Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/64

50 beauty. She made many religious foundations; and, as duchess of Brittany, assumed, with the consent of the king, many privileges heretofore unknown to the queens of France, but which they afterwards retained; such as having a guard; (hers, from her attachment to her native country, was always composed of Bretons) giving audience to ambassadors, &c. "Great and majestic in everything," says St. Foix, "she would have a court; and women of quality, who, till then were only born in one castle, to marry and die in another, now came to reside at Paris." What was more glorious for Anne was, the respect her example inspired for whatever was estimable in the female character. No lady, of even the highest rank, dared appear at court, without she was known to be virtuous; and, to use the words of one of their authors, "She planted honour and delicacy in the hearts of the French ladies." She instituted the order De la Cordeliere, in remembrance of the cords with which our Saviour was bound, and conferred it on the principal ladies of her court, admonishing them, at the same time, to live virtuously, and always remember the obligations and duties of their religion. The queens of France, before her time had mourned in white; but she put on black on the death of Charles VIII: and, on her death, Lewis XII. did the same, contrary to the usual custom also of their kings. A magnificent marble monument was erected to her honour, by Francis I. at St. Denis, near that of Lewis XII.

The author of Anecdotes of the Queens of France, says, the complection of Anne was of a dazzling whiteness, but fresh and animated; that she had a large and high forehead, at once dignified and modest, and a face rather long; that she was neither tall, nor otherwise. She had no other personal defect, than a trifling lameness, which, however,