TIIK LITERARY WOMEN ENGLAND. INCLUDING A BIOGRAPHICAL EPITOME OF ALL THE MOST EMINENT TO THE YEAR 1700 ; AND SKETCHES OF THE POETESSES TO THE YEAR 1850 ; WITH EXTRACTS FROM THEIR WORKS, AND CRITICAL REMARKS, BY JANE WILLIAMS, AUTHOR OF ARTEGALL,' 'A MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS PRICE,' ETC. " All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times." ECCLESIASTICUS xliv. 7. LONDON: SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO., 06, HKOOK STRKKT. HAN' iRE, 1861. Or THc UNIVERSITY -an AND CIIAUINd <;i CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Survey of works already existing which treat of kindred subjects, with reasons for believing the present work to be required . . Page I -CHAPTER I. A.D. 1500. The Ancient Britons The Ancient Germans The Anglo-Saxons, in- cluding the Abbess Hilda, the Abbess Eadburga, Queen Osburga, Ethel- fleda, Lady of the Mercians, and Queen Editlia The Saxon Abbess Hroswitha of Gandersheim The Anglo-Normans, including Queen Matilda and Queen Adeliza Ceridwen, a Welsh Mytli Mary of France Translated Works of Christina of Pisa English and French Languages Lady Pelham The Pastons Missive Letters Queen Elizabeth Woodville Juliana Prioress of Sopewell Devorguilla Bal- Hol _ Queen Philippa The Countess of Ulster Mary St. Paul, Countess of Pembroke, Queen Margaret of Anjou 14 CHAPTER II. A.D. 1500-1550. Margaret Countess of Eichmond Remarks on the Period Biogmpliical Localities Queen Anne Boleyn The Daughters of Sir Thomas More Margaret Gigs Anne Askew Queen Catherine Parr Frances Lady Abergavenny 31 CHAPTER III. A.D. 1550-1600. Remarks on the Period Lady Jane Grey Mary Countess of Aruudel Queen Mary Tudor Mary Roper Mary Countess of Sussex and Arundel The Ladies Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour Lady Lumley Queen Mary Stuart The four Daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke Anne Countess of Oxford Margaret Ascliam Anne WheathiU Frances Countess of Sussex 47 a '2 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. A.D. 1600-1650. Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth Grymston Elizabeth Jane Leon Lady Elizabeth Carew Mary Countess of Pembroke Lady Mary Wroth Elizabeth Countess of Lincoln Anne Countess of Arundel . . Page 65 CHAPTER V. A.D. 1650-1675. Remarks on the Period Elizabeth Countess of Kent Elizabeth Countess of Bridge water Catherine Philips Lucy Hutchinson Margaret Duchess of Newcastle Anne Countess of Dorset, Pem- broke, and Montgomery 81 CHAPTER VI. A.D. 1675-1700. Introductory Remarks Mary Countess of .Warwick Lady Pakington Lady Fanshawe Anne Killigrew Anne Wharton Lucy Mar- chioness of Wharton Aphara Behn Elizabeth Walker Lady Gethin Lady Halket Retrospective Observations and Remarks on the True Purposes of Biography, and on the Abilities and Writings of Women.. ..+.. .. 114 CHAPTER VIL THE POETESSES. A Dissertation upon Poetry its Nature and Uses . . . . . . . . 134 CHAPTER VIII. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1700-1725. Lady Clmdleigh Mary Monk The Countess of Winchelsea Susannah Centlivre De la Riviere Manley 143 CONTENTS. V CHAPTER IX. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1725-1750. Jane Brercton Elizabeth Rowe Catherine Cockburn Page 15G CHAPTER X. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1750-1800. Frances Duchess of Somerset Elizabeth Toilet Miss Pennington Miss Fairer Anne Viscountess Irwin Anne Countess Temple Anne Williams Lady O'Neil Susannah Blamire Mary Robin- son 189 CHAPTER XI. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1800-1806. Caroline Symmons Elizabeth Carter Charlotte Smith 206 CHAPTER XII. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1806-1810. Hannah Cowley Anna Seward Mary Tighe 229 CHAPTER XIII. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1810-1825. Mrs. Hunter Mrs. Thrale Jane Taylor Eleanor Anne Porden Mrs. Barbauld Lady Anne Barnard 265 CHAPTER XIV. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1825-1833. Ik-len-Maria Williams The Margravine of Anspach 303 CHAPTER XV. TIIE POETESSES. A.D. 1833 SEPTEMBER. llunuuhMore 313 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XVI. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1833 OCTOBER. Mary-Jane Jewsbury Page 365 CHAPTEE XVII. PARTI. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1835. Felicia-Dorothea Hemans . . 389 CHAPTEE XVII. PART II. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1835. Felicia-Dorothea Hemans 434 CHAPTEE XVIII. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1838 OCTOBER. Lsetitia Elizabeth Landon 495 CHAPTEE XIX. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1838 NOVEMBER, I Anne Grant < 519 s CHAPTEE XX. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1838-1850. Lady Flora-Elizabeth Hastings Mary Anne Browne Concluding Ke- marks, Comparisons, Criticisms, and a Poem by Mrs. Hemans . . 545 ( vii ) A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE ENGLISH AUTHORESSES NOTICED IN THIS ESSAY. Juliana Prioress of Sopewcll Margaret Countess of Richmond Queen Anne Boleyn The Daughters of Sir Thomas More : 1. Margaret Roper 2. Elizabeth Dancy 3. Cecilia Heron His Niece, Margaret Gigs Anne Askew Queen Catherine Parr Frances Lady Abergavenny Lady Jane Grey Mary Countess of Arundel Queen Mary Tudor Mary Roper Mary Countess of Sussex and Arundel The Ladies Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour Lady Lumley Queen Mary Stuart The Daughters of Sir Anthony Cookc : 1. Mildred Lady Burleigh 2. Anne Lady Bacon 3. Elizabeth Lady Russell 4. Catherine Lady Killigrew Anne Countess of Oxford Margaret Ascham Anne Wheathill Frances Countess of Sussex Queen Elizabeth Tudor Elizabeth Grymston Elizabeth Jane Leon Lady Elizabeth Carew Mary Countess of Pembroke Lady Mary Wroth Elizabeth Countess of Lincoln j Anne Countess of Arandel I Elizabeth Countess of Kent i Elizabeth Countess of Bridgewater \ , Q - . >. / Lady Jane Cheync .. - " } (Slsters) { ! Catherine Phillips Lucy Hutchinson Margaret Duchess of Newcastle Anne Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Mont-) gomery / Mary Countess of Warwick Lady Pakington Lady Fanshawi Anne Killigre\\ Born. flo. 1460 1440 1499 1508 1508 1520 1537 1515 1542 1526 1528 1529 1530 Died. 1509 153C. 1544 1570 1546 1548 1554 1557 1558 1587 1589 1600 1603 1631 1620 1590 1625 1651 1663 1669 1664 1673 1675 1678 1679 1680 1685 vm CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AUTHORESSES. Born. Died. Anne Wharton Lucy Marchioness of Wharton Aphara Behn Elizabeth Walker LadyGethin Lady Halket 1623 1676 1622 1685 1716 1689 1690 1697 1699 Lady Clmdleigh Mary Monk 1656 1710 1715 Anne Countess of Winchelsea Susannah Centlivre De la Kiviere Manley Jane Brereton *** 1680 1685 1720 1723 1724 1740 Elizabeth Howe 1674 1737 Catherine Cockburn 1679 1749 Frances Duchess of Somerset Elizabeth Toilet 1754 1754 1759 Miss Farrer 1760 Anne Countess Temple Anna Williams Lady O'Neil . < 1758 1777 1783 1794 Susannah BJamire Mary Kobinson Caroline Symmons Elizabeth Carter \CharlotteSmith ^ Hannah Cowley x Anna Seward Mary Tighe Anne Hunter in! 1749 1743 1742 1773 1742 1794 1800 1803 1806 1806 1809 1809 1810 1821 Hester Lynch Thrale Jane Taylor 1740 1783 1821 1822 Eleanor Anne Porden Anna Lsetitia Barbauld 1795 1743 1750 1825 1825 1825 Helen Maria Williams 1762 1827 The Margravine of Anspach Mrs. Greville Hannah More Mary Jane Jewsbury Felicia Dorothea Hemans Lsetitia Elizabeth Landon . . 1750 1744 1800 1793 1802 1755 1828 1833 1833 1835 1838 1838 1806 1839 Mary Anne Browne 1812 1844 THE LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND, INTRODUCTION. " Look back who list unto the former ages, And call to count what is of them become." SPENSER'S Euins of Time.' " If there be no region of literature, science, or art, where female genius has not distinctly asserted its supremacy, neither perhaps is there any, from poetry to mathematics, in which it has not already greatly distin- guished itself. This it has done against all sorts of disadvantages and dis- couragements, in the face of opinion and prejudice, in despite of means and facilities on the whole very inferior to those which the other sex has enjoyed." CRAIK'S ' Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties, Female Examples,' pp. 13, 14. IT is a common thing it is, indeed, the very commonest of all things that people should live and love those about them, should hope and fear, labour and strive, sicken and die. Yet out of these ever-recurring events, happening to all, come the vast, incalculable, and wonderful diversities of incident which set centuries, ages, cycles, lustres, years, and days in strange contrast with each other, and variously affect the same periods in different climes and countries. Among the innumerable lives ever arising, lapsing, and expiring, there is not, there never has been, there -never B 2 INTRODUCTION. can be, one with which every other has not strong ties of natural sympathy. To know what others did, and" felt, and thought, and how they died, concerns every living individual, and more especially to know the history of those whose lot in more than the general features of human likeness resembled their own. Few differences are more wonderful than those between the leaves of the same tree. Hence, the writings of women, apart from the specific purport of those writings, and besides the indica- tions of feminine character which they often afford to the outer world, possess a peculiar charm for young minds of a similar cast ; and, the ability to please naturally involv- ing the power to modify and direct, it is evident that the welfare of society must be promoted by an extended know- ledge of the lives, principles, and sentiments of the most eminent and excellent English authoresses. Apart from the knowledge preserved by men, the sensible matrons of England are constantly accumulating family adages, household maxims, and practical apophthegms, for transmission and increase from generation to genera- tion. No observant person can have failed to admire many instances of the wealth of unwritten wisdom thus brought to bear upon domestic conduct. Much more valu- able results may therefore reasonably be expected from the records of our choicest women's lives and thoughts ; and out of such calm depths may be dredged up precious things, unfaded and unmutilated by the shallow attrition of the world's waves and shingles in their rough tidal flow. Men stand, as it were, upon a promontory, commanding extensive views, and open to immediate impulses from all above, below, and around them. Women sit like genii of secluded caves, receiving echoes, and communicating mere reverberations from the outer world, but not without INTRODUCTION. 3 tli<-ir nun pure springs and rills, tinkling soft music and fraught with peculiar efficacy. The natural and inherent differences between feminine intellects are likewise very great, and culture renders many of those differences distinct and conspicuous which might have lain undeveloped and unnoticed under ordinary cir- cumstances ; thorough cultivation having a directly oppo- site effect to that superficial form of education which veils or neutralizes the distinctive faculties. Dr. Lindley enumerates ten principal forms in which the young leaves of plants are folded up " The appressed, as in the misletoe ; the conduplicate, as in the rose ; the imbricate, as in the lilac ; the equitant, as in the iris ; the obvolute, as in the sage ; the plaited, as in the vine ; the involute, as in the violet; the revolute, as in the willow ; the convolute, as in the apricot ; and the circinate, as in the sun-dew." By far more numerous and more complicated, but equally true, each to its specific develop- ment, are the foldings in the buds of human character ; and the study of such human vernation is one of the most general interest which can be offered to the attention of any reader. It constitutes the chief attraction of ably-constructed fiction, and the main charm of authentic records. Biography, yet more emphatically than history, may be defined as " philosophy teaching by examples ;" and be- sides those plain and striking lessons which it placards for all as human beings, and for many as Christians, it has in certain instances an instructive voice perceptible only to women and to authoresses, and tones still finer and more thrilling, subtly penetrating the hearts of individuals with applicable truths, which can effectually be learned only by means of self-drawn inferences. B2 4 INTRODUCTION. Within the limits of my personal acquaintance, the want of such an epitome as the present aspires to be has often, in my hearing, been deplored ; and it is my full conviction that this want is felt by a large section of the public. This book owes its origin to a sort of accident. Having undertaken to write a Critical and Biographical Essay on the subject of Mrs. Hemans and her poetry, I was conse- quently led to institute a comparison between her com- positions and those of other English poetesses. The want of a compendious work exclusively appropriated to a summary view of our literary countrywomen being thus forced upon my attention, I was induced to enlarge my plan, and, in- stead of illustrating only the character of one authoress, to take a brief survey of the general progress of female literature in England from the earliest period to the year 1700, where the stream divides into several branches, and thence to trace the course of female poetry, the principal of those branches, down to the year 1850. As a portrait-painter produces his own idea of the persons who sit to him, so have I endeavoured to produce original likenesses of character, though often in the earlier chapters constrained perforce to piece them out as Pro- fessor Owen does the fragments of extinct species. Deeming that sort of literary criticism wlu'ch connects the written utterances of individuals with the every-day workings of their hearts to be essential to the establish- ment of those solid principles which must form alike the basis of correct taste and the active spring of all that is most valuable and excellent in mental acquirement, I have earnestly endeavoured throughout, candidly, kindly, and truthfully, to estimate the lives and works of my illus- trious fellow-countrywomen. INTRODUCTION. 5 I have happily been supplied with some fresh bio- graphical materials of great value. I have never been content to derive information from a single source ; and whenever I discovered that the works of good writers con- tained facts or hints from which inferences could be drawn relating to personal history or illustrative of character, I have gathered and garnered the fruits of my researches. Pleasant as it is to rove through fields, woods and valleys, by the sides of lakes and rivers, on the sea-shore, and over hills and mountains, collecting indigenous flowers from their various homes, yet the exhilarating exercise fatigues when long continued, and perhaps there are few botanists who do not at last prefer resorting in quiet ease to the Regent's Park, or to Kew, where British gardens scientifically arranged exhibit within a small area the accumulated treasures of the country's Flora. A similar state of feeling prevails concerning books, and those readers who want leisure and inclination for the examina- tion of several hundred scattered volumes may probably be glad, while evading studious toil, to see an abstract of the knowledge they desire placed before them in these pages. It is refreshing to let the eyes wander sometimes over the ample pages of the old and only complete edition of the ' Biographia Britamiica,' revelling in the profusion and even in the confusion of its knowledge, and more especi- ally taking in all the works and ways of the British worthies, and gaining leisurely acquaintance by description with their very looks. But the women admitted into this goodly assemblage are few, and by no means well selected : for instance, under the letter " A," only Arabella Stuart, Arlotta (better known as Arlette), and poor Mrs. Ascham in dutiful attendance on her spouse, are to be 6 INTRODUCTION. met with ; while " B " produces only Joan and Margaret Beaufort, Aphara Behn, and Boadicea, with Lady Bacon unobtrusively waiting on her husband and sons. Nor does the scale or choice amend in following down the alphabet ; the most important notices of female writers lurking in all sorts of improbable corners, carelessly treated, and often shut out from the index as well as from the lettering. It may be argued, that, in compensation of this obvious deficiency, the separate memoirs of English authoresses are numerous. Many of them, however, are not easily attainable, and a vast amount of time and labour must be expended in collecting and perusing them. It follows from this state of things, that, excepting the dates of their births and deaths, and the bare titles of their principal productions, furnished in books of reference, very little is known of them by the public, and Englishwomen generally are deprived of the benefit and satisfaction of forming a real acquaintance with their lives and characters. The ' Censura Literaria ' of Sir Egerton Brydges, the ' Collections ' of Nicholls, and similar repositories of mis- cellaneous matter, are valuable as storehouses, but fatiguing as places of frequent resort. Students are thankful for them, fashionable ladies and indolent gentlewomen are not ; while young persons, eager for congenial information and ready to shape their yet ductile natures after the noblest A models, are easily repulsed by difficulties, and cast back again upon the callous shows of outer life in conventional usages. The four volumes of Granger's * Biographical History of England ' contain brief notices of all the most famous and infamous men and women of Great Britain, from the days of King Egbert to the Eevolution of 1688, with a list of their engraved portraits; but, excepting this list, there INTRODUCTION. 7 is no information concerning our literate fellow-country- women which may not be obtained more satisfactorily from other sources. The three volumes of the Kev. Mark Noble's ' Con- tinuation ' of Granger's History supply some interesting particulars of the few literary women who died between the years 1688 and 1727. Warton's ' History of English Poetry ' extends only to the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign, but it does justice to the few female writers who flourished before that period in England. 'Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature,' the most complete series of extracts, with criticisms and brief biographical notices, in the language, includes authoresses as well as authors, but attempts no delineation of personal character. Craik's * Sketches of Learning and Literature in Eng- land ' notice female writers in flocks and groups, without giving sufficient distinctness even to the intellectual character of individuals. In both the ' Cyclopaedia' and the ' Sketches ' the authoresses are doubtless reduced to their true relative proportions when contrasted with authors, but the peculiarly valuable and most attractive attributes of the female mind are obscured. In Park's edition of Walpole's * Catalogue of Koyal and Noble British Authors ' may be found, intermixed with brief records of learned and literary princes and lords, brief records also of learned and literary princesses and ladies, from the reign of King Henry VII. down to the close of the eighteenth century. This valuable compila- tion contains many specimens of the writings of our patrician authoresses. It has been carefully consulted in the preparation of the present work. It affords much 8 INTRODUCTION. information concerning portraits, and gives many excellent engravings from them. We may affect to despise pictures, yet everybody must, on reflection, be conscious that, next to knowing any one by sight, an acquaintance with a portrait forms most advantageously in the mind a nucleus for the accumulation and retention of particulars con- cerning the original. There is always more in a look than any words can describe ; it has a sort of photographic and permanent power on the mind. Wilford's ' Memorials and Characters, together with the Lives of divers Eminent and Worthy Persons,' includes a large proportionate number of ladies and gentlewomen, but extends only from the year 1600 to the year 1741. This elaborate collection, published by subscription in the year 1741, relates solely to natives of the British Islands, and was intended to celebrate persons of "bright and exemplary " lives, without any special regard to literary attainments or productions. Seventy-eight female names are filed on this bead-roll of fame. Of these less than a dozen belong to literate or literary women, and none are allowed a place but members of the Church of England, with the solitary exception of Mrs. Kowe. Ballard's ' Memoirs of Learned British Ladies,' 1 vol. 8vo., 1775, with a Preface dated "Magd. Coll., Oxon, Nov. 23, 1752," is the only work with which I am ac- quainted that is exclusively devoted to literary English- women. It begins with Juliana, the anchoret of Norwich, who wrote prophecies in the reign of King Edward III. ; and proceeding in chronological order, it ends with Con- stantia Grierson, who translated Tacitus and Terence, and died in the year 1733. Mr. Ballard's work is an indus- trious, accurate, and generally impartial compilation of biographical matter, derived from the most authentic INTRODUCTION. 9 sources, which he quotes with scrupulous care. I am greatly indebted to it for valuable assistance in a part of iny task. Professor Craik's little volume of ' Female Examples,' in his * Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' is an amusing and pleasant book for every reader, and to young women of literary tendencies it is more especially valuable, vindicating the general character of female writers while reproving the failings incidental to it, tracing out bright paths of usefulness, and inciting to excellence by the exhi- bition of attractive examples selected from among the learned women of various nations. Having seen frequent references in the ' Censura Lite- raria,' and in other works, to ' The Feminead, or Female Genius,' written in the year 1751 by John Buncombe, M.A., 1 sought it out in Pearch's * Collection of Poems,' vol. iv. pp. 186-201 ; supposing that I should find in it either a learned collocation of the world's most illustrious women, or at least of those born in Britain. In both these ex- pectations I was disappointed ; although I believe that the author did intend to immortalize all his literary country- women, and deceived himself with the mistake of having done so. Under the tAvo first kings of our Georgian period it appears to have been generally taken for granted that Queen Anne's reign witnessed the culmination of our planet's literary glory, and that previous to the Restoration of King Charles II. England had possessed no female writers. In conformity with this erroneous theory, Mr. Buncombe's encomiastic list begins with Orinda-Catherine Philips ; includes the Countess of Winchelsea, Mrs. Cathe- rine Cockburn, Mrs. Rowe, the Duchess of Somerset, the Viscountess Irwin, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Madan, Mary Leapor, 10 INTRODUCTION. Misses Farrer and Pennington, a Delia (probably Mrs. Chapone), who was the authoress of Odes to Peace, Health, and a Kobin-Kedbreast ; and ends with a Eugenia, who is eulogized as excelling in drawing as well as in poetry. The allusion to a ' Search ' or * Inquiry ' after happiness identifies this Eugenia with Elizabeth Carter. Mr. Dun- combe mentions with censure, as foils to his heroines, Mrs. Manley, Mrs. Centlivre, Aphara Behn, and a trio named Philips, Pilkington, and Vane. * The Feminead ' does credit to its author as a gentleman, a scholar, and a moralist, though not as a poet. The versi- fication consists of rhymed heroic couplets, the sentiments are blameless, and the advice which the poem conveys is good though commonplace. Conscious of feebleness, he in- vokes " every muse " in his exordium, and, feeling the combined aid of the Nine to be either insufficient or denied, exclaims in desperation, " To these weak strains, oh thou, the sex's friend And constant patron, Richardson, attend ! " No doubt Mr. Richardson did attend to those " weak strains," and he probably assisted in spreading their fame. As a record of many remarkable women, written with correctness and facility, * the Feminead ' may possibly be remembered in literary circles when works of far higher ability are forgotten. During the last century several miscellaneous collec- tions of the lives of celebrated women have been published in England, apparently without any other principle of selection than that of historical and contemporary noto- riety, and perplexing the ambitious aspirations of youthful readers, by setting before them the dark doings and daring ascents of the Catherines de' Medici and of Eussia, and the INTRODUCTION. 11 discordant careers of the daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke and of Queen Elizabeth. Many works appropriated to historic series of our queens and princesses, executed with a happy admixture of antiquarian research and popular fluency, have more recently enriched women's knowledge of woman. The * Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies,' with the prefatory notices of the several dictators or writers in chronological order, have likewise served to mark more particularly the extent and pace of feminine progress both in penmanship and moral culture during the periods when mental education in England was the exclusive privilege of the upper classes. I am unacquainted with the existence of any systematic work, either succinct or voluminous, running parallel with the course of English literature in the condensed or arranged lives and writings of literary Englishwomen from the Heptarchy to the year 1850. Nor do I know of one in which the poetesses of England have been compared among themselves. While our country has thus been content, throughout long succeeding centuries, to leave the names of her most eminent daughters faintly discernible and often over- shadowed on chance monuments, America has ostentati- ously marshalled for the Elysian fields of fame the batta- lions of her * Female Prose Writers/ under the banner of Mr. Hart ; and her ' Female Poets,' under the banner of Mr. Bead : although the greater number of those author- esses were still alive when enlisted, and not a hundredth part of the productions of the two-fold array can possibly substantiate a claim to lasting preservation. Another ponderous American volume, edited by Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale, professes not only to include all our English heroines, but also to abridge all the published 12 INTRODUCTION. memoirs of remarkable women of all lands and of all kinds, adding fresh transatlantic conscripts to this vast Ama- zonian host. The title of the book is ' Woman's Kecord ; or, Sketches of all Distinguished Women from the Cre- ation to A.D. 1854, in four Eras, with Selections from Female Writers of every Age.' This laborious compilation shows the infusion of the writer's original thought only in the tinge of a peculiar form of heterodoxy. It is bare, bald, and often inaccurate, but it is of real value as a cata- logue of names and dates. I may, with good old Fuller, " confess the subject is but dull in itself to tell the time and place of men's (i.e. women's) birth and death, their names, with the names and number of their books ; and therefore this bare skeleton of time, place, and person must be fleshed with some pleasant passages." It consists with the primary purpose and very nature of the present work, that these " pleasant passages" should be extracted from the writings of the persons of whom the biographical notices are given. This more than re-clothes the skeleton ; it restores the form, reanimates it with the breath of life, and gives to every voice its own peculiar tone of thought and feeling. A uniform reprint of the best works of our English authoresses might probably be useful, not only in marking the educational progress of the people, and facilitating the critical comparison of those works with each other, but also in exhibiting a concentrated view of what has already been achieved. Such a series would offer strong incentives to fresh aspirants so to direct their labours as to fill up ascer- tained deficiencies, and so to mould their compositions as to fit the mutable requirements of social life. The selection need not amount to a sixty-fourth portion of the library belonging to Count Leopold Ferri, of Padua, which, con- INTRODUCTION. 13 sisting only of books written by women, comprised thirty- two thousand volumes. This was a cosmopolitan assem- blage. It would be well in our own day if every nation made its own, for near relationship and local associations enhance sympathetic interest, and united retrospection gives a powerful impulse to advancement. Meanwhile, deeply conscious of omissions, which I have failed in procuring materials to supply ; of shortcomings, which I do not possess the means of eking out ; and of that liability to error which peculiarly attaches to a collocation of many facts, dates, and opinions, I can only declare my willingness to profit by any suggestions which may be offered for the rectification and improvement of the Synop- tical Essay which I now lay before the public, trusting that an employment which has soothed and cheered many hours of solitary suffering, may not prove wholly useless. JANE WILLIAMS, Ysgafell. 38, Sydney Street, Chelsea. June 20, 1861. CHAPTEK 1. A.D. -1500. The Ancient Britons The Ancient Germans The Anglo-Saxons, in- cluding the Abbess Hilda, the Abbess Eadburga, Queen Osburga. Ethelfloda, Lady of the Mercians, and Queen Editha The Saxon Abbess Hroswitha of Gandersheim The Anglo-Normans, including Queen Matilda and Queen Adeliza Ceridwen, a Welsh myth Mary of France Translated works of Christina of Pisa English and French languages Lady Pelham The Daughters of John of Gaunt Lady Husee The Fastens Missive letters Queen Elizabeth Woodville Juliana, Prioress of Sopewell Devorguilla Balliol Queen Philippa The Countess of Ulster Mary St. Paul, Countess of Pembroke Queen Margaret of Anjou. " Your worthiness Remains recorded in so many hearts, As time nor malice cannot wrong your right In the inheritance of fame you must possess ; You, that have built you by your great deserts Out of small means a far more exquisite And glorious dwelling for your honour'd name Than all the gold that leaden minds can frame." DANIEL. WAKTON has aptly remarked that the ancient Greeks proved their high appreciation of feminine intellect by representing the nine Muses as women, and that, perhaps, their loftiest conceptions of wisdom, purity, and virtue were embodied in the Athenian Minerva. Among many ancient nations, women regularly officiated as priestesses: the oracles of Delphi and Dodona were uttered by women, and " Often as the maids of Greece surround Apollo's shrine with hymns of festive sound, They name the virgins who arrived of yore With British offerings on the Delian shore : LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND, 15 Loxo, from giant Corineus sprung ; Upis, on whoso blest lips tho future hung ; And Hacnerge, with the golden hair."* From the 33rd, 34th, and 35th chapters of the 4th book of Herodotus,t it is clear that other British priestesses, Argis and Opis, Hyperoche and Laodice, had also at two different periods carried sacred offerings to Delos. The devotional tendency of the feminine mind appears to ha\e been acknowledged and honoured among all the civilized nations of antiquity. It cannot be doubted that the Druidical priestesses were poets, although their poetry has passed away from the earth, like most of their choral music, with the faith which it expressed. Keligious senti- ment cherished by traditionary precepts and by solitary contemplation, amid the sublime and beautiful scenery of their courts, their temples, and their groves, could not fail to evoke the poetic faculty wherever it existed. Hesiod J alludes to the poetry of the Celts, when men- tioning in his ' Theogony ' the " Gorgons, dwelling on the brink of night, Beyond the sounding main, where, silver -voiced, The Hesperian maidens in their watches sing." Diodorus Siculus testifies from Hecateus that the in- habitants of Britain " demean themselves as if they were Apollo's priests ; " and repeats the tradition of Britain being Latona's birthplace. We are not expressly in- formed that Claudia Kufina was a poet, but we are told that she endeavoured to cultivate the taste of her fellow- countrymen, by making them acquainted with the verses t * Cowper's Translation of Milton's Epistle to Manso. t Belpe's Translation. i Elton's Translation, lines 330, Ac. Booth's Translation, book ii., chap. ii. 16 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. of a Koman author ; and this fact may be considered to imply the existence in her of that strong poetic tendency which all history and experience attest to be an insepar- able attribute of the Celtic mind. The great number of female names perpetuated in those of ancient churches and their respective parishes in Wales indicate the noble and wealthy women who first founded those churches to have been both zealous and literate Christians.* Tacitus, describing the * Manners of the Germans,' says, " There is, in their opinion, something sacred in the female sex, and even the power of foreseeing future events. Their advice is therefore always heard; they are frequently consulted, and their responses are deemed oracular. We have seen, in the reign of Vespasian, the famous Veleda revered as a divinity by her countrymen. Before her time Aurinia and others were held in equal veneration, but a veneration founded on sentiment and superstition, free from that servile adulation which pretends to people heaven with human deities." t Among the Anglo-Saxons women were much honoured, and many of them were famous for literary acquirements. The grandniece of Edwin King of Northumbria, Hilda the Abbess, was in many respects a very remarkable woman. She was one of the converts of St. Paulinus, and took the veil at the age of thirty-three. Having distin- guished herself by her admirable management of the monastery of Hartlepool, she proceeded to build the monastery of Whitby, in the North Biding of Yorkshire, and to regulate its discipline upon the same plan. Bede relates that " Her prudence was so great, that not only in- * See Kees's ' Welsh Saints.' t Murphy's ' Tacitus,' Valpy's ed., vol. v., pp. 90-91. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 17 different persons, but even kings and princes, as occasions offered, asked and received her advice. She obliged those who were under her to attend so much to reading of the Holy Scriptures, and to exercise themselves so much in works of justice, that many might there be found fit for ecclesiastical duties, and to serve at the altar." * The venerable monk proceeds to enumerate five bishops of singular merit trained at Whitby. Hilda was also the patroness of Caedmon, the greatest poet of the Anglo- Saxons, who, at her instance, set about transferring into verse the whole course of sacred history. After seven years' illness, borne with exemplary fortitude, she died in the year 680, at the age of sixty-six. Mr. Wright, in his 'Biographia Britannica Literaria,' of the Anglo-Saxon period, and in the 3rd section of his Introduction, treating of " the Anglo-Latin writers," says, " The cultivation of letters was in that age by no means confined to the robuster sex ; the Anglo-Saxon ladies applied themselves to study with equal zeal, and almost equal success. It was for their reading chiefly that Adhelm wrote his book ' De Laude Virginitatis.' The female cor- respondents of Boniface wrote in Latin with as much ease as the ladies of the present day write in French, and their letters often show much elegant and courtly feeling. They sometimes also sent him specimens of their skill in writing Latin verse. The Abbess Eadburga was one of Boniface's most constant friends ; she seems to have fre- quently sent him books written by herself, or by her scholars, for the instruction of his German converts ; and on one occasion he accompanies his letter to her with a present of a silver pen (unum graphium argentum). * Bonn's edition of Giles's Translation of the ' Ecclesiastical History,' p. 218. C 18 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Leobgitha, one of her pupils, concludes a letter to Boni- face by offering him a specimen of her acquirements in Latin metres. ' These underwritten verses/ she says, ' I have endeavoured to compose according to the rules derived from the poets, not in a spirit of presumption, but with the desire of exciting the powers of my slender talents, and the hope of thy assistance therein. This art I have learned from Eadburga, who is ever occupied in studying the Divine law.' " * .Boniface himself paid an indirect compliment to the caligraphy of Eadburga and her nuns, by requesting that abbess " to cause a copy of the Gospels to be written mag- nificently in letters of gold, and sent to him in Germany, that his converts there might be impressed with a proper reverence for the sacred writings." This Eadburga, otherwise called by the less harmonious name of Bugga, was an Anglo-Saxon princess, who appears to have been long a resident at Kome. She was honoured by the particular friendship of Archbishop Boniface, her fellow-countryman, known in early life by the name of Winfred, and by subsequent generations as " the Apostle of the Germans." t The ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' J under the date A.D. 694, records, that on the accession of Withred to the sovereignty of Kent he assembled a great council at Beckenham, for the express purpose of consulting upon the best means of promoting the interests of Christianity throughout his dominions; and that the council was attended not only by Berthwald Archbishop of Canterbury, and by Tobias * See Wright's ' Biographia Britannica Literaria.' f See Mosheim's ' Ecclesiastical History,' Maclaine's Translation, Tegg's edition, vol. i., pp. 313-14. J Bohn's edition of Giles's Translation, pp. 331-2. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 19 Bishop of Rochester, with the abbots, but also by the abbesses, who took an active part in the proceedings, and received an especial injunction from the king, by their good precepts and example to instruct and advise their sections of the community. Osburga, the wife of King Ethelwulf, is described by the British Asser, Bishop of St. David's, Exeter, and Sherborne, as " a religious woman, noble both by birth and nature." * This Saxon queen, by means of an illu- minated manuscript of native poetry, which she offered as a reward, stimulated the literary emulation of her sons, and aroused to earnest activity the mind of her youngest, afterwards the glorious King Alfred the Great. His eldest daughter, Ethelfleda, inherited her father's high qualities moral, mental, and martial. She probably shared the same advantages of education as her brother Ethelwerd and her sister Ethelswitha, of whom Asser records that they learned to write, and could read books both in the Latin and Saxon languages ; " for they have carefully learned the Psalms and Saxon books, especially the Saxon poems, and are continually in the habit of making use of books." f She married Ethelred Earl of Mercia, and, surviving him several years, governed and defended that territory with extraordinary discretion and skill. She was commonly called " The Lady of the Mercians : " to her, King Athelstan, her nephew, was indebted for his good political training, and she won from the chroniclers of her times the well-deserved praise of being " the wisest woman in England." This Saxon Zenobia died at Tamworth twelve days before Midsummer, * 'Life of Alfred,' Bolm's edition of Giles's Translation, p. 44. t Ibid., p. 68. c2 20 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. in the year 922, and was buried " within the east porch of St. Peter's Church at Gloucester." * Queen Editha, the daughter of Earl Godwin, and the wife of King Edward the Confessor, was a woman of cul- tivated mind, and well acquainted with books. Ingulphus, or the pseudo-historian of Croyland, relates, that in his boyhood, when visiting his father, who held an employ- ment about the court, he often met her Majesty as he came from school, and that she questioned him concerning his studies and verses, " and, willingly passing from gram- mar to logic," would catch him in the subtleties of argu- ment ; not omitting afterwards to make her handmaiden count out for him a pecuniary reward, and sending him to the buttery to refresh himself." t Whatever may be thought of the genuineness of the i History of Croyland/ it can scarcely be doubted that the facts related of the queen accorded with her known character and acquirements. Amidst the general "stagnation of the poetical facul- ties " in Europe during the dark ages which preceded the twelfth century, Mr. Hallam mentions " Anglo-Saxon poetry of a wild spirit, rather impressive, though often turgid and always rude ;" and, in a note, quoting Tira- boschi's allusion to Latin versifiers in Italy, he adds, " Hroswitha, Abbess of Gandersheim, has perhaps the greatest reputation among these Latin poets. She wrote, in the tenth century, sacred comedies in imitation of Terence, which I have not seen, and other poetry which I saw many years since, and thought very indifferent." ^ On the same subject Richard Price says, " Perhaps the plays of Hroswitha, a nun of Gandersheim, in Lower * See Giles's ' Anglo-Saxon Chron.' f Pict. Hist. Eng.,' part i., p. 187. | ' Lit. Eur.,' vol. i., p. 10, ed. iv. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 21 Saxony, who lived towards the close of the tenth century, afford the earliest specimens of dramatic composition since the decline of the Roman empire. They were pro- fessedly written for the benefit of those Christians who, abjuring all other heathen writers, were irresistibly at- tracted by the graces of Terence, to the imminent danger of their spiritual welfare, and the certain pollution of their moral feelings."* Her works were first printed at Nu- remberg, by Conrad Celtes, in the year 1501. William of Malmesbury informs us that Queen Matilda, daughter of Malcolm in., King of Scotland, niece of Edgar Atheling, and first wife of King Henry I. of England, " had given her attention to literature, being educated from her infancy among the nuns at Wilton and Komsey."f He mentions also her lavish generosity to " clerks of melo- dious voice," and to trouveurs. Queen Matilda died in the year 1107; and in 1121 King Henry married Adeliza, daughter of Godfrey Duke of Louvaine; who emulated her predecessor in the liberal patronage she afforded to the trouveurs. In Mrs. Everett Green's collection of the * Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, from the commencement of the Twelfth Century to the close of the Reign of Queen Mary,' } the earliest are two from Queen Matilda to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury ; their pro- bable date being about A.D. 1103. There are also epistles from Adela Countess of Blois, youngest daughter of King William the Conqueror ; from the Empress Matilda ; from Mary Countess of Boulogne, the daughter of King Stephen ; and from many of the wives and daughters of the Plan- * Note to section vi. of Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry.' t Giles's Translation, Bohn's ed., p. 452. t 3 vols., Colbnrn, 184<3. 22 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. tagenets ; but the originals are all in the Latin language, and written by professional scribes ; although in several instances the feelings and characters of the women at whose command or desire they were penned shine clearly- through the borrowed words. One passionate effusion, addressed by Queen Eleanor, the widow of Henry II., to Pope Celestine, on the subject of her son Kichard Coeur de Lion's captivity, is evidently dictated by herself, and merely Latinized by her secretary; for even in the English translation the emotions of the woman and the mother predominate. Mr. Hallam declares that " Before the end of the eleventh century, and especially after the ninth, it was rare to find laymen in France who could read and write ;" and that " The case was probably not better anywhere else, except in Italy." * It would appear that in the tenth century the case must have been much better in Wales, for Howel Dda, the sovereign prince, was assisted in the preparation of his code of laws by the chiefs of tribes, and by other laymen of noble rank, besides a hundred and forty of the clergy. Those laws bear witness to the high estimation in which literature, and the bards, its lay professors, were then held.f The hero of a Welsh poem, long erroneously attributed to Taliesin, says, "I have been gifted with genius From the cauldron of Ceridwen/'J * ' Lit. Eur.,' vol. i., p. 51, ed. iv. t See ' The Literary Remains of the Kev. Thomas Price,' vol. i., pp. 115-232, ' On the Comparative Merits of the Remains of Ancient Lite- rature,' especially pp. 154-5 ; see also the Translation of ' The Laws of Howel Dda,' by Aneurin Owen, and published by the Eecord Office ; and see likewise Powel's ' History of Cambria.' t See the Appendix to Giles's Translation of Nennius's ' History of the Britons,' p. 42. James Bohn's 8vo. edition. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 23 In the Welsh language, one word, cawr, expresses a great pei-son, whether it be a giant in bodily size, according to the primary sense, or a hero, or a genius. This Ceridwen was a giantess, an eminent woman, and an enchantress of what has been termed the Neo-druidic period, A.D. 600-1200, when the old national mythology, which had vanished away long centuries before in the light of Chris- tianity from the popular belief, was again evoked as a poetical theory by the bards : just as the theogony of Greece and Rome continued in more recent times to mystify the literature of modern Europe. Ceridwen was a type of inventive fertility ; she was a Ceres, a Luna, and a Minerva in one. Her cauldron she medicated with herbs so eflfica- cacious, that three drops of the contents, touching the lips of a bard, imparted the prophetic power of beholding all futurity.* Hence it may be inferred that the British bards of the period thought not less highly of the intellect of women than the ancient Greeks did ; although the apparent compliment might perchance in both nations have consisted merely in the idea of maternal production. The earliest female writer mentioned by Warton is Mary of France, who, in the thirteenth century, transfused and versified the old traditionary tales of Armorica into those Lays of the Romance language, of which the MS. still exists among the earliest specimens of Romantic fiction. She was born on the Continent, but wrote in England, and died about the year 1268. Her 'Poesies,' including her Lays, Fables, &c., were published by M. de Roquefort in 1820. Translations of the Lays may be found in Ellis's ' Early English Metrical Romances.' Early in the fifteenth century Christina of Pisa flour- * See the loloMSS. 24 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ished. She translated several works from the Latin into the French language. Her ' Moral Proverbs ' were trans- lated into English by Anthony Woodville, Earl Kivers, who lost his head with Vaughan and Grey at Pornfret Castle ; they were printed by Caxton in 1477. Caxton likewise printed a translation of her ' Book of Feats of Arms and of Chivalry.' Warton quotes from those proverbs one quaint couplet : " Little valueth good example to see, For him that will not the contrary flee." The discouragement of the Anglo-Saxon literature under King Edward the Confessor, and the Norman and Anglo- Norman sovereigns, suppressed the literary spirit of the country, and produced an era of ignorance. From the reign of Edward the Confessor until the reign of the Plantagenet Edward III., French was the language of the English court and of the upper classes of English society. The most exact and most elliptical of historians states that "English was seldom written, and hardly employed in prose, till after the middle of the fourteenth century."* He mentions " an English letter from the lady of Sir John Pelham to her husband in 1399, which is probably one of the earliest instances of female penmanship ;" sati- rically adding, " By the badness of the grammar, we may presume it to be her own.f In a note he gives a copy of it from Collins (who derived it from the archives of the Newcastle family), describing it as " the oldest private letter in the English language," and remarking that others of an earlier date will probably be found ; " at least it cannot now be doubtful that some were written, since a lady is not likely to set the example." This acute inference is * ' Lit. Eur.,' vol. i., p. 49, eel. iv. f Ibid., p. 54. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 25 doubtless correct, and, so far from being a censure, may rather be deemed a commendation, for the characteristic of feminine talent has ever been rather to refine and to improve upon inventions than to originate them. In another passage Mr. Hallam alludes to this letter as " ungrammatical and unintelligible." Allowing the truth of the first charge, it may be contended that the second rests not upon the diction, but upon our ignorance of the state of the people in the counties of " Sussex, Surrey, and a great parcel of Kent," at the period when Lady Pelham wrote to Sir John from his castle of Pevensey. The daughters of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, were the first Englishwomen who knew how to write ; and Johanna of Navarre, his daughter-in-law, widow of John, sixth Duke of Bretagne, and second wife of King Henry IV. of England, is the first English queen whose autograph signature is known to be extant : * A.D. 1415. Her " Jehane " shows the process by which the name of Johanna was softened down into " Jane."f A letter from Constance Lady Husee to King Henry VI., A.D. 1-141, is introduced by Mrs. Everett Green as " the earliest specimen which had fallen under her notice of an English epistle written by a lady." { According to Sir Henry Ellis, the correspondence of literate persons in England, previous to the reign of King Henry V., was usually carried on either in the Latin or French language. This fact might also be reasonably in- ferred from the predominance of the priests, and their * ' Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, from the commencement of the Twelfth Century to the close of the Reign of Queen Mary,' edited by Mary Amne Everett Wood. 3 vols. 8vo. t Ibid. See the facsimiles prefixed to the first vol. i Ibid., vol. i., p. l2. 26 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Latin ministrations ; and from the French habits and tendencies of the court and aristocracy. There is no better test of mental culture, either in an individual or an age, than familiar letters afford. Of the four hundred and forty-three Paston Letters, in Knight's edition, belonging to the historical period 1440-84, nearly one-third are written by women or addressed to women. Several, upon urgent affairs, are directed either for " The Bight Worshipful John Paston," or, in his absence, for " The Eight Worshipful Mistress Paston," his wife. Then, as ever, sagacious minds and strong wills gained domestic ascendency, and Dame Agnes and Mistress Margaret in- fluenced their husbands, controlled their children, governed their servants, retainers, and tenants ; and, whenever occa- sion required, acted as able deputies or principals in the management of landed and personal property, and in the transaction of all sorts of business. Their letters, and the letters of many other* ladies and gentlewomen of the party, are not inferior in style, sense, or spirit to those of the greater number of their male correspondents. The letter addressed to Sir John Paston by Elizabeth Duchess of Suffolk, sister of King Edward IV., written about the year 1461, is noticed by Mrs. Everett Green as " the earliest holograph of any royal lady of England of which we have any record." * A note subjoined to this statement says that " In the Tower collection are several English letters written towards the close of the reign of Henry VI., but they are of no particular interest, and are from females of inferior station." This information is important, as a proof that education at that period was not the exclusive privilege of women of * ' Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies,' vol. i. p. 94. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 27 ln'irh rank; but it may be safely asserted, until further evidence is produced, that no English females under the degree of gentlewomen, unless they were nuns, could at that period read and write. In all ages and countries, there have been, are, and can be, only two sorts of epistolary missives the formal and the spontaneous. Cultivation alters them, and their com- binations produce innumerable varieties, but in these the original species can always be distinctly traced. The formal is known by its clidging, supporting, and shaping itself upon some rule, frame-work, or type. The earliest compositions of children, those of persons educated chiefly by the ear, those of crafty persons, and those of scholars whose learning oppresses their mental energy, are always more or less stiffly artificial and formal. The letters of those persons who write as freely as they think and speak may properly be termed natural and 'spontaneous, whatever tincture they may show of their author's education or ignorance. Each several letter of the Paston collection exhibits a crude, unblended junction of artificially-formal beginnings and endings, with inter- vening passages of spontaneously-natural utterance : set phrases being constantly used, nevertheless, for the com- munication of certain kinds of information, such as tidings of mortal sickness or death. Family interests, family acquisitions, worldly advance- ment, and personal convenience ; the cares of lands and houses, goods and chattels, profits and losses, are the en- grossing topics of all ; with such narrations of the political troubles of the time as interfered with the private welfare of the writers. The wearing out of villenage, and the little injury inflicted upon the country by the civil war, may be inferred from this correspondence. 28 LITEKARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Treating of the period 1440 to 1500, Mr. Hallam says of the Paston Letters : " They are all written in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., except a few as late as Henry VII., by different members of a wealthy and respectable, but not noble, English family ; and are, therefore, pictures of the life of the English gentry in that age. We are merely concerned with their evidence as to the state of literature. And this, upon the whole, is more favourable than, from the want of authorship in those reigns, we should be led to anticipate. It is plain that several members of the family, male and female, wrote, not only grammatically, but with a fluency and facility, an epistolary expertness, which implies the habitual use of the pen." * Only twc autographs of Queen Elizabeth Woodville are known to be extant. One is the signature of a letter, f and the other is attached to a letter-patent. The former reproves Sir William Stonor for hunting and slaying her deer in the forest and chace of Barn wood and Excell ; the latter relates to her tenants, Henry and Alice Grey, probably kinsfolk of her first husband, who had been im- pleaded in the King's Court. JULIANA PRIORESS OF SOPEWELL. Juliana, daughter of Sir James Berners, of Berners Koding, in the county of Essex, and sister to Bichard Lord Berners, was, in the year 1460, and for many years afterwards, Prioress of Sopewell Nunnery. She is said to have been a learned and accomplished woman, and ap- pears in the fore-front of our English authoresses on the * ' Lit. Eur.,' vol. i., p. 165, ed. iv. t 'Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies,' vol. i., p. 110. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 'J! strength of her claim to the compilation and translation of certain treatises upon hawking, hunting, fishing, and armoury. They were first printed in 1468, at the neigh- bouring monastery of St. Albans, and again in 1496 by Wynkyn de Worde. The treatise on hunting is in rhyme, which makes no approach to poetry. The coarseness of her details does discredit alike to her character as a gentlewoman and as a nun. Although the sports of the field were generally pro- hibited to the religious orders, yet, on various pretexts, special exemptions were granted, and wealthy monks and nuns went out as well equipped to hunt and hawk as any of their lay compeers. It may, therefore, be concluded that Juliana, the Prioress of Sopewell, was practically well acquainted with the subjects on which she wrote. Previous to the year 1500 several women of illustrious rank, although not personally known as scholars or au- thoresses, proved their true appreciation of the advantages of learning by founding colleges and halls at the Uni- versities. During the reigns of King Henry III. and King Ed- ward L, and between the years 1263 and 1284, Balliol College, Oxford, was founded by John Balliol, of Bernard Castle, and by Devorguilla his wife, the grand-parents of John Balliol, afterwards King of Scotland. Granger men- tions a mezzotinto engraving from a portrait in the Oxford Gallery which bears her name, but really represents Jenny Keeks, an apothecary's daughter. In the year 1340 Queen's College, Oxford, was founded by Robert Eglesfield, chaplain and confessor to Queen Philippa, consort of King Edward III., and avowedly with her Majesty's "favour and assistance." Granger mentions a whole-length mezzotinto engraving of her, 30 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. taken from a painting at Queen's College, Oxford, the face being derived from an ancient stone head of this queen over the back gate of the college. In the same year Clare Hall, Cambridge, was founded by Kichard Badew, who, not being rich enough to fulfil his intention, was munificently aided by Elizabeth de Clare, Countess of Ulster, the third sister and co-heir of Gilbert Earl of Clare. Granger mentions a mezzotinto engraving of this countess, " E. Tabula in Aula Clarensi." In 1347 Mary St. Paul, Countess of Pembroke, founded Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. She was that bride of melancholy notoriety whose gallant bridegroom, Audemar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, was accidentally slain in a tilting-match upon the wedding-day. Immediately and for ever sequestrating herself from the world, the widowed Countess devoted her subsequent life to prayer and to acts of piety and charity. Granger mentions a mezzotinto engraving of her, without alluding to any original por- trait. Queen's College, Cambridge, was founded in 1446 by Queen Margaret of Anjou, the consort of King Henry VI., and re-founded in 1465 by Queen Elizabeth Woodville, the consort of King Edward IV., thus blending the rival roses. Granger mentions a portrait of Queen Margaret in the refectory of the College, and two engravings of her, besides a figure in Montfaucon's 'Monumens de la Mo- narchie Franchise,' but doubts the genuineness of all. He mentions only one engraving of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. I.ITKKAKY WOMEN OF RMO1 \M>. " 1 CHAPTER II. A.D. 1500-1550. Margaret Countess of Richmond Remarks on the period Queen Anno Boleyn The daughters of Sir Thomas More Margaret Gigs Anne Askew Queen Catherine Parr Frances Lady Abergavenny. " The tender lark will find a time to fly, And fearful hare to run a quiet race ; He that high growth on cedars did bestow, Gave also lowly mushrooms leave to grow." ROBERT SOUTHWELL. MARGARET COUNTESS OF RICHMOND. MARGARET BEAUFORT was esteemed in many particulars the model woman of her time. She was born in the year 1410, at Bletshoe, in Bedfordshire the only child and heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and of his wife Margaret Beauchamp, daughter of Lord Beauchamp, of Powick. By her first husband, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, she became the mother of her only child, afterwards King Henry VII. Her second husband was Sir Henry Stafford, and her third Thomas Lord Stanley, subsequently created Earl of Derby. She naturally possessed great mental sagacity; she made herself thoroughly acquainted with the English and French languages, and slightly with the Latin. She translated from the French the fourth book of Gerson's * Treatise on the Imitation of our Saviour,' and from a French translation the 'Speculum aureum Peccatorum.' 32 LITEBARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. She also, by her royal "son's command and authority," says Horace Walpole, " made the orders, yet extant, for great estates of ladies and noblewomen, for their pre- cedence, attires, and wearing of barbes at funerals over the chin and under the same." Many devotional books were avowedly printed at her desire, and probably at her expense. The only two letters of hers known to be extant are printed among those of ' Koyal and Illustrious Ladies ' in the first volume of Mrs. Everett Green's collection. It is remarkable that, although she never attained to regal dignity, she signed her name " Margaret R." an indica- tion of pretentious vanity. The first of those letters is a mere order, and goes straight and briefly to its purpose ; the second is addressed to King Henry VII., and indicates an ^ambitious and crafty mind the caressing tone of the mother being artfully blended with the submissiveness of the " servant and beadwoman." Until age brought death into obvious proximity, she was a busy woman of the world, and then she put on the dress and habits of a reli- gious recluse. Like many other royal personages, she excelled in ornamental needlework ; and it is said that King James L, in his progresses, constantly visited Bletshoe, and called for a sight of the specimens of her art which were preserved there.* The " venerable Margaret " eulogised by Gray t founded the Divinity Lectureships of Oxford and of Cambridge, and re-founded the Colleges called Christ's (1505) and St. John's (1511) in the last-mentioned University. She also founded a free-school at Wymbourn, in Dorsetshire. * Wilford, p. 552. f " Leaning from her golden cloud, The venerable Margaret see." Ode for Music. . L1TKKAKY \\o\IKN of KNUl.ANh. '>' survived her son, King Jlenry VII., tor three months, Margaret Countess of Richmond died June 29, 150i), agod (>!). Her funeral sermon, preached by Bishop Fisher, is admirable for characteristic details. She was buried in King Henry VII.'s Chapel, where her tomb and effigy may yet be seen. The inscription is said to have been written by Erasmus. Granger mentions a portrait of her at Hatfield House, and gives an account of three engravings. There is one in Park's edition of Horace Walpole's * Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,' representing her as a gaunt and aged nun. The revival of classical learning and the progress of the religious reformation have set their impress strongly upon the sixteenth century. In Margaret Beaufort, the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, an example has been given of the most highly cultivated Englishwoman of her time, 1440-1509. The printing-presses of Caxton and of Wynkyn de Worde had now multiplied the number of books by an increase of copies, by the introduction of new translations, and by the production of original works. The progress of learning on the Continent became a favour- ite topic of English conversation; and knowledge, which had appeared extraordinary in the youthful days of Mar- garet Beaufort, was expected as a thing of course in the youthful days of her granddaughters. The eldest daughter of King Henry VII., Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, occasionally employed a clerk, although the greater number of her crafty epistles, full of manifold discontents and never-ending solicitations, are written by her o\vn hand. The beautiful and benevolent .Mary Tudor, Queen of France, seems always to have written her own. Elizabeth Countess of Kildare, Mar- garet Countess of Salisbury, Anne Lady Redo, Anne D 34 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Countess of Oxford, and Elizabeth Duchess of Norfolk, wrote readily in English, A.D. 1500-25 ; and, after that period, female letter-writers in the upper classes of society multiplied abundantly. People who have acquired a little valuable knowledge have usually acquired also both the means and the desire to augment it. The ability to read and write, and the power of transfusing thoughts, though shallow ones, into a second language, prepared those among the women of England who enjoyed such privileges to appreciate mental cultivation ; it excited their sympathy in the intellectual activity of men of genius, and their ambition to emulate the attainments of the women of Italy. The consequence was that tutors, who a few years before would have been content to praise the progress of their female pupils in col- loquial and epistolary French and English, delighted at discovering in them a thirst -for deeper knowledge, grati- fied it with all the eagerness with which learners teach. " Greek is said to have been first publicly taught in this country, in St. Paul's school, by the famous William Lily, who had studied the language at Rhodes, and who was appointed the first master of the new school in 1512."* The works of Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Demosthenes, Isocrates, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, which laborious scholars were then enjoying in their collegiate cells for the first time, soon gained an introduction to England's palaces and mansions, and shared with Latin authors the favour of studious ladies. Thus classic literature became the fashion in the reign of King Henry VIII., and held its place of honour until the extinction of his dynasty. In the biographical sketches which follow, brief as they are, care has been taken to give the locality of birth, resi- * Craik's ' Lit. and Learning,' vol. ii., p. 202. I.ITKKAI,^ WOMEN UK KMM.ANh. , Alone, in prison strange, Bring on my quiet rest, I wail my destiny, Let pass my very guiltless ghost, Woe worth the cruel bap that I Out of my careful breast. Should taste this misery ! Ring out the doleful knell, Farewell my pleasures past, Let its sound my death tell, Welcome my present pain ! For I must die, j feel my torments 8O increase There is no remedy, That J^ cannot remain . Sound now the passing bell, My pains who can express ? Rung is my doleful knell, Alas ! they are so strong ; For its sound my death doth tell : My dolour will not suffer strength Death doth draw nigh, My life for to prolong. Sound the knell dolefully, For now I die ! ' Campbell has justly characterized this composition as "one of the most beautiful and plaintive strains of our elder poetry." Anne Boleyn's portrait was repeatedly painted by Hol- bein and others, and many engravings from those paintings are enumerated by Granger. THE DAUGHTERS OF SIR THOMAS MORE. Sir Thomas More was twice married : first, to Joanna Golt, the daughter of an Essex gentleman ; and secondly, to Alice Middleton, a widow, whose maiden name was Grisacre. His son and three daughters were born of the first marriage, the second was childless. The home of Sir Thomas and his happy family was at Chelsea, and is shown by Faulkner,* on the authority of l)r. King the antiquary, who held the rectory of that parish for many years, to have been a large and commodious mansion opposite to the river, and built by Sir Thomas More on the site sub- sequently occupied by Beaufort House. There Erasmus passed many happy days, and there Holbein painted some of his finest pictures. * Sec lii> lli>t<>r\ of ( 'lu-lsci.' vol. i. 40 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The daughters of Sir Thomas More were esteemed the most learned and accomplished women of their time. Erasmus called their home a temple of the Muses : it was also a temple of domestic affection and of true piety. Margaret, the eldest, was born about the year 1508. She gave early indications of extraordinary abilities, earnest devotion to God, and the most amiable and affectionate disposition. She married William Koper, Esq., of West Hall, near Eltham, Kent; and found in him a husband worthy of her love. She wrote many Latin epistles and English letters, and an original treatise on ' The Four Last Things,' and she translated the ' Ecclesiastical His- tory ' of Eusebius from the Greek into the Latin language. Her father rented a small separate house, into which he received poor and aged persons, whom he maintained at his own expense. To Margaret he intrusted the daily oversight of this house, and made her responsible for the poor inmates being well taken care of. She had likewise the gratification of seeing and partaking in the distribution of the large charities bestowed by her generous husband, who delighted in imitating the example of his father in- law. She was the pride and darling of both their hearts, and was held in the highest estimation for her virtue and genius by the most eminent persons of her time. The part which she bore in her father's happy household, and in his days of affliction, can never be forgotten by those who have read the ' Life of Sir Thomas More.' Her duteous care is said by Wood, in his ' Athen. Oxon.,' to have interred his mutilated corpse beneath the tomb which he had prepared within the southern wall of the chancel of Chelsea church. She rescued his venerated head from being thrown into the Thames after its exposure for four- teen days upon a pole on London Bridge, preserved it in a leaden box, and directed that it should finally be placed LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 41 with her in the grave. She died in the year 1544, leaving five children, and was buried in the vault of the Koper family, in St. Dunstan's church, Canterbury. It was her lowest praise to be " excellently well skilled in the Greek and Latin languages." She is described by one of Sir Thomas More's biographers as " most like unto her father both in favour and wit ;'' and as " a most rare woman for learning, sanctity, and secresy." Her husband, who survived her thirty-three years, con- tinued a widower until his dying day, honouring her memory by a life devoted, like her own, to learning, beneficence, and piety. Burke, in a note to his pedigree of the Teynham family, mentions " a tradition preserved in the Roper family that Queen Elizabeth offered a ducal coronet to Margaret Roper," which she refused, as " a compromise for what she considered the judicial murder of her father." Horace Walpole has alluded to the circumstance in a way that shows he believed it : but Margaret Roper died in 1544, and Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558 ; the thing was therefore impossible. If the offer ever was made to her, it must have been by King Henry VIII., who died in 1547. It is by no means improbable that he might, in a fit of remorse, plan such a means of fancied compensation ; and doubtless Margaret Roper would have refused it with horror, as the price of her father's blood. Elizabeth, Sir Thomas More's second daughter, married the son and heir of Sir John Dancy. Cecilia, the third daughter, married Giles Heron, Esq., of Shakelwell, Middlesex. Both were remarkably learned, accomplished, and ami- able women. 42 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Worthy of similar commendation was Margaret Gigs, born in 1508, and brought up in the family of her illus- trious kinsman Sir Thomas More. About the year 1531 she married her tutor, Dr. John Clement: she died at Mechlin, in Brabant, July 6, 1570. The portraits of these four eminent women, with those of Sir Thomas More, Alicia his second wife, and several other members of the family, are preserved in the cele- brated picture by Holbein. A very scarce engraving from it is mentioned by Granger as belonging to a book entitled 'Tabellse Selectae Catherine Patina,' 1691, fol. ; and a copy of this engraving by Vertue in Knight's ' Life of Erasmus.' ANNE ASKEW. Anne, daughter of Sir William Askew, of Kelsey, Lincolnshire, was born about the year 1520. She received a learned education, arid was unwillingly married, at an early age, to the son of a wealthy gentleman named Kyme, the match having been arranged by the fathers without any regard to the inclinations of the parties. Her conduct as a wife was exemplary, and she solaced herself by studying the Holy Scriptures. Being gradually led by reflection and prayer to perceive the errors of the Komish Church, she was cruelly treated by her bigoted husband. She had passively sacrificed her earthly happiness to a sense of filial duty, but she steadfastly refused compliance with her husband's prohibition of Protestantism, and persevered in reading the Bible and in worshipping God according to her conscience. He consequently used her with great cruelty, and forcibly turned her out of doors. She sought refuge in London, where she was kindly treated by many LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 43 ladies of high rank wlio professed the Protestant faith. In tli< synopsis of Bishop Bale's 'Examination and Elucida- tion ' (Censura Literaria, vol. vi. p. 1), she is described as a gentlewoman, very young, dainty, and tender." En- deavouring to obtain a divorce from her husband, he revenged himself by instigating certain priests to procure her arrest. It must be borne in mind that the Protestantism of King Henry VIII. consisted chiefly in the personal assump- tion of ecclesiastical supremacy and in the abrogation of papal privileges throughout his dominions. It was not the religious tenets of the monks, but their bold and obstinate adhesion to the papal authority, which provoked the King to the general dissolution of the monasteries ; and throughout liis arbitrary reign many of the genuine doctrines of the Reformation were publicly repudiated as heresy. In 1539, at the royal suggestion, an Act was passed attaching the penalty of death by burning or hanging to the denial of transubstantiation, to the asser- tion of the necessity of communion in both kinds, of the unlawfulness of celibacy, of the uselessness of private masses, and of auricular confession as necessary to salva- tion. Under this " Bloody Statute " Anne Askew was arrested and imprisoned. Being placed upon the rack, in order to make her betray the names of persons holding similar opinions, she underwent the utmost extremity of torture with silent fortitude. Refusing to recant, she was, with three other sufferers, burned at the stake in Smithfield, July 16th, 1 546. Her claims to authorship rest upon her letters and declarations of faith, which give proofs of extraordinary vigour and acuteness of mind, and upon some verses, which possess peculiar interest as the oldest metrical corn- LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. position extant which is undoubtedly known to be from the pen of an Englishwoman. THE BALLAD WHICH ANNE ASKEW MADE AND SUNG WHEN SHE WAS IN NEWGATE. Like as the armed knight Appointed to the field, With this world will I fight, And faith shall be my shield. Faith is that weapon strong Which will not fail at need ; My foes therefore among Therewith will I proceed. As it is had in strength And force of Christ his way, It will prevail at length, Though all the devils say nay. Faith, of the fathers old Obtained right witness, Which make me very bold To fear no world's distress. I now rejoice in heart, And hope bid me do so, For Christ will take my part, And ease me of my woe. Thou sayest, Lord, whoso knock To them wilt thou attend, Undo, therefore, the lock, And thy strong power send. More enemies now I have Than hairs upon my head, Let them me not deprave, ut fight Thou in my stead. On thee my care I cast, For all their cruel spite, I set not by their hast, For Thou art my delight. I am not she that list My anchor to let fall, For every drisling mist, My ship substantial. Not oft use I to write In prose nor yet in rhyme, Yet will I show one sight That I saw in my time. I saw a royal throne, Where Justice should have sit, But in her stead was one Of moody cruel wit. Absorb'd was righteousness, As of the raging flood ; Satan, in his excess, Suck'd up the guiltless blood. Then thought I, Jesus, Lord, When Thou shalt judge us all, Hard is it to record On these men what will fall. Yet, Lord, I Thee desire For that they do to me Let them not taste the hire Of their iniquity ! " QUEEN CATHERINE PARR. Catherine Parr was the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Parr, of Kendal, in Westmoreland. The dates of her birth and of her first marriage are obscure. Being the widow of the Hon. Edward Burgh and of John Neville Lord Latimer, about thirty -two years of age, and bearing a high character for amiability and prudence, she became the sixth wife of King Henry VIII. on the 12th of July, 1543. LITER A KY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 45 Among the lands included in her royal dower was the manor of Chelsea; and after the King's decease, which occurred on the 28th of January, 1547, she took up her abode at the new manor-house which he had built there, on a site a little to the eastward of the ground on which some years afterwards stood Winchester Palace. In the course of a few weeks after King Henry's death Queen Catherine married Thomas Lord Seymour, the Lord High Admiral. She died on the 5th of September, 1548, at her fourth husband's castle of Sudely, in Gloucestershire. It is remarkable that the woman who had successfully accommodated herself to the various tempers of three previous husbands, and had made a patient and placid wife to one of the most morose and cruel tryants in the world, should have been undisguisedly miserable in her last union with an ambitious, intriguing, and fascinating nobleman. Probably the inconsistency may be explained by the supposition that with King Henry her indignation at ill- treatment was suppressed merely by fear ; while love for Lord Seymour exposed her heart to the poignant griefs of despised affection. Historians are seldom content with assigning one suffi- cient cause for the premature death of any eminent person, and they have needlessly added poison to the child-bed fever which really killed Queen Catherine Parr. She was a good Latin scholar, and wrote various letters and devotional works. Her * Lamentation of a Sinner bewailing the Ignorance of her Blind Life ' was published in 1548. soon after her death. In it she acknowledges her early reliance on external performances, the observ- ance of fasts, pilgrimages, &c. ; and states that she first became acquainted with the internal and real power of 46 LITERACY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. religion by means of reading the Bible and praying for the Holy Spirit to make known its meaning to her soul. She also explains her sense of justification by faith and its indissoluble connection with personal holiness. Her ' Prayers and Meditations ' are still often reprinted and largely circulated by the Eeligious Tract Society. Me- diocrity of talent and sincere piety are characteristics of all her productions. Portraits of her by Holbein and Vander Werff, and several engravings from them, are extant. She has the most intellectual countenance of either of King Henry's six Queens. FRANCES LADY ABERGAVENNY. Frances Manners, according to Burke's pedigree of the Abergavenny family, was the daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Kutland ; and according to Burke's pedigree of the Kutland family, the daughter of Sir Thomas Manners, third son of that earl : the latter being apparently the true paternity. She married Henry Neville, fourth Lord Aber- gavenny, who died February 10, 1587. Some of her prayers and verses were printed in the years 1577 and 1582. Among the latter is a curious hymn, cited by Mr. Park, in which the first letters of the lines being read downwards form the words " Frances Abergavenny." The sentiment is devout, and the versification not inferior to that of many other pieces of the time, but this acrostic is utterly devoid of literary merit. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. IT CHAPTER III. A.D. 1550-1600. Remarks on the period The Lady Jane Grey Mary Countess of Arundel Queen Mary Tudor Mary Roper Mary Countess of Sussex and Arundel The Ladies Anne, Margaret, and Jane Seymour Lady Lumley Queen Mary Stuart The four daugh'ers of Sir Anthony Cooke Anne Countess of Oxford Margaret Ascham Anne Wheathill Frances Countess of Sussex. " Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd But to fine issues." SHAKSPEARK'S Measure for Measure, act i., scene 1. WARTON, in a note to the 58th section of his * History of English Poetry/ brings various authorities to prove that in the latter part of the sixteenth century female writers of poetry had become numerous, and among them he quotes Puttenham, who, in his ' Art of Poesy,' says, " Dark word or doubtful speech are not so narrowly to be looked upon in a large poem, nor specially in the pretty poesies and devices of ladies and gentlewoman-makers, whom we would not have too precise poets, lest, with their shrewd wits, when they were married they might become a little too fantastical wives." The diffusion of the Bible in the language of the people had familiarized educated Englishwomen with the triumph- ant odes of Deborah and Miriam, and with the eucha- 48 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ristic hymns of Hannah, Elizabeth, and the Virgin Mary. The perusal of the Greek and Latin classics had probably informed them of the existence of Corinna, and made them acquainted with the lyrics of Sappho and the fame of Sulpitia Travellers had related to them the names and works of the female poets of Italy. But the inspired matrons and maidens of Israel, the syrens of Greece, and the poetesses of the South, failed to awaken the true poetic spirit in the literary women of England. Among the highly cultivated Englishwomen of this period were several of undoubted genius ; but there is a youth of litera- ture as well as of human life, and it is as invariably con- ventional, or rash, in its productions, which are always deficient either in freshness or comprehensiveness. Young writers, and writers in an early stage of national literature, never know how to exert their powers to the best effect: Conscious of inexperience and of inexpertness, they in general timidly adhere to accepted propositions, and almost fear even to vary the forms of their original announce- ment. Sometimes, impelled by real emotion, the en- kindling spirit irradiating the page gives bright indications of mental power. But repeated efforts are required in order to rise steadily above the interrupting damps of doubt, and to avoid disturbing contact with the straitened mazes of custom, so that native feeling and original thought may, be brought to bear upon other minds with the accurate and assured result of an electric telegraph. At the period under review some highly gifted English- men had already attained the literary use of the vernacular tongue, and that wondrous power of giving to words the vitality and light of genius which Englishwomen slowly acquired in the course of many subsequent generations ; for only in the trivialities of practical life, and in the in- LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 49 stinctivo promptings of feeling, are they more prescient than their masters. The royal and noble female scholars of the present period wore distinguished in general by that passive faculty of reception which is usually termed capacity : many of them also possessed active ability of a superior kind ; and some of them were endowed with faculties of the very highest order. In this fresh spring-time of divine and human knowledge, educated minds, however, were braced up firmly and zealously, intent to run the race of life with the vigour of athletae, whether for the fading wreaths of earth or the everlasting crowns of immortality. Among them some were excellent, and few inert, either in faculties or will. THE LADY JANE GREY. There is not a more touching episode in the history of any country than the life of Lady Jane Grey. She was born in the year 1537 ; her parents were Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, and the Lady Frances Brandon; on whose children the succes- sion to the English throne, next after the personal de- scendants of King Henry VIII., was entailed by the will of that monarch, expressly authorised by Act of Parliament. The education of Lady Jane Grey was principally con- ducted by John Aylmer, afterwards Bishop of London, and never had any man a more apt or docile pupil : her dispo- sition was mild and unassuming, her apprehension quick, her memory tenacious, and her judgment comprehensive, clear, and strong. A letter written by Lady Jane, and a fac-simile of her handwriting, when only eleven years old, are given in the third volume of* Mrs. Everett Green's ' Letters.' Her early days were spent chiefly under her E 50 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. parents' roof at Bradgate, and partly with the pious Queen Catherine Parr at Chelsea, where, worshipping in the church which was once attended by Sir Thomas More and his happy family, her noble heart might probably have been stirred up to emulate the gentle heroism of the ad- mirable Margaret Koper. Jane Grey's attachment to the Protestant faith, derived from Bishop Aylmer, cherished by Queen Catherine, and deeply rooted by her own thoughtful choice, no subsequent trials or temptations could either loosen or destroy. On the visit of Mary, the Queen Dowager of Scotland, to Greenwich, where King Edward VI. held his court, Lady Jane made her first public appearance in the train of her mother, then Duchess of Suffolk. She afterwards became the guest of the Princess Mary, who is said from that time to have entertained a prejudice against her, in consequence of her undisguised perception of the errors of Eomanism. Lady Jane Grey's pretensions to the Crown, though properly remote, rendered her, almost from infancy, an object of political intrigue, and, in May, 1553, she was given in marriage to Lord Guilford Dudley, fourth son of the Duke of Northumberland, a youth of her own age. On the 6th of July following, King Edward died, and Lady Jane was immediately made acquainted with the plan which had been prepared for her accession. Compre- hending fully all the advantages and all the dangers at- tendant upon this measure, she 'deliberately and solemnly refused her assent ; but, overborne by the solicitations of her husband, and by the authority of his parents and her own, she ultimately yielded up herself the conscious victim of their ambition. Sir Harris Nicolas * suggests that a * 'Life of Lady Jane Grey.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. .~>1 sense of the perilous position in which her nearest kinsmen liM< nivi in te : O care mi Jeau ! nunc libera me. In dura catena, in misera poona, desidero to ; Langnendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo, Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me ! " Mr. Seward, from whose * Anecdotes' the verses were derived, gives the following specimen of the Queen's con- versation : " When one of the Cecil family was speaking of the wisdom of his sovereign Queen Elizabeth, Mary stopped him short by saying, i Seigneur Chevalier, ne me parlez jamais de la sagesse d'une femme ; je connais bien mon sexe; la plus sage de nous toutes n'est qu'un peu moins sotte que les autres.' " This, in English of the nineteenth century, would signify Never talk to me, Sir Knight, of the wisdom of a woman ; I know my sex right well, and the very wisest of us all is but a little less silly than the rest. Of her it is related, that when walking in a procession at Paris, a woman pressed through the crowd to touch her, and excused the intrusive rudeness by declaring that she merely wished to satisfy herself whether beauty so angelic could belong to flesh and blood. Granger, who gives this anecdote, describes thirty-two engravings, from por- t raits by Janet, Zucchero, Oliver, Vander Werff, and other artists. The remarkable resemblance of some of her portraits to those of her father affords a test of their being genuine. THE DAUGHTERS OF SIR ANTHONY COOKE. Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, Essex, and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir William Fitzwilliam, of Milton, were the parents of four of the most remarkable women that England ever produced. Their daughters were all gifted with a sound understanding and fine natural 60 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. abilities : they all enjoyed the advantages of a learned education, and they all distinguished themselves in after- life by the useful exercise of their several talents. Mildred, the eldest, was born in 1526. Under the in- struction of Mr. Lawrence, the eminent Greek scholar, she became celebrated for her knowledge of ecclesiastical lore, and read the works of Basil, Cyril, Chrysostom, and the other Fathers in their original language. She made a translation into English of a passage from St. Chrysostom ; and when she presented a large Hebrew Bible to the library of the University of Cambridge, accompanied it with a Greek epistle from herself. At twenty years of age, she married Sir William Cecil, afterwards the great Lord Burleigh and Lord High Treasurer of England. Lady Burleigh died April 4, 1589, and was sumptuously buried in Westminster Abbey. Her unostentatious acts of charity were, after her decease, first discovered by her husband, who recorded them to soothe his sorrow for her loss. Anne, the second daughter, was born about the year 1528. She married Sir Nicolas Bacon, the Lord Keeper, and was the mother of two sons Anthony Bacon, a man of remarkable talents and acquirements; and Francis Vis- count St. Albans, the great Lord Bacon. Posterity is her debtor for having early cultivated the mind of this illus- trious philosopher. Her own generation was greatly bene- fited in many ways by Lady Bacon. She was governess to the pious and intelligent young King Edward VI. She translated twenty-five sermons by Bernadine Oehine, from the Italian into English ; and to her belongs the enviable distinction of being the very first woman who wrote in English for publication; and with a direct intention to supply a popular requirement. Bishop Jewell's ' Apology,' composed in Latin, had acquired great fame among the LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Cl learned, but was inaccessible to others ; and many of the people who could read the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue, and took an eager interest in religious controversy, expressed their desire to become acquainted with that treatise, which they knew had won great celebrity among the champions of the Protestant faith. Lady Bacon translated the * Apology ' into English, and sent a copy of her translation to the author, accompanied by an epistle in Greek. She also sent a copy to Arch- bishop Parker, who caused it to be printed and published under the sanction of his authority, in 1564, rendering thereby immense assistance to the cause of the Refor- mation. Never were talents and erudition more worthily used than by this estimable woman. She died at Gorhambury, in the year 1600, and was buried in St. Michael's Church, at St. Albans, where, twenty-six years afterwards, the most illustrious of her sons was, by his own especial direction, interred near her grave. Elizabeth, the third daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, was born about the year 1529. Her first husband was Sir Thomas Hobby, of Bisham, in Berkshire, who died when ambassador at Paris, July 13, 1566, leaving his widow with four children. Her second husband was John Lord Russell eldest son of Francis, second Earl of Bedford, by whom she had aon, who died young, and two daughters, one of them being the Maid-of-Honour, buried in West- minster Abbey, who died from the prick of a needle. Lady Russell wrote epitaphs in Greek, Latin, and English for her lost relations and friends, and letters in English ; one of the latter, addressed to her brother-in-law, Lord Burleigh, shows her to have been a woman of great sense, rigorous justice, and severe temper. To her attaches the 62 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. terrible tradition of having beaten her youngest son' Hobby, to death, for blotting his copy-book. She translated from the French into English a tract entitled, * A Way of Eeconciliation of a good and learned man touching the true Nature and Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament.' It was printed in London, in 1605, and dedicated to her last surviving daughter, Lady Somerset. Lady Russell was buried at Bisham, Berks. Catherine, fourth daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, was born about the year 1530. She married Mr. afterwards Sir Henry Killigrew, of Cornwall. She was famous in her day for her skill in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin lan- guages, and for her Greek and Latin verses. On her own approaching death she wrote the following : " Dormio mine Domino, Domini virtute resurgani ; Et (rwTTjpa meum carne videbo meS,. Mortua ne dicar, fruitur pars altera Christo : Et surgam capiti, tempore, tota, meo." Of which Ballard gives this English translation : " To God I sleep, but I in God shall rise ; And in the flesh my Lord and Saviour see, Call me not dead, my soul to Christ is fled, And soon both soul and body joined shall be." Various eulogistic epitaphs lead to the inference that she died early, and that her piety was as eminent as her mental endowments. She was buried in the chancel of St. Thomas's Church, Yintry Ward, London. ANNE COUNTESS OF OXFORD. To this band of brilliants belongs as a pendant, Anne Cecil, eldest daughter of Lord Burleigh and of his second wife, Mildred Cooke. She married Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, died June 6th, 1588, and was buried in West- LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 03 minster Abbey. The Countess contributed four epitaph B in Kn^lish verse, written on the death of her son, to 1li<> I >iana' of John Southern. The only one quoted by Park is affected and awkward in style, heathen in sentiment, and utterly heartless. Her lustre appears to have been not inherent, but derived from her illustrious parents, kinswomen, and husband. MARGARET ASCHAM. Margaret How was a wealthy gentlewoman, who, in the year 1554, became the wife of the eminent scholar Roger Ascham. He died in 1568, and posterity are indebted to her for the preservation of his celebrated work, 'The Schoolmaster/ which she published in 1570, with a dedi- cation to Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, written by herself. The date of her death is uncertain ; she is supposed to have shared her husband's grave in St. Sepulchre's Church, London. ANNE WHEATHILL. In the ' Censura Literaria,' vol. x. p. 109, the following title is given of a work now scarce : " A Handfull of wholesom (though homeley) Hearbs, gathered out of the goodly garden of God's most Holy Word ; for the common benefit and comfortable exercise of all such as are devoutly disposed. Collected and dedicated to all religious Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others; by Anne Wheathill, Gentle- woman. Imprinted at London by H. Denham, 1584." It is quaintly inscribed : " To all Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others, which love true religion and virtue, and be devoutly disposed: grace, mercy, and peace, in Christ Jesus. " For a testimony to all the world, how I have and do (I praise God) bestow the precious treasure of time, even 64 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. now in the state of niy virginity or maidenhood ; lo here I dedicate to all good ladies, gentlewomen, and others, who have a desire to invocate and call upon the name of the Lord, a small handfull of grose hearbs ; which I have pre- sumed to gather out of the garden of God's most holy word. Not that there is any unpureness therein, but that, (peradventure) my rudeness may be found to have plucked them up unreverentle and without zeal." Who or what Anne Wheathill was, the writer has vainly tried to ascertain. Sir Eichard and Dame Elizabeth Wheathell, and their son Sir Kobert Wheathell, are mentioned in the second and third volumes of the * Letters of Koyal and Illustrious Ladies ;' and several epistles written by Lady Wheathell are printed there, in which she bitterly complains to Lord Cromwell of her son, with whom, being then a widow, she was at variance. Probably Anne Wheathill was a sister of Sir Kobert. FRANCES SYDNEY, Countess of Sussex, by her last will and testament, founded Sydney Sussex College, Cam- bridge, in the year 1598. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER IV. A.D. 1600-1650. Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth Grymston Elizabeth Jane Leon The Lady Elizabeth Carew Mary Countess of Pembroke The Lady Mary Wroth Elizabeth Countess of Lincoln Anne Countess of Anmdel. " If they have nothing else, the least gifted of them have at least some- thing of the freshness and airiness of that balmy morn, some tones^caaglit from their greater contemporaries, some echoes of the spirit of music that thru filled the universal air." Craik's 'Sketches of the History of Lite- rature and Learning in England," vol. iii., p. 127. QUEEN ELIZABETH. ELIZABETH TUDOR, the only child of King Henry VIII. and Queen Anne Boleyn, was born on the 7th of September, 1533, crowned Queen of England, January 15, 1558, and died March 24, 1603. Elaborately educated, both by appointed teachers and by the events and circumstances of life, she failed so to profit by them as to become either an amiable woman or a good Christian. The arrogant sagacity of the Tudor, and the coquettish levity of the Boleyn, were to the last conjoined and unitedly predo- minant in her character, unsoftened and unhallowed by tune or piety : but her invariable and perfect self-posses- sion in the most painful vicissitudes and the most sudden emergencies commands respect. How much tutors had to do with the boasted performances of erudite young ladies is made evident by a brief survey of Queen Elizabeth's F DO LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. studies : she, under the guidance of the learned William Grindal, translated, when only eleven years of age, from French verse into English prose, ' The Mirror, or Glass for a Sinful Soul;' and at twelve, from English into Latin, French, and Italian, Queen Catherine Parr's col- lection of ' Prayers and Meditations ; ' and into English from the French, * The Meditations of Margaret Queen of Navarre.' William Grindal dying, the Princess Elizabeth, after her father's death, chose for her preceptor the cele- brated Koger Ascham ; and, having already become con- versant with the Greek and Latin languages, zealously pursued the study of their literature. She also devoted much time to the works of Melanchthon and to the Holy Scriptures. She spoke five languages. She read Isocrates and Sophocles in the original Greek, translated the Hiero and Siinonides from Xenophon, and wrote a commentary upon Plato. Besides these scholastic exercises, her ora- tions, speeches, and letters afford proofs of her extraor- dinary knowledge and sagacity. She acquired in her day a high reputation as a poet ; and Puttenham, whose ' Art of English Poesy ' was published in 1589, after extolling Sir Philip Sydney, Chaloner, Spenser, Sir Walter Kaleigh, and others, adds : " But last in Recital and first in degree is the Queen, our Sovereign Lady, whose learned, delicate, noble muse easily surmounteth all the rest that have written before her time or since for sense, sweetness, and subtilty, be it in the ode, elegy, epigram, or any other kind of poem, heroic or lyric, wherein it shall please her pen, even by so much odds as her own excellent estate and degree exceedeth all the rest of her most humble vassals." In the true spirit of a crouching vassal this egregious flattery was certainly administered ; and it seems to have been a tacit law of the Elizabethan Court, that in all LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 157 things practised by the Queen her supreme and excellent I >iv-ominence must be acknowledged. Edward Bolton, a critic of English literature, although not setting a good example of English style, writing in or about the year 1616, says : " Queen Elizabeth's verses, those which I have seen and read, extant in the elegant, witty, and artificial book of the ' Art of English Poetry,' the work, as the fame is, of one of her gentlemen pensioners, Putten- ham, are princely as her prose" * This is ambiguous praise, and may perhaps be construed to convey a covert censure. When a state-prisoner at Woodstock, during her sister's reign, Elizabeth wrote the following verses with charcoal on a shutter : " Oh Fortune, how thy restless wavering state Hath fraught with cares my troubled wit ! Witness this present prison, whither Fate Could bear me, and the joys I quit. Thou causedest the guilty to be loosed From bands wherein are innocents enclosed, Causing the guiltless to be straight reserved, And freeing those that death hath well deserved. But by her envy can be nothing wrought, So God send to my foes all they have thought. A.D. MDLV. ELIZABETH, Prisoner." t Ttie tone is heathen and the spirit malevolent, but the language and versification^are not below mediocrity. The chief fault lies in the change of Fortune's person in the last couplet from the second of the singular to the posses- sive pronoun. The line " Ajid freeing those that death hath well deserved," looks at first sight like bad grammar; but, supposing Death a personification, it may be understood that he hath deserved to have those guilty persons, who would * Warton's ' History of English Poetry,' vol. iii. sect. li. t Bishop Percy's 'Reliques,' vol. ii., p. 134, ed. 1841. F 2 68 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. seem more naturally to form the nominative case, and require the substitution of have. Bishop Percy * gives a distich of the Queen's preserved by Puttenham : " Never think you Fortune can bear the sway Where Virtue's force can cause her to delay." Virtue, with Queen Elizabeth, was a synonym of Intre- pidity. Park, in his additions to Walpole's * Catalogue,' cites a rebus made by Queen Elizabeth upon a Mr. Noel : " The word of denial and letter of fifty Is that gentleman's name that will never be thrifty." This for an offhand couplet is not amiss. It is a humiliating fact for the grave consideration of female aspirants to social and mental equality with men, that in the days of Spenser and Shakspeare the best poetess in England was reputed to be the highly-educated Queen Elizabeth. The fulsome ascriptions of contempo- rary praise were merely the reaction of her personal assumption. Bolton's remark especially applies to the following 'Sonnet,' which Puttenham informs us was written by Her Majesty to intimate her knowledge of the faction among her courtiers in favour of the imprisoned Queen of Scots : " The doubt of future foes Exiles my present joy ; And wit me warns to shun such snares As threaten mine annoy. For falsehood now doth flow, And subjects' faith doth ebb, Which would not be if reason ruled, Or wisdom wove the web. See his ' Reliques.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. f joy untried Do cloak aspiring minds. Which turn to rain of late repent By course of changed winds. The top of hope supposed The root of ruth will be, And fruitless all their graffed guiles, As shortly all shall see. Then dazzled eyes with pride, Which great ambition blinds, Shall be unsealed by worthy wights, Whose foresight falsehood finds. The Daughter of Debate, That discord aye doth sow, Shall reap no gain where former rule Hath taught still peace to grow. No foreign banished wight Shall anchor in this port : Our realm it brooks no stranger force, Let them elsewhere resort. Our rusty sword with rest Shall first his edge employ To poll the tops that seek such change Or gape for such like joy.* 1569." This is the " ditty of Her Majesty's own making," which Master Puttenham praises as " passing sweet and harmo- nical." The ferocious threat which it utters was duly executed upon the Duke of Norfolk and other partisans of the Queen of Scots. Queen Elizabeth's elaborate duplicity is completely revealed by comparing Puttenham's explanation of the purpose for which it was written with the extract from thte 'Nugse Antiquae' of Sir John Harrington, which shows that the crafty Queen had contrived that Lady Willoughby should " covertly get it on Her Majesty's tablet," and thus make the ditty known to the parties for whom it was intended. By the impulsion of a resolute will inferior faculties may often be made to accomplish great things, and to produce an exaggerated impression of intellectual power, * Bishop Percy's ' RulitjucB,' vol. ii. pp. 21.3-17. 70 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. just as a strong and heavy hammer may drive a weak and crooked tin-tack to its home, and clinch it firmly. The literary productions of Queen Elizabeth indicate that her abilities were thus enforced, and that they were in their nature rather practical than contemplative. Her letters indicate mental cultivation, great astuteness, and a peculiar power of adapting her style to suit her purposes. Queen Elizabeth was a benefactress of Jesus College, Oxford, and its nominal founder. Hugh Price, a native of Brecon, who graduated at Oxford as D.C.L. in the year 1525, became subsequently a prebendary of Eochester Cathedral, and treasurer of the diocese of St. David's ; and desiring in his old age to lay out his property for the good of his fellow-countrymen, the natives of Wales, presented a petition to Her Majesty, that she would be pleased to found a college at Oxford for their especial use, and would allow him to endow it. This request was readily granted ; Dr. Price gave his Breconshire estates and money for accumulation ; the Queen allowed timber from the royal forests of Shotover and Stowe to be used for the collegiate buildings, and thus cheaply acquired the fame which truly be- longs to the generous and unostentatious Welshman. In the year 1560 Queen Elizabeth founded Westminster School; and in the year 1591 she founded Trinity College, Dublin. Granger describes more than thirty-nine engravings from portraits by Ant. More, Hillyard, Isaac Oliver, J. Oliver, Vander Werff, and others, and several historical pieces, in which this Queen is represented as the chief personage. There is something truly regal in her aspect and mien ; and, notwithstanding a disproportionately high nose, she must undoubtedly have been very handsome. ELIZABETH GRYMESTON. Elizabeth, daughter of Martin Bernye, of Gunston, Nor- LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 71 folk, married Christopher, youngest son of Thomas Grymes- ton, of Grymeston, in the county of York, who shared the same ancestry as the Grimstons, Earls of Verulam. For the instruction of a son, she compiled in her last illness a work, entitled, * Miscellanea, Meditations, Memoratives. By Elizabeth Grymeston. Non est rectum quod a Deo non est directum.' London, 1604. ELIZABETH JANE LEON. Elizabeth Jane Weston, of Button, in the county of Surrey, spent the greater part of her life in Germany, where she married a gentleman named John Leon, who held an employment at the Emperor's court. Few par- ticulars of her life are known. She attained to high celebrity as a linguist and Latin poet, and her collected works were published at Prague in the year 1606. THE LADY ELIZABETH CAREW. Whether Lady Elizabeth Carew was the wife of Sir Henry Carew, or a daughter of George Carew, Earl of Totness, or who she was, neither * Burke's Peerage and Baronetage ' for 1859, nor ' Burke's Extinct Baronetcies/ nor any other book at present within reach of the writer affords satis- factory information. Neither Walpole nor Park record her name, but she is mentioned by Mr. Robert Chambers, in his * Cyclopaedia of English Literature,' as the supposed author of the tragedy of ' Mariam/ which was published in 1613. The following stanzas have great merit : PART OF THE CHORUS IN THE FOURTH ACT OF 'MARIAM THE FAIR QUEEN OF JEWRY,' BY LADY ELIZABETH CAREW. " The fairest action of our human life Is scorning to revenge an injury ; For who forgives without a further strife His adversary's heart to him doth tie. And 'tis a firmer conquest, truly said, To win the heart, than overthrow the head. 72 LITEKAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. If we a worthy enemy do find, To yield to worth, it must be nobly done ; But if of baser metal be his mind, In base revenge there is no honour won. Who would a worthy courage overthrow ? And who would wrestle with a worthless foe ? We say our hearts are great and cannot yield ; Because they cannot yield it proves them poor ; Great hearts are tasked beyond their power but seld, The weakest lion will the loudest roar. Truth's school for certain doth this same allow, High-heartedness doth sometimes teach to bow. A noble heart doth teach a virtuous scorn ; To scorn to owe a duty overlong ; To scorn to be for benefits forborne ; To scorn to lie, to scorn to do a wrong ; To scorn to bear an injury in mind ; To scorn a free-born heart slave-like to bind. But if for wrongs we needs revenge must have, Then be our vengeance of the noblest kind ; Do we his body from our fury save, And let our hate prevail against his mind. What can 'gainst him a greater vengeance be, Than make his foe more worthy far than he ? " The ' Censura Literaria,' vol. i. p. 153, confutes Oldys's suggestion that the author of ' Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry,' was the wife of Sir Henry Carey, to whom Davies, of Hereford, dedicated his ' Muses' Sacrifice/ 1612 ; but in vol. vi. p. 171, on further consideration, adopts that sup- position, and states that she was probably the daughter of Chief Baron Tanfield, and wife of that Sir Henry Carey who, in 1620, was created Viscount Falkland. If so, she was the mother of the renowned Lucius Carey, second Lord Falkland, who fell at the battle of Newbury, Sep- tember 20, 1643 ; of Lawrence Carey, who fell in battle against the Irish in 1542 ; and of Anne wife of James second Earl of Home. Although the word " Carew " is now pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, it was probably accented on the first in the Tudor and Stuart times. Carew Castle LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 73 in Pembrokeshire, is still locally pronounced Carey, the N\Vl>li name being Caerau, which signifies " fortified walls." Caeru is the verb to " wall or fortify." * MARY COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. Mary Sydney was the daughter of Sir Henry Sydney. Lord President of Wales and Lord Deputy of Ireland, and of his wife, the Lady Mary Dudley, eldest daughter of John Duke of Northumberland, and sister of Lord Guil- ford Dudley, of Ambrose Earl of Warwick, and of Kobert Earl of Leicester. Mary Sydney's eldest brother was the admirable Sir Philip, whose intellectual pursuits she shared, and for whom she cherished the most tender affection. She had three sisters, and two younger brothers, Sir Robert and Sir Thomas. Sir Robert, having done good services to his Sovereign and to the State, and being one of the most accomplished men of his time, was, some years after the death of his maternal uncle and godfather, created Earl of Leicester.! In the year 1576, she became the third wife of Henry Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke. They had two sons, who successively inherited the earldom. Her husband died January 19, 1601. The countess died September 25, 1621, at her house in Aldersgate-street, London, and was buried in the chancel of Salisbury Cathedral. She translated from the original French Philip Mornay's * Discourse of Life and Death,' and ' The Tragedy of An- tony;' the former in May, 1590, and the latter in the November of the same year. Both these translations were published during her life. She assisted Sir Philip Sydney * See Spurrell's or any other Welsh Dictionary. t See Collins's ' Memoirs of the Syclneys,' pp. 90-97. 74 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. in his version of the Psalms, wrote * A Pastoral Dialogue in Praise of Astrea ' (Queen Elizabeth), which was published in Davison's ' Poetical Khapsody,' 1602; and other pieces, of which the Elegy on her favourite brother's death is the most remarkable. He was killed at Zutphen in 1585. In the Preface to his celebrated pastoral Sir Philip dedicates it to her as to "a principal ornament of the family of the Sydney s," and the name he gave it < The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia' is her imperishable monument. It was probably thus designated by way of con- tradistinction from the Arcadia of the Italian poet Sanna- zaro, which in sweetness and languid grace it evidently resembles. The chorus to the tragedy of ' Antonius/ and the < Dialogue between Two Shepherds,' from the ' Astrea/ given in Park's Walpole's ' Catalogue/ indicate a highly cultivated and vigorous mind, and great skill in versifi- cation. Her merits are eulogized by Daniel in his ' Delia/ in the * Astrophel ' of Spenser, and in the ' Epitaph ' by Ben Jonson. Spenser, after thirty-five stanzas of monody on Sir Philip Sydney, thus introduces, in his thirty-sixth, the elegy written by Lady Pembroke : " But first his sister, that Clarinda hight, That gentlest shepherdess that lives this day, And most resembling, both in shape and sprite, Her brother dear, began this doleful lay. Which, lest I mar the sweetness of the verse, In sort as she it sung, I will rehearse." The Arcadian style of the composition accords with the taste of the deceased, and is well sustained ; but it mars the genuine utterance of sisterly affection and of exalted faith, and hope, and love, by the adoption of artificial circum- stances and heathen accessories. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 75 In (lowing sweetness, in delicacy and elegance, both of thought and expression, this elegy is worthy of its place ; engrafted, like a white rose, among the deeply-tinted and odorous flowers of Spenser's genius. " Ay me ! to whom shall I my case complain, That may compassion my impatient grief? Or where shall I unfold my inward p;iin, That my enriven heart may find relief? Shall I unto the heavenly powers it show ? Or unto earthly men that dwell below ? To heavens ? ah they, alas ! the authors were, And workers of my unremedied woe ; For they foresee what to us happens here, And they foresaw, yet suffered this be so. From them comes good, from them comes also ill, That which they made, who can them warn to spill ? To men ? ah they, alas ! like wretched be, And subject to the heavens' ordinance, Bound to abide whatever they devise ; Their best redress is their best sufferance. How then can they, like wretched, comfort me ? The which no less need comforted to be. Then to myself will I my sorrow mourn, Sith none alive like sorrowful remains, And to myself my plaints shall back return, To pay their usury with double pains. The woods, the hills, the rivers shall resound The mournful accent of my sorrow's ground. Woods, hills, and rivers now are desolate, Sith he is gone the which them all did grace, And all the fields do wail their widowed state, Sith death their fairest flower did late deface. The fairest flower in field that ever grew Was Astrophel ; that was we all may rue. What cruel hand of cursed foe unknown Hath cropt the stalk which bore so fair a flower. Untimely cropt, before it well were grown, And clean defaced in untimely hour. Great loss to all that ever him did see, Great loss to all, but greatest loss to me. Break now your girlonds, Oh ye shepherds' lasses, Sith the fair flower wich them adorn 'd is gone. The flower which them adorned is gone to ashes. Never again let lass put girlond on. Instead of girlond, wear sad cypress now, And bitter elder, broken from the bough. 76 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Ne ever sing the love layes wich he made. Who ever made such layes of love as he ? Ne ever read the riddles wich he said Unto your selves, to make you merry glee. Your merry glee is now laid all abed, Your merry-maker now, alas, is dead. Death, the devourer of all world's delight, Hath robbed you, and reft from me my joy. Both you and me, and all the world he quite Hath robb'd of joyance, and left sad annoy. Joy of the world and shepherds' pride was he, Shepherds hope never like again to see. Oh, death, that hath us of such riches reft, Tell us, at least, what hast thou with it done ? What is become of him whose flower here left Is but the shadow of his likeness gone ? Scarce like the shadow of that which he was ; Nought like, but that he like a shade did pass. But that immortal spirit, which was deckt With all the dowries of celestial grace ; By sovereign choice from th' heavenly quires select, And lineally derived from angels' race ; Oh ! what is now of it become aread : Ay, me ! can so divine a thing be dead ? Ah, no ! it is not dead, ne can it die, But lives for aye, in blissful paradise ; Where, like a new-born babe, it soft doth lie In bed of lilies, wrapped in tender wise, And compast all about with roses sweet, And dainty violets from head to feet. There thousand birds, all of celestial brood, To him do sweetly carol day and night ; And with strange notes, of him well understood, Lull him asleep in angel-like delight ; Whilst in sweet dream to him presented be Immortal beauties, which no eye may see. But he them sees, and takes exceeding pleasure Of their divine aspects, appearing plain, And kindling love in him above all measure ; Sweet love, still joyous, never feeling pain. For what so goodly form he there doth see, He may enjoy, from jealous rancor free. There liveth he in everlasting bliss, Sweet spirit ! never fearing more to die ; Ne dreading harm from any foe of his ; Ne fearing savage beasts' more cruelty ; Whilst we hear wretches wail his private lack, And with vain vows do often call him back. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 77 15u1 liv.- Hum tln-iv still happy, liappy spirit ! And give us leave thee here thus to lament : Not thee, that doest thy heaven's joy inherit, But our own selves, who here in dole are dm if. Thus do we weep and wail, and wear our eyes, Mourniitg in others our own miseries." No impartial critic, who compares this elegy with tho \ . i-sos of Queen Elizabeth, can for an instant hesitate in ; i \\arding the palm of victory to Lady Pembroke. Ben Jonson's Epitaph upon the Countess of Pembroke has acquired perhaps a higher reputation than it de- serves : " Underneath this sable herse, Lies the subject of all verse ; Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother ; Death, ere thou hast killed another, Fair, and learned, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee ! Marble piles let no man raise To her name for after days ; Some kind woman, born as she, Reading this, like Niobe Shall turn marble, and become Both her mourner and her tomb." Of these twelve lines it may be observed, that the two first make a false assertion, for Lady Pembroke was not in any sense " the subject of all verse." The third line justly recounts it as a privilege that she was " Sydney's sister ;" but the fact that she was " Pem- broke's mother" tended neither to her happiness when living, nor to her honour when dead. The reason assigned in the six closing lines why no " marble piles " should be raised to her name is extravagantly absurd ; and the real merit of the epitaph dwells exclusively in the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines, which are of exquisite beauty : " Death ! ere thou hast killed another, Fair, and learned, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee." Granger mentions two engravings of her ; in one of them 78 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. she is represented with a Psalter in her hand. There is one, apparently taken from a portrait painted after she had passed the prime of life, in Horace Walpole's 'Catalogue.' THE LADY MARY WROTH. Alluding to the sixteen sonnets addressed by Chapman " to the chief nobility," Warton remarks, in a note,* " Lady Mary Wroth, here mentioned, wife of Sir Robert Wroth, was much courted by the wits of this age. She wrote a romance called ' Urania,' in imitation of Sir Philip Sydney's ' Arcadia ;' see Jonson's ' Epigr.' 103, 105." It would appear from the concluding references, that they were the source from whence Warton derived his knowledge of Lady Mary Wroth and her production. In a note to the previous section, he mentions a Sir Thomas Wroth, Knight, as the translator of the second part of Virgil's ' ^Eneid,' April 4, 1620. Lady Mary Wroth is not mentioned by Walpole, Park, or Granger. Ballard in the preface to his ' Memoirs of British Ladies,' mentions Lady Mary Neville, Lady Anne Southwell, Lady Honor Hay, Lady Mary Wroth, and others, as persons of distinguished parts and learning, of whom he has been able to collect little else but that bare fact. Burke's ' Book of Extinct Baronetcies ' gives the pedi- gree of the Wroths of Blenden Hall, Kent, only from 1666 to 1722, naming the first baronet as the descendant of an ancient family. To look for one particular Lady Mary among the daughters of peers seemed hopeless labour, but research with another object has happily guided the writer to the parents of Lady Mary Wroth. She was the eldest daughter of Eobert Sydney, first Earl of Leicester,! * ' History of English Poetry,' vol. iii. sect. lix. f See ' Memoirs of the Syclneys,' by Arthur Collins, vol. i. p. 120. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 79 brother and heir to the celebrated Sir Philip Sydney : her mother, his first wife, was Barbara, only daughter and heir of John Gamage, Esq., a Glamorganshire gentleman. Lady Mary had seven sisters and four brothers: of the latter, the youngest succeeded his father as second Earl of Leicester of that family. She was married at Penshurst on the 16th of September, 1602, to Sir Robert Wroth, Knight, of Durants, in the parishes of Enfield and Ed- monton, in the county of Middlesex, and of Loughton Hall in Essex. The military captains under her father's com- mand in the Netherlands testified their respect and admi- ration towards her on this occasion by subscribing 200?. to buy " a chain of pearl " for the bride,* or to be otherwise disposed of at her pleasure. Sir William Browne, writing to her father from Flushing, October 19, 1604, says : " We have all received, by Josias, my Lady Wroth's remembrance of very fair gloves." Her son Robert Wroth is subse- quently mentioned in one of Lord Leicester's letters, t It is to be regretted that so meagre an account is all that can be collected from the published records of Penshurst. The marriage of her great-granddaughter, an heiress, conveyed the Essex estates of the Wroths into the family of the Zuleisteins Earls of Rochford. Lady Mary's attention was probably directed in early youth to the works of her celebrated uncle Sir Philip Sydney, and of her aunt Mary Countess of Pembroke, who was probably her godmother. The date of her death has not been ascertained. She is identified beyond the possi- bility of mistake by the mention made in the Sydney Memoirs of Ben Jonson's Epigrams in praise of her * Sydney Letters and Memorials of State,' vol. ii. p. 305. t Mention of the Wroths is made in the same volume, pp. 82, 89, 309, and 352. 80 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. husband and herself. A Sir Thomas Wroth was her grandson. ELIZABETH COUNTESS OF LINCOLN. Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Knevet, of Charlton, Wiltshire, was married to Thomas Clinton, third Earl of Lincoln. She had eighteen children, and on the strength of this experience wrote a book entitled ' The Countess of Lincoln's Nursery.' It was first printed in 1621, and again in 1622 and in 1628. The date of her death is uncertain. The Earl, her husband, died in 1618. ANNE COUNTESS OF ARUNDEL. Anne, sister and coheir of Thomas last Lord Dacre, married Philip Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, who died a prisoner in the Tower in 1595. She wrote many letters to her family in what the first literary Mr. Lodge terms " the best style of that time ;" and some verses on the death of her lord, which apparently formed part of a long poem. Lady Arundel died April 30, 1630. In the year 1613, Dorothy, daughter of Sir William Petre, and widow 7 of Nicholas Wadham, Esq., of Merefield, Somersetshire, founded Wadham College, Oxford, in com- pliance with the last will and testament of her husband. Granger mentions a mezzotinto engraving of her by Faber. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. M CHAPTER V. A.D. 1650-1G75. lieinarks on the period 1650-75 Elizabeth Countess of Kent Elizabeth Countess of . Bridgwater Catherine Philips Lucy Hutchinson Mar.u'aret Duchess of Newcastle Anne Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery. " Tlie writers of this and the succeeding generation understood their own character better than it has been understood by their successors ; they called themselves wits, instead of poets, and wits they were the difference is not in degree but in kind." SOUTHEY : Preface to ' Spe- cimens of Later English Poets.' IN the period now under review, instruction in the dead languages had ceased to be deemed an essential part of the education of princesses, ladies, and high-born gentlewomen. Books in English and in other modern languages had multi- plied, and so many facilities were afforded for female im- provement, that educated women generally superseded learned men as the principal teachers of young girls, and the scholar-like culture of the mind gave place to superficial training. The increased means of acquiring information which caused this deterioration in the upper classes, pro- moted the diffusion of knowledge in those next below, and the daughters of merchants and tradesmen soon began to appear among the literary women of England. The progress of literature among Englishwomen resembles what is termed in botany the centrifugal inflorescence of plants ; being not like the spike of the lilac, where the lowermost blossoms first expand, but answering rather to G 82 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. the cyme of the laurustinus, in which the central flowers open before the outer ones. So distinctly had learning and well directed intelligence been recognised as the peculiar attributes of women of high social rank, that those of inferior position first distin- guished for possessing them were readily received as equals among the great and fashionable personages of their day. ELIZABETH COUNTESS OF KENT. Elizabeth, second daughter of Gilbert Talbot, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, and wife of Henry Grey, Earl of Kent, compiled * A Choice Manual of Bare and Select Secrets in Physic and Chirurgery,' which passed through sixteen editions. Benevolence, and the blameless vanity of liking to teach small things, are the only qualities manifested in this work. The Countess of Kent died at her house in White Friars, December 7, 1651. An engraved likeness of her in a small oval is prefixed to her book. ELIZABETH COUNTESS OF BRIDGWATEE. Elizabeth, second daughter of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, married John Egerton, Viscount Brackley, afterwards Earl of Bridgwater the youth who performed at Ludlow Castle, in 1634, the part of the First Brother in Milton's Masque of Comus. Chauncey's ' History of Hert- fordshire,' and Collins' ( Peerage ' give copies of her monu- mental inscription in Gaddesden Church, which records that she wrote ' Meditations and Contemplations upon every particular chapter in the Bible.' Her beauty, accom- plishments, domestic virtues, and deep piety were so thoroughly appreciated by her excellent husband, that he ordered an inscription to be placed over his own grave recording that he " enjoyed almost twenty-two years all the LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 83 happiness that a man could receive in the sweet society of the best of wives." The Countess of Bridgwater died June 24, 1663, in the thirty-seventh year of her age. The Earl survived her twenty-three years, four months, and twelve days, "en- during, rather than enjoying life." He died October 26, 1686, aged sixty-three. Her eldest sister, Lady Jane, who married Charles Cheyne, Esq., afterwards Viscount Newhaven, was also the authoress of a series of devout reflections, never pub- lished. Lady Jane died beloved, revered, and lamented, October 8, 1669, in the forty-eighth year ft her age, and was buried in Chelsea Church, where her effigy by Bernini remains. CATHERINE PHILIPS. Catherine, daughter of John Fowler of Bucklersbury, merchant, was born January 1, 1631. She is the first emi- nent Englishwoman of whom it is distinctly recorded that she was brought up at a boarding-school. In 1647, she married James Philips, Esq., of the Priory, Cardigan. Two children, a son and daughter, were the issue of this mar- riage. Her husband had suffered great losses in the Royalist cause ; and vain attempts to retrieve his affairs, and to solace his anxieties, gave active and constant occu- pation to his wife. She was highly esteemed by the prin- cipal persons of her time in England, Wales, and Ireland, and died in Fleet Street of the small-pox, June 22, 1664, being thirty-three years of age, and was buried in the church of St. Bennet, Sherehog. Granger mentions a portrait of her at Strawberry Hill, an engraving from a bust inscribed " Orinda ;" and a mez- zotinto by Becket. G 2 84 L1TERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Sir William Temple, " at the desire of Lady Temple," wrote a poem on the death of Catherine Philips, which contains the following terse and spirited eulogy : " Orinda ! what ? the glory of our stage ! Crown of her sex, and wonder of the age ! Graceful and fair in body and in mind, She that taught fallen virtue to be kind, Youth to be wise, mirth to be innocent, Fame to be steady, envy to relent, Love to be cold, and friendship to be warm, Praise to do good, and wit to do no harm. Orinda ! that was sent the world to give The best example how to write and live : The queen of poets, whosoe'er 's the king, And to whose sceptre all their homage bring ; Who more than men conceived and understood, And more than women knew how to be good." The poems, according to Oldys, as cited in the ' Censura Literaria,' vol. ii. p. 174, were published in 1664, and again in an enlarged edition with her tragedies of t Pompey ' and ' Horace ' (translations from Corneille) in 1667 ; another edition appeared in 1669, and yet another in 1678 ; Tonson's edition in 1710 appears to have been the last. Her letters to Sir Charles Cotterill were published in 1705, under the affected title of ' Letters from Orinda to Poliarchus.' Bishop Jeremy Taylor showed his appreciation of her mental and moral qualities by addressing to her his 1 Measures and Offices of Friendship,' in 1657. Cowley wrote during her life a eulogistic ' Ode on Orinda's Poems,' in which he quaintly congratulates her on having can- celled " great Apollo's Salique law." The third stanza ex- presses an exaggerated degree of sincere and cordial ap- proval. " Thou dost my wonder, wouldst my envy raise, If to be praised I loved more than to praise ; - LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. s "> Where'er I see an excellence, I must admire to see thy well-knit sense, Thy numbers gentle, and thy fancies high, Those as thy forehead smooth, these sparkling as thine eye. Tis solid, and 'tis manly all, Or rather 'tis angelical, For, as in angels, we Do in thy verses see Both improved sexes eminently meet : They are than man more strong, and more than woman sweet." In his ' Ode on the Death of Mrs. Catherine Philips,' ( \ >\\ ley praises her beauty, accomplishments, and piety ; and of her literary productions, he says in the third stanza : " The certain proofs of our Orinda's wit In her own lasting characters are writ, And they will long my praise of them survive, Though long perhaps too that may live. The trade of glory, managed by the pen, Though great it be, and everywhere is found, Does bring in but small profit to us men, 'Tis by the number of the sharers drowned. Orinda, on the female coasts of fame, Engrosses all the goods of a poetic name." In the fourth stanza, extolling her "hate of vice and scorn of vanities," he adds : " Never did spirit of the manly make, And dipped all o'er in learning's sacred lake, A temper more invulnerable take. No violent passion could an entrance find Into the tender goodness of her mind." Then in the fifth stanza, after commending her friendship , \\ith " Leucasia" Anne Owen he concludes with the following beautiful lines : " As when a prudent man docs once perceive That in some foreign country he must live, The language and the manners lie does strive To understand and practise here, That he may come no stranger there : So well Orinda did herself prepare In this much different clitue for her remove To the glad world of poetry and love." 86 [LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Specimens of her poetry can scarcely fail to disappoint the expectations raised by such eulogies ; but in versifica- tion and in sentiment her compositions show an acquaint- ance with the literature of her day, and a cultivated preference for the best models of imitation. AGAINST PLEASUEE. AN ODE. " There's no such thing as pleasure here, 'Tis all a perfect cheat, Which does but shine and disappear, Whose charm is but deceit ; The empty bribe of yielding souls, Which first betrays and then controls, 'Tis true it looks at distance fair ; But, if we do approach, The fruit of Sodom will impair And perish at a touch ; It being than in fancy less, And we expect more than possess. For by our pleasures we are cloyed, And so desire is done ; Or else, like rivers, they make wide The channels where they run ; And either way true bliss destroys, Making us narrow, or our joys. We covet pleasure easily, But ne'er true bliss possess ; For many things must make it be, But one may make it less ; Nay, were our state as we would choose it 'T would be consumed by fear to Jose it. What art thou, then, thou winged air, More weak and swift than fame, Whose next successor is despair, And its attendant shame ? Th' experienced prince then reason had, Who said of pleasure ' It is mad.' " A COUNTRY LIFE. How sacred and how innocent A country life appears ; How free from tumult, discontent, From flattery, or fears. I ITKKAKV WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 87 This was the first and happiest life, When man enjoyed himself, Till pride exchanged peace for strife, And happiness for pelf. 'T was here the poets were inspired, Here taught the multitude ; The brave they here with honour fired, And civilised the rude. That golden age did entertain No passion but of love ; The thoughts of ruling and of gain Did ne'er their fancies move. Them that do covet only rest, A cottage will suffice ; It is^not brave to be possessed Of earth, but to despise. Opinion is the rate of things, From hence our peace doth flow ; I have a better fate than kings, Because I think it so. When all the stormy world doth roar, How unconcerned am I ! I cannot fear to tumble lower, Who never could be high. Secure in these unenvied walls, I think not on the state, And pity no man's case that falls From his ambitious height. Silence and innocence are safe ; A heart that's nobly true At all these little arts can laugh, That do the world subdue." Campbell, in his * British Poets,' justly pronounces of Catherine Philips, that " she cannot be said to have been a woman of genius, but her verses betoken an interesting and placid enthusiasm of heart and a cultivated taste, that form a beautiful specimen of female character." MRS. HUTCHINSON. Lucy, the second daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieu- tenant of the Tower, and the eldest daughter of his third wife, a daughter of Sir John St. John, of Lidiard Tregoze. LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Wiltshire, was born in the Tower of London, in the year 1 620. Both her parents were excellent persons, and they spared neither care nor expense in the education of their promising and precocious child. When only seven years old she was provided with no less than eight " tutors " to instruct her " in several qualities, languages, music, dan- cing, writing, and needlework." * It is to be presumed that some of these " tutors " were of the feminine gender. Books, however, were her chief delight, and she outstripped her brothers in Latin and other scholastic acquirements. She profited also by attending to the conversation of her father's wise and well-informed guests, and by the oppor- tunities which her mother afforded her of hearing the best preachers. The noble and generous qualities of her parents, too, made an early and indelible impression upon her observant and thoughtful mind. In 1630, her father died, and the widow, with her family, removed to Eich- mond. On the 3rd of July, 1638, Lucy Apsley was married in the church of St. Andrew's, Holborn, to John, eldest son of Sir Thomas Hutchinson, of Owthorpe, in the county of Nottingham. Making their home at first with her mother in London, they soon afterwards moved their joint house- holds to the " Blue House," in Enfield Chace, where Mr. Hutchinson devoted two years to the study of divinity. In 1641, having then three children, she went with her husband to Owthorpe, where they resided very happily for a few months, their tranquillity being at last disturbed only by the breaking out of the Civil War. Mr. Hutchinson, with conscientious care, examined the records of history and the claims of the contending parties; and, being thoroughly convinced of the unlawfulness of the King's * See the autobiographical sketch included in her 'Life of Colonel Hutchinson.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 89 1 iroc. < (! ings and the justice of the Parliament's resistance t> tin- manifest infringement of civil rights, he accepted Uicir commission as lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Pierre- 1 'cut's regiment of militia ; and on the 29th of June, 1643, undertook, as governor, the defence of Nottingham Castle ; a post of great importance, as that fortress commanded the principal pass between the northern and southern oumties. Against all sorts of disadvantages, want of proper defensive works, provisions, and money, against open assaults and treacherous intrigues, his skill and courage enabled him successfully to maintain this position until the close of the war in 1647. His father, Sir Thomas, had died in London in 1643, and Colonel Hutch- inson, inheriting the Owthorpe estate, returned when his military duties were over to its mansion, which had been spoiled, stripped, and ruined by the royal garrisons of Shelford and Wiverton. Having been deprived of the rents for several years, he found himself ever after an im- poverished and embarrassed man. In 1648, he removed his wife and his large family of children to London, and took his seat in Parliament as a representative of the county of Nottingham. Much against his will, he was nominated one of the commissioners for the trial of King Charles, and under a mistaken sense of duty gave his vote for that king's death. In 1649, Colonel Hutchinson was chosen a member of the Council of State, and had many opportunities of enriching himself; but he declined them all, seeking only to recover the sums justly due to him, and to engage only in such employments as would not separate him from his home. Having arranged his affairs and rebuilt his house at Owthorpe, he passed much of his time there, taking no prominent part in politics after Oliver Cromwell had 90 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. entered upon the protectorate, but actively devoting him- self to the improvement of his paternal estate, to the promotion of his neighbours' welfare, and the education of his children, while indulging his taste for literature and the fine arts, manly exercises, and social hospitality. In the words of Mrs. Hutchinson, " He spared not any cost for the education of both his sons and daughters in lan- guages, sciences, music, dancing, and all other qualities (i. e. qualifications) befitting their father's house. He was him- self their instructor in humility, sobriety, and all godliness and virtue, which he rather strove to make them exercise with love and delight than by constraint." Thus Colonel Hutchinson and his wife Lucy spent their beneficent and happy days until 1660, the year of the Eestoration ; and to some placid hour of casual solitude occurring at Ow- thorpe the following verses from her eloquent pen owe their origin : " All sorts of men through various labours press, To the same end contented quietness ; Great princes vex their labouring thoughts to be Possessed of an unbounded sovereignty ; The hardy soldier doth all toils sustain That he may conquer first, and after reign ; Th' industrious merchant ploughs the angry seas That he may bring home wealth, and live at ease. These none of them attain ; for sweet repose But seldom to the splendid palace goes ; A troop of restless passions wander there, And only private lives are free from care. Sleep to the cottage bringeth happy nights, But to the court hung round with flaring lights, Which th' office of the vanished day supply, His image only comes to close the eye, But gives the troubled mind no ease of care, While country slumbers undisturbed are ; Where, if the active fancy dreams present, They bring no horrors to the innocent. Ambition doth incessantly aspire, And each advance leads on to new desire ; Nor yet can riches av'rice satisfy, For want and wealth together multiply : LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 91 Nor can voluptuous men more fulness find, For enjoyed pleasures leave their stings behind. He's only rich who knows no want ; he reigns Whose will no severe tyranny constrains ; And he alone possesseth true delight Whose spotless soul no guilty fears affright. This freedom in the country life is found, Where innocence and safe delights abound. Here man's a prince ; his subjects ne'er repine When on his back their wealthy fleeces shine : If for his appetite the fattest die, Those who survive will raise no mutiny ; His table is with home-got dainties crowned, With friends, not flatterers, encompassed round ; No spies nor traitors on his trencher wait, Nor is his mirth confined to rules of state ; An armed guard he neither hath nor needs, Nor fears a poisoned morsel when he feeds ; Bright constellations hang above his head, Beneath his feet are flow'ry carpets spread ; The merry birds delight him with their songs, And healthful air his happy life prolongs ; At harvest merrily his flocks he shears, And in cold weather their warm fleeces wears ; Unto his ease he fashions all his clothes ; His cup with uninfected liquor flows : The vulgar breath doth not his thoughts elate, Nor can he be o'erwhelmed by their hate. Yet, if ambitiously he seeks for fame, One village feast shall gain a greater name Than his who wears the imperial diadem, Whom the rude multitude do still condemn. Sweet peace and joy his blest companions are ; Fear, sorrow, envy, lust, revenge, and care, And all that troop which breeds the world's offence, With pomp and majesty are banished thence. What court, then, can such liberty afford, Or where is man so uncontroll'd a lord ? " Colonel Hutchinson was upon principle a republican, and so true a patriot that neither Cromwell nor King Charles II. could, either by temptations or persecutions, shake his disinterested adherence to the cause of the Commonwealth. In the first parliament of King Charles II. Colonel Hutchinson was the representative of the town of Notting- 92 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ham, and went up to London in April to take his place in the House. The Court party bearing him malice for his conduct during the Civil War, and dissatisfied with the quiet moderation of his present conduct, attempted to erase his name from the Act of Oblivion, but the fervent intercession of his royalist brother-in-law, Sir Allen Apsley, prevailed in his favour, and Colonel Hutchinson withdrew to his tranquil home at Owthorpe. In October, 1663, he was arrested, and in November committed to the Tower upon an accusation of treason. His wife and his eldest son Thomas accompanied him to London, but for several weeks afterwards were ,not allowed to see him. His ene- mies failing to implicate him in a conspiracy which they called "the Northern Plot," but determined on wreak- ing their malice, had him removed from the Tower to Sandown Castle, near Deal, where, after an imprison- ment of eleven months, he died from harsh treatment, September 11, 1664, at the age of forty-eight. Through all his troubles his faithful wife ministered to his neces- sities, brought his children and friends about him for his comfort, managed his affairs, and did all that the most affectionate heart and the most comprehensive and acute intellect could suggest to procure his liberation and to soften his captivity. She had his remains de- posited in the family vault at Owthorpe ; but the date of her own death and the place of her own inter- ment have not been ascertained. The 'Memoir of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, by his Widow Lucy/ is the most perfect piece of biography ever written by a woman, and the view which it incidentally reveals of her own character, conduct, and abilities, entitles her to rank among the most admirable women of her country. Indeed, it may be doubted whether any other person of her sex, in LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. !KJ any country, ever possessed as fine a combination of mental power and domestic ability with affections at once so tender and so true. There is an engraved portrait of her, with one of her little sons, prefixed to a volume of the first (< lit ion of her work. As a specimen of her prose style, Mrs. Hutchinson's description of her husband's character is subjoined, though nothing short of a perusal of the whole work can convey a just notion of the vigour of her mind, and the skilful ease with which she moulded thought into language. "To number his virtues is to give the epitome of his life, which was nothing else but a progress from one degree of virtue to another, till, in a short time, he arrived to that height which many longer lives could never reach, and had I but the power of rightly disposing and relating them, his single example would be more instructive than all the rules of the best moralists, for his practice was of a more Divine extraction, drawn from the Word of God and wrought up by the assistance of His Spirit ; therefore, in the head of all his virtues, I shall set that which was the head and spring of them all his Christianity for this alone is the true royal blood that runs through the whole body of virtue, and every pretender to that glorious family, who hath no tincture of it, is an impostor and a spurious brat. This is that sacred fountain which baptizeth all the gentle virtues that so immortalize the names of Cicero, Plutarch, Seneca, and all the old philosophers ; herein they are regenerated, and take a new name and nature ; dug up in the wilderness of nature, and dipped in this living spring, they are planted and flourish in the paradise of God. By Christianity I intend that universal habit of grace which is wrought in a soul by the regenerating Spirit of God, whereby the whole creature is resigned up into the Divine 94 LITERACY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. will and love, and all its actions directed to the obedience and glory of its Maker. As soon as he had improved his natural understanding with the acquisition of learning, the first studies in which he exercised himself were the prin- ciples of religion, and the first knowledge he laboured for was a knowledge of God, which, by a diligent examination of the Scripture and the several doctrines of great men pre-tending that ground, he at length obtained. After- wards, when he had laid a sure and orthodox foundation in the doctrine of the free grace of God, given us by Jesus Christ, he began to survey the superstructures and to dis- cover much of the hay and stubble of men's inventions in God's worship, which His Spirit burned up in the day of their trial. His faith being established in the truth, he was full of love to God and all his saints. He hated persecution for religion, and was always a champion for all religious people against all their great oppressors. He detested all scoffs at any practice of worship, though such a one as he was not persuaded of. Whatever he prac- tised in religion was neither for faction nor advantage, but . contrary to it ; and purely, for conscience' sake. As he hated outsides in religion, so could he worse endure those apos- tacies, and those denials of the Lord, and base compliances of his adversaries, which timorous men practise under the name of prudent and just condescensions to avoid persecu- tion. Christianity being in him as the fountain of all his virtues, and diffusing itself in every stream that of his prudence falls into the next mention. He from a child was wise, and sought to by many that might have been his fathers for counsel, which he could excellently give to himself and others ; and whatever cross event in any of his affairs may give occasion to fools to overlook the wisdom of the design, yet he had as great a foresight, as LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 95 a judgment, as clear an apprehension of men and tilings as any man. He had rather a firm impression than a great memory, yet he was forgetful of nothing but injuries. His own integrity made him credulous of other men's, till reason and experience convinced him ; and he was as unapt to believe cautions which could not be re- ceived without entertaining ill opinions of men ; yet he had wisdom enough never to commit himself to a traitor, though he was once wickedly betrayed by friends whom necessity, and not mistake, forced him to trust. He was as ready to hear as to give counsel, and never pertinacious in his will when his reason was convinced. There was no opinion which he was most settled in, either concerning Divine or human things, but he would patiently and im- partially hear it debated. In matters of faith his reason always submitted to the Word of God, and what he could not comprehend he would believe because it was written ; but in all other things, the greatest names in the world could never lead him without reason : he would deliberate when there was time, but never, by tedious dispute, lost an opportunity of anything that was to be done. He would hear as well as speak, and yet never spoke im- pertinently or unreasonably. He very well understood his own advantages, natural parts, gifts, and acquirements, yet so as neither to glory of them to others nor over-value himself for them ; for he had an excellent virtuous modesty, which shut out all vanity of mind, and yet admitted that true understanding of himself which was requisite for the best improvement of all his talents ; he no less understood and was more heedful to remark his defects, imperfections, and disadvantages, but that only to excite his circum- spection concerning them, not to damp his spirit in any noble enterprise. He had a noble spirit of government belli 96 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. in civil, military, and domestic administrations, which forced even from unwilling subjects a love and reverence of him, and endeared him to the souls of those who re- joiced to be governed by him. He had a native majesty that struck an awe of him into the hearts of men, and a sweet greatness that commanded love. He had a clear discerning of men's spirits, and knew how to give everyone their just weight. He contemned none that were not wicked, in whatever low degree of nature or fortune they were otherwise : wherever he saw wisdom, learning, or other virtues in men, he honoured them highly, and admired them to their full rate, but never gave himself blindly up to the conduct of the greatest master. Love itself, which was as powerful in his as in any soul, rather quickened than blinded the eyes of his judgment in discerning the imperfections of those that were most dear to him. His soul ever reigned as king in the in- ternal throne, and never was captive to his sense; reli- gion and reason, its two favoured counsellors, took order that all the passions kept within their own just bounds, did him good service there, and furthered the public weal. He found such felicity in that proportion of wisdom that he enjoyed, as he was a great lover of that which advanced it learning and the arts, which he not only honoured in others, but had by his industry arrived to be himself a far greater scholar than is abso- lutely requisite for a gentleman. He had many excellent attainments, but he no less evidenced his wisdom in know- ing how to rank and use them, than in gaining them. He had wit enough to have been subtle and cunning, but he so abhorred dissimulation that I cannot say he was either. Greatness of courage would not suffer him to put on a visor, to secure him from any ; to retire into the shadow of LTTEKAKY WOMFA" OF KNOLAND. 07 privacy and silonce was all his prudence could effect in him. It would be as hard to say which was the predo- minant virtue in him, as which is so in its own nature. He was as excellent in justice as in wisdom ; nor could the greatest advantage, or the greatest danger, or the dearest interest or friend in the world, prevail on him, to pervert justice even to an enemy. He never professed the thing he intended not, nor promised what he believed out of his own power, nor failed the performance of anything that was in his power to fulfil. Never fearing anything he could suffer for the truth, he never at any time would refrain a true or give a false witness ; he loved truth so much that he hated even sportive lies and gulleries. He was so just to his own honour that he many times for- bore things lawful and delightful to him, rather than he would give any one occasion of scandal. Of all lies he most hated hypocrisy in religion ; either to comply with changing governments or persons without a real persuasion of conscience, or to practise holy things to get the applause of men or any advantage. As in religion so in friendship ; he never professed love when he had it not ; nor disguised hate or aversion, which indeed he never had t> any party or person, but to their sins: and he loved < -vcn his bitterest enemies so well, that I am witness how his soul mourned for them, how heartily he desired their conversion. If he were defective in any part of justice, it was when it was in his power to punish those who had injured him, whom I have so often known him to recom- pense with favours instead of revenge, that his friends used t< > tell him, if they had any occasion to make him favour- ably partial to them, they would provoke him by an in jury. He was as faithful and constant to his friends as merciful to his enemies : nothing grieved him more than H 98 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. to be obliged where he could not hope to return it. He that was a rock to all assaults of might and violence, was the gentlest, easiest soul to kindness, of which the least warm spark melted him into anything that was not sinful ; there never was a man more exactly just in the performance of duties to all relations and all persons. Honour, obedience, and love to his father were so natural and so lasting in him, that it is impossible to imagine a better son than he was ; and whoever would pray for a blessing in children to any one, could but wish them such a son as he. He never repined at his father's will in anything, how much soever it were to his prejudice, nor would endure to hear any one say his father was not so kind to him as he might have been ; but to his dying day preserved his father's memory with such tender affection and reverence as was admirable, and had that high regard for his mother-in-law and the children she brought his father, that he could not have been more dearly concerned in all their interest if she had been his own mother, which, all things considered, although they were deserving persons, was an example of piety and goodness that will not easily be matched. For conjugal affection to his wife it was such in him, as whosoever would draw out a rule of honour, kindness, and religion, to be practised in that estate, need no more but exactly draw out his example ; never man had a greater passion for a woman, nor a more honourable esteem of a wife ; yet he was not uxorious, nor remitted he that just rule which it was her honour to obey, but managed the reins of govern- ment with such prudence and affection that she who would not delight in such an honourable and advantageable subjection, must have wanted a reasonable soul. He governed by persuasion, which he never employed but to things honourable and profitable for herself; he loved LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. !!) her soul and her honour more than her outside, and yet he had even for her person a constant indulgence, exceeding tin* common temporary passions of the most uxorious fools. If he esteemed her at a higher rate than she in herself could have deserved, he was the author of that virtue he doated on, while she only reflected his own glories upon him : all that she was was him, while he was here, and all that she is now at best is but his pale shade. So liberal was he to her, and of so generous a temper, that ho hated the mention of severed purses ; his estate being so much at her disposal, that he never received an account of anything she expended ; so constant was he in his love, that when she ceased to be young and lovely he began to show most fondness ; he loved her at such a kind and generous rate as words cannot express ; yet even this, which was the highest love he or any man could have, was yet bounded by a superior ; he loved her in the Lord as his fellow-creature, not his idol, but in such a manner as showed that an affection, bounded in the just rules of duty, far exceeds every way all the irregular passions in the world. He loved God above her and all the other dear pledges of his heart, and at His command, and for His glory, cheerfully resigned them ; and was as kind a father, as dear a brother, as good a master, and as faithful a friend as the world had ; yet in all these relations the greatest indulgence he could have in the world never prevailed on him to indulge vice in the dearest person ; but the more dear any were to him, the more was he offended at anything that might take off the lustre of their glory. As he had great severity against errors and follies pertinaciously pursued, so had he the most merciful, gentle, and compassionate frame of spirit that can be imagined to those who became sensible of their errors and frailties, although they had been ever so H2 100 LITEKARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. injurious to himself. Nor was his soul less shining in honour than in love. Piety being still the bond of all his other virtues, there was nothing he durst not do or suffer but sin against God ; and, therefore, as he never regarded his life in any noble and just enterprise, so he never staked it in any rash or unwarrantable hazard. He was never sur- prised, amazed, nor confounded with great difficulties or dangers, which rather served to animate than distract his spirits ; he had made up his accounts with life and death, and fixed his purpose to entertain both honourably, so that no accident ever dismayed him, but he rather rejoiced in such troublesome conflicts as might signalise his generosity. A truer or more lively valour there never was in any man, but in all his actions it ever marched in the same file with wisdom. He understood well, and as well performed when he undertook it, the military art in all parts of it ; he naturally loved the employment, as it suited with his active temper more than any, conceiving a mutual delight in leading those men that loved his conduct ; and when he commanded soldiers, never was man more loved and rever- enced by all that were under him ; for he would never condescend to them in anything they mutinously sought, nor suffer them to seek what it was fit for him to provide, but prevented them by his loving care ; and while he exercised his authority no way but in keeping them to their just duty, they joyed as much in his commands as he in their obedience. He was very liberal to them, but ever chose just times and occasions to exercise it. I cannot say whether he were more truly magnanimous or less proud ; he never disdained the meanest person, nor flattered the greatest ; he had a loving and sweet courtesy to the poorest, and would often employ many spare hours with the commonest soldiers and poorest labourers, but still so LITERARY WOMEN Ol i:\ Walk up the hills whore round I prospects see, Some brushy woods, and some all champaigns be ; Returning buck, I in ftvHh pastures go, To hear how sheep do bloat, and cows do low. In winter cold, when nipping frosts come on, Then I do live in a small house alone ; Although 'tis plain, yet cleanly 'tis within, Like to a soul that's pure and clear from sin ; And there I dwell in quiet and still peace, Not filled with cares how riches to increase ; I wish nor seek for vain and fruitless pleasures ; No riches are, but what the mind intreasures. Thus am I solitary, live alone, Yet better loved the more that I am known ; And though my face, ill-favour'd at first sight, After acquaintance it will give delight Refuse me not, for I shall constant be ; Maintain your credit and your dignity." The ' II Penseroso ' and ' L'Allegro ' of Milton must un- doubtedly have haunted the Duchess's memory, stimu- lating her fancy to imitative rivalry in the above lines ; yet they are original and appropriate, and, had their pro- totypes been lost, would probably have been accounted admirable. "No riches are but what the mind intrea- sures " is a fine sentiment aptly expressed. ANNE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE, DORSET, AND MONTGOMERY. Of this extraordinary personage Dr. Donne averred, "that she well knew how to discourse of all things from predesti- nation to slea silk." Although not a regular authoress, Anne Countess of Pembroke was an eminently learned woman one who lived and worked, not merely for the good of her own generation, but also for posterity, and her illustrious name is an honour to her sex and country. She was born at Skipton Castle, Craven, on the 30th of January, 1590, and was the only child and heir of George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland. Her education was very carefully conducted : her preceptor in scholastic lore was Samuel 110 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Daniel, the historian and poet-laureate; and, under her widowed mother's inspection, she was instructed in the arts of housewifery, as well as in all the elegant accom- plishments of her day. Bishop Eainbow * says : " She had a clear soul, shining through a vivid body ; her body was durable and healthful, her soul sprightful ; of great understanding and judgment, faithful memory, and ready wit." She was twice married, first to Kichard Sackville Earl of Dorset, Feb. 26, 1609, who died in 1624, leaving her with two surviving children ; and again to Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who died in 1649. She afterwards lived twenty-seven years in widow- hood, distinguished by her faithful zeal for the Church of England, magnificent public charities, and private acts of benevolence. The Countess kept a diary, from which her biographers have derived the most interesting particulars of her life. Her habits were simple and inexpensive; and although she built or repaired no less than six castles, which she inhabited by turns, she was " a perfect mistress of forecast and aftercast." She founded two hospitals, repaired seven churches Brougham, Nine Kirks, Appleby, Bongate, Mallerstang, Barden, and Skipton and did many other munificent works. On suitable occasions she appeared in all the sumptuous array befitting the owner of three coronets of mounted pearls and strawberry -leaves : her ordinary clothes were homespun and home-made. Four times in every year she gave away good books to her household, permitting each servant to make choice of a volume not possessed before. She kept by her great quantities of things suitable for gifts, and characteristic * In Wilford's 'Memorials, pp. 90-100, may be found the Sermon preached by Dr. Edward Eainbow, Bishop of Carlisle, at Appleby, on the day of her funeral. It is not only edifying, but also highly curious and entertaining. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Ill of herself and her pursuits, and she liberally bestowed them upon departing guests as memorials of her. She caused her servants to write out choice sentences, which she selected from various authors ; and her maids, by her direction, pinned them up about her bed and the hangings of her chamber, so that she might take them as texts to descant upon when dressing, and thus avoid the tempta- tion to encourage gossiping. Dr. Johnson asserts that the word " literary is not properly used of epistolary missives." If this requires limitation, the letter of the Countess to Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary of State to King Charles II., who had proposed a candidate to represent one of her boroughs in Parliament, may be accepted as a model of terse and spirited composition : " SIR, I have been bullied by a usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I will not be dictated to by a subject : your man shall not stand. " ANNE PEMBROKE, DORSET, AND MONTGOMERY." The neglect of the Court she probably felt the more keenly from having when a child been petted by Queen Elizabeth. Her tender recollection of persons who had been kind to her is proved by two affecting instances one being the monument to her tutor, in Beckington church, Somersetshire, on which she placed the following inscription : " Here lies, expecting the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the dead body of Samuel Daniel, Esq., who was tutor to the Lady Anne Clifford in her youth. She was that daughter and heir to George Clifford Earl of Cumberland, who, in gratitude to him, erected this monument in his memory, a long time after, when 112 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. she was Countess Dowager of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery : he died in October, an. 1619." The other manifests her filial piety : "This pillar was erected, anno 1656, by the Eight Honourable Anne Countess Dowager of Pembroke, and sole heir of the Eight Honourable George Earl of Cum- berland, &c., for a memorial of her last parting in this place with her good and pious mother the Eight Honour- able Margaret Countess Dowager of Cumberland, the second of April, 1616. She also left an annuity of four pounds to be distributed to the poor within this parish of Brougham every second day of April for ever upon this stone table by. Laus Deo." Bishop Gibson, in his additions to Camden's ' Britannia,' ed. 1772, tracing the course of the old Eoman way through Westmorland, says: "From Hart-horn tree* the way goes directly westward to the Countess's Pillar ;" and, after giving the inscription, he adds : " From this pillar the Way carries us to Brougham Castle, and from thence directly to Lowther Bridge, and so over the Eimot into Cumberland/' Hence it appears, that being in the immediate vicinity of her favourite residence, the Countess of Pembroke delighted in blending the memory of her mother with her daily pursuits. Being herself the daughter of an Earl and Countess, this Countess had two daughters by her first husband, the Earl of Dorset ; Margaret, who became by marriage Countess of Thanet ; and Isabella, who became by marriage Countess of Northampton ; and she lived to see numerous grandchildren. She took such particular delight in the Holy Scriptures that she had one of the Gospels read to her in the course of every week ; read for * Where ' Hart a-greese killed Hercules.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. I I.'! 1 in-self several psalms every day ; and repeated aloud the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans every Sunday in the year, knowing it by heart from beginning to end. AY hen dying, the last words she uttered were some appro- priate verses of that chapter. At her castle of Brougham the Countess died, March 22, 1675, as her epitaph records, " Christianly, willingly, and quietly." She was interred at Appleby, under a monu- ment which she herself had erected. This lady was in her own right Baroness of Clifford, Westmorland, and Vesey ; and surviving her uncle and cousin, who successively inherited her father's Earldom, was the last true-born Clifford of that energetic race, excepting only her cousin's daughter, Elizabeth Countess of Burlington. Granger mentions a whole-length picture of Lady Pembroke at Apperley * Castle, Cumberland, and a painting in the pos- session of Mr. Walpole, besides a very scarce engraving, in which she is represented at the age of thirteen. The one in the l Catalogue of Koyal and Noble Authors ' is doubtless taken from the portrait at Strawberry Hill. The countenance beams with energetic life, and the figure looks full of elasticity. * Query Appleby. 114 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTEE VI. 1675-1700. Introductory remarks Mary Countess of Warwick Lady Pakington Lady Fanshawe Anne Killigrew Anne Wliarton Lucy Marchioness of Wharton Aphara Behn Elizabeth Walker Lady Gethin Lady Halket Retrospective observations and remarks on the true purposes of Biography, and on the abilities and writings of Women. " In every age, while wits of men Could judge the good from bad, Who gat the gift of tongue or pen, Of world great honour had." WILLIAM HOLMK, 1595. THE accurate knowledge of dead and living languages, the study of theology and philosophy, history and poetry, were combined in the high-bred matrons and maidens of the Tudor times with practical skill in music, adroitness in spinning silk and flax, excellence in all kinds of needle- work and " loops of fingering fine," dexterity in the arts of the apothecary and the minor operations of surgery, aptitude in culinary and cosmetic inventions, and practical ability for domestic management. To their successors of the third generation descended only the manual part of these various and valuable acquisitions a reaction taking place which reduced the literary knowledge of English- women of the upper classes to bare reading, writing, and the first four rules of arithmetic. Mr. Hallam has said of the period 1689-1702, " William's UTF.HAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 1 1 " reign, always excepting Dryden, is Our nadir in works of imagination."* Addison, writing of his contemporaries, declares that in those days learning was " not thought a proper ingredient in the education of a woman of quality or fortune/' Nevertheless, under every disadvantage and discourage- ment, there arose gifted women, who brightened their own times, and have left their memories to posterity. MARY COUNTESS OF WARWICK. Mary, daughter of Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork, and wife of Charles Rich, Earl of Warwick, died April 12, 1678. To her, George, first Earl Berkeley, dedi- cated his * Historical Applications/ avowing that she had " a sovereign power over him, and was pleased to en- courage him to write religious meditations ;" and to him the Countess of Warwick addressed a letter full of ex- cellent advice, in which, with great felicity of phrase, she especially recommends " the gaiety of goodness." Her claim to a place among literary women rests chiefly upon her ' Occasional Meditations upon sundry subjects, with pious Reflections upon several subjects, by the Right Hon. Mary, late Countess Dowager of Warwick.' London, 1678. It appears to have been her ambition to use her moderate abilities for the promotion of good morals and piety. An engraved likeness of her is prefixed to the funeral sermon preached at Felsted, in Essex, by Dr. Walker, rector of Fyfield, in which her noble and beneficent cha- racter is highly praised. LADY PAKINGTON. Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Lord Coventry, the Lord Keeper, married Sir John Pakington, Bart., of Westwood. * Lit. of Eur.,' ed. iv., vol. iii., p. 489. i 2 116 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. She led a retired life, and devoted herself to learning, piety, and good works. She was the author of several religious books * The Gentleman's Calling,' ' The Lady's Calling,' < The Government oj the Tongue,' < The Chris- tian's Birthright,' and ' The Causes of the Decay of Chris- tian Piety ;' and she was for many years reputed to be the author of < The Whole Duty of Man.' She enjoyed the esteem and friendship of the most emi- nent divines of her time, and, in the days of their depriva- tion and need, rendered them the most substantial ser- vices. The excellent Dr. Hammond found a home in her hospitable house during several years, and was at last buried in the chapel of the Pakingtons at Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire. Lady Pakington died May 10, 1679, in a good old age. LADY FANSHAWE. Anne, eldest daughter of Sir John Harrison and Mar- garet Fanshawe his wife, was born in London, March 25, 1625. Her mother took great pains with her education, directing her attention more especially to domestic useful- ness, and, dying when Anne was only fifteen years of age, left her capable of managing her father's household with discretion and economy. At nineteen years of age Anne Harrison married her cousin, Eichard Fanshawe. The following year, 1635, she accompanied him to Spain, where he became Secretary to the British Embassy. Ke- turning to England in 1641, her husband exerted himself strenuously in the cause of King Charles I. Being taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, he was for a time closely confined ; and his wife, not being permitted to visit him, exposed herself to great hardships in order to alle- viate his painful solitude by standing to converse with him. LITERARY WOMEN OF KMil.AND. 117 outside Ills window in the dead of night and in bad \\v;ither. On his release they withdrew to Tankersley Park, in Yorkshire, where he occupied himself with poetry and polite literature, and his wife entered with delight into all his pursuits. In 1656 they went to Breda, where he was knighted by King Charles II. At the Kestoration, Sir Kichard was made Master of Bequests, and sent to Portugal to negotiate the marriage of the King with the Princess Catherine. In 1664, he was sent as British Ambassador to Spain, whither his wife accompanied him. Sir Kichard translated into English the ' Pastor Fido' of Guarini, from the Italian, and the * Lusiad ' of Camoens, from the Portuguese. His letters written during his embassies were printed after his death, which took place suddenly in 1666, to the extreme grief of his devoted wife. In the first anguish of this dreadful bereavement she was exposed to such distressing poverty that she long wanted pecuniary means to convey his remains to the tomb of his fathers, and to maintain her orphan children. Sir Richard's salary was in arrear, and no remittances could be obtained from the Ministers of the profligate King, who wasted the public money in vice, instead of paying his faithful servants and compensating the losses of his suffering adherents. The Queen of Spain offered Lady Fanshawe and her five children a handsome provision, on condition of their conforming to the Roman Catholic Church, but the pious widow withstood the temptation, even while the embalmed corpse of her beloved husband lay daily in her sight. Means were furnished at last by the Queen Dowager of Spain ; the removal to England was effected, and Sir Richard's remains were interred within the chapel of St. Mary in the church of Ware. 118 'LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Lady Fanshawe survived him fourteen years, devoting her widowhood to the education of her children, to acts of benevolence, and to self-improvement. She died in January, 1680. The ' Memoir ' which she wrote of herself is her best and most durable monument ; a likeness is prefixed to it. The following extract shows her character as well as her husband's : " And now I thought myself a perfect queen, and my husband so glorious a crown that I more valued my- self to be called by his name than if I had been a prin- cess ; for I knew him very wise and very good, and that his soul doted on me ; upon which confidence I will tell you what happened. My Lady Rivers, a brave woman, and one that had suffered many thousand pounds loss for the King, for whom I had a great reverence, and she a kins- woman's kindness for me, in discourse tacitly commended the knowledge of State affairs; she mentioned several women who were very happy in a good understanding thereof, and said none of them was originally more capable than I. She said a post would arrive from Paris from the Queen that night, and she should extremely like to know what news it brought adding, if I would ask my husband privately, he would tell me what he found in the packet, and I might tell her. I, that was young and innocent, and to that day had never in my mouth 'What news?' now began to think there was more in inquiry into public affairs than I had thought of; and that, being a fashion- able thing, it would make me more beloved of my hus- band than I already was, if that had been possible. When my husband returned home from the council, after re- ceiving my welcome, he went with his hands full of papers into his study. I followed him ; he turned hastily, and LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 1 1 !) said, ' What wouldst thou have, my life ?' I told him I heard the Prince had received a packet from the Queen, and I guessed he had it in his hand, and I desired to know what was in it. He smilingly replied, * My love, I will immediately come to thee ; pray thee go, for I am very busy.' When he came out of his closet I renewed my suit ; he kissed me, and talked of other things. At supper I would eat nothing ; he as usual sat by me, and drank often to me, which was his custom, and was full of discourse to company that was at table. Going to bed I asked him again, and said I could never believe he loved me, if he refused to tell me all he knew. He answered nothing, but stopped my mouth with kisses. I cried, and he went to sleep. Next morning very early, as his custom was, he called to rise, but began to discourse with me first, to which I made no reply ; he rose, came on the other side of the bed, kissed me, drew the curtains softly, and went to court. When he came home to dinner, he pre- sently came to me as was usual, and when I had him by the hand, I said, ' Thou dost not care to see me troubled ;' to which he, taking me in his arms, answered : * My dearest soul, nothing on earth can afflict me like that ; when you asked me of my business it was wholly out of my power to satisfy thee: my life, my fortune, shall be thine, and every thought of my heart in which the trust I am in may not be revealed ; but my honour is my own, which I can- not preserve if I communicate the Prince's affairs. I pray thee with this answer rest satisfied.' So great was his Teason and goodness that, upon consideration, it made my folly appear to me so vile that, from that day until the day of his death, I never thought fit to ask him any busi- ness, except what he communicated freely to me in order to his estate or family." 120 .LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ANNE KILLIGREW. Anne, daughter of Dr. Henry Killigrew, Master of the Savoy, received a learned education, and excelled in painting. She was a Maid-of-Honour to the Duchess of York, and died in 1685, of the small-pox, being not quite twenty-five years of age. She was buried in St. John's Chapel, in the Savoy. She painted her own portrait, imi- tating the style of Sir Peter Lely. Granger describes three engravings from it; one by Blooteling, one by Becket, and one by Chambers, copied from Becket's, and inserted by Walpole in his ' Anecdotes of Painting.' Her ' Poems,' together with Dryden's ode on her decease, were published in 1686. From the one 'Upon the Saying that my Yerses were made by Another,' Ballardhas extracted the following lines in praise of Catherine Philips : " Orinda (Albion's and her sex's grace) Owed not her glory to a beauteous face, It was her radiant soul, that shone within, Which struck a lustre through her outward skin. That did her lips and cheeks with roses dye, Advanced her height, and sparkled in her eye ; Nor did her sex at all obstruct her fame, But higher 'mong the stars it fixed her name ; What she did write, not only all allowed, But every laurel to her laurel bowed." These lines are rather below, than above mediocrity; yet the woman who was capable of calling forth the follow- ing stanzas must, in some measure, be worthy of the earthly immortality which they bestow : AN ODE, BY JOHN DRYDEN, To the pious memory of the accomplished young lady MES. ANNE KILLIGREW, excellent in the two sister-arts of Poesy and Painting. I. " Thou youngest virgin-daughter of the skies, Made in the last promotion of the blessed ; Whose palms, new pluck'd from paradise, In spreading branches more sublimely rise, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 121 Kirli with immortal green above the rest ; Win tin r adopted to some Height/ring star, Thou roll'st above us in thy wand' ring race, Or, in procession fix'd and regular, Mov'd with the heav'n's majestic paci- : Or, called to more superiour bliss, Thou tread'st with seraplu'ms the vast abyss. Whatever happy region is thy place, Cease thy celestial song a little space ; Thou wilt have time enough for hymns divine, Since heav'n's eternal year is thine : Hear, then, a mortal muse thy praise rehearse In no ignoble verse ; But such as thine own voice did practise here, When thy first fruits of poesy were giv'n To make thyself a welcome inmate there ; While yet a young probationer, And candidate of heav'n. II. If by traductioii came thy mind, Our wonder is the less to find A soul so charming from a stock so good ; Thy father was trausfus'd into thy blood ; So wert thou bora into a tuneful strain, An early rich and inexhausted vein. But if thy pre-existing soul Was formed at first with myriads more, It did thro' all the mighty poets roll, Who Greek or Latin laurels wore, And was that Sappho last which once it was before. If so, then cease thy flight, O hcav'n-born mind ! Thou hast no dross to purge from thy rich ore, Nor can thy soul a fairer mansion find Than was the beauteous frame she left behind : Keturn to fill or mend the choir of thy celestial kind. III. May we presume to say that at thy birth New joy was sprung in heav'n as well as here on earth ? For sure the milder planets did combine On thy auspicious horoscope to shine, And e'en the most malicious were in trine. Thy brother angels at thy birth' Strung each liis lyre, and tun'd it high, That all the people of the sky Might know a poetess was born on earth ; And then if ever mortal ears Had heard the music of the spheres, 122 LITERAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. And if no clus'tring swarm of bees On thy sweet mouth distill'd their golden clew, 'T was that such vulgar miracles Heav'n had not leisure to renew ; For all thy bless'd fraternity of love Solemniz'd there thy birth, and kept thy holyday above. IV. Oh gracious God ! how far have we Profan'd thy heav'nly gift of poesy ? Made prostitute and profligate the muse, Debas'd to each obscene and impious use, Whose harmony was first ordain'd above For tongues of angels and for hymns of love ? Oh wretched we ! why were we hurried down, This lubrique and adult'rate age (Nay, added fat pollutions of our own) T' increase the steaming ordures of the stage ? What can we say t' excuse our second fall ? Let this thy vestal, heav'n ! atone for all ; Her Arethusian streams remain unsoil'd, Unmix'd with foreign filth, and undefil'd ; Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child. V. Art she had none, yet wanted none, For nature did that want supply ; So rich in treasures of her own, She might our boasted stores defy : Such noble vigour did her verse adorn, That it seem'd borrow'd where 't was only born. Her morals too were in her bosom bred, By great examples daily fed, What in the best of books, her father's life, she read. And to be read herself she need not fear ; Each test, and ev'ry light, her muse will bear, Tho' Epictetus with his lamp were there. E'en love, for love sometimes her muse exprest, Was but a lambent flame which play'd about her breast, Light as the vapours of a morning dream ; So cold herself, while she such warmth exprest, 'Twas Cupid bathing in Diana's stream. VI. Born to the spacious empire of the Nine, One would have thought she should have been content To manage well that mighty government ; But what can young ambitious souls confine ? To the next realm she stretch'd her sway, For painture near adjoining lay, A plenteous province and alluring prey. I.1TKKAUY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. A Chamber of Dependent-it-* was iruin'd, (As conquerors will never want prettn Wlu-ji anuM, to justify the offence) And the whole fief, in right of poetry, she claimed. The country open luy without defence, For poets frequent inroads there had made, And perfectly could represent The shape, the face, with ev'ry lineament, And all the large domains which the dumb sister swayed, All bow'd beneath her government. Receiv'd in triumph wheresoe'er she went, Her pencil drew whate'er her soul design'd, And oft' the happy draught surpassed the image in her mind. The sylvan scenes of herds and flocks, And fruitful plains and barren rocks, Of shallow brooks that flow'd so clear,' The bottom did the top appear ; Of deeper too and ampler floods, Which, as in mirrors, shew'd the woods ; Of lofty trees, with sacred shades, And perspectives of pleasant glades, Where nymphs of brightest form appear, And shaggy Satyrs standing near, Which them at once admire and fear. The ruins too of some majestic piece, Boasting the pow'r of ancient Rome or Greece, Whose statues, friezes, columns, broken lie, And, tho' defaced, the wonder of the eye ; What nature, art, bold fiction, e'er durst frame, Her forming hand gave feature to the name. So strange a concourse ne'er was seen before, But when the peopled ark the whole creation bore. VII. The scene then changed, with bold erected look Our martial king the fight with rev'reuce strook ; For, not content t' express his outward part, Her hand called out the image of his heart : His warlike mind, his soul devoid of fear, His high-designing thoughts were figured there, As when by magic ghosts are made appear. Our Phoanix queen was pourtrayed too so bright, Beauty alone could beauty take so right : Her dress, her shape, her matchless grace, Were all observ'd, as well as heav'nly face. With such a peerless majesty she stands, As in that day she took the crown from sacred hands ; Before a train of heroines was seen In beauty foremost as in rank the queen. 124 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Thus nothing to her genius was deny'd, But like a ball of fire, the further thrown, Still with a greater blaze she shone, And her bright soul broke out on ev'ry side. What next she had design'd heav'n only knows : To such immod'rate growth her conquest rose, That fate alone its progress could oppose. vm. Now all those charms, that blooming grace, The well-proportion 'd shape and beauteous face, Shall never more be seen by mortal eyes ; In earth the much-lamented virgin lies. Not wit nor piety could fate prevent ; Nor was the cruel destiny content To finish all the murder at a blow, To sweep at once her life and beauty too ; But, like a hardened felon, took a pride To work more mischievously slow, And plunder'd first, and then destroy'd. A double sacrilege on things divine, To rob the relic and deface the shrine ! But thus Orinda died ; Heav'n by the same disease did both translate : As equal were their souls, so equal was their fate. IX. Meantime her warlike brother on the seas His waving streamers to the winds displays, And vows for his return, with vain devotion, pays. Ah, gen'rous youth ! that wish forbear, The winds too soon will waft thee here : Slack all thy sails, and fear to come, Alas ! thou know'st not thou art wreck'd at home ! No more shalt thou behold thy sister's face, Thou hast already had her last embrace. But look aloft, and if thou kenn'st from far, Among the Pleiads a new-kindled star, If any sparkles than the rest more bright, T is she that shines in that propitious light. X. When in mid-air the golden trump shall sound, To raise the nations under ground ; When in the valley of Jehoshaphat, The judging God shall close the book of fate, And there the last assizes keep For those who wake and those who sleep ; When rattling bones together fly From the four corners of the sky ; LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 125 When sinews o'er the skeletons are spread, Those cloth'd with flesh, and life inspires the dead : The sacred poets first shall hear the sound, And foremost from the tomb shall bound, For they are covered with the lightest ground ; And straight, with inborn vigour, on the wing, Like mounting lurks to the new morning sing : There thou, sweet saint ! before the quire shalt go, As harbinger of heav'u, the way to show, The way which thou so well hast learnt below." MRS. Anne, daughter of Sir Henry Lee, of Ditchley, Oxford- shire, and a coheir of his estate, was the first wife of Thomas Wharton, Esq., afterwards Marquis of Wharton. Some of her letters to Bishop Burnet have been printed, and twelve of the Bishop's to her. She was a woman of elegant tastes and many accomplishments. Her poetical productions were numerous, consisting chiefly of para- phrases on passages of Scripture, and occasional verses suggested by passing events. She translated from Ovid the * Epistle of Penelope to Ulysses,' incited, probably, by her own separation from a beloved husband, while she sojourned in the south of Europe, in declining health. She returned home only to die, expired at Adderbury, October 29, 1685, and was buried at Winchinden. Several of her poems are reprinted in the ' Select Collection' of J. Nichols, 1780. The amatory verses are not free from the coarseness of the times ; the paraphrases are made in a grave and reverent style, and show considerable powers of versification. The following lines afford a fair speci- men of her productions : ON THE SNUFF OF A CANDLE. MADE IN SICKNESS. " See there the taper's dim and doleful light, In gloomy waves silently rolls about, And represents to my dim, weary sight, My light of life, almost as near burnt out. 126 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Ah, health ! best part and substance of our joy, (For without thee 'tis nothing but a shade), Why dost thou partially thyself employ, Whilst thy proud foes as partially invade ? What we who ne'er enjoy so fondly seek, Those who possess thee still almost despise ; To gain immortal glory, raise the weak, Taught by their former want thy worth to prize. Dear melancholy muse, my constant guide, Charm this coy health back to my fainting heart, Or I'll accuse thee of vain-glorious pride, And swear thou dost but feign the moving art. But why do I upbraid thee, gentle muse ? Who for all sorrows mak'st me some amends, Alas ! our sickly minds sometimes abuse Our best physicians and our dearest friends/' Mr. Noble mentions an engraving of Mrs. Wharton in the Houghton Collection, from a portrait by Lely. LUCY MARCHIONESS OF WHARTON. Lucia, or Lucy, daughter of Adam Loftus," Viscount Lisburne, was the second wife of Thomas, Marquis of Wharton, and mother of Philip, Duke of Wharton. The Ely pedigree, given by Burke, does not furnish the dates of her birth, marriage, or death. The l English Cyclo- paedia' mentions that she died in 1716. Mr. Noble notices an engraving of her from a portrait by Lely. Three stanzas of four lines each, addressed ' To Cupid,' first pub- lished with the poems of her son, and reprinted by Nichols, vol. v., pp. 10, 11, in 1782, have sufficed to obtain for her a literary reputation. Merely to show how easily in those days a woman of rank and fashion could acquire the world's praise, these paltry verses are inserted here : To CUPID. " Spite of thy godhead, powerful love, I will my torments hide ; For what avails, if life must prove A sacrifice to pride ? LITKUAKY \\OMKN <>K ENGLAND. I'JT Pride, thou'rt become my goddess now, To tbee I'll altars rear ; To thec each morning pay my vow, And offer every tear. But, oh ! should my Philander 's frown Once take your injured part, I soon should cast that idol down, And offer him my heart. APHARA BERN. Descended from respectable ancestors in the city of Canterbury, the father of Aphara Behn, whose name was Johnson, obtained through his kinsman, Lord Willoughby, the appointment of Governor of Surinam and of the thirty- six West Indian Islands, and embarked with his family for that colony when Aphara was very young. General Johnson died upon the outward passage, but his widow and family arrived in safety, and took up their residence in Surinam. Aphara became acquainted there with the African Prince Oroonoko, whose extraordinary story she related 'in a novel, once celebrated, but now only recol- lected as having furnished the incidents of that remarkable tragedy by Southerne, in which the slave-trade was for the first time denounced by an English writer. After having spent some years in South America, Aphara returned to England, and married Mr. Behn, an eminent merchant of London. King Charles II. delighted much in her animated conversation, and in the accounts she gave of the wonders of Surinam, and he employed her as a political spy, and sent her in that capacity to Antwerp. On her passage back to England, being driven upon the coast for several days by a violent tempest, she narrowly escaped perishing by shipwreck. Aphara Behn led a gay, perhaps a licen- tious life, and after a long illness died, April 16, 1689, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. She translated into English the ' Reflections and Maxims' 128 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. of Francis, Due de la Rochefoucault, and Fontenelle's ' History of Oracles' and ' Plurality of Worlds.' She wrote the paraphrase of '^non's Epistle to Paris/ in Dryden's ' Ovid,' a great many verses and letters, several histories and novels, and seventeen successful plays. According to Machiavelli, the secret of success lies in the capability of adaptation to the times. The licentious inde- licacy of Aphara Behn's lively writings insured them a favourable reception, both upon the public stage and in the private dwellings of that fashionable world which had Charles II. for its luminary. Kobert Chambers aptly terms Aphara Behn "a female Wycherley." Her name would have been excluded from all mention in these pages, had it not been necessary to mark the true state of female literature at this period. Aphara Behn is the first English authoress upon record whose life was openly wrong, and whose writings were obscene. In all ages when morality prevailed, the favourite narra- tive and dramatic fictions represented the heroes either as virtuous characters or as deservedly punished for evil deeds. Base, indeed, had the condition of society become when the heroes of the English stage and of the fashionable novels were attractively displayed as triumphant libertines. A complete list of her published works is given in the first volume of the 'Biographia Britannica,' pp. 667-8, notes F, G, and H. An engraving of her, by White, and a copy from it by Cole, are mentioned by Granger, who says nothing of a painted portrait. ELIZABETH WALKER. Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Sadler, citizen and grocer of London, was born in Bucklersbury, July 12, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 129 1623. In 1650, she married Anthony Walker, D.D., and, jil'ttT forty years of domestic happiness, died February 23, I ' i! >0. Mrs. Walker left behind her a manuscript volume of * Instructions' for her daughters, and * Memorials of God's good Providence, towards herself and family;' copious extracts from which were engrafted in the * Biography ' of her life subsequently published by her husband. LADY GETHIN. Grace, daughter of Sir George Norton, of Abbot's Leigh, in the county of Somerset, was born in 1676. She was very carefully educated, and showed great aptness for the acquisition of valuable knowledge. She was married early to Sir Richard Gethin, Bart., of Gethin's Grot, in Ireland ; died October 11, 1697, in the twenty-first year of her age, and was buried at Hollingbourn, in Kent.* A monu- ment, with her effigy, was erected in Westminster Abbey ; and, further to perpetuate her memory, her parents pro- vided that a sermon should be preached there yearly on Ash Wednesday, for ever. The contents of her common- place books and other papers were published after her death, under the title of * Reliquiae Gethinianae.' Ballard gives extracts, which he trustingly supposes to be original ; they are, however, the undoubted property of Lord Bacon and of some other authors ; and the sole merit of the work would appear, from the table of contents, to consist in judicious selection. Ballard's praise of Lady Gethin's character rests upon a surer basis than his estimate of her literary works. He says, " She soon discerned that true Christian virtue is the most desirable attainment of which we are capable, and that the best use that can be made of a superior under- * Noble's Continuatiou of Granger, vol. i., p, 281. K 130 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. standing is to enable us to acquire further degrees of real goodness." An engraving from Dickson's portrait of her is prefixed to the * Reliquiae Gethinianse.' LADY HALKET. Anne, daughter of Mr. Eobert Murray, preceptor to Prince Charles, was born in London, January 4, 1622. She was carefully educated, and excelled in divinity, physic, and surgery. In 1656, she married Sir John Halket, and, after an exemplary and useful life, she died in 1699. Twenty-one volumes of ' Religious Meditations' are attributed to her, but probably most of them were mere transcripts ; for the tabular view of the contents of the Eighth Book, as copied by Ballard from the catalogue subjoined to the published account of her life, accords pre- cisely with the Week's directions of Vices to be opposed, and Virtues to be practised, in Bishop Jeremy Taylor's ' Guide to Devotion,' Part I. of his ' Golden Grove.' Taking a retrospective view of the preceding pages, it may confidently be affirmed that the well-educated pos- sessors of the finest natural abilities were, with few excep- tions, exemplary in the discharge of practical duties, and lived in true piety to God. It may also be remarked that the greater number of those literary Englishwomen were married, and many of them more than once ; from whence it would appear that their mental pursuits had not weak- ened their domestic affections. The followers in their track will be found to add instances in further confirmation of these statements. In all biographies, the main things to be considered, both by writers and readers, are, the train- ing-ground of character, the arena of life's struggle, and the subsequent results. In the present work, the literary LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 1 .'U results are the more especial objects of attention; but, even in their just estimate, the moral and religious effects of such preparatory discipline must be included, for earnest- ness of intention and elevation of aim- give vigorous health and strength to intellect. In the foregoing chapters mention has been made of the principal English authoresses who died before the year 1700. Henceforth the more varied products of the fertile and widening fields of literature will render it necessary that the increasing numbers of its female cultivators should be divided and classified. From this period more abundant materials are also supplied to the biographer, and better opportunities afforded of discriminating and fixing the lights and shades of individual character, and of comparing and contrasting the mental productions of women of genius. Each generation, like every floral season, may be said to have a prevalent colour of its own ; but, as the same dye produces different tints upon textures of silk, wool, and cotton, so variously does the secular influence of opinion affect and tincture human minds. Approaching more nearly to our own times, we are enabled more readily to realize the habits of life and of thought and feeling, which belong to our more immediate predecessors, and, connecting their literary utterances with their personal experience, to yield up our sympathies, and lay our hearts and understandings open to their teachings ; for teach they do, whether intentionally or not, both by the example of their actions and the register of their opinions. Verse constitutes the earliest literature of all nations, and through all ages it embodies the highest. The writings of women, as compared with those of men, are but as the satellite to the planet, imparting little light and deriving much; nevertheless, they have their own K2 132 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. peculiar utility, and their own soft glory. Intuitive fineness of perception, rapidity of apprehension, tenderness, deli- cacy, and a certain persuasive sweetness, are general attri- butes of women; and these qualities, conjoined with a sound understanding, high imaginative faculties, and an enlightened conscience, finding graceful and harmonious expression, breathe genial, refreshing, and holy influences upon many a careworn heart. While intermingled with the productions of manly intel- lects, in the general growth of a nation's literature, women's writings and their elegant characteristics lie overshadowed and unremarked; mere speedwells and eyebright in a forest of stately trees, requiring separate consideration and comparison among themselves. This consideration and this comparison it is a principal object of the present work to afford ; not under the fallacious impression that pretty herbs can rival giant oaks and lofty pines in fitness for ship- building, but simply taking them for what they are, and pointing out their real use and value. It may here be not inappositely remarked that, up to the termination of the seventeenth century, no Englishwoman had surpassed Margaret Koper in scholastic attainments, Mary Sydney, Countess of Pembroke in poetry, and Lucy Hutchinson in prose. They stand as tide-marks, by which the subsequent rise and fall of feminine abilities may be ascertained. Warton has treated the history of English poetry and of English literature as identical; and such in the early periods of all languages will their poetry and literature be found ; the former representing at once the most excellent form and the most essential qualities of the latter, in which it is comprised. But after long ages of cultivation, learning, social knowledge, and scientific researches divide LITERAHY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 133 the republic of letters into many separate states or regions, marked by distinct diversities of nature and aspect. Among them poetry is accounted merely as one ; which, although inherently superior to the rest, yet being degraded by the occasional inferiority of its cultivators, submits sometimes to successful, and almost triumphant rivalry. To the poetesses of England the remainder of this volume will be exclusively appropriated, their respective prose writings being included in the review of their pro- ductions; the appellation of poetesses being limited to those in whom the faculty of composition in verse obvi- ously forms either the highest original exercise of their minds, or possesses the genuine characteristics of true poetry. 134 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTEE VII. THE POETESSES. A Dissertation upon Poetry its nature and uses. ' Not empire to the rising suu, By valour, conduct, fortune won ; Not highest wisdom in debates, For framing laws to govern states ; Not skill in sciences profound, So large to grasp the circle round ; Such heavenly influence require As how to strike the Muses' lyre." DEAN SWIFT'S Khapsody on Poetry.' ALTHOUGH the ancient Greeks attributed to the Muses not only the suggestive impulses of poetry and rhetoric, but those of almost all the fine and liberal arts, yet their bards describe the most distinguishing and precious prerogatives of the golden-sandalled daughters of Jupiter and Mnemo- syne as consisting in the inspiration of heart-ennobling and melodious verse. Hesiod, in his f Theogony,' exhibits them first in the per- formance of their highest functions, singing choral hymns to their heavenly Father, and to the subordinate " givers of blessings," and then as exemplifying celestial govern- ment and control over the heroic actions of men, while by such strains " To evils, they Yield an oblivious balm ; to torturing cares, Best." He records that the Muses dwell " in beautified abodes," LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 135 that the Graces have their mansions near, and that those earthly beings are blessed whom they love. He seems, while bending over his laurel-bough, to have imputed every grace of movement, and every harmony of sound, in nature and in art, to their influence ; while in their beauteous voice and song Unperisking, far round the dusky earth Rings with their hymning voices, and beneath Their many rustling feet a pleasant sound Ariseth, as they take their onward way To their own lather's presence."* The fragment of Sappho, which begins " Ye muses, ever fair and young, "f and lines from many other Greek poets, might here be adduced to prove that those enthroned bards were so well aware of a truth enunciated by Wordsworth, that his words, instead of being prompted by original reflection, might pass for a plain inference drawn from their works " Fancy is given to quicken and to beguile the temporal part of our nature, Imagination to incite and to support the eternal." | The natural delight of human beings in acquiring know- ledge, and in drawing inferences from the contemplation of objects of sense, is considered by Aristotle as suggesting the origin of all the imitative arts, and as combining with the spontaneous pleasure taken in rhythm and melodious sound to arouse into action the poetic faculty. His treatise on ' The Poetic ' does not explain its essence, but merely defines the proprieties of its principal forms. The Ancient British bards, without defining poetry, gave many ad- mirable precepts for its regulation. One Triad declares : "Three things should all poetry be thoroughly erudite, thoroughly animated, and thoroughly natural.' * Elton's Translation. t Fawkes's Translation. Preface to the first volume of his Work.-;, editions iSl.'t ;mK ENGLAND. 137 iiilluciicos, with the impulsive felicity of French utterance, declares : " II est difficile de dire ce qui n'est pas de la po6sie ; niais, si Ton veut comprendre ce qu'elle est, il faut appeler a son secours les impressions qu' excitent une belle contr.V, une musique harinonieuse, le regard d'un objet chri, et par-dessus tout, un sentiment religieux qui nous fait e'prouver en nous-memes la presence de la Divinjte." * It is difficult to say what is not poetry ; but if any one desires to comprehend what it is, it will be necessary for him to call to his aid the impressions excited by a beautiful country, harmonious music, the sight of a beloved object, and, above all, that religious sentiment which makes us inwardly conscious of the presence of God. The soul of every poet must re-echo these sentiments : therefore, if Mr. Craik uses the word "passion" as a synonym of "enlivened imagination," his definition may be accepted ; though Dr. Blair gives a closer approxima- tion to the indefinable truth, when stating it to be " the language of passion, -or of enlivened imagination, formed most commonly into regular numbers," While cavilling thus at the mere words of Professor Craik's definition, it is, however, cordially acknowledged that the criticisms inter- spersed through his ' Sketches ' sufficiently attest his w r ide, warm sense of every form of real poetry. Poetry essentially consists of fine thoughts and melodious utterance ; and its mundane materials are the appear- ances of nature, the records of history, the events of life, and the internal experience of the soul. Bishop Lowth, in his Introductory Lecture on the ^ Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews/ remarks, that " However ages and nations may have differed in their reb'gious senti- ments and opinions, in this, at least, we find them all * Madame de Stucl, ' L'Allemagnc,' vol. i., 2dc purtic, t-luip. x. 138 LITEEARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. agreed that the mysteries of their devotion were celebrated in verse." He adds: "Of this origin poetry even yet exhibits no obscure indications, since she ever embraces a divine and sacred subject with a kind of filial tenderness and affection. To the sacred haunts of religion, she delights to resort as to her native soil ; and there she most willingly inhabits, and there she nourishes in all her pris- tine beauty and vigour."* To the Lectures above quoted, and to Dean Milman's ' History of the Jews,' the reader is referred for some admirable remarks upon the magnificent poems of Deborah, Miriam, and other inspired women of Israel. ' Poetry has been divided into Pastoral, Lyric, Didactic, Descriptive, Epic, and Dramatic ; and still more simply and justly into Narrative, Dramatic, and Allegorical ; or Narrative, Dramatic, and Lyric. After having analyzed the nature of Narrative and Dramatic Poetry, and eulogized their merits, Lord Bacon says : " But Allegorical Poetry excels the others, and appears a solemn, sacred thing, which religion itself gene- rally makes use of to preserve an intercourse between divine and human things. "t He alludes to the fables of heathen mythology as sound- ing " like a soft whisper from the traditions of more ancient nations, conveyed through the flutes of the Grecians." Dr. Latham has carefully examined the gradual forma- tion of the English language, and written a treatise which may be said to contain its geology. Thomas Warton has widely and diligently explored, as it were, the oceanic exhalations, wafted showers, and mountain springs of English literature. Percy, Ellis, Kitson, and others, have * Gregory's Translation. t ' Advancement of Learning,' book ii. LITEKAUY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. acted ;is pioneers t< ,t liost of succeeding inquirers, ex- aminers, and critics. likr tin .silent dial's power, To which supernal light is given To measure inspiration's hour, And tell its height in heaven," belonged to Thomas Campbell, who, in his admirable Essay, has traced English poetry from obscure and various sources through successive ages, just as he would have followed the brooks and rivulets which steal, ripple, and rush through his native region, and, flowing downward, form together a great navigable river. In making this survey he pauses to admire the peculiar beauty of each fount and tributary stream, the sinuosities of its course, the tincture of its soil, the flowers of its banks, the forms and hues of earth and sky reflected on its surface, and rises into rapture as he contemplates the glory of the augmenting waters rolling their flood onward to futurity. Yet, while observant of the stream and its tutelaries, he overlooks the Naiades. Among the one hundred and seventy "British Poets" whom he notices, there is only one woman, Catherine Philips. Dr. Johnson admits not one into the society of his fifty- two " English Poets." Nevertheless, among the omitted poetesses are some whose works will be held in honour when many of the names placed by those eminent critics upon the bead-roll of fame shall have dropped for ever out of remembrance. Never were the true objects of poetic powers more accu- rately or more magnificently set forth than by him, who in after years, left to posterity the highest and most com- plete examples in illustration of his own precepts John Milton : " These abilities, wheresoever they be found, are the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but yet to some 140 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. (though most abuse) in every nation, and are of power, beside the office of a pulpit, to imbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of virtue and public civility, to allay the perturbations of the mind, and set the affections in right tune, to celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almightiness, and what He works, and what He suffers to be wrought with high pro- vidence in His church ; to sing victorious agonies of mar- tyrs and saints, the deeds and triumphs of just and pious nations doing valiantly through faith against the enemies of Christ ; to deplore the general relapses of kingdoms and states from justice and God's true worship. Lastly, what- soever in religion is holy and sublime, in virtue amiable or grave ; whatsoever hath passion or admiration in all the changes of that which is called fortune from without, or the wily subtleties and refluxes of man's thoughts from within ; all these things with a solid and treatable smooth- ness to point out and describe. Teaching over the whole book of sanctity and virtue, through all the instances of example, with such delight, to those especially of soft and delicious temper, who will not so much as look upon Truth herself unless they see her elegantly dressed ; that whereas the paths of honesty and good life appear now rugged and difficult, though they be, indeed, easy and pleasant, they will then appear to all men both easy and pleasant, though they were rugged and difficult indeed." * It is mortifying' to recognize the historic fact that, after the exposition of these unquestionable canons of true poetry, and the exhibition of their worthy exemplars, there followed the long tyranny of pert mediocrity and profligate folly. The comic branch of the .dramatic poetry of the Restoration has been deservedly satirized by the masterly * ' Keasou of Church Government,' book ii. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 141 lunid of Lord Macaulay, in his Essay entitled * Leigh Hunt.' Nothing can more strikingly exhibit the vicious morality of any civilized generation of human beings than thr general desecration of holy things to profane uses. Poetry represents the highest forms of thought, and " As a man thinketh, so is he." From Waller to Pope all our poetic streams are rendered more or less turbid by the impurity of their channels. Perhaps those writers who resist the evil, prove its exist- ence as strongly as its perpetrators, not only by direct and condemnatory exposure, but by the sullied brightness of their own golden armour. The production of poetry by individual minds is usually the result of strong but subsiding emotion : it resembles the swelling waves which succeed the storm at sea, and cast rainbow- prisms upon the beach; it resembles the re-appearing sunshine, after clouds of gloom, exhaling the soft, sweet moisture from the refreshed earth. As it is with one author, so is it with the aggregate of authors ; and great political commotions, ending in public security, have generally called forth into successful exercise the abilities of many minds. The " sun-bursts," as they have been beautifully called by Campbell, are few, but glorious, in our national literature. In poetry may be perceived the peculiar character of the author, the principles by which he is actuated, the habits of his daily life, the knowledge which he possesses, the thoughts which direct, and the feelings which agitate him ; the social spirit of the age, and its influence upon his ideas, and upon their mode of expression. In poetry may most advantageously be studied the variations of language, the precise periodic meanings of 142 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. words, their just appropriations to certain ideas, and their multiplied and flexible capabilities of expansion under differing arrangements of situation and combination. In poetry may be discerned a compendium of the know- ledge of the age, a reflection of its manners, and the essence of its spirit. The elegant pen of Eichard Price has well declared that " Though poetry be not the child of learning, it is modified in every age by the current knowledge of the country ; and, as an imitative art, it is always either bor- rowing from the imagery of existing models, or wrestling with the excellencies which distinguish them." * The women of every age take its spirit from the men, and their share in the national poetry is like their part in a concert, to which men's voices give fulness and power, and of which men are the musical composers and directors. * Preface to Warton's ' History of English Poetry.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 143 CHAPTER VIII. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1700-1725. Indy Chudleigh Mary Monk The Countess of Winchelsea De La Riviere Manley. " But true it is, the generous mind, By candour swayed, by taste refined, Will nought but vice disdain ; Nor will the breast where fancy glows Deem every flower a weed that blows Amid the desert plain." SHENSTONE. MARY LADY CHUDLEIGH. MARY, daughter of Richard Lee, Esq., of Winslade, in the county of Devon, was born in the year 1656 ; she married Sir George Chudleigh, Bart., of Ashton, in the same county, and died in 1710. Her published works were * The Ladies' Defence ;' ' Poems on several Occasions,' of which the third edition appeared in 1722; and ' Essays upon several Subjects in Prose and Verse,' 1710. She left in manuscript two tragedies, two operas, a masque, a Versified Paraphrase of Lucian's Dialogues, and other pieces, none worthy of quotation. MRS. MONK. Mary, second daughter of Robert Molesworth, who long filled the office of English ambassador at the court of Denmark, and was created a viscount in 1716, became the 144 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. wife of George Monk, Esq., and died in the flower of her age in 1715. Her poems were published in the following year, with a dedication from her father's pen to Caroline, Princess of Wales. The title of the volume is ' Marinda, Poems and Translations upon several occasions.' Lord Molesworth introduces its contents with the following remarkable paragraph : " Most of them are the product of the leisure hours of a young gentlewoman lately dead, who, in a remote country retirement, without any assistance but that of a good library, and without omitting the daily care due to a large family, not only perfectly acquired the several languages here made use of, but the good morals and principles con- tained in those books, so as to put them in practice, as well during her life and languishing sickness as at the hour of her death; in short, she died not only like a Christian, but a Koman lady, and so became at once the object of the grief and comfort of her relations. As much as I am obliged to be sparing in commending what belongs to me, I cannot forbear thinking some of these circum- stances uncommon enough to be taken notice of. I loved her more because she deserved it than because she was mine, and I cannot do greater honour to her memory than by consecrating her labours, or rather her diversions, to your Koyal Highness, as we found most of them in her escri- toire after her death written with her own hand ; little expecting, and as little desiring, the public should have an opportunity either of applauding or condemning them." * Many of her pieces are translations from the Italian of Tasso, Petrarch, and Guarini, and a few from Spanish authors. Her original poems are most of them sullied by the vicious habits of her time, which so obscured the moral * Ballard, p. 289. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 145 perceptions even of the pure in heart as to permit the familiar use of indelicate allusions. The lines addressed to her husband from her death-bed at Bath, fully justify, however, her father's tender encomium : Thou, who dost all my worldly thoughts employ, Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy ; Thou tenderost husband and thou dearest friend, To thee this first, this last adieu I send. At length, the conqueror death asserts his right, And will for ever veil me from thy sight, He woos me to him with a cheerful grace, And not one terror clouds his meagre face : He promises a lasting rest from pain, And shows that all life's fleeting joys are vain : The eternal scenes of heaven he sets in view, And tells me that no other joys are true. But love, fond love, would yet resist his power, Would fain awhile defer the parting hour. He brings thy mourning image to my eyes, And would obstruct my journey to the skies. But say, thou dearest, thou unwearied friend, Say, should' st thou grieve to see my sorrows end ? Thou know'st a painful pilgrimage I've passed, And should'st thou grieve that rest is come at last ? Bather rejoice to see me shake off life, And die, as I have lived, thy faithful wife ! " ANNE COUNTESS OF WINCHELSEA. Anne, daughter of Sir William Kingsmill, Knight, of Sidmonton, in the county of Southampton, became Maid- of-Honour to Mary of Modena, when Duchess of York. Neither the year of her birth, nor that of her Court ap- pointment, nor that of her marriage with the Hon. Heneage Finch, are recorded by her biographer. The appointment must have been in or after 1673, the year of Mary of Modena's marriage. The Hon. Heneage Finch is dis- tinctly stated by Ballard, on the authority of * The General Dictionary/ " to have been in his father's lifetime Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Duke of York." Heneage, second Earl of Winchelsea, died in 1(>89 ; but L 146 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. King Charles II.'s decease, in 1685, having raised his brother James to the throne, it would appear, by the strict limita- tion of terms, that Mr. and Mrs. Finch had resigned their places at that conjuncture. In 1712 the Hon. Heneage Finch succeeded his nephew in the family title, and be- came fourth Earl of Winchelsea. His Countess published, in 1713, an octavo volume entitled ' Miscellaneous Poems on several Occasions, written by a Lady.' Several of her pieces appeared in the fashionable collections of the period : others are believed to remain still unpublished. She died August 5, 1720, leaving no children. The Earl, her widower, died in 1726. Her verses on 'The Spleen' are very poor, and ill deserve the praise lavished on them by contemporary flatterers. Her answer to half a dozen rhymed couplets, " occasioned by four verses in ' The Eape of the Lock,' " is sharp-witted and adroit, but pert and unpleasing. Her celebrated Apologue of ' The Atheist and the Acorn,' doubtless did good service in its day. It is also remarkable for having suggested to Hannah More another Apologue called i The Two Gardeners,' and pub- lished among the Cheap Eepository Tracts : THE ATHEIST AND THE ACORTST. " ' Methinks this world is oddly made And every thing amiss ; ' A dull complaining Atheist said, As stretch'd he lay beneath a shade, And instanced in this. 4 Behold,' quoth he, ' that mighty thing, A pumpkin large and round, Is held but by a little string, Which upward cannot make it spring, Nor bear it from the ground. While on this tree a fruit, so small, So disproportion'd grows, That whosoe'er surveys this all, This universal casual ball, Its ill contrivance knows. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 147 My better judgment would have hung That fruit upon this tree, And left this nut thus slightly strung, 'Mongst things that on the surface sprung, And weak and feeble be.' No more the caviller could say, No further faults descry, For upward gazing as he lay, An acorn, loosen'd from its stay, Fell down upon his eye. The wounded part with tears ran o'er, As punish 'd for the sin, Fool ! had that bough a pumpkin bore, Thy whimsies would have worked no more, Nor skull have kept them in." Descriptive poetry can never be truly delightful, unless it is so perfectly original and so thoroughly natural as to enkindle a beholder's sensations in the reader. One bor- rowed phrase, one artificial interpolation, one false image, will mar the whole effect of a fine verbal picture ; while the slightest discrepancy between the poet's expressions and the obvious suggestions of the scene, must inevitably excite disgust. Any one accustomed to contemplate rural nature under the shades of night, in stillness and in solitude, must be struck with surprise and won to sympathy by the en- chanting reproduction of emotions peculiar to that scene and hour in 'The Nocturnal Keverie.' It is thoroughly original ; a living landscape redolent of sweet tranquillity, full of energy in gentlest exercise. The key-note of this most musical combination of words, thoughts, and images, seems to have been derived from Shakspeare's ' Merchant of Venice,' act v., scene 1, where Lorenzo and Jessica in quiet enjoyment play upon the phrase, " In such a night." It is most true, " Soft stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony." Every stroke of Lady Winchelsea's description is effective ; L2 148 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. and the horse, grazing leisurely and wandering at will as he crops the inviting herbage, is wonderfully true to nature. The ' Salisbury,' whose strong and steady lustre is ad- vantageously contrasted with the pale and flickering sparkle of the glow-worm, was probably Lady Anne Tufton, second daughter of Thomas, sixth Earl of Thanet, who married, in 1709, James Cecil, fifth Earl of Salisbury. Perhaps these verses were originally addressed to her, and perhaps she accompanied Lady Winchelsea in the mid- night stroll which occasioned them. Anyhow, this allu- sion indicates the existence of a friendship between the two countesses, and rescues the memory of one from the obscurity of ancestral archives. A NOCTURNAL REVERIE. " In such a night, when every louder wind Is to its distant cavern safe confined, And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings, And lonely Philomel still waking sings ; Or from some tree, famed for the owl's delight, She, holloaing clear, directs the wanderer right. In such a night, when passing clouds give place, Or thinly veil the heaven's mysterious face ; When in some river overhung with green, The wavering moon and trembling leaves are seen, When freshened grass now bears itself upright, And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite, Where springs the woodbine and the bramble-rose, And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows, Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes, Yet chequers still with red the dusky brakes, When scattered glow-worms, but in twilight fine, Show trivial beauties, watch their hour to shine ; Whilst Salisbury stands the test of every light, In perfect charms and perfect virtue bright ; When odours which declined repelling day, Through temperate air uninterrupted stray ; When darkened groves their softest shadows wear, And falling waters we distinctly hear ; When through the gloom more venerable shows Some ancient fabric, awful in repose ; While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal, And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale ; LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. I l!> tho loosed horse now, as his pasture h-;ids. Comes slowly grazing through tho adjoining meads, Whoso stealing pace and lengthened shade we fi-ar, Till turn-up lorairr iu his trrth wo hear; When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food, And unmolested kine re-chew their cud, When curlews cry beneath tho village walls, And to her struggling brood the partridge calls ; Their short-lived jubilee the creatures keep Which but endures while tyrant man does sleep ; When a sedate content the spirit feels, And no fierce light disturbs whilst it reveals ; But silent musings urge the mind to seek Something too high for syllables to speak ; Till the free soul to a composedness charmed, Finding the elements of rage disarmed, O'er all below a solemn quiet grown, Joys in the inferior world, and thinks it like her own ; In such a night let me abroad remain, Till morning breaks, and all's confused again ; Our cares, our toils, our clamours are renewed, Or pleasures seldom reached again pursued." With equal though varied skill iu versification, and in a vein of reflection as true and deeper still, Lady Win- chelsea traces LIFE'S PROGRESS. " How gaily is at first begun Our life's uncertain race ! Whilst yet that sprightly morning sun, With which we just set out to run, Enlightens all the place. How smiling the world's prospect lies, How tempting to go through ! Not Canaan to the prophet's eyes, From Pisgah, with a sweet surprise, Did more inviting show. How soft the first ideas prove Which wander through our minds, How full the joys, how free the lovo Which does that early season move, As flowers the western winds. Our sighs are then but vernal air, But April drops our tears, Wliich swiftly passing, all grows fair, Whilst beauty compensates our care, And youth each vapour clears. 150 LITERAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. But, oh, too soon, alas ! we climb, Scarce feeling we ascend The gently rising hill of time, From whence with grief we see that prime And all its sweetness end. The die now cast, our station known, Fond expectation past ; The thorns which former days had sown, To crops of late repentance grown, Through which we toil at last. Whilst every care 's a driving harm, That helps to bear us down, Which faded smiles no more can charm, But every tear 's a winter storm, And every look 's a frown." Great experimental knowledge of human life and human feeling is manifested in this poem ; and we are induced by it to regret our ignorance of that particular course of experience, by which Lady Winchelsea acquired the wisdom which enhanced the power of her native genius. In a letter dated "Lichfield, Feb., 1763," these beau- tiful stanzas are introduced by Miss Seward as "a little orphan ode," which she had learned before she was ten years old from her mother, who had been taught to recite them in her own childhood by a lady who was her friend. Neither Mrs. nor Miss Seward knew the name of their author, nor had ever seen them in print ; and Miss Seward declares that she had searched for them " in vain through the pages of our poets." It is remarkable that Sir Walter Scott, who edited Miss Seward's 'Poetical Works,' &c., should not have assigned the " orphan " to its true parent. In Miss Seward's version of ' Life's Progress,' Parnassus is substituted for Pisgah, and many other verbal alterations are made. That copy, like Mr. Park's, contains nine stanzas ; the seven, however, suffice for the completeness of the piece, and the other two may well be rejected as redundancies. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 151 SUSANNAH CENTLIVRE. Mr. Freeman, a gentleman once possessing an estate at Holbeach, in Lincolnshire, being a dissenter and a zealous anti-royalist, forfeited his property and fled to Ireland after the return of the Stuarts : he either took a wife with him, or married there, and there his daughter Susannah is supposed to have been born, in or about the year 1680. He died when she was only three years old, but she seems to have enjoyed many educational advantages. Her turn for poetry was early manifested; at seven years old she wrote a song, and she always loved books better than fine clothes and better than fine company, though by no means indifferent to those gratifications. The death of her mother left her an indigent orphan, at the age of thirteen ; and two years afterwards her beauty and vivacity won the affections and the hand of a Mr. Fox, nephew of the dis- tinguished statesman Sir Stephen, progenitor of the houses of Hchester and Holland. In the course of a twelvemonth she was left a widow, and after a short interval is said to have taken, as her second husband, a military officer named Carrol, to whom she was fondly attached. She had not been his wife more than eighteen months when he was killed in a duel. Finding herself poor and desolate, she had recourse to her pen for the means of subsistence ; and 1 laving a passion both for the written and acted drama she also went upon the stage. While performing before the Court at Windsor, dressed in man's clothes, in the part of Alexander the Great, in Lee's tragedy of that name, she attracted the admiring attention of Joseph Cent- livre, Yeoman of the Mouth to Queen Anne and George I., and married him in 1706. Good-natured, agreeable, and merry, she led a happy life with the well-contented 152 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. yeoman, and died at his house in Spring Gardens, Decem- ber 1st, 1723. She produced nineteen successful plays, all more or less remarkable for ability, and the comedies especially for cleverness and wit, though strongly tinctured with the indelicacy of her time. ' The Busy Body,' i The Bold Stroke for a Husband,' and ' The Wonder,' are still accounted standards on the stage. Her works were posthu- mously published in three volumes. Noble, in his con- tinuation of Granger, mentions a mezzotinto engraving of her by Pelham, from a portrait by Firmin. MRS. MANLEY. This clever woman was born in the .island of Guernsey, of which her father, Sir Roger Manley, was the governor. Her mother died while she was an infant. Her father, whom she alleged to be the author of the first volume of 'The Turkish Spy,'* remarked her early indications of mental ability, and provided her with a good education. Dying while she was scarcely more than a child, Sir Eoger left his daughter to the guardianship of a near kinsman, who, betraying the sacred trust thus reposed in him, won the young girl's affections, married her, and brought her to London. Here, far away from her old friends and the home of her childhood, the dreadful discovery was made that her husband had been previously married to a wife who was still living ; and here her betrayer abandoned her to disgrace and poverty. After about three years, Mrs. Manley was intro- duced to the notorious Duchess of Cleveland, who took * For a curious disquisition on ' The Turkish Spy ' and its authorship, the reader is referred to Hallara's 'Literature of Europe,' ed. iv., vol. iii., pp. 569-73, both text and notes, where the first volume is without hesi- tation assigned to John Paul Marana, a native of Genoa. The subject is likewise discussed in Boswell's ' Life of Johnson ' and in Mrs. Cockburn's works. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 153 IUT under her especial patronage, received her into her IK .use, and treated her with great hospitality for a period of six months. At the end of that time the Duchess, in a fit of caprice, turned Mrs. Manley out of doors, who, being cast entirely upon her own exertions for support, and longing probably to regain a place in the gay society for which she had acquired a relish, wrote soon afterwards her first tragedy, ' The Koyal Mischief,' which was successfully performed at the Theatre Koyal in the year 1696, the earliest date which we find attached to any incident of Mrs. Manley's erratic career. The fashionable favour won by this production she too eagerly strove to increase by her play called 'The Lost Lover, or Jealous Husband,' which was produced in the same year and failed. In 1707 her tragedy of 'Almyna, or the Arabian Vow' was brought out. While thus occupied with dramatic compositions her social connections involved her in the political partizan- ship of that licentious age, and she wrote the four volumes of ' Memoirs of the New Atlantis,' a defamatory and scan- dalous work, chiefly, though not exclusively, directed against the Whig party then in power. A warrant from the Secretary of State's office having consequently been sent to seize the printer and publisher, Mrs. Manley avowed the authorship, was examined before Lord Sun- derland, and replied to his interrogations with flippant falsehoods, carefully screening from censure not only the apprehended tradesmen, but all the persons who had sup- plied her with information. Her ' Court Intrigues' and * Memoirs of Europe towards the close of the eighteenth century,' belonged to her defamatory and political series. 154 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. A change of ministry taking place in the year 1710, she became a defender of the government. 'The Examiner,' a weekly paper, having been com- menced by Henry St. John (Lord Bolingbroke), Matthew Prior, and their confederates, had issued only thirteen numbers, when, on the 10th of November, 1710, Swift became its editor. He carried it on with great success, writing every article himself, until June 14, 1711, when, under his continued direction, Mrs. Manley undertook to write for it, and she carried it on with much spirit and little conscience during the remainder of the reign of Queen Anne, who died August 1, 1714. In Nichols's ' Collection of Poems,' vol. vii., p. 369, are some verses by Mrs. Manley, addressed to the Countess of Bristol, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Felton, second wife of John first Earl of Bristol and mother of John Lord Harvey. Lady Bristol was then in the prime of life, and her children in their infancy. The verses run upon a level line of mediocrity, and as they declare " Thee, lovely Bristol, thee, with pride I choose, The first and only subject of my muse ;" it is to be hoped that no other heroic or pseudo-heroic couplets can be laid to Mrs. Manley's charge. In the year 1717 her tragedy of 'Lucius' was brought out and well received by the public. It was probably in connection with ' The Examiner ' that Mrs. Maniey made the acquaintance of Alderman Barber, a printer and a high Tory, who invited her to his house on Lambeth Hill, where she resided until her death, which took place on the llth of July, 1724. She was buried in the church of St. Bennet, Paul's Wharf. She published an autobiographical account of her own LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 155 life under the title of * Memoirs of Kivella,' which the writer of these pages has not seen. None of her produc- tions "have lived, or deserved to live, although her popu- larity was great in her day, and her talents undoubtedly were versatile and engaging. As an extraordinary instance of the love of the public for gossip and slander, it may be mentioned here that a seventh edition of her 'New Atlantis' was published in the year 1736. The memory of the fabled or mythic Atlantis of the ancients, and the zeal for maritime discovery, which in the sixteenth century, stimulated by the. success of Columbus, had directed daring English navigators to seek the north- west passage near the Arctic Pole, and a new Atlantis at the Antarctic, furnished Lord Bacon with a basis on which to rear the imaginary fabric of ' Solomon's College, or the College of the Six Days' Works,' and that same uncer- tain site, the New Atlantis, was subsequently chosen by Mrs. Manley as the scene of her disgraceful tales. Thus does the same conjectural fact, or figment, afford " either a field for the cultivation of the choicest fruits, or a waste place for the reception of the vilest refuse. 156 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER IX. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1725-1750. Jane Brereton Elizabeth Kowe Catherine Cockburn. " L'e'nigme de la destinee humaine n'est de rien pour la plupart des hommes ; le poete 1'a toujours presente a rimagination." ' L'Allemagne,' vol. i., seconde partie, chap. x. The enigma of human destiny is as nothing to most people ; but to the imagination of the poet it is ever present. MRS. BRERETON. JANE, daughter of Thomas Hughes, of Bryn Gryffid, near Mold, in Flintshire, and of Anne Jones his wife, was born in the year 1685. Her father was an intelligent, well- informed man, and took care to cultivate his child's pro- mising abilities. In 1711, she married Mr. Thomas Brere- ton, the only son of Major Brereton, of a good Cheshire family, who was at that time a commoner of Brazennose College, Oxford. Having been imprudent, and outrun his pecuniary means, Mr. Brereton for some time sought refuge in France from his creditors. Returning, he ob- tained employment in the Custom-House department ; and being stationed at Park Gate, near Chester, was accident- ally drowned in February, 1722, at Saltney, by attempting to cross when the tide was coming in. His remains were interred in Shotwick Chapel, which belonged to his kins- man, Thomas Brereton, Esq., M.P. for Liverpool. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. If) 7 After her widowhood Mrs. Brereton took up her abode at Wrexham, where she died, Aug. 7, 1740, leaving two surviving daughters, Lucy and Charlotte. She had been a contributor of verses to 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' using the signature of " Melissa" A volume, containing her poems, letters, and an account of her life, was pub- lished in 1744 : Edward Cave, London. The candid and chivalrous Sir Egerton Brydges has enshrined her name in the third volume of ' The Censura Literaria.' ELIZABETH ROWE. Elizabeth was the eldest of three daughters, the only children of respectable and opulent parents, Mr. Walter Singer, a dissenting minister, who had suffered imprison- ment for nonconformity, and his wife Elizabeth Portnell. They were persons of deep and consistent piety, who brought up their children in faith, hope, and charity, and set them a daily example of practical truth, justice, and kindness. Elizabeth Singer was born at Ilchester, in Somerset- shire, Sept. 11, 1674, the same year in which Dr. Isaac Watts first saw the light. She had a constitutional com- placency of disposition, strong affections, and joyous spirits ; and from her early infancy she received the home lessons of piety and goodness as congenial and delightful beyond all other things. When a child she manifested -great fondness for music, painting, and poetry ; being en- chanted with melodious sounds ; accustomed to squeeze out the various coloured juices of plants to tincture her little pictures before she received lessons from a drawing- master; and to make verses at twelve years' old. Her general education in mental exercises, manual occupations, and personal accomplishments, was only such as an ordi- 158 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. nary middle-class boarding-school of the seventeenth cen- tury could supply. On her mother's death, her father removed his family into the neighbourhood of Frome, where his landed pro- perty principally lay. His freedom from sectarian bigotry, his good sense, and great benevolence, obtained for him general respect ; and the first Lord Weymouth, a shrewd discerner of character, used often to visit and converse with Mr. Singer, as did also Bishop Kenn when staying at Longleat. When Elizabeth Singer was about nineteen years of age, a copy of her verses chanced to find their way to that mansion, and they excited in the Thynne family a wish to become acquainted with the young poetess. The home circle at Longleat then consisted of Lord and Lady Weymouth, their only son, the Hon. Henry Thynne, his wife Grace, the only daughter and heir of Sir George Strode, with the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Thynne, Frances and Mary. Acquaintance soon led to friendship, and friendship to intimacy, and Elizabeth Singer spent much of her time at Longleat, at a period of her life when an introduction to persons of elevated rank, elegant habits, and high intellectual culture, was gratify- ing alike to her imagination and her feelings, Mr. Thynne himself became her instructor in the French and Italian languages, and the tender friendship of Mrs. Thynne con- curred with the native refinement of her taste, in leading her readily to acquire all the fascinating graces of manner and demeanour which adorn the upper classes of society, and constitute the well-bred gentlewoman. Here also began the fond and life-long attachment between Elizabeth Singer and Frances Thynne, afterwards Countess of Hert- ford and Duchess of Somerset ; an attachment enhanced by mutual respect, endeared by the recollection of participated LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 1 T.f) joys and sorrows, and hallowed by religion. Anne, the poetical Countess of Winchelsea, was sister-in-law to Lady Weymouth, and Elizabeth Singer had the privilege of making her acquaintance, and that of many other eminent and excellent persons at Longleat. Her person was very fine, her complexion brilliant, her countenance most benign and lovely, her manners soft and lively, her voice flute-like, her conversation eloquent and full of soul. She had, besides all these advantages, that ineffable charm which Lord Clarendon attributes to Lord Falkland, in being "so exactly easy and affable to all men, that his face and countenance was always present and vacant to his company," so as to hold " any cloudiness and less pleasantness of the visage a kind of rudeness and incivility." Her admirers were numerous, and among those whose addresses she declined to accept was Matthew Prior, the poet, in whose verses she has found one of her many monuments. In the year 1696, she was induced to publish a collec- tion of her juvenile poems under the name of " Philomela;" a designation which, seeming to arrogate a place of supre- macy among poetesses such as belongs to the nightingale among birds, might justly render her liable to the charge of egregious vanity. It is probable, however, that her noble friends chose the name as a sort of play upon her patronymic, and as a compliment to her rhyming skill, and that her fault consisted only in the want of resolution to resist their decision. The appellation she retained through life, without personal scruple or public cavil ; but in after days she never ceased to regret having written those poems and allowed them to be printed ; considering them as idle and worthless effusions, incapable of doing good to anybody. Her judgment in this instance was probably 160 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. correct. A contemporary poet thus gently satirizes these early effusions of Mrs. Kowe ; " Singer, by name and nature, made For music and the rhyming trade, For her weak genius soared too high, And lost her muse above the sky ; A flaming sun, a radiant light, In every verse distract our sight, Diffuse their dazzling beams from far, And not one line without a star ; Through streams of light we seem to rove And tread on shining orbs above."* Her religion was not the result of disappointment, sick- ness, or incapacity for this world's enjoyments ; nor did it owe its origin to the fear of punishment to come. It was a free choice of permanent spiritual happiness, in prefer- ence to the transient joys of time and sense. Her health was firm, her temperament sanguine ; she was from educa- tion habitually serene, and in natural disposition cheerful and sprightly. Her social feelings were kindly, and her affections warm. In friendship, in love, and in devotion to God, she was an enthusiast. Like all true enthusiasts she was simple-minded and sincere, earnest and disinter- ested. Her daily vivacity and good-humour were as re- markable as the purity of her conduct, and the fervour of her devout aspirations. Indolence and inactivity, softness and credulity, are faults to which she lays claim with pro- bable justness, for they are the very weeds most likely to spring up in a soil so free from all acrid and pungent admixtures. The first volume of her Miscellaneous Works ' contains, besides later compositions, several specimens of her poetry written between the twenty-second and the thirty-sixth year of her age, which prove her to have entered with zeal * ' Bibliotheca, occasioned by the sight of a modern Library,' first pub- lished in 1712, and conjecturally assigned by Nichols to Dr. King. LITERA11Y WOMEN OF ENGLAND. l(jl into the spirit of all those pleasurable occasions which call forth verses of society, tending to promote the entertain- ment and to enliven the abundant leisure of a circle of guests assembled in a country mansion. Having been taught by her father to abstain from all games of amusement, she never could be prevailed upon by any one to learn how to play at them. It is said that she never but once was known to take a hand at cards, and that she did so then on purpose to lose a sum of money to a person whom she knew to be in want of it. In the year 1708, she participated in the grief of the Longleat family on the death of the Hon. Henry Thynne, and wrote a poem to his memory. She was too happy in her domestic and social relations to marry without a decided preference, and consequently remained a maiden until middle life. In the year 1709, being on a visit at Bath, Mr. Thomas Kowe was intro- duced to her, and a mutual attachment ensued. He was the son of Dr. Watts's friend, the Rev. Benoni Eowe, and a member of the same dissenting body as her father and herself. Mr. Thomas Kowe had been very carefully edu- cated at the Charter House and at the University of Leyden, probably with the intention of fitting him to be- come the head of an academy or collegiate institution. . He was a man of genius and of great scholastic acquirements, whose chief satisfaction consisted in classical studies and in conversation, for which he had peculiar talents. He was of an eager and ardent temper, and of blameless purity of life. They were married in 1710, he being then twenty- three years of age, and his bride thirty-six. The union was a very happy one, and had no other drawback than Mr. Howe's delicate health. They spent their winters in London to gratify his fondness for society, and the other 162 LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. seasons of each year in some country seclusion. In 1712, Mrs. Kowe had the small-pox, which happily left her beauty and her constitutional health alike uninjured, while - it elicited poetical condolences and congratulations from her friends. On the 28th of July, 1714, she had the affliction of losing her kind friend, Thomas Thynne, first Viscount Weymouth ; at whose decease, without male issue, Long- leat, with the title, passed to another branch of his family, and his grand-daughters, Frances Countess of Hertford, and Mary Lady Brooke, became his personal heirs. Towards the close of the same year, the rapid decline of Mr. Kowe's health gave signs of preparation to his wife of a far deeper sorrow. She nursed her husband with fond, untiring assiduity day and night, removing with him from place to place to obtain every advantage of medical advice and change of air, until, on the 13th of May, 1715, while sojourning at Hampstead among his near relations, he died of consumption at the age of twenty-eight. Her grief was extreme, and the bereaved and childless woman deter- mined henceforth to realize her idea of the habits of the " widows who are widows indeed," to withdraw from society, which his death had rendered distasteful, to consecrate herself to his memory, and to devote the whole of her remaining life to pious meditations and to works of charity. She withdrew to her paternal home, and in the placid calm of her saintly father's companionship soon recovered her natural cheerfulness ; adhering stedfastly and strictly to her resolve, which, doubtful of her own compliant nature, she appears to have strengthened by a vow. The biographers do not relate what became of her two sisters, but it is certain, from an expression in one of her familiar letters, that she had neither nephew or niece. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. On the 18th of April, 1719, Mr. Singer died, full of peaceful hope, and bequeathed to Mrs. Kowe his whole estate, who solemnly determined regularly to devote half her income to charitable uses. This vow she more than fulfilled, abridging her personal comforts in order to save money to give away. She once said to an intimate Mend, " Half the pleasure of my life would be lost if there were no poor." Her kindness was not confined to those in ab- ject need ; she sought out cases of concealed or unobtrusive privation, and with all the delicacy of a generous heart evaded gratitude when she relieved distress. She used to say that " it was one of the greatest benefits that could be done to mankind, to free them from the cares and anxieties of a narrow fortune." To comfort mourners she deemed her especial mission ; and on the death, in 1720, of her friend Mary Lady Brooke, she left her quiet place of retreat, at the entreaty of Mrs. Thynne, the sorrowing mother, and stayed several months with her in London. She fed and clothed the poor, paid for the instruction of untaught children, sup- plied all the readers in her neighbourhood with Bibles and good books, irrespective of sectarian prejudices, and moved like an angel of beneficence in her little sphere, spreading serenity and joy around her. She took singular delight not only in relieving every form and degree of distress, but in imparting pleasure both by the sweetest and most endearing kindness of manner, and by gifts of her own drawings, pious books, and anything else which she had reason to believe was desired or would be particularly acceptable. She was very tender of hurting anybody's feel- ings, and perfectly understood the practice of that beautiful precept, " Honour all men ;" while, with benignant gentle- ness, she refrained from taking offence at any instances she M2 164 LITEBAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. chanced to meet with of insolence and ingratitude. To render people happy was the delight of her heart and the labour of her life, and her home was a very temple of peace. Perhaps her indulgence to her servants was ex- cessive, but they never quitted her unless to marry. She abjured every species of evil-speaking, and deemed un- kindness, ill-will, and malignity, to be more heinous offences than the sins consequent upon mere bodily temptations. Moral excellence of the highest kind, including the strict subjection of the thoughts and feelings to the rule of righteousness, is never attained at a single effort even by the noblest natures ; it is always the result of frequent minor failures, and of incessantly-renewed self -conquests. The private papers of Mrs. Kowe show the simple and earnest sincerity with which she achieved these "toils divine." The perusal of her familiar letters, and of her elaborate prose compositions and poems, leaves an im- pression on the mind that she must have lived in the daily dread of death, and that her religion was of a sentimental and morbid cast. The perusal of her biography, written by Henry Grove, her personal friend, and by Theophilus Kowe, her brother-in-law, counteracts that impression most effectually ; and the combined result of both is the con- viction that there never lived a more humble-minded or a better woman. Her dearest friend was Frances, wife of Algernon Earl of Hertford and Lord Percy, afterwards seventh Duke of Somerset, and then concentrating in his person all the hereditary honours of the Percys and the Seymours, and more peerages than were ever before or since possessed by one British subject. At the request of the Countess, Mrs. Kowe went at LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND, 165 various times to share the summer pleasures of her country houses, or to solace her by companionship under afflictive circumstances. They maintained a constant correspond- ence, and an interchange of verses, drawings, books, and fancy work. Once, when Mrs. Rowe felt an unconquerable averseness to change of scene, the Countess volunteered to become her guest ; and the visit was gladly accepted with only one stipulation, that her ladyship should write out her own bill of fare every morning. The friends enjoyed themselves so thoroughly on this occasion that the Countess subsequently came again and again to sojourn in Mrs. Rowe's humble dwelling. Lady Hertford's pen has eulogized the character of her revered Mrs. Rowe in some elegiac stanzas, in which she describes her as " From the world retired, Though by that world distinguished and admired." In the copy of Thomson's * Hymn to Solitude,' printed among Mrs. Rowe's letters, instead of * Musidora,' ' Philo- mela ' is represented as the companion of " the gentle- looking Hertford : " "As with her, Philomela, she, (Her Philomela fond of thee), Amid the long-withdrawing vale Awakes the rival nightingale." In one of her letters she recommends Thomson's * Winter/ then recently published, to her friend's atten- tion ; and after having made that poet's personal acquaint- ance, she addressed to him some congratulatory lines, in verse, upon his having won Lady Hertford's approval. Without any pretensions to erudition, Mrs. Rowe was a well-read woman, with a spontaneous fertility of mind and ready powers of expression. In the year 1728, she published her Friendship in 166 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Death, in Twenty Letters, from the Dead to the Living.' Her avowed object in this work was " to make the mind contract, as it were, unawares, an habitual persuasion of our future existence, by writings built on that foundation, and addressed to the affections and imagination." In 1729, she published the first part of her ' Letters, Moral and Entertaining ;' in 1731, the second part ; and in 1733, the third part. Both these works acquired great and immediate celebrity ; they were translated into French, and republished at Amsterdam in 1740. Being written with animated ease and elegance, an exuberance of fanci- ful circumstances and fantastic decorations give attraction to these series of short amatory tales ; but it is to be feared that their anti-Sadducean tendencies, and their " examples of heroic virtue, and the most generous benevo- lence," made little impression upon such of their readers as were not already practical Christians. Having been acquainted with them as works of amuse- ment in early youth, and re-perusing them now in the autumn of life, the feeling of the girl and the judgment of the critic coincide so entirely as to induce self-confidence in the declaration, that the disproportionate value assigned in them to the passion of love, and the sentimentalism of their general tone, are likely to provoke the contempt of the strong and to assist the enervation of the weak. They were fitted only for their day, and for a few in that day. In the year 1736, Mrs. Kowe published her poem, called * The History of Joseph/ to which, at the urgent request of her friend Lady Hertford, she afterwards wrote a sequel, in two books, which was published early in 1737. In this poem there is a larger accumulation of historical knowledge than in all her other compositions put together. Having a natural faculty for narration, she has not only told the LITERAHY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 167 story fluently, in easy couplets of heroic verse, but also introduced so many apt illustrations and entertaining episodes as to make the eight first books pleasant reading. The ninth and tenth are of inferior merit, presenting merely a rhymed repetition of Scripture facts, and, conse- quently, a depreciating recital. She had great fairness and candour, and judged im- partially her own productions. "I have wrote no pious meditations of late. The warmth of devotion, perhaps, as well as other passions, declines with life ; but I hope the calm, the reasonable, and solid parts of religion will be still improved" * A collection of these meditations she bequeathed to Dr. Watts for posthumous publication, with the hope that they might prove the means of fostering religion in other hearts as they had done in her own. Dr. Watts gave them the title of ' Devout Exercises,' and in his preface apologised for some expressions which might seem "a little too rap- turous." In the summer of the year 1736, she suffered from an attack of serious illness, and her biographer, Mr. Theo- philus Rowe, admits that " this disorder (as she expressed herself to one of her most intimate friends) found her mind not quite so serene and prepared to meet death as usual." In fact, she then learned the diiference between imaginative anticipations formed at ease and in health, and the real failing of flesh and heart under the horrors of the mortal curse. Her piety was genuine, and well it stood the trial. Prayer to the Heavenly Father whom she had served all her life long, and the consideration of the Divine Saviour's atonement and constant mediation for sinners, enabled her to prove the consolations of " the Holy Ghost, * 80th Letter to the Countess of Hertlonl. 168 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. the Comforter," and so to triumph over sufferings in the prospect of death, that she repeated Pope's ' Dying Christian to his Soul ' with intense delight. From this illness she entirely recovered, regained her usual health, strength, and gaiety of heart, and occupied herself, as she ever delighted to do, in active works of piety and charity, and friendly benevolence. She was afraid of illness lest its pain and languor should render her impatient and melan- choly, and betray her into conduct that might in any way dishonour her religious profession. She prayed frequently to God that He would spare her this temptation, and her prayers were heard. On Saturday the 19th of February, 1737, she was in perfect health and spirits. At eight o'clock that evening, after conversing with liveliness and laughter, she withdrew to her chamber for the exercise of those meditations and prayers to which she especially devoted herself in prepara- tion for the Sabbath. At ten her maid found Mrs. Eowe lying upon the floor speechless and dying. A physician and a surgeon speedily attended, and did what they could to restore her. She expired a few minutes before 2 A.M. on Sunday, February 20, 1737 ; passing insensibly from a world in which she had been a blessing, to those regions of immortal felicity, where her seraphic spirit had long desired to be. In compliance with her directions, her remains were interred under the same gravestone with her father's, in the meeting-house at Frome. The tears and lamentations of her friends and neighbours, high and low, rich and poor, young and old, bewailed her loss, and hallowed her memory. Her style, both in prose and verse, was formed on that of Addison, preserving much of the elegance of her model, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 169 with still greater ease, copiousness and luxuriance. She \\rotr with facility, and delighted in the act; but she was no fastidious critic, and loathed the toil of revision. Her translations from the Italian of Tasso, Guarini, and Rolli, and from the French of Kacine, are respectable. She is never at a loss for words, and although her mind calls for no exact definitions or fine gradations of meaning, she strikes off the general sense of things successfully. Her paraphrases of the Scripture, and her versification of the Psalms, are not inferior to those of other devout writers of her time. Her Devout Soliloquies have some little poetical merit. Her hymns want conciseness. The 3-ith soliloquy is one of her best poetical pieces in blank verse : " Look down with pity, gracious Lord, look down From thy unbounded height of happiness, On me a wretched but a suppliant sinner. Thy times are always ; mine will soon be past, And measured out ; while thine are still unchanged : In boundless life and undiminished bliss Thou sitt'st secure ; while all created things In a perpetual motion glide along, And every instant change their fleeting forms. Oh be not slack to hear ! my time is winged, See how my sun declines ! 'tis sinking fast, And dying into darkness ; night is near, The fatal night of death, when I shall sleep Unactive in the damp and gloomy grave. Tliis is the important hour, the hour of grace And offered life ; Salvation hangs upon it. Nor let my importunity offend thee, 'T is now, 't is now or never I must speed ; This day, this hour, this fleeting moment 's more Than I can boast, or truly call my own. E'en now it flies 't is gone 't is past for ever ! But oh ! the strict account liiave to give Remains uncancelled ; yet my pardon stands, Perhaps, unsealed, or not to me confirmed. Regard my anguish, while I call aloud For mercy and a signal of thy love. Before I die, oh let my longing soul Receive an earnest of its future bliss." 170 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CATHERINE COCKBTJRN. This remarkable woman was born in London, on the 16th of August, 1679. Both her parents were Scotch. Her father, Captain David Trotter, was a commodore in the Koyal Navy ; a man of cultivated mind and elegant taste, eminent for courage, integrity, and honour; re- spected by the noblest of his fellow-countrymen, and per- sonally known to King Charles II. and the Duke of York, who admired his high qualities and appreciated his distinguished services. Captain Trotter assisted in the demolition of Tangier in 1683, and being subsequently sent to convoy the fleet of merchant ships belonging to the Turkey Company, died of the plague at Alexandretta (Iscanderoon), early in the year 1684. His property having fallen into dishonest hands, the two-fold affliction of bereavement and poverty fell at once upon his widow and children. Her mother was Sarah Bellenden, a near relation of Lord Bellenden, and of the Duke of Lauderdale, and the Earl of Perth. During the short remainder of King Charles II.'s reign Mrs. Trotter had a pension from the Admiralty, and Queen Anne made her an allowance of 20?. a-year. It is to be sup- posed that the widow also received assistance from her husband's brother, and from her own high-born and wealthy cousins, in bringing up her two fatherless children. Both were daughters. The eldest married Dr. Inglis, a medical officer, who attended the Duke of Marlborough in his campaigns, and became physician-general to the army. Catherine, the youngest, was early remarkable for her sagacious intellect, for her facility in acquiring knowledge, her cleverness in teaching herself the art of penmanship, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 171 and her delight in making extemporary verse. Nothing is recorded of her education, but from her own allusion to it in her * Poem on the Busts/ it may be inferred to have been slight and ordinary. Nothing, however, could repress her eager desire for information ; and obstacles, as usual, proved incentives to effort. She read with avidity, and wrote with emulative zeal ; works of imagination occupy- ing, as in such cases they are wont, her childish attention ; and these, as her reasoning powers matured, and her judg- ment became formed, giving place to tractates and treatises on moral philosophy and religion. She taught herself the French language, and, with the assistance of a friend, acquired the Latin. Her " Verses written at the age 'of fourteen, and sent to Mr. Beville Higgons, on his sickness and recovery from the small-pox," though rather a bold avowal of sympathy with the "lovely youth," and of admiration for his " matchless charms," were evidently well-meant admonitions to resignation, and to the con- scientious application of the high qualities and fine " parts " ascribed to him. Her muse was always didactic, and although her ' Songs/ after the evil fashion of her time, were full of eyes, and sighs, and amatory nonsense, they inculcated self-govern- ment and morality. The professional connections of her father, the aris- tocratic relationships of her mother, and the celebrity early won by her own extraordinary talents, gained her a large circle of acquaintance; and although straitened in the means of subsistence, and probably possessing little of her own but the earnings of her pen, Catherine Trotter moved in the best society, and was a frequent and welcome guest in the houses of the rich and great : her beauty, and the unaffected sweetness of her manners, bearing the re- sistless charm of unassorted mental superiority. 172 LITERAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Her first dramatic production was the tragedy of * Agnes de Castro,' which was successfully performed, in the year 1695, at the Theatre Royal, and printed in the following year, with a dedication to the Earl of Dorset and Middle- sex, from which it appears that his Lordship was one of her personal friends and advisers. This tragedy was not based upon historic fact, but upon Aphara Behn's English translation of a French novel. In 1697, Catherine Trotter addressed to Mr. Congreve a set of complimentary verses on his l Mourning Bride,' and thus either created or strengthened the interest which that poet took in her literary proceedings. His published letter to'her shows that they had been previously acquainted. In 1698, her second tragedy, ' Fatal Friendship,' was performed a.t the then new theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. It was afterwards printed with a dedication to the Princess of Wales, and not only established Catherine Trotter's reputation as a dramatic writer, and brought down a shower of complimentary verses, but increased the number of her powerful, fashionable, and eminent friends ; and, it may reasonably be supposed, produced great pecuniary profit. In 1700, she was one of the presumptuous Englishwomen who, under the several names of the Nine Muses, bewailed in verse the death of Dryden. She was consequently praised and addressed as a Muse by a troop of admiring rhymers. In some verses entitled ' Calliope's Directions how to Deserve and Distinguish the Muse's Inspirations,' the strong, clear sense of Catherine Trotter is conspicuously shown by her definition of the uses of tragic, comic, and satiric poetry. Of course, as Calliope, she presided only over heroic strains and general eloquence, and it would have been inappropriate to treat of any other kind of LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 173 verse. The quotation of a few lines will show the style of these ' Directions :' 11 Let none presume the hallowed way to tread By other tlian the noblest motives led : If for a sordid gain, or glittering fame, To please without instructing be your aim, To lower means your grovelling thoughts confine, Unworthy of an art that's all divine." Early in the year 1701, her comedy of * Love at a Loss, or Most Votes carry it,' was performed at the Theatre Royal, and published in the month of May of the same year, with a dedication to Lady Piers. This Lady Piers, according to Dr. Birch, was the wife of Sir George Piers, a distinguished officer under the Duke of Marlborough. His name does not appear in the pedigree of Piers of Tristernagh, but he was probably of the same stock, Piers, of Piers Hall, in the county of York. Mr. Noble, in his ' Continuation of Granger's Biographical History of Eng- land,' * states that Sir George Piers, Bart., was of Stonepit, in the parish of Scale, and county of Kent ; that his wife was Sarah, daughter of Matthew Eoydon, Esq., of Eoydon, in Yorkshire ; that she became a widow in the year 1720, and that he had failed in ascertaining the date of her decease. " She had," remarks Dr. Birch, " contracted a very early esteem for, and most intimate and unreserved friendship," with Catherine Trotter. Later in the same year, 1701, her third tragedy, ' The Unhappy Penitent/ was performed at Drury Lane, and published in August, with a dedication to Lord Halifax, and a set of verses, by Lady Piers, prefixed, inscribed " To the excellent Mrs. Catherine Trotter." In the year 1701, she wrote her * Defence of Mr. Locke's Essay of Human Understanding,' and it was published in * Vol. iii., p. 447. 174 LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. May, 1702. This gained for her the personal friendship of Locke and of Lady Masham, and was, through them, the means of introducing her to many eminent persons, among them being Mr. Peter King, then a barrister and member of parliament, who was the maternal nephew of Locke. Peter King was chosen Kecorder of London in 1708, and knighted on that occasion by Queen Anne. In 1714, he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas ; in May, 1725, created a peer by King George I. as Lord King, Baron of Ockham ; and in June made Lord High Chancellor, which office he held until 1733. In July, 1734, he died. When childhood merges in youth, and the mind awakens to a keen sense of forlorn dependence on Almighty power, and of awful responsibility to a just, unerring Judge, per- ceiving the afflictions, the hazards, and the difficulties which beset life's probationary course, and conscious that immortal joy or woe await its close, much perplexity is often felt in the choice of a clew through this world's dark labyrinth. Considering the position and connections of her parents, it is probable that Catherine Trotter had not been trained to early piety, and consequently that when this crisis of the soul occurred, the first earnest instructions in religion which seemed to meet her eager need would be welcomed as heaven-sent messages. Under these cir- cumstances, she probably met with a Koman Catholic teacher, and, as a natural result, she zealously adopted his creed. In this she continued for many years, resting quiescently upon its first impressions, and somewhat drawn aside from the direct pursuit of life's highest objects by the specious design of reforming the morals of the age by means of a purified and ennobled theatre. Meanwhile, her strict observance of the fast-days proved so injurious LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 175 to her health, that in October, 1703, her friend and physi- cian, Dr. Denton Nicholas, wrote her a letter of serious remonstrance upon the subject, and desired her " to abate of those rigours of abstinence, as insupportable to a con- stitution naturally infirm," requesting that his opinion might be communicated to her friends and to her con- fessor. Her health, even at its best, was too delicate to allow her to walk more than a mile to church and back, on a summer's day, without fatigue which amounted to illness ; and a weakness of sight always rendered it painful to her to write by candlelight. Yet this fragile creature possessed self-relying energy which enabled her not only to sustain the mental and manual labour of careful literary composi- tion tlirough continuous months and years, but also to transact with methodical exactness all the complicated business attendant upon the performance, printing, and publication of her works. From 1701, until her marriage in 1708, Catherine Trotter kept up a regular correspondence with her friend George Burnet, Esq., of Kemnay, a man of the highest character and of distinguished abilities. During the greater part of the period he was a sojourner in foreign lands, and more especially at the courts of Berlin and Hanover, where he spread the fame of " la nouvelle Sappho-Ecossoise," and excited the curiosity of Leibnitz to become acquainted with her philosophical works. It may be inferred from many passages in his letters that he would gladly have raised for himself a tender interest in the heart of his young friend ; and from hers, that, with unaffected candour and cordial esteem, she repelled every approach towards a declaration of love. She had many admirers, but never was led by the per- 176 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. suasions of her friends, or the temptations of wealth and rank, to encourage the addresses of men for whom she felt no preference. Her conversation was attractive, her manners graceful and engaging, her figure was small and elegant, her com- plexion delicately fair, and her eyes radiant with intelli- gence. In youth she was beautiful, and even in old age she continued to be lovely. Her natural disposition was cheerful and obliging, and the high principles which she professed regulated every thought and act of her daily life. In 1704, Catherine Trotter composed a poem on the Duke of Marlborough's gaining the battle of Blenheim, which, being highly approved of by the hero and his family, was put into print. About that period she had some hopes of obtaining, through the powerful interest of the Marlborough family, a pension from the crown, to which her father's long ser- vices and losses in the cause of his King and country gave a plausible claim. This, however, she failed to obtain, and received only a gratuity. After the battle of Bamilies, in 1706, she produced another poem in praise of the Duke of Marlborough, and on both occasions her verses were ranked among the best which recorded his fame. In the same year, her tragedy, called ' The Revolution of Sweden,' founded on Vertot's account of Gustavus Ericson, was performed at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket ; and subsequently printed, with a dedication to Lady Harriet Godolphin, eldest daughter of the great Duke, and after his decease Duchess of Marlborough in her own right. Her sister, Mrs. Inglis, residing at Salisbury, and her mother spending much of her time there, Catherine was LITKKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 177 induced to make long visits to that city, extending some- times to the period of fifteen months; but her favourite ;il Hide was at " Mr. Finney's, in Beaufort Buildings on the Strand," where, in private lodgings, she could, without domestic restraint or the disturbance of young children, give herself up to literary occupations. Among the happy results of her sojournings at Salisbury was her acquaint- ance with Bishop Burnet, and with his third wife, Eliza- beth, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Blake, and widow of Robert Berkeley, Esq., of Spetchley. Mrs. Burnet had a large independent income, which she bestowed in charity, aiding the erection of a hospital which her first husband had founded, establishing and maintaining schools, and relieving the spiritual and temporal wants of the necessitous far and near. She was a woman of deep piety, and the author or compiler of a book called * A Method of Devotion.' She took an affectionate interest in Catherine Trotter until she died, February 3, 1709. In Catherine's thoughtful mind a sense of duty towards God, and a desire to reform and benefit the world, were ever predominant ; but at different periods of her life she sought to effect this object by different means. In the year 1707, after a course of severe study, deep reflection, and earnest prayer, she abjured the religion of Rome, and wrote and published her * Two Letters concerning a Guide in Controversies/ to which a preface by Bishop Burnet was prefixed. The first letter was addressed to Mr. Bennet, a priest, and the second to Mr. Harman, as a re- joinder to an answer which she had received. The strength and clearness of her arguments, the com- prehensiveness and acute force of reasoning, and the per- spicuity of expression, are admirable, and such as few N 178 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. female minds could have put forth, even under the stimulus of self-interest in self- vindication. No scruple ever again affected her staunch adherence to the orthodox faith of the Church of England. In the summer of that year (1707), while staying with Madame de Vere, at Ockham Mills, near Kipley, in Surrey, she met with a young clergyman named Fenn, of whose preaching, conversation, and character, she thoroughly approved. Mr. Fenn fell deeply in love with her, made her an offer of marriage, and obtained for his suit the sanction and intercession of Lady Piers. Catherine Trotter accepted his friendship, and, but for the preference she already felt for another person, would have judged it right to become his wife. The favoured rival was Mr. Cockburn, a scholar and a gentleman, dis- tantly related to the Burnet family and to her own, with whom she had for some months held a friendly correspond- ence, in which they discussed those subjects of philoso- phical and practical religion which were of principal interest to both. The addresses of Mr. Fenn brought mutual con- viction, and matters came to a climax. Mr. Cockburn confessed his love, proposed, and was accepted. He took holy orders in the Church of England in 1708, married Catherine Trotter, received the "Dona- tive " of Nayland, near Colchester, and, leaving his bride in London to arrange her affairs and to purchase furniture, he took possession of his pastoral charge in June, and wel- comed her to their new home in the autumn of the same year. How long they resided there neither Dr. Birch nor Mrs. Cockburn's writings inform us ; but, in the course of time, Mr. Cockburn accepted the curacy of St. Dunstan's Church, LITKRAIIY WOMEN OF ENOLANh. 179 Fleet-street, and returned with his family to London, where they resided until the year 1714, when the death of Queen Anne took place. The oath of abjuration required on the accession of King George I. aroused scruples in the mind of Mr. Cockburn, and he refused to take it, although he con- scientiously offered up the public prayers for the reigning sovereign and the royal family. He was consequently deprived of his employment in the church, and reduced to poverty. During the next twelve years he maintained his family by teaching La.tin to the students of the Academy in Chancery Lane," while his wife, ever anxious for self- improvement, and using all the troubles of earth as pre- paratives for heaven, gave herself up heart and soul to household duties, industriously applied herself to needle- work, and all sorts of manual occupations, and cheerfully devoted her fine faculties to the solace of her husband, and to the education of her children. Mr. Cockburn, having at last convinced himself of the propriety of taking the oath, to which he had so long objected, accepted, in 1727, the charge of the episcopal congregation at Aberdeen. Thither he was accompanied by his family ; and his faithful wife bade, in that year, an everlasting farewell to London, the scene of her many triumphs and many trials. Soon after their removal her friend, the Lord High Chancellor King, presented her husband to the living of Long Horseley, near Morpeth, in the county of North- umberland ; but they continued at Aberdeen until the year 1737, when the Bishop of Durham ordered him to take up his residence in his parish. The clerical residence stood so far from the church of Long Horseley, that when rough weather and feeble health disabled Mrs. Cockburn from riding on horseback to attend the Sunday services, she was N2 180 LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. constrained to stay at home, unless a still more distant neighbour, Mrs. Ogle, chanced to be in the country, and to give her a seat in her chaise and four, or her coach and six. From the year of her marriage, 1708, until 1724, Mrs. Cockburn had published nothing. In the latter year she wrote her ' Letter to Dr. Holdsworth,' and having sent it to him., and received an elaborate controversial answer, she published her l Letter* in January, 1727. To this Dr. Holdsworth publicly replied, and Mrs. Cockburn wrote an able rejoinder ; but the booksellers not being willing to undertake its responsibility, the ' Vindication of Mr. Locke's Christian Principles from the injurious imputa- tions of Dr. Holdsworth,' remained in manuscript until it was published among her collected works. In 1732, while living at Aberdeen, she wrote the ( Verses occasioned by the Busts in the Queen's Hermitage,' which were printed in the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' for May 1737. In August, 1743, her l Kemarks upon some Writers in the Controversy concerning the Foundation of Moral Duty and Obligation' were published in a serial called "The History of the Works of the Learned.' These ' Kemarks ' were well received, and excited great admiration, and Mrs. Cockburn's friend, Dr. Sharp, archdeacon of North- umberland, having read them in manuscript, engaged her in an epistolary discussion on the subject of which they treat. The correspondence began August 8, 1743, and was concluded October 2, 1747. Dr. Kutherford's * Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue ' having appeared in 1744, her active mind was again aroused for public controversy, and in April 1747, her * Kemarks upon the Principles and Reasonings of Dr. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 181 Rutherford's Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue, in Vindication of the contrary Principles and Reasonings enforced in the Writings of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke/ were published with a preface by Bishop Warburton. The extraordinary reputation acquired by this able work, suggested to some friends, who submitted the scheme to Lady Isabella Finch, the thought of raising a subscrip- tion for the republication of all Mrs. Cockburn's works, which the author herself undertook to edit. This plan was zealously supported by Mrs. Cockburn's fashionable and eminent friends, but uncontrollable circumstances prevented its full execution. Mr. and Mrs. Cockburn had four children ; a son and three daughters. A letter of advice to the former, written by his mother for his guidance in early manhood, is full of wisdom and piety. Religion, Employment, and Women, are the heads of her discourse. Under the second she says : " Divinity is the profession you have been designed for from your birth; but let no views determine your choice to that sacred calling but a sincere desire of pro- moting the glory of God, and the salvation of men." In subsequent letters to her niece, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mrs. Cockburn often alludes to her "good son" with all the satisfaction of a happy mother. The heart of her husband safely trusted in her, and her children arose and called her blessed! In 1743 she lost one of her daughters. In January, 1749, she lost her husband. Under this severe shock her feeble health gave way, although her well-dis- ciplined heart sustained it with perfect resignation; and on the llth of May, 1749, Catherine Cockburn died. She was buried beside her husband and her youngest daughter, at Long Horseley, and on their tomb was inscribed, as suit- 182 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. able to each and all, one sentence altered from Proverbs xxxi. 31, "Let their own works praise them in the gates!" Prefixed to her 'Fatal Friendship' are many sets of eulogistic verses addressed to the authoress ; one by P. Harm an, who also wrote the prologue ; one by an anonymous writer, probably Lady Piers, ' To my much esteemed Friend/ in which are the lines : " Your numbers flow as if the muses all Consulted nothing but their rise and fall." Another set, also anonymous, exalts her praise above that of Orinda and Astrea, Catherine Philips and Aphara Behn, adding : " More just applause is yours, who check the rage Of reigning vice, that has debauched the stage, And dare show virtue in a vicious age :" and yet another, written by Mr. John Hughes, who hails her as " the first of stage reformers." The tragedy thus applauded does not contain a single line of real poetry, and does contain indecorous allusions, which would not be tolerated either on the stage or elsewhere in modern times. Hence may be inferred the low standard of poetry in the year 1698, and the gross profli- gacy of an age which reputed this play to be a corrective model of propriety. Yet the acknowledgment that human life is a state of probation, the assertion that good should be done, and evil resisted, runs through every scene : and the strength of principle which enabled a young girl publicly to maintain such opinions, in the face of rampant scepticism and general depravity, justly commanded re- spectful admiration. The language is plain and unaffected, but occasionally deformed, after the colloquial fashion introduced at the Restoration, by the abbreviated words " 'em" for them, &c. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 183 Tln plot is commonplace, but well complicated, and it pro- duces some good dramatic situations. The moral drawn at the conclusion is : " None know their strength, let the most resolute Learn from this story to distrust themselves, Nor think hy fear the victory less sure ; Our greatest danger 's when we 're most secure." This tragedy, having been deemed by contemporary critics the best of Catherine Trotter's dramatic compo- sitions, leaves the reader little cause to join in Dr. Birch's regret that want of space enforced the omission of the four other plays from his edition of her works. The best of her productions in verse is ' A Poem, occa- sioned by the Busts set up in the Queen's Hermitage, designed to be presented with a book in vindication of Mr. Locke, which was to have been inscribed to Her Majesty.' With considerable skill and persuasive sweet- ness she draws an argument from the honour done by Queen Caroline to the busts of Clarke, Locke, and Newton, and the patronage which Her Majesty had ex- tended even to the lowly rural bard, Nicholas Duck, for the Queen's notice and protection to be granted to herself: " But not for such illustrious names alone Has that choice seat her care of merit shown ; Shared by the most obscure, who greatly aim, Struggling through all impediments to fame, A daring bard she views, though deep distressed, By art unaided, and by want depressed, Whilst toils the day, and cares the night molest ; Yet snatching moments from those cares and toils To court the muse, transported by her smiles." ***** " Oh, would the mighty queen once more descend The low to raise, the fearful to defend ; Whom yet nor fears nor malice could avert From daring injured merit to assert ; Though not the flail and sickle could retard, Or cares discourage more the rural bard, Than those restraints, which have our sex confine] By partial custom, check the soaring mind ; Learning denied us, we at random tread 184 LITEEARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Unbeaten paths that late to knowledge lead ; By secret steps, break through the obstructed way, Nor dare acquirements gained by stealth display. If some adventurous genius rare arise, Who on exalted themes her talent tries, She fears to give the work, though praised, a name, And flies not more from infamy than fame." * * * * . * " Oh, might I thus the blest occasion prove Fair emulation in the sex to move ! Beholding one, who could but well design, Protected thus by Royal Caroline, Important is the boon, nor I alone, The female world its influence would own To approve themselves to thee, reform their taste, No more their time in trifling pleasures waste, In search of truths sublime, undaunted soar, And the wide realms of science deep explore. Quadrille should then resign the tyrant sway, Which rules despotic, blending night with day ; Usurps on all the offices of life, The duties of the mother, friend, and wife, Learning, with milder reign, would more enlarge Their powers, and aid those duties to discharge, To nobler gain improve their vacant hours : Be Newton, Clarke, and Locke their matadores, Then, as this happy isle already vies In arms with foes, in arts with her allies, No more excelled in aught by Gallia's coast, Our Albion too should of her Daciers boast." Although much has been said and written about Locke by the ablest metaphysicians of his age, and of each suc- ceeding generation, it may be questioned whether his own meaning in his own words has ever been more truly con- strued than by Mrs. Cockburn. What she wrote concern- ing his opinions during his life was approved by Locke himself; what she wrote of them after his decease was acknowledged to be correct by his most intimate associates, to whom he had frequently and familiarly expounded them. Space cannot be afforded here for extracts of sufficient length to do justice to her controversial writings. The fol- lowing show her style. In the preface to her ' Letter to Dr. Holdsworth,' Mrs. LITKKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 185 Cockburn says: "The great zeal Mr. Locke showed for the conversion of deists, the serious veneration he expresses for the Divine Revelation, and (how little soever he was fond of particular systems) the care he took not to oppose any established articles of faith, make it a work worthy a sincere Christian to support his character against the inju- diciousness of those who have reproached him as a Socinian heretic, -an enemy, an underminer of religion. That there are no plain proofs from his writings to ground such a charge upon, is a sufficient foundation for this defence ; but that he was certainly no Socinian, I am farther well assured by the authority of one who was intimate to his most private thoughts, and who is as eminent for his probity, as for the high station he at present possesses." The person here alluded to was probably Lord King. In a letter to her niece, dated "Long Horseley, Sep- tember 29, 1748," Mrs. Cockburn says : " I must own to you I am not myself satisfied, upon a review, of what Mr. Locke has said on moral relations. His plan led him to consider them only with reference to the present constitu- tion of things ; and, though he is very free from the charge of making the nature of morality uncertain, I fear he has given occasion to the interested scheme so much in fashion of late, but carried, I dare say, far beyond what he in- tended." It is interesting to know Mrs. Cockburn's opinion of the most illustrious of all her contemporaries, Bishop Butler. In letters to Mrs. Arbuthnot, written at Aberdeen, in 1738, she thus mentions him: "He is a most judicious writer, has searched deeply into human nature, and is by some thought obscure ; but he thinks with great clearness, and there needs only a deep attention to understand him perfectly." 186 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. " Whilst our modern moralists have contended to establish moral virtue, some on the moral sense alone, some on the essential difference and relations of things, and some on the sole will of God, they have all been deficient ; for neither of those principles are sufficient exclusive of others, but all three together make an immoveable foundation for, and obligation to, moral practice; the moral sense, or con- science, and the essential difference of things discovering to us what the will of our Maker is." "I have so great an opinion of the author of 'The Analogy,' that I no sooner saw it advertised than I made it my business to inquire after it, and procured the reading it twice. I think the design finely executed, especially in the first part, and all the objections of the deists very well obviated." " That valuable performance, and several others that have come out within these few years, are of great use to satisfy and confirm the humble believer in his pious and just opinion, that God best knows by what means it is fit for him, in the wisdom of his government, to be reconciled to mankind." In letters of subsequent date, Mrs. Cockburn repeatedly mentions Bishop Butler with a still deeper sense of the value of his writings. Dating from "Long Horseley, October 2, 1747," and again addressing Mrs. Arbuthnot, she says: "I assure you there is not a sentence of that author's that I would not readily subscribe to, so perfectly I am satisfied with the whole tenor of his doctrine." This is an all-sufficient exposition of Mrs. Cockburn's theological opinions. Much amazement has been expressed at the long suspen- sion of Mrs. Cockburn's studies, and at her resuming her pen with accumulated power after it had lain unexercised LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 187 for the public during a period of sixteen or eighteen years. The commentators upon her works have certainly over- strained her own words on the first part of this subject, and drawn from them an unwarranted inference. Allowing the fact that she had during those years read few new books, yet she had undoubtedly possessed her Bible, the works of Shakspeare and Milton, of Lord Bacon, Cudworth, and Bishop Cumberland ; and such an intellect as hers thus dieted while practically exercised in seclusion, became, like one of the Athletae in training, all nerve and sinew, braced and animated for the noblest efforts. She had lived so long in the propulsive centre of British activity that, when sunk into obscurity, the gathering in of her reflections enriched her more than continued opportunities of obser- vation would have done ; and her fine faculties were kept so bright and keenly edged by constant use and friction, that they were available at call, either as ploughshares, sickles, or swords. No sooner has she harvested the fields of her little homestead, than she is found ready again for the lists of scholastic controversy. Her reasoning powers, her comprehensive knowledge, her acute discrimination, her steadfast love of truth, and her calm, clear, sense of right and wrong, always render her a formidable champion. Her eloquence has the force of manly argument, with the charm of feminine persuasion. Her compositions have had their day, and fulfilled their appointed purpose. Let those persons who entertain any doubt of her extraordinary mental powers, turn for convic- tion to the ' Remarks upon some Writers of Controversy concerning the Foundation of Moral Virtue and Moral Obligation/ in Dr. Birch's edition of Mrs. Cockburn's Works/ vol. i., pp. 371-455, and to the Remarks/ &c., 188 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. vol. ii., pp. 1-107. One of the best passages in Buncombe's * Feminead ' celebrates her memory : " But say what matron now walks musing forth From the bleak mountains of her native north ? While round her brows two sisters of the Nine Poetic wreaths with philosophic twine ! Hail, Cockburn, hail ! even now from reason's bowers Thy Locke delighted culls the choicest flowers To deck his great, successful champion's head, And Clarke expects thee in the laurel shade. Though long to dark oblivious wants a prey, Thy aged worth passed unperceived away, Yet Scotland now shall ever boast thy fame, While England mourns thy undistinguished name, And views with wonder, in a female mind, Philosopher, divine, and poet joined."* Pearch's Collection, vol. iv., p. 191. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 189 CHAPTER X. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1750-1800. Frnnces Duchess of Somerset Elizabeth Toilet Miss Pennington- Miss Farrer Anne Viscountess Irwin Anne Countess Temple - Anna Williams Lady O'Neil Susanna Blamire Mary Robinson. " By a cold region next the rider goes, Where all lies covered in eternal snows, Where no bright genius drives the chariot high, To glitter on the ground and gild the sky ; Bleak, level realm, where frigid styles abound, Where never yet a daring thought was found, But counted feet is poetry defined And starved conceits, that chill the reader's mind ; A little sense in many words imply, And drag in loitering numbers slowly by." * FRANCES DUCHESS OF SOMERSET. FRANCES THYNNE was one of the two daughters and only children of the Hon. Henry Thynne, only son of Thomas, first Viscount Weymouth, and of Grace, daughter and heir of Sir George Strode. The year of her birth is not re- corded by Walpole, nor in the peerages of Debrett or Burke. Together with her sister Mary, afterwards Lady Brooke, she was educated with great care under the im- mediate direction of her parents, and spent her early years at Longleat, where she formed a tender and enthusiastic * 'Essay on the different Styles of Poetry,' by Dr. Pamoll, Nichols's Collection, vol. iii., p. 221. 190 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. friendship with Mrs. Kowe, who was many years her senior. She seems to have married about the year 17 16, and the husband of her friends' selection proved happily the object of her true affection. He was Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford and Baron Percy. They had two children, a son George and a daughter Elizabeth. The Countess was an exemplary wife and mother, and a model of virtuous conduct in the corrupt court of George II., where she held for several years the office of a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline. She had strong tendencies to literature, delighted in the unostentatious exercise of her own fine intellect, was the friend of Watts and Shenstone, and one of the earliest patronesses of Thomson. At her intercession the life of the profligate poet Savage was rescued from public execu- tion ; and she was ever ready either to assist the merito- rious or to compassionate the wretched. In 1744, she had the deep grief of losing her only son, a most promising and beautiful youth of nineteen, who died at Bologna, on his travels. By the death of Charles, the proud Duke of Somerset, December 2, 1748, all the family honours of the Seymours and the Percys devolved upon her husband, the seventh Duke. She was left a widow February 7, 1750, and died at Percy Lodge, Colnbrook, July 7, 1754. She wrote the verses signed " Eusebia " in Dr. Watts's ' Miscellanies,' the letters signed " Cleora " in Mrs. Rowe's Works, and a set of verses to Mrs. Howe's memory, signed "A Friend." Her correspondence with the Countess of Pomfret was edited by W. Bingley. The following piece of poetry is a fair specimen of her style. LITKKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLANO. I!l THE DYING CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. " When faint and sinking to the shades of death, I gasp with pain for every labouring breath, Oh, may my soul, by some blest foretaste know That she 's delivered from eternal woe ! May hope in Christ dispel each gloomy fear, And thoughts like these my drooping spirits cheer : What though my sins are of a crimson stain, My Saviour's blood can wash me white again ; Though numerous as the twinkling stars they be, Or sands along the margin of the sea ; Or as smooth pebbles on some beachy shore, The mercies of the Almighty still are more ; He looks upon my soul with pitying eyes, Sees all my fears, and listens to my cries ; He knows the frailty of each human breast, What passions our unguarded hearts molest, And for the sake of his dear, dying Son, Will pardon all the ills that I have done ! Armed with so bright a hope, I shall not fear To see my death hourly approach more near, But, my faith strengthening as my life decays, My dying breath shall mount to Heaven in praise." Her praises have been sung by many admiring and grateful poets : by none more sweetly than by the Bard of the Seasons. " Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness come, And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, While music wakes around, veiled in a shower Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. Oh ! Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts With unaffected grace, or walk the plain With innocence and meditation joined In soft assemblage, listen to my song, Which thy own season paints ; when Nature all Is blooming and benevolent like thee."* ELIZABETH TOLLET. Elizabeth, was the daughter and only child of George Toilet, Esq., a Commissioner of the Royal Navy, who, in right of his office, had a residence in the Tower of London. Sir Isaac Newton was a friend of Mr. Toilet's, and en- * Commencement of Thomson's ' Spring.' 192 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. couraged the literary tendencies of his daughter. Nichols's ' Collection/ vol. vi., pp. 64-81, contains eight poetical pieces of hers ; and 'to the same source we are indebted for the few particulars of her history which are here recorded. She appears to have led a tranquil and happy life, unvaried by any extraordinary incidents, and exempt from great afflictions. She inherited a competent fortune at her father's death, and died in 1754. All her writings advo- cated the cause of " Good manners, Virtue, and Eeligion." Her Latin verses have been highly praised by the annota- tor " D." in Nichols's < Collection.' None of her compositions were published until after her decease. Her English verses are distinguished by correct metre, sound sense, and extensive knowledge ; though utterly void of imagination and scarcely irradiated even by a gleam of fancy. Some insight of her intellectual pursuits may be gained from the titles of her productions : 1. ' To Mr. Congreve on his Plays and Poems.' Here is the usual youthful love for poetry and the drama, eva- porating in commonplace imitations of enthusiasm. 2. * The Praise of Astronomy,' from Ovid's ' Fasti,' book i. Classical learning and scientific information have stimu- lated these verses. Miss Toilet was a good mathematician. 3. ' The Triumvirate of Poets.' A vain attempt to rival and surpass the vigorous lines of Dryden, "Three poets in three distant ages born," &c. 4. * On Shakespeare's Monument,' Unworthy of the feeling which prompted it. 5. * On the Death of Sir Isaac Newton. Written on the Night of his Funeral, March 28, 1727.' Here she has done her very best to honour one whom she revered and loved, but only proved that she possessed a warm heart, well LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 193 disciplined feelings, a cultivated mind, and a poetic faculty unequal to her theme. 6. ' The Microcosm' indicates the comprehensive powers of her sound understanding and mathematical mind. The 8th is entitled ' In Parmam Woodwardianam.' The 7th, being one of the best and shortest, is annexed. The subject is that of Wordsworth's most celebrated sonnet. Her memory, well stored with historic facts, wanted the aid of vital energy to set them fortli to proper advantage. ON THE PROSPECT FROM WESTMINSTER BRIDGE -1750. " Caesar, renowned in science and in war, Look down awhile from thy maternal star ; See to the skies what sacred domes ascend, What ample arches o'er the river bend ; What seats above in rural prospect lie, Beneath, a street that intercepts the eye ; Where happy commerce glads the wealthy streams, And floating castles ride. Is this the Thames ? The scene where brave Cassibelan of yore Kepulsed thy legions on a savage shore. Britain, 't is true, was hard to overcome, Or by the arms, or by the arts of Home, Yet we allowed thee ruler of the sphere, But, last of all, resign thy Julian year." These literary remains sufficiently prove that Elizabeth Toilet was a woman of rare capacity and great attainments. She understood the art of constructing poetry, although she did not possess the vitalizing spark of genius. Strength of character and independence of principle are manifested by the fact that her verses are altogether pure and un- spotted by the bad moral atmosphere of her time. These valuable qualities must have conduced to social usefulness, and added dignity to her blameless and unostentatious character, while, " Along the cool sequestered vale of life She kept the noiseless tenor of /// way.' O 194 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Miss PENNINGTON. In Nichols's * Collection of Poems,' vol. vi., p. 27, may be found, in a note, some brief particulars of this young authoress. Her father was a clergyman and rector of Huntingdon. She died in the year 1759, at the age of twenty-five. Duncoinbe has eulogized her in his ' Femi- nead ' for her ' Copper Farthing,' which was published in Billy's Depository' for 1777, vol. i., p. 131. Her ' Ode to a Thrush ' is in Dodsley's ' Collection.' Her 'Ode to Morning,' 'Hail roseate Morn,' &c., and her ' Kiddle,' ( Aurora, clad in rosy vest/ &c. are in Nichols's < Collection,' vol. vi., p. 59, &c. 1780. Only the two last have been seen, by the present commentator, for they afford sufficient reason to believe that the others are not worth looking for. Her merits are wholly negative, consisting in irreproachable versification and inoffensive insipidity. Miss FARRER. The ' Censura Literaria,' vol. iv., p. 194, mentions this young lady as a neighbour and contemporary of Miss Pennington's, and inserts her 'Ode to Cynthia;' which deserves commendation for facility and sprightliness. Mr. Edwards, in Richardson's Correspondence, eulogizes her charming ' Ode on the Spring.' Its charms unfortunately are not perennial. ANNE VISCOUNTESS IRWIN. Anne, daughter of Charles Howard, third Earl of Carlisle, and wife, first of Kichard Viscount Irwin, and afterwards of Colonel Douglas ; is mentioned in the fifth volume of Park's edition of Walpole's ' Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,' p. 155. She wrote ' A Character of LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 190 the Princess Elizabeth/ a sister of King George III., who diVd December 28, 1758 ; ' An Answer to some Verses of Lady M. W. Montagu's/ and ' A Poetical Epistle on Mr. Pope's Character of Women/ The latter poem is given there, but does not deserve reprinting. Lady Irwin died in the year 1760. ANNE COUNTESS TEMPLE. Anne, daughter and coheir of Thomas Chambers, Esq., married, in the year 1737, Kichard, first Earl Temple, and died April 8, 1777. Her collected Poems were printed by Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, in 1764. Among them are several fables, one, * The City and Country Mouse/ upon a subject which, at least twice before, had been so successfully treated by English poets that feebler aspirants should have forborne to touch it. Robert Henryson, a poet of the fifteenth century, treated it with admirable humour, and drew from it a moral of contentment with small possessions. Matthew Prior and Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, in concert, made use of it in ridicule of Dryden's ' Hind and Panther/ in their joint poem of the same title published in 1687. ANNA WILLIAMS. Anna Williams was born in the year 1706 : she was a native of South Wales, but even the Dictionary of ' Enwo- gian Cymru/ which records her name, does not mention in what county or locality. Her father, Zachariah Williams, was a member of the medical profession, who greatly de- lighted in mathematical pursuits. Allured by the public offer of a large " parliamentary reward " for the discovery of an improved method of ascertaining the longitude, he left his home, his family, and professional connections, and o 2 196 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. bringing with him a treatise on the subject, and an inge- nious instrument invented by himself, came up to London in the year 1730. On laying his discoveries before the Commissioners, they were rejected as practically useless. Being consequently reduced to poverty, he was, in con- sideration of the sacrifices which he had made to the cause of scientific research, admitted as a pensioner at the Charter House. It does not appear at what time, or by what means Zachariah Williams first made the acquaint- ance of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Anna Williams, being left in Wales, had diligently carried on the work of self-culture, acquiring a knowledge of the French and Italian languages and of English literature. She suffered from the forma- tion of cataracts in both eyes, and on her occasional visits to the metropolis to consult the most skilful oculist of the day, was received by Dr. and Mrs. Johnson and treated with the kindest hospitality. She excelled in needlework, both before and after her total loss of sight, and there is reason to believe that she used it as a means of subsistence. In 1746, probably incited by Dr. Johnson, and certainly assisted by some female friends in the manual part of the labour, Anna Williams translated the Life of the Emperor Julian from the French of La Bletrie. In 1749, her father, Zachariah Williams, at the age of seventy-five, suffered expulsion from the Charter House for some infringement of its regulations. Having remon- strated in vain against this alleged injustice, he published in the same year a statement of his case, and an appeal to public opinion, which, unhappily for him, had not in those days such active promulgates and effectual enforcers as it now possesses. In 1752, Dr. Johnson lost his wife, but Anna Williams coming up to London in the following year to be couched LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 197 for cataract, he nevertheless received her as before. The operation failed, and she became blind for life, yet Dr. Johnson's compassionate friendship gave the desolate wo- man a home, and secured for her the respectful attentions of all those persons who most loved and honoured him. In 1755, Zachariah Williams published a book in English and Italian, entitled * An Account of an Attempt to Ascer- tain the Longitude at Sea by an Exact Theory of the Magnetic Needle.' This was supposed to have been written by Dr. Johnson, and translated by Baretti. The Doctor placed a copy of the work in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and entered it upon the catalogue with his own hand. Zachariah Williams died on the 12th of July, in the same year, at the age of eighty-two. He was one of the few mathematicians produced by the Principality of Wales a land of orators, poets, and musicians. Dr. Johnson described him as " A man of industry indefatigable, of conversation inoffensive, patient of adversity and disease, eminently sober, temperate, and pious ; worthy to have ended life with better fortune." * In the same eventful year, 1755, Mr. Garrick gave Anna Williams a benefit at his theatre, which produced a clear profit of 200. In 1758, when Dr. Johnson gave up his house in Gough-square, and went to Gray's Inn, Anna went into lodgings in Bolt-court, Fleet-street, where he, every night, took tea with her before he went home. To those quiet tea-drinkings special favourites were occasionally allowed to accompany the Doctor. One night Boswell, before he was admitted to this privilege, describes Goldsmith as " strutting away, and calling to me with an air of superiority like that of an esoteric over an exoteric * Boswell'B * Life of Johnson.' 198 LITEKARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. disciple of a sage of antiquity, * I go to Miss Wil- liams ! ' ' When Dr. Johnson again took a house, she had an apartment in it, and continued there as long as she lived. In 1766, she published by subscription a volume, entitled 4 Miscellanies in Prose and Verse,' which brought her in as clear profit the sum of 300?. Boswell terms her " a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature ; " and relates that Dr. Johnson used to take her with him to dine at the houses of his friends, and would refuse their invitations if she preferred his remaining at home to dine with her alone. Anna Williams was a woman of plain appearance and irritable temper, with a good understanding and benevolent heart. " Retaining her faculties to the very last," she died, as her best earthly friend has recorded, " from mere inanition," at his house in Bolt-court, Fleet-street, Sep- tember 6, 1783, aged seventy-seven. He said of her, " She acted with prudence, and she bore with fortitude. She has left me ! ' Thou thy weary task hast done, Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.' Had she had good humour and prompt elocution, her universal curiosity and comprehensive knowledge would have made her the delight of all that knew her." * The welfare of her fellow-creatures was her predominant desire, and she ever delighted in furthering every plan which proposed so good an end ; bequeathing at last all the little property she possessed to the Institution for Deserted Females, in the parish of St. Sepulchre's, London. Her verses are superficial and sentimental. Among the best are those * Boswell's ' Life of Johnson.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 199 ' >s A LADY SINGING. " When Delia strikes the trembling string, She charms our listening ears ; But when she joins her voice to sing She emulates the spheres. The feathered songsters round her throng, And catch the soothing notes ; To imitate her matchless song They strain their little throats. The constant, mournful, cooing doves, Attentive to her strain, All mindful of their tender loves, By listening soothe their pain. Soft were the notes by Orpheus played, Which once recalled his bride, But had he sung like thee, fair maid, The nymph had scarcely died." It may commonly be depended on as a test of true or false taste and feeling for music, that real appreciation seldom adopts an imperceptible and unrealized object of comparison. That Delia " emulates the spheres " is in- deed mere negative praise; that her voice had more charms than the lyre of Orpheus, may be taken as a general preference of vocal to instrumental music ; but the birds attempting to imitate her song, and the doves more especially represented as soothed by it, is a better thought, and was probably suggested by the presence of exhilarated canaries and tame turtles in captivity. LADY O'NiEL. Henrietta, only daughter of Charles Boyle Viscount Dungarvon, eldest son of John, fifth Earl of Cork, was born in the year 1758. On the 15th October, 1777, she married John O'Niel, Esq., who was, in 1793, created Baron O'Niel. The account of her life in Park's * Walpole ' is more than commonly meagre, and the date of her decease is not given eithor there or in any of the Peerages 200 LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. where it has been sought. It appears from Charlotte Smith's verses to her memory, that she died in 1794. Her friendship for that sweet poetess has been the means of preserving two elegant though morbid little pieces of her own. ODE To THE POPPY. " Not for the promise of the labour'd field, , Not for the good the yellow harvests yield, I bend at Ceres' shrine ; For dull, to human eyes, appear The golden glories of the year, Alas ! a melancholy worship's mine. I hail the goddess for her scarlet flower ; Thou brilliant weed, That does so far exceed The richest gifts gay Flora can bestow ; Heedless I pass'd thee, in life's morning hour, (Thou comforter of woe) Till sorrow taught me to confess thy power. In early days, when Fancy cheats, A varied wreath I wove, Of laughing Spring's luxuriant sweets, To deck ungrateful Love : The rose, or thorn, my labours crown'd ; As Venus smiled, or Venus frown'd ; But Love and Joy, and all their train, are flown ; Even languid Hope no more is mine, And I will sing of thee alone, Unless, perchance, the attributes of Grief, The cypress bud, and willow leaf, Their pale funereal foliage blend with thine. Hail, lovely blossom ! thou canst ease The wretched victims of disease ; Canst close those weary eyes in gentle sleep, Which never open but to weep ; For, oh ! thy potent charm Can agonizing pain disarm ; Expel imperious Memory from her seat, And bid the throbbing heart forget to beat. Soul-soothing plant ! that can such blessings give, By thee the mourner bears to live ; By thee the hopeless die ! Oh ! ever ' friendly to despair,' Might sorrow's pallid votary dare, Without a crime, that remedy implore, Which bids the spirit from its bondage fly, I'd court thy palliative aid no more ; UTKKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 201 No more I'd sue tlmt thou slumldVt spread, Thy spell annual hiy aching In -ad, But would eonjure thee tu impart Thy 1 Miami lor a brok< n lu-art ; And by thy soft Lethean power. (Inestimable flower) Burst these terrestrial bonds, and other regions try." WRITTEN BY THE SAME LADY ON SEEING HER Two SONS AT PLAY. " Sweet age of bless'd delusion ! blooming boys, Ah! revel long in childhood's thoughtless joys, With light and pliant spirits, that can stoop To follow, sportively, the rolling hoop ; To watch the sleeping top with gay delight, Or mark, with raptured gaze, the sailing kite ; Or, eagerly pursuing pleasure's call, Can find it center'd in the bounding ball. Alas ! the day will come, when sports like these Must lose their magic, and their power to please ; Too swiftly fled, the rosy hours of youth Shall yield their fairy charms to mournful truth ; Even now, a mother's fond prophetic fear Sees the dark train of human ills appear ; Views various fortune for each lovely child, Storms for the bold, and anguish for the mild ; Beholds already those expressive eyes Beam a sad certainty of future sighs ; And dreads each suffering those dear breasts may know, In their long passage through a world of woe ; Perchance predestined every pang to prove, That treacherous friends inflict, or faithless love ; For, ah ! how few have found existence sweet, Where grief is sure, but happiness deceit." VERSES BV CHARLOTTE SMITH. On the death of LADY O'NiEL, written in September, 17'J4. " Like a poor ghost the night I seek ; Its hollow winds repeat my sighs ; The cold dews mingle on my cheek With tears that wander from mine eyes. The thorns that still my couch molest, Have robb'd these heavy eyes of sleep ; But though deprived of tranquil rest, I here at last am free to weep. 202 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Twelve times the moon, that rises red O'er yon tall wood of shadowy pine, Has fill'd her orb, since low was laid My Harriet ! that sweet form of thine ! While each sad month, as slow it pass'd, Brought some new sorrow to deplore ; Some grief more poignant than the last, But thou canst calm those griefs no more. No more thy friendship soothes to rest This wearied spirit tempest-toss 'd ; The cares that weigh upon my breast Are doubly felt since thou art lost. Bright visions of ideal grace That the young poet's dreams inflame, Were not more lovely than thy face ; Were not more perfect than thy frame. Wit, that no sufferings could impair, Was thine, and thine those mental powers Of force to chase the fiends that tear From Fancy's hands her budding flowers. O'er what, my angel friend, thou wort, Dejected Memory loves to mourn ; Kegretting still that tender heart, Now withering in a distant urn. But ere that wood of shadowy pine Twelve times shall yon full orb behold, This sickening heart, that bleeds for thine, My Harriet ! may like thine be cold ! " To the same beloved friend Charlotte Smith had some years before addressed her 37th sonnet. SUSANNA BLAMIRE. Considering the Lowland Scotch dialect to be merely English in a very behindhand condition, the name of Susan Blamire is here introduced, as belonging to a woman capable of producing poetry in the language of any country with which she might have chanced to become familiar. She was descended from an old English north country family, and born at her paternal home, Cardew Hall, near Carlisle, in the year 1747. Her first productions appear to have been some ballads in the local dialect of her native region* LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 203 Her sister having married Colonel Graham, of Duchray, Perthshire, Miss Blamire accompanied them to his home, and resided there with them for several years, delighting herself with the music, the legends, and the poetry of Scotland. She died unmarried, at Carlisle, in 1794. Her poems were published in 1842, with a memoir, by Patrick Maxwell. THE NABOB. " When silent Time, wi' lightly foot, Had trod on thirty years, I sought ag'ain my native laud, Wi' mony hopes and fears. Wha kens gin the dear friends I left May still continue mine ? Or gin I e'er again shall taste The joys I left langsyne ? As I drew near my ancient pile, My heart beat a' the way, Ilk place I passed seemed yet to speak O' some dear former day ; Those days that followed me afar, Those happy days o' mine, Whilk made me think the present joys A' nothing to langsyne. The ivied tower now met my eye, Where minstrels used to blaw ; Nae friend stepped forth wi' open hand, Nae weel kenned face I saw, Till Donald tottered to the door, Wham I left in his prime, And grat to see the lad return, He bore about langsyne. I ran to ilka dear friend's room, As if to find them there, I knew where ilk ane used to sit, And hung o'er many a chair ; Till soft remembrance threw a veil Across these e'en o' mine, I closed the door, and sobbed aloud, To think on auld langsyne. Some pensy chiels, a new sprung race, Wad next their welcome pay, \Vha shuddered at my Gothic wa's And wished my groves awuy. 204 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ' Cut, cut, 1 they cried, ' those aged elms, Lay low yon mournfu' pine,' Na ! na ! our fathers' names grow there, Memorials o' langsyne. To wean me frae these waefu' thoughts, They took me to the toun, But sair on ilka weel-kenned face I missed the youthfu' bloom. At balls they pointed to a nymph Wham a' declared divine, But sure her mother's blushing cheeks Were fairer far langsyne. In vain I sought in music's sound To find that magic art, Which oft in Scotland's ancient lays Has thrilled through a' my heart. The sang had mony an artfu' turn, My ear confessed 'twas fine, But missed the simple melody I listened to langsyne. Ye sous to comrades o' my youth, Forgie an auld man's spleen, Wha midst your gayest scenes still mourns The days he ance has seen. When time has passed and seasons fled, Your hearts will feel like mine ; And aye the sang will maist delight That minds ye o' langsyne." MARY KOBINSON. Mary Darby was of obscure birth, and a native of the city of Bristol. When very young she married a Mr. Kobinson, the illegitimate son of Mr. Thomas Harris of Tregunter, in the parish of Talgarth, Breconshire. To the exquisite scenery around that lovely retreat, and to her solitary readings and musings there, she attributes in her memoir those graces of manner, and that taste for literature which subsequently added fresh charms to her personal advantages. Her husband having brought her to London, she went upon the stage in order to increase their small income. Here her extraordinary beauty soon rendered her at once LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 205 famous and infamous in the character of Shakspeare's Perdita.' Under the signature of * Laura Maria,' she wrote for the magazines in the style of the Delia Cruscan rhymers ; she also published the novel of * Vancenza,' and two volumes of her collected poems. She died in poverty at a cottage on Englefield Green, December 26, 1800, at the age of forty. Her autobio- graphy and literary remains were afterwards published for the benefit of her only child, a daughter. Her writings are not devoid of talent or of sentiment. The following is a specimen of her verse : SONNET TO TIME. " Insatiate Despot ! whose resistless arm, Shatters the loftiest fabric from its base ; And tears from beauty ev'ry magic charm, And robs proud nature of her loveliest grace. Still art thou kind, for as thy pow'r prevails, And age comes onward, menacing decay ; As warmth expires, and numbing frost assails, And life's faint lamp presents a quiv'ring ray ; 'Tis thine to reconcile the tranquil breast, To prove that sublunary joys are vain ; To turn from pomp, and all its tinsel train, And seek the silent paths of mental rest : So, from the deadliest poison chymic art, Extracts a healing balm to tranquillize the heart." 206 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTEK XL THE POETESSES. A.D. 1800-1806. Caroline Symmons Elizabeth Carter Charlotte Smith. 1 The Muse instructed a well-nurtured train Of abler votaries to cleanse the stain, And claim the palm for purity of song." COWPER'S ' Table Talk.' CAROLINE SYMMONS. THE third volume of the l Censura Literaria' makes mention of this promising young girl, who was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Symmons, author of a Life of Milton. She died June 1, 1803, at the age of fourteen. When only twelve years old she wrote ' The Flower Girl,' which was first published by Archdeacon Wrangham with his poem of ' The Eaising of Jairus's Daughter,' in 1804, ac- companied by a brief memoir of the authoress. A genuine talent for versification, and a mind capable of realizing the situation of others and entering into their feelings, appear in these verses, superficial and juvenile as they are : THE FLOWER GIRL. " Come buy my wood harebells, my cowslips come buy, Oh, take my carnations and jessamines sweet, Lest their beauties should wither, their perfume should die, Ah, snatched like myself from their native retreat. LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. Oli ye, who in pleasure and luxury livr. Whose bosoms would wink beneath half ray sod woes, Ah, deign to my ery a kind answer to giv.-. And shed a soft tear for the fate of poor Rose. Yet once were my days happy, sweet, and seivur, And once have I tasted the balm of repose ; But now on my cheek meagre famine is seen, And anguish prevails in the bosom of Rose. Then buy my wood harebells, my cowslips come buy, Oh, take my carnations and jessamines sweet, Lest their beauties should wither, their perfume should die. Ah, snatched like myself from their native retreat." ELIZABETH CARTER. No woman was ever placed, from first to last, in circum- stances more favourable to the calm and easy gratification of literary tendencies, more beloved and honoured for her mental acquirements and moral qualities, or more amply and gratuitously rewarded for the social benefits which she conferred, than Elizabeth Carter. Her father was the Rev. Nicholas Carter, D.D., perpetual curate of Deal. Her mother, his first wife, was the only daughter of Richard Svvayne, Esq., of Bere, in Dorsetshire. She was their eldest daughter, and born at Deal, Dec. 16, 1717. Dr. Carter himself undertook the labour of educating his numerous children, imparting to boys and girls alike instructions in the Latin and Greek languages. The mind of his eldest daughter was so dull and slow of apprehen- sion, that he almost despaired of ever making her a scholar, and would have given up the attempt if her re- solute and indefatigable perseverance as a child had not struggled incessantly against all obstacles. To be good and to be learned were the earliest objects of her ambition, and with unabated energy she steadfastly pursued them through life. She could never acquire grammar as a rudimentary theory, but after having attained great pro- ficiency in the Greek and Latin languages, she deduced 208 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. their principles of composition from their literature. She also studied Hebrew with great success. In order to assist the acquirement of French, her father sent her to board for a year in the family of M. Le Seur, a refugee minister at Canterbury, where she learned both to understand and to speak it with facility. She subsequently applied her- self to Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese, and very late in life she learned enough of Arabic to read it without a dictionary. Being naturally heavy, and resolved to reclaim time from sleep for the prosecution of her studies, she had re- course to snuff, and was never able to break herself of the habit of taking it. Over application, and the abridgment of the measure of rest required by her constitution, brought on intense headaches, to which she remained subject through life. Time and practical use gave brightness and power to her faculties ; she had naturally a sound under- standing, and her taste for literature was formed upon the finest models, while an early introduction to the best society added the suavities and refinements of manner and habits, to which her gentle and delicate character spon- taneously inclined. Her earliest attempts at literary composition were in verse. Dr. Carter was well acquainted with Mr. Cave, the publisher ; in whose fourth volume of ' The Gentle- man's Magazine,' she published several pieces, under the signature of " Eliza," when she was only sixteen years of age. Visiting London occasionally with her father, she was introduced by Mr. Cave to many literary persons, and among the rest to Dr. Johnson, soon after his first settling down there in the year 1737. In 1738 she published -an anonymous collection of her poems, including those which had been previously printed in ' The Gentleman's Maga- LITEKARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 209 zine.' In 1739, she translated and published, with notes, tlio criticism of Crousaz on Pope's * Essay on Man,' and A lirarotti's ' Explanation of Newton's Philosophy.' It is always interesting to observe the communication of the sacred fires of poetry and of piety. At the torch of Elizabeth Rowe, the young Elizabeth Carter enkindled hers. In the lines on Philomela's death, she says " Fixed on my soul shall thy example grow, And be my genius and my guide below." The amiable Countess of Hertford, true to her beloved friend Mrs. Rowe, in death as well as in life, rewarded the young aspirant's eulog^ with her friendship and correspond- ence. Elizabeth Carter's difficulties were all confined to her books of private study ; she met with no discourage- ments from the outer world. Matthew Robinson, Esq., of Rokeby, had married the heiress of the Drakes of Horton, near Hythe ; and their eldest daughter Elizabeth, born in 1720, who spent a great part of her childhood there, was early attracted by sym- pathy of feeling and similarity of pursuits towards her young contemporary and neighbour, Elizabeth Carter. A close friendship was formed between them, which lasted to the end of their long lives. In the year 1742, Elizabeth Robinson married Edward Montagu, Esq., a grandson of the second Earl of Sandwich; and subsequently to that event, Elizabeth Carter often visited Mrs. Montagu at her country seat at Sandleford and at her house in London, the celebrated resort of persons of the highest rank and most conspicuous talents. Her translations were approved, her verses were ap- plauded by Burke, Dr. Johnson, Savage, and Baratier ; and she found her society courted by many whom the world deemed it an honour to know. 210 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. In 1741 began her intimacy with Catherine Talbot, which became a mutual blessing, for they cherished each other's faculties, virtues, and piety. Through Miss Talbot and her mother she made the acquaintance of Dr. Seeker, with whom they resided. He was then Bishop of Oxford, and was raised, in 1758, to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. Early in the year 1749, she commenced her translation of Epictetus, which she submitted sheet by sheet to Dr. Seeker's revisal. She finished the Disquisitions in Decem- ber, 1752, but at his suggestion added the Enchiridion and Fragments, with an introduction and notes; and a sub- scription having been got up by him and her other wealthy and influential friends, the work was published in 1758, and brought her in a clear profit of 1000Z. This transla- tion has passed through three editions, and still maintains a high reputation in our standard literature. While occu- pied in preparing the first edition for the press, Miss Carter was fulfilling the still more onerous task of pre- paring her youngest brother for the University of Cam- bridge. Her pupil did her credit, for he entered Bennet College in 1756, passed through his course of study with distinction, and finally became incumbent of Little Wit- tenham, Berkshire. No one ever learned, from more pleasing experience, the truth embodied in Madame de Stael's aphorism : " Quand le talent litteraire peut inspirer a ceux qui ne nous connaissent point encore, du penchant a nous aimer, c'est le present du ciel dont on recueille les plus doux fruits sur la terre." * The equability of her mind was maintained by well- * When literary talent inspires those to whom we are as yet unknown with an inclination to love us, then is it the gift of heaven, from which we gather the sweetest of all earthly fruits. ' L'Allemagne,' vol. ii., chap. xxx. IlTF.KMtY WOMEN OF ENGLAM' 'J 1 1 Balanced acquisitions. She carefully studied astronomy, and the geography of ancient history. Her nephew and biographer informs us "that she was literally better ac- quainted with the meanderings of the Peneus and the course of the Illissus, than she was with those of the Thames or Loire ; and could give a better account of the wanderings of Ulysses and ^neas, than she could of the voyages and discoveries of Cook or Bougainville." She learned to play upon the spinnet and upon the German flute, was particularly fond of dancing in her youth, and of a rubber at whist ajl her life long. She drew tolerably well, made herself thoroughly acquainted with every department of household economy, delighted greatly in gardening, and more especially in the culture of flowers, and constantly occupied her leisure or social hours with plain needle-work. With the hope of counteracting the bad effects of over-study, she habituated herself to taking very long walks, and indulged in attendance upon social parties. Her placid and cheerful benevolence won the aifection both of old and young, although increasing deaf- ness, as age drew on, reduced general conversation, for her, to the mere passive spectatorship of the gesticulations in a pantomime. She never married, and adopted the matronly designation of Mrs., after the manner of a pre- ceding generation. Her father having lost his second wife, and his other children being all settled in homes of their own, Mrs. Carter bought a house at Deal, in the year 1762, to which the venerable old man removed as a harbour of rest. She managed the household, and provided in the most minute particulars for his hourly comfort. They had their sepa- rate libraries, and spent their studious hours apart, meeting cheerfully at meals, and spending their evenings together p 2 212 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. during periods of six months. The other half of the year she usually passed in London, or in visiting her friends at their country houses. At the suggestion of the Earl of Bath (Pulteney), who took great delight in her conversation and writings, Mrs. Carter published another volume of poems in 1762, to which " the good Lord Lyttleton " (then Sir George) con- tributed a poetical introduction. In 1763, she accompanied the Earl of Bath and Mr. and Mrs. Montagu on a continental tour. They crossed the Channel to Calais, visited the Spa, passed down the Rhine, and, travelling through Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, and Dun- kirk to Calais, re-crossed to Dover, after an absence of nearly four months. In the summer of 1764, Lord Bath died ; and as he made no mention of Elizabeth Carter in his will, the ultimate heir to his property, Sir William Johnson Pulteney, spontaneously settled upon her an annuity of 100?., which he soon afterwards augmented to 150/., urged only by the promptings of his own generous heart, and grateful consideration for the worthy friend who had solaced his noble predecessor's declining days. In August, 1768, she lost her kind friend Archbishop Seeker, between whose amiable character and her own there existed many points of resemblance. In November, 1769, she lost her attached friend Miss Sutton; and in the same year experienced the severest trial of her life, in watching the progress of that agonizing and hopeless disease which deprived her of Catherine Talbot, the best- beloved of her many dear ones, on the 9th of January, 1770. Her own elegant pen has thus delineated this ac- complished and excellent woman : " Never, surely, was there a more perfect pattern of evangelical goodness, de- corated by all the ornaments of a highly improved under- I.ITKIJAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 'Jl.'J standing, and recommended by a sweetness of temper and an elegance of manners of a peculiar and more engaging kind than in any other character I ever knew." In the same year that she lost this dear friend, Elizabeth Carter edited and published a volume of Miss Talbot's papers, under the title of ' Keflections on the Seven Days of the Week ;' and subsequently two volumes of l Essays and Poems/ These works of Catherine Talbot went through seven editions in the course of the next five-and- twenty years, and were highly esteemed for the elevated purity of their moral tone, and for the gracefulness of their diction. There ' is in them sufficient likeness to the writings of C. C. Sturm to give probability to the thought that they originated from thence. Mrs. Elizabeth Carter's biographer has given to the world a liberal selection from her thirty years' corre- spondence with Catherine Talbot, and her correspondence with Mrs. Agmondesham Vesey between the years 1763 and 1787, in two quarto volumes. All Mrs. Carters letters are remarkable for correct, perspicuous, and appropriate language; for soundness of judgment, moderation of spirit, deep sincerity, and pervading piety. Her cheerful placidity of disposition gives gentle life to all her senti- ments and opinions, but in her occasional expressions of buoyant gaiety there is always something awkward, forced, and exaggerated. Mrs. Yesey's letters are those of a good-natured creature who has fallen into scepticism because she will try to reason and has faculties unfitted for the process, and because she too dearly loves this visible world. Those of Catherine Talbot are in every respect the best, full of natural vivacity and chastened thought. \Yith the exception of a few poems, one volume of 214 LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ethical philosophy translated from the Greek, one of carping criticism from the French, and one of attenuated science from the Italian, it is remarkable that all Elizabeth Carter's accumulated stores of erudition exhaled away in conversation arid familiar letters. This fact may excite our regret that her powers found not wider exercise ; but it must also attest the genuineness of that love for learning which led her from infancy even to extreme old age to apply herself with unremitting labour to fresh studies. The laurels which she won in youth were those which adorn her tomb. Excepting the tribute to Miss Talbot's memory, and the re-editing of her own poems at the call of her publishers, she published nothing after Dr. Seeker's death, and never sought an anti-climax to her one great success in Epictetus. All Mrs, Carter's griefs were those of deprivation, and in 1774, inevitable death parted her from the good and venerable father, whose home she had shared from her birth. In the full possession of all his faculties, excepting only a slight deficiency in the sense of hearing, he passed away in his eighty-seventh year. A small accession of fortune fell to her at his decease. In 1775, Mrs. Montagu lost her husband, and entered upon the independent possession of a large property. Among her first acts of beneficence on this occasion was her assignment to her early friend, Elizabeth Carter, of an annuity of 100?. Mrs. Underwood, a family connection of the Carters, afterwards bequeathed to her an annuity of 407. ; and Mrs. Talbot dying in 1783, left her the sum of 200Z. as a legacy. Thus, with little labour for the public and no anxiety, Elizabeth Carter attained to literary fame, and found herself possessed, by means which she could never have LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 215 anticipated, of a secure and ample income for the supply of all her simple wants and moderate wishes. In 1782, at the desire of her kind friend, Sir W. J. Pulteney, she accompanied his daughter to Paris, but she returned home in sixteen days, and limited her after journeys to British ground. She was repeatedly honoured at Deal with visits from various members of the royal family, who did them- selves credit by this homage paid to extraordinary learning and exemplary piety. The Queen, who had long been accustomed to ask her opinion upon books, through ladies of the court, at last, in 1791, commanded her attendance at Cremorne House, where the translator of Epictetus was formally presented and received with the highest favour. In 1796, Mrs. Carter had a dangerous illness, from which she never thoroughly recovered. She continued, however, to exert herself in visiting the poor, in the establishment and maintenance of charitable institutions, and in shedding the influences of her benevolent spirit over the high circles of society in which she moved. In the year 1800, she lost by death her faithful friend Mrs. Montagu, at the age of eighty ; three years her junior. Their correspondence, from 1755 to 1799, was published after Mrs. Carter's death by her nephew, Mr. Pennington. On the 19th of February, 1806, after a long period of gradually increasing weakness, the gentle, serene, and saintly spirit of Elizabeth Carter left its mortal tenement for the world of light and life. She expired at her lodgings in Ciarges Street, Piccadilly. Her sound and comprehensive mind, highly cultured as it was, could produce nothing contemptible : but it wanted that essential qualification of the true poet, active originality, the power of conceiving, and of shaping new conceptions. 216 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The following poem is a favourable specimen of her style. Its aptness to adhere to the memory proves the regularity of its numbers, and the well graduated succession of its thoughts. THE EVENING WALK. " How sweet the calm of this sequester'd shore, Where ebbing waters musically roll ; And solitude and silent eve restore The philosophic temper of the soul. The sighing gale, whose murmurs lull to rest The busy tumult of declining day, To sympathetic quiet soothes the breast, And ev'ry wild emotion dies away. Farewell, the objects of diurnal care, Your task be ended with the setting sun ; Let all be undisturb'd vacation here, While o'er yon wave ascends the peaceful moon. What beauteous visions o'er the soften'd heart In this still moment all their charms diffuse, Serener joys and brighter hopes impart, And cheer the soul with more than mortal views. Here faithful Mem'ry wakens all her pow'rs, She bids her fair ideal forms ascend, And quick to ev'ry gladden'd thought restores The social, virtue and the absent friend. Come, , come, and with me share, The sober pleasures of this solemn scene ; While no rude tempest clouds the ruffled air, But all, like thee, is smiling and serene. Come, while the cool, the solitary hours Each foolish care, and giddy wish control, With all thy soft persuasion's wonted pow'rs, Beyond the stars transport my listening soul. Oft when the earth detained by empty show, Thy voice has taught the trifler how to rise, Taught her to look with scorn on things below, And seek her better portion in the skies. Come, and the sacred eloquence repeat : The world shall vanish at its gentle sound, Angelic forms shall visit this retreat, And opening Heaven diffuse its glories round." LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 217 CHARLOTTE SMITH. The poet's bleak and dreary traject through this world is often like that of the traveller who, treading Arctic snow, leaves a rose-coloured track behind him. One of the most melancholy among female biographies is that of Charlotte Smith, not because of its unfortunate incidents, but because, while her fine genius found therein invigo- rating exercise, her heart never learned the sweet " uses of adversity." She was the daughter of Mr. Nicholas Turner, of Stoke, near Guildford, in Surrey, and of Bignor Park, , on the banks of the Arun, in Sussex. At the latter residence she was born, on the 4th of May in the year 1749. Her mother died when she was an infant, and an aunt who presided over the family endeavoured to check little Charlotte's predilection for books. She was instructed in the usual showy knowledge and accomplishments of a gentlewoman, and excelled in everything she undertook; but in spite of all obstacles poetry became her favourite pursuit, and the local traditions of her neighbourhood served to cherish her love for it ; for Otway and Collins had haunted its woods and downs. From the time that she attained her twelfth year, she occasionally resided in London with her father and the family, and there her eager thirst for knowledge was gratified by enlarged opportunities of observation, con- versation, and instruction. Her father held a partnership in a mercantile house, in conjunction with a Mr. Smith, who was also one of the Directors of the East India Company. Mr. Turner in- tending to give his children a stepmother, Charlotte was led, by the desire of escaping from such control, to take 218 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. the advice of some ill-judging relations and accept the offered hand of Mr. Smith's eldest son before she was sixteen years of age, her husband being five years her senior, though much inferior in discretion. At first, the young couple had a house in London, but the society of the east end was ill-suited to the refinement of her taste, and several children soon increasing her household cares, she readily acceded to her husband's wish to withdraw to a suburban villa, and subsequently to remove from thence into the country. The elder Mr. Smith, indulging his son's wayward pre- ference for rural occupations, purchased and presented to him a farm called the Lys, situated in Hampshire, and thither the young family went, full of new hopes and new projects. A lively, active fool is harder to guide than even a dull and dogged one. Her husband possessed in a high degree the art of self-delusion, and unfortunately believed' himself to possess extraordinary abilities for farming. He consequently entered upon speculative agri- culture with a bold and lavish hand, indulging meanwhile in an expensive household and habits of convivial hos- pitality, and looking forward to imaginary profits to make his income commensurate with his extravagant outlay. His prudent wife remonstrated in vain, and in the prospect of impending ruin soothed her anxieties by the composition of poetry. "When in the beech- woods of Hampshire," she says, "I first struck the chords of the melancholy lyre, its notes were never intended for the public ear ; it was unaffected sorrow drew them forth. I wrote mournfully because I was unhappy." In 1776, the elder Mr. Smith died, leaving a voluminous and inexplicable will, which only effectually provided for the expenditure of the greater part of his large fortune LITERARY W<>MKN (!' KN. 219 1 1m .uirliout 1< >n;j- years of lit Ration, by encouraging trustees and aiivnts to oppose the claims of the legatees. The husband of Charlotte Smith having been selected to serve as High Sheriff for his county, the expenses attendant upon the office produced a crisis in his affairs and caused him to be imprisoned for debt in the King's Bench. Thither his faithful wife accompanied him ; she spent near him, and in assiduous attendance upon him, the whole term of his seven months' incarceration, and during the latter part of it she shared his captivity. Having at last, by her successful arrangement of his affairs, procured his liberation, she enjoyed the gratification of returning with him to her paternal home, and has thus recorded her feelings on the occasion : " It was on the 2nd day of July that we commenced our journey. For more than a month I had shared the restraint of my husband in a prison, amidst scenes of misery, of vice, and even of terror. Two attempts had since my last residence among them been made by the prisoners to procure their liberation, by blowing up the walls of the house. Throughout the night appointed for this enterprise I remained dressed, watching at the window, and expecting every moment to witness contention and bloodshed, or perhaps to be overwhelmed by the projected explosion,. After such scenes and such apprehensions how deliciously soothing to my wearied spirits was the soft, pure air of the summer's morning, breathing over the dewy grass, as (having slept one night on the road) we passed o\er the heaths of Surrey, and my native hills at length burst upon my view! I beheld once more the fields where I liad passed my happiest days, and amidst the perfumed turf with which one of those field* \va> strewn, perceived with delight tin- lelnvrd irnmp I'mm 220 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. whom I had been so long divided, and for whose fate my affections were ever anxious. The transports of this meet- ing were too much for my exhausted spirits. After all my sufferings I began to hope I might taste content, or experience at least a respite from my calamities." This passage would be beautiful but for the use of the affected term "perfumed turf" instead of hay. While a sojourner in the King's Bench Prison, she had prepared a volume of her poems for publication. On offering it to Dodsley he rejected it at a glance. Through her brother's intervention it was then offered to Dilly? who also refused to take it. She therefore had it printed at Chichester, with a dedication to her friend Mr. Hayley, dated May 10th, 1784. A second edition was called for in the course of the same year. Mr. Smith, having been made aware that some other cre- ditors intended to arrest him, escaped to France, accompanied by his wife, who soon returned to England with the hope of arranging his affairs. Failing to effect that object, she took her children back with her to France, and hiring an old castle in Normandy spent the winter there with her husband. The next year she again came to England, and suc- ceeded at last in making arrangements with the creditors which enabled her husband to return. They then tenanted an old mansion-house at Wolbeding, in Sussex, the parish of which Otway's father had once been rector. Here she wrote the sonnets to the river Arun " On thy wild banks," &c. Being distressed for money she now translated a novel from the French of the Abbe Prevost, and also a selection of extraordinary stories from ' Les Causes Celebres,' which she published under the title of ' The Eomance of Real Life.' Imprudence and debt soon exiled her husband a LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 221 iid tiin.', anF KXGLANP. 223 these, and the still greater success of her prose works, furnished her with the means of maintenance and of educating and providing for her numerous children. The personal friendship of many eminent and estimable in- dividuals, won for her by those literary productions, she valued as the dearest solace of her sorrows. Several of her sonnets are addressed to the Hon. Mrs. O'Niel, the most beloved and intimate of them all. In March 1806, her wretched husband died in a gaol, and on the 28th of the following October, Charlotte Smith's careworn heart ceased to beat. She expired at Telford, near Farnham, in Surrey. A volume of her posthumous poems was published by her representatives. She was a good wife, a tender mother, an affectionate friend, and in all respects an upright and honourable woman. Her character combined those rare associates delicate fineness of perception and infrangible strength of purpose. Untaught in her infancy to pray to Our Father who is in Heaven, the sacred fire of devotion was never enkindled upon the altar of her heart to shed its healthful warmth and gladdening light from within, and transmute all evils into good. Her natural disposition was lively and gay, " She like a scattered seed at random sown, Was left to spring by vigour of her own," and far outgrew the ordinaiy standard of well culti- vated female minds. She made herself familiarly ac- quainted with the poets, historians, and writers of polite literature of her own country, and of her own and the next preceding generation, with the language and poetry of Italy, and with the language and general literature of France. She applied herself also to the study of such sciences as explain the phenomena of the earth, air, and sky, and took peculiar interest in natural history. She 224 LITEEABY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. drew skilfully, and was fond of using her pencil in the delineation of botanical specimens. Of the classic authors she seems to have known only what might be gathered by the ear from the conversation of scholars, or caught from the occasional allusions of English poetry. In her seventy-third sonnet she says, "Wilt thou yet murmur at a misplaced leaf? " and in a note refers to " a story, I know not where told, of a fastidious being," &c., showing utter ignorance of the effemi- nacy of the Sybarites. Well had it been for her had she known as little of Goethe's ' Sorrows of Werter,' and of the writings of Kousseau as she did of the ancient Greeks ! Discontent was the bane of her happiness. Viewing this world only as a day for enjoyment, the next world merely as a night for repose, she rebelled against troubles and trials as unjust inflictions, not discerning their proba- tionary use, in the preparation of human character for an immortal and heavenly life. Misfortunes soured and embittered her feelings ; they even narrowed and warped her noble mind. Few women have ever possessed greater advantages of capacity and ability, of acquirement and influence. Her faculties were of no common kind. Her mind had natu- rally great scope, comprising the high imaginative power of an inborn poet, with the accuracy of detail and sound common sense which constitute the woman of business and worldly wisdom. To her belonged also that attribute of noble natures, pervading sincerity ; the thoughts and feel- ings of her every-day existence being the opinions and sentiments of her prose and poetry. There is that charm in her poetry which belongs only to genius. The tone is too monotonous, the spirit too querulous ; it wants the exulting and exalting notes of the caroller who soars to LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 225 llio skies and dwells Mis^fully in the turf, yet it has a sort of ravishment like tli> nightingale's strains, ever pleasing though plaintive. ON THE DEPARTURE OF THE NIGHTINGALE. 41 Sweet poet of the woods a long adieu ! Farewell, soft minstrel of the early yen ! Ah ! 't will be long ere thou shalt sing anew, And pour thy music on ' the night's dull > Whether on Spring thy wandering flights await, Or whether silent in our groves you dwell, The pensive muse shall own thee for her mate, And still protect the song she loves so well. With cautious step, the love-lorn youth shall glide Thro' the lone brake that shades thy mossy nest ; And shepherd girls from eyes profane shall hidr The gentle bird, who sings of pity best : For still thy voice shall soft affections move, And still be dear to sorrow and to love ! " To SPRING. " Again the wood and long-withdrawing vale In many a tint of tender green are drest, Where the young leaves, unfolding, scarce conceal Beneath their early shade, the half-formed nest Of finch or woodlark ; and the primrose pale, And lavish cowslip, wildly scatter'd round, Give their sweet spirits to the sighing gale. Ah ! season of delight ! could aught be found To soothe awhile the tortured bosom's pain, Of Sorrow's rankling shaft to cure the wound, And bring life's first delusions once again, T were surely met in thee ! thy prospect fair, Thy sounds of harmony, thy balmy air, Have power to cure all sadness but despair." To FORTITUDE. Nymph of the rock ! whose dauntless spirit braves The beating storm, and bitter winds that howl Round thy cold breast ; and hear'st the bursting waves, And the deep thunder with unshaken soul ; Oh come ! and show how vain the cares that press On my weak bosom and how little worth Is the false fleeting meteor, Happiness, That still misleads the wanderers of the earth ! Q 226 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Strengthened by thee, this heart shall cease to melt O'er ills that poor humanity must bear ; Nor friends estranged, or ties dissolved be felt To leave regret, and fruitless anguish there : And when at length it heaves its latest sigh, Thou and mild Hope shall teach me how to die." THE GOSSAMER. " O'er faded heath-flowers spun, or thorny furze, The filmy Gossamer is lightly spread ; * Waving in every sighing air that stirs, As Fairy fingers had enwtined the thread : A thousand trembling orbs of lucid dew Spangle the texture of the fairy loom, As if soft Sylphs, lamenting as they flew, Had wept departed Summer's transient bloom : But the wind rises, and the turf receives The glittering web : So, evanescent, fade Bright views that Youth with sanguine heart, believes : So vanish schemes of bliss, by Fancy made ; Which, fragile as the fleeting dreams of morn, Leave but the wither'd heath, and barren thorn ! " In her 35th sonnet (To FORTITUDE) there is a tone which reveals how sublimely she might have learned to triumph over earth-born cares, had she applied to the right source for strength. Her versification is always graceful and always melodious, though sometimes languid and too full of quoted lines. The following little poem indicates her knowledge of botanic localities, and of the writings of Linnaeus. It has peculiar interest as affording a comparison with one written upon the same subject by Felicia Hemans. FLORA'S HOROLOGE. " In every copse and sheltered dell, Unveiled to the observant eye, Are faithful monitors who tell How pass the hours and seasons by. The green-robed children of the Spring Will mark the periods as they pass, Mingle with leaves Time's feathered wing, And bind with flowers his silent glass. 1.1TKKAKY \\OMKN <>F K.M!|..\NI>. 2*27 Mark \vliriv trans|>aiviit \vatrrs glidr, Soft flowing o'er their tranquil bnl : There, cradled on the dimpling tid< , Nymphea rests her lovt-ly l:i .. 1. But, conscious of the rarlii-.st beam. She rises from her humid nest, And sees refleeted in the stream, The virgin whiteness of her breast ; Till the bright day-star to the west Declines, in ocean's surge to lave, Then, folded in, her modest vest, She slumbers on the rocking wave. See Hieraciurn's various tribe, Of plumy seed and radiate flowers, The course of Time their blooms describe And wake or sleep appointed hours. Broad o'er its imbricated cup, The Goatsbcard spreads its golden rays, But shuts its cautious petals up, Retreating from the noon-tide blaze. Pale as a pensive cloistered nun, The Bcthlem Star her face unveils, When o'er the mountain peers the sun, But shades it from the vesper gales. Among the loose and arid sands, The humble Arenaria creeps, Slowly the purple star expands, But soon within its calyx sleeps. And those small bells so lightly rayed With young Aurora's rosy hue, Are to the noontide sun displayed, But shut their plaits against the dew. On upland slopes, the shepherds mark The hour, when as the dial true, Cichorium to the towering lark Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue. And thou, ' Wee crimson- tipped flower,' Gatherest thy fringed mantle round Thy bosom at the closing hour, When night-drops bathe the turfy ground. Unlike Silene, who declines The garish noontide's blazing light, But when the evening crescent shines Gives all her sweetness to the night. Q2 228 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Thus in each flower and simple bell That in our path betrodden lie, Are sweet remembrancers who tell How fast their winged moments fly." The admirable merit of her prose fictions is indisputable. She excels in descriptions of nature, but always keeps her scenery in subservience to her personages. Her stories are not usually remarkable for skilful complications, but they excite that sort of interest which events derive from being related by one who has taken part in them. Great experience of life, keen observation, and satiric wit, flash forth from every page. There is nothing strikingly original in her characters, but they all have the air of real human beings, speaking so naturally as to sustain our eager interest, feeling so keenly as to touch our tearful sym- pathies, thinking so erroneously and so despondingly as to cause a sort of contemptuous compassion to blend with our just admiration of her extraordinary abilities. Her novels seem to have been composed and printed in great haste, bearing evident marks of negligence in the construction of sentences, and being so full of verbal mis- takes as to suggest the probability that the manuscripts were scarcely legible, and that she had never corrected the proof-sheets. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XII. THE POETESSES. V.D. 1806-1810. Hannah Cowley Anna Seward Mary Tighe. 1 Diverse voci fanno dolci note." DANTE, 'Dell Paradise,' vi. 124. Of diverse voices is sweet music made." CARV'S Translation, Canto 6, line 127. HANNAH COWLEY, THE greatest of our female comic-dramatists, was the daughter of Mr. Philip Parkhouse, a well educated and intelligent bookseller, and born in 1743, at Tiverton, in Devonshire. The poet Gay was their kinsman, and per- haps his fame stimulated Mr. Parkhouse's inclination towards learning, and increased the pride and pleasure which he felt in cultivating the precocious abilities of his shy and gentle daughter. She imbibed his knowledge from conversation rather than by any regular course of in- struction, for which she had no aptitude. Had she been a person of high birth, and lived in Tudor times, she would have left behind no fame of mastered languages and operose translations, but rather would have expended her vivacious fancy wholly in diffusing domestic cheerfulness, and in the invention of masques and pageants. At twenty-five years of age Hannah Parkhouse married 230 LITEEAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Captain Cowley, an amiable and well-educated man, and went with him to reside in London. She did not often attend stage performances, but sitting one night at the theatre with her husband, and noticing his lively interest in the play which was being represented, she became suddenly conscious of her own dramatic power, and ex- claimed, " So delighted with this ? Why, I could write as well myself!" He smiled incredulously, for she had attained the age of thirty-three and given no tokens of likelihood. The next morning she wrote a sketch of the first act of her i Runaway,' which effectually convinced her husband of her ability. She rapidly completed the comedy ; it was favourably received by Mr. Garrick, brought upon the stage, and acted with such distinguished success, that her reputation as a comic-dramatist became at once established. This proved to be the last play which the English Koscius ever superintended. On its first representation the part of Emily was performed by Mrs. Siddons, whose wonderful tragic powers had not yet been recognized by a London audience. This comedy is much better adapted for acting than for reading. Its moral merit is negative, for in a licentious age, when ceremonious manners veiled very thinly gross and prevalent immoralities, she dared both in thought and word to be delicate and modest, and is repre- hensible only for her too ardent descriptions of lawful love. The exaggerated and bombastic manner of making it is copied from the fashion of the times. The tragedy of 1 Albina ' seems to have been her next composition, as it is said to have been placed in the hands of Mr. Garrick immediately after he had quitted the stage, which he did in 1776. It was produced at the Haymarket Theatre in 1779, and met with a certain measure of success. The LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 231 plot is well suited for stage effect: the tone moral and chivalrous. The blank verse is of the worst kind, having no proper rhythm, and scarcely an attempt at it, beyond a few passages imitated from some inflated speeches of Shakspeare. It is designed to illustrate the passion of envy, and fulfils its purpose. In the same year, 1779, her comedy, called ' Who's the Dupe ? ' was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre,, and met with great applause. For this play her father, at her request, furnished her " with Greek to laugh at." Even in reading, the effect of the author's buoyant humour is so exhilarating that the heart must be sad indeed which cannot share its merriment ; and upon the stage its irresistible drollery insured its popularity ; in spite of the splenetic critics, who censured it as farce-like, although framed from those constituent elements of college seclusion and town intercourse, which must offer a lively contrast in any civilized age. In 1780, Mrs. Cowley reached the zenith of her dramatic course in ' The Belle's Stratagem.' This admirable comedy was brought out at Covent Garden Theatre, and received with the highest favour. When printed it was dedicated by special permission to Queen Charlotte; and that dis- creet reformer of the British Court, with her royal spouse, King George III., continued to patronise that spirited comedy as long as they attended theatrical performances. It has stood the test of time, and won a place among the standard dramas of the country ; establishing the right of Hannah Cowley to have her name enrolled among those of the ablest comic writers of her period, Goldsmith and Macklin, Cumberland, Colman, and Sheridan. At the same theatre, two years afterwards, her comedy of ' Which is the Man ? ' was warmly welcomed, although far below the ' Belle's Stratagem ' in merit. Her whimsical 232 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. and clever comedy, entitled ' A Bold Stroke for a Hus- band/ achieved a triumph in 1783, which was only secondary to that of ' The Belle's Stratagem.' The beauti- ful Mrs. Robinson was the Yictoria of its first series of representations. In 1783, her beloved husband left her to join his regi- ment in Bengal, and she soothed the pains of absence by writing the sprightly comedy of ' More Ways than One,' which was successfully acted at Covent Garden Theatre in that year, and published with a dedication to him. In 1786, her ' School for Grey-beards ' came out at Drury Lane. Part of the plot of this comedy was taken by a friend from an old play and given to her to be worked out. It is said to be the only one of her eleven successful dramas which did not wholly spring from her own fertile fancy. The first Donna Seraphina in this piece was Miss Farren ; the first Don Henry, Mr. J. P. Kemble. In 1788, her ' Fate of Sparta ' came out at Drury Lane. It is founded on the well-known history of Leonidas and Cleombrotus, and the filial and conjugal duty of Chelonice. On the first representation the part of the heroine was performed by Mrs. Siddons. The stage situations are striking, the diction is better, and the metre more exact than those of ' Albina ; ' but this second tragedy, though not a failure, tended to establish the fact, that the ability of Mrs. Cowley was essentially comic. In 1792, her comedy, called ' A Day in Turkey,' full of lively dialogue, and of exciting incidents for stage effect, was successfully brought out at Covent Garden. In 1795, her comedy of l The Town before You,' appeared at the same theatre, and closed an almost unparalleled series of dramatic successes. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 233 It is remarkable that most of the prologues and epi- logues of her plays were written by herself. She had a peculiar turn for such compositions, and conformably to an aphorism which was probably unknown to her, that " prepossession of mind requires preface of speech," she exercised an instinctive faculty not only for preparing the temper of an audience to listen favourably, but also for inciting them to crown her efforts with acceptance and applause. She evidently had learned all that she best knew from experience, and from a sort of unintentional observation of surrounding life and conversation. In her comedies she described the manners she saw, wrote the phrases she heard, and invented with original and un- taught skill, out of materials acquired she knew not how, all the complexities and varieties of plots and pleasant dialogues. In the characters her scope is not wide, and her favourites reappear with different names in all ; more especially the sprightly, elegant, and virtuous woman of fashion, highly cultivated, yet natural and spontaneous, self-possessed, and " mistress of her whole situation." Pro- bably the idea of this dramatic personage was caught from the innocent and airy bearing of some lady of her ac- quaintance. Her celebrity must have won many fashion- able patronesses, the graces of polished society were con- genial to her taste, and she could throw herself successfully into any ideal form. Perhaps a recollection of Moliere's Clarinda might influence this conception, and certainly the fascinations of a Younge and a Farren conduced to the effect, if not to the production of these charming heroines. The preface to her ' Collected Works/ 3 vols. 8vo., 1813, gives a very meagre account of her life, and of the deve- lopment and working of her mind. It states, however, that " she was accustomed to say that she always succeeded 234 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. best when she herself did not know what she was going to do, and suffered the plot to grow under her pen." It is added " In her plays posterity may, perhaps, find as complete specimens as will reach them of English colloquy towards the close of the eighteenth century, and of manners as characteristic of the day as the style of the elder dramatists is of theirs." This is most true; even the ungrammatical phrase, " You was," constantly occurs in her comedies ; and all contemporary literature proves that she rightly delineated the people of her generation. She excelled in sketching and colouring surfaces ; the ripples, light waves, and little weirs of the social stream, she traced w T ith admirable skill ; but the ocean depths of thought and feeling lay far beyond her sounding-lead, and consequently her tragedies were worthless, and her poems inane. In confessing that she was the Anna Matilda who cor- responded with Mr. Merry, under his signature of Delia Crusca, the style of her poetry is announced, and declara- tion made, that her verses are mere artificial compositions, devoid of real bardic inspiration. In the language of con- versation, whether grave or gay, sentimental or satirical, Mrs. Cowley is invariably fluent ; but when she leaves the causeway of ordinary life for the airy mountain regions of poetry, she loses her power, wants apt thoughts, apt words, and all the true graces of diction, while, retaining an un- fortunate facility wholly verbose, she pours forth reversed sentences and turgid phrases in unequal and inharmonious measures. In her comedies all is easy and natural, in her tragedies and poems all is distorted and bombastic ; and her darling epithet, tortuous, exactly expresses the effect of such poetasting upon her readers. She never was fond of reading, but preferred travels to LITEHARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 235 any other books, as they suited the habit of superficial observation, which was congenial to her mind. Her memory was not remarkably tenacious, but it served to illustrate her own lines : " What others gain by study liard, Flows in upon the musing bard, A word, the slightest hint will do, To bring all knowledge in review." In poetry, however, be the subject what it may, those illustrations and enhancements are needed which only a rich memory can pour forth from its treasures ; and con- sequently there the poverty of an unstored mind must be helplessly laid open. In a collateral line with her dra- matic triumphs runs the series of her once admired poems. In 1780, she published the first, part and a fragment of the second part of her tale in blank verse called 'The Maid of Arragon.' The story is as ill-concocted as the verse : nothing more silly could be devised than the heroine's conduct, in going out alone by moonlight, en- countering an utter stranger, telling him the secret which involved her own and her father's life and liberty, and discovering too late, that this insidious new acquaintance is a suborned traitor, who has come there on purpose to make them captives. In 1786, she wrote 'The Scottish Village/ which, being in rhymed iambics, has a little more order, if not more rhythm, than her blank verse ; but her notion of poetry seemed to be comprised in a fettered, cramped, and de- formed style of ordinary English. No sooner does she begin to write verse, than all is " mellifluous," '< tortuous," and Delia Cruscan. In ' The Scottish Village,' her praise of her contemporaries, Miss Seward, Mrs. Barbauld, and Miss Burney, evinces a heart free from envy and full of generous enthusiasm. 236 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Her l Elegy on a Field of Battle ' contains a few good lines. For instance ; " Ah, wayward Fancy bids dread scenes revive, Which Time's dark mists had veiled from mortal ken ; Embattled squadrons rush as when alive, And shadowy falchions gleam o'er shadowy men !" Dryden appears to have been her poetical model, and well selected in one particular ; for there was, alike in the imitated and the imitator, an essentially prosaic element ; but she unfortunately adds the want of energy to his de- plorable want of sentiment. The harmony of her versi- fication improves chronologically, but she was incapable of attaining the full and free command of a poetic lyre of any form or size. The home occupation^ of her 'Edwina the Huntress,' are those of the fine ladies of Mrs. Cowley's own days. " Her needle's skill made tenderest flowerets blow, Which now in sweet festoons around her glow ; In cooling grots her shell-work seized the eye, With skill arranged to show each blending dye ; The age's taste her garden well displayed, Her vivid fancy each parterre arrayed, Here yews in shape of solid walls she reared, Or there a dreary castle they appeared ; In box the eagle hovered o'er its nest, Or couchant lions seemed resigned to rest." The fair Edwina's field-sports, however, differed essen- tially from those of Mrs. Cowley's time : " For her the hawking party was prepared, She roused the wolf, the foaming boar she chased, And danger's self was in her presence graced." The following lines, from the third book of * The Siege of Acre/ afford a favourable specimen of Mrs. Cowley's descriptive poetry : " Soft twilight's gentle mission came in vain. No more the signal now to quit the plain, And soon the night her shades more thickly threw And hid creation from the tortured view. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLANH. 237 But raging battle gives its own dread light, From roofs on fire, flames flash upon the sight, Amidst the vast of sable ether soar The dismal dirges of the cannon's roar, In flumes sent forth in curving flight shells glow, And Death's own beams his frequent murders show. The sea's black surges catch the lurid lay, And every billow foams with fiery spray, Here waves terrific drown the cannon's roar, Sinuous roll along and sparkle up the shore ; There mounts of aqueous flame arrest the sight, And ocean heaves its Heclas on the night : Now, on their points, the vessels seem to burn, Or down abysses dark to overturn, Unquenched the glowing masts again aspire, The men ascending ropes of tortuous fire. On shore, the palms deception lift in air, And branchy sycamores unhurtful glare ; Quick floods of flame bring out each darkened hill, Their rough contours with transient radiance fill, And gleam down every slope, point every line, And each sharp ridge with pencilled fire define : They pierce the gloom which hovered o'er the slain, Revealing those who lay convulsed with pain. Here showing men who heave with doubtful life, There, where last agonies have closed the strife. The moans of pain are floating through the air, The shrieks of torture, groans of deep despair. That scene excites too torturous a sigh, Where as men kill, they 're slain, by others who must die." This is her most ambitious and elaborate poem, and was written in or about the year 1799. It acquired great popularity from the historic interest of the subject and the fame of its hero, Sir Sydney Smith ; nevertheless, its animation is merely galvanic, and possesses none of the real attributes of continuous life. Mrs. Cowley was a woman of retired habits, and of un- affected and agreeable manners. Her happiness was in her home ; she dearly loved her parents, her husband, and her four children, and liked the quiet occupations of paint- ing and sculpture. Just before the outbreak of the first French Revolution, she spent a year in France for the benefit of her daughter's education. In 1797, sho hrcame 238 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. a widow ; and in 1801, she left the great metropolis, which had been so long her place of abode, and returned to spend the remainder of her life at Tiverton, her native town. She had run ambition's course, and won its wreaths. Contented and thankful for the past, she now aspired to a higher and immortal prize. Her l Summons to Painting/ her * Epistle Kemonstra- tive,' and her ' Fireside Tour,' are easy and lively pieces of verse, which derive their interest almost entirely from the intimations they afford of her habits of life in her latter years. They show her taking an active part in the society of the town and neighbourhood, making and re- ceiving morning visits, attending evening assemblies, chatting with the friends of her childhood, revising her works for reprinting, and gardening with all the alacrity of health and happiness. * The Emigration of the House of Braganza,' a poem suggested by the event which occurred in 1807, was one of her last compositions. She had never suffered from serious illness until early in the year 1808, when her constitution began gradually to break up; and, discerning the approaching end, she looked forward with tranquil hope to immortality. The last verses she ever wrote were entitled ' A Petition after Thaw-flood,' and prefixed to a subscription paper in behalf of a poor man whose property had been destroyed by the inundation. He obtained thereby compensation for his losses. On the 10th of March, 1809, she was busy in her garden planting flowers : the next morning, for the first time, she felt too ill to leave her bed ; and on the evening of the same day, Saturday, the llth, she peacefully expired at the age of sixty-six. LITKKAKV \VnMKN OF EN(ILANI). ANNE SEWARD, The Swan of Liclifield,' 'The Inventress of Epic Elegy,' the idol of her circle, and one of the most admired beauties and writers of her day, was born at the rectory of Eyam in Derbyshire, amid the wonderful scenery of the Peak, and near the manufacturing town of Sheffield, renowned for its cutlery. In the Biographical Preface to Sir Walter Scott's edition of her * Poems and Juvenile Letters,' he states distinctly that she was born in the year 1747, without mentioning the month or day ; and in these particulars his statement has been copied by all the numerous authorities consulted by the writer of the present work. A passage in one of those letters mentions that on the 12th of the preceding December she bade farewell " to the soft and musically sounding teens ;" thus fixing her birthday, and suggesting by its place in her correspondence, that she must have attained her twentieth year long before 1767. The essayist consequently wrote to Eyam to ascertain the truth, and received from the present obliging rector a copy of the following entry in the parocliial Register : " 1742, December 24, baptised Anne, the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Seward, rector of Eyam, and Mrs. Elizabeth Seward, his wife." Her father was a man of independent fortune, a prebendary of Salisbury, and canon residentiary of Lichfield. He was a poet, and some of his verses were published in the second volume of Dodsley's Collection. He edited, in 1 750, an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays, which was for many years afterwards considered the best in existence. Her mother was the daughter of the Rev. William Hunter, head-master of the Lichfield Grammar-school, and famous for the cele- brity of his pupils, Samuel Johnson and David Garrick. 240 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Mr. and Mrs. Seward had several daughters, and one of them, named Jane, was baptised in July 1747, and doubtless born in that year, usually assigned to her sister Anne : they had also a son, but all their children died in infancy, excepting the poetess, and Sarah, who was baptised at Eyam in April, 1744. In the year 1754, the family removed to the Bishop's palace at Lichfield, which became their life-long home; but Anne, or Anna as she called herself, the " Nancy " of her parents' fireside, frequently accompanied in after years the sojournings of her father at Eyam ; of which he continued the incumbent for a period of fifty years. Her apprehension being quick, and her memory retentive, her father took pleasure in teaching her to recite passages from the works of Shakspeare and Milton. These authors, Dryden and Pope, Prior and Young, were the first with whose poetry she became con- versant; and the four last exercised a durable influence upon her mind. Before she had attained the age of ten years, she manifested her imitative faculty in verse, and diligently availed herself of every opportunity of gratifying her thirst for knowledge. The avidity with which, in succeeding years, she received her father's instructions, excited his fears lest his beautiful girl should grow up a learned woman, he therefore prohibited poetry and scholastic studies. With affectionate submission to his will, Anna ceased from her favourite pursuits, and diligently applied herself to strictly feminine accomplishments, in which, and more especially in ornamental needlework, she attained great proficiency. A still harder trial attended her youth ; and her self- government, strong principles of duty, and filial attach- ment enabled her so to triumph over the temptations of a first love, in spite of her impetuous temper, that the I. IT Kit AH Y WOMEN OF KM J I. AND. 241 of her parents henceforth increased their affection for her, and won them to withdraw the prohibition against literature. The clergy of the cathedral, who were her father's friends and visitors, took almost paternal pride and pleasure in her abilities ; and she renewed her studies, aided by them and by Dr. Darwin, not merely without further impediment, but with perhaps too strong an impulsion of uniform applause. Mr. Eichard Lovel Edgeworth has insinuated in his Autobiography that Miss Seward had been the rival of the first Mrs. Darwin for the doctor's addresses. This is effectually contradicted by the fact that Dr. Darwin married Miss Howard of the Close, Lichfield, in the year 1757, when Anna Seward was only fifteen years of age. Her early letters, 1762-8, in the collection edited by Sir Walter Scott, are published in a curtailed form : all of them are entertaining, and some of them deeply interesting : the style is neither inverted nor affected, and many original remarks which they contain are pertinent, penetrating, and sagacious. In her literary criticisms, there is always some isolated remark or other which indicates acute discrimination ; but prepossession and prejudice had so perverted her reasoning powers, that her judgment can never be relied upon in balancing the merits and demerits of any particular book, or in comparing the compositions of one author with those of another. In proof of this assertion may be cited her preference of the ' Caractacus ' and the ' Elfrida ' of Mason to the ' Samson Agonistes ' of Milton. She reckoned among her friends almost all the poets and rhymers of her times, and she regarded them all with such affectionate partiality as to lavish commendation and real admiration upon all their productions whether good, R 242 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. indifferent, or contemptible. She disliked Dr. Johnson for his despotic manners, and Richard Lovel Edgeworth for his opposing self-conceit; but her antipathies were few, and her friendships numerous, generous, and enthusiastic. Contemporary merit never failed to obtain her applause, and she was ever ready to assist necessitous authors both with her influence and with her purse. In 1764, her sister Sarah having entered into a matrimonial engagement with Mr. Porter, a merchant of Leghorn, the step-son of Dr. Johnson, Anna Seward had promised to accompany them to Italy, and was employed in preparations for the wedding and the journey, when the betrothed bride was suddenly seized with a fever, which terminated her life in a few days. Under this affliction, Anna Seward's warmth of heart enabled her to afford great consolation to her bereaved parents, while she was herself upheld by the assiduous and tender cares of the young Honora Sneyd. Time having softened the grief of Mr. Porter, he gradually transferred his affection to the surviving sister, whose conversation was his best resource and solace ; but Anna Seward rejected his addresses, and knowing her society to be indispensable to her parents' happiness, resolved never to leave them. For their sakes, in subsequent years, she refused many advantageous offers of marriage ; contenting herself with the triumphs which her beauty, her talents, and her spirit of ascendancy, enabled her to obtain in local society ; and with the public celebrity acquired by her writings while verifying the remark of Madame de Stae'l : " Le genie poetique est une disposition interieure, de la meme nature que celle qui rend capable d'un genereux sacrifice."* (Poetic genius is an internal disposition of the same nature as that * L'Allemagne : ' De la Po&ie.' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLANh. 243 \vliidi renders one capable of a generous sacrifice.) In the case of Miss Seward, however, the word feeling would be more appropriate than genius. In the year 1778, Anne, Countess of Northesk, wife of George the sixth Earl, was led by the medical reputation of Dr. Darwin to sojourn for some time at Lichfield. She was suffering from a dangerous malady which had baffled the skill of all the most celebrated physicians in London ; and Dr. Darwin's acuteness and ingenuity were stimulated to the utmost by the desire to prolong the life of a most amiable woman, and to obtain a triumph over his pro- fessional brethren. At his request, the Countess and one of her daughters, who had accompanied her to Lichfield, became inmates of his house, where they received the most judicious and kind attentions from Mrs. Darwin, and from her intimate friend Miss Seward, whose humane feelings were deeply touched by the imminent peril of a life so precious to a husband and a large family of children. The engaging manners of the Countess, and her gratitude for Anna Seward's devoting her time and talents to the solace of her sufferings, increased to enthusiasm the sympathy of the poetess, One day, in speaking of the invalid, Dr. Darwin said that a thought had occurred to him, that the operation of the transfusion of blood into her veins from those of a healthy human being might probably conduce to her cure. Anna Seward, in perfect health and the prime of life, instantly volunteered to be bled for the supply. Inability to obtain mechanical instruments of sufficient delicacy caused the Doctor to relinquish the project ; but the Countess, deeply affected by the offered self-sacrifice of her friend, repaid her generous intention with affectionate attachment. By other means, Dr. Darwin succeeded in B2 244 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. restoring her health; Lady Northesk returned to her happy home in Scotland, and soon sent Miss Seward a set of fine pebbles as a present. They continued to correspond by letter during the few remaining years of the Countess's life, which was unfortunately terminated by an accident : her clothes caught fire, and thus she perished. It would appear that after the death of her sister, and the alienating marriage of Honora Sneyd, Anna Seward had no other confidential friend than her parents. She consequently formed the habit of making her poems the depositaries of her best thoughts and feelings, and of diffusing her opinions in letters. The admiration bestowed upon her verses in society encouraged her to venture upon the publication of some of them in the Magazines. The * Elegy on Captain Cook,' who was massacred at Owhyhee on Valentine's-day in the year 1779, has real and perma- nent interest, conveys much historic truth, some very curious information, and a great deal of humane and amiable sentiment, in harmonious verse. A redundance of glittering ornaments and an absurd excess of personifica- tion spoil the effect, for even " Shipwreck guards the laud ! " The ' Monody on Major Andre,' who died heroically a traitor's death at Tappan, October 2, 1780, possesses sufficient merit to account for its having been adopted as the expression of a nation's grief, at a period when the whole British army wore mourning for - his death, and all Europe deplored and stigmatized his fate. Miss Seward had known him when a boy, and personal regret gave earnestness to -her poem: for he was the lover of the beautiful Honora Sneyd, who was brought up by Mr. and Mrs. .Seward, and fondly regarded by their I.ITKKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 245 daughters. One of the best couplets relates to the French people, who, under their King Louis XVI., encouraged the revolt of the Anglo-American States : " Unnatural compact ! Shall a race of slaves Sustain the ponderous standard Freedom waves?" The incessant and indiscriminating use of personification deforms and spoils the Monody. Thus certain spectators " Through rolling years, saw undecisive War Drag bleeding Wisdom at his iron car ! " In 1780, Mrs. Seward died. She was a kind-hearted, common-place person, who acquitted herself blamelessly of her domestic duties, and enforced the observance of all ordinary proprieties and ceremonies, attending with equal punctuality the cathedral services and the card-parties of her neighbours, and duly holding assemblies and practising hospitality in her turn. Anna's chief attachment had ever been to her father, whom she accompanied in all his little migrations and visits. The shock of his wife's death brought on a paralytic disorder, which in the course of time impaired his intellects, and gradually reduced him to a condition of infantine weakness both of mind and body. Lady Millar of Batheaston died in July, 1781. For nearly six previous years she had, during the Bath season, held an assembly once a fortnight, proposing to the company on each of these occasions subjects for poems to be read at the next meeting. The contributions were deposited in an " antique Etruscan vase," and taken out by three appointed gentlemen, who read them aloud, and decided on their comparative merits ; three myrtle garlands being the rewards of the three competitors whose poems were preferred. Once every year a volume of these prize poems was published for the benefit of a charitable institu- tion in the neighbourhood, and four volumes had appeared 246 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. when Lady Millar's death, in the prime of her days, put an end to the series. Among the competitors in these Batheaston games were Sir Brooke Boothby ; Potter, the translator of '.ZEschylus ;' Edward Jerningham, author of ' The Nun,' ' Funeral of Ariber,' &c. ; Anstey, author of < The Bath Guide ;' Hayley, author of ' The Triumphs of Temper ;' Graves, author of ' The Spiritual Quixote ;' Dr. Whalley, and many other celebrated writers, besides Miss Seward, who was repeatedly crowned with the choicest of the wreaths of victory. She wrote a poem, ' To the Memory of Lady Millar,' expressive of real and affectionate regret. Her favourite signature to her sentimental and critical epistles and to her fugitive poems was " Julia." The author of the present notice recollects to have met with many of her pieces, years ago, in 'The Universal Magazine/ which are not reprinted in the posthumous collection, especially one beginning " Oh, lend your wings, ye favouring gales," &c. In 1782, she published her ' Louisa,' a poetical novel in four epistles, which was well received by the public, and speedily passed through repeated editions. The story is interesting, the death of Emira deeply pathetic ; and the power of that writer must not be disputed who can at will touch our hearts and call forth our tears. The style is free from any unusual inversions ; and passages of great beauty and feeling show, that under more favourable auspices, Anna Seward might have avoided those faults which have sullied her literary fame. For instance : " No grief my bosom at our parting knew But that of bidding thee a long adieu, And the sweet tears that such soft sorrows bring Fall as light rain-drops in the sunny spring." * Ep. i., p. 225. I.ITKKAKY WOMKN OF ENGLAND. 247 And " Faint in the yellow broom the oxen lay, And the mute birds sat languid on the spray, And nought was hcnrd around the noontide bower, Save that the mountain-bee from flower to flower Seemed to prolong, with her assiduous wing, The soft vibration of the tuneful string." * Again " The plenteous dews that in the early ray Gem the light leaf and tremble on the spray, The fresh, cool, ^ales that undulating pass With shadowy sweep along the bending grass." f Of lines such as these, no British poet of any period need be ashamed. In the year 1790, her ten years of unremitting watch- fulness and tender assiduity terminated in the death of her fond father, from whom she inherited a handsome fortune. He was buried at Lichfield on the 4th of March. 1790. The episcopal palace of that city continued to be her home through life, but having now lost the chief object of her affectionate solicitude, she gave more time to her friends, and frequently spent weeks and months at their houses. So genuine was her love of literature, that she loved all literary aspirants, and without jealousy, envy, or any of those mean and invidious feelings which too often attend upon personal vanity, was ever ready to applaud with zealous partiality the works of her contemporaries. In the year 1791, she stayed for some time at Cowslip Green with Hannah More and her admirable sisters, and after her departure, enthusiastically eulogised her hostesses " The virgin train, Led by the boast of Britain's tuneful plain, Where genius oft has fed its kindling fires, Kolled the rapt rye, and struck the golden wires, KI>. i., p. 22G. t Ibid., p. 272. 248 LITER AIfY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Bristol, that hears her More's distinguished name Wafted by echoes round the shrine of fame. On whose mild brow she sees bright laurels twine, Culled from their choicest bowers by all the Nine, Enwreathed with charity's assuasive balm, And faith and virtue's never-dying palm." Her visits to Hayley at Eartliam in Sussex, to the Granvilles at Calwich, and to other friends at Buxton, Shrewsbury, Bath, Colton, and various places, are likewise celebrated in verse. Her repeated sojourns at Llangollen with Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsoiiby are also commemorated " Oh Cambrian Tempe ! oft with transport hailed, I leave thee now, as I did ever leave Thee and thy peerless mistresses," &c. There are other reminiscences of Llangollen which prove how justly she had appreciated the extraordinary beauty of its scenery, even to the most minute features. In her ' Epistle to Cornelia/ the versified description of the faithfulness of even a betrayed woman's love, derived from the study of Hogarth's ' Rake's Progress,' reveals the kindly sympathy and the depth of feminine tenderness which possessed the inmost heart of Anna Seward. In 1799, she published her ' Sonnets,' ^ which afford creditable specimens of her skill in metre, rhythm, and rhyme. These are republished among l The Poetical Works of Anna Seward, with Extracts from her Literary Correspondence, and a Biographical Preface,' by Sir Walter Scott, in three volumes, which he edited in 1810. Good sense, right sentiments, and extensive knowledge are mani- fested in almost all her verses. The numerous pieces which express her personal thoughts and feelings upon present scenes and passing events have all more or less of that quiet truth which insures human sympathy. She observes and copies objects with exactness, but her poetical pictures. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. -Ml) like those of the modem process called Nature-printing, are usually flattened, and blurred, and have life and elasti- city crushed out of them. There is no artistic genius to reimbue them with vitality. She is earnest, but she wants originality and energy, and attempts to atone for the de- ficiency by artificial inflation. Many of her poems have the air of drawing-room compositions, shaped for momen- tary effect upon ascertained characters. In all her various subjects, and her different forms of treating them, there may perhaps be detected the style of some poet, whose tune, having caught, she plays with ingenious variations. An instance of her imitative cleverness may be found in * Auld Willie's Farewell,' vol. iii., p. 358. Ranked fairly among the British poets of her generation, her place would be between Mason and Hayley. Alike in society and in literature, she sought too much for admira- tion, and came before an assembly of friends, and before the public, in person and in print, dressed to perform a part, ever mindful of stage effect, and of " The tiara and the glittering zone." It is easy to ridicule .and despise the affectation of Miss Seward, but let the satirist remember that with her the vanity which prompted it was a fault of the surface : an affectionate, faithful, and generous heart beat below it. Her principles of duty were well defined ; her virtues were sincere. On the contrary, simulation and dissimulation, in the present day usually indicate deception to be the prevalent and pervading vice of educated women of the world. Their vanity is not merely an absurd foible, but the visible emanation of deep internal falsehood. They act a part so incessantly, that after a few years' practice, thev know little more of their own real selves than their 250 LITEBAEY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. associates do. Their conduct has no basis in truthful and consistent principle ; to produce a present effect is their one object through all circumstances ; they live as it were on the stage and before an audience. With the unpractised, feeble, and careless, a principal fault of style, whether written or conversational, is that of so misarranging words as to excite, in the first clause of a sentence, a false impression of the subsequent matter. This occasions mental fatigue to the recipient, who is tasked with the correction of his own first notions, and with the rectification of the author's statements, by the rule of natural order and precedency. Just as in advancing towards an object of sight, its lineaments and tints are gradually discerned, so, under ordinary circumstances, should the words of a sentence lead on to a correct appre- hension of the meaning, in a true, exact, and well de- veloped exposition of time, cause, and effect. On the same principle, if surprise is intended, the words must purposely be so placed as to produce the sensation of sudden behold- ing. Too much care cannot be spent in fitting apt words to apt thoughts, or in rendering language truthful and clear. When, on the contrary, instead of studying to form an orderly verbal medium for information, a writer or speaker endeavours to make the mere vehicle the chief object of interest, and incessantly obtrudes its artificial construction and fantastic decorations, then the proper use of syntax is abused, and the rude, natural utterance of the ignorant may justly be preferred to such perverse ingenuity. Our own Elizabethan era, rich in literature which forms a treasure for all times, produced redundant instances of affectation in the structure of language, and in the dainty and pedantic selection of words. The beautiful and accomplished Frenchwomen, who " on UTKHAKY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 251 tliis side the Alps united the aristocracy of rank and of uciiius in one circle,* 4 sent forth, from the Hotel de Ram- bouillet, at Paris, that ormolu phoenix, vivified with wit, which dazzled the eyes, spoiled the taste, and vitiated the style of some of the best contemporary and subsequent writers in Europe. The shafts of Moliere in ' La Critique de 1'Ecole des Femmes,' 'Les Femmes Savantes,' *Les Precieuses Ridicules/ &c. &c., wounded individuals, and exposed the artificial-romantic nature of their conceit ; but the mechanism had tough capabilities of resistance, and could only be destroyed by time and use. The decline of true taste in Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century had greatly influenced European literature. In 1613, the Academicians of Florence pub- lished their exclusively Tuscan ' Vocabolario della Crusca,' intending to reform the prevalent rudeness of expression, but falling unfortunately into an opposite extreme, of pedantic and harmonious affectation. Thus might sufficient precedents be found in England, France, and Italy for the Darwinian exaggeration of the artificial style in poetry ; but bad taste is of native growth in every soil, and bad example is everywhere seductive. The Louis Quatorze style in English poetry had attained its perfection in Pope. His conciseness and strength, correctness and perspicuity, elegance, brilliancy and harmony remain unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Most of his imitators fell, for want of genius, into feebleness or utter inanity. Dr. Darwin brought to bear upon poetry the acuteness, subtlety, and strength of a mind which delighted in physical and mechanical science. An excess of wrought ornament encumbered his diction which, in- capable of elevation, sought distinction in oddity and inversion. The soft unisons of well chosen sounds which 252 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. gave their charm to the verses of Pope, were broken by Darwin, and overpowered by the tinkle, clangour, and braying of brass instruments. What was firm in Pope, became hard in him, while Pope's well studied graces were superseded by mechanical evolutions or mountebank dis- tortions. The example of her admired friend confirmed the tendencies of Anna Seward, -and Pope, with a Dar- winian difference, became her master and her model. The letters of Pope undoubtedly furnished the direct models of her elaborate and ostentatious epistolary style. In power, and in almost every good point, her poetry is inferior to Dr. Darwin's ; in pathos, however, it possesses an element of interest wholly wanting in his. Affected persons are always imitative ; and no doubt the influx of Delia Cruscan votaries with their fantastic and euphu- istic importations, encouraged her, in emulation of their performances, to still greater extravagances of verbal folly. Dr. Erasmus Darwin, who, on his second marriage, had removed his place of residence from Lichfield to Derby, died early in the year 1802 : Miss Seward had conse- quently seen little of him for the last twenty years of his life ; but one of his sons, having applied to her for anecdotes of his father, with the intention of preparing a memoir, she found that her reminiscences would not be altogether suitable for filial use, and consequently resolved to publish them herself. The so-called ' Life of Dr. Darwin ' is not properly a biography : it gives no consecutive account of the events of his career, no record of his mental acquirements, no insight of his principles and motives, no well-considered estimate of his abilities, no trustworthy impression of his general character. It shows that she had never penetrated LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. beyond that superficial pellicle which is opaque to all but deep thinking investigators of their own hearts. Any ordinary person, with the same opportunities of intercourse, might have given as .good a sketch of his personal appear- ance, conversation, and occasional doings. Extracts from ' The Botanic Garden/ and her crude criticisms upon them, make up the greater part of the book ; the last page of which is dated "Lichfield, April 13, 1803," an era perni- cious and withering to Miss Seward's literary reputation : for all her other works have passed into obscurity, while that, the worst of all her productions, remains a conspicuous target for the shafts of successive generations of critics. It is as unfair to judge of her by this work as it would be to estimate the literary character of Madame D'Arblay from her * Memoirs of Dr. Burney,' written, as Lord Macaulay has remarked, in " the worst style that has ever been known among men." " No genius, no information, could save from proscription a book so written," adds the same brilliant reviewer; forgetting for the instant, the rival badness of style in Miss Seward's Life of Dr. Darwin, and its unhappy tenacity of fame. This book is not merely inelegant, pedantic, and replete with affectation, it is abso- lutely and daringly ungrammatical. Most of the words are English, but the structure of the sentences belongs to no language living or dead. She misapplies epithets, vio- lates idioms, practises every possible form of inversion and contortion, and leads the reader to forget the subject in contemptuous abhorrence of its medium. Sometimes all this mischief is elaborately done ; at others, by apparent inadvertence, she commences a sentence so awkwardly that no subsequent inflection can bring it to a proper close. As the climax to all censures upon the style of this amusing book, it may be justly characterized as unnatural. 254 XITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The sketch of the author of * Sandford and Merton,' Thomas Day, once a resident in the city of Lichfield, and a lover of Honora Sneyd, is one of the most interesting parts of this work. Anna Seward was not a woman who could possibly outlive all her friends, for every new candidate for poetic fame was a recruit to the time-thinned ranks. The latter years of her life were gladdened by the personal acquaint- ance of Kobert Sou they and Walter Scott. The former was rather repelled by the ceremonious formality of her address, and by the studied compliments she paid him. The latter, more accustomed to society, and better ac- quainted with the varieties of human nature, first saw her in 1807, and has left a written record of his sentiments in some passages of his ' Biographical Preface,' where he " This may be no improper place to mention the impres- sion which her appearance and conversation were calcu- lated to make upon a stranger. They were indeed well worth a longer pilgrimage. Miss Seward when young must have been exquisitely beautiful, for in advanced age, the regularity of her features, the fire and expression of her countenance, gave her the appearance of beauty and almost of youth. Her eyes were auburn, of the precise shade and hue of her hair, and possessed great expression. In re- citing, or speaking with animation they appeared to become darker and as it were to flash fire. I should have hesitated to state the impression which this peculiarity made upon me at the time, had not my observation been confirmed by that of the first actress of this or any other age,* with whom I lately happened to converse on our deceased friend's expressive powers of countenance. Miss Se ward's * Mrs. Siddons. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 255 tone of voice was melodious, guided by excellent taste, and uvll suited to reading and recitation, in which she willingly exercised it." He adds : " The great command of literary anecdote which Miss Seward possessed, her ready perception both of the serious and ludicrous, and her just observation and original taste, rendered her society delightful." Among her other accomplishments, Sir Walter eulogizes the re- markable distinctness and beauty of her hand-writing. In the autumn of 1807, she was attacked by an eruptive and remittent fever ; and being lowered by frequent blood- letting, intended for its cure, her fine constitution gave way, and she expired on Thursday the 23rd of March, 1809, aged sixty-six years and three months. Her two last letters to Sir Walter Scott are simple, grave, and self- possessed, in the prospect of immediate death. The bulk of her literary correspondence was bequeathed by her to Constable of Edinburgh, who published it in six volumes. Sir Walter Scott was her literary executor. MARY TIGHE. Mary, daughter of the Kev. William Blachford, was born in the city of Dublin in the year 1773. Her father died of a very short illness, a few months after her birth ; and she was entirely indebted to her excellent mother for an education which added to every usual accomplishment of a gentlewoman, an acquaintance with the languages of ancient Greece and Rome. With their literature she made herself conversant, not neglecting that of modern Europe, and studying more especially English poetry and the writings of Edmund Spenser. In 1793, she married her cousin, Henry Tighe, Esq., of Woodstock, Kilkenny, the historian of that county, and its 256 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. representative in the Irish House of Commons, a man of highly-cultivated mind and a Latin poet. It is incidentally recorded that she possessed " strong feelings and amiable affections ;" and it may be inferred from her writings, that this lovely woman had made herself into an idol of de- light and admiration both in domestic and social life, and rejoiced in the sunshine which genius shed around her. Consumptive malady was in her family : her health was always delicate, and her spirits variable ; and when, in the year 1804, she experienced a severe attack of illness, her heart quailed in its pleasant course of worldly prosperity, and recognized with horror the inevitable approach of early death. Her feelings had often before found expression in poetry, and now she had recourse to it to solace her painful re- grets and to beguile her gloomy apprehensions. Under these circumstances ' Psyche,' her beautiful epic, appears to have been composed. It was printed in 1805, with a dedicatory sonnet to her mother, acknowledging " Affection's soothing voice, That eloquence of tenderness expressed, Which still my grateful voice confessed divine," as having instructed her to love, and thus enabled her to write love's legend. The first edition was wholly distri- buted among her private friends, and obtained such a tribute of cordial and critical praise, that Mrs. Tighe was prevailed upon to allow a second edition to be published. The profits of the sale were applied to building a wing to the Orphan Asylum at Wicklow, since called the Psyche Ward. It is unquestionably one of the finest poems ever written by a woman ; full of imaginative power, passion, and melody. The stanza is Spenserian, and the main plan of the story, the ideal palaces, the long journey, the scenes LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 257 passed through, and the beings encountered, are all con- ceived and described after the manner of ' The Fairy Queen.' Her one great fault in the construction of the plan is, that although particular incidents are strictly alle- gorical, the whole, taken from beginning to end, is not so, the narrative in the two first cantoes having no secondary sense. Those two first cantoes are conceived in the spirit of an ancient Greek who had visited Persia. They are wrought out as if by a luxurious Fatima, who, in the absence of her adored Pacha, reclining after a luscious repast, gorgeously attired and decked with gems of in- estimable price, cheered by the soft-falling fountain-spray, stimulated by the fragrance of jessamine, and soothed by the steam of her hookah, cast her eyes on a rare in- taglio in her pendant tresses, and languidly exercised her Oriental imagination by investing its fable with the volup- tuous accessories of a Mahometan paradise ; gently shud- dering the while at the unexperienced and enhancing contrast of forlorn desertion, hardship, and privation. The descriptions of Vanity and Flattery in the third canto, of Suspicion in the fourth, of Patience in the fifth, and of the Castle of Indifference in the sixth, are worthy of Spenser himself. The subject of the poem is the soul's probationary course, represented under the figure of Psyche. The leisurely feet of the Italian stanza accord with the prolix and diffuse style of narration, and give to the whole a soft and dream-like air. The sentiments are pure and tender; the descriptions true to nature and to feeling; and whether they depict the emotions of the heart, scenery wild and cultivated, the mythological legends of Greece, storms or fair weather, or the passage of a ship through the s 258 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. waves, there is a fulness of knowledge, an accuracy of detail, a distinctness of imagery, which gives reality to every thing. Her mind wields the implements of art, which it em- ploys with enchanting dexterity, freedom, and grace. The diction is copious, rich, and apposite; the grammatical structure correct, lucid, and most musical. Verbal redun- dancy and slowness of recital are the principal faults of execution. The deficiencies of the poem are of a graver kind, revealing the lack of native strength and of Christian exaltation in the melancholy poet's soul. The enjoyments represented all belong to the refined gratification of the senses ; and the discipline to which Psyche is subjected, as a punishment for her disobedient curiosity and a pro- pitiatory humiliation to Venus, has no higher reward than contentment in the renewal and immortal continuance of those enjoyments. The edition published by Longmans, in 1811, is marked on the title-page as the third ; from thence the subjoined extracts are taken. The description of the heroine is illustrated by a very beautiful simile : " For she was timid as the wintry flower, That whiter than the snow it blooms among, Droops its fair head, submissive to the power Of every angry blast which sweeps along, Sparing the lovely trembler, while the strong Majestic tenants of the leafless wood It levels low. But, ah ! the pitying song Must tell, how, than the tempest's self more rude Fierce wrath and cruel hate their suppliant pursued." Among her occupations in the palace of Love " To charm the languid hours of solitude, He oft invites her to the Muse's lore ; For none have vainly e'er the Muse pursued, And those whom she delights, regret no more The social, joyous hours, while rapt they soar To worlds unknown, and live in fancy's dream." LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 259 Psyche, in her wanderings, conies one day to a lovely bower surrounded by flowers : " And every sweet that Spring with fairy hands Scatters in thy green path, enchanting May ! And every flowering shrub there clustering stands, As though they wooed her to a short delay, Yielding a charm to soothe her weary way ; Soft was the tufted moss, and sweet the breeze, With lulling sound the murmuring waters play, With lulling sound from all the rustling trees, The fragrant gale invites to cool, refreshing ease." The reliance of the gentle wife upon her husband in times of difficulty and danger, is admirably well depicted in the following stanzas : " Warned by late 'perils, now she scarcely dares Quit for one moment his protecting eye, Sure in his sight, her soul of nought despairs, And nought looks dreadful when that arm is nigh, On which her hopes with confidence rely. By his advice, their constant course they bend, He points where hidden danger they should fly ; On him securely, as her heaven-sent friend, She bids her grateful heart contentedly depend. Oh, who the exquisite delight can tell, The joy which mutual confidence imparts, Or who can paint the charm unspeakable Which links in tender bands two faithful hearts ! In vain assailed by Fortune's envious darts, Their mitigated woes are sweetly shared, And doubled joy reluctantly departs : Let but the sympathizing heart be spared, What sorrow seems not light ? what peril is not dared ? " The reply of Psyche to the questions of Selfishness is exquisite, both in thought and harmonious expression : " ' Is aught then wanting in this fairy bower ? Or is there aught which yet thy heart can move ?' That heart, unyielding to their sovereign's power, In gentle whispers sighing answers ' Love.J " The cleverest of women has justly said : " Quand on a pour premier but, en ecrivant, de faire effet siir les autres, on ne se montre jamais a eux tel qu'un est reellement ; mais G 9 O - 260 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. quand on ecrit pour satisfaire a 1'inspiration interieure dont 1'ame est saisie on fait connaitre par ses ecrits, meme sans le vouloir, jusques aux moindres nuances de sa maniere d'etre et de penser." * Such was pre-eminently the case with the poetry of Mrs. Tighe, " Verse in the finest mould of fancy cast," written to her own standard of taste, at the prompting of her guileless heart. During six long years she painfully trod the valley of the shadow of death. Her verses entitled ' The Yartree,' show that she had " Tried the vanities of life, And all the poor, mean joys of fashion known," and that their enforced renunciation cost her a dreadful struggle. The fond attentions of her husband, her mother, her brother, and of many affectionate friends, soothed, however, the sad hours of suffering. In her ' Verses to Lady Charlemont in return for her presents of Flowers,' dated March, 1808, there are some sweet revealings of home happiness : "O'er me Affection loves to shed, Her comforts full, unmeasured ; To bless my smiling hearth, she sends The dearer smile of dearest friends ; And bids my prison couch assume No form of pain, no air of gloom ; But sweet content and cheerful ease, All that in solitude can please, And all that soothing, social love Can bid its quiet favourites prove, Wooed by the voice of tenderness Unite my happy home to bless." * When it is our chief object in writing to produce an eifect on others, we never show ourselves to them such as we really are : but when we write to gratify that internal inspiration which possesses the soul, we mani- fest in our writings, without being aware of it, the exact reflex of our own lives and thoughts. ' L'Allemagne,' par Mde. De Stael, vol. i., chap. xv. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 261 111 the four last verses of her 'Hagar in the Desert/ Mrs. Tighe applies the subject to her own case with touching pathos : "O'er thy empty pitcher mourning, 'Mid the desert of the world, Thus, with shame and anguish burning, From thy cherished pleasures hurled : See thy great Deliverer nigh, Calls thee from thy sorrow vain, Bids thee on his love rely, Bless the salutary pain. From thine eyes the mists dispelling, Lo ! the well of life he shows, In his presence ever dwelling, Bids thee find thy true repose. Future prospects rich in blessing, Open to thy hopes secure ; Sure of endless joys possessing, Of a heavenly kingdom sure." And also in THE LILY. WRITTEN IN MAY, 1809. " How withered, perished seems the form Of yon obscure, unsightly root, Yet from the blight of wintry storm, It hides secure the precious fruit. The careless eye can find no grace No beauty in the scaly folds, Nor see within the dark embrace What latent loveliness it holds. Yet in that bulb, those sapless scales, The Lily wraps her silver vest, Till vernal suns and vernal gales Shall kiss once more her fragrant breast. Yes, hide beneath the mouldering heap The undelighting, slighted thing. There, in the cold earth buried deep, In silence let it wait the Spring. Oh, many a stormy night shall close In gloom upon the barren earth, While still in undisturbed repose Uninjured lies the future birth ; And Ignorance, with sceptic eye, Hope's patient smile shall wondering view ; Or mock her fond credulity, As her soft te;>rs the spot bedew. 262 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Sweet smile of Hope, delicious tear ! The sun, the shower, indeed shall come, The promised verdant shoot appear, And Nature bid her blossoms bloom. And thou, oh, Virgin Queen of Spring ! Shalt from thy dark and lowly bed, Bursting thy green sheath's silken string, Unveil thy charms, and perfume shed ; Unfold thy robes of purest white, Unsullied from their darksome grave, And thy soft petals' silvery light In the mild breeze unfettered wave. So Faith shall seek the lowly bed Where humble Sorrow loves to lie, And bid her thus her hopes entrust And watch with patient, cheerful eye ! And bear the long, cold, wintry night, And bear her own degraded doom, And wait till Heaven's reviving light, Eternal Spring, shall burst the gloom ! " The progress of religious hope may be traced in this affecting poem, which embodies all her sadness and all her consolation all her love of this beautiful world, and hope for the next. The following is replete with still deeper and tenderer manifestations of the parting soul's expe- rience : ON RECEIVING A BBANCH OF MEZEEEON, WHICH FLOWERED AT WOODSTOCK, DEC. 1809. " Odours of Spring, my sense ye charm, With fragrance premature ; And 'mid these days of dark alarm, Almost to hope allure. Methinks with purpose soft ye come, To tell of brighter hours, Of May's blue skies, abundant bloom, Her sunny gales and showers. Alas ! for rue shall May in vain The powers of life restore ; These eyes that weep and watch in pain Shall see her charms no more. No, no, this anguish cannot last ! Beloved friends, adieu ! The bitterness of death were past Could I resign but you. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 263 But, oh ! iu every mortal That rends my soul from life, That soul, which seems on you to hang Through each convulsive strife, Even now, with agonizing grasp . Of terror and regret, To all in life its love would clasp Clings close and closer yet. Yet why, immortal, vital spark, Thus mortally oppressed ? Look up, my soul, through prospects dark And bid thy terrors rest ; Forget, forego, thy earthly part, Thine heavenly being trust : Ah ! vain attempt, my coward heart, Still shuddering clings to dust ! O ye, who soothe the pangs of death, With love's own patient care, Still, still refain this fleeting breath, Still pour the fervent prayer ! And ye whose smile must greet my eye No more, nor voice mine ear, Who breathe for me the tender sigh, And shed the pitying tear, Whose kindness (though far, far removed;, My grateful thoughts perceive, Pride of my life, esteemed, beloved, My last sad claim receive : Oh, do not quite your friend forget, Forget alone her faults ; And speak of her with fond regret Who asks your lingering thoughts." These were the last verses she ever wrote. Her pre- monition was fulfilled : she never saw the blue skies of another May, expiring on the 24th of March, 1810 ; not at Rosanna in the county of Wicklow, which was the home of her married life, but at Woodstock in the county of Kilkenny. Her friend, cousin, and brother-in-law, at whose house she died, has recorded that " Her fears of death were perfectly removed before she quitted this scene of trial and suffering, and her spirit departed to a better state of existence, confiding with heavenly joy in the accept- ance and love of her Redeemer." Several poets have rendered tribute to her genius ; none 264 LITEKAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. more worthily than Felicia Hemans, who in 1828 wrote * The Grave of a Poetess,' of which the two last verses are remarkably appropriate : " Thou hast left sorrow in thy soiig, A voice not loud but deep ; The glorious bowers of earth among, How often didst thou weep ! Where couldst thou fix, on mortal ground, Thy tender thoughts and high ? Now peace the woman's heart hath found, And joy the poet's eye." In 1831 Mrs. Hemans visited Woodstock, and saw both the house in which she died and the grave of Mrs. Tighe, in company with the widower and some of her other kins- folk ; admired the glorious local scenery, and the recum- bent effigy by Flaxman, and read with intense interest a manuscript collection of Mrs. Tighe's early poems. After having seen these memorials, Mrs. Hemans wrote her verses ' On Kecords of Immature Genius.' " Oh ! judge in thoughtful tenderness of those Who richly dowered for life are called to die Ere the soul's flame through storms hath won repose, In truth's divinest ether, still and high ; Let their mind's riches claim a truthful sigh : Deem them but sad, sweet fragments of a strain, First notes of some yet struggling harmony, By the strong rush, the crowding joy and pain Of many inspirations met, and held From its true sphere ; oh ! soon it might have swelled Majestically forth ! No doubt that He Whose touch mysterious, may on earth dissolve Those links of music, elsewhere will evolve Their grand consummate hymn, from passion-gusts made free." Mrs. Hemans also wrote ' Lines for the Album at Kosanna,' " Where a sweet spirit once in beauty moved." A fourth poem, ' Written after visiting a Tomb near Woodstock, in the -county of Kilkenny,' bears little rela- tion to Mrs. Tighe, excepting in five out of its forty-four lines, two of those five being exquisitely fine : " Oh, Love and Song ! though of heaven your powers, Dark is your fate in this world of ours." LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 265 CHAPTER XI11. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1810-1825. Mrs. Hunter Mrs. Thrale Jane Taylor Eleanor Anne Porden Mrs. Barbauld Lady Anne Barnard. To mortal toils, of various kind, Are sweet but different gifts assigned." * ANNE HUNTER. ACCORDING to Burke's genealogy, Anne was the eldest daughter of Robert Home, Esquire, of Greenlaw Castle, in the county of Berwick. Robert Chambers, in his * Scottish Biography,' mentions her as the daughter of Mr. Boyne Home, surgeon of Burgoyne's Regiment of Light Horse, and both descriptions are probably consistent and correct. She was born in 1742. While John Hunter, the great surgeon and natural philosopher, was rising to eminence, love for this beautiful and accomplished woman stimulated his efforts to overcome the obstacle of poverty, and to procure the means of suitable maintenance for one whom he deemed well suited to be both a household joy and an ornament to any station in society. The attach- ment was mutual, and, after a delay of several years, they were married in the year 1771. Her younger brother, afterwards Sir Everard Home, Baronet, was then a boy at * Pindar's 1st Isthmian Ode ; translated by Wheelwright. 266 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Westminster School, and John Hunter generously under- took to bring him up to his own profession. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter had several children, of whom only two attained maturity, meriting their father's frequent boast " that if he had been allowed to bespeak a pair of children, they should have been those with which Providence had favoured him." The son became a major in the army, the daughter married General Campbell, of Inverneil. Mrs. Hunter's amiable disposition rendered her deeply beloved by her family : her fine natural talents had been assiduously improved by cultivation, and she delighted in devoting them to the sacred purpose of soothing arid glad- dening her husband's toil-worn spirits. They kept a liberal house, entertained the best company, and when Mrs. Vesey's declining health incapacitated her from assembling the great, the learned, and the witty, for social intercourse, Mrs. Hunter threw open her reception rooms once a fort- night every winter to the same brilliant parties of educated talkers and thinkers of every class. Mrs. Hunter had fine musical abilities ; she played and sang with remark- able taste and skill, and the delicacy of her features and dignity of her person were universally attractive ; never- theless, her gentle and unassuming temper induced her to be only proud of owing everything to her distinguished husband, and to attribute all the admiration and attention which she met with to the world's estimation of his extra- ordinary merit. John Hunter's sudden death, on the 16th of October, 1793, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, left her a widow in easy though not affluent circumstances, and she subsequently withdrew into comparative retire- ment. In 1806, yielding to the persuasions of friends, she published a collection of her poems, many of which had been set to music by Haydn. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 267 She died, at her house in Holies-street, on the 7th of January, 1821, in the seventy-ninth year of her age. Feminine tenderness and delicacy of sentiment are the chief characteristics of her poetry, of which the following piece is a specimen : Tin: LOT OF THOUSANDS. " When hope lies dead within the heart, By secret sorrow elose concealed, We shrink lest looks or words impart What must not be revealed. T T is hard to smile when one would \vi-cp, To speak when one would silent be, To wake when one would wish to sleep, And wake to agony. Yet such thelot by thousands caak, Who wander in this world of cart-, And bend beneath the bitter blast, To save them from despair. But Nature waits her guests to greet Where disappointment cannot come, And Time guides with unerring feet, The weary wanderers home." 'Queen Mary's Lament,' ' My mother bids nie bind my hair,' and other popular favourites are hers. HESTER LYNCH THRALE. John Salusbury, Esquire, of Bachegraig, Flintshire, married, in the year 1739, Hester Maria, daughter of Sir Thomas Cotton, Baronet, of Combermere, in the county of Chester ; and, on the 27th of January, 1740, Hester Lynch, their only child and heir, was born at Bodvil, in Caernarvonshire. With the advantages of gentle blood and patrimonial wealth she possessed great personal attrac- tions, vivacious spirits, and those quick, keen, faculties of mind which justly entitle their possessor to be called a clever woman. Her education was carefully attended to, and her many 268 LITEKABY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. accomplishments, wit, and conversational brilliancy, gained early admiration in fashionable circles. In 1763 she married Mr. Henry Thrale, M.P. for Southwark, one of those princely metropolitan brewers, who, to quote the pompous and auctioneerlike description of his friend Dr. Johnson, " possessed the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice." In the year 1765 that acquaintance with the great lexicographer com- menced, which soon rose to intimacy, conduced to the happiness of all parties, added to the living celebrity of Mrs. Thrale, and laid the foundation of her literary monu- ment. In the following -year she contributed several poems to Anna Williams's ' Miscellanies,' and one among them has proved the most valuable of all Mrs. Thrale's writings, and still holds its solitary place in public estimation by the claim of intrinsic merit. In 1781, after having passed through eighteen years of domestic trial softened by social enjoyment, the sudden death of Mr. Thrale left her a wealthy widow. They had previously lost their only son, and Mrs. Thrale, with her four daughters, removed after her husband's decease from his hospitable home at Streatham to a house in the city of Bath. There she engaged the services of Signor Gabriel Piozzi, a young and handsome Italian, as music-master to her daughters, and, in defiance of the remonstrances of her friends, she married him in 1784. In the same year Dr. Johnson died, and Mrs. Piozzi published a volume entitled ' Anecdotes of Dr. Samuel Johnson during the last twenty years of his life.' This book, though inexact and incomplete, as woman's works are ever apt to be, contains materials of which subsequent biographers have proved the value. Soon after her second marriage Mrs. Piozzi accompanied LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 20!) her husband to his native country, became acquainted at Florence with Mr. Robert Merry, the self-styled Delia Crusca, Mr. Bertie Greathead, Mr. William Parsons, and other English gentlemen of equally bad taste, adopted their literary peculiarities, and contributed several com- positions, both in prose and verse, to their collection, printed in 1786, and called ' The Florentine Miscellany.' In 1788 she published two volumes of ' Letters to and from Dr. Samuel Johnson/ In 1789 she published * Obser- vations and Reflections made in the course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany,' in two volumes : in 1794 her 'British Synonymy, or an Attempt to Regulate the Choice of Words in Familiar Conversation,' in two volumes ; and, in 1801, ' Retrospection, or a Review of the most striking and important Events, Characters, Situations, and their Consequences, which the last eighteen hundred years have presented to the view of Mankind.' In 1809 Signor Piozzi died. Her elastic spirits de- pressed for a little while by this bereavement recovered in due time their natural tone, and lasted out her life. On the 27th of January, 1820, she celebrated her eightieth birthday by an entertainment in the Assembly Rooms at Bath, where, assisted by her kinsfolk, Sir John and Lady Salusbury, she received between seven and eight hundred people with her wonted urbanity and sprightliness. She opened the ball with Sir John, danced with the alacrity and dignity of her youthful days, and afterwards presided with affable hospitality at the supper-table, having one British admiral on her right and another on her left hand. On the 2nd of May, 1821, she died at Clifton. Her only good poem needs no eulogy, it commends itself to the common sense of mankind. 270 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. THE THREE WARNINGS. A TALE. " The tree of deepest root is found Least willing still to quit the ground : 'T was therefore said, by ancient sages, That love of life increas'd with years So much that in our latter stages, When pains grows sharp, and sickness rages, The greatest love of life appears. This great affection to believe, Which all confess, but few perceive, If old assertions can't prevail, Be pleased to hear a modern tale. When sports went round, and all were gay, On neighbour Dobson's wedding-day, Death call'd aside the jocund groom With him into another room, And looking grave, ' You must,' says he, ' Quit your sweet bride, and come with me.' ' With you ! and quit my Susan's side ! ' With you !' the hapless husband cried ; ' Young as I am ! 't is monstrous hard ! ' Besides, in truth, I'm not prepared : ' My thoughts on other matters go, 'This is my wedding-night, you know.' What more he urg'd I have not heard, His reasons could not well be stronger ; So Death the poor delinquent spar'd, And left to live a little longer. Yet calling up a serious look, His hour-glass trembled while he spoke, ' Neighbour,' he said, ' farewell ; no more ' Shall Death disturb your mirthful hour ; ' And further to avoid all blame ' Of cruelty upon my name, 1 To give you time for preparation, ' And fit you for your future station, ' Three several Warnings shall you have, ' Before you 're summoned to the grave : ' Willing for once I'll quit my prey, ' And grant a kind reprieve : ' In hopes you'll have no more to say, ' But when I call again this way, ' Well pleas'd the world will leave.' To these conditions both consented, And parted perfectly contented. What next the hero of our tale befell, How long he liv'd, how wise, how well, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 271 How roundly In- piirsuM his course, And smnk'd his pipe, and strok'd his horse, The willing Muse shall tell : He ehaller'd tlu-n, he bought, ho sold. Nor once perceived his growing old, Nor thought of Death as near ; His friends not false, his wife no shivw. Many his gains, his children few, He pass'd his hours in peace : But while he view'd his wealth increase, While thus along Life's dusty road The beaten track content he trod, Old Time, whose haste no mortal spares. UncalTd, unheeded, unawares, Brought on his eightieth year. And now one night in musing mood, As all alone he sate, Th' unwelcome messenger of Fate Once more befoie him stood. Half kill'd with anger and surprise, ' So soon return'd ! ' old Dobson cries. So soon d'ye call it ? ' Death replies ; ' Surely, my friend, you 're but in jest ; ' Since I was here before, T is six-and-tliirty years at least, ' And you are now fourscore.' ' So much the worse,' the clown rejoined ; 4 To spare the aged would be kind : ' However, see your search be legal ; ' And your authority is 't regal ? ' Else you are come on a fool's errand, ' With but a Secretary's warrant. ' Besides you promis'd me Three Warnings, ' Which I have look'd for nights and mornings, * 4 But for that loss of time and ease, 4 1 can recover damages.' ' I know,' cries Death, that, at the best, 4 1 seldom am a welcome guest : ' But don't be captious, friend, at least : 4 1 little thought you'd still be able ' To stump about your farm and stable ; 4 Yoiir years have run to a great length, 4 1 wish you joy, though, of your strength.' 4 Hold,' says the farmer, 4 not so fast, 4 1 have been lame this four years past.' ' And no great wonder,' Death replies ; 4 However, you still keep your eyes ; 4 And sure, to see one's loves and friend>. 4 For legs and arms would make amends.' 272 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ' Perhaps,' says Dobson, * so it might, ' But latterly I've lost my sight.' ' This is a shocking story, 'faith ; ' Yet there 's some comfort still,' says Death ; ' Each strives your sadness to amuse, ' I'll warrant you hear all the news.' ' There 's none,' cries he, ' and if there were, ' I'm grown so deaf, I could not hear,' 'Nay then,' the spectre stern rejoined, ' These are unjustifiable yearnings ; ' If you are Lame, and Deaf, and Blind, ' You've had your Three sufficient Warnings. ' So come along, no more we'll part !' He said, and touched him with his dart ; And now old Dobson, turning pale, Yields to his fate so ends my tale." JANE TAYLOR. The children of the British empire are more indebted to Dr. Isaac Watts than to any other writer, and next to him perhaps to Anne and Jane Taylor of Ongar. Isaac Taylor, their father, practised for many years the art of line- engraving, and gained distinction in London. His wife was a woman of excellent sense and of many acquirements. They had a large family of children, and Jane, the second daughter, was born in London on the 23rd of September, 1783. In the summer of the year 1786 they removed to Lavenham in Suffolk, where the father continued his artistic labours, and being a man of deep piety and ener- getic temper occupied himself occasionally in delivering lectures on religious and scientific subjects. Delicate health, fertility of practical invention, and a tendency to imaginative pleasures were among her early characteristics. She began to make verses and tales at a very early age, and the first ambition which her timid and reserved nature evinced was to write a book. Her temper was very gentle, her affections were tender and deep, and she was more especially distinguished by a susceptibility ! HI KAIIY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 273 for generous and faithful friendship, which continuously made the wish to gratify those whom she loved a principal motive of action. Early in the year 1790 her father accepted the invitation of an Independent congregation at Colchester, and became their minister. He educated his children with singular care, judgment, and success, laying the foundation of comprehensive knowledge, and balancing the objects of mental interest so as to prevent a narrow and exclusive attachment to any one pursuit. This wise and clever man also instructed all his sons and daughters in the art of engraving, as a means, should necessity occur, of earning their own livelihood. His wife aided him zealously in the work of family instruction, and not only made her daughters acquainted with feminine accomplish- ments of an elegant kind, but practically and thoroughly conversant with every branch of domestic economy. Be- sides the stated lessons which Jane Taylor daily received through a long series of years, and the knowledge of facts and principles which she imbibed with the very atmosphere of her home, the incitement of pious and amiable example in her parents and the affectionate emulation of her brothers and sisters led her from infancy to pursue with eagerness all things morally and mentally excellent. The family changes of residence, and occasional visits from, home supplied her with the experience of varied conven- tional life in the metropolis, in a country town near the sea, and in a rural district. With a capacity enriched by these and by many tributary sources, and with faculties naturally fine though almost shrinking from disclosure, Jane Taylor grew up to womanhood. Her domestic lot was a happy one. In her paternal home she lived among congenial spirits, loving and beloved, in the unobtrusive employment of talents, of which the use implies enjoy- T 274 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ment, while their aim, directed by duty, assures a happy success, apart from those immediate and transient results which often brought the glow of delight to her affectionate heart. In the year 1810 her father resigned his charge at Colchester, and, having accepted one of a similar kind at Ongar, removed thither with his family in 1811. With that place their name and fame became henceforth indis- solubly connected. Mr. Taylor was the author of several books intended for the use and benefit of young persons ; and, late in life, Mrs. Taylor also published several, with the apparent intention of making known to other parents those principles which had been so efficaciously applied to the training of her own highly-gifted progeny. It was once projected that Jane Taylor and her eldest sister should join in establishing a school, but, to her great relief, family circumstances required different arrange- ments. Anne Taylor married the Kev. Joseph Gilbert, and Jane Taylor gave herself up to nurse the sick, to accompany the valetudinarian in excursions, to teach poor children to read, to manage domestic affairs, and to make herself useful either at home or among her relations and friends in every possible way, pursuing meanwhile her literary occupations whenever health and leisure allowed. Much of her time, when away, was spent in the western counties, with that beloved brother whose admirable writings have since edified the Christian world. Habitual diffidence and religious melancholy constituted the principal drawbacks upon her great advantages, and produced the chief trials and sorrows of her mortal proba- tion. Aided by benignant household influences and upheld by humble and steadfast piety, she combated these beset- ting evils, even when enhanced by the gradual decline of LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 275 physical strength under the corrosion of painless cancer, of which she died, in calm and peaceful hope, on the 5th of April, 1822. 'The Beggar Boy,' which appeared in 'The Minor's Pocket Book ' for 1804, was the first thing she ever pub- lished. Her share in the * Original Poems,' to which her sister Anne and many other members of the family con- tributed, harmonizes with the general tenor of the work in furnishing a collection of simple and familiar stories, examples, descriptions, and didactic warnings, pleasant to the ear and fascinating to the attention of childhood, while gently instilling truths into the very substance of the warm little heart, to remain an inseparable part of its moral nature for ever. Jane Taylor was one of ' The Associate Minstrels,' whose volume gained much contemporary fame. She also con- tributed to ' The Youth's Magazine ' and other periodicals. Her hymns, and those of her sister Anne, in the little volume entitled ' Hymns for Infant Minds/ must have been composed for individual children, because every word, sentence, and meaning, is precisely and adroitly fitted to the comprehension of children in general, and no theoretic child could have served as a true type of the species. In her hymns, the intuitive sense of helpless dependence and of moral obligation, as evinced by infant hearts, is met, cherished, and supplied with the innate and tender skill of a woman, who, remembering her own early feelings, can participate in those of the little ones whom she loves. The ' Hymns for Sunday-Schools' are also excellent. The * Nursery Khymes,' which amaze and delight all intelligent children, by entering into their sayings, and doings, and moods of mind, contain some verses of true poetry which have kindled the living flame of bardic inspiration in more T 2 276 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. than one young breast, and wrought for themselves an abiding place in the memory of many a grateful, though unknown, friend of the Taylors of Ongar. The following is one of a series marked with the initials "J. T." in the third edition, published by Darton and Harvey in 1809. THE MEADOWS. " We 11 go to the meadows where cowslips do grow ; And buttercups looking as yellow as gold ; And daisies and violets beginning to blow ; For it is a most beautiful sight to behold ! The little bee humming about them is seen, The butterfly merrily dances along ; The grasshopper chirps in the hedges of green, And the linnet is singing his liveliest song. The birds and the insects are happy and gay, The beasts of the field they are glad and rejoice, And we will be thankful to God ev'ry day, And praise his great name in a loftier voice. He made the green meadows, he planted the flow'rs, He sent his bright sun in the heavens to blaze, He created these wonderful bodies of ours, And as long as we live we will sing of his praise." The ' City Scenes ' and the t Kural Scenes,' in which Jane Taylor had also a principal partnership, exhibit ad- vantageously the observant aptitude and rectitude of the clever authors and artists, who, with words graphic as their graving tools, bring London and its every-day sights and sounds, the country in its ordinary aspects and with its usual inhabitants and itinerants, before the fancy, with the softening effect of distance and the cheerful stir of reality. Her 'Display, a Tale for Young People' was published in 1815, and attended with great success. It has faults of style and of structure which render it unpleasing to many of those whom it is necessary to please in order to benefit, but it embodies much knowledge of human nature, of feminine character, and of middle-class life. Its object is LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 277 to lead young girls to be really, honestly, and thoroughly the amiable creatures they fain would appear to be, and to aim, not at showy and vain-glorious distinctions but at the simple adjustment of the principles and conduct to the allotted position in society, seeking through all worldly complications to find true happiness in the fulfil- ment of duty. Perhaps the purpose of the book may be rather too ostensibly marked on every page, and would have wrought more effectually upon youthful minds had it been less sedulously kept before them and left more to be implied and inferred. The characters are drawn with a firm yet delicate stroke, and imbued with only just colour enough to mark their distinctions plainly. In 1816 she produced her most elaborate work, 'Essays in Rhvme on Morals and Manners.' 9 Her mature productions evince sound practical sense and remarkable acuteness, though she seldom appears to be as much at ease when addressing grown-up persons as when shaping her quaint and lively fancies for the minds of children. 'The Philosopher's Scales' is a spirited composition replete with sarcastic mirth, that mirth which is ever so closely allied to melancholy, and it might by her own judicious revision have been shaped into a very clever and perfect piece of satire. An idea of it is briefly conveyed by the MORAL. i " Dear Reader, if e'er self-deception prevails, We pray you to try the philosopher's scales ; But if they are lost in the ruins around, Perhaps a good substitute thus may be found. Let Judgment and Conscience in circles be cut, To which strings of Thought may be carefully put ; Let these be made even with Caution extreme, And Impartiality use as a beam : Then bring those good actions which Pride overrates, And tear up your Motives to serve for the weights." 278 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The lively reproof thus conveyed is spoilt by the enjoined application of material scissors to mental and moral quali- ties " Let Judgment and Conscience in circles be cut," &c. The following meditation in rhyme is an utterance of the heart : THE THINGS THAT ARE UNSEEN AND ETERNAL. " There is a state unknown, unseen, Where parted souls must be : And but a step may be between That world of souls and me. The friend I loved has thither fled, With whom I sojourned here : I see no sight, I hear no tread, But may she not be near ? I see no light, I hear no sound, When midnight shades are spread : Yet angels pitch their tents around, And guard my quiet bed. Jesus was wrapt from mortal gaze, And clouds conveyed him hence ; Enthroned amid the sapphire blaze, Beyond our feeble sense. Yet say not Who shall mount on high, To bring him from above ? For, lo ! the Lord is always nigh The children of his love. The Saviour whom I long have sought, And would, but cannot see : And is he here ? oh, wondrous thought ! And will he dwell with me ? I ask not with my mortal eye To view the vision bright ; I dare not see thee, lest I die ; Yet, Lord, restore my sight ! Give me to see thee, and to feel The mental vision clear ; The things unseen reveal, reveal, And let me know them near. I seek not fancy's glittering height, That charmed my ardent youth ; But in thy light would see the light, And learn thy perfect truth. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 279 The #itln-rin; clouds of sense dispel, That wrap my soul around ; In h< avciily places make me dwell, While treading earthly ground. Illume this shadowy soul of mine, That still in darkness lies ; Oh, let the light in darkness shine, And bid the day-star rise. Impart the faith that soars on high, Beyond this earthly strife, That holds sweet converse with the sky, And lives eternal life." Her eminent brother, Mr. Isaac Taylor of Stansted Rivers, has written a * Memoir of Jane Taylor' with an analytical view of her character and talents. He has also collected her fugitive piece's and literary remains. To all readers who study education as a system, to those who are diligently bent on self-improvement, and more especially to young girls who feel in their hearts the stirring impulse of literary ambition, those volumes ought to be incalculably precious, in which the gradual development of Jane Taylor's character is traced by the fraternal hand of the author of 'Home Education.' ELEANOR-ANNE PORDEN. Eleanor-Anne was the youngest daughter of Mr. Wil- liam Porden, of Berners Street, London, an eminent architect. She was born in the year 1795, gave early indications of superior talents, and acquired with facility a knowledge of several languages, and an exact and ex- tensive acquaintance with the physical sciences. Her family and friends were fond of literature, and a salt-box for poetical contributions was kept at her father's house. Her first composition, a poem entitled * The Veils, or the Triumph of Constancy,' was placed in that depository be- fore she had completed her seventeenth year. It obtained the admiration of her social circle, and was published in 280 LITEEAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. the year 1815, with a dedication to the Countess Spencer. The reviews of the period made favourable mention of the work. It represents the regions of the four so-called elements, earth, air, fire, and water; and shows their active properties under the imagery of fabled inhabitants engaged in antagonistic struggles for supremacy. The operation of this Eosicrucian machinery is ingenious, and the versification not below mediocrity. Crudeness and pedantry are the most prominent faults of the ' Veils/ The present critic recollects to have read it when a child with lively interest, but probably that interest arose in a great measure from sympathetic ambition. Some years afterwards Miss Porden published another poem, called the ( Arctic Expedition.' In 1822 she pro- duced her best work, an epic poem on the subject of the third Crusade; and in the same year she unfortunately ruptured a blood-vessel on the lungs, which increased an inherent tendency to consumption. In August, 1823, she married Captain Franklin, and in June, 1824, gave birth to a daughter, after which for a short time her health revived. Mary Eussell Mitford, in the introduction to her ' Dra- matic Works/ says : " It was during the run of ' Julian/ that, seeing much of my dear friend Miss Porden (after- wards married to Sir John Franklin), and talking with her of subjects for a fresh effort, one or the other, I hardly know which, hit upon * Kienzi.' Miss Porden had herself written an heroic poem called 'Coeur de Lion,' which, if anybody now-a-days could read an epic two volumes long, would be found remarkable as a promise ; so she was far from being startled at my boldness, and took a vivid interest in my attempt. A year or two after, when in London negotiating about this very play, I saw LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 281 In -r again as Mrs. Franklin. Her husband was in Lin- colnshire, taking leave of his relations before setting forth on one of his adventurous voyages ; and in the midst of her warm and undiminished sympathy with my anxieties, she talked of that husband whose projects of polar dis- covery had filled her imagination, showed me his bust and their little girl, and a flag which she was working for him, as her own Berengaria had done for Kichard. It was poetry in action, epic poetry ; and I, too, sympathised with the devoted wife. But I saw, what at that time her own sister had not suspected, that she was dying. This warm- hearted and large-minded woman was of a frame and tem- perament the most delicate and fragile. The agitation of parting was too much for her, and before Captain Frank- lin's expedition was out of the Channel she was dead." * Referring afterwards to the success of ' Eienzi,' Miss Mitford adds : " Still I missed her whose cheering pro- gnostics had so often spurred me on, and whose latest interest in literature had been excited by this very play."f The expedition of Sir John Franklin above alluded to was that of 1825, when he left England to undertake his second land exploration of the arctic regions, and Mrs. Franklin died on the 22nd of February in that year. ANNA LJSTITIA BARBAULD. Anna Lsetitia Aikin was born in the village of Kibworth- Harcourt, in Leicestershire, on the 20th of June in the year 1743, the same month and year in which King George III. first saw the light. This coincidence she always remembered, and it added the feeling of personal regard to her principle of loyalty. Her father, John Aikin, D.D., a learned Socinian minister, then kept a * Pp. xxvii.-ix. t Ibid., p. xxix. 282 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. boys' school ; his wife was the daughter of the parochial clergyman. Anna Lsetitia, their first-born child, evincing precocious and extraordinary ability, with insatiable eager- ness for instruction, learned to read with correctness and fluency by the time that she was two years and a half old. She continued for three years an only child. Her brother, John Aikin, afterwards M.D., was born in 1746 ; there were no other brothers or sisters, and from infancy to the close of life he looked up to her with tender admiration, delighted in sharing her pursuits, and in stimulating the activity of her fine intellect. Her father, who cherished the ordinary prejudice against learned women, yielding at last to her urgent entreaties and to the conviction of her masculine capacity for study, assisted her in the acquirement of the Latin and Greek languages, and allowed her the free use of his small but select library. The population of Kibworth-Harcourt did not afford the companionship of a single girl of her own age and station ; and until she had attained her fifteenth year, her mother and grandmother were her only female associates. Her brother was not educated at home, she was carefully ex- cluded from intercourse with the schoolboys, and conse- quently left to invent her own amusements, and to follow the reflective and meditative tendencies of her keenly observant mind. Her descriptive and humourous poem, called 'Washing Day,' evidently drawn from the life, seems to have been suggested by reminiscences of the customs and manners of her early home. Natural reserve and an undemonstrative disposition produced, under these circumstances, a self-conscious em- barrassment and constraint, which rendered her always bashful in fashionable society, although her manners were unexceptionable in courteous gentleness, and her conver- LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 283 sation was full of sweetness and power. Rural scenery, and all its animate and inanimate constituents and acces- sories, soothed and fed her desire for information, while they drew forth her imaginative power, leading her to a practical acquaintance with natural history, and to the delineation of favourite objects with her pencil as well as with her pen. She read and re-read the books to which she had access with that concentrated attention which assimilated their contents with the mind; they shaped her principles of action, and tinctured for ever the warp and woof of thoughts and feelings. Such solitary musings and grave companions confirmed her natural inclination towards serious and earnest considerations of religion ; and the vast mysteries of existence and futurity hung their stupen- dous shadows over all her earthly prospects and pursuits, even from her early youth. In the year 1758, when fifteen years of age, Anna Laetitia Aikin experienced a change of scene and of society which produced important effects upon the development of her character, and set the current of her subsequent life. Her father, Dr. Aikin, accepted the office of classical tutor in the dissenting academy at Warrington, and be- came a resident there with his family. The origin of the Unitarian community in England dates after the year 1730 ; about which period the chapels and endowments of the old Presbyterians passed, by the gradual declension of the ministers, into the hands of men, who, holding the main tenets of Socinus, asserted the unlimited right to think what they pleased and to say what they thought ; deemed faith to be fanaticism, and human reason all-suffi- cient for human salvation, without Divine revelation and Divine influence. 284 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. In 1758, the elements of theological change wrought with strong effervescence in the minds of the tutors and pupils of the Warrington academy ; many of whom, in succession, distinguished themselves by important discoveries and inventions in physics and mechanics. Among those men of restless and investigating minds, and the adoring female votaries of their respective homes, her social and friendly nature first found expansive sym- pathy ; and there she entered upon that competitive arena which must, in one way or other, be found and trodden, before the conscious possessor of mental power can win the acknowledgment of its reality, and ascertain its compara- tive worth. From Priestley and his colleagues she acquired a theo- retical and practical knowledge of the physical sciences, watching the detection or elucidation of every fact which they ascertained, and familiarizing her mind with their theories, while reverence for their mental superiority sol- dered the fetters of heretical sectarianism. General ad- miration was given to her abilities and attainments. Her personal beauty, fine figure, exquisite complexion of red and white, delicately-chiselled features, dark-blue eyes radiant with intelligent vivacity, an air of perfect health and social enjoyment, sufficed to procure pardon from the most invidious scholars; while the absence of pride and pretension in every form, and the charm of invariable affability, secured her from the envy of her female ac- quaintance. She zealously identified herself with the academy, and has eulogized it in her poem called * The Invitation.' About the close of the year 1771, her brother, having completed his professional education, returned home to practise as a physician at Warrington. His presence LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. added much to his sister's happiness, and proved the means of rendering her talents useful to the public. By his advice, pereuasion, and almost compulsion, she published, in 1773, a collection of her poems. The applause of the critical reviewers declared her unequivocal success as an authoress, and no less than four editions of the volume were required in the course of twelve mouths Again, in the same year, at her enterprising brother's instigation, she collected her prose compositions, and allowed them to be published with his own, under the title of * Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose, by J. and L. A. Aikin.' This book also met with great success, and served to esta- blish the literary reputatidn of both the brother and sister, while it largely increased their circle of friends. The celebrated Mrs. Montagu and some other ladies, admiring the high moral principles and great abilities, together with the peculiar faculty for imparting valuable information manifested in the writings of the Warrington heroine, pro- posed to her the establishment, under their auspices and her control, of a college for the improved education of young ladies of high rank. Her rejection of the flattering offer, and her reasons for that rejection, afford a remarkable example of discretion and candour, prove the thoroughness of her self-cultivation, and the severely just estimate which she made of her own acquirements. After demonstrating that the proposed literary academy would be calculated rather "to form such characters as the 'Precieuses' or the 'Femmes Savantes' of Moliere, than good wives or agreeable companions," and recom- mending a preferable system of instruction for girls from nine to fourteen years of age, she proceeds to declare her own unfitness to become the head of such an establishment, in rnnscijuciicc of various disqualifications. In the course 286 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. of this enumeration, she remarks, " But suppose I were tolerably qualified to instruct those of my own rank, con- sider that these [the proposed pupils] must be of a class far superior to those I have lived amongst and conversed with. Young ladies of that rank ought to have their education superintended by a woman perfectly well-bred, from whose manner they might catch that ease and grace- fulness which can only be learned from the best company ; and she should be able to direct them, and judge of their progress in every genteel accomplishment. I could not judge of their music, their dancing ; and if I pretended to correct their air, they might be tempted to smile at my own, for I know myself remarkably deficient in graceful- ness of person, in my air and manner, and in the easy graces of conversation. Indeed, whatever the kind par- tiality of my friends may think of me, there are few things I know well enough to teach them with any satisfaction, and many I never could learn myself." How strongly does this self-diffidence contrast with the presumptuous folly of those superficial smatterers, who eagerly set up to teach, as it were, the letter "a," before they have them- selves attained to the knowledge of " b " ! In May, 1774, Anna Letitise Aildn married the object of a long attachment, the Kev. Kocheinont Barbauld, who, being the descendant of a French Protestant refugee and the son of a clergyman of the Established Church of England, chaplain to the Princess Mary of England, Landgravine of Hesse, received his early education in Germany and France, and was sent to complete his theo- logical studies at Warrington with a view to his taking Holy Orders. From Priestley and his disciples Mr. Bar- bauld soon learned to doubt, or only to yield half credence to, the doctrines of Christianity. He consequently gave LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 287 up his expectations in the Church, and, having no private lortiiiu', accepted the proffered charge of a Unitarian congregation at Palgrave, near Diss, and set up there a boarding-school for the sons of gontlemen. Uninterrupted success attended Mr. Barbauld's laborious undertaking. His house overflowed with pupils, and new ones anxiously awaited opportunities of entrance, attracted, not only by the scholastic reputation and amiable character of the master, but by his wife's literary celebrity, and the value of that efficient aid which she rendered to the in- stitution. To her apartment the classes joyously repaired for lessons in geography, expecting renewed entertainment and delight. She seems to have been the first, or at least among the first, who combined physical, historical, and ethnological information with a detailed description of the earth, its superficial divisions and statistics. Nor were her lessons in English composition less welcome. " On Wednesdays and Saturdays the boys were called in separate classes to her apartment. She read a fable, a short story, or a moral essay to them aloud, and then sent them back into the school-room to write it out on the slates in their own words. Each exercise was separately overlooked by her, the faults of grammar were obliterated, the vulgarisms were chastised, the idle epithets were can- celled, and a distinct reason was always assigned for every correction, so that the arts of inditing and criticising w r ere in some degree learned together." * This is the testimony of a distinguished man, who owned her as " the mother of his mind." Previous to every summer vacation the boys used to perform a play, and she not only instructed them in graceful * Taylor's Biographical Notice of Sayers, quoted from Aikin's ' Memoir t Mrs. Burbauld.' 288 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. elocution, and wrote suitable prologues, interludes, and epilogues, but invented decorations and stage properties, contrived dresses, and made with her own needle and cut out with her own scissors all sorts of fantastic accessories. In 1775 Mrs. Barbauld produced her ' Devotional Pieces.' In 1777 her brother, yielding to the long-expressed wish of Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld, gave up to them his third son, Charles, as the child of their adoption, who was then less than two years old, and continued, to the end of their lives, to regard them with filial duty and affection. Little Charles was a fresh incentive to mental activity, and for his benefit she composed those ' Early Lessons ' which have been so extensively useful. Her mind was remarkably practical: she was, in the strictest sense of the term, a clever woman, and has never been surpassed in the art of devising and fitting means to effect a proposed end. This book, and her great success in educational training, induced many persons to entreat her to take charge of their young children. Ever willing to do good, and to lighten the burden of maintenance and future provision to her sen- sitive and anxious husband, she,, yielded to these solicita- tions and received several little boys as her peculiar pupils. "Among them Lord Denman and Sir William Grell reflected honour in after days upon their instructress. To awaken and direct the devotional feelings of her little Charles and his companions, she composed her ' Hymns in Prose,' which indicate a marvellously-exact acquaintance with human nature in its infant unfoldings. It is ob- servable that all the very best books for the nursery, and the dearest favourites there, approve themselves to the judgment and interest the feelings of the most intelligent men. Lord Daer, the three other sons of the Earl of Selkirk, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 289 and many youths of noble families, were among the Bar- guilds' parlour-boarders at Palgrave, retained through life the warmest gratitude towards their instructors, and gave them many proofs of their personal friendship. Mrs. Barbauld's health was strong, she liked active exercise, and was a great pedestrian. She had not the nervous sensibility which usually belongs to the tempera- ment of genius, and for many years she sustained the spirits of her husband in their mutual toils for inde- pendence. They won not only a pecuniary meed but large accessions of fame and honour. The vacations were spent in visiting their friends in different parts of the country, or in London, where they were welcomed by the best society, both literary and fashionable. Mrs. Montagu, always retaining her early admiration for Mrs. Barbauld, introduced her to all the most eminent persons of the time. Her conversation was appreciated even among those who made talking well the main business of their lives, and, notwithstanding her shyness, it yielded up the varied wealth of her fertile and richly-cultivated mind. So great was the ductility of that mind and so various were the forms and colours it could assume, while true to its own essential nature, as to remind one of Speusippus, the Greek philosopher, who set up images of the Graces in the Temple of the Muses, became renowned among the learned as the first investigator of the connec- tion between the physical sciences, and popular among his fellow-countrymen as the first inventor of the art of making a very convenient sort of basket out of bundles of twigs. At the end of eleven laborious years Mrs. Barbauld found that her husband's delicate health and depressed spirits, and her own weary frame, required an absolute -ution from exertion. They determined on quitting u 290 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Palgrave, intending, by an interval of relaxation, to re- create and afterwards brace themselves for renewed efforts. In the autumn of 1785 they left England, and landing at Calais travelled thence to Geneva, and spent the winter in the south of France. In the spring of 1786 they again set forth, and, after a long sojourn in Paris, returned to England in June, and passed the remainder of the year chiefly in London. In 1787, a Unitarian congregation at Hampstead having invited Mr. Barbauld to be their minister, he fixed his home there and took a few pupils, while Mrs. Barbauld acted as daily governess to a young lady in the vicinity. In 1790 she published her ' Address to the Opposers of the Corporation and Test Acts;' in 1791, her < Poetical Epistle to Mr. Wilberforce,' and in 1792, her 'Bemarks on Gilbert Wakefield's Inquiry.' In the year 1792 also her brother brought out the first volume of the 'Evenings at Home.' Mrs. Barbauld contributed fourteen pieces to the whole work. The world stands in- debted to their joint labour for some of the earliest and most successful attempts ever made to diffuse among the people that knowledge of scientific truths which had pre- viously been the exclusive property of professional students. This was done in a manner well calculated to enlarge the understanding while amusing the fancy of their readers, rendering recondite information a source at once of im- provement and pleasure. They aimed at teaching things, at conveying the tested results of careful inquiry, in such a way that the reader might, as far as possible, realize facts, instead of committing to memory a mere set of words. In 1793 Mrs. Barbauld published ' Sins of Government, Sins of the Nation.' In ] 795 she wrote a critical essay, which was prefixed to an illustrated edition of Akenside's LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 291 'Pleasures of Imagination,' and another in 1797, which WMS prefixed to an illustrated edition of the 'Odes of Collins.' In the year 1802 Mr. Barbauld resigned his ministerial charge at Hampstead for one at Newington Green, in order that his wife might enjoy the society of her brother and his family, who had settled in that neighbourhood. In 1804 Mrs. Barbauld published, in three volumes, ' A Selection from the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, and Freeholder,' with a preliminary essay, which is deemed the best of her literary criticisms. Her next occupation, undertaken at the request of several friends, was the examination and arrangement of ' Kichardson's Letters' and those of his correspondents, which she pub- lished in six volumes, preceded by a memoir and review of his works, deemed by competent judges far to exceed in worth all the other contents. Mr. Barbauld had suffered for many years under a morbid melancholy, amounting to insanity, an hereditary malady : she had unremittingly watched, soothed, and cheered him, with vigilant care and tenderness, and when he died, on the llth of November, 1808, she bewailed the loss of her first object of earthly devotion. In an obituary notice, which appeared in * The Monthly Kepository,' she did justice to his talents and acquirements, to his benevo- lent and amiable qualities, and to the unworldliness and noble simplicity of his character ; adding, that in his pulpit exhortations, " he did not speak the language of any party nor exactly coincide with the systems of any." Like most of his persuasion, he was a Universalist. Her poems bear many traces of her tender, true, and fervent attachment to her husband. In the lines addressed to him accompanying ' A Map of the Land of Matrimony/ u 2 292 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. which she had invented, comparing the lover to a sailor she inquires " And say, the land through Fancy's glass descried, The bright Elysian fields her pencil drew, Has time the dear idea realized ? Or are her optics false, her tints untrue ? Oil, say they are not ! Though life's ceaseless cares, Life's ceaseless toils demand thy golden hours, Tell her glad heart whose hand these lines confess, That Peace resides in Hymen's happy bowers." The lines addressed to him November 14, 1778, reveal how pleasantly she amused his intervals of leisure. The 'Dirge' of November, 1808, shows how she loved and mourned him. After Mr. Barbauld's death, she sought employment as a refuge from sadness, and edited a selection of 'The British Novelists,' for which she wrote an introductory essay and biographical and critical notices, distinguished by good taste and accurate judgment. This edition came out in 1810. In the following year she compiled and published ' The Female Speaker,' and produced ' Eighteen Hundred and Eleven,' a poem which excited stormy oppo- sition and even " contumely and insult," by the melancholy view which it presented of England's political situation, and the mournful forebodings of the country's impending ruin in which she ventured to indulge. Accustomed to popular favour she deeply felt the tem- porary loss of it, and never again could be persuaded to publish any of the compositions which her fertile mind continued occasionally to produce, confining their circula- tion to the homes of attached friends. It is interesting to remark the social links which unite passing generations ; to find Mrs. Barbauld writing verses in her youth to the memory of Mrs. Kowe, and aspiring to emulate her piety ; associating with Dr. Price, Dr. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 293 Priestley, and Dr. Enfield ; with Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Carter, and Mrs. Chapoue ; with Coleridge, Joanna Baillie, Hannah More, and the sisterhood of Barley Wood, at different periods of her history. Her last years were peaceful and happy. The brilliancy of her mind remained unclouded to the last. Her judicious biographer, Lucy Aikin, has remarked that " In youth the power of her imagination was counterbalanced by the activity of her intellect, which exercised itself in rapid, but not unprofitable, excursions over almost every field of knowledge. In age, when this activity abated, imagination appeared to exert over her an undiminished sway." The prevalence of this faculty was evinced alike by her writings, her conversation, and her increasing delight in the society of the young, especially if they were beautiful. In December, 1822, Dr. John Aikin, her only near rela- tion and dearest friend, died of a lingering decline, and left her to the loneliness of heart which the survivors of the companions of their youth must experience. Her sister-in-law, her adopted son, his family, and other de- scendants of her brother, together with many attached and admiring friends, still felt her extraordinary powers of interesting and pleasing, and cheered her with affectionate attentions. She ever was uprightly and sincerely what her high moral principles taught her to be : her benevo- lence, always great, augmented to the last, and the sorrows and infirmities of lengthened life softened and elevated her noble heart more and more. An asthma wore her strength gently down, by almost imperceptible degrees, inability for exertion subsided into languor, and, on the 9th of March, 1825, she passed away in the eighty-second year of her age. 294 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. As a writer, Mrs. Barbauld was distinguished by exten- sive and exact knowledge, by sagacious and acute powers of original thought, a lively and inventive fancy, a copious treasury of English diction, a correct application of words, and a polished brightness of style more generally attained by the masculine than feminine intellect. Her Essay ' Against Inconsistency in our Expectations ' is an ad- mirable and spirited piece of reasoning ; worthy, in acumen, experience of human life, and able execution, of John Foster himself. Her Essay * On Monastic Institutions ' would do credit, not in the inculcation of principles, but in compre- hensive grasp and rhetorical power, to a University Pro- fessor of Modern History. Her subtle discrimination and skill in analysis show themselves advantageously in ' An Inquiry into those kinds of Distress which excite agreeable Sensations :' to which is appended the beautiful allegory of Pity.' Her ' Essay on Prejudice ' is an able piece of reasoning. ' The Hill of Science ' might have passed unquestioned by the keenest critics as an allegory worthy of Addison's elegant mind, and of winning even for him additional glory. Mrs. Barbauld's letters to her brother are as well written, as full of courtesy and pleasant anecdotes, of wit, and thought, as if elaborately composed for the perusal of a Montagu or a Johnson. Themes of worth and masterly diction belonged to her easiest and most familiar inter- course, and all were interspersed with airy brightness of fancy, which gave beauty to every tiny mote it touched in passing by. In September, 1787, she makes a remark, which, trifling in itself, marks the history of habitudes in England. " Did you ever see seguars leaf tobacco rolled up, of the length LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 295 of one's finger, which they light and smoke without a pipe ? He [a young Spaniard] uses them." In 1791, she relates that Mrs. Montagu, having invited the Marchioness de Boufflers and her daughter to dinner, "After making her wait till six, the Marchioness came, and made an apology for her daughter, that, just as she was going to dress, she was seized with a dugout monientande du monde, and could not wait on her." Thus, with facility, she caught and communicated the spirit of variety and whim to enliven grave dissertation. In a letter of still earlier date February 9, 1786 written from Aix to her brother, the following passage refers to Mesmeric practices, which for the last ten years (1850-60) have been fashionable favourites in England : " If you have a mind to strike a good stroke in London, introduce magnetism ; it is in France the folly of the day. There is a society at Marseilles for that purpose composed of gentlemen. They boast they can lay asleep when they please, and for as long as they please ; and that during this sleep, or trance, the mind can see the operations going forward in the corporeal machine, and predict future events. One of them offered to try his skill on Mr. Bar- bauld; but, after a long and unpleasant operation of rubbing the temples and forehead, he was obliged to desist without success. Mr. Howard* will tell you, however, they operate better at Lyons, as he saw several women at the hospital put to sleep in a minute by only passing the hand over the forehead." t The pseudo-romantic fragment called 'Sir Bertrand,' long believed to have been Mrs. Barbauld's, is assigned by * The Philanthropist. t See ' Works of Mrs. Barbauld, with a Memoir by Lucy Aikin,' 2 vols. 8vo. 2 ( J(J LITEBAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Miss Lucy Aikin to Dr. Aikin. Her poems are all of them imbued with indisputable taste and genius. In the form of each, perhaps, may be discerned a likeness to some preceding composition of great excellence, written by a contemporary or predecessor : yet no servile copies or plagiarisms occur. Take, for instance, her Odes to Spring and to Content, evidently suggested by the Odes of Col- lins, and wrought out upon his plan in her own way, and according to the free 'tenor of her own thoughts. ' The Mouse's Petition,' known by heart to half the population of England, unfit as it is for children, has, in spite of the dissertation on the transmigration of souls, so much lively sense, compassionate feeling, and cleverness, that it continues a general favourite. The watchword Liberty, at the period of its first publication, tended to promote its popularity. The poor little creature which is supposed to utter the petition was kept all night in a trap by Dr. Priestley, that he might try experiments upon it with the different sorts of air which he had discovered. A few of her songs are not free from the blameable manner of expression usual among authors in her early days when writing on amatory subjects. In her poem called 'Eighteen Hundred and Eleven,' foreboding her country's fall, Mrs. Barbauld has anticipated for Anglo-Americans such' a survey of its ruins as Lord Macaulay deputes to a New Zealander. '* Yet then the ingenuous youth whom Fancy fires With pictured glories of illustrious sires, With duteous zeal their pilgrimage shall take From the Blue Mountains or Ontario's Lake, With fond adoring steps to press the sod By statesmen, sages, poets, heroes trod ; On Isis' banks to draw inspiring air ; From Kunymede to send the patriot's prayer ; In pensive thought where Cam's slow waters wind To meet those shades that ruled the realms of mind ; LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. In silent halls to sculptured marbles bow, And hang fivsli wtvaths round Newton's awful brow. Oft shall they seek some peasant's homely shed, Who toils unconscious of the mighty dead, To ask where Avon's winding waters stray, And thence a knot of wild flowers bear away ; Anxious inquire where Clarkson, friend of man, Or all-accomplished Jones his race began ; If of the modest mansion aught remains Where Heaven and Nature prompted Cowper's strains ; Where Roscoe, to whose patriot breast belong The Koman virtue and the Tuscan song, Led Ceres to the bleak and barren moor Where Ceres never gained a wreath before : With curious search their pilgrim steps shall rove By many a ruined tower and proud alcove, Shall listen for those strains that soothed of yore Thy rock, stern Skiddaw ; and thy fall, Lodore ; Feast with Dun Edin's classic brow their sight, And, ' visit Melross by the pale moonlight.' But who their mingled feelings shall pursue When London's faded glories rise to view ? The mighty city, which by every road In floods of people poured itself abroad ; Ungirt by walls, irregularly great, No jealous drawbridge, and no closing gate." Not the incident of the peasant only, but the whole tone and tenor of this highly-finished poem may certainly be traced to Mrs. Barbauld's acquaintance with the Latin poets and historians, and with those of ancient Greece. The lines "I see the long and linked chain of woes Rippling the deep and drawing on my Troy Wide- wasting storms and deluges of flame ;" from Lord Royston's translation of Lycophron's ' Cas- sandra/ might have made no inappropriate motto for her inauspicious prognostications: but, happily, her fate and that of Priam's daughter were reversed ; the contempo- raries of the Princess scorned to believe the truths she uttered: the contemporaries of the schoolmistress were alarmed by her erroneous denunciations. The Rip Van Winkle of our own time, the Seven Sleepers of the 298 LITEKABY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Middle Ages, and the Cretan Epimenides, all seem to have derived their somniferous being from that desire after a knowledge of approximating futurity which is inherent in human nature ; that all-pervading self-con- sciousness of spiritual immortality, which, fully assured that it shall then be, longs also to be then capable of knowing the issues and effects of those things with whose embryo and early growth it has been conversant. The pathos of the following lines few hearts can resist : THE DEATH OF THE VIRTUOUS. " Sweet is the scene when virtue dies ! When sinks a righteous soul to rest, How mildly beam the closing eyes, How gently heaves the expiring breast ! So fades a summer cloud away ; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; So gently shuts the eye of day ; So dies a wave along the shore. Triumphant shines the victor's brow, Fanned by some angel's purple wing ; Where is, oh Grave, thy victory now ? And where, insidious Death, thy sting? Farewell, conflicting joys and fears, Where light and shade alternate dwell ; How bright the unchanging morn appears ! Farewell ! inconstant world, farewell ! Its duty done, as sinks the clay, Light from its load the spirit flies ; While heaven and earth combine to say, Sweet is the scene when virtue dies ! " Many of her hymns are fine specimens of devotional poetry. In the first of them, which expresses only what philosophical deists of any age or country might feel, there are some admirable passages, and the four concluding lines are deeply impressive : "Cease, cease your songs, the daring flight control, Eevere Him in the stillness of the soul ; With silent duty meekly bend before Him, And deep within your inmost hearts adore Him." LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 299 The second is an able paraphrase of Habakkuk, iii. 17, 18 : " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom," &c. The third, ' For Easter Sunday/ if two half lines were expunged, would be altogether excellent. The objection- able words look like a guarded and subsequent interpola- tion of the sectarian Shibboleth. The devotional spirit, the faith, hope, and charity of the verses breathe essential Christianity. Few worshippers in the Established Church of England are unacquainted with the animating strain " Again the Lord,of Life and Light," and fewer still suspect its origin, or detect its alterations. Her 4th hymn is likewise used in orthodox congrega- tions, and contains only one suspicious phrase. The 5th manifests a painful acquaintance with the be- setting temptations of human life, and might serve as a song in Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress/ It has faults of omission, but is good as far as it goes. The 6th, ' Pious Friendship,' is very beautiful : " How blest the sacred tie that binds lu union sweet according ininds ! How swift the heavenly course they run, Whose hearts, whose faith and hope are one ! To each, the soul of each how dear, What jealous love, what holy fear ! How doth the generous flame within Refine from earth and cleanse from sin ! Their streaming tears together flow For human guilt and mortal woe ; Their ardent prayers together rise, Like mingling flames in sacrifice. Together both they seek the place Where God reveals his awful face ; How high, how strong, their raptures swell, There 's none but kindred souls can tell. Nor shall the glowing flame expire When jiature droops her sickening tire ; Then shall they meet in realms above, A heaven of joy - because of love." 300 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The 7th, ' Come, said Jesus' sacred voice,' is a touching paraphrase of the Saviour's invitation to suffering and weary sinners. The 8th hymn, It is often said (1860) that the writings of Hannah More are slight things, that they have had their day and need not now be read. This is a mistaken notion. Let any well-educated woman, or any sensible man, candidly go through her ' Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great,' her l Strictures on Female Education,' or either of her treatises, and the conviction must ensue that there is therein a strong vitality which never can become either despicable or useless, and that her works ought still to be read much more generally than they are. They contain plain truths, clearly and pleasantly stated, shaped indeed to meet the moral exigencies of the upper circles of social life in the eighteenth century, and, in so far as mutable customs, habits, and manners, are made the subject of remark, have become in some few particulars obsolete: but human nature, with its manifestations of ignorance and vanity, its depraved bias and proneness to direct its affections, desires, and purposes, to anything rtither than to God, remains the same from generation to generation, and the practical wisdom which turned the tide of error and raised the tone of contemporary cha- racter is still efficacious, in its bright serenity, to light the course of many voyagers over the glittering and delusive waves of the passing world. Her l Essay on the Character of St. Paul ' is more cosmopolitan in its nature, and more generally applicable to people of all ranks in all genera- tions, than the rest. Some of her * Repository Tracts,' addressed to the lower orders of people, contain not only the element of perennial usefulness, but a sublimity of moral and devotional feeling which the plain and almost rude simplicity of the verbal vehicle enhances and endears. Take, for instance, the ' Shepherd of Salisbury Plain.' 2 A 2 356 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Her style has been censured for the frequent repetition of the same thought in different forms : this, although sometimes blamable, will often be found necessary in addressing indolent and superficial readers, as orators experience a similar mode of composition to be for their audience. Iteration, not tautology, is the proper term for such a method of impressing truths by renewed strokes. * Coalebs ' treating, as old Chaucer sings, " Of storial tiling that touchetli gentiless, And eke morality and holiness," shows more than any other of her separate works Hannah More's compass of mind and the versatility of her faculties. There is the dramatic energy which excited the admiration of Garrick, the delicate irony which charmed Horace Walpole, the satiric point which delighted Dr. Johnson, the fineness of allusion which thrilled Mrs. Montagu, combined with the penetrating insight which astonished alike the simple and sagacious, the good sense which peasants could appreciate, and the benevolence which made her universally beloved. If her other works are considered as pictures, this may be called a stereoscope of society. Her poetry is neither " simple, sensuous, nor passionate," seldom pathetic, and never sublime. The diction is usually correct and concise, the versification sufficiently harmonious to prevent the subject from being injured by the medium. In her blank verse the metrical and grammatical com- binations regularly coincide, forming usually a stately rhythm. Her tragedies, sacred dramas, and all her poems are formed on those principles of composition which the English writers of Queen Anne's days adopted from the French imitators of the Greek and Koman authors, prin- ciples which continued to influence the style of all the LITERARY \VOMEN OF ENGLAND. 357 chief poets of Hannah More's early and middle life. Her I MM -try, like theirs, is essentially artificial. It partakes sometimes of the character of Dr. Johnson's compositions in verse, sometimes of those of Mason, and not ^infrequently it follows other contemporary models, bearing also invariably the tone of good society, excepting in her * Ballads for the People,' which resemble other rustic verses of the period. In poetry, as well as in prose, her chief business lay with human nature, its feelings and thoughts, its desires and actions. With Pope she agreed that " The proper study of mankind is man ;" and the weal and woe of individuals, as mortal sojourners and immortal beings, became the subject of her daily labour and her nightly vigilance. 'The Search after Happiness' has great and durable value from its keen analysis of human motives. 'Sir Eldred of the Bower' is shaped in the fashion of her early days, after the ballad-model given by Bishop Percy in his ' Keliques,' then high in public favour. It has very little merit, either intrinsic or extrinsic. The moral teaches that " The deadliest wounds with which we bleed Our crimes inflict alone, Man's mercies from God's hand proceed, His miseries from his own." Lines, by the bye, which re-echo the sound of part of a stanza in Gray's 'Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College,' ** To each his sufferings : all are men Condemned alike to groaii, The tender for another's woes, The unfeeling for his own." 1 The Bleeding Rock ' resembles very closely the trans- lations made by English poets of the early Georgian 358 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. period, from some of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The ap- pended moral is " That half the mischiefs youth and beauty know, From vanity's exhaustless fountain flow." Her Epitaphs are appropriate, terse, and pointed : every one of them conveys admonitory truth. Her Hymns are trite and insipid. Her ' Sacred Dramas/ notwithstanding the disadvantages attendant on their very nature, cannot be attentively read without enter- tainment and respect for the writer's ability. Hannah More herself considered the plot of her ' In- flexible Captive' as deficient in those stirring incidents which prove effective on the stage. The blank verse is well measured, the sentiments are elevated and appro- priate, the characters distinctly drawn, and the whole drama indicates real though immature talent for tragedy. * Percy ' is avowedly founded upon M. de Belloy's French drama of * Gabrielle de Vergy,' taken by him from the horrible old story of Raoul de Coucy and Madame de Faiel, All the revolting circumstances are omitted by Hannah More, and the resemblance remains so slight in the details that it seems almost punctilious to acknowledge the derivation of its plan. She has drawn the characters with an able hand, given true life and spirit to the dialogue, and portrayed the emotions of disappointed affection in three different personages, with great dis- criminative power, showing the jealous rage of Douglas, the despairing constancy of Percy, and the conscientious submission under heart-rending circumstances of Edwina, in a manner unparalleled by any of her female predecessors or early contemporaries. The blank verse is good, and rises occasionally to pathetic eloquence. ' Percy,' on the whole, must be allowed to possess so few faults and so LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 35!) many dramatic merits as justly to entitle Hannah More to a durable niche among the tragic poets of England. l The Fatal Falsehood ' is in all respects inferior to ' Percy/ and there is an improbable renewal of the complications of the plot by absurd means, which spoils the bold and clever first conception. Her ' Slave Trade ' is a good didactic poem, containing many effective passages ; for instance : "Strange power of soiig ! the strain that warms the heart Seems the same inspiration to impart ; Touched by thq extrinsic energy alone, We think the flame which melts us is our own ; Deceived, for genius we mistake delight, Charmed as we read, we fancy we can write." * Florio ' is a clever piece of satire, indicating that keenness of observation, and that capability of estimating morals and manners, and prescribing for the cure of their disorders, which, in after years, rendered Hannah More the most distinguished and the most useful Christian monitor of her time. Whatever subject she touches, whether in prose or verse, she enriches with an accumula- tion of information, illustrates with similies, and sets forth with artistic skill in the most striking and pleasing light. ' The Bas Bleu ' is a vivid panorama of polished society, drawn from the life. The descriptions of conversation which it contains are among the best in English poetry : " Yet not from low desire to shine Does genius toil in learning's mine ; Not to indulge in idle vision, But strike new light by strong collision. Of Conversation, wisdom's friend, This is the object and the end, Of moral truth, man's proper science, With sense and learning in alliance, To search the depths, and thence produce What tends to practice and to use. And next in value we shall find What mends the taste, and forms the mind. 360 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. If high those truths in estimation, Whose search is crown'd with demonstration To these assign 110 scanty praise, Our taste which clear, our views which raise. For grant that mathematic truth Best balances the mind of youth ; Yet scarce the truth of taste is found To grow from principles less sound. O'er books, the mind inactive lies, Books, the mind's food, not exercise ; Her vigorous wing she scarcely feels, Till use the latent strength reveals ; Her slumbering energies call'd forth, She rises, conscious of her worth ; And, at her new found powers elated, Thinks them not rous'd, but new created. Enlightened spirits ! you, who know What charms from polish'd converse flow, Speak, for you can, the pure delight When kindling sympathies unite ; When corresponding tastes impart Communion sweet from heart to heart. You ne'er the cold gradations need Which vulgar souls to union lead ; No dry discussion to unfold The meaning caught ere well 't is told : In taste, in learning, wit, or science, Still kindred souls demand alliance : Each in the other joys to find The image answering to his mind ; But sparks electric only strike On souls electrical alike; The flash of intellect expires, Unless it meet congenial fires : The language to th' elect alone Is, like the mason's mystery known ; In vain the unerring sign is made To him who is not of the trade. What lively pleasure to divine, The thought implied, the hinted line, To feel allusion's artful force, And trace the image to its source ! Quick memory blends her scattered rays Till fancy kindles at the blaze ; The works of ages start to view, And ancient wit elicits new. But let the letter'd and the fair, And chiefly let the wit beware ; LITEKARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 361 You, whose warm spirits never fail, Forgive- the hint which ends my tale, Oh shun the perils which attriul On wit, on warmth, and heed your friend ; Though science nurs'd you in her bowers, Though fancy crown your brow with flowers, Each thought, though bright invention fill, Though Attic bees each word distil ; Yet, if one gracious power refuse Her gentle influence to infuse ; If she withhold her magic spell, Nor in the social circle dwell ; In vain shall listening crowds approve, They'll praise you, but they will not love. What is this power, you 're loth to mention, This charm, this witchcraft ? 't is attention : Mute angel, yes ; thy looks dispense The silence of intelligence ; Thy graceful form I well discern, In act to listen and to learn ; 'T is thou for talents shalt obtain That pardon wit would hope in vain ; Thy wondrous power, thy secret charm, Shall envy of her sting disarm ; Thy silent flattery soothes our spirit, And we forgive eclipsing merit ; Our jealous souls no longer burn, Nor hate thee, though thou shine in turn ; The sweet atonement screens the fault, And love and praise are cheaply bought. With some complacency to hear Though somewhat long the tale appear, The dull relation to attend, Which mars the story you could mend ; 'T is more than wit, 't is moral beauty, 'T is pleasure rising out of duty. Nor vainly think, the tune you waste, When temper triumphs over taste." Her ' Sensibility ' must, on the whole, be acknowledged as the sweetest and most pleasing of all Hannah M ore's poems : " Sweet Sensibility 1 thou secret power Who shed'st thy gifts upon the natal hour, Like fairy favours ; art can never seize, Nor affectation catch thy power to please : Thy subtle essence still eludes the chains Of definition, and defeats her pains. 362 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Sweet Sensibility ! thou keen delight ! Unprompted moral ! sudden sense of right ! Perception exquisite ! fair virtue's seed ! Thou quick precursor of the lib'ral deed ! Thou hasty conscience ! reason's blushing niorn ! Instinctive kindness ere reflection's born ! Prompt sense of equity ! to thee belongs The swift redress of unexamin'd wrongs ! Eager to serve, the cause perhaps untried, But always apt to choose the suff 'ring side ! To those who know thee not, no words can paint, And those who know thee, know all words are faint ! * * * * ' Since trifles make the sum of human things, And half our misery from our foible springs ; Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, And though but few can serve, yet all may please ; Oh let th' ungentle spirit learn from hence, A small unkindness is a great offence. To spread large bounties, though we wish in vain, Yet all may shun the guilt of giving pain : To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, With rank to grace them, or to crown with health, Our little lot denies ; yet lib'ral still, Heaven gives its counterpoise to every ill ; Nor let us murmur at our stinted powers, When kindness, love, and concord may bo ours. The gift of ministering to others' ease, To all her sons impartial she decrees ; The gentle offices of patient love, Beyond all flattery, and all price above ; The mild forbearance at a brother's fault, The angry word suppress'd, the taunting thought ; Subduing and subdued, the petty strife, Which clouds the colour of domestic life ; The sober comfort, all the peace which springs From the large aggregate of little things ; On these small cares of daughter, wife, or friend, The almost sacred joys of home depend : There, Sensibility, thou best mayst reign, Home is thy true legitimate domain. A solitary bliss thou ne'er couldst find, Thy joys with those thou lov'st are intertwin'd ; And he whose helpful tenderness removes The rankling thorn which wounds the breast he loves, Smoothes not another's rugged path alone, But clears th' obstruction which impedes his own. The hint malevolent, the look oblique, The obvious satire, or implied dislike ; LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. 363 The sneer equivocal, the harsh reply, And all the cruel language of the eye ; The artful injury, whose venom'd dart Scarce wounds the hearing, while it stabs the heart ; The guarded plirnse, whose meaning kills, yet told, The lisf ner wonders how you thought it cold ; Small slights, neglect, unmix'd perhaps with hate, Make up in number what they want in weight. These, and a thousand griefs minute as these, Corrode our comfort and destroy our ease. As feeling tends to good or leans to ill, It gives fresh force to vice or principle ; 'Tis not a gift peculiar to the good, "Pis often but the virtue of the blood : And what would seem compassion's moral flow Is but a circulation swift or slow : But to divert it to its proper course, There wisdom's power appears, there reason's force : If ill directed it pursue the wrong, It adds new strength to what before was strong ; Breaks out in wild irregular desires, Disorder'd passions, and illicit fires ; Without deforms the man, depraves within, And makes the work of God the slave of sin. But if religion's bias rule the soul, Then Sensibility exalts the whole ; Sheds its sweet sunshine on the moral part, Nor wastes on fancy what should warm the heart. Cold and inert the mental powers would lie, Without this quick'ning spark of Deity. To melt the rich materials from the mine, To bid the mass of intellect refine, To bend the firm, to animate the cold, And Heaven's own image stamp on nature's gold ; To give immortal mind its finest tone, Oh, Sensibility ! is all thy own. This is th' ethereal flame which lights and warms, In song enchants us, and in action charms. 'Tis this that makes the pensive strains of Gray Win to the open heart their easy way ; Makes the touch'd spirit glow with kindred fire, When sweet Serena's poet wakes the lyre : Makes Portland's face its brightest rapture wear, When her large bounty smoothes the bed of care : 'Tis this that breathes through Se'vigne"s fair page, That nameless grace which soothes a second age ; 'Tis this, whose charms the soul resistless seize, And give Boscaweu half her power to please." 364 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. Justly to appreciate the value of her writings to her contemporaries, it is necessary to refer to the history of the times in which they were first published. Her com- prehensive and exact discernment of the peculiar moral evils incident to her then present generation, and her adroit adaptation of appropriate counteractives, deserve all the admiration, all the praise, all the grateful affection ever offered in tribute to her genius and her goodness. The different conditions of society at different epochs grow out of intermediate comminglings of means naturally tending, or providentially overruled, to produce those changes, and many improvements in the personal, domestic, and social practices, habitudes, and opinions of English- women may undoubtedly, and without fear of mistake, be attributed to the influence of Hannah More ; in those social practices, habitudes, and opinions, comprehending all that relates to and lies between the minute details of cottage cookery and the deportment of regal personages. She wrote more books, which passed through more fre- quent editions, and were printed in more numerous lan- guages, and read by greater multitudes of persons, than any other authoress upon record. All of them had more or less a beneficial tendency, and never did personal example more cogently enforce preceptive exhortation, than in the instance of this admirable woman. LITERARY WOMEN OP ENGLAND. CHAPTER XVI. THE POETESSES. A.D. 1833 OCTOBER. Mary-Jane Jewsbury. But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near ; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity." ANDREW MARVEL. MARY-JANE JEWSBURY. MR. THOMAS JEWSBURY, a cotton-spinner and lacemaker who had mills and a residence at Measham, five miles from Ashby-de-la-Zouche, married, in the year 1799, Miss Maria Smith, a handsome, amiable, and clever woman ; and their eldest child, Mary-Jane Jewsbury, was born on the 23rd of October, 1800. Her earliest years were spent in that abundance of corporeal comforts to which the profits of manufacturing prosperity are commonly applied. She was sent to a school kept by a Miss Adams, at Shenston, and there passed through the routine of ordinary female in- struction. Her love of reading, although early manifested, found neither encouragement nor guidance, and took the form rather of desultory enjoyment than that of a con- sistent pursuit of knowledge. Dutiful attachment to her parents, and protecting affection for her brothers and sister, counterbalanced in some measure the isolating conscious- 366 LITEBAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. ness of intellectual superiority, softened the rigour of her resolute will, and restrained the impulsive eagerness of her temperament. Earnest sincerity, sound practical sense, and a vivid imagination, soon won the tinappreciating and instinctive homage of her family. The history of her mind in childhood is left chiefly to conjecture : its most peculiar points she often alluded to in after life ; its general course doubtless resembled that of other aspirants who have shaped their own way to fame. Slight incentives suffice in childhood to educe and to direct the flow of mind. Praise casually received for knowing, or for wishing to know, seeing a name upon a title-page, admiration of the terse form in which some recognized truth is conveyed by prose or verse, concurring with the inherent self-suspicion of possessing latent power, may cause emulative attempts at clothing thoughts in apt words may evoke the wish to influence opinions and to win fame. Then follow the examination and selection of words to convey spontaneous ideas, or to adorn matter-of- fact narrations ; the test by ear and eye of those best fitted for imitating metres and rhymes which haunt the memory with harmonious sounds ; these studious researches tend- ing to enlarge the tyro's acquaintance with the copious- ness of the language, and to enrich the intellect with the various forms, colourings, tintings, and inflexions of verbal signification ; increasing thereby the capacity for enjoying the works of the ablest authors, and cultivating critical taste simultaneously with practical improvement of style. The simple name of a nursery-book, ' Aunt Mary's Tales for her Nieces,' or some other, has, ere now, taught a thoughtful child to infer, Then a woman could write and publish what she had seen and known ; and why should not I, when I grow up, do the like ? I should not LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 367 been commended if I had not attended, observed, remembered in one particular instance, nor if I had fail od to direct my curiosity and my inquiries aright in another, and thus I am encouraged to attend, to observe, and to investigate. In such, and in similar trifles have lain the tiny seeds, which germinating vigorously, and cultivated long and with sedulous toil, have often, ere now, produced goodly plants, pleasant flowers, and useful fruits. By some such means, no doubt, the genius of Mary-Jane Jewsbury was directed in childhood towards literary emi- nence ; and, against a thousand formidable forms of dis- couragement, she struggled onward -to attain it. Im- pressed with the sense, though probably then unacquainted with the words of Daniel in his * Musophilus,' " Tliis is the thing that I was born to do, This is my scene ; this part I must fulfil," her life exemplified them. It is certain that her sympathy with family cares, and JUT industrious participation in household occupations, lightened the troubles of her parents when ill success in business embarrassed their circumstances, and obliged her father to give up his cotton-mills at Measham, and to remove with his wife and children to Manchester. Her letters to her mother, written in 1819, during a temporary absence on a visit to some relations, are fluent and easy, full of good sense and right feeling, indicating superior ability, keenness of observation, and a clever application of a large fund of miscellaneous information. The death of Mrs. Jewsbury v her mother, took place at a later period of the same year, and the care of the orphan family, con- sisting of her younger sister, and of five brothers, one of them being an infant of a month old, devolved entirely upon Mary-Jane Jewsbury. 368 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. To the consolation of her father, who was a man of strong family affections, and to all the duties of this trying exigency, she devoted herself at once, and with un- remitting assiduity, sustained the burden during a period of thirteen years. It is not asserted that she ever attained to excellence as a systematic or practical domestic manager, but she successfully endeavoured to promote the comfort of her only surviving parent, and consistently laboured, by means carefully selected, to train up her brothers and sister for usefulness and permanent happiness. In the year 1821, she commenced a regular course of reading, exercising herself at the same time in the composi- tion of prose and verse. It appears to have been about this period that she addressed a letter to Wordsworth, whose poetry she admired, but to whom she was utterly unknown. Its purport was to ask of him that question so often asked by obscure aspirants of poets with whose sentiments they have sympathised, in the eager hope that those poets will sympathise with them, and, in spite of all domestic and social impediments, enable them to emerge from obscurity by revealing the precious secret, bestowing the sacred talisman, unravelling the tangled clue of literary success. In her case this application led to the establishment of epistolary correspondence, to personal and family inter- course, and to steady friendship, without any direct benefit to her as an authoress, but with those results of mental improvement which were far more conducive to her per- manent good. Mr. Aston, the editor of l The Manchester Gazette,' being acquainted with her father, had the honour of first printing and publishing a little poem of hers ; and being impressed with a high opinion of her talents, he in- troduced her to Mr. Alaric- Alexander Watts, who, from LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 369 flic latter part of the year 1822, edited < The Leeds Intelligencer/ and three years afterwards resigned that paper, removed his residence to Manchester, and be- came the editor of * The Manchester Courier,' and of an annual volume, called * The Literary Souvenir/ to which Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Montgomery, and Mary- Jane Jewsbury, were contributors. Mr. Watts, who married Zillah Wiffen, the sister of Jeremiah-Holme Wiffen, the historian of the House of Russell, was less than two years older than Miss Jewsbury, and with the generous zeal of youth and of a noble .heart, he aided her in the work of mental culture, gave publicity to her occa- sional poems, urged the composition of her first book, ' Phantasmagoria,' and found a publisher for it. In 1825 Mr. Watts gave up the local newspaper. In 1828 and 1829 he edited an annual, called < The Poetical Album, or Eegister of Modern Fugitive Poetry,' to which, and to several other volumes of a similar kind, Miss Jews- bury became a distinguished contributor. ' The Literary Magnet/ ' The Literary Souvenir/ and * The Amulet,' were likewise indebted for much of their popularity to her pen. At a later period she also wrote for ' The Athenaeum/ and many of the best pieces which she ever composed still remain entombed, though embalmed, in the thick quartos of that work. Mrs. Owen of Rhyllon, in her Memoir of her sister, Mrs. Hemans, thus relates the circumstances of Miss Jewsbury 's first sojourn in Wales : " She had long admired the writings of Mrs. Hemans with all the enthusiasm which characterised her temperament ; and having been for some time in correspondence with her, she eagerly sought for an opportunity of knowing her more nearly, and, with this view, determined upon passing a part of the summer and 2 B 370 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. autumn of 1828 in the neighbourhood of St. Asaph. No better accommodation could be found for her than a very small dwelling, called Primrose Cottage, a corruption of its original appellation of Pumrhos the Five Commons. The place in itself was as little attractive as a cottage in Wales could well be, and its closeness to the road took away even from its rurality; but it possessed the ad- vantage of being not more than half a mile from Ehyllon, and it had its little garden and its roses, and its green turf and pure air; and these to an inhabitant of Man- chester, which Miss Jewsbury then was, were things of health and enjoyment. Thither then she repaired with the young sister and brothers, to whom she had long and well performed the duties of a mother ; and there Mrs. Hemans found her established on her own return from Wavertree at the end of July. It may well be conceived how soon a feeling of warm interest and thorough under- standing sprang up between two minds so rarely gifted, and both so intent upon consecrating their gifts to the highest and holiest purposes. Yet it was scarcely possible to imagine two individual natures more strikingly con- trasted ; the one so intensely feminine, so susceptible and imaginative, so devoted to the tender and the beautiful ; the other endowed with masculine energies, with a spirit that seemed born for ascendancy, with strong powers of reasoning, fathomless profundity of thought, and feelings like those of her own Julia, ' flashing forth at intervals with sudden and Yesuvian splendour, making the be- holder aware of depths beyond his vision.' With all this she possessed warm and generous affections, a peculiar faculty for identifying herself with the tastes and predi- lections of those she loved ; and in conversation, when em- bodying the conceptions of her own ' ever salient mind,' LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 87 J a singular talent for eliciting thoughts from others, which reminded one of the magic properties of the divining rod. From early years she had had to contend with that pre- rarious and suffering state of health so often the accom- paniment of the restless ardent spirit, which " O'er informs its tenement of clay ;" she came into Wales, indeed, completely as an invalid, but was soon sufficiently recruited to enter with full enjoyment into all the novelties around her, to pass long mornings in the dingle, to take distant rides on her donkey, surrounded by a troop of juvenile knights-errant, and to hold levees in the tent she had contrived as a temporary addition to her tiny dwelling, whose wicket-gate can now never be passed by those still left to remember the converse of those bright hours without a gush of mournful recollec- tions. Many of the poems in her 'Lays of Leisure Hours/ which she dedicated to Mrs. Hemans, * in remembrance of the summer passed in her society/ were written in this little cottage. Some of them were immediately addressed to her, particularly that ' To an Absent One/ and the first of the series of ' Poetical Portraits' in the same volume was meant to describe her. The picture of Egeria, in * The Three Histories/ written by Miss Jewsbury some time afterwards, was avowedly taken from the same original, and, allowing for a certain degree of idealization, is drawn with no less truth than delicacy." * Miss Jewsbury has herself acknowledged the softening effect produced upon her own character by contact with that of Mrs. Hemans ; and that to her example she owed the habit of looking for beautiful and pleasant things, and dis- cerning them even among the harshest realities of life. * 'Memoir,' p. 141-3. 2B2 372 LITERAKY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. The writer of this Essay is indebted to Miss Geraldirie- Ensor Jewsbury and to Mr. Francis Jewsbury, for the perusal of a collection of their sister's private letters, and of the manuscript Journal of her Voyage and Eesi- dence in India. All her letters, however hasty and unstudied, bear marks of a fine mind under the steady and habitual control of the highest principles. Her pen ennobles all it touches, and gives interest even to trivial details. Those letters throw a clear light upon one im- portant feature of her character the strength and con- stancy of its attachment showing her father, her sister, her brothers, and her friends, to have been continually present to her thoughts, and that her best affections and most sedulous cares ever hovered protectingly over all the members of the paternal household. Her care for her young sister, throughout a long series of years, extended even to the most minute particulars of dress which could tend to personal comfort or respectability of appearance ; to the gratification of her tastes and wishes by gifts, permis- sions to participate in innocent pleasures, kind words, and the communication of agreeable information; to placing her under the instruction of persons competent to conduct her education in a manner suited to develop her talents ; to the communication of feelings of interest and attach- ment so strong and so constant as to work upon her sympathy and awaken reciprocal regard ; to the adminis- tration of reproof, suited with discriminating sagacity, to the faults which she discerned, and desired to correct; and to the inculcation of precepts full of real wisdom, and adapted to the modification of natural tendencies, to the formation of a fine womanly character, and to the conse- cration of heart, soul, and conduct, to life's highest proba- tionary end. LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 373 A woman devoting herself thus assiduously to domestic ami family duties, while applying her mind to study, and simultaneously pursuing a course of literary compositions, while forming friendships with the principal authors and authoresses of the day, and finding the confirmation of IUT secret aspirations in their approval and applause, must have possessed not only an extraordinary mind, but also an enlarged and noble heart. Dreading, perhaps, to be instrumental in communicating doubt, or in eliciting presumptuous inquiry, her advice on theological and religious subjects tended rather towards dogmatism. She had painfully acquired an assured belief in the vital doctrines of Christianity, and she enforced their reception upon other persons as a bounden duty, with too little of that persuasive appeal to the under- standing, feelings, and experience, of which the personal teaching of Our Lord and of his Apostles affords so many striking and affecting instances. Among her friends she numbered Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Henry Coleridge, the Koscoes, the Dilkes, the S. C. Halls, the Chorleys, De Quincy, and many other distinguished members of the world of letters. Her society was much courted ; and in London, as well as among her numerous acquaintance in various parts of England, her brilliant conversation confirmed and increased the reputation won by her writings. Having, in the year 1831, consented to become the wife of the Kev. William K. Fletcher, one of the chaplains of the Hon. East India Company, she subsequently accepted the invitation of her admiring friend, Mrs. Hughes, the sister of Mrs. Hemans, and then the wife of the rector of Penegoes, Montgomery shire ; and assembling her family party there in the July of the following year, was married to Mr. Fletcher 374 LITEEABY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. in the church of that parish, by her hospitable host, on the 1st of August, 1832. Having already commenced her pre- parations to accompany Mr. Fletcher to India, she took a final farewell of her family, full of projects for their comfort, and plans of future usefulness : and made the wedding tour through some of the wildest solitudes of the Principality, a part of the last long journey which she ever travelled upon British ground. In London, Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher were received by hospitable and zealous friends. They embarked from Gravesend on board " The Victory," East Indiarnan, com- manded by Captain Christopher Biden ; and the first entry in the journal of her voyage bears the date of September 20, 1832. This record is deeply interesting as a manifes- tation of character. Without deriving materials from that tempting source, the acts and words of her fellow-passengers, without indulging an artistic propensity to sketch the indi- viduals with whom secluded proximity made her thoroughly acquainted ; in short, without scandal and without gossip, winning the respect of her readers by abstaining from the readiest topics of remark, Mrs. Fletcher enlivens the mo- notony of routine by directing attention to every striking change of weather and variety of appearance in the world of waters ; its colours, its tints, its lights and shades, its dark and its luminous, its morning, afternoon, evening, and midnight aspects. Crabbe himself has not more accurately noted the ocean's wonderful varieties; nor Byron more deeply felt its awful greatness. Then she pictures forth the glory of the moon and stars, the forms, tinctures, and sublime movements of the clouds, in masses, airy vapours, silvery haze, and obscuring fog ; the inhabitants of the great deep, and the winged watchers attendant on its billows. Her own lively interest glows in her words, LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 375 and communicates the eagerness with which the sharks were discerned from the ship; and the albatrosses, shot by marine sportsmen, brought in the boat, and examined on the deck by the poetical wife and the scientific husband. Again, the vivid contrasts occasionally drawn between scenes peculiar to life on shore and life at sea, the sort of interlude presented between the part of existence done and acted out in Europe, and the part yet to be entered upon and fulfilled in Asia ; the reflections and expectations, the meditative musings, acute commentaries-, and natural over- flowings of rich thought and ardent feeling from the changeful moods of a true poetess, written avowedly for the perusal of the relations whom she loved best, and the friends whom she honoured most among the latter being a Wordsworth and a Hemans convey altogether a very engaging and attaching representation of a guileless and ardent woman of genius, disciplining herself incessantly " To fix the lifted eye on things sublime." Her 'Verses composed during a very discomposing breeze,' a comic strain; and 'The Burden of the Sea/ a didactic one, are not among her best effusions ; though there is in the latter a very fine half stanza : " The billows that engulph a fleet, And desolate a thousand homes, The sea-bird skims with careless feet, The nautilus securely roams ! " The voyagers spent the Christmas week of the year 1832, on shore, at Port Louis, in the island of Ceylon, and put to sea again on the 29th of December. Many passages of her journal are very eloquent. Under the date of January 9, 1833, she writes : " We have had two sunsets that not merely baffle description, but render Turner and Martin's gorgeousuess quaint and tame. Fancy a city full of majestic buildings on fire ; fancy a crowd of 370 LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. violet coloured mountains hemming in the flames, the sky beyond them dusky and sullen, looking on, as it were. Fancy all this, and you have some idea of a last evening's sunset. The other occurred a few evenings before, and whilst less gorgeous, was more singular; I should rather say more supernatural. The flame colour of the clouds in the west was mixed and tinctured with a deep, exquisite rose, which was reflected again upon the opposite clouds surrounding the moon. They, however, owing to her own peculiar light, were dimmer the hue of a dying fire, edged and flecked with a faint silvery green and white, the sea beneath might have been strewn with emeralds. One mass of attendant cloud happened to be of a peculiarly towering form, and to stand out prominently from the horizon. I could liken it to nothing but the pillar of fire that nightly rose over the Jewish wanderers in the desert. Gradually, as the light from the sun decreased, and that of the moon strengthened, the flame colour on the clouds round the latter faded, the green and the grey became snow white ; till at length the planet of the night, dissipating every evil between herself and our eyes, shone solitary in the heavens, with an effulgence that to more than myself proved exhausting. I ought to mention that both days our weather had been broken by squalls, consequently both were disturbed sunsets; disturbed, however, into increased magnificence and beauty. By-the-way, I have never mentioned the appearance of a squall ; one is coming' now, with rain: there is a line of mist along the horizon which seems to walk the waters, nearing the ship every moment. When severe and much extended, the sea pre- sents the appearance of a field of ripe barley bowing before the wind ; there is the same whiteness, the same undulation of surface." On the 2nd of March, 1833, she landed at Bombay, and LITERARY WOMEN OF ENGLAND. 377 hospitably received at the house of the Archdeacon. Proceeding to Hurnee with Mr. Fletcher, they remained there until the end of May, when Mr. Fletcher received orders to proceed to Sholapoor, which they reached on the 17th of June. Entering with animated expectation upon every new scene, keenly observing every point of contrast between the Asiatic and European aspects of nature, art, and social life, and every peculiarity of local manners and habits ; and more especially studying the character of the people in connection with their idolatrous worship, she carefully prepared herself for usefulness among them. Drought prevailed at that period in and around Sholapoor ; it produced a famine ; and Mr. Fletcher's principal em- ployment on his arrival was to mitigate the sufferings of the emaciated and perishing population. Accompanying him one day in this mission of mercy, they found a native man lying dead upon the steps of an idol temple, having his little girl clasped in his arms. Finding that the child was alive, Mrs. Fletcher took it home with her, provided for its wants, and placed it finally under proper care. The anxiety and over exertion of Mr. Fletcher brought on a dangerous illness, and for seven weeks his excellent wife nursed him assiduously. On his recovery, obtaining a medical certificate that his health would not bear that climate, they set out on the 26th of September, on their return to Hurnee. The last entry she ever made in her journal was dated "Babelgaum, September 26, 1833." A few days after- wards, having proceeded as far as Poonah, she was seized with cholera, sank calmly under it, and died there on the 4th of October. Her remains were interred in the ceme- tery at Pooiiah. It was a saying among the ancient Saxon