Biography
The eldest daughter of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, afterwards earl of Marchmont, Lady Grisell Baillie was born at Redbraes Castle, Berwickshire. When she was twelve years old, she carried letters from her father to Scottish patriot Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who was then in prison. Home's friendship for Baillie made him a suspected man, and the king's troops occupied Redbraes Castle. He remained in hiding for some time in a kirkyard, where his daughter kept him supplied with food; but on hearing of the execution of Baillie (1684), he fled to the United Provinces, where his family soon after joined him. They returned to Scotland after the Glorious Revolution.
In 1692, Lady Grisell married George Baillie, son of the patriot. The couple had first met when they were twelve, and supposedly fell in love at that point. What is known for certain is that after Lady Grisell was able to return to Scotland, she turned down the offer to be one of Queen Mary's maids-of-honour, and insisted to her parents on marrying George over a more advantageous match. The couple had two daughters: Grisell, who married Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope; and Lady Rachel Binning.
Read more about this topic: Grizel Baillie
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The death of Irving, which at any other time would have attracted universal attention, having occurred while these things were transpiring, went almost unobserved. I shall have to read of it in the biography of authors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)