so accurate were the descriptions, although Miss Porter had
not then been in Poland. The "Scottish Chiefs" was equally successful.
With regard to this romance, it is known that Sir Walter Scott admitted
to George IV., one day, in the library at Carlton Palace, that the
"Scottish Chiefs" was the parent in his mind of the Waverley Novels. In
a letter written to her friend Mr. Litchfield, about three months ago,
Miss Porter, speaking of these novels, said:--"I own I feel myself a
kind of sybil in these things; it being full fifty years ago since my
'Scottish Chiefs' and 'Thaddeus of Warsaw' came into the then untrodden
field. And what a splendid race of the like chroniclers of generous
deeds have followed, brightening the track as they have advanced! The
author of 'Waverley,' and all his soul-stirring 'Tales of my Landlord,'
&c. Then comes Mr. James, with his historical romances, on British and
French subjects, so admirably uniting the exquisite fiction with the
fact, that the whole seems equally verity. But my feeble hand" (Miss
Porter was ailing when she wrote the letter) "will not obey my wish to
add more to this host of worthies. I can only find power to say with my
trembling pen that I cannot but esteem them as a respected link with my
past days of lively interest in all that might promote the virtue and
true honor of my contemporaries from youth to age." These eloquent words
become the more touching, when we consider that within three months
after they were written, this admirable lady quitted this life in the
honored maturity of her fame.

Miss Porter wrote, in conjunction with her sister, "Tales round a
Winter's Hearth." She was also an indefatigable contributor to the
periodicals of the day. Her biographical sketch of Colonel Denham, the
African traveler, in the _Naval and Military Journal_, was much admired
as one of the most affecting tributes ever paid to departed merit. Miss
Porter was a Chanoiness of the Polish order of St. Joachim, which honor
was conferred upon her after the publication of "Thaddeus of Warsaw."
She is, in her portraits, generally represented in the habit of this
order. Miss Porter died on the 24th ult., at the residence of her
brother, Dr. Porter, in Portland-square, Bristol. That brother, so
tenderly beloved by her, and so justly respected by all who know him, is
now the last survivor of this brilliant company of brothers and sisters;
and he, too, we are sorry to say, is in an enfeebled st