Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/291

GRIERSON. 287 So little did she value herself upon her uncommon excel lencies, that she has often recalled to my mind a fine reflection of a French author, “That great geniuses should be superior to their own abilities.’” Constantia married a Mr. George Grierson, a printer in Dublin, for whom Lord Carteret, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, obtained a patent appointing him printer to the King, in which, to distinguish and reward the merit of his wife, her life was inserted. She died in 1783, at the premature age of twenty-seven, admired and respected as an excellent scholar in Greek and Roman literature, in history, theology, philosophy, and mathematics. Her dedication of the Dublin edition of Tacitus to Lord Carteret, affords a convincing proof of her knowledge in the Latin tongue; and by that of Terence to his son, to whom she wrote a Greek epigram. Dr. Harwood esteems her Tacitus one of the best edited books ever published. She wrote many fine poems in English, but esteemed them so slightly, that very few copies of them were to be found after her decease. What makes her character the more remarkable i s , that she rose t o this extraordinary eminence entirely b y the force o f natural genius and uninterrupted application. As a daughter, a wife, and a friend, her conduct was amiable and exemplary; and, had she been blessed with the advan tages o f health and longer life, there i s every reason t o believe, she would have made a more distinguished figure i n the learned world than any woman who had preceded her. Such are a l l the facts that are left t o posterity o f this high-gifted female; and we cannot help regretting, that while s o many pains are taken t o preserve memorials the most minute o f individuals whose lives have glided away i n a succession o f miserable follies, s o little has been re corded o f a woman, whose mind was a casket richly stored with the gems o f ancient and modern learning.