with her pencil, as well as an agreeable and well-informed writer. Her first publications were in the fashion of very elegant gift books;—"Our Wild Flowers," and "The Romance of Nature," illustrated by exquisite flowers copied from drawings after nature by the authoress. The literary matter is full of information, where science, free from pedantry, instructs in every page. After her marriage in 1844, she accompanied her husband to Australia, and the journey gave rise to "Notes and Sketches of New South Wales;" a book which cannot fail to please every intelligent reader. In 1852, Mrs. Meredith published a work in two volumes, entitled "My Home in Tasmania," which was dedicated to the Queen; it details her nine years experience of life in the remote colony in which her future lot appears to be cast, and consists of a series of charming sketches of life and nature executed with much graphic power and variety. To the Flora and Fauna of Tasmania the lively sketcher devotes particular attention, and enters with much enthusiasm into these agreeable and interesting branches of her subject.
MERIAN, MARIA SIBYLLA,
A German artist, was born at Frankfort in 1647. She was the daughter of Matthew Merian, a celebrated engraver and topographer. Miss Merian became a pupil of Abraham Mingon, from whom she learned great neatness of handling, and delicacy of colour. She painted from nature, reptiles, flowers, and insects, which she studied with the most curious and minute observation. She frequently painted her subjects in water-colours on vellum, and finished an astonishing number of designs. She drew flies and caterpillars in all the variety of changes and forms in which they successively appear. She even undertook a voyage to Surinam to paint those insects and reptiles which were peculiar to that climate; and, on her return, published two volumes of engravings after her designs. Her works arc still referred to by writers on entomology. She died at Amsterdam, in 1717.
MESSALINA,
Wife of Nero, also called Statilia, was descended from a consular family, and married the consul Atticus Visticus, whom Nero murdered. She received her husband's murderer with tenderness, and married four husbands before she came to the imperial throne. After the death of Nero, in 68, she retired from public life, and occupied herself with literary pursuits. Otho, the eighth Emperor of Rome, next addressed her, but before their marriage he destroyed himself, in the year 69.
METEYARD, ELIZA,
Better known by her signature of "Silverpen," writes chiefly for the London periodicals. She was a favoured contributor to "Eliza Cook's Journal," and has written for some of the American Magazines. Miss Méteyard is of the progressive school, but has none of the gloom or misanthrophy which those whose wishes to do good outrun their power, often display. She is cheerful, and strives to improve the habits and minds of the poor, as an effective means of bettering their physical condition. This is a department of benevolence too often overlooked; and one which the tender and
