Rousseau was then at Brussels: madame de Chatelet refused to admit him to her presence, on account of his having satirised her father, the baron de Breteuil, with whom he had once lived as a domestic. Voltaire accompanied madame de Chatelet to the court of Stanislaus at Luneville, in 1748. In this palace, in 1749, the illustrious marchioness de Chatelet breathed her last: she submitted to her fate with great fortitude, and expired in the fortyfourth year of her age. Her works afford a proof of the power and force of her mind, and of the capacity of her sex for profound investigation, and scientific research: she deservedly ranks among the first philosophical writers. Preface to the Principes Mathematique, S ANNE BROADSTREET. ANNE BROADSTREET, of New England, in America, received for her poetical talents the title of the Tenth Muse. Her poems, which contained descriptions of the four elements, the four ages, the four seasons, the four monarchies, and the four humours, were printed in 1650. L55] LADY MILDRED BURLEIGH. MILDRED, eldest daughter of sir Anthony Cooke, and of Anne his wife, daughter of sir William Fitz-Williams, of Milton, knt. was born in 1526. Her education was carefully superintended by her father, and her mind liberally cultivated; nor was she less distinguished for exemplary conduct than for learning and talents. She was instructed in the Greek and Latin languages: in the study of the former she was assisted by Mr. Lawrence, the celebrated Grecian. She read with facility and pleasure the works of Basil, Cyril, Chrysostome, and Gregory Nazianzen: she translated a piece of St. Chrysostome's from the Greek into English: and, on presenting the Bible, in Hebrew and other languages, to the university library of Cambridge, she sent with it an epistle in Greek of her own composition. Dec. 21st, 1546, she gave her hand to sir Wm. Cecil, afterwards created lord Burleigh, lord hightreasurer of England, privy counsellor to queen Elizabeth, and knight of the order of the Garter. Several children were the fruit of this union; one son and two daughters only lived to maturity. Her son Robert Cecil married Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of lord Cobham, Anne Cecil gave her hand, in the fifteenth year of her age, to Edward Vere, the seventeenth earl of Oxford of that name, and lord high-chamberlain of England. These nuptials proved unhappy. Lady Burleigh, after a long and happy marriage of forty-two years, died in the sixty-third year of her age, April 4th, 1589, sincerely regretted by her husband, who in her lost an amiable wife and a sensible communicative friend, whom he had been accustomed to consult on the most important occasions, and whose knowledge in the science of politics, and of the affairs of the state, was little inferior to his own. She was buried in the abbey church at Westminster, and a magnificent monument erected to her memory. Five days after her decease, lord Burleigh diverted his sorrow by composing Meditations * on his irreparable loss, in which, after expressing his high sense of the admirable qualities and virtues of his lady, he enumerates her acts of beneficence and liberality, many of which had, during her life, been carefully concealed even from himself. * These Meditations, composed in honour of lady Burleigh, and thus subscribed,---" Written at Colings's Lodge, by me, in sorrow, W. B. April 9th, 1589,"are in possession of the hon. James West. In these Meditations the reader is informed,' that lady Burleigh had caused exhibitions to be bestowed, by the hands of the master of St. John's, Cambridge, for the perpetual maintenance of two scholars; for which purpose lands were purchased in the name of the dean of Westminster, who made them over, as from himself, to the college. She likewise gave, through the medium of Mr. Deanes, of Powles and Westminster, and of Mr. Alderly, a sum of money to the Haberdashers' Company in London, by which a provision was made of 1261. divided into twenties, to. be lent every two years to six poor and industrious mechanics in Romford and Essex. Also, in like manner, twenty marks each to six persons in Cheshunt and Woolsham; a relief to be continued by way of loan. Likewise a provision for twenty poor in Cheshunt, to whom was to be given, the first Sunday in every month, a portion of bread, meat, and money. Four marks yearly for four sermons, to be preached quarterly by one of the preachers of St. John's college. These benefactions were concealed by the donor from every one: as a compliment to the fidelity of the gentlemen whose agency she used, lady Burleigh was accustomed to present to them small pieces of plate. Four times in the year she sent, secretly, to all the prisons in London, money to buy bread, cheese, and beer, for four hundred persons: she also frequently distributed shirts and linen among the poor, both at Cheshunt and in London. To the master of St. John's college she gave a sum of money, to have fires in the hall of the college upon all Sundays and holidays, between the feasts of All Saints and Candlemas, when there were no fires at the charge of the college. She gave money, secretly, towards a building-" for a new waye at Cambridge to the comen scolles.” She procured a number of books, some of which she bestowed on the university of Cambridge, the Bible in Hebrew, &c.: she also gave to the college of St. John's many Greek books in divinity, physics, and the sciences. She gave similar presents to Christ-church and St. John's college, Oxford, and to the college of Westminster. She provided annually wool and flax, which was distributed to women in Cheshunt parish, to work into yarn, which was overlooked by their benefactress, and frequently presented to them as a reward of their labour. At other times she caused it to be wrought into cloth, and gave it to the poor, paying for the spinning an extraordinary price. A short time before her death, she purchased, in secret, a quantity of wheat and rye, to be given to |