mating the character of this excellent woman, we will abide by the opinion of her friend, Mrs. Carter, who says of Miss Talbot:—"Never, surely, was there a more perfect pattern of evangelical goodness, decorated by all the ornaments of a highly improved understanding; and recommended by a sweetness of temper, and an elegance and politeness of manners, of a peculiar and more engaging kind than in any other character I ever knew."
TAMAR, OR THAMAR,
Was daughter-in-law to the patriarch Judah, wife of Er and Onan. After Onan's death, Tamar lived with her father-in-law, expecting to marry his son Shelah, as had been promised her, and was the custom of the time. But the marriage not having taken place, some years after, when Judah went to a sheep-shearing feast, Tamar disguised herself as a harlot and sat in a place where Judah would pass—and this old man yielded at once to the temptation. When it was told Judah that his daughter-in-law had been guilty, he immediately condemned her to be brought forth and burned alive; never remembering his own sin. But when he found that he was the father of the child she would soon bear, his conscience was awakened, and he made that remarkable admission that "she was more just than he had been."
This history shows the gross manners of those old times, and how false are all representations of the purity of pastoral life. Tamar had twins, sons—and from one of these, Pharez, the line of Judah is descended. These events occurred about B.C. 1727.
TAMBRONI, CLOTILDE,
Was born at Bologna, in 1758. Her childhood offered indications of superior intelligence, which were observed by every one who knew her; but disregarding these, her mother, far from attempting to cultivate her mind, required her to devote herself to household duties, and to useful needle-work, and the various humble labours demanded of girls in their modest station in society. The distinguished Hellenist, Emanuele Aponte, lodged with the Tambroni family; and while Clotilde sat apparently busied with her work, she was attentively listening to the Greek lessons given by that professor to various classes. One day, as he was examining an ill-prepared scholar, to his great surprise, the little girl prompted the blunderer, giving him exactly the right sentence in excellent Greek. Delighted and astonished, Aponte persuaded the mother to allow him to cultivate this decided inclination for study. Her facility of acquirement was wonderful; to a general acquaintance with elegant literature, she added a knowledge of mathematics, and of the Latin tongue; but her most remarkable accomplishment was her very uncommon learning in Greek. At the recommendation of Aponte, she was, while yet a girl, appointed to the Greek chair in the University of Bologna. Political circumstances caused her family to leave Italy at one time, and she remained for a short period in Spain; but subsequently returning home, she was received by her countrymen with the highest honours, and was appointed by the government of Milan, professor of Greek in the University of Bologna—a situation which she held with credit to herself, and advantage to the college. She lived in a lettered seclusion, dividing
