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 a grievous and distressing malady; his excellent wife smoothed his pathway to the grave, and gladly shared with him in the pious work of restoring and patronizing several religious establishments Alfred died A.D. 900, and bequeathed to Queen Elswitha three towns and other lands in Berkshire; she had also other property, some of which she bestowed on the monastery at Glastonbury. She founded the abbey of St, Mary at Winchester, mentioned by some authorities as Nunna-minstre, or New Minstre, of which her granddaughter, Eadburga, was made abbess. In the society of this excellent and pious woman, the queen passed the four years of her widowhood, and died, as she had lived, in the profession and exemplification of the Christian faith.

Of her eldest daughter, Ethelfleda, one of the most learned and remarkable women of her time, an account will be found further on.

EMBURY, EMMA CATHARINE, born in the city of New York, where her father, Dr. James R. Manley, was a distinguished physician. Miss Manley began to write when very young, her first effusions appearing in the periodicals of the day, under the name of "Ianthe."

In 1828, she was married to Daniel Embury, of Brooklyn; and soon afterwards a volume of her youthful compositions was published—entitled, "Guido, and other Poems." The choice of subjects for the principal poems was unfortunate. The writer had entered the circle in which L. E. L., Barry Cornwall, and other English writers were then strewing their flowers of fancy, sentiment, and genius; no wonder the delicate blossoms offered by our young poetess were considered merely exotics, which she had trained from a foreign root; imitations in style, if not in thought.

It is the natural impulse of poetic and ardent minds to admire the genius and glory of Italy, and to turn to that land of bright skies and passionate hearts for themes of song. Mrs. Embury did but follow the then expressed opinion of all European critics, and the admitted acknowledgment of most Americans—that the new world afforded no subjects propitious for the Muses.

Mrs. Embury has a fertile fancy, and her versification flows with uncommon ease and grace. In her later poems she has greatly improved her style, that is, she writes naturally, from her own thoughts and feelings, and not from a model; and some of her short pieces are very beautiful. She is, too, a popular prose writer; many sketches and stories from her pen enrich American periodical literature. She is also warmly engaged in the cause of improving her own sex, and has written well on the subject of "Female Education." Since her marriage, Mrs. Embury has published more prose than verse; her contributions to the various periodicals, amount to about one hundred and fifty original tales, besides her poetical articles, all written within the last twenty years. Her published works, during the same time, are "Constance Latimer, or The Blind Girl;" "Pictures of Early Life;" "Nature's Gems, or American Wild Flowers;" "The Waldorf Family;" "Glimpses of Home Life." An eminent American critic remarks of Mrs. Embury's works—"Her stories are founded upon a just observation of life although not a few are equally remarkable for attractive invention. In point of style, they often possess the merit of graceful and pointed