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 me in possession of the same qualities with which I this day assume it."

The people applauded her speech, and seem always to have loved and revered her. And she proved herself worthy of this warm esteem. She was remarkable for the dignity of her deportment, and for the influence which her chaste example had on the morals of Roman society. Plotina loved tranquillity, and sought to incline her husband's heart to the arts of peace; but Trajan was a soldier, and his passion for military glory superseded to the last his wisdom and his discretion. As Plotina could not dissuade him from his last expedition into Africa and Asia, she accompanied him; was by his side when he passed the Tigris over a bridge of boats; and when he died she was beside him and received his last breath. Then, after she had, by her energy and influence, made her favourite Adrian emperor, she brought back the ashes of her husband to Rome; and still enjoyed all the honours and titles of a Roman empress under Adrian, who, by her means, had succeeded to the vacant throne. At her death, which occurred in the year 122, she was ranked among the goddesses, and received divine honours.

POOL, RACHEL VAN, born at Amsterdam, in 1664. Her father was the famous professor of anatomy, Ruysch; and her instructor in the art of painting was William Van Aeist, whom she soon equalled in the representation of flowers and fruit. She studied nature so closely, and imitated her so well, that she was thought almost a prodigy, and allowed to be the most able artist of her time in that line. Her choice of subjects was judicious; her manner of painting them exquisite; and she contrasted them in all her compositions with unusual beauty and delicacy; and they appeared so natural, that every plant, flower, or insect, would deceive the eye with the semblance of reality. Her reputation extended all over Europe, and she was appointed painter to the elector palatine, who, as a testimony of respect, sent her a complete set of silver for her toilette, consisting of twenty-eight pieces, and six candlesticks. He also engrossed the greater part of her works, paying for them with princely generosity. In early life she married Juria Van Pool, an eminent portrait-painter, with whom she lived very happily. She continued to paint to the last period of a long life; and her pictures, at the age of eighty, were as neatly and carefully worked as when she was thirty. Her paintings are uncommonly rare, being treasured up as curiosities in Holland and Germany. She died at Amsterdam, in 1750, at the age of eighty-six. She was as highly esteemed for her character as her talents. Her genius developed itself very early, and she had become somewhat celebrated for it before she received any instruction.

POPE, MARIA, actress, was the daughter of Mr. Campion, a respectable merchant of Waterford. The family being left in reduced circumstances by Mr. Campion's death, Maria went on the stage, and soon, as a tragic actress, attained great eminence, especially by her personation of Juliet. In 1798, she married Mr. Pope, the Actor.