Joseph Addison

ALB 's niece wrote of her (with an echo of Pope on himself) that while yet a child, she was surprised to find herself a poet. She herself, however, said it was Joseph Priestley

Her poems, full of character and ingenuity, spring from social interchange. The title piece is a longish, narrative, occasional poem, Sent with a Pair of China Basons to JW 's dedicatee (who may probably...

In her youth JB knew Thomas Beach, who grew up at Wrexham, in the same district as herself (and later joined in the same verse exchanges in the Gentleman's Magazine), and probably...

Lady Mary claimed that at every stage of her life she picked a few intimate friends and cared little for the opinions of anyone else. She always retained the highest opinion of her father's and...

A son, John, born early in 1728 lived only a month. Then came Spencer, born just over a year later, who rose in the Church to become a bishop, and lived until 1813; Penelope, born...

Because of her mother's early death, MBE , she said later, was largely self-educated, her teachers being plenty of the best books. Apart from the family library, a half-guinea annual subscription to the Ipswich Mechanics' Institution

It is not known where or how AF acquired an education, but she certainly did so, to a far higher level than was normal for people of her class, regardless of their gender. She had...

Of her childhood, AG wrote that she developed early powers of imagination and memory, but received little attention: no one fondled or caressed me . . . I did not till the sixth year of...

Sarah Josepha Buell (later SJH ) was taught at home by her mother, with her father and her brother Horatio (then a law student) joining in for such higher branches of learning as writing, Latin...