LADY GRANGE.

A striking instance of the arbitrary state in which Scotland was held in former times, both in public and private affairs, is exhibited in the melancholy fate of the wife of a Lord of Session, whose title was Lord Grange. It was suspected that the lady, by some means or other, had got at the knowledge of some state papers of infinite consequence; and as poor women are set down, in the minds of all arbitrary men, to be incapable of keeping a secret, Grange and his son were determined to secure the one contained in the papers in question, by putting it out of the lady's power to divulge any thing she knew of the matter. To accomplish their design, the husband and son privately conveyed her to the island of St Kilda, there put her on shore, and left her to shift for herself; and sailed back again, without a living being having missed them, or suspected what they had executed; nor could the lady's place of concealment be discovered by her friends, although they made every effort in their power to find out whither they had conveyed her, but to no purpose. The island of St. Kilda afforded no implements for writing, and the lady's history would never have been known, had she not worked it on her muslin apron with her hair. Her family, by some means or other, after her death (which happened at St. Kilda, near thirty years after her banishment), got possession of this curious piece of work, and preserved it with great care, as a memorial

of her sufferings, and of the tyranny of the times in which she lived.

MRS. PHILLIPS.

Major Puck, in his Essay on Study, says, "The best letters I have met with in our English tongue, are those of the celebrated Mrs. Phillips, to Sir Charles Cotterel. They are all addressed to the same person, so they run all in the same strain, and seem to have been employed in the service of a refined and generous friendship. In a word, they are such as a woman of spirit and virtue should write to a courtier of honour and true gallantry.” Mrs. Phillips is said, by Mr. Langbain, to have equalled the Lesbian Sappho in genius, and the Roman Sulpicia in virtue. To this he adds, “As they were praised by Horace, Martial, Ausonius, and other eminent poets, so was this lady commended by the Earls of Orrery and Roscommon, by Cowley, and other eminent men." An anonymous writer, in the second volume of the Duke of Wharton's works, thus speaks of Mrs. Phillips: "I have been looking into the writings of Mrs. Phillips, and have been wonderfully pleased with her solid and masculine thoughts, in no feminine style. Her refined and rational ideas of friendship, a subject she delights in, show a soul above the common level of mankind, and raise my desire of practising what is thus nobly described. Though I know nothing of Mrs. Phillips, but what I have learned from her poems, I am persuaded she was not less discreet, good-humoured, modest, constant, and virtuous,

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than ingenious. Her Country Life,' is a sweet poem, sprinkled with profound philosophical thoughts; expressed in very poetical language."

Catherine Cockburn was only twenty-two years of age when she published her defence of Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding," in reply to some anonymous strictures to which it had given rise. Mrs. Cockburn concealed her name, lest the knowledge of her sex and youth should produce a prejudice against her work. She seems also to have felt an apprehension of being known to Mr. Locke, under the presumptuous title of his defender. In a preliminary address to him, she calls her defence" a bold unlicensed undertaking," and declares she had not ventured its publication "without much apprehension and awe of his displeasure." In a letter to a friend on this subject, she says, I am more afraid of appearing before him I defend, than of the public censure; and, chiefly for the honour I bear to him, resolve to conceal myself."

Her precautions were ineffectual; her name was discovered, when she received from Mr. Locks a present of books, and a letter of praise and thanks, in which he says, "Give me leave to assure you, that, as the rest of the world take notice of the strength and clearness of your reasoning, so I cannot but be extremely sensible that it was employed in my defence. You have herein not only vanquished my adversary, but reduced me also absolutely under your power; and left no desire more strong in me

than that of meeting with some opportunity to assure you with what respect and submission 1 am your's."

FORTITUDE.

Lady Russell, the widow of the unfortunate Lord Russell, possessed such extraordinary fortitude and resignation, as enabled her to bear the most overwhelming afflictions. After the death of her son, the second Duke of Bedford, she had scarcely recovered the composure which her unfeigned piety and submission to the will of heaven could alone produce, when her younger daughter, the Duchess of Rutland, died, after giving birth to her ninth child.

Her eldest daughter, the Duchess of Devonshire, was at that time confined, but Lady Russell had the resolution to conceal from her the death of her sister; and to prevent her from hearing it suddenly, avoided the too particular inquiries of the Duchess of Devonshire, by saying that she had that day seen her sister out of bed;" when, in fact, she had seen her in her coffin

FAMILY GOING TO THE SCAFFOLD.

Madame de Bois Berenger, who was confined in the prison of the Luxembourg, in 1793, with her father, mother, and a younger sister, did every thing in her power to ameliorate their condition, and even deprived herself of a portion of her own sustenance, to contribute to their comfort. When the decree of accusation against her family was promulgated, not finding herself included in it, her affliction was ex

cessive; but upon her own denunciation arriving, an excess of joy succeeded the paroxysms of grief. Upon the day appointed for their execution, she cut off her hair, and dressed herself as if going to a fête. In her way thither, Madame de Bois Berenger supported her mother; and with angelic sweetness said, "Be composed, my dearest parent, nor let an emotion of regret accompany you to the tomb. You have all your family with you; to you they look up for consolation; since your virtues are about to receive the recompense they merit in the mansions of innocence and peace."

LADIES OF GERMANY TO THE LADIES OF ENGLAND.

The miseries of war which afflicted Europe so severely in the years 1813 and 1814, fell with increased force on the kingdom of Saxony, which became the arena of the contest, and was the scene of some of the most important battles recorded in history. Thousands of widows and orphans had to lament the loss of husbands and parents in the dreadful conflict, and, their property destroyed by remorseless war, were left entirely destitute; but charity, the darling attribute of woman, stretched its hand to their relief; and the Committees of Ladies were formed, both in England and Germany, for the sufferers on the Continent. In England, the list boasted of all who are most distinguished for their rank, wealth, and virtue; and in Germany, the female philanthropists were not less respectable: The following address from the ladies of Germany,