1836 and 1846, also in Albany in 1876, while a third edition was published in London in 1817.

De Quincey accidentally encountered Mrs. Grant and one of her beautiful daughters in a stage-coach soon after the "Memoirs of an American Lady" first appeared. The charms of the daughter of course were not lost upon the enthusiastic temperament of the opium-eater; but the conversation of the mother seems to have impressed him more deeply. In his "Literary Reminiscences," written many years later, he tells us with much feeling: "Her kindness to me was particularly flattering, and to this day I retain the impression of the benignity which she an established wit and just then receiving incense from all quarters — showed in her manners to me, a person wholly unknown.' In " Mrs. Fletcher's Autobiography" we also obtain occasional glimpses of Mrs. Grant. The author makes the following record at the time of the visit of George the Fourth to Edinburgh: "Mrs. Grant of Laggan, a great lover of kings, was of our party. The good old lady had, for this joyous occasion, put off her habitual black dress and robed herself in a salmon-colored satin, and with the rest of the party waved her handkerchief as the king appeared. They all had a good laugh at my expense, who, somewhat notorious for being no lover of kings, was actually detected shedding tears and waving my handkerchief, 'like the lave,' as the pageant passed."

In 1810 Mrs. Grant removed to Edinburgh,

and her residence there was frequented by Lord Jeffrey, Sir Walter Scott, Henry Mackenzie, "Christopher North," the "Ettrick Shepherd," and other magnates of the Scottish literary world. The year following she published her "Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders," -a work full of enthusiasm for the character of the people among whom she so long resided. So conspicuous was her pre-eminence in Gaelic literature by her beautiful translations,1 and by her knowledge of the people, that the earlier volumes of the "Waverley Novels" were frequently attributed to her pen. Mrs. Grant's writings in prose and verse were among the first to draw attention to the romantic scenery and peculiar manners of the Scottish Highlanders, anticipating Walter Scott by more than a decade. It may be mentioned that when our author first met Scott, she thought his appearance "very unpromising and commonplace, yet though no gleam of genius animates his countenance, much of it appears in his conversation, which is rich, varied, easy, and animated." Eighteen Hundred and Thirteen," a metrical work, appeared in 1814, followed by her last literary production, entitled "Popular Models and Impressive Warnings for the Sons and Daughters of Industry," which was published in 1815. During the interval of twenty-three years between the publication of the last volume and her death, Mrs.

1 Vide Wilson's "Poets and Poetry of Scotland," 2 vols., Harper's, 1876.

Grant's literary labors were no longer necessary for her support, but were taken up as recreation. They were confined chiefly to the composition of occasional verses, and to translations from the Gaelic. For one of these, a production of singular elegance and pathos, she in 1824 received the gold medal of the Highland Society. Her last poetical lines were written on her eighty-third birthday.

"When all my earthly treasures fled,

And grief bowed down my drooping head,
Nor faith, nor hope, nor comfort fled.
From bright abodes of peace and love
New strength descended from above,
To cheer me like the patriarch's dove.
Now, though bereft of motion's powers,
I pass no more through groves and flowers,
But moveless waste the languid hours,
While still the ethereal spark divine,
And memory's ample store are mine,
I neither suffer nor repine,

But wait serene the final hour,

Appointed by that Gracious Power,

Who while those vials seemed of wrath,
Shed countless blessings on my path.”

No important events varied the even tenor of Mrs. Grant's life or circumstances till the year 1820, when she met with an unfortunate fall which produced permanent lameness, so that ever afterwards. she was unable to move about without crutches or a cane. Five years later she received from the British government a pension of £100, in consideration of her literary talents, which, with the profits of her

writings, the emolument from her pupils, and several legacies from friends, already mentioned, rendered her life free from pecuniary cares.

In 1827, her long series of domestic sorrows terminated in the loss of her only surviving daughter Mary, a pure and lovely character. A friend who visited her at this period wrote: "It was delightful to find you in old age, after such severe trials, so supported and strengthened by the power of God -not resigned merely, possessing not the calm benevolence of age alone; but all the kinder feelings in their freshness and flower, which, beautiful as they are in youth, become so much more deeply interesting when we know that care and sorrow have had no power to wither them, and that they will soon form part of that crown of glory which fadeth not. If we could have forgotten the blessings which God has for a time taken to himself and is reserving for you in his keeping, we might have thought of you only as one,

"Whose cheerful day benevolence endears,

Whose night congratulating conscience cheers,
The general favorite, as the general friend.'"'

Mrs. Grant survived her daughter nearly eleven years, and to the last her sympathies remained unchilled, and she continued to find pleasure in her conversational parties, as well as in receiving visitors, those from America being always most warmly welcomed. Her early attachment to her happy home on the Hudson remained unshaken to the end.

When my father saw her for the last time she was little changed in appearance from what her portrait painted eight years previous, and from which our engraving is taken, represents her, and was busily knitting, with two large volumes lying open before her in such a manner that she could turn to either and read without interrupting her accustomed work - when she remarked, "Willie, I should not feel any sorrow if I were deprived of all other books. These will suffice for my few remaining days." Mrs. Grant's companions were her Bible and Shakespeare. To the very end of her fourscore and almost four years, she was constantly adding to her wide field of knowledge as a means of usefulness: hers was the spirit of old Chaucer's Oxford scholar,

Gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche."

Mrs. Grant died at her residence in Manor Place, Edinburgh, November 7, 1838, retaining her faculties unimpaired to the last, and so gradually did her life depart that it may truthfully be said of her in the words of the poet :

"Of no distemper, of no blast she died,

But fell like Autumn fruit, that mellow'd long;
Even wonder'd at because she dropt no sooner.
Fate seemed to wind her up for fourscore years;
Yet freshly ran she on four summers more,
Till, like a clock worn out in eating time,

The wheels of weary life at last stood still."

In a letter announcing Mrs. Grant's death to my father, her son says: "My mother was entirely