OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Finch, John William

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​FINCH. (Commander, 1846.)
John William Finch entered the Navy 11 May, 1811; and passed his examination in 1817. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 5 July, 1826, in the Scylla; obtained an appointment in the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, 22 Feb. 1827; and joined the Coast Guard 1 July, 1831. He left the latter service in 1832; and does not appear to have been again employed until 12 July, 1846, when he obtained an appointment to the Victory 104, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Admiral-Superintendent Hyde Parker. Since his advancement to the rank he now holds, which took place 9 Nov. following. Commander Finch has again been on half-pay.
He is married. Agents – Case and Loudonsack.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Isabella of France

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ISABELLA OF FRANCE,
Youngest child of Louis the Eighth and Blanche of Castile, was born in 1224. She was early celebrated for her beauty, learning, and piety. She refused every offer of marriage, even that of the son of the Emperor Ferdinand, and declared her intention to devote herself wholly to religion. The pope, at her mother's request, wrote to dissuade her from doing this; but her answer to his letter was so full of humility,. piety, and reason, that both he and Blanche were obliged to yield. She founded the monastery of Longchamp about 1260, though she never withdrew entirely from the world, or joined any religious order. Towards the end of her life she observed the most rigorous silence, to expiate for all the idle words she had spoken in her youth. She died February 12th., 1269, at the age of forty-five. For a long time it was believed that miracles were performed at her tomb.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/James, Maria

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JAMES, MARIA,
Is the daughter of a Welsh emigrant, who went to America in the early part of this century, when his daughter was about seven years old, and settled in the northern part of the state of New York. Maria James received but a very slight education, but from her earliest youth evinced a poetical talent very remarkable in a person circumstanced as she was; occupying generally the position of nursery-maid, or servant in families in the towns of that state. Her poems, with a preface by Alonzo Potter, D.D., now Bishop of Pennsylvania, were published in 1839.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Isabella of Valois

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ISABELLA OF VALOIS,
Was the daughter of Charles the Sixth of France, and Isabella of Bavaria. She was born in the Louvre palace at Paris, November 9th., 1387. In October, 1396, Isabella became the second wife of Richard the Second of England, though she was then only eight years old. When Richard was dethroned and murdered by Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry the Fourth, in 1400, Isabella remained in England for two years, treated with great respect as queen-dowager, but steadily refusing the hand of Henry's eldest son, who had fallen greatly in love with her. In 1402, Isabella returned to Paris, and at the age of eighteen married her cousin, the celebrated Archduke of Orleans, who, though some years younger than herself, she dearly loved. She died at Blois, September 13th., 1410, leaving an infant daughter only a few weeks old.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Jagiello, Appolonia

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JAGIELLO, APPOLONIA,
Distinguished for her heroic patriotism, was born about the year 1825, in Lithuania, a part of the land where Thaddeus Kosciusko spent his first days. She was educated at Cracow, the ancient capital of Poland—a city filled with monuments and memorials sadly recalling to the mind of every Pole the past glory of his native land. There, and in Warsaw and Vienna, she passed the days of her early girlhood.
She was about nineteen when the attempt at revolution of 1846 broke out at Cracow, and in this struggle for freedom Mademoiselle Jagiello took an active part. She was seen on horseback, in the picturesque costume of the Polish soldier, in the midst of the patriots who first planted the white eagle and the flag of freedom on the castles of the ancient capital of her country, and was one of the handful of heroes who fought the battle near Podgorzc, against a tenfold stronger enemy.
After the Polish uprising, which commenced in Cracow, was suppressed, Mademoiselle Jagiello reassumed female dress, and remained undetected for a few weeks in that city. From thence she removed to Warsaw, and remained there and in the neighbouring country, in quiet retirement among her friends. But the struggle of 1848 found her again at Cracow, in the midst of the combatants. Alas! that effort was but a dream—it accomplished nothing—it perished like all other European attempts at revolutions of that year, so great in grand promises, so mean in fulfilment.
Mademoiselle Jagiello then left Cracow tor Vienna, where she arrived in time to take part in the engagement at the faubourg Widen. Her chief object in going to Vienna was to inform herself of the character of that struggle, and to carry news to the Hungarians, who were then in the midst of a war, which she and her countrymen regarded as involving the liberation of her beloved Poland, and presaging the final regeneration of Europe. With the aid of devoted friends, she reached Presburg safely, and from that place, in the disguise of a peasant, was conveyed by the peasantry carrying provisions for the army, to the village of St. Paul
After many dangers and hardships in crossing the country occupied by the Austrians, and swimming on horseback two rivers, she at last, on the 15th. of August, 1848, reached the Hungarian camp, near the village of Eneszey, just before the battle there fought, in which the Austrians were defeated, and lost General Wist. This was the first Hungarian battle in which our heroine took part as volunteer. She was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and, at the request of her Hungarian friends, took charge of a hospital in Comorn. Whilst there, she joined, as a volunteer, the expedition of twelve thousand troops under the command of the gallant General Klapka, which made a sally, and took Raab. She returned in safety to Comorn, where she remained, superintending the hospital, until the capitulation of the fortress.
She went to the United States in December, 1849, with Governor Ladislas Ujhazy and his family, where she and her heroic friends received a most enthusiastic welcome.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Jane of Flanders

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JANE OF FLANDERS,
Countess of Montfort, was one of the most extraordinary women of her age. Her husband, the Count de Montfort, having been, in 1342, made prisoner and conducted to Paris, she assembled the inhabitants of Rennes, her place of residence, and by her eloquence, aided by the pity inspired by her infant son, moved the people to take up arms in her behalf; and thus she soon found herself in a position to protect her rights. Having shut herself up in the fortress of Hennebonne, Charles de Blois, her husband's enemy, besieged her there; she made an obstinate defence, and exhibited many of the qualities of a commander. The repeated breaches made in the walls at length rendered it necessary for the besieged, who were diminished in numbers, and exhausted by fatigue, to treat for a capitulation. During a conference for that purpose, in which the Bishop of Leon was engaged with Charles de Blois, the Countess, who had mounted a high tower, which commanded a view of the sea, descried some sails at a distance, and immediately exclaimed "Behold the succours! the English succours! no capitulation!"
This fleet, prepared by Edward the Third for the relief or Hennebonne, having been detained by contrary winds, entered the harbour, under the command of Sir Walter Mauny. The garrison, by this reinforcement animated with fresh spirit, immediately sallied forth, beat the besiegers from their posts, and obliged them to retreat. The flames of war still continued their devastations, when Charles de Blois, having invested the fortress of Roche de Rien, the Countess of Montfort, reinforced by some English troops, attacked him, during the night, in his entrenchments, dispersed his army, and took him prisoner. His wife, in whose right he had pretended to Brittany, compelled by the captivity of her husband, assumed, in her turn, the government of the party; and opposed herself, a formidable and worthy rival, both in the cabinet and field, to the Countess of Montfort.
The mediation of France and England failed to put an end to the disputes in Brittany, till Charles de Blois was at length slain, at the battle of Auray. The young Count de Montfort soon after obtained possession of the duchy, and, though a zealous partizan of England, had his title acknowledged by the French king, to whom he did homage for his dominions.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Isabella of Lorraine

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ISABELLA OF LORRAINE,
Eldest daughter of Charles the Second of Lorraine, was married in 1420, at the age of thirteen, to René, Duke d'Anjou, brother-in-law of Charles the Sixth of France, then about fourteen. She united to great beauty, intellect, generosity, and courage. When her husband was taken prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy, in 1429, she assembled the nobles of Lorraine, placed her four children under their protection, and raised an army to rescue her husband. While he was still a prisoner, the kingdom of Sicily, by the death of Charles the First, became his; and René sent Isabella to claim it. She went there, and by her wise and skilful government acquired great popularity. In 1437, René joined her; but in less than five years he was forced to return with his family to France, by his victorious rival, Alphonso of Arragon. In 1444, Isabella's youngest daughter, Margaret of Anjou, married Henry the Sixth of England; and the misfortunes of this beloved child so preyed upon the mother, that they are supposed to have caused her death. She died at the castle d'Angers, February 28th., 1452, at the age of forty-four. Her husband's grief at her loss nearly proved fatal to him; and though he married again, he never ceased to regret her.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Isaure, Clemence, or Clemenza

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ISAURE, CLEMENCE, or CLEMENZA,
A lady of Toulouse, in France, celebrated for her learning. She instituted the Jeux Floraux, or Floral Games, in that city, where prizes were bestowed on the successful poetical competitors. She was born in 1464, and was the daughter of Ludovico Isaure, who died when Clemence was only five years old.
Some years afterwards the romance of her life began. Near her garden dwelt Raoul, a young troubadour, who fell in love with her for her genius and beauty, and communicated his passion in songs in which her name and his were united. The maiden replied with flowers, whose meaning Raoul could easily interpret. He was the natural son of Count Raymond, of Toulouse, and followed his father to the war against the Emperor Maximilian. In the battle of Guigenaste both were slain, and Clemence resolved to take the veil. Before doing so, however, she renewed the poetic festival which had been established by the gay company of the seven troubadours, but had been lone forgotten, and assigned as prizes for the victors the five different flowers, wrought in gold and silver, with which she had replied to her lover's passion. She fixed on ​the first of May as the day for the distribution of the prizes; and she herself composed an ode on spring for the occasion, which acquired for her the surname of the Sappho of Toulouse. Her character was tinged with melancholy, which the loss of her lover probably heightened; and her poems partake of this plaintive style. Her works were printed at Toulouse in 1506. They remained a long time in oblivion, and perhaps never would have seen the light but for the fortunate discovery of M. Alexandre Dumenge. There are extant two copies of this precious volume, which is entitled "Dictats de Dona Clamenza Isaure;" it consists of cantos or odes; the principal and most finished is called "Plainte d'Amour."
The queen of poetry, as her contemporaries entitled her, died in the first year of the great reign of Frances the First and Leo the Tenth. Her mortal remains were deposited in the choir of the church of Notre Dame, at Toulouse. A bronze tablet, inscribed with a highly eulogistic tribute to her fame, still remains, at the foot of a statue of Clemence. After the lapse of three centuries, it required nothing less than the convulsions of the French Revolution of 1789 to suspend the floral games; they were reinstated under Napoleon, as a municipal institution, in 1806. The memory of Clemence Isaure lived "green with immortal bays;" for centuries the Toulousians had made her their boast—but "all that beauty, all that wit e'er gave," could find no grace with the patriots of 1793, That intelligent body of citizens voted Clemence Isaure an "aristocrat," and, as such, sentenced her bronze monument .to be melted down, and used for vulgar purposes. Fortunately, the honest artisan to whom the work was consigned, had a feeling which saved this venerable relic. At the risk of his head, he substituted some other bronze, and concealed the tablet till a time of political safety arrived.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Ivrea, Manzoli deL Monte, Giovanna

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IVREA, MANZOLI DEL MONTE, GIOVANNA,
Was born at Genoa, She received the rudiments of her education at the convent of Benedictine nuns in Genoa, and was afterwards placed at the monastery of St. Andrew, in the same city, where her studies were pursued on a more extended base. After her marriage with Count Manzoli del Monte, she resided in Modena, and indulged in the desire for improvement, for which she was furnished with opportunities. She was instructed in Natural Philosophy by Father Pompilio Pozzetti, a man of great erudition, who directed her in the study of the classics, as well as in every science. Her own inclinations led her almost exclusively to experimental science—but to gratify the earnest wish of her husband, she devoted part of her time to imaginitive works, and these met with distinguished success. She was invited to be a member of "The Arcadia," at Rome, of the Academy of the Indefessi at Alexandria, and that of Arts, Letters, and Science at Modena.
She has witten "La Tarquinia, a vision in verse," "A Collection of Sonnets," "A Collection of Epigrams, and several Odes.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Isabella of Castile

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ISABELLA OF CASTILE
The celebrated Queen of Spain, daughter of John the Second, ​was born in 1451, and married, in 1469, Ferdinand the Fifth, King of Arragon. After the death of her brother, Henry the Fourth, in 1474, She ascended the throne of Castile, to the exclusion of her elder sister, Joanna, who had the rightful claim to the crown. During the lifetime of her brother, Isabella had gained the favour of the estates of the kingdom to such a degree that the majority, on his death, declared for her. From the others, the victorious arms of her husband extorted acquiescence, in the battle of Toro, in 1476. After the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile were thus united, Ferdinand and Isabella assumed the royal title of Spain.
To the graces and charms of her sex, Isabella united the courage of a hero, and the sagacity of a statesman and legislator. She was always present at the transaction of state affairs, and her name was placed beside that of her husband in public ordinances. The conquest of Granada, after which the Moors were entirely expelled from Spain, and the discovery of America, were, in a great degree her work. In all her undertakings, the wise Cardinal Ximenes was her assistant.
She has been accused of severity, pride, and unbounded ambition; but these faults sometimes promoted the welfare of the kingdom, as well as her virtues and talents. A spirit like hers was necessary to humble the haughtiness of the nobles without exciting their hostility, to conquer Granada without letting loose the hordes of Africa on Europe, and to restrain the vices of her subjects, who had become corrupt by reason of the bad administration of the laws. By the introduction of a strict ceremonial, which is still to a great extent kept up at the Spanish court, she succeeded in checking the haughtiness of the numerous nobles about the person of the king, and in depriving them of their pernicious influence over him. Private warfare, which had formerly prevailed to the destruction of public tranquillity, she checked, and introduced a vigorous administration of justice. In 1492, Pope Alexander the Sixth confirmed to the royal pair the title of Catholic king, already conferred on them by Innocent the Eighth. The zeal for the Roman Catholic religion, which procured them this title, gave rise to the Inquisition, which was introduced into Spain in 1480, at the suggestion of their confessor, Torquemada. Isabella died in 1504, having extorted from her husband, (of whom she was very jealous,) an oath that he would never marry again.
# A Handful of Pleasant Delights/A Sonet of a Louer in the praise of his lady

A Sonet of a Loner in the praise of his lady.
To Calen o Custure me: sung at euerie lines end.
Hen as I view your comly grace, Ca. &c
Your golden haires, your angels face:
Your azured veines much like the skies,
Your siluer teeth, your Christall eies.
Your Corall lips, your crimson cheeks,
That Gods and men both loue and leekes,
¶Your pretie mouth with diuers gifts,
Which driueth wise men to their shifts:
So braue, so fine, so trim, so yong,
With heauenlie wit and pleasant tongue,
That Pallas though she did excell,
Could frame ne tel a tale so well.
¶Your voice so sweet, your necke so white,
your bodie fine and small in sight:
Your fingers long so nimble be,
To vtter foorth such harmonic,
As all the Muses for a space:
To sit and heare do giue you place.
¶Your pretie foot with all the rest,
That may be scene or may be gest:
Doth beare such shape, that beautie may
Giue place to thee and go her way:
And Paris nowe must change his doome,
For Venus lo must giue thee roome.
¶Whose gleams doth heat my hart as fier,
Although I burne, yet would I nier:
Within my selfe then can I say:
The night is gone, behold the day:
Behold the star so cleare and bright,
As dimmes the sight of Phœbus light:
​¶Whose fame by pen for to discriue,
Doth passe ech wight that is aliue:
Then how dare I with boldned face,
Presume to craue or wish your grace?
And thus amazed as I stand,
Not feeling sense, nor moouing hand.
¶My soule with silence moouing sense,
Doth wish of God with reuerence,
Long life, and vertue you possesse:
To match those gifts of worthinesse,
And loue and pitie may be spide,
To be your chief and onely guide.
# A Handful of Pleasant Delights/A fragment of another edition

This is the only extant extract from A boke of very pleasaunte sonettes and storyes in myter (1566), generally believed to be an earlier edition of the Handfull of pleasant delites.
A Fragment, of one leaf only, of another edition, in the Collection of Bagford Ballads in the British Museum.
Press Mark, 643. m. 9/83. Compare with pp. 47-49.
to sundrie new tunes.
All slayest the heart, whom thou maist help,
¶ A craggie Rock thy cradle was,
And Tygres milke sure was thy food:
Whereby Dame Nature brought to passe,
That like thy Nurse should be thy moode,
Wilde and vnkind, cruell and fell,
To flay the heart that loues thee well.
¶ The Crocodile with fained teares,
The Fisher not so oft beguiles:
As thou haste fild my simple eares,
To heare sweet words, full fraught with wiles
That I may say, as I doo prooue,
Wo worth the time I gan to loue.
¶ Sith thou haste vow'd to worke my wracke,
And haste no will my wealth to way,
Farewell vnkind, I will keep backe
Such toyes as may my health decay:
And still will crie, as I haue cause,
Fie vpon loue and all his lawes.
The Louer being wounded with his Ladies beautie, requireth mercy. To the tune of Apelles.
He liuely sparkes of those two eyes,
My wounded heart hath set on fire:
And since I can no way deuise,
To stay the rage of my desire:
with sighes and trembling teares I craue
My deare, on me some pitty haue,
¶ In viewing thee, I tooke such ioy,
As one that sought his quiet rest: ​Vntill I felt the feathered boy,
Ay flickering in my captiue breast:
Since that time loe, in deep dispaire,
All voyd of ioy, my time I weare.
¶ The wofull prisoner Palemon,
And Troylus, eke King Pryamus,
Constrain'd by loue did neuer mone,
As I (my deare) for the haue done,
Let pitie then requite my paines
My life and death in thee remaines.
¶ If constant loue may reape his hire,
And faith vnfained may purchase,
Great hope I haue to my desire,
Your gentle heart will grant me grace,
Till then (my deare) in few words plaine,
In pensiue thoughts I shall remaine.
The lamentation of a woman being wrongfullie defamed. To the tune of Damon and Pythias.
Ou Ladies falselie deem'd
of any fault or crime,
Constraine your pensiue heartes to help
this dolefull tune of mine:
For spitefull men there are,
That faults would faine espie:
Alas, what heart would beare their talke,
but willinglie would die:
¶ I waile oft times in woe,
And curse mine houre of birth:
Such slaunderous pangs doe me oppresse,
when others ioy in mirth.
# A Handful of Pleasant Delights/A new Courtly Sonet, of the Lady Greensleeues

A new Courtly Sonet, of the Lady Green sleeues. To the new tune of Greensleeues.
# A Handful of Pleasant Delights/A new Sonet of Pyramus and Thisbie

A new Sonet of Pyramus and Thisbie.
To the, Downe right Squier.
Ou Dames (I say) that climbe the mount
of Helicon,
Come on with me, and giue account,
what hath been don:
Come tell the chaunce ye Muses all,
and dolefull newes,
Which on these Louers did befall,
which I accuse.
In Babilon not long agone,
a noble Prince did dwell:
whose daughter bright dimd ech ones sight,
so farre she did excel.
¶An other Lord of high renowne,
who had a sonne:
And dwelling there within the towne,
great loue begunne: ​Pyramus this noble Knight,
I tel you true:
Who with the loue of Thisbie bright,
did cares renue:
It came to passe, their secrets was,
beknowne vnto them both:
And then in minde, they place do finde,
where they their loue vnclothe.
¶This loue they vse long tract of time,
till it befell:
At last they promised to meet at prime,
by Minus well:
Where they might louingly imbrace,
in loues delight:
That he might see his Thisbies face,
and she his sight:
In ioyful case, she approcht the place,
where she her Pyramus
Had thought to viewd, but was renewd,
to them most dolorous.
¶Thus while she staies for Pyramus,
there did proceed:
Out of the wood a Lion fierce,
made Thisbie dreed:
And as in haste she fled awaie,
her Mantle fine:
The Lion tare in stead of praie,
till that the time
That Pyramus proceeded thus,
and see how lion tare
The Mantle this of Thisbie his,
he desperately doth fare.
¶For why he thought the lion had,
faire Thisbie slaine.
And then the beast with his bright blade,
he slew certaine:
Then made he mone and said alas, ​(O wretched wight)
Now art thou in a woful case
for Thisbie bright:
Oh Gods aboue, my faithfull loue
shal neuer faile this need:
For this my breath by fatall death,
shal weaue Atropos threed.
¶Then from his sheathe he drew his blade,
and to his hart
He thrust the point, and life did vade,
with painfull smart:
Then Thisbie she from cabin came
with pleasure great,
And to the well apase she ran,
there for to treat:
And to discusse, to Pyramus
of al her former feares.
And when slaine she, found him truly,
she shed foorth bitter teares.
¶When sorrow great that she had made,
she took in hand
The bloudie knife, to end her life,
by fatall hand.
You Ladies all, peruse and see,
the faithfulnesse,
How these two Louers did agree,
to die in distresse:
You Muses vaile, and do not faile,
but still do you lament:
These louers twaine, who with such paine,
did die so well content.
Finis.
I. Thomson.