A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Michiel, Renier Giustina
MICHIEL, RENIER GIUSTINA
Was born 1755, in Venice. Her father, Andrea Renier, was son of the last doge, save one, and her mother, Cecilia Majiin, was sister of the last; her godfather, Foscarini, had been doge himself, and was one of the principal literati of his day. The princely rank and affluence of her family, offered every possible advantage of education: from the earliest childhood she displayed a fondness for study, and a dislike for needlework, and such lady-like business. She was passionately fond of music, and devoted a great portion of time to the cultivation of that art, as well as to literary pursuits. At the age of twenty, she married Marco Michiel, a gentleman of high rank. She accompanied him to Rome, where his father resided as ambassador, and there she became acquainted with all the most distinguished geniuses of Italy. In conversing with foreigners, she felt her deficiency in the French and English languages: to these she immediately applied herself. Intimacy with professors of the university turned her attention to natural science: she became well acquainted with geometry, physics, and chemistry. She studied botany, and wrote some excellent works upon it; but her most elaborate and considerable production, is the "Feste Veniziane," a work of no little research and learning. She lived in an extended circle of society, to all of whom she was endeared by her amiable qualities and superior abilities. Albrizzi, who particularly describes her, represents her conversation and social qualities in a very charming light. She was fond of simplicity in dress, and detested affectation in manner; beyond every thing she avoided the society of tiresome and insipid persons. "For me," said she, "ennui is among the worst evils—I can bear pain better." Speaking of a person whom she had reason to condemn, "Now he is unfortunate; justice and humanity can ask no more—I forget his faults." In one of her letters she writes, "It belongs to my character to think well of people as long as it is possible."
In her latter years she became deaf, and had recourse to an ear-trumpet Her constitutional cheerfulness turned this into an advantage. Writing to a friend, she says, "My deafness is an inestimable advantage in company; for with the stupid and gossiping I shun all communication; their nonsense passes unheeded—but I can employ my trumpet with sensible people, and often gain in that way valuable knowledge." Another of her opinions was, "The world improves people according to the dispositions they bring into it." "Time is a better comforter than reflection."
In 1808, the French government sent to the municipality of Venice a writing of the engineer Cabot, entitled "Statistic questions concerning the city of Venice." The municipality imposed the charge of answering this work to two of the most distinguished men then living, the celebrated bibliopole Morelii, and the erudite Jacopo Filiasi. These applied to Madame Michiel to aid their labour; and it was while immersed in the studies this task involved, that the idea of her "Feste Veniziane," so happily executed, was planned. She died in 1832, aged seventy-seven years. A monument was erected to her memory, with an inscription, which, though eulogistic, considering her life, character, and learning, was not superior to her merits.