Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/77

Rh miscellaneous subjects. Besides those above-mentioned, during the long period of her career she published various other dramas, and all her writings in this form exhibit great originality, power, and knowledge of human nature. Her works also are rich in imagery, and a pure and energetic strain of poetry pervades them. For the great effects she produced she was little indebted to study, of which her pages bear few indications. The characters she pourtrayed, the stories on which her plays were founded, and the management of them, proceeded almost entirely from her own invention. She was the authoress, also, of some poems, as well as songs, of high merit, among which may be especially mentioned those well-known favourite Scottish ones entitled, "The bride, she is winsome an' bonnie," and "It fell on a morning when we were thrang;" and the lyrical compositions scattered through her dramas are distinguished by their freshness and beauty. Some of her plays were represented on the stage, but without much success. Passion in them is forcibly and faithfully delineated, but without those startling and effective situations calculated to obtain theatrical triumph. Unmarried, and dwelling out of London, she had not those opportunities of frequenting the theatre which are necessary for the production of compositions popular in representation. It must be remembered, also, that female delicacy places a limit not only to the exuberance of passion, but also to the choice of subjects, which interfered both with the force and variety of her plays. After Joanna Baillie had left Scotland, in 1784, she did not return to her native land, except for occasional visits. Upon the marriage of her brother, in 1791, with Miss Denman, the sister of the Lord Chief-Justice Denman, Joanna Baillie, with her mother and sister, passed some years at Colchester, but subsequently settled at Hampstead, near London, where she resided for more than half a century. Her mother died in 1806, and her sole companion during the remainder of her life was her sister, whose character, virtues, and claims upon the affections of the poetess, are beautifully commemorated by her in an address to Miss Agnes Baillie on her birth-day. The means of Joanna Baillie were sufficient for every comfort, and enabled her to see many of the most distinguished individuals the great metropolis contained, who, attracted by her high reputation, her perfect simplicity of manners, and the talent and shrewdness of her conversation, resorted freely to her home. Sir Walter Scott was one of her warmest friends and most ardent admirers, as many passages in his writings declare. Joanna Baillie was under the middle size, but not diminutive, and her form was slender. Her countenance indicated high talent, worth, and decision. Her life was characterized by the purest morality. Her principles were sustained by a strong and abiding sense of religion, while her great genius, and the engrossing pursuits of composition, never interfered with her active benevolence, or the daily duties of life. She died in her house, in Hampstead, on the 23d day of February, 1851.

.—This distinguished minister of the Church of Scotland, was born in Edinburgh, in April, 1740. He was early trained by his pious parents to the knowledge and practice of Christianity. He received his education at Edinburgh, and when only in the twelfth year of his age, came under decidedly religious impressions, which, joined to the natural amiability of his disposition, his promising talents, and diligence and success in his studies, gave a peculiar interest to his youthful character. When a mere youth, he became a member of a society which met for religious conversation and prayer. The devotional tendency of his mind, thus early acquired, was a prominent feature of his V.