Mary Matilda Betham

“ Why cannot I make you sensible of that uneasiness which wears out the great, and of the difficulties they labour under to employ their time? Do not you see that I am dying with melancholy, in a height of fortune which once my imagination could scarce have conceived? I have been young and beautiful, have had a relish for pleasures, and have been the universal object of love. In my advanced age I have spent my time in intellectual amusements. ”

“ It is enough for me to keep what I possess. What animates me, is the miserable situation of Ancona; the tears of its ladies, who fear to fall into the power of the besiegers. Need I enter into the detail? It is to succour men, worn by famine, fatigued by frequent combats, exposed constantly to new toils, to new dangers, that I come, with my only son, who, though a child, inherits his father's greatness of soul, and shews the same courage and the same zeal for the protection and defence of his friends. ”

“ Whenever she is in a particular manner struck by any object, either in her solitary hours, or when in company, her spirits immediately catch the flame: she has no longer the command of herself, every spring of her soul is in motion; she feels an irresistible impulse to compose, with quickness commits the thoughts to paper with which she is inspired; and, like a watch just wound up, as soon as her soul is put into motion by the impression the object has made, she expresses herself in poetry, without knowing in what manner the ideas and figures arise in her mind. ”

“ Heedless extravagance and dissipation seem to have been the source; faults certainly both foolish and unfeeling! but the sufferings she underwent, still fresh in the memory of every one, more than expiated them. A long confinement, a series of alarms and agitation, the violent death of a husband who tenderly loved her, and whom she seems to have loved, the mournful prospect for her children, and her own sad fate, must entitle her to the commiseration of every feeling mind. ”

“ You obey the orders, and imitate the example of William Adelardi, who, listening only to his natural generosity, and love of freedom, has hazarded his own fortune, and that of his friends and vassals, for the deliverance of Ancona, I know not how to praise him as I ought, because language is not equal to the expression of our thoughts and wishes! We become truly virtuous, only when we prize virtue more than wealth and honour!—This glorous enterprise has, as yet, succeeded, since you have passed through countries occupied by your enemies. ”

“ Until the year 1654, nothing memorable occurred in Sweden. In that year Christina finally resigned her crown, finding it impossible to reconcile her literary pursuits, or, more properly, her love of ease and romantic turn of mind, with the duties of her station. Her intention was spread over the kingdom instantaneously; and this extraordinary resolution, which greatly exalted her character with the Swedes, affected them like a sudden explosion of thunder. All were struck dumb with her firmness; no one attempting to dissuade her from a purpose upon which they perceived her determined. ”

“ This extraordinary woman appears to have been inimitable for the charms of her person and manners; Her mind was highly polished; yet with powers of reasoning to make her respected by the sage; she knew how to blend refinement with gaiety, candour and sensibility with acknowledged looseness of principle and life. During a long life, she was the admiration of the world around her, and amidst all the changes of fashion and time maintained her influence. ”

“ Valeria was beautiful; he proposed himself to her in marriage, knowing the second husband would have great right over the heritage of the first. But insensible to love, and too proud to shock that propriety which would not permit an empress to yield to a second marriage, she fled from the court of Licinius, with Prisca, and Candidien, and sought refuge with Maximin, one of the other emperors. He had already a wife and children; and, as the adopted son of Galerius, had been accustomed to regard Valeria as a mother: but his brutal and passionate soul took fire even sooner than that of Licinius. ”

“ It is for this immortal spirit you must neglect the care of your body, for the love of which you have thrown me headlong into many calamities, and your ownself into infinite disturbances. But I forgive you with all my heart, humbly beseeching Almighty God, he will in heaven confirm the pardon I on earth give you. ”

“ Incensed at his freedom, instead of admiring the boldness of his spirit, the ungenerous Edward barbarously struck him on the face with his gauntlet; and the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, Lord Hastings, and Sir Thomas Gray, taking this blow as a signal for farther violence, hurried him aside, and instantly dispatched him with their daggers. Margaret was thrown into the Tower, where her husband had just expired: whether by a natural or violent death is uncertain, though it is generally believed the duke of Gloucester killed him with his own hands. ”

“ A husband might be tempted to snatch the reins from her hand, his opposition might impede the freedom of her actions, and his passions disconcert the system of political wisdom which, by the means of Cecil and her other ministers, she had established. Yet Elizabeth was by no means indifferent to the homage of lovers: the archduke Charles, Eric king of Sweden, the duke of Holstein, and when she was more advanced in life, the young duke of Anjou, were by turns amused and disappointed ”

“ Margaret, whose conjugal tenderness, unaffected wisdom, benevolence and humility, had softened the heart, and won the entire confidence of her husband, who held her in such reverence, that he would often kiss the book in which she said her prayers, pointed out to him these evils, and induced him to set about a reform of all abuses; to expedite the tediousness of law, to punish the corruptions of the courts of justice, to protect the poor, and repress the insolence of the soldiers. ”

“ It is an undeniable truth, that a lady who is able to give an account of her faith, and to defend her religion against the attacks of the cavilling wits of the age, or the abuses of the obtruders of vain opinions; who is capable of instructing her children in the reasonableness of the Christian religion, and of laying in them the foundations of a solid virtue; that a lady, I say, no more knowing than this demands, can hardly escape being called learned by the men of our days ”

“ She used a black ground, as best calculated to throw out her flower, and not the least astonishing part of her art was, that though she never employed her pencil to trace out the form or shape of her plant, yet when she had applied all the pieces which composed it, it hung so loosely and gracefully, that every one was persuaded it must previously have been drawn out, and repeatedly corrected by a most judicious hand, before it could have attained the ease and air of truth which, without any impeachment of the honour of this accomplished lady, might justly be called a forgery of nature's works. ”

“ Their love was reciprocal; and this correspondence had so many charms for Mademoiselle de Launai, that she even dreaded to receive her liberty.
"It is an error," said she, in a letter to him, "to think we are free in the midst of society, or in public. Where is the freedom, if the least of our actions are liable to be scrutinized? We are slaves to the tyranny of custom, and the fashions of the world; we dare not even think or act agreeable to our own inclinations or sentiments; our judgments are misguided, and our reason is seduced ”

“ Philip of Spain had offered her his hand, but Elizabeth declined the alliance. He espoused Elizabeth of France, whose queen, the beautiful Mary of Scotland, was supposed by catholics to have a better claim to the throne than Elizabeth, and had assumed the arms of England. A fatal assumption, which was the first rise of all those fears and jealousies, which at last impelled Elizabeth to an act that will for ever blot her memory, and entwined the system of her politics with those of Scotland, in which kingdom she was more powerful than its sovereign, by protecting the protestant leaders. ”

“ The king seemed pleased with her visit; and breaking off his discourse with his attendants, began of his own accord to confer with her about matters of religion; seeming, as it were, desirous to be resolved by the queen, of certain doubts which he then offered to her. The queen instantly perceiving the drift of his discourse, answered with great humility and submission:
That as a simple woman, much inferior to his majesty, she always referred herself to his wisdom, as her only anchor, supreme head, and governor hereon earth, next under God, to lean unto. ”

“ Wearied out with the world, in which she found none to respect or feel affection for, she met her fate with unshaken resolution, and without even changing colour. After her death, despair and madness seized the king; but the remains of his former love did not save her children, who, when they came to men's estate, fell a sacrifice as their mother had done, to their own indiscretion, and the malice and calumnies of their enemies. ”

“ She then divested herself of all authority, resigning the crown to Gustavus, and dismissed the assembly with a pathetic oration, which drew tears from all the hearers.
Such was the extraordinary manner in which Christina resigned her crown, at the age of twenty-seven, after a reign equally glorious to herself and to Sweden, whose reputation was never at so high a pitch as under her government. In other countries the arts languished during tedious bloody wars; under Christina they flourished by the force of her own example. ”

“ In this desperate extremity, when the loss of his army seemed the least evil that could befal him, the czar, on the approach of night, retired to his tent in violent agitation of mind; giving positive orders, that no person whatever, upon pain of death, should be admitted to disturb his privacy, to behold his exquisite distress, or shake a resolution he had formed of attempting, next morning, to force his way through the enemy with fixed bayonets. Catherine, boldly exposing her person to every danger, thought proper to break through these orders. ”

“ With feeble health, and a taste for study and retirement, Madame le Couvreur found herself obliged to accept the invitations of people, who, as she complains, wanted to know her only from curiosity, and be presented to her because some people of distinction did her that honour; or pass for impertinent and conceited. "Not," adds she, in one of her letters, "that I want gratitude or a desire to please; but I find that the flattery of fools is not so gratifying as it is common, and that it becomes a burthen, when it must be bought by reiterated compliances." ”

“ Peter Du Moulin. "She was," says he, "learned above her sex, humble below her fortune, having a mind so great and noble, that prosperity could not make it remiss, nor her deepest adversity cause her to shrink or discover the least pusillanimity or dejection of spirit; being full of the love of God, to that fullness the smiling world could not add, nor the frowning detract." ”

“ In the mean time her mother came to Paris on a law-suit, and died with grief at its unhappy termination, as it ruined the future prospects of her children. Mademoiselle D'Aubigné was at this time timid, and spoke but little; but being a little more introduced into company, she learnt the manners of the world, and was much admired. At the house of the famous Scarron she was a frequent visitor, and this celebrated wit began to feel a lively interest in her concerns, and loved her without daring to avow it. This extraordinary man was, at the same time, full of gaiety, wit, and infirmities. ”

“ Livia was proclaimed Augusta, and mother of her country. The Romans even pursued their flattery so far as to erect temples in her honour, and Augustus saw them with pleasure exalt to a divinity a woman whom he loved, who, always equal in her temper, shut her eyes on his irregular conduct, and as much as she could, consistent with that dignity she was tenaciously preserving, mixed in the pleasures he had provided for others. By this conduct she not only secured the affection, but ruled the mind of her husband. Despairing to have children by her, he adopted those she had had by Tiberius ”

“ The elegancies of her house, and the charms of her conversation, were for many years the magnet that drew around her a continual resort of those persons who were most distinguished in art, or brilliant in genius, in the times in which she flourished. ”

“ By this politic conduct she soon obtained a perfect sway over the most prominent characters in the family of the Medici; and her influence at court rested on a basis the more solid, as Francesco gave her daily new proofs of his attachment. Every body, even her avowed enemies, allow, that to the most uncommon beauty she united the art, still more uncommon, of dispensing pleasure and contentment, and of destroying the seeds of distrust and suspicion; qualities which could not fail to render her company daily more and more valuable to the prince. ”

“ After the victory of Pavia, the pope and Italian princes, who wished to shake off the yoke of the emperor Charles V. offered to the marquis, who had a great part in the above victory, the kingdom of Naples; but Victoria wisely persuaded him to refuse the dangerous but dazzling offer, and keep in the bounds of prudence and moderation. After his death, which happened in the flower of her age, she refused every offer of marriage, saying, "that her husband yet lived, and would ever live, in her heart." ”

“ That benignity, that divine charity, which just warms the soul in these cold regions, will shine with new lustre, and burn with an eternal ardour in the happy seats of peace and love.
"My present experience confirms me in this truth; the powers of nature are drooping, the vital spark grows languid and faint; while my affection for my surviving friends was never more warm, my concern for their happiness was never more ardent and sincere."
Her acquaintance with the great had taught her all the accomplishments of good breeding, and complaisance of behaviour ”