A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Brown, Frances
BROWN, FRANCES,
Was born in 1816, at Stranerlar, in the county of Donegal, Ireland, where her father was postmaster. She lost her eyesight when she was eighteen months old, yet, from her assiduity in acquiring knowledge, she can compete with many educated women in attainments. Her poems are considered very good; and she has received the title of "The Blind Poetess of Ulster," which awakens in the popular mind of her own country-people pity for her fortune, and pride in her tame. She has herself given a touching account of the manner in which she acquired her learning: her intellectual taste was first awakened by the preaching of the village pastor; then she heard the books of children read; and, as her mind gained power, the works of Walter Scott, ancient histories. Burns, Pope, Iliad, Milton, Byron, all were read to her, and furnished her eager spirit with food for thought. She was about twenty, when she gathered courage to write to the editor of the London Athenaeum, enclosing a few of her poems; these were favourably received, and she became a poet. She has contributed to several periodicals and annuals. In 1844, a volume of hers, "The Star of Attéghél, and other Poems," were published in London, with a preface, (probably by her gifted publisher, Edward Moxon,) which truly says:—"The bard gathers dignity from the darkness amid which she sings, as the darkness itself is lightened by the song."