"The Sister of Shakespeare."
Joanna Baillie, poet and dramatist, won for herself the flattering title of "Sister of Shakespeare," by the dignity and sonorous quality of her blank verse, and by her wonderful insight into human nature, as portrayed in the characters of her tragedies. Her first publication was a collection of verses which met with an encouraging reception; but she soon abandoned that style and devoted her talent to dramatic writing. Her tragedies, with all their faults as plays, are the nearest approach in modern times to the old English drama, and are noble additions to our literature. "Arnold" was her first drama, which has since disappeared; then came the "Plays on the Passions," in which a tragedy and a comedy are used to illustrate each of the emotions and sentiments which most strongly move the heart of man. These were put forth anonymously at first, and were generally accounted by competent critics to be the work of a man, Sir Walter Scott getting the credit for them in many quarters. Other dramatic works followed this one, all of them calling forth loud praise for their literary excellence, although but few of them were well adapted for the stage. Kemble, Kean, and Mrs. Siddons made the plays famous for a time, but they are now no longer acted.
Besides her plays, Miss Baillie wrote some of the most beautiful songs in her native dialect, including "Woo'd an' married an' a'," "Saw ye Johnnie comin'? "The Kitten," and "To a Child."
Striking tributes to her genius may be found in Miss Mitford's "Recollections of a Literary Life," in the letters of Sir Walter Scott, and in the latter's introduction to the third Canto of "Marmion."
And emulate the notes that rung
From the wild harp, which silent hung
By silver Avon's holy shore,
Till twice an hundred years rolled o'er;
When she, the bold Enchantress, came,
With fearless hand and heart on flame!
From the pale willow snatched the treasure,
And swept it with a kindred measure,
Till Avon's swans, while rung the grove
With Montfort's hate and Basil's love,
Awakening at the inspired strain
Dreamed their own Shakespeare lived again.
Joanna Baillie, the daughter of a clergyman, was descended from an ancient Scotch family claiming as one of its ancestors Sir William Wallace. She was born at the Manse of Bothwell, in Lanarkshire, on the Clyde, September 11th, 1762. As a child, she excelled in mathematics and music, and evinced in early years her talent for reciting in character, often composing her own plays. She died Feb. 23d, 1851, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years.