According to Wikipedia: "Jane Porter was a Scottish novelist... Her novel Thaddeus of Warsaw (1803) is one of the earliest examples of the historical novel, and it went through a dozen editions. Based on eye-witness accounts from Polish refugees of the doomed independence struggle of the 1790s, the book was praised by the great Polish patriot Kosciusko. The Scottish Chiefs (1810) a novel about William Wallace, was also a success (the French version was banned by Napoleon), and it has remained popular with Scottish children. She wrote a number of novels, as well as two plays, which were less successful. Jane also contributed to various periodicals."