her Commentaries on several authors, Mad. Dacier successively translated, into French, the best pieces of Plautus and Aristophanes. The Terence, which she published some time after, was preferred to that of Mile. de Portroyal; and her translations of Anacreon, and of Sappho, were followed by those of the Iliad and the Odyssey. This gave rise to a literary dispute between La Motte, Hardouin, and Mad. Dacier, who, in her defence of Homer, did not, at all times, avail herself of the goodness of her cause.

A good mother, a sincere friend, and virtuous wife; Madame Dacier was a model of tenderness and prudence, of modesty and erudition, of frankness and of piety. She was never vain of her writings, nor did she ever, in her conversation, render apparent the advantage she might have displayed over those with whom she associated. She was equally reserved in matters of religion: she pretended, that things of such importance were above the reach of females, who ought to rest satisfied with adoring the divinity and doing good. She had two daughters and a son; and such was her benevolence, that her husband was compelled to restrain her liberality, which often exceeded their revenue.

Towards the end of life, Mad. Dacier suffered great bodily affliction, which she bore with the greatest resignation; and was lost to the literary world, on the 17th of August, 1720, at the age of sixty-nine.