Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/762

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
740
TOW. TRO.

the English Church as this deaf woman. And her pen, reach of across the Atlantic, has instructed thousands of Christians of America in the better understanding, or doing, of their work of love.

TOWNSEND, ELIZA,

Was born In Boston, Massachusetts, where she still resides, during the latter part of the eighteenth century. All her early poems, though attracting attention and favourable notice for the poetic genius they displayed, were published anonymously, and for many years her authorship was kept a secret, which has prevented her from being as widely known as she would otherwise have been. Her poem on "The Incomprehensibility of God" is generally considered her best; and in a criticism on this, the Rev. Dr. Cheever remarks, that "it is equal in grandeur to the Thanatopsis of Bryant," and that "it will not suffer by comparison with the most sublime pieces of Wordsworth or Coleridge." Though this praise may be somewhat too high, yet it shows among what class of poets Miss Townsend may claim a place—those in whom religious feeling, thoughtfulness, and a deep and quiet enthusiasm are the leading traits. Her productions have generally appeared in the different religious periodicals of New England, and no collection of them has ever been made. Mr. Griswold, whose work on "The Female Poets of America" is well known, says of this writer:—"There is a religious and poetical dignity, with all the evidences of a fine and richly-cultivated understanding, in most of the poems of Miss Townsend, which entitle her to be ranked among the distinguished literary women who were her contemporaries, and in advance of all who in her own country preceded her."

TREFFZ, JETTY,

Within the last few years this name has become familiar as a household word in the musical circles of England, as it had previously been in those of the Continent. It is that by which a celebrated public singer chooses to be known, although Treffz is only her family name by the maternal side. Henrietta de Th****d, her proper designation, was born at Vienna, on the 28th. June, 1826; her father, a Polish gentleman, was an officer in the Austrian service, and her mother was the daughter of the beautiful Laura Schwam, beloved and immortalized by the poet Frederick Schiller. The fair Laura was married to Professor Treffz, and the offspring of this union was Jetty's mother, who having ample means, gave her daughter the best education that could be procured. But reverses of fortune happening when the subject of our sketch was about thirteen years old, the young girl's musical talents were cultivated with a view to her future subsistence. The first instructor under whom she was placed, was an Italian professor named Gentelhuomo. She made remarkable progress, and soon attracted the attention of Merilli, the director of the Viennese Italian Opera, who engaged her, but did not at once assign her a part, in consequence of which she threw up the engagement and went to Dresden, where, in her fifteenth year, she made her debût as "Giuletta," in Bellini's opera "L'Capuletti ed i Montecehi," Sehroeder Deorient being the "Romeo." Her success was complete; so struck was the Queen of Saxony with her talents, that she had her placed under the celebrated Morlacchi's tuition at her own expense. After a brilliant season at Dresden, Jetty went to Leipsic,