Victoria to his native country so roused the ardour of the loyal old hero, that
he hastened from Switzerland to pay his respects to her in person, in the ancient
capital of her Scottish ancestors. This was the last public event of his life. He
died at his residence in Stratton Street, London, on the 18th of December, 1843,
in the ninety-fourth year of his age. As he was childless, his titles became extinct with his death, and his estates were inherited by his nephew.
GRANT, Mrs., of Laggan. This amiable and talented authoress, in whom a manly intellect was so happily blended with woman's gentleness and delicate feeling, was born at Glasgow, on the 21st of February, 1755. Her father, Duncan M'Vicar, was an officer in the British army; her mother was a descendant of the ancient family of Stewart of Invernahyle, in Argyleshire. A short time after she was born, her father accompanied his regiment to America, with the intention of settling there; and soon after this was effected, he was joined by his wife and infant daughter, the latter being scarcely three years old. As New York, the place of her residence, was at this time thinly peopled, especially in the rural districts, where the settlers dwelt miles apart from each other, the early opportunities of education which Mrs. Grant possessed were such as to furnish little hope of future literary excellence. But, happily for her, she had a careful instructor in her mother, besides whom she had no other; and she so profited by domestic tuition, that she quickly learned to read, and before her sixth year was finished had perused the whole of the Old Testament, and was well acquainted with its contents. It was the home teaching of Scotland at this period, transplanted into the back settlements of America. She also acquired about the same time a knowledge of the Dutch language, in consequence of residing for some months with a family of Dutch colonists. Not long after, she learned to write, solely from chance lessons which she received in penmanship from the sergeant of a Scottish regiment. Observing also the eagerness of his pupil for knowledge, he presented her with an appropriate Scottish soldier's gift even the poem of "Wallace," by Blind Harry, the patriotic Homer of Scotland. The quaint and almost forgotten language in which this work is written, as well as its obsolete orthography, would have made it a sealed book to the half-Scottish half-American little maiden, had it not been for the kindness of the sergeant, who taught her to decipher the words, and understand the meaning of the old heroic minstrel. From this source she mainly derived that enthusiastic love of her native country which, ever afterwards, was a distinguishing feature in her character. Another epic, which had a still higher influence in the formation of her mind, followed. This was Milton's "Paradise Lost," which she received from an officer in her father's regiment, who marked her love of reading; and this sublime production, which has daunted so many youthful readers at the outset, she studied with eagerness and pleasure. The expansion of intellect and improvement of taste which the careful perusal of the great English bard imparted to her conversation were so conspicuous, that the most distinguished of the New York society, young though she was, were proud to cultivate her acquaintance. The chief of these was Madame Schuyler, a lady with whose excellence and worth she afterwards made the British public sympathize, in her "Memoirs of an American Lady."
We have already mentioned that Mr. M'Vicar, the father of Mrs. Grant, had repaired to America chiefly for the purpose of becoming a settler in one of its colonies. This he effected in the state of Vermont, where he received a grant of land, to which he made large additions by purchase, while his worth and
