Besides being thoroughly conversant with the folk-lore of her country, she was, as her works prove, well up in politics, biography, theology (of course), and a sympathetic student of nature. From reading so much at night (commonly till two in the morning) she became blind at 60; but, like her own native laverock, sang on even more sweetly than ever, always blithe and bonnie, ever ready with the word in season, either to cheer the sorrowful, or to admonish the drunkard.