Book Description

Ellis Cornelia Knight (1757-1837) was an English gentlewoman, traveller, landscape artist and writer of novels, verse, journals and history. She had the acquaintance of many prominent figures in her lifetime from members of the circle of Samuel Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds in her girlhood, Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton during her Italian sojourn, and members of the British Royal Family during her service to Queen Charlotte and Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. She corresponded with or met many other writers including Fanny Burney, Madame de Stael and Lady Charlotte Bury. Her reputation as a learned author and highly respectable character earned her an invitation to join the household of Queen Charlotte in 1805 and in 1812 she became companion to Princess Charlotte, only daughter of the Prince Regent (later George IV), holding this post until the Regent fired her in 1814 for imagined lapses of judgment. At her death she left behind an incomplete autobiography and a journal which were invaluable sources of information on the court history of those days. These were edited and published posthumously in two volumes in 1861. Volume 2 of 2.