Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/461

 says, too, "that her taste was correct, and highly cultivated, and that her criticisms upon his poetry were always extremely apt and judicious; he knew instantly by her countenance, whether his thoughts pleased her; and so perfect was their sympathy, that their souls could hold delightful communion almost without the aid of language,"

KNORRING, BARONESS, a novelist of some note. Mrs. Mary Howitt, who translated one of her works, "The Peasant and his Landlord," says, "The Baroness Knorring stands (in her own country) side by side with the author of 'Home' and the 'Neighbours.'" These excellent ladies. Miss Bremer and the Baroness Knorring, are doing much for the improvement in morals as well as literary taste of the Swedish people. The last-named writer takes an earnest part in the temperance cause. "The Peasant and his Landlord" is a story in point, affording "one more of the many demonstrations which we meet with, of the highest and purest natures being driven from their proper course, and oppressed and perverted by the worst. It affords, also, a grand lessen on the subject of temperance, and proves that though one false step often leads to ruin, which is retrievable only by death, yet that uprightness and virtue, through suffering and through death, work out their own salvation."

KOERTEN, JOANNA, Dutch artist, was born at Amsterdam, in 1650. She married Adrian Block, and attained great excellence in drawing, painting, and embroidery. She also modelled in wax, made artificial ornaments, and flowers; but her principal excellence was in cutting figures oat of paper with the scissors; and her portraits and landscapes in this way were so celebrated, that foreigners visited Amsterdam to see them, amongst whom was Peter the Great, of Russia. Sea-pieces, animals, architecture, and still-life, were her favourite subjects; hut she also cut portraits on paper with as striking a resemblance as if they had been painted by the ablest artists. The elector-palatine offered her one thousand florins for three small pictures of her cutting, which she refused as insufficient. At the request of the emperor of Germany, she designed a trophy with the arms of the empire, ornamented with laurel crowns, wreaths of flowers, and other suitable designs, which she executed with great correctness of drawing and wonderful beauty. The empress gave her for it four thousand florins. She also cut the emperor's portrait, which is hung up in the imperial cabinet at Vienna, She died in 1715, aged sixty-five.

KÖNIGSMARK, MARIE AURORE, COUNTESS OF, of the numerous mistresses of Augustus the Second, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, was born in 1678. She was descended from one of the oldest families in Brandenburg, and was a woman of great beauty and talents, and of uncommon political abilities. Thoroughly educated, she spoke several languages, played on various instruments, composed music, and sang and painted with great skill; she also excelled in conversation. In 1678 she went to Dresden, and. at first sight, Augustus, fell |n love with her. She rejected his