Published in the June 1808 edition of the Lady’s Monthly Museum, this short column gives us an overview of various era authors and what some general sentiments of them were.
Samuel Jackson Pratt (penname Courtney Melmoth) was a poet, dramatist and novelist born in 1749. Recognized as an early advocate for animal welfare, his most famous book was Emma Corbett: Or, The miseries of civil war (1780) in which the heroine travels to America to find her British soldier lover dying from a poisoned arrow. Pratt died in 1814 after a fall from a horse.
Jane Porter (1776-1850) was a Scottish historical novelist and dramatist. The Scottish Chiefs is often identified as one of the first historical novels.
Eliza Parsons (1739-1811), like Ann Radcliffe, wrote Gothic novels and is probably best remembered for The Castle of Wolfenbach and The Mysterious Warning, two of seven horrid novel titles mentioned in Northanger Abbey. Parsons was a devout Protestant, whose beliefs are reflected in her novels.
