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Show A PRODIGY. There are many persons, who, if we are to place full credence in their biographers, must have been extraordinary [line unreadable]. Annie Maria Schurman, for example, who was the boast of Germany, was one of this description. At the age of six, and without instruction, she cut in paper the most delicate figures; at eight, she learned in a few days to paint flowers, which, it should be added, were highly esteemed; and two years later it cost her only five hours' application to learn the art of embroidering with elegance. Her talents for higher attainments, we are told, did not develop themselves till she was twelve years of age, when they were discovered in the following manner: Her brothers were studying in the apartment where she sat, and it was noticed that whenever their memories failed in the recital of their lessons, the little girl prompted them without any previous knowledge of the tasks except what she had gained from hearing the boys c?? them over. In her education she made extraordinary progress, and is said to have perfectly understood the German, Low Dutch, French, English, Latin, Greek, Italian, Hebrew, Symac?, Chaldeau, Arabic and Ethiopian languages. Her knowledge of science and her skill in music, painting, and sculpture were also extraordinary; and her talent for modeling was shown by the wax portrait she contrived to make of herself with the aid of a mirror. When it is added that her letters were not only valuable for the elegance of their style, but for the beauty of the written characters, which caused the said epistles to be preserved as cabinet? Curiosities, we may judge what a prodigy of cleverness was foreshadowed by the talents she displayed as a child. |