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 frequently encountered this aged woman, with her knitting in her hand; and she would speak to the eager and intelligent child of the blessed quiet of the land, where the cattle were browsing without fear of an enemy; and then she would talk of the awful times of the brave Sir William Wallace, when he fought for Scotland, “against a cruel tyrant; like unto them whom Abraham overcame when he recovered Lot, with all his herds and flocks, from the proud foray of the robber kings of the South,” who, she never failed to add, “were all rightly punished for oppressing the stranger in a foreign land! for the Lord careth for the stranger.”  Miss Porter says that this woman never omitted mingling pious allusions with her narrative.  “Yet she was a person of low degree, dressed in a coarse woollen gown, and a plain Mutch cap, clasped under the chin with a silver brooch, which her father had worn at the battle of Culloden.”  Of course she filled with tales of Sir William Wallace and the Bruce the listening ears of the lovely Saxon child, who treasured them in her heart and brain, until they fructified in after years into “The Scottish Chiefs.”  To these two were added “The Pastor’s Fireside,” and a number of other tales and romances.  She contributed to several annuals and magazines, and always took pains to keep up the reputation she had won, achieving a large share of the popularity, to which, as an author, she never looked for happiness.  No one could be more alive to praise or more grateful for attention, but the heart of a genuine, pure, loving woman, beat within Jane Porter’s bosom, and she was never drawn out of her domestic circle by the flattery that has spoiled so many, men as well as women.  Her mind was admirably balanced by her home affections, which remained unsullied and unshaken to the end of her days.  She had, in common with her three brothers and her charming sister, the advantage of a wise and loving mother—­a woman pious without cant, and worldly-wise without being worldly.  Mrs. Porter