A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Bray, Mrs.
BRAY, MRS.,
Is a native of Devonshire. Her first husband was Charles Stothard, Esq., whom she greatly assisted in his antiquarian researches, and hence her knowledge of the arts and antiquities of her country. In 1836, she published a very amusing book, "Description of Devonshire, bordering on the Tamar and Tavy." In 1841, she produced an excellent description of her travels on the continent,—"The Mountains and Lakes of Switzerland," etc. She has besides published several novels, which are not without merit—but do not equal her graver works, "De Foix, or Sketches of Manners and Customs of the Fourteenth Century," "The Protestant," "Talba," "Trelawney of Trelawney." Her happiest literary effort is generally considered to be the "Traditions, Legends," etc. of Devonshire, in a series of letters to Southey, a book full of Information and entertainment. Mrs. Bray has set an example or fashion of literature, in which ladies might excel, vastly to their own advantage, as well as to the profit of society. Instead of vapid novels let us have vivid descriptions of natural scenery, and pictures of actual life.