to him at St Helena. She finally obtained her request, but the news of his death arrived immediately after. She died Jane 9th. 1825, at Florence. She left many legacies, and a donation, by the interest of which two young men of Ajaccio will be enabled to study medicine and surgery. The rest of her property she left to her brothers, the Count of St. Leu and the Prince of Montfort. Her whole property amounted to 2,000,000 francs.
Pauline was very fond of Italian poetry, and took great pleasure in listening to the melancholy verses of Petrarch.
BORGIA, LUCREZIA,
Sister of Cesare Borgia, and daughter of Rodriguez Borgia, afterwards Pope Alexander the Fifth, was married in 1493, to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pessaro, with whom she lived four years, when her father being Pope, dissolved the marriage, and gave her to Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglia, natural son of Alfonso the Second, Duke of Naples. On this occasion she was created Duchess of Spoleto and of Sermoneta. She had one son by Alfonso, who died young. In June, 1500, Alfonso was stabbed by assassins, supposed to have been employed by the infamous Cesare Borgia, so that he died two months after, at the pontifical palace, to which he had been earned at the time. Lucrezia has never been accused of any participation in this murder, or in any of her brother's atrocious deeds. She then retired to Nepi, but was recalled to Rome by her father. Towards the end of 1501, she married Alfonso d'Este, son of Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, and made her entrance into that city with great pomp, on the 2nd. of February, 1502.
She had three sons by Alfonso, who intrusted her with the government when he was absent in the field, in which capacity she gained general approbation. She was also the patroness of literature, and her behaviour after she became Duchess of Ferrara, affords no grounds for censure. Her conduct while at Rome with her father has been the subject of much obloquy, which seems to rest chiefly on her living in a flagitious court among profligate scenes. No individual charge can be substantiated against her. On the contrary, she is mentioned by contemporary poets and historians in the highest terms; and so many different writers would not have lavished such high praise on a person profligate and base as she has been represented. Many of the reports about her were circulated by the Neapolitans, the natural enemies of her family. She died at Ferrara, in 1523. In the Ambrosian Library there is a collection of letters written by her, and a poetical effusion. A curiosity which might be viewed with equal interest, is to be found there—a tress of her beautiful hair, folded in a piece of parchment.
BOUGNET, MADAME,
Is celebrated for her humanity during the French revolution of 1793, in concealing some of the proscribed deputies, though death was the consequence of this mark of friendship. After supporting those unfortunate men for some time, and seeing them escape from her abode only to perish on the scaffold, she was herself dragged before the tribunal of Bordeaux, and suffered death with Christian resignation.
