had been hasty productions, of which she had hitherto made little account, and
it was with no little urgency that she was persuaded to try the experiment of
publishing. She had not even a collection of these poems in her possession,
as she generally sent them to her numerous correspondents, without retaining a
copy for herself. The work was announced to be published by subscription,
and so well did her friends exert themselves, that three thousand subscribers
were soon procured. This publication, which appeared in 1803, although
favourably received by the public, was scarcely calculated to make any lasting
impression, or stamp the character of Mrs. Grant as a genuine poetess, and accordingly, it has long ago disappeared from among those works of the period which the present generation cares to read. Its profits, however, enabled her
to discharge those debts which had been contracted at Laggan, and which had
continued to weigh heavily upon her mind. But fresh domestic difficulties
occurred. Her eldest daughter had been sent to Bristol for the cure of a consumptive complaint, which was attended with heavy expense ; and one of her
sons, who had got an appointment to India, through the kindness of her friend,
Mr. Charles Grant, chairman of the India House, required the necessary outfit.
The success that attended the former attempt suggested a fresh trial of authorship, and Mrs. Grant was advised by her friends to collect and publish her letters. These had been written in the manse of Laggan to her correspondents
over a course of years, and were so full of Highland scenery, character, and
legends, expressed in the happiest style of epistolary composition, that, even with
the omission of whatever was private or confidential, it was thought they
would form an acceptable work to the reading public. She allowed herself
to be persuaded, and the result was her best and most popular production,
the " Letters from the Mountains," which was published in 1806. This work
went through many editions, and was so justly appreciated among the talented
and influential men of the day, as to procure for her many distinguished
friends, among whom may be enumerated Sir William Grant, Master of the
Rolls, Sir William Farquhar, and Bishop Porteous. The only other works
which she subsequently published, were " Memoirs of an American Lady," and
"Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland;" and it is enough
to say, that they did not detract from the reputation she had already won. Her
productions are thus characterized by Sir Walter Scott, a judge well fitted to
estimate them: " Her literary works, although composed amidst misfortune
and privation, are written at once with simplicity and force ; and uniformly
bear the stamp of a virtuous and courageous mind, recommending to the reader
that patience and fortitude which the writer herself practised in such an eminent degree. Her writings, deservedly popular in her own country, derive their success from the happy manner in which, addressing themselves to the national
pride of the Scottish people, they breathe a spirit at once of patriotism, and
of that candour which renders patriotism unselfish and liberal. We have no
hesitation in attesting our belief that Mrs. Grant's writings have produced a
strong and salutary effect upon her countrymen, who not only found recorded
in them much of national history and antiquities, which would otherwise have
been forgotten, but found them combined with the soundest and the best lessons of virtue and morality."
In 1810, Mrs. Grant removed from Stirling to Edinburgh, where she resided during the rest of her life. But still domestic calamities pursued her, and all her children died successively, except her youngest son, who survived her. In
