merit—but do not equal her graver works, "De Foix, or Sketches of Manners and Customs of the Fourteenth Century," "The Protestant," "Talba," "Trelawney of Trelawney." Her happiest literary effort is generally considered to be the "Traditions, Legends," etc. of Devonshire, in a series of letters to Southey, a book full of Information and entertainment. Mrs. Bray has set an example or fashion of literature, in which ladies might excel, vastly to their own advantage, as well as to the profit of society. Instead of vapid novels let us have vivid descriptions of natural scenery, and pictures of actual life.
BREGY, CHARLOTTE SAUMAISE DE CHAZAN, COMTESSE DE,
Niece of the learned Saumaise, (Salmasius,) was one of the ladies of honour to Queen Anne of Austria. She was distinguished for her beauty and wit, both of which she preserved to an advanced age; she died at Paris, April 13th., 1698, aged seventy-four. She wrote a collection of letters and verses in 1688, in which we meet with many ingenious thoughts; her poems turn almost entirely on metaphysical love, which employed her mind more than her heart But there are several pieces on other subjects. In one of them she gives a portrait of herself. Her personal appearance she describes as attractive; which all contemporary writers confirm, and therefore she might mention it without vanity. She corresponded with Henrietta, Queen of England; with Christina of Sweden; and with most of the illustrious characters of Europe.
BREMER, FREDERIKA,
A name that has a true feminine celebrity, because it awakens pleasant thoughts and bright hopes in the hearts of all who have read her heart, as it gushes forth from her pen, like a clear, sweet fountain in the sunshine of a summer day. We love her name, as we do those who have contributed to our happiness; and she has done this by opening new sources of innocent enjoyment, and a wider field of benevolent feeling. She has brought the dim, old, Scandinavian world, that seemed completely hidden by the cloud of fable and curtain of time, before us as with an enchanter's wand. Her little white hand has gently led us up among primeval mountains covered with eternal forests of pine, and along the banks of deep lakes, where the blue waters have slept since the creation; guiding us now to bowers of summer loveliness, where morning folds evening to her bosom with a kiss that leaves her own blushing lustre on the brow of her dusky sister; then we are set down among the snow-hills and ice-plains of the Norland winter, where the "dark night entombs the day." She has done more: she has led us "over the threshold of the Swede," introduced us into the sanctuary of their cheerful homes, made us friends with her friends; and awakened in our people an interest for the people of Sweden, which we have never felt for any nation on the continent of Europe. She has thus prepared the way for the success of another gifted daughter of Sweden, who comes like a new St. Cecilia, to make manifest the heavenly influence of song, when breathed from a pure and loving heart.
Frederika Bremer was born in Finland while it formed a portion
