e Enniskillen Dragoons,) sought a residence for her family in
Edinburgh, where education and good society are attainable to persons
of moderate fortunes, if they are "well-born;" but the extraordinary
artistic skill of her son Robert required a wider field, and she
brought her children to London sooner than she had intended, that his
promising talents might be cultivated. We believe the greater part
of "Thaddeus of Warsaw" was written in London, either in St. Martin's
Lane, Newport Street, or Gerard Street, Soho, (for in these three
streets the family lived after their arrival in the metropolis);
though, as soon as Robert Ker Porter's abilities floated him on the
stream, his mother and sisters retired, in the brightness of their
fame and beauty, to the village of Thames Ditton, a residence they
loved to speak of as their "home." The actual labor of "Thaddeus"--her
first novel--must have been considerable: for testimony was frequently
borne to the fidelity of its localities, and Poles refused to believe
the author had not visited Poland; indeed, she had a happy power in
describing localities. It was on the publication of Miss Porter's two
first works in the German language that their author was honored by
being made a Lady of the Chapter of St. Joachim, and received the
gold cross of the order from Wurtemberg; but "The Scottish Chiefs" was
never so popular on the Continent as "Thaddeus of Warsaw", although
Napoleon honored it with an interdict, to prevent its circulation in
France. If Jane Porter owed her Polish inspirations so peculiarly
to the tone of the times in which she lived, she traces back, in
her introduction to the latest edition of "The Scottish Chiefs." her
enthusiasm in the cause of Sir William Wallace to the influence an
old "Scotch wife's" tales and ballads produced upon her mind while in
early childhood. She wandered amid what she describes as "beautiful
green banks," which rose in natural terraces behind her mothers house,
and where a cow and a few sheep occasionally fed. This house stood
alone, at the head of a little square, near the high school; the
distinguished Lord Elchies formerly lived in the house, which was very
ancient, and from those green banks it commanded a fine view of the
Firth of Forth. While gathering "_gowans_" or other wild-flowers for
her infant sister, (whom she loved more dearly than her life, during
the years they lived in most tender and affectionate companionship),
she frequent