Portrait of Mary Robinson by Thomas Gainsborough, 1781

Mary Robinson, née Darby (1757 - 26 December 1800) the English poet and novelist, was also known for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) in 1779. Thomas Gainsborough (christened 14 May 1727 &ndash died 2 August 1788 was one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of 18th century Britain. Year 1757 ( MDCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year -of the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar until Friday, but 12 days ahead since Saturday. A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Perdita is one of the heroines of William Shakespeare 's play The Winter's Tale. William Shakespeare ( baptised The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio in 1623 It was during this performance that she attracted the notice of the young Prince of Wales, later King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland. Prince of Wales (Tywysog Cymru is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (and formerly the Kingdom Her affair with him ended in 1781, and "Perdita" Robinson was left to support herself through an annuity granted by the Crown (in return for some letters written by the Prince) in 1783 and through her writings. Today, she is remembered both as the first public mistress of George IV, and as a woman writer of the late 18th century.

Private life: childhood, marriage, and the theater

Mary Darby Robinson was born to a sea captain and his wife allegedly on 27 November 1758 according to her memoirs, but 1757 according to recently published research (see appendix to Byrne, 2005). Events 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont Year 1758 ( MDCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Her father deserted her mother when Mary was still a child, and Mrs Darby supported herself and the five children born of the marriage by starting a school for young girls (where Mary taught by her 14th birthday). However, during one of his brief returns to the family, Captain Darby had the school closed (which he was entitled to do by English law). Mary, who at one point attended a school run by the social reformer Hannah More, came to the attention of actor David Garrick. Hannah More ( February 2, 1745 – September 7, 1833) was an English religious writer and philanthropist David Garrick (born 19 February 1717 in Hereford &ndash 20 January 1779) was an English Actor, Playwright,

However, she and her mother preferred a good marriage. Mary accepted the proposal of an articled clerk, Thomas Robinson, who claimed to have expectations from elderly relatives. An articled clerk is an Apprentice in a professional firm in Commonwealth countries Mary was then just 16 when they married in April 1774. It turned out that Thomas Robinson was not wealthy nor gentle-born, and the couple lived in London beyond their means, ending up in flight to Wales (where Mary's only living daughter was born in November). London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. When Thomas Robinson was imprisoned for debt, Mary and their daughter, Maria Elizabeth, lived in prison with him. During this time, Mary Robinson's first volume of poems were published. Although the work made little money, she did obtain the patronage of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Georgiana Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire ( June 7, 1757 – March 30, 1806) born Georgiana Spencer, was the first wife of

After Thomas Robinson obtained his release from prison, Mary decided to return to the theater. She debuted as Juliet and acted in several roles at Drury Lane, beginning in 1776. Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. It was her 1779 performance as Perdita in Florizel and Perdita (Garrick's adaptation of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) that brought her both public notoriety and the attentions of the Prince of Wales. David Garrick (born 19 February 1717 in Hereford &ndash 20 January 1779) was an English Actor, Playwright, William Shakespeare ( baptised The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio in 1623 With her new social prominence, Robinson became a trend-setter in London, introducing a loose, flowing muslin style of gown based upon Grecian statuary that became known as the Perdita.

Subsequent career

After her relationship with the Prince of Wales ended, Mary Robinson attempted to blackmail the Crown by threatening to make public the letters the Prince wrote to her during their affair. She was after the 20,000 pounds the Prince had promised her before he came of age. Able to obtain only a small annuity that was sporadically paid, Mary Robinson, who now lived separately from her philandering husband, went on to have several love affairs, most notably with Banastre Tarleton, a soldier who had distinguished himself fighting in the American Revolutionary War. General Sir Banastre Tarleton 1st Baronet, GCB ( 21 August 1754 &ndash 16 January 1833) was a British In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" Their relationship survived for the next 15 years, through Tarleton's rise in military rank and his concomitant political successes, through Mary's own various illnesses, through financial vicissitudes and the efforts of Tarleton's own family to end the relationship. However, in the end, Tarleton married Susan Bertie, an heiress and an illegitimate daughter of the young 4th Duke of Ancaster, and niece of his sisters Lady Willoughby de Eresby and Lady Cholmondeley. Robert Bertie 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven PC ( 17 October 1756, Grimsthorpe – 8 July 1779, Grimsthorpe

In 1783, at the age of 26, Robinson suffered a mysterious illness that left her partially paralyzed. Biographer Paula Byrne speculates that a streptococcal infection resulting from a miscarriage led to a severe rheumatic fever that left her disabled for the rest of her life. Paula Byrne is a British author and biographer most famous for her bestseller Perdita The Life of Mary Robinson. From the late 1780s, Mary Robinson became distinguished for her poetry and was called "the English Sappho. " In addition to poems, she wrote six novels, two plays, a feminist treatise, and an autobiographical manuscript that was incomplete at the time of her death. Like her contemporary Mary Wollstonecraft, she championed the Rights of Women and was an ardent supporter of the French Revolution. Mary Wollstonecraft (ˈwʊlstənkrɑːft 27 April 1759 – 10 September She died in late 1800, having survived several years of ill-health, and was survived by her daughter, who was also a published novelist.

After years of scholarly neglect, Robinson's literary afterlife continues apace. In addition to regaining cultural notability because of scholars who study her writing, she again attained a degree of celebrity in recent years when several biographies of her appeared, including one by Paula Byrne that became a top-ten bestseller after being selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club. Richard Madeley (born May 13, 1956) and Judith 'Judy' Finnigan (born May 16, 1948) are married Television presenters.

External links

• Mary Darby Robinson biography
• Mary Robinson profile
• Mary Robinson profile (from a site dedicated to Tarleton)
• Contemporary obituaries and death notices (from the Tarleton site)
• Mary Robinson memoirs
• Works by Mary Robinson at Project Gutenberg
  • Beaux and Belles of England, available at Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works
• Mary Robinson portrait, by Gainsborough
• Katherine Binhammer, 'Mary Darby Robinson (1758-1800)' at www.chawton.org
• Martin J. Levy, ‘Robinson, Mary (Perdita) (1756/1758?–1800)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [accessed 10 November 2006]

References

• Byrne, Paula (2005). Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson. London: HarperCollins and New York: Random House.
• Gristwood, Sarah (2005). Perdita: royal mistress, writer, romantic. London: Bantam.