a scale of about five or six charitable objects. The
highest in the scale were those institutions which had for their design
the Christianising of the people at home; and I also mentioned to her,
in connexion with the Christianising at home, what we were doing at the
West Port; and there came to me from her, in the course of a day or two,
no less a sum than L300. She is now dead; she is now in her grave, and
her works do follow her. When she gave me this noble benefaction, she
laid me under strict injunctions of secrecy, and, accordingly, I did not
mention her name to any person; but after she was dead, I begged of her
nearest heir that I might be allowed to proclaim it, because I thought
that her example, so worthy to be followed, might influence others in
imitating her; and I am happy to say that I am now at liberty to state
that it was Lady Nairn of Perthshire. It enabled us, at the expense of
L330, to purchase sites for schools, and a church; and we have got a
site in the very heart of the locality, with a very considerable extent
of ground for a washing-green, a washing-house, and a play-ground for
the children, so that we are a good step in advance towards the
completion of our parochial economy."
After the death of her son, and till within two years of her own death,
Lady Nairn resided chiefly on the Continent, and frequently in Paris.
Her health had for several years been considerably impaired, and
latterly she had recourse to a wheeled chair. In the mansion of Gask, on
the 27th of October 1845, she gently sunk into her rest, at the advanced
age of seventy-nine years.
Some years subsequent to this event, it occurred to the relatives and
literary friends of the deceased Baroness that as there could no longer
be any reason for retaining her _incognita_, full justice should be done
to her memory by the publication of a collected edition of her works.
This scheme was partially executed in an elegant folio, entitled "Lays
from Strathearn: by Carolina, Baroness Nairn. Arranged with Symphonies
and Accompaniments for the Pianoforte, by Finlay Dun." It bears the
imprint of London, and has no date. In this work, of which a new edition
will speedily be published by Messrs Paterson, music-sellers, Edinburgh,
are contained seventy songs, but the larger proportion of the author's
lyrics still remain in MS. From her representatives we have received
permission to select her best lyrics for the present work, and to insert
sev
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