ture," she wrote, "be introduced, and it
will stand forth alone in the boldness of reality, whilst the false and
unnatural around it fades away upon every side, like the rising
exhalations of the morning." The reception of these plays was sufficient
to satisfy the utmost ambition of the author, and established the
foundation of her fame. "Nothing to compare with them had been produced
since the great days of the English drama; and the truth, vigour,
variety, and dignity of the dramatic portraits, in which they abound,
might well justify an enthusiasm which a reader of the present day can
scarcely be expected to feel. This enthusiasm was all the greater, when
it became known that these remarkable works, which had been originally
published anonymously, were from the pen of a woman still young, who had
passed her life in domestic seclusion."[28] Encouraged by the success of
the first volume of her dramas on the "Passions," the author added a
second in 1802, and a third in 1812. During the interval, she published
a volume of miscellaneous dramas in 1804, and produced the "Family
Legend" in 1810,--a tragedy, founded upon a Highland tradition. With a
prologue by Sir Walter Scott, and an epilogue by Henry Mackenzie, the
"Family Legend" was produced at the Edinburgh theatre, under the
auspices of the former illustrious character; and was ably supported by
Mrs Siddons, and by Terry, then at the commencement of his career. It
was favourably received during ten successive performances. "You have
only to imagine all that you could wish to give success to a play,"
wrote Sir Walter Scott to the author, "and your conceptions will still
fall short of the complete and decided triumph of the 'Family Legend.'
The house was crowded to a most extraordinary degree; many people had
come from your native capital of the west; everything that pretended to
distinction, whether from rank or literature, was in the boxes; and in
the pit, such an aggregate mass of humanity as I have seldom, if ever,
witnessed in the same space." Other two of her plays, "Count Basil" and
"De Montfort," brought out in London, the latter being sustained by
Kemble and Siddons, likewise received a large measure of general
approbation; but a want of variety of incident prevented their retaining
a position on the stage. In 1836, she produced three additional volumes
of dramas; her career as a dramatic writer thus extending over the
period of nearly forty years.

Subsequent