Patrons include Elizabeth Montagu, to whom she
dedicates Peru.
Andrew Kippis, a scholar and advocate of social
reform
Important works include:
An Ode on the Peace (1783 celebrates the
end of the American war as an end to domestic grief)
Edwin and Eltruda: A Legendary Tale (1782
anti war poem that surveys the sorrows of a young woman caught up in an
armed conflict)
Peru (1784)
On the Bill for Regulating the Slave Trade
(1788)
Julia, A novel (1790)
Letters Written in France, in the Summer of
1790, to a Friend in England; Containing various Anecdotes Relative to
the French Revolution; and Memoirs of Mons. and Madame du F-- (Du Fosse
1791)
Letters From France: Containing a Great Variety
of Interesting and Original Information Concerning the Most Important Events
that Have Lately Happened
Typography
A note on the text:
Like her 18th-century counterparts, Helen Maria
Williams used the long "s." At a glance, the long "s" looks like "f"; but
examine the letter closely and you'll see something different.
You need to make a mental translation in order
for the poem to make sense. For example, the text reads:
t r a n f i e n t f p a r k
o f G e n i u s f i r e
You need to "translate" this phrase as:
t r a n s i e n t s p a r k
o f G e n i u s f i r e
As you can see, the long "s" is used in the middle and the beginning of words, but not at the end of "Genius."
Further examples of the long s and the Regular
s
The Upper-case Regular S is used at the beginning
of words:
ex. Season
The lower-case regular s is used at the end
of words
Seasons
The long s (f) is used at the end of words:
Seafonf (Seasons)
The long s (f) is used in the middle of words
Seafon (Season)
effufion (effusion)
The long s (f) is used at the beginning of
words
fharp (sharp)
fhroud (shroud)