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CHARLOTTE SMITH (1749-1806)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 260 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHARLOTTE See also:SMITH (1749-1806)  , See also:English novelist and poet, eldest daughter of See also:Nicholas See also:Turner of Stoke See also:House, See also:Surrey, was See also:born in See also:London on the 4th of May 1749 . She See also:left school when she was twelve years old to enter society . She married in 1765 See also:Benjamin See also:Smith, son of a See also:merchant who was a director of the See also:East See also:India See also:Company . They lived at first with her See also:father-in-See also:law, who thought highly of her business abilities, and wished to keep her with him; but in 1774 See also:Charlotte and her See also:husband went to live in See also:Hampshire . The See also:elder Smith died in 1776, leaving a complicated will, and six years later Benjamin Smith was imprisoned for See also:debt . Charlotte Smith's first publication was Elegiac Sonnets and other Essays (1784), dedicated by permission to See also:William See also:Hayley, and printed at her own expense . For some months Mrs Smith and her See also:family lived in a tumble-down See also:chateau near See also:Dieppe, where she produced a See also:translation of Manon Lescaut (1785) and a See also:Romance of Real See also:Life (1786), borrowed from See also:Les Causes Celebres . On her return to See also:England Mrs Smith carried out a friendly separation between herself and her husband, and thenceforward devoted herself to novel See also:writing . Her See also:chief See also:works are: Emmeline, or the See also:Orphan of the See also:Castle (1788); See also:Celestina (1792); See also:Desmond (1792); The Old See also:Manor House (1793); The See also:Young Philosopher (1798); and Conversations introducing See also:Poetry (1804) . She died at Tilford, near See also:Farnham, Surrey, on the 28th of See also:October 18o6 . She had twelve See also:children, one of whom, Lionel (1778-1842), See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:lieutenant-See also:general in the See also:army . He became K.C.B. in 1832 and from 1833 to 1839 was See also:governor of the Windward and Leeward Islands .

Charlotte Smith's novels were highly praised by her contem- vraries and are still noticeable for their ease and See also:

grace of See also:style. ayley said that Emmeline, considering the situation of the author, was the most wonderful See also:production he had ever seen, and not inferior to any See also:book in that fascinating See also:species of See also:composition (See also:Nichols, Illustrations of Literature, vii . 708) . The best See also:account of Mrs Smith is by See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, and is based on material supplied by her See also:sister, Mrs See also:Dorset, with a detailed See also:criticism of her See also:work by Scott (Misc . See also:Prose Works, 1841, i . 348-359) . Charlotte Smith is best remembered by her charming poems for children .

End of Article: CHARLOTTE SMITH (1749-1806)
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