...

ANNA SEWARD.

ANNA SEWARD, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Seward, was born in 1747, at Eyam, in Derbyshire. Very early in life she manifested a talent for poetry, which her father vainly endeavoured to discourage. Her first productions were contributions to Lady Miller's Vase at Bath, Easton; her first separate work, an Elegy on Captain Cook, appeared in 1780. From that period she came frequently before the public as a poet, and acquired considerable reputation. She died in 1809. Her poems have been collected in three volumes. She also wrote a Life of Dr. Darwin; and Letters.

LADY JANE GREY.

LADY JANE GREY, a female, whose accomplishments and whose fate have rendered her an object of universal admiration and pity, was the daughter of the Marquis of Dorset, and was born, about 1537, at Bradgate Hall, in Leicestershire. Her talents, which were of a superior order, were early developed, and by the time that she was fourteen she had mastered Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic, and French and Italian. Aylmer, who was afterwards bishop of London, was her tutor. In 1553, she was united to Lord Guildford Dudley; and, shortly afterwards, reluctantly accepted the Diadem which the intrigues of her father and father-in-law had induced Edward VI. to settle upon her. Her brief reign of nine days ended by her being committed to the Tower with her husband, and in February, 1554, they were brought to the scaffold by the relentless Mary. She refused to apostatize from the protestant faith, and died with the utmost firmness. Her remains were published after her death, and some of her letters and devotional pieces are preserved in Fox's Martyrology.

ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD.

Anna Letitia Barbauld, was born at Kilworth in Leicestershire, in 1743, and received an excellent education from her father, the Rev. Dr. Aikin. In 1772, she published a volume of poems, which gave her a high place among her poetical contemporaries; and, in the following year, she joined her brother in giving to the press a volume of miscellanies. Her marriage took place in 1774. For the last forty years of her life, she resided in the vicinity of the metropolis; first at Hampstead, and next at Stoke Newington, at which latter place she died, on the 9th of April 1825. Her literary productions are nu

merous. Among the most prominent of them may be named, Early Lessons and Hymns, in prose; a Poetical Epistle to Mr. Wilberforce; Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, a poem; and Biographical and Critical Essays, prefixed to a selection from the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, to Richardson's Correspondence, and to an edition of the best English novels.

Many of Mrs. Barbauld's compositions are distinguished by an elevated spirit of piety, a pure and fervent morality-a manifest anxiety to improve and refine the judgment, and at the same time, to soften the heart, and expand the gentler affections; and, in all her writings, she displayed a cultivated intellect; vigorous imagination; great power of language, and a refined taste.

MRS. HANNAH MORE.

MRS. HANNAH MORE was born in 1745. She was the daughter of a clergyman whose residence was at Hanham, near Bristol. Her love of knowledge early displayed itself, and induced ' her, after exhausting the slender domestic library, to have recourse to borrowing from her village friends. She removed in the year 1765, with her four sisters, to Bristol, where they jointly conducted a boarding school for young ladies, with great and deserved celebrity.

In various works of charity, particularly in the establishment of schools for the poor, these excellent sisters co-operated, bringing to the relief of ignorance and penury, the unwearied energy of congenial spirits. In this hallowed seclusion, the three elder inmates paid the debt of nature, in the order of their birth, each having attained her 75th year; and in the autumn of 1819, the youngest was taken at the age of 67, leaving the beloved survivor to pursue a solitary pilgrimage.

Mrs. More was rather short, but otherwise of an usual size, with a face that never could have been handsome, and never other than agreeable. She had a remarkably bright and intellectual eye; it was as clear, and seemed as fully awake with mind and soul, as if it had but lately opened on a world full of novelty. The whole of her face was strongly characterized by cheerfulness.

In tracing the literary course of this distinguished personage, from her first production, the "Search after happiness," to her last, the "Spirit of Prayer," embracing a period of nearly half a century, it is impossible not to be impressed with that spirit of benevolence which pervades the whole.

"WHY Mellicent! sweet sister Mellicent, are you dreaming that you stand so motionless, gazing at the heavens? or are you summoning spirits from the vasty deep of the bright waters?”

The maiden started from her reverie“I was indeed dreaming, Marmaduke, and the vision was so glorious that I would you had not awakened me: see!" she continued with much energy, as she drew him forward to the bank where she was standing-"I looked forth upon this splendid picture, and dreamed that America might yet be free!"

The scene, to which she enthusiastically pointed, was magnificent indeed; the declining rays of an autumnal sun, had lit up the golden bowers of the west with gorgeous beauty, and the bright waters beneath glittered like an oriental maid when decked in her bridal robes of glory. The boundless woods, which lined the river's side, were coloured with every variety of shade, and their proud summits caught a radiance from the glowing heavens, like the jewelled trees of a fairy dream. Range upon range of the distant mountains reared their Titan heads to the sky, while a silvery mist, which hung gracefully about them, seemed to veil from earth the insupportable lustre of the Eternal's throne. All was hushed into Sabbath stillness, save the occasional rustling of the leaves, when the wind spirit swept them with his fragrant wing.

"Is this," said the maiden, with a brightened cheek and flashing eye," is this a land for slaves? Shall we, who draw our breath amidst this proud creation, stoop our necks to the oppressor's chain? Oh! shall we not rather water the ground with the best blood of her children's veins!"

Why you audacious little rebel, what will a certain person say to this unfilial disaffection to the mother land!"

"And why should Algernon Leslie think otherwise; he has indeed been educated in England, but America is still his country-the land of his birth and his affections? Besides, I am well assured, that all the generous and truly noble among the British, would rejoice to see America awake from her long trance of submission; and willingly hail us as brethren, did we assert our right to be called so by the free!"

"But should it be otherwise with this same ami unconnee," continued her brother, who ap peared to delight in bringing the bright blush into his sister's cheek-" should he be so staunch

a royalist, that he would rather fight for King George than against him; what then, dear Mellicent ?"

The girl paused a minute before she answered him, there was an apparent struggle in her feelings, but it past, and an expression of deep devotion sat on her young brow, as she replied

"Marmaduke-it is true that my heart turns warmly to my cousin, though we can hardly be said to know each other-the wishes of his noble father-the last commands of my sainted mother -my own remembrance of happy childhood, all conspire to endear him to me; but if I know myself, I dare to say, that were the warmest and dearest affections, the brightest prospects, the most cherished hopes put into competition with my country's love, or opposed to her interests, I would trample them beneath my feet, though every fibre of my heart bled as I rent them away."

"Take care, take care," exclaimed Marmaduke, laughing; "that your eloquence does not raise some British official to arrest you for high treason! and see, here certainly comes some one-now all good angels guard your neck, sister -for it is in jeopardy!"

As he spoke, a figure emerged from behind a cluster of chesnuts, and came hesitatingly forward. He had the appearance of an Englishman (then more distinguishable than now,) was tall and finely formed, and wore his own bright brown hair unincumbered with powder or queue. Marmaduke regarded him for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "Saints preserve us, for our words have raised a ghost, I think-this must be either Algernon Leslie or his spectre! Speak!" he said, springing gaily forward-" I'll call thee friend! cousin! noble Leslie! so thou'lt but answer me!"

"I will not give you so much trouble," replied the stranger, advancing, "I am too happy not to answer to that name, the very first time of asking!"

"And is it you, indeed!" said Marmaduke, clasping his cousin's hand; "when did you land? what ship did you come by? what news do you bring?"

"Before I answer these many enquiries," replied the other, whose eyes had already wandered to the graceful figure of Mellicent GlanvilleReply to one of mine. Is not this?".

"To be sure it is-why, man, I knew what you were going to say. Yes, this is little Milly, your wife, as you used to call her, fifteen years ago!"