Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/127

Rh hundred a-year; and a deduction of two shillings in the pound was made for charitable purposes. In Dr. S, Woodford's translation of the Psalms, are two or three versions of particular ones by her. She had two sons, who for some time practised painting. There is an engraving of Mrs. Beale, by Chambers, from a portrait done by herself, in Walpole's Anecdotes of painting in England. New Biographical Dictionary. &c. daughter and heir of the duke of Somerset, sprung from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. She married Edmund earl of Richmond, half-brother of Henry VI. son of Sir Owen Tudor, and Catherine of France, relict of Henry V. By him she had one son, afterwards Henry VII. On her first husband's death, she espoused Sir Henry Stafford, and afterwards Lord Stanley; but had no children by either, so that Henry was the sole heir of all her possessions.

This illustrious lady must be mentioned both as an author and patroness of letters; she was the third female writer England produced. By the course of her education, she was tolerably qualified for a studious life. She attained a perfect acquaintance with the French language, and had some skill in the Latin; but lamented that she had not rendered herself a complete mistress of it in her youth. A fine library was collected by her, not for the purpose of ornament, the gratification of vanity, or