Mary Darby Robinson
1758 - 1800
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 an actress, from the age of 14. 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, and was the first public mistress of King George IV while he was still Prince of Wales. Robinson is the author of the Gothic novels Vancenza; or, the Dangers of Credulity (1792) and Hubert de Sevrac (1796).