volumes.
From the rural retirement of Gartur, she soon removed to the town of
Stirling; but in 1810, as her circumstances became more prosperous, she
took up her permanent abode in Edinburgh. Some distinguished literary
characters of the Scottish capital now resorted to her society. She was
visited by Sir Walter Scott, Francis Jeffrey, James Hogg, and others,
attracted by the vivacity of her conversation. The "Essays on the
Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland" appeared in 1811, in two
volumes; in 1814, she published a metrical work, in two parts, entitled
"Eighteen Hundred and Thirteen;" and, in the year following, she
produced her "Popular Models and Impressive Warnings for the Sons and
Daughters of Industry."
In 1825, Mrs Grant received a civil-list pension of £50 a-year, in
consideration of her literary talents, which, with the profits of her
works and the legacies of several deceased friends, rendered the latter
period of her life sufficiently comfortable in respect of pecuniary
means. She died on the 7th of November 1838, in the eighty-fourth year
of her age, and retaining her faculties to the last. A collection of her
correspondence was published in 1844, in three volumes octavo, edited by
her only surviving son, John P. Grant, Esq.
As a writer, Mrs Grant occupies a respectable place. She had the happy
art of turning her every-day observation, as well as the fruits of her
research, to the best account. Her letters, which she published at the
commencement of her literary career, as well as those which appeared
posthumously, are favourable specimens of that species of composition.
As a poet, she attained to no eminence. "The Highlanders," her longest
and most ambitious poetical effort, exhibits some glowing descriptions
of mountain scenery, and the stern though simple manners of the Gaël. Of
a few songs which proceed from her pen, that commencing, "Oh, where,
tell me where?" written on the occasion of the Marquis of Huntly's
departure for Holland with his regiment, in 1799, has only become
generally known. It has been parodied in a song, by an unknown author,
entitled "The Blue Bells of Scotland," which has obtained a wider range
of popularity.
OH, WHERE, TELL ME WHERE?
"Oh, where, tell me where, is your Highland laddie gone?
Oh, where, tell me where, is your Highland laddie gone?"
"He 's gone, with streaming banners, where noble deeds are done,
And my sad heart will tremble till he come safely home.
He 's gone, with streaming banners, where noble deeds are done,
And my sad heart will tremble till he come safely home."
"Oh, where, tell me where, did your Highland laddie stay?
Oh, where, tell me where, did your Highland laddie stay?"
"He dwelt beneath the holly-trees, beside the rapid Spey,
And many a blessing follow'd him, the day he went away.
He dwelt beneath the holly-trees, beside the rapid Spey,
And many a blessing follow'd him, the day he went away."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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