envied. In the year 1577, the first shade is evident that appears to have clouded the domestic sky of the earl and countess, and henceforth their disunion increased till it amounted to open revilings. The earl's children sided with their step-mother, whose resolute will gave her unbounded sway over all within her influence. Notwithstanding that, the earl accuses her of a desire to gain possession of his estates and revenues for the benefit of her own children. The poor earl seems to have been sorely ill treated by both the women who ruled him; for we find him making application to the queen, "for the hundredth time," for payment of his just dues in keeping the Queen of Scots. At length the sorrows and troubles of the Earl of Shrewsbury were brought to a close. He died in November, 1590. During the following seventeen years of widowhood, Elizabeth of Shrewsbury devoted herself to building; and there is no knowing how many more mansions she would have erected if her life had been spared. The story goes, that in 1607 a hard frost set in, which obliged her workmen to stop suddenly; "the spell was broken, the astrologer's prediction verified, Elizabeth of Hardwick could build no longer, and she died." Her death occurred at Hardwick Hall, in February, 1607, in the eighty-seventh year of her age. During the latter part of her life, the affection which the countess entertained for her grand-daughter, Arabella Stuart, was one of the master passions of her mind. It was well for her proud spirit that she was spared the pain of witnessing the downfall of her ambitious hopes, and the melancholy fate of one so dear to her.
This Countess of Shrewsbury is a remarkable instance of the worldly-wise woman, approaching, both in the powers of her intellect and the manner in which she directed her talents, very nearly the masculine type of mind. Calm, prudent, energetic, but politic, selfish, hard, she stands out from our pictures of true feminine character like an oak among laurels, willows, and magnolias. Happily for the moral welfare of our race, there are few women like "Bess of Hardwick."
SHUCK, HENRIETTA,
Was born in Kilmarnock, Virginia, on the 28th. of October, 1817. She was the daughter of the Rev. Addison Hall, a Baptist clergyman of that place, and there her early days were spent. In 1831, Miss Hall was summoned from Fredericksburg, where she was at school, by her father to attend a camp-meeting which was held near her birth-place. She was converted on that occasion, and was baptized on the 2nd. of September, 1831, when she was hardly fourteen; but her extreme youth did not prevent her from keeping faithfully the vows she so early took upon herself. On the 8th. of September, 1835, Miss Hall was married to the Rev. J. Lewis Shuck, a missionary about to be sent by the Baptist church to China, for which country they embarked on the 22nd. of September. They reached Singapore in May, 1836, where their eldest son was born, and in the following September they arrived at Macao, where they remained till March. 1842, when they removed to Hong-kong. While at Macao, Mr. and Mrs. Shuck were allowed to prosecute the study of the Chinese language, the instruction of youth, and teaching the people. On their arrival at Hong-kong they renewed their labours on an enlarged scale, and without restraint. Mrs. Shuck interested herself
