Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/471

Rh St. Thomas, in Vintry ward, London, where is an elegant monument erected to her memory. New Annual Register, &c.

" was," as Mr. Wood says, "a grace for beauty, and a muse for wit," and gave the earliest discoveries of a great genius; which, being improved by a polite education, she became eminent in the arts of poetry and painting." Mr. Dryden seems quite lavish in her commendation; but Mr. Wood assures us, he has said nothing of her, which she was not equal, if not superior to. Thus speaks Mr. Dryden:

Art she had none, yet wanted none, For nature did that want supply, So rich in treasure of her own, She might our boasted stores defy: Such noble vigour did her verse adorn, That it seem'd borrow'd where 'twas only born."

She was a great proficient in the art of painting, and drew the duke of York, afterwards king James II. and also the Duchess, to whom she was maid of honour. She drew several historical pieces, also some portraits, or her diversion, and likewise some pieces of still life. Mr. Becket drew her picture in mezzotinto, after her own painting, which is prefixed to her poems. These engaging and polite accomplishments were the least of her