Hamburg, etc., until 1866, when she again delighted the people of England, at a series of concerts given at Exeter Hall, by her admirable execution of the finest pieces of sacred and other standard music. Speaking of these performances, a recent writer says, "To define the qualities of her genius, in which each individual might perceive some different charm, would be a rash attempt. Apart from those attractions Which are purely vocal, her intensity of feeling, which displays itself in a simple earnestness, entirely removed from the passionate fervour of the south, is perhaps the key to her influence over the feelings of others. This is confirmed by the delicate refinement of her artistic taste, and a certain general charm which is all her own. These things combine to make up a great gift which has been nobly used, for the benefit as well as the pleasure of thousands."
LINWOOD, MARY.
This lady, so celebrated for her exhibition of needlework, well deserves a place in this collection of remarkable female characters. She was born at Leicester, in the year 1766, and first appeared as a public exhibitor of her works of art, as they really were, in 1794, in the Hanover-Square Rooms, from whence they were removed to those in Leicester-Square, which they continued to occupy for 80 long a period. To shew the time and labour bestowed upon these pictures, we may mention that the latest and one of the largest of them, namely, the judgment of Cain, occupied the artist ten years. Miss Lambert, in her "Handbook of Needle-work," tells us that the works of this accomplished artist are executed with fine crewels, dyed under her own superintendence, on a thick kind of tammy woven expressly for her use; they were entirely drawn and embroidered by herself, no back-ground or other unimportant parts being put in by a less skilful hand; the only assistance she received, if it may be called such, was in the threading of her needles. No needle-work, either of ancient or modern times, ever surpassed the celebrated productions of Miss Linwood. Her exhibition consisted altogether of sixty-four pieces; she commenced the first piece when thirteen years of age, and completed the last at the age of seventy-eight; for her finest piece, "The Salvator Mundi," after Carlo Dolci, she is said to have refused the sum of three thousand guineas.
Miss Linwood died in 1846, at the ripe age of ninety. The "Leicester Mercury," relating the circumstance of her death, says, "Her end was approached with exemplary resignation and patience. By her death, many poor families will miss the hand of succour; her benevolence of disposition having led her to minister of her substance to the necessities of the poor and destitute in her neighbourhood."
LIOBA,
A relation of St. Boniface, the intrepid apostle of Northern Europe, was placed by him at the head of a convent which he had founded for women, in the midst of the barbarous tribes of Germany, not far from the monastery of Fulda. She was a very learned woman for that age, and was thoroughly acquainted with the writings of the Fathers, ecclesiastical law, and theology. The Bible was almost always in her hands, and even during her sleep she had it read to her. AH her life Lioba was considered a
