FROM 35-817 ELIZABETH TO VICTORIA. BY J. CORDY JEAFFRESON. AUTHOR OF "CREWE RISE," &c. &c. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1858. The right of Translation is reserved. NOVELS AND NOVELISTS. CHAPTER I. ANN RADCLIFFE. ALTHOUGH Ann Radcliffe's parents were in rank no higher than respectable tradespeople, she was more than decently descended. Her paternal grandmother was a sister of Cheselden, the distinguished surgeon; her maternal grandmother was Anne Oates, a sister of Dr. Samuel Jebb, of Stratford, who was the father of Sir Richard Jebb; and she was lineally descended from a De Witt, a near relative of John and Cornelius, who came over from Holland to carry out a government plan to drain the fens of Lincolnshire; a design which the popular rising and the execution of Charles the First expelled from the minds of its projectors. Like many, and perhaps we may add the best of our female writers, Mrs. Radcliffe passed a retired life, which, apart from its literary results, affords few points of interest to the biographer. Her maiden name was Ward, and she was born in London on the 9th of July, 1764. Gifted with unusual beauty, the chief constituents of which were an exquisitely proportioned figure, a transparent complexion, and such bewitching lips and eyes as rarely fall to the lot of a girl, she was soon surrounded with admirers. At an early age she was introduced into much desirable society; and at the house of her especially kind friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bentley (Wedgewood and Bentley), at Turnham Green, she made the acquaintance of Mrs. Montague and Mrs. Piozzi, VOL. II. B |