Grierson, Constantia

(?1706-1733)

   Irish poet whose name may have been Crawley before she married George Grierson, a printer for the government. She came from a poor family from County Kilkenny and went on to study midwifery under Dr. Van Lewen (see Pilkington, Laetitia), history, theology, philosophy, and mathematics, and she became expert in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and French. Like Laetitia Pilkington, she knew Jonathan Swift as well as other poets of the area. Mrs. Grierson edited Latin classics published by her husband. Of these the principal were Terence (1727), and Tacitus (1730), which was highly praised. Some of her other publications: Poems, 1735. Poems by Mrs Grierson, 1755. The Art of Printing, 1764. Some of her poems: "Prologue to Theodosius," "The Art of Printing," "The Speech of Cupid Upon Seeing Himself Painted," "To Miss Laetitia Van Lewen," "To the Hon. Mrs. Percival," "Verses Occasioned by Mrs. Barber's Son Speaking Latin."

   Sources: A Compendium of Irish Biography (http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/biographyG.php). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Eighteenth Century Women Poets an Oxford Antholog y. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1989. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Matilda Joslyn Gage Website: Biographical Dictionary of Women and Pro-Feminist Men (http://www.pinn.net/Grierson, Constantiasunshine/gage/features/dict.html). Poems by the Most Eminent Ladies of Great Britain and Ireland (http://www.nku.edu/Grierson, Constantiaissues/eminent_ladies/vol1/master_file_vol_1.html\#grierson). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Poetry of Laetitia Pilkington (1712-1750) and Constantia Grierson (17061733). Bernard Tucker, ed. The Edwin Mellen Press, 1996.