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By Margaret S. Carhart (1923)
"If I had to present any one to a foreigner as a model of an English Gentlewoman," said William Wordsworth, "it would be Joanna Baillie. And this was the same Joanna Baillie whom Sir Walter Scott called 'the best dramatic writer Britain had produced since the days of Shakespeare and Massinger.’"
Ancestry and Childhood.Joanna Baillie was born in the manse of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on September 11, 1762. Her father was descended from an ancient Scotch family which numbered among its progenitors the national patriot, Wallace. He also claimed connection with Robert Wallace, of Jerviswood, a martyr to the cause of Scotch independence. Joanna's mother, Dorothea Hunter Baillie, was descended from the second son of the Laird of Ayrshire, Hunter of Hunterstone. Her girlhood had been spent at Long Calderwood, a small estate near Glasgow, which had belonged to the family for many generations. There she was married to the Reverend Mr. Baillie. During the early years of their married life, they moved from rectory to rectory. In 1760 a daughter, Agnes, was born to them, and in 1761, a son, Matthew.
The family were scarcely settled in the manse of Bothwell when Joanna and her twin sister were born. Joanna was. named in honor of Her ancle, Dr. John Hunter; her sister died unnamed a few hours after her birth. According to the baptismal record of the parish, Joanna was baptized in the church of Bothwell on September 12, by the Reverend Mr. James Miller, ‘minister of the Gospell in Hamilton.’ The manse in which she spent the first four or five years of her life stood on a sort of mound, on one side overlooking the valley of the Clyde, and on the other the churchyard and part of the village. The situation is at once airy and secluded. Between the manse and the churchyard lies the garden, full of fruit trees; and other gardens, or rather orchards, between that and the village, add to the mass of foliage, in which it is immersed. Between the churchyard and the manse garden commences a glen, which runs down, widening and deepening as it goes, on the side of the manse most distant from the village, to the great Clyde valley. This gives the house a picturesqueness of situation peculiarly attractive. It has its own little secluded glen, its sloping crofts, finely shaded with trees, and beyond again other masses of trees shrouding cottages and farms. More than fifty years later, Joanna wrote a poem in honor of her sister’s birthday, in which she recalls lovingly their childhood days:
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
Alastair
"If I had to present any one to a foreigner as a model of an English Gentlewoman," said William Wordsworth, "it would be Joanna Baillie. And this was the same Joanna Baillie whom Sir Walter Scott called 'the best dramatic writer Britain had produced since the days of Shakespeare and Massinger.’"
Ancestry and Childhood.Joanna Baillie was born in the manse of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on September 11, 1762. Her father was descended from an ancient Scotch family which numbered among its progenitors the national patriot, Wallace. He also claimed connection with Robert Wallace, of Jerviswood, a martyr to the cause of Scotch independence. Joanna's mother, Dorothea Hunter Baillie, was descended from the second son of the Laird of Ayrshire, Hunter of Hunterstone. Her girlhood had been spent at Long Calderwood, a small estate near Glasgow, which had belonged to the family for many generations. There she was married to the Reverend Mr. Baillie. During the early years of their married life, they moved from rectory to rectory. In 1760 a daughter, Agnes, was born to them, and in 1761, a son, Matthew.
The family were scarcely settled in the manse of Bothwell when Joanna and her twin sister were born. Joanna was. named in honor of Her ancle, Dr. John Hunter; her sister died unnamed a few hours after her birth. According to the baptismal record of the parish, Joanna was baptized in the church of Bothwell on September 12, by the Reverend Mr. James Miller, ‘minister of the Gospell in Hamilton.’ The manse in which she spent the first four or five years of her life stood on a sort of mound, on one side overlooking the valley of the Clyde, and on the other the churchyard and part of the village. The situation is at once airy and secluded. Between the manse and the churchyard lies the garden, full of fruit trees; and other gardens, or rather orchards, between that and the village, add to the mass of foliage, in which it is immersed. Between the churchyard and the manse garden commences a glen, which runs down, widening and deepening as it goes, on the side of the manse most distant from the village, to the great Clyde valley. This gives the house a picturesqueness of situation peculiarly attractive. It has its own little secluded glen, its sloping crofts, finely shaded with trees, and beyond again other masses of trees shrouding cottages and farms. More than fifty years later, Joanna wrote a poem in honor of her sister’s birthday, in which she recalls lovingly their childhood days:
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
Alastair