JOANNA BAILLIE. 



137 



his thoughts from the gloomy re- 

 flection : but what will not melan- 

 choly and adversity combined sub- 

 jugate ? In three days after, the 

 neglected and disconsolate youth 

 put an end to his miseries by poison. 



JAMES MONTGOMERY. 



A writer in the Boston Atlas 

 gives the following account of an 

 interview with Montgomery, the 

 Cowper of his age : 



"I found Montgomery, in con- 

 versation, delightful. There was 

 nothing of the ' I am a poet' about 

 him ; but he entered freely and 

 familiarly into conversation, and 

 expressed his opinions on the lite- 

 rature of the day with as much 

 dillidcnce as if he had himself only 

 worshipped the Muse ' afar off.' . . 



"In the course of the evening, 

 the conversation turned on Robert 

 Montgomery's poetry, which was 

 i making some noise. James, 

 for some time, took no part in 

 what was going on, but was an at- 

 i ve listener. At last it seemed 

 as if flesh and blood could bear it 

 no longer, for he commented on the 

 'imess of Satan Bob in assum- 

 ii:;;- his name, for the purpose of 

 iLiug the public into the pur- 

 chase of his wares. ' It has been a 

 serious business to me,' said the 

 true Montgomery, 'for I am con- 

 stantly receiving letters, evidently 

 intended for another person, in 

 \vliich I am either mercilessly 

 abused for what I never wrote, 

 or bespattered with compliments 

 of the most nauseating character. 

 Many, to this day, do not distin- 



Siish between me and Robert 

 .ontgomery; and so I am, in a 

 great measure, robbed of what lit- 

 tle hard-earned fame I possess.' 



" The poet, evidently, was much 

 mortified by Robert's assumption 

 of his name, and did not endea- 

 vour to disguise his contempt for 

 the literary pirate, who sailed under 

 ialsc colours. His intimate friends 



say that this is the only subject 

 which ruffles the habitual serenity 

 of his mind ; and well it may, for 

 it must be no trifling annoyance to 

 see that fame, which was acquired 

 by years of toil and patient endur- 

 ance, perilled in the minds of many 

 by the productions of such a popin- 

 jay as the author of Oxford and 

 Woman.'" 



JOANNA BAILLIE. 



" I believe," says Miss Sedgwick, 

 " of all my pleasures here, dear J. 

 will most envy me that of seeing 

 Joanna Baillie, and of seeing her 

 repeatedly at her home the best 

 point of view for all best women. 

 She lives on Hampstead Hill, a 

 few miles from town, in a modest 

 house, with Miss Agnes Baillie, her 

 only sister, a kindly and agreeable 

 person. 



"Miss Baillie I write this for 

 J., for women always like to know 

 how one another look and dress 

 Miss Baillie has a well-preserved 

 appearance : her face has nothing 

 of the vexed or sorrowful expres- 

 sion that is often so deeply stamped 

 by a long experience of life. It in- 

 dicates a strong mind, great sensi- 

 bility, and the benevolence that, I 

 believe, always proceeds from it if 

 the mental constitution be a sound 

 one, as it eminently is in Miss 

 Baillie's case. 



" She has a pleasing figure, what 

 we call lady-like, that is, delicate, 

 erect, and graceful ; not the large- 

 boned, muscular frame of most 

 English women. She wears her 

 own gray hair a general fashion, 

 by the way, here, which I wish we 

 elderly ladies of America may havo 

 the courage and the t:iste to imi- 

 tate ; and she wears the prettiest 

 of brown silk gowns and oonuets, 

 fitting the beau-ideal of an old 

 lady an ideal she might inspire, 

 if it has no pre-existeuce. 



" You would, of course, expect 

 her to be free from pedantry and 



