" The more stubborn and _wealthy_,
therefore, were selected for example; and the others had this favour
shown them.
* * * * *
LADY-POETS OF ENGLAND.
The following is a Frenchman's expression of homage to our modern female
poets, in which we excel all the world:--
It is remarkable, that in the latter years of the eighteenth century, and
also during the whole course of our revolution, there appeared in England
a whole school, as it were, of female authors, whose pure and graceful
productions are disfigured by no exaggerations, nor are they of that
sombre character which distinguishes the modern literature of their
country. Of the lady-authors of England, the most celebrated is Lady
Wortley Montagu, the contemporary of Pope, who has left poems, but more
especially letters, highly remarkable for their talent and philosophy. It
is impossible to give here the names of the authoresses who appeared all
on a sudden about half a century after Lady Wortley Montagu. One of the
earliest of them was a lady of the same name, Mrs. E. Montagu, the author
of the Essays on Shakspeare, and Mrs. Anna Laetitia Barbauld, who wrote
numerous poems and admirable hymns for children. There is great beauty in
the Epistle of Mrs. Barbauld to Wilberforce, on the subject of the
Abolition of the Slave Trade (1781.) Mrs. Hannah More has also written
several works of _religious fiction_, and above all, some charming poems;
Florio (1786,) and the Blue Stocking, or Conversation.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48