Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/264

 DESMOULINS, LUCILLE, born in Paris, in 1771. Her father was a clerk of the finances, and her mother one of the most beautiful women of the age. Lucille, whose maiden name was Duplessis, was carefully educated. She formed an attachment, when very young, to Camille Desmoulins, a young man of great talent, who became one of the first leaders and victims of the revolution. They were married in 1790. Camille Desmoulins, after having made himself conspicuous by his speeches in favour of the death of Louis the Sixteenth, was appointed a member of the Convention, and for some time was very much followed. But as his feelings gradually changed from hatred against the aristocrats to pity for the innocent victims of the people's fury, he lost his popularity, was denounced, and imprisoned. Lucille exerted herself to the utmost to save him, and wandered continually around his prison, trying to rouse the people in his favour; but in vain. He was guillotined, and she was tried and condemned for having endeavoured to rescue him. She was calm, and even cheerful, during her hasty trial; and dressing herself with the greatest care, she entered the fatal cart, and, in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, ascended the scaffold with the most perfect serenity. She was executed in 1794, at the age of twenty-three.

DEVONSHIRE, DUCHESS OF, GEORGIANA CAVENDISH. as remarkable for her talents as her beauty, was the eldest daughter of Earl Spenser, and was born in 1757. In her seventeenth year, she married the Duke of Devonshire, a distinguished nobleman. The beautiful Duchess, in the bloom of youth, became not only the leader of female fashions, and the star of the aristocratic world, but she also aspired to political influence. In 1780, she became the zealous partizan of Mr. Fox, and canvassed successfully for votes in his favour. The story of the butcher selling her his vote for a kiss, is well known. Among a variety of other jeux d'esprits which appeared on that occasion, was the following:—

The Duchess was benevolent, as well as patriotic, and few ladies in her high station have left such an impression of the kindly feelings of the heart on the public mind.

An anecdote is related of her by Gibbon, the celebrated historian, who became acquainted with her while she passed through Switzerland, during her travels abroad. The Duchess returned to London; it was in the year 1793, when England was at war with France. The patriotism of the Duchess now displayed a truly feminine character; she took an anxious interest in the health and comfort of the protecting armies; and when, late in the autumn. Gibbon revisited England, and renewed his acquaintance with the Duchess of Devonshire, he found her "making flannel waistcoats for the soldiers." This was more lady-like than canvassing for votes.

The Duchess had three children, two daughters and a son, and seems to have been a careful and loving mother, as she was an excellent wife. She died, after a short illness, on the 30th. of March,