Mary Robinson (poet)

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Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough : Mary Robinson, 1781
Portrait of George Romney : Mrs. Robinson in Quaker Dress, 1788

Mary Robinson , née Darby (* 1757 , in College-Green, Bristol ; † December 26, 1800 in Englefield Green ) was an English poet and novelist who was also known for her role as Perdita as an actress in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale in 1779 , attracting the attention of the Prince of Wales, later George IV , and becoming his mistress from 1781.

Life

Mary Darby Robinson was born as the daughter of a sea captain Darby (he suffered heavy losses in a business transaction and was most recently the commander of a ship of the line in the Russian Navy) on November 27, 1758 (according to recent studies a year earlier). She also had a brother who later became an important merchant in Livorno . The father left the mother and she supported herself and her five children by founding a school for young girls, at which Mary was also taught until she was 14 years old. During one of his brief visits, the father forced the school to close, as was possible under the law of the time. Mary Robinson then attended the school of social reformer Hannah More and a school near London, where she attracted the attention of the famous English actor David Garrick , who hired her for the theater at the age of 14. On the advice of her mother, however, she married the employee Thomas Robinson in April 1774, who suggested a possible inheritance to her. However, he had neither money nor a "gentleman" ancestry, and since the couple lived beyond his means in London , they had to flee to Wales , where their only daughter Maria Elisabeth was born in November 1774. When her husband ended up in the debtor's house, she lived there with him for 15 months. During this time her first volume of poetry appeared, which earned her the patronage of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire .

After her husband was released from prison, she decided to return to the theater career. She played from 1776 in various roles (Julia, Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Viola and others) at the Theater Royal Drury Lane . During an appearance as Perdita in Garrick's adaptation Florizel and Perdita of Shakespeare's Winter Tales in 1781, she caught the attention of the underage Prince of Wales, with whom she had an affair until 1783. During this time she became "fashionable" in London society, for example with a loose flowing, see-through muslin dress in ancient Greek style with a large cleavage, known as "Perdita". After the affair with the Prince of Wales, she first tried to get the promised £ 20,000 by threatening to publish his letters (in which they called themselves Perdita and Florizel), but only received a small annual pension of £ 500 (and £ 200 annually from 1783) Pound for her daughter).

In 1783, while pursuing her lover at night, who had suddenly left her, Robinson suffered severe hypothermia in an open carriage in the middle of winter, which permanently weakened her health. She was then partially paralyzed (according to her biographer Byrne, perhaps the result of a streptococcal infection after a miscarriage). She spent the following five years with her daughter and mother on the continent, where she celebrated social successes, especially in Paris. After her return she began to work intensively as a writer. As a result, she had several more affairs, a brief affair with Whig leader Charles James Fox , whom she also supported politically, but especially with General Banastre Tarleton , who became famous during the American Revolutionary War (or rather notorious from an American point of view) then also made a career as a politician. Their relationship lasted 15 years but was marred by lengthy periods of illness on their part, financial difficulties and attempts by the wealthy Liverpool merchant family from Tarleton to end the relationship. In 1800 she died after a long illness in her country house in Englefield Green, cared for by her daughter.

Since the late 1780s she was known as the English Sappho for her poetry . She also wrote six novels, two plays, a feminist treatise (and was also an ardent supporter of the French Revolution) and the beginning of her autobiography, which remained unfinished. Her daughter also wrote novels.

Her portrait of Thomas Gainsborough from 1781 is in the Wallace Collection . Even Joshua Reynolds portrayed.

Works

  • Poems, 2 vols.
  • Legitimate Sonnets, with Thoughts on Poetical Subjects, and Anecdotes of the Grecian Poetess, Sappho.
  • A Monody to the Memory of the Queen of France.
  • A Monody to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
  • Modern Manners; a satire, in two cantos,
  • The Sicilian Lover, a Tragedy, in five acts.
  • Sight; The Cavern of Woe; and Solitude; three poems,
  • A pamphlet Vindication of the Queen of France ; published anonymously.
  • A pamphlet entitled Thoughts on the Condition of Women, and the Injustice of Mental Subordination .
  • Vancenza, a Romance, 2 vols.
  • The Widow, a Novel, 2 vols.
  • Angelina, a Novel, 3 vols.
  • Hubert de Servac, a Romance, 3 vols.
  • Walsingham, a Novel, 4 vols.
  • The False Friend, a Novel, 4 vols.
  • The Natural Daughter, a Novel, 2 vols.
  • Lyrical Tales, 1 vol.
  • Translation by Dr Hagar: A Picture of Palermo (her last work)

literature

  • Paula Byrne: Perdita: The life of Mary Robinson. Random House, New York 2004, ISBN 0812970799 .
  • Martin Levy in: Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • Hester Davenport: The Princes Mistress. The life of Mary Robinson. Sutton 2006, ISBN 0750932287 .
  • Sarah Gristwood: Perdita: Royal Mistress, Writer, Romantic. Bantam 2005, ISBN 978-0-593-05208-2 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Robinson, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Darby, Mary (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH College Green, Bristol
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 1800
Place of death Englefield Green