George Payne Rainsford James

While in Florence, MB met Félicie de Fauveau , a sculptress whose family had been banished from France following the Revolution. MB also visited the Standish family at Casa Standish in Florence, where...

MB noted in her reminiscences that she had been on terms of close and tender friendship with many great men. Her correspondence with some of them has since been published. She called G. P. R. James

Mary Boyle published The Bridal of Melcha; A Dramatic Sketch, a poem which she dedicated to George P. R. James .

MB was an avid reader. Her favourite authors included Walter Landor , with whom she exchanged frequent letters, the BrowningsRobert Browning , and most especially, her literary godfather, G. P. R. James .

Henry Fothergill Chorley in his Athenæum review called the novel a tale of terror and adventure, just right for Christmas reading.

This play was written in a bid to win a prize of £500 in a contest, sponsored by Benjamin Webster of the Haymarket , for the best modern comedy illustrative of British manners.

In a critical preface HS reveals her gender though not her name. She opens by invoking the author of Rienzi (either, Mary Russell Mitford or Edward Bulwer Lytton ). The two groups of lovers and...