhatan, who soon after gave him his liberty.
About two years later, the Indians, alarmed at the extraordinary feats of Smith, and fearing his increasing influence, began to prepare
