I'll Tell You What: The Life of Elizabeth Inchbald

624 Pages·2003·52.806 MB·English

by  Annibel Jenkins

YOB What
THE LIFE OF ELIZABETH INCHBALD
A N N I B EL J E N K I NS
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Publication of this volume was made possible in part
by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 2003 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky,
Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University,
Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
07 06 05 04 03 12 3 4 5
Frontispiece: A portrait of Mrs. Inchbald by John Hoppner,
now in the Musee Jacquemart-Andre in Paris.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jenkins, Annibel.
I'll tell you what: the life of Elizabeth Inchbald / Annibel Jenkins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8131-2236-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Inchbald, Mrs., 1753-1821. 2. Women and literature—England—
History—18th century. 3. Authors, English—18th century—Biography.
4. Theater critics—Great Britain—Biography. 5. Actors—
Great Britain—Biography. I. Title.
PR3518.Z5J46 2003
828'.609—dc21
2002011432
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
For my sister Jen Peacock,
her husband George Peacock,
and their son Robert Peacock.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
viii
ONE
In London to Find a Fortune
1
TWO
Scotland and the Perils of Travel
15
THREE
Wilkinson and the York Company
37
FOUR
London at Last
78
FIVE
To Ireland with Hitchcock
126
SIX
1784
151
SEVEN
New Plays and a Publisher
184
EIGHT
1788-1789
231
NINE
A New Chapter
300
TEN
Nature and Art, a Second Novel, and New Plays
372
ELEVEN
A New Century
444
TWELVE
The Last Years
492
Notes
522
Bibliography
559
Index
566
Illustrations follow page 312
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
£/ i^ince Mrs. Inchbald's story certainly could not have been told without
the resources of many libraries, both here and abroad, I would like to thank the
following:
The Folger Shakespeare Library for their kind assistance in making avail-
able manuscript materials, especially Mrs. Inchbald's pocket-books; the British
Library and the York Minster Library in England; and the Emory University
Library, the Georgia Tech Library, and the Oglethorpe University Library here in
Atlanta.
I would like to thank Paula Backscheider, the late Philip Griffith, and Betty
Rizzo, all of whom read the manuscript and offered valuable directions and sug-
gestions.
For help and encouragement over the years, I would like to thank Martha
Bowden, Nancy Grayson, J. Patrick Lee, Heather McPherson, Byron Wells, and
Calhoun Winton.
I also thank all the members, both past and present, of the Southeastern
American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies for listening to me read and
talk about Mrs. Inchbald and her friends over many years and in many places.
And finally, I want to thank a very important group of people who helped
prepare the manuscript, for without their help there would never have been a
book. They are Kathleen Doig, Larry Furse, Jessica Ellis, Dawn Jackson, Avigail
Schimmel, Paul Schnell, and Richard Wetmore.