Edinburgh Theatre. "You have only to imagine," he told the
author, "all that you could wish to give success to a play, and your
conceptions will still fall short of the complete and decided triumph of
'The Family Legend.'"

The attacks which Jeffrey had made upon her verse were continued when
she published, in 1812, her third volume of 'Plays on the Passions.' His
voice, however, did not diminish the admiration for the
character-drawing with which the book was greeted, or for the lyric
outbursts occurring now and then in the dramas.

Joanna's quiet Hampstead life was broken in 1813 by a genial meeting in
London with the ambitious Madame de Stael, and again with the vivacious
little Irishwoman, Maria Edgeworth. She was keeping her promise of not
writing more; but during a visit to Sir Walter in 1820 her imagination
was touched by Scotch tales, and she published 'Metrical Legends' the
following year. In this vast Abbotsford she finally consented to meet
Jeffrey. The plucky little writer and the unshrinking critic at once
became friends, and thenceforward Jeffrey never went to London without
visiting her in Hampstead.

Her moral courage throughout life recalls the physical courage which
characterized her youth. She never concealed her religious convictions,
and in 1831 she published her ideas in 'A View of the General Tenor of
the New Testament Regarding the Nature and Dignity of Jesus Christ.' In
1836, having finally given up the long hope of seeing her plays become
popular upon the stage, she prepared a complete edition of her dramas
with the addition of three plays never before made public,--'Romiero,' a
tragedy, 'The Alienated Manor,' a comedy on jealousy, and 'Henriquez,' a
tragedy on remorse. The Edinburgh Review immediately put forth a
eulogistic notice of the collected edition, and at last admitted that
the reviewer had changed his judgment, and esteemed the author as a
dramatist above Byron and Scott.

"May God support both you and me, and give us comfort and consolation
when it is most wanted," wrote Miss Baillie to Mary Berry in 1837. "As
for myself, I do not wish to be one year younger than I am; and have no
desire, were it possible, to begin life again, even under the most
honorable circumstances. I have great cause for humble thankfulness, and
I am thankful."

In 1840 Jeffrey wrote:--"I have been twice out to Hampstead, and found
Joanna Baillie as fresh, natural, and amiable as ever, and as little
like