ANNA

See also:

• ANNA SEWARD (1747-1809)
• SEWARD, WILLIAM HENRY (180r-1872)

SEWARD (1747-1809)  , English writer, often called the " Swan of Lichfield," was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward (1708-1790), prebendary of Lichfield and of Salisbury, and author . Born at Eyam in Derbyshire, she passed nearly all her life in Lichfield, beginning at an early age to write poetry partly at the instigation of Dr . Erasmus Darwin . Her verses include elegies and sonnets, and she also wrote a poetical novel, Louisa, of which five editions were published . Miss Seward's writings, which include a large number of letters, are decidedly commonplace, and Horace Walpole said she had " no imagina- tion, no novelty." Sir Walter Scott edited her Poetical Works in three volumes (Edinburgh, 181o); to these he prefixed a memoir of the authoress, adding extracts from her literary correspondence . He refused, however, to edit the bulk of her letters, and these were published in six volumes by A . Constable as Letters of Anna Seward 1784-1807 (Edinburgh, 1811) . Miss Seward also wrote Memoirs of the Life of Dr Darwin (1804) . See E . V . Lucas, A Swan and her Friends (1907); and S . Martin, Anna Seward and Classic Lichfield (19o9) .