Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/162

148, printed in 1744, is esteemed an incomparable imitation of Milton. She made some alterations, in order to conform it more to the taste of her own nation; and, as she modestly observes, retrenched some parts which seemed too highly coloured to attempt copying. It must be confessed, Madame du Bocage has done as much justice to her subject as the French language will permit of.

The Latin, English, and Italian languages, she was as well skilled in as her own. Milton and Tasso, her two favourite poets, she has imitated with equal success, and shewn she perfectly well understood the beauties of each author.

Voltaire wrote very elegantly in her praise. She was a handsome, graceful woman, lively and entertaining. Her other principal works are a translation of Pope's Temple of Fame, 1749; another of the Funeral Oration on Prince Eugene; Les Amazones, a tragedy; la Colombiade, 1756, a poem, and Le Prix alternatif entre les Belles Lettres & les Sciences. This piece was crowned at Rouen, 1746.

Memoirs of French Ladies. Letters on the French Nation.

the example of her parents in abjuring the reformed religion, in which she had been educated. On the death of her husband, she sought consolation in study. She wrote in prose and verse, with a facility, elegance, and precision, equalled only by the best  ters.