4, Winter 2001. 40, No. Family background Mary Darby was born in Bristol on 27 November 1757 (1) , the daughter of Nicholas Darby, a merchant sailor, and his wife Hester, who was thought to have married beneath her. The Authoress On her return to England in 1788, Mary Robinson became involved in the florid Della Cruscan movement. Mary Robinson (27 November 1757 – 26 December 1800) was an actress and author, famous for being the first mistress of the young George IV. Mary Robinson has 91 books on Goodreads with 825 ratings. From Lyrical Ballads to Lyrical Tales: Mary Robinson's Reputation and the Problem of Literary Debt By Cross, Ashley J Studies in Romanticism, Vol. Mary Robinson’s work has begun again to assume a central place in discussions of Romanticism. In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor. Her writing exhibits great variety: charm, theatricality, and emotional resonance are… Her poetry and fiction achieved considerable acclaim. Mary Robinson’s most popular book is A Letter to the Women of England and The Natural Daughter. During the same time, Mary Robinson wrote prolifically. Mary Robinson (Writer) Mary Robinson (Writer): Selected full-text books and articles. Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist, but also as a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. Mary Robinson revenged herself as best she could by writing a savage characterization of Tarleton in The False Friend. (Her attempts at writing for the theatre were less successful.) The Natural Daughter was an attempt to remind readers of an old scandal concerning Tarleton's young wife: Susan Bertie was an illegitimate child of the Duke of Ancaster. A writer of the 1790’s—a decade which saw the birth of Romanticism, revolution, and enormous popular engagement with political ideas—Robinson was acknowledged in her time as a leading poet.