What do you think?
Rate this book
A Letter to the Women of England and The Natural Daughter
Mary Robinson's A Letter to the Women of England (1799) is a radical response to the rampant anti-feminist sentiment of the late 1790s. In this work, Robinson encourages her female contemporaries to throw off the "glittering shackles" of custom and to claim their rightful places as the social and intellectual equals of men. Separately published in the same year, Robinson's novel The Natural Daughter follows the story of Martha Morley, who defies her husband's authority, adopts a found infant, is barred from her husband's estate and is driven to seek work as an actress and author. The novel implicitly links and critiques domestic tyrants in England and Jacobin tyrants in France. This edition also includes: other writings by Mary Robinson (tributes, and an excerpt from The Progress of Liberty); writings by contemporaries on women, society, and revolution; and contemporary reviews of both works.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1799
About the author
Mary Robinson
202 books17 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Mary Robinson, nee Darby (1757-1800) was an English poet and novelist. During her lifetime she was known as 'the English Sappho'. She was also known for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) in 1779 and as the first public mistress of George IV. After seeing her as Perdita, and declaring himself enraptured with her, the Prince of Wales, offered Mary Robinson twenty thousand pounds to become his mistress. However, he soon tired of her and abandoned her after a year, refusing to pay the money. Her reputation was destroyed by the affair, and she could no longer find work as an actress. Eventually, the Crown agreed to pay Robinson five thousand pounds, in return for the Prince's love letters to her. In 1783, at the age of 26, Robinson suffered a mysterious illness that left her partially paralyzed. From the late 1780s, she became distinguished for her poetry. 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.
Mary Robinson, nee Darby (1757-1800) was an English poet and novelist. During her lifetime she was known as 'the English Sappho'. She was also known for her role as Perdita (heroine of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) in 1779 and as the first public mistress of George IV. After seeing her as Perdita, and declaring himself enraptured with her, the Prince of Wales, offered Mary Robinson twenty thousand pounds to become his mistress. However, he soon tired of her and abandoned her after a year, refusing to pay the money. Her reputation was destroyed by the affair, and she could no longer find work as an actress. Eventually, the Crown agreed to pay Robinson five thousand pounds, in return for the Prince's love letters to her. In 1783, at the age of 26, Robinson suffered a mysterious illness that left her partially paralyzed. From the late 1780s, she became distinguished for her poetry. 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 8, 2007
Wonderful essay from an early feminist. Differs from Wollstonecraft in that she celebrates the achievements of women, rather than denigrates the way women give in to the culture of sensibility (as Wollstonecraft did). Notable for her calls for a university for women. The novel included in this volume, The Natural Daughter, is a highly political novel about gender relations and the French Revolution. Very interesting, although rife with astonishing coincidences.
January 30, 2018
‘A Letter to the Women of England’ 1799
‘O! my unenlightened country-women! read, and profit, by the admonition of Reason. Shake off the trifling, glittering shackles, which debase you. Resist those fascinating spells which, like the petrifying torpedo, fasten on your mental faculties. Be less the slaves of vanity, and more the converts of Reflection. Nature has endowed you with personal attractions: she has also given you the mind capable of expansion...’
Mary Robinson intellectually and empirically vindicates the rights of women. This is a concise, powerful essay, as relevant today as it was in 1799.
‘O! my unenlightened country-women! read, and profit, by the admonition of Reason. Shake off the trifling, glittering shackles, which debase you. Resist those fascinating spells which, like the petrifying torpedo, fasten on your mental faculties. Be less the slaves of vanity, and more the converts of Reflection. Nature has endowed you with personal attractions: she has also given you the mind capable of expansion...’
Mary Robinson intellectually and empirically vindicates the rights of women. This is a concise, powerful essay, as relevant today as it was in 1799.
Read
August 1, 2023You know when you’re watching a movie and the protagonist is caught in some compromising situation like, idk, they’re standing over a dead body holding a pair of pruning shears, and the antagonist(s) are all like “aha! YOU are the killer!” and actually our hero-/ine was just doing some pruning and stumbled over the body and the cause of death wasn’t stabbing-with-garden-shears anyway but they don’t EXPLAIN any of this, they just meekly go to jail and start working on their appeal, and you’re screaming “JUST TELL THEM THE HEDGE NEEDED SOME WORK” at the screen? The Natural Daughter is like that, but for “dead body”, read “illegitimate baby”, and for “pruning shears”, read “basic human decency”. A better novel than Robinson's previous one, Walsingham, but wildly stressful.
January 18, 2019
"A Letter..." was excellent. It reads less assertive and groundbreaking in an age where we tend to forget how restrictive women's lives were. You have to really put yourself in a time where basic human rights were not extended to women. Then the true spirit of the letter comes through.
"The Natural Daughter", explores some very compelling feminist themes. You have to be able to overlook the melodrama and implausible nature of the story. Easy enough to do.
Mary Robinson's own story is extremely interesting and lacks no melodrama or implausibility of its own.
"The Natural Daughter", explores some very compelling feminist themes. You have to be able to overlook the melodrama and implausible nature of the story. Easy enough to do.
Mary Robinson's own story is extremely interesting and lacks no melodrama or implausibility of its own.
February 19, 2024
Letter=4 stars
Novel=2 stars
Average=3 stars
Novel=2 stars
Average=3 stars
January 11, 2015
I am a bit bothered by Robinson`s writing. Sometimes I feel like she is moving forward with her feminist 17th century perspective, but all of a sudden she steps back, leaning towards the same conservative writing which was expected of a woman of her time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews