Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/266

252 ; wise in the rules of conduct laid down; and, in the style, equal to our best writers.

Mrs. Chapone's maiden name was Mulso, that of a respectable family in Northamptonshire. She was left a widow early, in narrow circumstances. Her manners were elegant, and she had a fine voice and taste for music. The story of Fidelia, in the Adventurer, was written by her, and a poem, prefixed to her friend, Mrs. Carter's Translation of Epictetus. She published also a volume of Miscellanies, consisting of poems and plays. The loss of her niece, to whom the Letters on the Mind were addressed, and of a dear brother, injured the health of Mrs. Chapone, and made her, some time before her death, withdraw herself from society.

the attack the duke of Savoy made upon Dauphiny, in 1692, this courageous lady armed the villages in her department, put herself at their head, and, by little skirmishes, harrassed the enemy in the mountains, and contributed very much to make them abandon the country. In the mean time, her mother exhorted the people in the plains to remain faithful to their duty; and her sister caused the cables of the boats to be cut, so that they could be of no use to them. Lewis XIV. gave Mademoiselle de la Charce a pension, and permitted her to place her sword and armour in the treasury of St. Denis. CHA-