Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/335

 CATHERINE A. WAEFIELD. Cathebine Ann Ware was born at Washington^ Mississippi, in the year 1817. Her father was Nathaniel A. Ware, of that State, a man of wealth, and a political economist of note in his day, whose " Views of the Federal Constitution " of the United States is a work of ability still extant. His wife was Sarah Percy, through whom, in Mrs. Warfield's veins, mingle Northumberland currents that have come down from the " Home of Percy's high-born race." Mrs. Warfield's education was commenced at her mother's knee, and finished at one of the best academies in Philadelphia. Her poetic talent first manifested itself at Cincinnati, soon after leaving school. At this early period she evinced great mastery of verse, and an aptness and force of epigrammatic satire, which she has had the good taste not to cultivate. Miss Ware was married at Cincinnati, in the year 1833, to Elisha Warfield, jr., of Lexington, Kentucky. After several years spent in foreign travel, and a some- what protracted residence in Paris, the young couple returned to this country, and, after living a year or two in Texas (at Galveston), settled at Lexington, where Mrs. W. has till recently been one of the chief ornaments of the wealthy, refined, and intellectual circles of that section of Kentucky. A couple of years ago, Mr. War- field pui'chased a handsome country-seat on one of the pleasant undulations of Pewee Valley — a locality about sixteen miles from the city of Louisville, on the Louisville and Lexington Railroad, where the family have since resided, dispensing the charms of a refined and liberal hospitality to an attached circle of artists, poets, editors, and other persons of culture. Among her immediate neighbors are Edwin Bryant, one of the earliest American emigrants to California, and the first Alcalde of San Francisco; Noble Butler, the accomplished scholar, critic, grammarian, and teacher; William D. Gallagher, and others of like tastes, cultivation, and pursuits. About eighteen years ago, a volume, entitled " Poems by two Sisters of the West," was published in the city of New York, which deservedly attracted much attention. Among competent critics who bestowed praise upon various portions of the collection, was Wm. C. Bryant, whose taste or judgment no one will dispute. Two years after- ward a new edition of the volume was called for, which was issued from the Cincin- nati press. The two sisters were Mrs. Warfield, and Mrs. Eleanor Percy Lee — a notice of whom is hereafter given. A second volume of their poems was published in 1846, which, with all the excellences of the first, has more maturity of thought, and evinces a judgment still ripening in the light of experience and observation. Mrs. Warfield is also a writer of elegant and vigorous prose, and could at will secure an honorable place among the essayists and novelists of our country. ( 319 )