Name Louisa Stanhope | ||
Louisa Sidney Stanhope (fl. 1806–1827) was an English novelist of the early 19th century. She wrote mainly historical and Gothic romances, in great profusion, counting as the tenth most productive novelist in Britain in the period 1800 to 1829. Her didactic novels were aimed mainly at younger female readers.
Contents
Delicacy and strength
A scholar notes of The Age We Live In (1809) and Runnemede (1825) (and by implication of the others) that they are didactic novels aimed at younger female readers, for it was, in Stanhope's words, "requisite to pamper the insatiate palate of romance-readers; else would the page be cast aside, and the poor author stigmatized with dullness and insipidity." Her characters maintain a balance of feminine delicacy and strength of mind.
Nothing appears to be known of the author personally. There is no evidence other than dates for identifying her with Louisa Grenville (died 1829), the second wife of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, from whom she separated in 1806, receiving a payment from him of £1500 a year.