Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/601

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NEY. NlC.
579

of sixteen, she joined the church. On the 9th. of February, 1812, Harriet Attwood married the Rev. Samuel Newell, missionary to the Burman empire; and in the same month, Mr. and Mrs. Newell embarked with their friends Mr. and Mrs. Judson, for India. On the arrival of the missionaries at Calcutta, they were ordered to leave by the East India Company; and accordingly Mr. and Mrs. Newell embarked for the Isle of France. Three weeks before reaching the island she became the mother of a child, which died in five days. On the 30th. of November, seven weeks and four days after her confinement, Mrs. Harriet Newell, at the age of twenty, expired, far from her home and friends. She was one of the first females who ever went from America as a missionary; and she was the first who died a martyr to the cause of missions. That there is a time, even in the season of youth and the flush of hope, when it is "better to die than to live," even to attain our wish for this world, Harriet Newell is an example. Her most earnest wish was to do good for the cause of Christ, and to be of service in teaching his gospel to the heathen.

Harriet Newell left a journal and a few letters, the record of her religious feelings and the events of her short missionary life. These fragments have been published, making a little book. Such is her contribution to literature; yet this small work has been and is now of more importance to the intellectual progress of the world than all the works of Madame de Stael. The writings of Harriet Newell, translated into several tongues, and published in many editions, have reached the heart of society, and assisted to build up the throne of woman's power, even the moral influence of her sex over men; and their intellect can never reach its highest elevation but through the medium of moral cultivation.

NEY, JENNY.

Mademoiselle Jenny Ney is a native of Presburgh, in Hungary, and was educated with great care for the stage by her mother, an artiste of considerable reputation, as was also her elder daughter, whom it was Jenny's great desire to emulate. She made her debut when a mere child, and soon obtained a favourable engagement at the Imperial Opera at Vienna, where she remained three years, that is, from 1851 to 1853, becoming every day a greater favourite with the public. The death of her mother at this period induced her to leave the Austrian capital, where she felt lonely and unhappy, being constantly reminded of her loss. Her fame having spread through Germany, numerous engagements offered, and she decided on Dresden, from whence she made excursions to Hamburg, Frankfort, Cologne, and other cities. In 1856, she made her appearance in the "Travatori," at the Royal Italian Opera House, London, with decided success, but the performance was interrupted for a time by her severe and dangerous illness, from which, however, she sufficiently recovered to enable her to resume before the close of the season, when her engagement called her back again to Dresden, where she is still performing. Previous to her appearance in London she was honoured with the title of Kammer-sangerum (chamber singer) to the court of Saxony.

NICHOLS, MARY SARGEANT GOVE,

Wife of T. L. Nichols, M, D., formerly an Allopathic physician