Anne M'Vicar Grant

Anne M'Vicar Grant (1755-1838) was a.

Grant was born Anne M'Vicar, the daughter of an officer in a Highland regiment, was descended on the mother's side from the Stewarts of Invernahyle in Argyleshire. Shortly after her birth at Glasgow her father's regiment was ordered to the British colonies in America, where it took part in the conquest of Canada. Some years later, M'Vicar resigned his commission, and acquired a considerable estate in Vermont. Compelled by ill-health, however, to return to Scotland in 1768, he was deprived of his estate by the breaking out of the revolutionary war, and was reduced to depend on an appointment as barrack- master at Fort Augustus in (Jlen More. There in 1779 Miss M'Vicar was married to the Rev. James Grant, the military chaplain, who was related to some of the best families in Badenoch. On his marriage, Grant accepted the parish of Laggan near Fort Augustus, and there he remained incumbent for twenty-two years. On her husband's death in 1801, Mrs. Grant found herself considerably in debt, and with eight surviving children dependent on her. The energy, however, which had induced her to lit herself for the position of wife of a Highland minister by learning Gaelic, now came to her aid, and she took a farm. Presently the publication of a volume of poems enabled her to clear oft her debts, and, removing first to Stirling, and after- wards to Edinburgh, she devoted herself entirely to literature. In 1806 she published, under the title of Letters from the Mountains," a collection of the letters which she had written to friends from the manse of Laggan. This brought her considerable reputation, and was followed by " Memoirs of an American Lady," " Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders," and other works. In 1825 she received a pension of ^100, which, with several legacies from friends, and the profits of her pen, secured her a modest independence. In Edinburgh her house became one of the chief resorts of men of letters like Lord Jeffrey, Henry Mackenzie, and Sir Walter Scott, among whom she was famous both for her literary accomplishment and for the brilliance of her conversation. For a time, indeed, owing to her knowledge of Highland character, custom, and legend, and her power of depicting them, she was thought to be the author of il \Vaverley" and " Rob Roy."' 142 AIRS. GRANT OF LAGGAN. "O WHERE, TELL ME WHERE." "O WHERE, tell me where, is your Highland laddie gone? O where, tell me where, is your Highland laddie gone ? " " He's gone, with streaming banner