Page:Heroines of freethought (IA cu31924031228699).pdf/209

Rh He took a lively and deeply sympathetic interest in the great events which agitated Europe during the French Revolution, and was instrumental in spreading through his own neighborhood popular ‘translations of French treatises, political and historical. He circulated also the works of Thomas Paine; and, having promoted a cheap publication of his “Rights of Man,” became, in 1794, an object of Governmental espionage. I mention these facts as tending to throw some light on the pre-natal influences which may have had their effect upon Frances Wright's life and character.

She was born in Miln’s Buildings, Nethergate, Dundee, Scotland, on the 6th of September, 1795. By the death of both parents, she, together with an older brother and a younger sister, was left an orphan at the age of two and a half years. The brother, some two years older, was sent to reside with his grand uncle, Professor James Mylne. When only fifteen years old, he started for India as a cadet in the ser-