future age, even he may become superior in knowledge, in love, in capacity, and in glory, to what the brightest seraph, or the tallest archangel, is, at present, in the heaven of heavens; for who can tell what God may do for beatified souls? Who dare limit the operations of his mercy, or who can imagine to what an elevation of wisdom and felicity an emparadised believer may attain? "Progression is the law of a thinking being. And why should it not operate upon holy intelligences in the future state, as well as in the present? and why not when 'there shall be no more death," to an incalculably greater extent? Why should not every new idea, acquired in that world, become a seed of truth in the mind, that shall spring up and bear fruit, multiply and expand, without restriction and without end?

"There is not in religion a nobler, or a more animating sentiment, than this perpetual advancement of the soul towards perfection. Life has its maturity and decline, nature its boundaries of beauty, human affairs their zenith of glory; but, in 'the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,'† every thing will be eternally upon the advance-there will be no end to the path of knowledge-present acquisitions will be the basis of subsequent acquirements-we shall be continually outshining ourselves, by making nearer approaches to infinite goodnessand the whole moral creation will be for ever beautifying in the eyes of God."

JEANNE D'ARRAGON, one of the most celebrated Italian ladies of the age, and married to a prince of the house of Colonna, was mother of the famous Marc Anthony Colonna, who signalized himself at the battle of Lepanto, against the Turks. She is famous by the elegies composed to her honor by the greatest wits of her time, and in most languages, as Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Sclavonic, Polonese, Hungarian, and even Hebrew and Chaldean, one of the most singular monuments, undoubtedly, that gallantry ever raised to female merit. This homage was decreed her in 1555, at Venice, in the academy of

Dubiosi, and published there in 1558, under the title of Templo alla divina Arragona. She died very aged, in 1577.

ASPASIA, the daughter of Axiochus, was born at Miletus. She came to Athens, where she taught eloquence. Socrates was proud to be among her scholars. The great Pericles became her pupil, and was so enamored with her, that he married her, and for many years was governed by her wisdom and eloquence. She has been called a courtezan; but probably after ages have mistaken the moral conduct of this fair, from a fact in the history and laws of the Athenians, which would not suffer a foreign woman to marry an Athenian; and as she was married to Pericles against that law, that the severe and envious called hard names, without much reason, as they have done in every age since, and others love to repeat them. But it is impossible that so moral a man as Socrates, and so wise a man as Pericles, should have cherished an intimacy with one of an abandoned character. If a female moves in an exalted sphere, she is always subject to calumny. She felt no disposition to save her fame by seeking a nunnery, or any other seclusion. Modern times should do justice, and fear not to "pluck the wizzard beard of hoary error."

ANN AMELIA, princess of Prussia, sister to Frederick the great, born in 1723, died 1787. She distinguished herself by her taste for the arts. She set to music "The death of the Messiah" by Romler. She was a decided friend to the far-famed Baron Trenck; and there can be no doubt, but that this attachment for the princess, was the cause of Trenck's misfortunes. Frederick was incensed that a subject should aspire to the hand of his sister. She continued her attachment to Trenck when both had grown old, and Frederick was in his grave, but death deprived her of providing for Trenck's children as she intended.

ANYTA, an ancient Greek poetess, some fragments of whose compositions are preserved in a collection of eminent female poets, published in Hamburgh, in 1734.

MARIA MELLEVILLE ALLEN, wife of William Allen, D. D., late president of Bowdoin College, was the daughter of John Wheelock, LL. D., second president of Dartmouth College. She was the only child of her parents, and the object of their fondest affections; of course, she was indulged in every whim, even while they supposed they were putting her under strict discipline. Possessing a fine constitution, and an amiable disposition, she was as lovely as the wild flower of her native hills, and buoyant as the air she breathed. Her enmities were as transient as a passing cloud, and her friendship's as sweet as a summer's sun. Reputed to be wealthy, and acknowledged to be handsome, she had a host of admirers, when only a child, "who felt or feigned a flame;" with those who followed in her train, she laughed an hour away, and every day saw some new admirer; but she was not married until she had reached the mature age of twenty-six, when she was united to Dr. Allen, who is still living. Mr. Allen was her own and her father's choice; Dr. Wheelock could have none but a scholar for a son-in-law, and she had too long been acquainted with literary men to wed one not devoted to letters. The marriage was hailed as one most suitable, by all their friends, and there can be no doubt but her life was a happy one. She was a religious woman, and softened the ills of life, such as she was called to suffer in the death of parents and friends, by the precepts and consolations of the gospel she professed. In married life, as in single, she was the charm of the social circle. Her talents were of no ordinary cast, yet she seemed never to think of herself as one having any particular gifts of fortune. She died in 1829, aged forty years, leaving her husband with several children. There are those who cherish her memory as maiden, and matron, and friend.

ABASSA, sister of Haroun Al Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad. She was one of the loveliest of Arabian women, skilled in all the learning of her age. She was married to Giafar, of an illustrious race, but falling under the displeasure of her brother, her husband was slain, and she was banished from the city, and buried in exile and poverty. Among the fragments of the Ara

bian muse is a poem on her beauty, talents, and misfortunes, which stamps as a tyrant, in her case, the name of Raschid; which is otherwise elevated and brilliant in the history of the ninth century.

ABIGAIL ADAMS.--The following character of Mrs. Adams was drawn by the editor of this work, near the time of the death of this excellent woman, and published in the New England Galaxy, and was copied into the Port Folio of February, 1819, with the following remarks:

"In the ensuing article, an unknown writer has pronounced the eulogium of eminent virtues, combined with a masculine understanding, and adorned with all the courtesies of polished society. We have heard many, who had both the means and the power to form an estimate of the character of this distinguished lady, expatiate in terms of affectionate regard and profound respect, on the admirable qualities of Mrs. Adams. Our personal observation is in unison with these sentiments, and we therefore contribute our feeble aid to perpetuate the memory of a lady who, as the companion of one statesman, and the guide of another, is entitled to no ordinary rank in the scroll of American matrons.”

"Mrs. Adams was the daughter of a New-England clergyman settled within a few miles of Boston: a man respectable in his holy office, and who educated his children in the best manner of the times. The personal and mental accomplishments of his daughter attracted the attention and secured the affection of Mr. Adams, then a young man of distinction at the bar in Massachusetts. They were married in the year 1764, and resided in Boston. The revolutionary difficulties were then fast increasing, and Mr. Adams was conspicuously engaged. When a continental congress was formed, he was sent a delegate from Massachusetts to this body. It was a perilous moment. wise were baffled, the courageous hesitated, and the great mass of the people were inflamed, but confused; they had no fixed and settled purpose, but all was left for the development of time. Mr. Adams was one of the boldest in the march of honest resist

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ance to tyranny. He looked farther than the business of the day, and ventured at that early period, to suggest plans of selfgovernment and independence. To Mrs. Adams he communicated his thoughts freely on all these high matters of state, for he had the fullest confidence in her fortitude, prudence, secrecy, and good sense, without the test which the Roman Portia gave her lord, to gain his confidence in matters of policy, 'when the state was out of joint.' When Mr. Adams was appointed to represent his country at the court of St. James, his wife went with him, and such was her exquisite sense of propriety, her republican simplicity, her delicate and refined manners, her firmness and dignity, that she charmed the proud circles in which she moved, and they speak of her, to this day, as one of the finest women that ever graced an embassy to that country.

“When Mr. Adams was chosen vice-president, she was the same unaffected, intelligent, and elegant woman. No little managements, no private views, no sly interference with public affairs, was ever, for a moment, charged to her. When her husband came to the chair of the chief magistrate, the widest field opened for the exercise of all the talents and acquirements of Mrs. Adams; and her fondest admirers were not disappointed. She graced the table by her courtesy and elegance of manners, and delighted her guests by the powers of her conversation. Through the drawing-room she diffused ease and urbanity, and gave the charm of modesty and sincerity, to the interchanges of civility. But this was not all; her acquaintance with public affairs, her discrimination of character, her discernment of the signs of the times, and her pure patriotism, made her an excellent cabinet minister; and, to the honor of her husband, he never forgot nor undervalued her worth. The politicians of that period speak with enthusiasm of her foresight, her prudence, and the wisdom of her observations. Tracy respected, Bayard admired, and Ames eulogized her. All parties had the fullest confidence in the purity of her motives, and in the elevation of her understanding. It was a stormy period. Fatigue and anguish often overwhelmed the president, from the weight and multiplicity of his labors and cares; but her sensibility, affection, and cheerful