Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/139

 She was fond of saying of Napoleon, "That he had never given her a moment's pain, not even at the time which is almost universally woman's hour of suffering."

Madame Bonaparte was always kind and generous; in trouble she was the advocate and protectress of the unfortunate. When Jerome incurred his brother's displeasure for his American marriage, his mother restored him to favour; and when Lucien, for a fault of the same sort, was exiled to Rome, Madame Letitia accompanied him. When Napoleon became sovereign, he allotted her a suitable income, upon which she maintained a decorous court. After the disasters of 1816, she retired to Rome, where she lived in a quiet and dignified manner, seeing nobody but her own connections, and sometimes strangers of high rank, who were very desirous of being presented to her. She never laid aside her black, after the death of Napoleon. She died February 2nd., 1836, at the age of eighty-eight. For several of the last years of her life she was deprived of her sight, and was bedridden. Madame Letitia was always honoured and respected by those who were able to appreciate her rare qualities.

BONTEMS, MADAME, at Paris, in 1718, died in the same city, April 18th., 1768; had received from nature a good understanding, and an excellent taste, which were cultivated by a careful education. She was acquainted with the foreign languages, and it is to her that the French are indebted for the accurate and elegant translation of "Thomson's Seasons." She was the centre of an amiable and select society that frequented her house. Though she was naturally very witty, she only made use of this talent for displaying that of others. She was not less esteemed for the qualities of her heart than of her mind.

BORE, BORA, CATHARINE VON, of a gentleman of fortune, was a nun in the convent of Nimptschen, in Germany, two leagues from Wittemberg. She left the convent, with eight others, at the commencement of the Reformation by Luther. Leonard Koppe, senator of Torgau, is said to have first animated them to this resolution, which they put in practice on a Good Friday. Luther undertook the defence of these nuns and Leonard Koppe, and published a justification of their conduct.

Luther, who admired Catharine on account of her heroism, in addition to her excellent qualities of mind and heart, gained her consent and married her. Catharine was then twenty-six, and added to the charms of youth, much sprightliness of mind. The reformer, many years older than his wife, was as affectionately beloved by her as if he had been in the flower of his youth. She brought him a son; and he writes on this occasion, "that he would not change his condition for that of Crœsus." The character of his wife was excellently adapted to make him happy. Modest and gentle, decent in her attire, and economical in the house, she had the hospitality of the German noblesse without their pride. On the 15th. February, 1546, she became a widow, and, although several good offers were made to her, she lived for many years in great "poverty, and sometimes in actual distress. Martin Luther left little