Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/183

Rh when her son, a pretty boy about nine years old, lighted a taper, and, after walking round the pile, set fire to it, just beneath his mother's head. This signal being given, it was lighted on every side. At least ten minutes must have passed, after she lay down, before this took place, during which the pile appeared to heave; but the people who were near affirmed, she had not spoken one word or moved since she lay down; and that the motion was occasioned by people passing round it.

At first a thick black smoke arose, from the oil and moist boughs, which, perhaps, was humanely contrived to suffocate the victim. All remained steady; and when her death was certain, a general shout was raised by her attendants, who boasted of her fortitude to one another.

Some persons, from the superstitious idea that people near death have foresight into events, asked her, on the way to the burning place, to inform them of something they wished to know;—to which she meekly asked, if they took her for an astrologer?

When distributing her ornaments at the last, her husband's brother observed that a division of them at that time might create confusion; and that she had better finish what she had to do, when they might be taken out of the ashes by any who would search for them. "Very well," said she, "then I will lie down."

lady of much wit, beauty, and vivacity; which qualities she preserved to an advanced age. A collection