Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/722

700 under an eminent Flemish artist She painted portraits of several of the nobility with such beauty and fidelity, that she was invited to take likenesses of the royal family; but she was under the necessity of declining this honour, as she was about to return with her father to Florence, where he had a very lucrative employment conferred on him by the Grand Duke, who professed great 'esteem for this artist, and ordered her portrait to be placed in the gallery of artists at Florence. To perpetuate her father's memory, she introduced his portrait with her own, giving at once a proof of her filial piety and distinguished merit She painted equally well in oil and with crayons; but most of her works are in oil, and are principally from historical subjects. She also painted fruit and flowers; and executed every subject with extraordinary taste, truth, and delicacy. She died in 1760.

SMITH, CHARLOTTE, daughter of Nicholas Turner, Esq., of Surrey, was born in London, May 4th. 1749. She lost her mother when she was only three years old, and the charge of her education devolved on her aunt. Miss Turner was carefully instructed in all the accomplishments of the day, but she afterwards regretted that her attention had not been directed more to the solid branches of learning. She began to write when very young, and was always excessively fond of reading, especially poetry and romances. At the early age of twelve she left school, and from that time was accustomed to frequent public amusements with her family, and even appear in society with them. She was beautiful, animated, and attractive, and appeared so much older than she really was, that at fourteen she received a proposal of marriage, which was refused, and at fifteen she was married to Mr. Smith, son of Richard Smith, a West India merchant, and Director of the East India Company.

Mr. Smith's great inferiority to his wife, both in mind and principles, was more and more apparent every year, which Mrs. Smith felt keenly as she grew older; yet never to her most confidential friends did she allow a complaint or severe remark to escape her lips. Her father-in-law, fully appreciated her, and often employed her pen on matters of business, and confided to her all his anxieties. He often remarked that she could expediate more business in an hour, from his dictation, than any one of his clerks could perform in a day. This affords a strong instance of the compass of her mind, which could adapt itself with equal facility to the charms of literature and the dry details of commerce.

In 1776, the death of her father-in-law, who left an incomprehensible will which kept them for some time involved in law-suits, occasioned the final ruin of their fortunes. Their estate in Hampshire, was sold, and they removed to Sussex. Mrs. Smith never deserted her husband for a moment during the period of his misfortunes. While suffering from the calamities he had brought on himself and his children, she exerted herself with as much energy as though his conduct had been unexceptionable, made herself mistress of his affairs, and finally succeeded in settling them.

Mr. Smith found it expedient, in 1783, to retire to the continent where his wife joined him with their children. They resided near Dieppe; and here her youngest son was born. She translated while there the novel called "Manon l'Escaut" In 1785, she