But you bright nymphs, give Caesar leave to woo,
  The greatest wonder of the world, but you;
  And hear a muse, who has that hero taught
  To speak as gen’rously, as e’er he fought;
  Whose eloquence from such a theme deters
  All tongues but English, and all pens but hers. 
  By the just fates your sex is doubly blest,
  You conquer’d Caesar, and you praise him best.

She also translated from the French of Corneille, a Tragedy called Horace; Sir John Denham added a fifth Act to this Play, which was acted at Court by Persons of Quality.  The Duke of Monmouth spoke the Prologue, in which are these lines.

  So soft that to our shame we understand
  They could not fall but from a lady’s hand. 
  Thus while a woman Horace did translate,
  Horace did rise above the name of fate.

While Mrs. Philips was in Ireland, she was happy in carrying on her former intimacy with the famous Jeremy Taylor, the bishop of Down and Connor, who had some time before done her much honour by writing, and publishing a Discourse on the Nature, Offices, and Measures of Friendship, with Rules for conducting it, in a letter addressed to her.  It is probable that this prelate’s acquaintance with so accomplished a lady as Mrs. Philips, might be one reason of his entertaining so high an opinion of the fair sex in general; it is certain he was a great admirer of them, by which the good sense, as well as piety, of that great man is demonstrated; for whoever has studied life, examined the various motives of human actions, compared characters, and, in a word, scrutinized the heart, will find that more real virtue, more genuine and unaffected goodness exist amongst the female sex, than the other, and were their minds cultivated with equal care, and did they move in the bustle of life, they would not fall short of the men in the acute excellences; but the softness of their natures exempts them from action, and the blushes of beauty are not to be effaced by the rough storms of adversity:  that man is happy who enjoys in the conjugal state, the endearments of love and innocence, and if his wife is less acquainted with the world than he, she makes a large amends, by the artless blandishments of a delicate affection.

We are persuaded our fair readers will not be displeased if we insert a paragraph from the discourse already mentioned by this worthy churchman; it appearing to be so sincere a tribute to their merit.  ’But by the way, madam, you may see how I differ from the majority of those cynics, who would not admit your sex into the community of a noble friendship.  I believe some wives have been the best friends in the world; and few stories can outdo the nobleness and piety of that lady, that sucked the poisonous purulent matter from the wounds of the brave Prince in the holy land, when an assassin had pierced him with a venomed arrow:  and if it be told that women cannot retain council, and therefore can be