Work
Blackett apparently had many acquaintances, including poet Thomas Chatterton. She published three known works: two poetic and one a series of letters to her daughter. All three works were "printed for the author" (i.e. self-published).
'The antichamber; a poem, in three cantos" (1786) is a satire on courtiers. Only the first canto, 158 lines of heroic couplets, was published. [5]
Suicide; a poem (1789), 402 lines of heroic couplets, is inscribed to Richard Cosway. In this "ode to Chatterton," Blackett addresses the presumed English predisposition to suicide, [7] which she describes as a "horrid Mania" that calls "for the most serious consideration." [8] The poem critiques the death penalty for inuring the population to death, describes six suicides, and offers a message of fortitude in adversity. [5]
The mointress (1791) is a piece of conduct literature in the form of letters addressed to her daughter.
William Cowper was an English poet and hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak.
Mary Robinson was an English actress, poet, dramatist, novelist, and celebrity figure. She lived in England, in the cities of Bristol and London; she also lived in France and Germany for a time. She enjoyed poetry from the age of seven and started working, first as a teacher and then as actress, from the age of fourteen. She wrote many plays, poems and novels. She was a celebrity, gossiped about in newspapers, famous for her acting and writing. During her lifetime she was known as "the English Sappho". She earned her nickname "Perdita" for her role as Perdita in 1779. She was the first public mistress of King George IV while he was still Prince of Wales.
Humber the Hun was a legendary king of so-called "Huns" who, according to Gafridian legend, invaded the British Isles in about the 12th century BC. His people successfully conquered Scotia but he himself was drowned during his campaign against Southern Britain.
John O'Keeffe was an Irish actor and dramatist. He wrote a number of farces, amusing dramatic pieces and librettos for pasticcio operas, many of which had great success. Among these are Tony Lumpkin in Town (1778), Love in a Camp (1786), and Omai (1785), an account of the voyages of the Tahitian explorer Omai, and Wild Oats (1791).
Helen Maria Williams was a British novelist, poet, and translator of French-language works. A religious dissenter, she was a supporter of abolitionism and of the ideals of the French Revolution; she was imprisoned in Paris during the Reign of Terror, but nonetheless spent much of the rest of her life in France. A controversial figure in her own time, the young Williams was favourably portrayed in a 1787 poem by William Wordsworth.
Sir James Sempill (1566–1626) was a Scottish courtier and diplomat.
Robert Sempill, the younger (1595?–1663?), Scottish poet, son of James Sempill, was educated at the University of Glasgow, having matriculated in March 1613.
James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, KG, KT, PC, styled Marquess of Graham until 1790, was a Scottish nobleman and statesman.
Ann Yearsley, née Cromartie, was an English poet and writer from the labouring class, in Bristol. The poet Robert Southey wrote a biography of her.
Elizabeth, Princess Berkeley, sometimes unofficially styled Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, previously Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, of Hamstead Marshall, was an author and playwright, perhaps best known for her travelogues.
Barbarina Brand, Lady Dacre, was an English poet, playwright, and translator. In addition to her writing, she sculpted, rode, was proficient in both French and Italian, and maintained an extensive correspondence with a circle of other literary women, including Joanna Baillie, Mary Russell Mitford, and Catherine Maria Fanshawe.
Richard Polwhele was a Cornish clergyman, poet and historian of Cornwall and Devon.
Mary Scott (1751/52–1793), married name Mary Taylor, was an English poet, born in Milborne Port, Somerset. She wrote The Female Advocate (1774) in defence of women writing.
Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton was an American poet.
Maria Luisa Caterina Cecilia Cosway was an Italian-English painter, musician, and educator. She worked in England, in France, and later in Italy, cultivating a large circle of friends and clients, mainly as an initiate of Swedish and French Illuminism, and an enthusiastic revivalist of the Masonic Knights Templar.
Sir Richard Joseph Sullivan, 1st Baronet was a British MP and writer.
Miles Martindale (1756–1824) was an English Wesleyan minister.
Robert Fullarton Udny or Udney (1725–1802) was a Scottish merchant, art collector and Fellow of the Royal Society. His collection, highly reputed in its time, was broken up at a sale in 1804.
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