CENTLIVRE 455 of Holbeach, in Lincolashire. Her father had been pos- sessed of an estate of no inconsiderable value, but, being a dissenter, and having discovered a zealous attachment to the cause of the Parliament, was, at the Restoration, obliged to seek refuge in Ireland, and bis estate was con- sequently confiscated.The mother of our poetess was daughter of Mr. Markham, a gentleman of fortune at Lyme Regis, in Norfolk, who is represented as having encoun- tered similar misfortunes with those of Mr. Freeman, in consequence of his, political principles, which were the same with those of that gentleman; and he also was obliged to quit his native country, and seek shelter in the western isle. She is supposed to have been born between the years 1667 and 1680; and, from the above statement, there can be but little doubt that Ireland was the spot of her birth. It is true, Walter Harris, in his edition of Ware, does not claim her as an Irish writer, but, that she is fully entitled to be considered as such, is as clear, as that Congreve, who is claimed by Harris, is not. She discovered, at an early period, a propensity to poetry, and is said to have written a song before she had attained her seventh year. She was left an orphan at an early age, having had the misfortune to lose her father before she was three years old, and her mother before she had completed her twelfth year. Having been treated with a degree of harshness, by those to whose care she was committed, after the death of her mother, she resolved, whilst very young, to quit the country, and proceed to London, to seek her fortune, The circumstances of her life, at this period, are inyolved in much obscurity, and the particulars which are recorded seem somewhat romantic. It is said, that she attempted her journey to the capital alone, and on foot, and, op her way thither, was met by Anthony Hammond, Esq, father of the author of the Love Elegies. This gentleman, who was then a member of the University of Cambridge, was struck with her youth and beauty, and offered to take her under his protection. Either her distress, inclination, or
