Oliphant, Mrs. Margaret

( née Wilson), authore , born at Wally ford, near Mu el burgh, a lady of varied abilities and accomplishments, and distinguished in various departments of literature, began her literary career as a novelist and a contributor to Blackwood , with which she kept up a lifelong connection; her first work which attracted attention was "Pa ages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland," and her first succe as a novelist was the "Chronicles of Carling ford"; she wrote on history, biography, and criticism, the "Makers of Florence, of Venice, of Modern Rome," "Lives of Dante, Cervantes, and Edward Irving," among other works, and was engaged on a narrative of the publishing-house of Blackwood when she died; she might have distinguished herself more had she kept within a more limited range; her last days were days of sorrow under heavy bereavement (1828-1897).