Brief Introduction: Mary Robinson by John Joseph Knight

From 'Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49'

MARY ROBINSON (1758 - 1800), known as 'Perdita,' actress, author, and mistress of George, Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), of Irish descent, was born on 27 Nov. 1758 at College Green, Bristol. The original name of her father's family, McDermott, had been changed by one of her ancestors into Darby. Her father, the captain of a Bristol whaler, was born in America. Through her mother, whose name was Seys, she claimed descent from Locke. She showed precocious ability and was fond of elegiac poetry, reciting at an early age verses from Pope and Mason. Her earliest education was received at the school in Bristol kept by the sisters of Hannah More [q. v.] A scheme of establishing a whale fishery on the coast of Labrador and employing Esquimaux labour, which her father originated, and in which he embarked his fortune, led to his temporary settlement in America. His desertion of her mother brought with it grave financial difficulties. Mary was next placed at a school in Chelsea under a Mrs. Lorrington, an able erratic but drunken woman, from whom she claims to have learnt all she ever knew, and by whom she was encouraged in writing verses. She passed thence to a school kept by a Mrs. Leigh in Chelsea, which she was compelled to leave in consequence of her father's neglect. After receiving, at the early age of thirteen, a proposal of marriage from a captain in the royal navy, she temporarily assisted her mother in keeping a girls' school at Chelsea. This establishment was broken up by her father, and she was sent to a 'finishing school' at Oxford House, Marylebone, kept by a Mrs. Hervey. Hussey, the dancing-master there, was ballet-master at Covent Garden Theatre. Through him she was introduced to Thomas Hull [q. v.], and afterwards to Arthur Murphy [q. v.] and David Garrick.

Struck by her appearance, Garrick offered to bring her out as Cordelia to his own Lear. He paid her much attention, told her her voice recalled that of Mrs. Cibber, and encouraged her to attend the theatre and familiarise herself with stage life and proceedings. But her appearance on the boards was long deferred owing to her marriage, on 12 April 1774 at St. Martin's Church, with Thomas Robinson, an articled clerk, who was regarded by her mother as a man of means and expectations. At his request her nuptials were kept secret, and she lived for a while with her mother in a house in Great Queen Street, on the site now occupied by the Freemasons' Tavern. After a visit to Wales to see the father of her husband, whose birth was illegitimate, she returned to London and lived with Robinson at No. 13 Hatton Garden. During two years she led a fashionable life, neglected by her husband, receiving compromising attentions from Lord Lyttelton and other rakes, and at the end of this period she shared the imprisonment of her husband, who was arrested for debt.

During a confinement in the king's bench prison, extending over almost ten months, she occupied in writing verses the hours that were not spent in menial occupation or attending to her child. Her poems, while in manuscript, obtained for her the patronage of the Duchess of Devonshire; a first collection was published in 1775 (2 vols.). After her release from prison, she took refuge in Newman Street. There she was seen by Sheridan, to whom she recited. At the instance of William Brereton she now applied once more to Garrick, who, though he had retired from the stage, still took an active interest in the affairs of Drury Lane. In the green-room of the theatre she recited the principal scenes of Juliet, supported by Brereton as Romeo. Juliet was chosen for her début by Garrick, who superintended the rehearsals, and on some occasions went through the various scenes with her. A remunerative engagement was promised her, and on 10 Dec. 1776 she appeared with marked success as Juliet. Garrick occupied a seat in the orchestra. On 17 Feb. 1777 she was Statira in 'Alexander the Great,' and on 24 Feb. was the original Amanda in the 'Trip to Scarborough,' altered by Sheridan from Vanbrugh's 'Relapse.' In this she had to face some hostility directed against the piece by a public to which it had been announced as a novelty. She also played for her benefit Fanny Sterling in the 'Clandestine Marriage.' On 30 Sept. 1777 she appeared as Ophelia, on 7 Oct. as Lady Anne in 'Richard the Third,' on 22 Dec. as the Lady in 'Comus,' on 10 Jan. 1778 as Emily in the 'Runaway,' on 9 April as Araminta in the 'Confederacy,' on 23 April as Octavia in 'All for Love.' For her benefit she played somewhat rashly on 30 April Lady Macbeth in place of Cordelia, for which she was previously advertised. On this occasion her musical farce of the 'Lucky Escape,' of which the songs only are printed, was produced. Her name does not appear in the list of characters. In the following season she was the first Lady Plume in the 'Camp' on 15 Oct. 1778, and on 8 Feb. 1779 Alinda in Jephson's 'Law of Lombardy.' She also played Palmira in 'Mahomet,' Miss Richly in the 'Discovery,' Jacintha in the 'Suspicious Husband,' Fidelia in the 'Plain Dealer,' and, for her benefit, Cordelia. In her fourth and last season (1779 - 1780) she was Viola in the 'Twelfth Night,' Perdita in the 'Winter's Tale,' Rosalind, Oriana in the 'Inconstant Imogen,' Mrs. Brady in the 'Irish Widow,' and on 24 May 1780 was the original Eliza Campley, a girl who masquerades as Sir Harry Revel in the 'Miniature Picture' of Lady Craven (afterwards the margravine of Anspach). At the close of the season she quitted the stage; her last appearance at Drury Lane seems to have been on 31 May 1780.

Her beauty, which at this time was remarkable, and her figure, seen to great advantage in the masculine dress she was accustomed to wear on the stage, had brought her many proposals from men of rank and wealth. On 3 Dec. 1778, when Garrick's adaptation of the 'Winter's Tale,' first produced on 20 Nov., was acted by royal command, 'Gentleman Smith' [see Smith, William, (d. 1819)], the Leontes, prophesied that Mrs. Robinson, who was looking handsomer than ever as 'Perdita,' would captivate the Prince of Wales (subsequently George IV). The prediction was fulfilled. She received, through Lord Malden (afterwards Earl of Essex), a letter signed 'Florizel,' which was the beginning of a correspondence. After a due display of coyness on the part of the heroine, who invariably signed herself 'Perdita,' a meeting was arranged at Kew, the prince being accompanied by the Duke of York, then bishop of Osnaburgh. This proved to be the first of many Romeo and Juliet-like encounters. Princes do not sigh long, and after a bond for 20,000l., to be paid when the prince came of age, had been sealed with the royal arms, signed, and given her, Mrs. Robinson's position as the royal mistress was recognised. After no long period the prince, who had transferred his 'interest' to another 'fair one,' wrote her a cold note intimating that they must meet no more. One further meeting was brought about by her pertinacity, but the rupture was final. The royal bond was unpaid, and Mrs. Robinson, knowing how openly she had been compromised, dared not face the public and resume the profession she had dropped. Ultimately, when all her letters had been left unanswered and she was heavily burdened with debt and unable to pay for her establishment in Cork Street, Fox granted her in 1783 a pension of 500l. a year, half of which after her death was to descend to her daughter. She then went to Paris, where she attracted much attention, and declined overtures from the Duke of Orleans; she also received a purse netted by the hands of Marie-Antoinette, who (gratified, no doubt, by the repulse administered to Philippe d'Orléans) addressed it to 'La Belle Anglaise.' In Paris she is said to have opened an academy. Returning to England, she settled at Brighton. Report, which is sanctioned by Horace Walpole, coupled her name with Charles James Fox. She formed a close intimacy, extending over many years, with Colonel (afterwards Sir Banastre) Tarleton, an officer in the English army in America. In a journey undertaken in his behalf, when he was in a state of pecuniary difficulty, she contracted an illness that ended in a species of paralysis of her lower limbs.

From this period she devoted herself to literature, for which she had always shown some disposition. She had already published, besides her poems (1775), 'Captivity,' a poem, and 'Celadon and Lydia,' a tale, both printed together in 4to in 1777. Two further volumes of poems saw the light in 1791, 8vo; 'Angelina,' a novel, 3 vols. 12mo, in 1796. 'The False Friend,' a domestic story, 4 vols. 12mo, in 1799, 'Lyrical Tales' in 1800, and 'Effusions of Love,' 8vo, n.d., purporting to be her correspondence with the Prince of Wales. She is also credited with 'Vaucenza, or the Dangers of Credulity,' a novel, 1792; 'Walsingham, or the Pupil of Nature,' a domestic story, 2nd ed. 4 vols. 12mo, 1805, twice translated into French; and 'Sappho and Phaon,' a series of sonnets, 1796, 16mo. 'Hubert de Sevrac,' a 'Monody to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds,' and a...