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This thesis explores the writing strategies of three literary women in the 1780s and 1790s: Charlotte Smith (1749-1806), Helen Maria Williams (1761-1827) and Joanna Baillie(1762-1851). With the reshaping of Romanticism in the late twentieth century these women writers have enjoyed a critical renaissance. Central to their revival has been the concept of historical reclamation, as critics have unveiled a 'forgotten' female tradition; simultaneously, many accounts presented female authorship as a hazardous occupation for women in the period. In examining the dual themes of popularity and posterity, this survey provides a new critical perspective on Romantic women writers: as influential players in an age of female authors, and as iconic figures \within an alternative literary history.

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The thesis deals with the party journalism of the years 1710-1712 as it concerned Marlborough, relating it to its political context and discussing the techniques of controversy employed. The introduction outlines Marlborough's popular status during the earlier years of Anne's reign, the uneasiness aroused by his family's monopoly of royal favour, the growing discontent with the war, despite his repeated victories, and Marlborough's personal reactions to such criticism. The first three chapters concern the issues arising from the ministerial changes and General Election of 1710, measures which many pamphleteers justified by censuring Marlborough's abuse of royal favour and conduct as general and plenipotentiary. The important contribution of Marlborough's principal apologist, Francis Hare, to this latter controversy is discussed in detail. Chapter III demonstrates that journalistic. pressure was also a determining factor in Marlborough's retention of his command under the new ministry. Chapters IV to'VI trace the efforts of Marlborough's Journalistic supporters during his last campaign to make his continuing military success the spearhead of their opposition to the ministry's secret peace negotiations, a procedure more favoured by the Duchess of Marlborough than by the Duke, and culminating at the end of 1711 in major ministerial press attacks on the latter and finally in his 3. dismissal on charges of financial malpractice. The last two chapters describe the controversies of the year following Marlborough's dismissal, including the journalists' unscrupulous exploitation of the peculation charges, and the numerous publications purporting to expose plots of Marlborough's devising against the Queen and ministry. The difficulties facing his defenders and the effect of this massive and damaging press campaign on the Duke himself are also examined. An epilogue deals briefly with journalistic reactions to Marlborough's period of self-exile on the Continent from December 1712 until August 1714.

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The poetry of George Crabbe has for a long time not received the attention it deserves. Part of the reason for this is that it does not easily fit the preconceived trends in eighteenth and early nineteenth century verse. This thesis looks at Crabbe from a new direction, exploring his writing on its own terms. Using previously unexplored writing, the thesis builds a fuller picture of the poet’s interests in the world and examines how these informed the creation of his major achievement, the verse tale. The preface opens arguments for re-evaluating the critical reception. It considers the apparent twenty-two year gap in Crabbe’s writing career and argues that the activities of this period must be considered to fully understand the verse tales he produced in the latter period of his life. Chapter one examines the origins for the tale. Looking at Crabbe’s interest in redressing what he considered ‘failings’ in poetry it draws together examples of the poet’s original innovation. Using a hitherto unexamined poetic fragment in the John Murray Archive, a view is put forward that Crabbe had already begun writing tales during the twenty-two year gap, countering the opinion that the form was arrived at from experimentation in ‘The Parish Register’. Chapter two considers the largely overlooked impact that Crabbe’s faith had on his poetry. Examining a wide range of the poet’s unpublished religious manuscripts, it redresses the view that he entered the church simply to support himself writing poetry. It counters the opinion that these are simple ‘moral tales’, demonstrating a more complex view that Crabbe’s firm soteriological views did not allow such judgements to be made. Chapter three explores the poet’s naturalist endeavours and examines how his pursuits in scientific classification shaped the arrangement of his writing. It puts forward new evidence for the range of taxonomic systems the poet was using, and argues that the attention to specification had a significant impact on the poet’s realistic portrayals of the world. Chapter four draws together the arguments of these chapters in considering the poet’s representation of altered psychological states. It builds a detailed picture of key examples of realist narratives in Crabbe’s tales. In the conclusion, the impact of Crabbe’s writing is addressed. Looking at how his poetry influenced a wide range of writers in the nineteenth century and beyond, it argues that the poet’s refusal to simplify the complexities of the world set the foundations for Victorian realism.

When Robert Southey published his second epic, Madoc, in 1805, he had already been working on the poem in various stages for a decade. His first complete draft of the poem was composed between February 1797 and July 1799, and this version differs substantially from that which Southey was to publish six years later. In this thesis I have published, for the first time, what I call MS.2A in full, complete with all its deletions and emendations, transcribed from the original in the Keswick Museum in Cumbria. In my Appendix I have also provided detailed explanatory notes to each of the fifteen books. These not only elucidate textual references but trace many of Southey's ideas, descriptions, etc. to the numerous sources that he had consulted for the composition of MS.2A, several of which he was never to acknowledge in the notes to the published poem. My introductory chapter examines the critical problem which commentators have encountered (and in many ways exacerbated) by paradoxically recognising Madoc's accretive compositional process while refusing to engage with any of the earlier manuscripts. The chapters which follow recontextualise Southey's long-held interest in the Madoc legend, from his latter years at Westminster School to the publication of the poem in 1805, within the wider Southeyan biographical framework. Particular attention has been paid to that period when he was composing MS.2A - a period which he himself was to recollect as being the happiest and most productive of his life, and during which he produced many of his most enduring shorter poems. My penultimate chapter examines some of the political and religious issues arising out of MS.2A, while arguing that a true critical understanding of these issues can only be achieved by our willingness to engage with, rather than - as has traditionally been the case hitherto - merely dismissing Southey's selection (and even rejection) of source material. My final chapter explores in depth ten of Southey's major sources for the writing of MS.2A, and provides the reader with information relating to their origin and make-up, details concerning the editions which Southey might have used, and a feeling for their author's wider aims and ideological tenor. A number of minor sources are also discussed, so that this chapter paves the way for a fuller understanding of Southey's borrowings.