500 



GRANT GREECE. 



ally written with much haste, and on the spur of 

 the moment, her friends formed a much higher 

 opinion than she herself ever did. She generally 

 gave them away, when they were finished, without 

 retaining any copy. It occurred to some of those 

 friends that a volume of her poems might be pub- 

 lished with advantage; and, before she was well 

 aware of their kind intentions, proposals were dis- 

 persed all over Scotland for publishing such a vol- 

 ume by subscription. At this time, Mrs Grant 

 had not even collected the materials for the pro- 

 posed publication ; but in a short period, the ex- 

 traordinary number of upwards of 3000 subscribers 

 had been procured by her influential friends. The 

 lute celebrated duchess of Gordon took a lively in- 

 terest in this publication ; and Mrs Grant WHS, in this 

 way, almost forced before the public. The poems 

 were well received on their appearance in 1803. 

 From the profits of this publication, Mrs Grant was 

 enabled to discharge all the debts which had hitherto 

 pressed upon her, and which had been contracted 

 during her married life. Three years after this, 

 she published her well-known " Letters from the 

 Mountains." They went through several editions, 

 and soon raised Mrs Grant into much deserved 

 popularity, and procured for her the patronage and 

 friendship of many influential individuals, and par- 

 ticularly of the late bishop Porteous, Sir Walter 

 Farquhar, Sir William Grant, and many other 

 eminent persons. 



In the year 1810, Mrs Grant removed from Stir- 

 ling to Edinburgh, where she resided during the 

 remainder of her life. Here it was her misfortune 

 to lose successively all her remaining children, 

 with the exception of her youngest son. The 

 only other works of any magnitude which Mrs 

 Grant prepared for the press, were her " Memoirs 

 of an American Lady," already referred to, and 

 ner "Essays on the Superstitions of the High- 

 landers of Scotland," both of which were favoura- 

 bly received. The former work has been greatly 

 esteemed both in this country and in America, and 

 contains much vigorous and powerful writing, with 

 sketches of Transatlantic scenery and habits, dur- 

 ing a primitive period, which were characterised as 

 " a picture of colonial manners, just in their hap- 

 piest age, given with a truth and feeling that can- 

 not be too highly estimated." 



In 1825, Mrs Grant received a pension of 100 

 yearly on the civil establishment of Scotland, 

 which, with the emoluments of her literary works, 

 and some liberal bequests by deceased friends 

 which subsequently arose, rendered her latter years 

 quite easy and independent. Her conversational 

 powers were, perhaps, still more attractive than her 

 writings. Her information on every subject, com- 

 bined with her uniform cheerfulness and equani- 

 mity, made her society very delightful. There 

 was a dignity and sedateness, united with consid- 

 erable sprightliness and vivacity, in her conversa- 

 tion, which rendered it highly interesting; and 

 withal, it was so unaffected and natural, and 

 seemed to emanate from her well-stored mind 

 with so little effort, that some of her most pro- 

 found and judicious remarks, as well as her live- 

 liest sallies, appeared as if they had been struck 

 off at the moment, without any previous reflec- 

 tion. The native simplicity of her mind, and an 

 entire freedom from attempts at display, soon 

 made the youngest person, with whom she con- 

 versed, feel in the presence of a friend ; and if 

 there was any quality of her well-balanced mind 



which stood out more prominently than another, 

 it was that benevolence which made her invariably 

 study the comfort of every person who came in 

 contact with her. She died on the 7th Nov. 1838, 

 aged eighty-four. 



GREECE, (a.) In January 1833, the allied 

 powers elected Otho, the second son of the king 

 of Bavaria, then a minor, king of Greece (the 

 crown having been previously refused by prince 

 Leopold of Saxe-Cobtirg), and in February, he 

 arrived in Greece, accompanied by a council of re- 

 gency, and was acknowledged by the Greeks as 

 their sovereign. In June, 1835, Otho, being of 

 age, took the direction of the affairs of state, and 

 in Nov. 1836, he married a daughter of the grand- 

 duke of Oldenburg. It is settled, that the chil- 

 dren by his marriage with the princess of Olden- 

 burg shall be educated in the Greek church. The 

 government is a constitutional hereditary monar- 

 chy, with two legislative houses, a senate and a 

 house of representatives. 



The population is not correctly ascertained, and 

 some reckon it less than 700,000. A university 

 has been founded at Athens, the capital. Popular 

 education is still in its infancy, though considera- 

 ble has been done to favour it. In 1835, there 

 were only four newspapers ; and in 1836, the num- 

 ber had increased to twelve. 



The principal commercial ports are Nauplia, 

 Mesolonghi, Patras, Galaxidi, and the islands of 

 Syra, Hydra, and Spezia. The number of Greek 

 merchant vessels, in 1832, exceeded 1,000, exclu- 

 sive of small craft or coasting boats. 



The comparatively slight interest which in re- 

 cent years the affairs of Greece have excited in the 

 civilized world, after having for nearly a lustrum 

 absorbed the sympathy of the best portion of the 

 public, can hardly surprise us. It is natural to 

 man, that only the moment of effort and. action 

 awakens the highest interest; he who has reached 

 his object, has lost our sympathy. The enthusi- 

 asm with which the victor in a race is hailed, 

 though ever so loud and boisterous, is only a luke- 

 warm feeling, compared with the intense and 

 breathless anxiety with which we follow his course 

 and anticipate its undecided result. The ship we 

 see from the shore, struggling vvith the waves, 

 calls forth all our sympathy; while our eyes glance 

 indifferently over the mass of vessels in the secure 

 port, although the crippled condition of more than 

 one of them may tell us the story of similar, and 

 perhaps heavier struggles. 



The picture, which Greece at present affords to 

 the beholder, is indeed not dissimilar to such a 

 ship. The wounds are still bleeding, which, at 

 the moment we saw them inflicted, made our 

 hearts tremble. The whole body of the valiant 

 warrior, who not only has to cure these honoura- 

 ble wounds, but who has, and we fear long will 

 have to suffer from the after-pains of a long and 

 ignominious imprisonment, is still far from being 

 healed ; yet our attention has been turned to other 

 objects, as soon as we thought the patient in a fair 

 way of recovery. Greece as it is, can indeed 

 excite our interest solely either in respect to what 



