Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/155

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
OF CELEBRATED WOMEN.
141

dren all died in infancy, excepting two. She was instructed in the Hebrew language by the lord Van Helmont, which she understood to such a degree of perfection, that she taught it to her son and daughter.

Among the curiosities of the Royal Society, there is preserved a philactery in Hebrew, of her writing, of which Dr. Grew gives the following account; "It is only a single scroll of parchment, of an inch broad, and fifteen inches long; with four sentences of the law, viz. Exod. viii. from 7 to 11, and from 13 to 19, most curiously written upon it in Hebrew. Serarius, from the Rabbins, saith, that they were written severally upon so many scrolls; and that the Jews do to this day wear them over their foreheads in that manner; so that they are of several sorts or modes, whereof this is one. This was wrote at the request of Mr. Thoresby, and was given by her to that repository."

She was living in 1712; but when she died is uncertain, nor is it now known whether she wrote any thing for the public.

Female Worthies.



BLANDINA, a Martyr at Lyons, when the Persecution against the Christians, under Marcus Antoninus (or Aurelius) was carried on in its greatest Severity.

This woman, who appears to have been a servant, was called, among the rest, to the trial; though of so weak and delicate a constitution that they feared she would not be able to sustain the tortures; but they were all deceived. She was tortured in different ways, from morning till night, and whilst her body was torn and mangled, seemed to derive support by refuting the calumnies against the Christians, saying, "I am a

Christian,