, an eminent literary lady of France, and a member of the academies
, an eminent
literary lady of France, and a member of the academies of
Rome, Bologna, Padua, Lyons, and Rouen, was born at
Rouen, Oct. 22, 1710. She was educated at Paris in the
convent of the Assumption, where she made a very rapid
progress in every branch of education. At a very early
age, she studied the English language, that she might be
enabled to transfuse the beauties of Pope’s Temple of Fame
into French but she concealed her performance for many
years, nor did it appear till 1764, in the collection of her
works. She had, however, given an ample proof of her
poetical talents in 1746, by gaining the first prize givea
by the academy of Rouen, which was founded the year
preceding by the duke of Luxembourg. This procured
her the homage and the society of the most eminent nits
and scholars of the day. From this time she published
nothing without her name. Having acquired an uncommon relish for the “Paradise Lost
” of Milton, she endeavoured to translate a part of it into French, and was highly
complimented by Voltaire on her success. She imitated
also, but with much more success and more ease, Gesner’s
“Death of Abel.
” In The Amazons
” was represented on one of the Paris stages with considerable applause: but her fame rests principally on an
epic poem, entitled “The Columbiad, or Discovery of
America,
” in ten cantos, which procured her the highest
reputation at that time from the critics of her own country,
although the execution is very far from corresponding with
the magnitude of the undertaking.