ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD BIOGRAPHY

BARBAULD, ANNA LETITIA (1743-1825). —Poetess, etc., dau. of Dr. John Aikin ( q.v. ), was born at Kibworth-Hencourt, Leicestershire. Her f. kept an academy for boys, whose education she shared, and thus became acquainted with the classics. In 1773 she pub. a collection of miscellaneous poems, which was well received, and in the following year she married the Rev. R. Barbauld, a French Protestant and dissenting minister, who also conducted a school near Palgrave in Suffolk. Into this enterprise Mrs. B. threw herself with great energy, and, mainly owing to her talents and reputation, it proved a success and was afterwards carried on at Hampstead and Newington Green. Meantime, she continued her literary occupations, and brought out various devotional works, including her Hymns in Prose for Children . These were followed by Evenings at Home , Selections from the English Essayists , The Letters of Samuel Richardson , with a life prefixed, and a selection from the British novelists with introductory essay.