John Milton

The contemporary story features a self-educated working-class intellectual and freethinker whose characterisation draws on many strands of thought of the day. Drawn after the model of self-made men such as Daniel Macmillan , William Lovett

Her selection runs from Edward the Confessor to Samuel Daniel . (The title-page mentions Gower , Langland, and Chaucer.) For each poet she provides a short biography and a scholarly and critical preface. Her judgements...

In her general overview of the history of English literature during these centuries, she focuses especially on English poets because as she says, great poets not only give form, power and beauty to a nation's...

She includes a few poems on literary subjects: sonnets on the works of John Milton and William Cowper (as edited by Robert Southey ), a sonnet about reading her own youthful diary, and another on...

EF 's protagonist covers many topics: she speaks of her female experience (deaths of children in successive generations, anxiety for survivors, living with gendered contempt), her economic experience (the poverty of weavers, like her husband...

Her protagonist, Theresa Morven, has until three years before the story opens been buried in a French convent at the behest of her stepmother, whom, however, she steadfastly refuses to hate. (Her own mother died...

Twenty-two of the poems are the sister's, thirty-eight the brother's, and three are written by Eliza, a sister-in-law. An Advertisement gallantly suggests that the lady outshines the gentleman. EST 's verse introduction confesses her early...

The villa was famous for a visit made there by the young Milton in 1639 and is still a literary landmark. They stayed first at Sécheron, then at Cologny. In July...

Their move back to England was facilitated by a legacy of £5,000 from Anne's father. They bought the estate the previous year for £13,000 (including standing timber worth £3,280). AM sold the house, estate...