“Had I, like the rest, gone through the trouble of being presented at court, there would have been no plea for enjoying this retirement that I love and require.”

An unusually direct expression of her preference for privacy over fashionable society · Letter to her niece, Mannheim, 27 February 1836

• Simplicity
• Society
• Solitude

“I was present when it was asserted that Burns composed the 'Land o' the Leal' on his death-bed, but the parties could not decide why it never appeared in his works. I never answered.”

Showing the extraordinary restraint with which she guarded her literary identity · Letter to a friend on the authorship of The Land o' the Leal

• Humour
• Identity
• Writing

“I am low in funds, but still wish to do good to Ireland with what I have left. Tell me what will be of most use.”

Her concern for practical usefulness persisted even during her final illness · Letter to Alicia Mason, 25 June 1845

• Care
• Community
• Kindness