provided the petticoat came low enough to cover it.'
Neither of these ladies possessed personal attractions. Mrs. Hamilton
had the plain face proper to literary women; Mrs. Grant was a tall dark
woman, with much dignity of manner: in spite of her life of misfortune,
she had a great flow of spirits. Beautifully, indeed, does Lord Cockburn
render justice to her character: 'She was always under the influence of
an affectionate and delightful enthusiasm, which, unquenched by time and
sorrow, survived the wreck of many domestic attachments, and shed a glow
over the close of a very protracted life.'

Both she and Mrs. Hamilton succeeded in drawing to their
_conversazioni_, in small rooms of unpretending style, men of the
highest order, as well as attractive women of intelligence. Society in
Edinburgh took the form of Parisian _soirees_, and although much divided
into parties, was sufficiently general to be varied. It is amusing to
find that Mrs. Grant was at one time one of the supposed 'Authors of
"Waverley,"' until the disclosure of the mystery silenced reports. It
was the popularity of 'Marmion,' that made Scott, as he himself
confesses, nearly lose his footing. Mrs. Grant's observation on him,
after meeting the Great Unknown at some brilliant party, has been
allowed, even by the sarcastic Lockhart, to be 'witty enough.' 'Mr.
Scott always seems to me to be like a glass, through which the rays of
admiration pass without sensibly affecting it; but the bit of paper[13]
that lies beside it will presently be in a blaze--and no wonder.'

[13: Alluding to Lady Scott.]

Scott endeavoured to secure Mrs. Grant a pension; merited as he
observes, by her as an authoress, 'but much more,' in his opinion, 'by
the firmness and elasticity of mind with which she had borne a great
succession of domestic calamities.' 'Unhappily,' he adds, 'there was
only about L100 open on the Pension List, and this the minister assigned
in equal portions to Mrs. G---- and a distressed lady, grand-daughter of
a forfeited Scottish nobleman. Mrs. G---- , proud as a Highlandwoman,
vain as a poetess, and absurd as a blue-stocking, has taken this
partition in _malam partem_, and written to Lord Melville about her
merits, and that her friends do not consider her claims as being fairly
canvassed, with something like a demand that her petition be submitted
to the king. This is not the way to make her _plack_ a _bawbee_, and
Lord M---- , a little _miffed_ in turn,