Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson. Paula Byrne

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       EPIGRAPH

      I was delighted at the Play last Night, and was extremely moved by two scenes in it, especially as I was particularly interested in the appearance of the most beautiful Woman, that ever I beheld, who acted with such delicacy that she drew tears from my eyes.

      (George, Prince of Wales)

      There is not a woman in England so much talked of and so little known as Mrs Robinson.

      (Morning Herald, 23 April 1784)

      I was well acquainted with the late ingenious Mary Robinson, once the beautiful Perdita … the most interesting woman of her age.

      (Sir Richard Phillips, publisher)

      She is a woman of undoubted Genius … I never knew a human Being with so full a mind – bad, good, and indifferent, I grant you, but full, and overflowing.

      (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

      I am allowed the power of changing my form, as suits the observation of the moment.

      (Mary Robinson, writing as ‘The Sylphid’)