Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/749

 SUZE, HENRIETTA COLIGNY DE LA, the daughter of the Marechal de Coligny. She was born in 1613, and was one of the most admired poetesses of the day. She was particularly praised for her elegies. Mademoiselle de Scuderi has given her the most high-flown eulogiums in her romance of "Cielia;" and she received tributes from all the beaux esprits; some Latin poems among others. It is said that, being engaged in a lawsuit with Madame de Chatillon, Madame de la Suze met that lady in the vestibule of the court of parliament, escorted by M. de la Feulllade, while she herself was accompanied by the poet Benserade. "Madame," said her adversary, "you have rhyme on your side, and we have reason upon ours."

"It cannot be alleged," retorted Madame de la Suze, "that we go to law without rhyme or reason."

Nothing could exceed the want of order in which she lived, nor her apathetic negligence of her affairs. One morning, at eight o'clock, her household goods were seized for debt; she was not up, and she begged the officer on duty to allow her to sleep a couple of hours longer, as she had been up late the night before. He granted her request, and took his seat in the ante-room. She slept comfortably till ten, when she arose, dressed herself for a dinner-party to which she was engaged, walked in to the officer, thanked him, and made him a great many compliments on his politeness and good manners; and coolly adding, "I leave you master of every thing," she went out. She and her husband lived very unhappily; they were Protestants. Madame de la Suze, having become a Roman Catholic, Queen Christina of Sweden said she did so that she might not meet her husband in the other world. She obtained a divorce from him at the sacrifice of a large sum of money. Madame de la Suze died in 1673.

SYBELLA, of Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, lived in the twelfth century. Her husband was wounded by a poisoned arrow, and, while he slept, Sybella applied her lips to the wound, and drew forth the venom, which soon caused her death.

SYMPHOROSA. , living in the reign of Trajan, embraced the Christian faith with her seven sons. During Trajan's persecution of the Christians, about the year 108, Symphrosa was ordered to sacrifice to the heathen deities. Refusing to comply with this command, she and her sons were cruelly put to death. Many other women suffered death in this persecution for the same cause.

TAGGART, CYNTHIA, won herself a place among those who deserve to be remembered, by her serene patience under the severest bodily sufferings, and the moral energy whereby she made these sufferings serve as instructors to her own mind, and to the hearts of pious Christians who may read her sorrowful story. The father of Cynthia Taggart was a soldier in the American war for independence. During this