Natural at a manse of Bothwell, Lanarkshire on the banks of the Clyde, on September 11, 1762, she belonged to an old Scottish family, which claimed among its ascendent Sir William Wallace. Her father was a minister of Bothwell, later on Prof of Divinity at Glasgow. Her mother was the sister of the nifty anatomists, William and John Hunter, and her brother was a celebrated medico, Matthew Baillie, of London.

She received the thorough education at Glasgow, & at an early age she moved by owning her sister Agnes to London, where their brother was settled. Them sisters inherited the little competency from either their uncle, Dr William Hunter, & took higher their home at Hampstead, then on a outskirts of London, in which it passed the remainder of their endures.

Joanna Baillie experienced received an fantabulous education, & began super early to write poetry. She published anonymously inside 1790 the volume known as Fugitive Verses; however it was non till 1798 that she produced a 1st volume of her Plays on the Passions, under a title of The Series of Plays. Her project was to illustrate both of a deepest & strongest passions of a person mind, like hatred, jealousy, fear, love, by the tragedy & the comedy, around both of which should become exhibited the actions of an individual under the exclusive influence of that of these passion; an idea which is unreal & untrue to nature and severity. A foremost volume was published anonymously, however a authorship, though at the start attributed to Sir Walter Scott, was soon found. the book got considerable profits & was followed by another volume inside 1802, a third inside 1812 & 3 volumes of Dramatic Poetry inside 1836. Miscellaneous Plays appeared inside 1804, & a Family Legend in 1810.

Miss Baillie herself designed her plays non for the closet however for the stage. A Personal Legend, brought call at 1810 at Edinburgh, under the enthusiastic patronage of Sir Walter Scott, got the brief though brilliant profits; De Monfort experienced the short do within London, principally through the performing of John Kemble and Sarah Siddons; Henriquez and A Separation were in cold blood received.

Her writings indicate remarkable powers of analysis & intense observation & come written inside the pure & vigorous style. Joanna Baillie's reputatiin doesn't rest completely on her dramas; she was andy skinner of a few verse form & songs of groovy beauty. A right of a two come the Lines to Agnes Baillie in her Birthday, A Kitty, To the Toddler & a bit of of her adaptations of Scottish songs, like ''Woo'd and Married an'a'. Scattered throughout a dramas come besides a bit of lively & beautiful songs, A Chough & a Crow around Orra'', & a lover's song in the Phantom.

Miss Baillie died in February 23, 1851 at the advanced age of 89, her faculties remaining unimpaired to the endure. Her gentleness & sweetness of disposition mass produced her the universal favorite, & her little bungalow at Hampstead was the centre of a brilliant literary society.

Look at ''Joanna Baillie's Dramatic & Poetical Works'' (London, 1851).