Elizabeth Bonhôte, née Mapes (baptised 11 April 1744 – 11 June 1818) was an English novelist, essayist and poet. Her most successful work was ''
Bungay Castle'', a Gothic romance written after her husband had bought the ruins of the real
Bungay Castle.
Life
Born Elizabeth Mapes in
Bungay
Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at the neck of a meand ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, in April 1744, Elizabeth was the elder surviving child of James Mapes (baptised 1714–1794), a baker and grocer, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Galliard (died 1789).
She married on 13 October 1772 Daniel Bonhôte, a Bungay solicitor and landowner, by whom she bore three children between 1773 and 1777. One of her daughters, also called Elizabeth, married Rev. Richard Dreyer, rector of
Thwaite
Thwaite may refer to:
Placenames
*Thwaite (placename element)
* Thwaite, North Norfolk, England
*Thwaite St Mary, South Norfolk, England
*Thwaite, North Yorkshire, England
*Thwaite, Suffolk, England
Buildings
*Thwaite Hall, University of Hull ...
and a former curate of St Mary's in Bungay. Daniel Bonhôte later became under-sheriff of Suffolk and captain of a militia company. He died in 1804, after they had moved to
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
.
[Christopher Reeve, "Bonhôte, Elizabeth (1744–1818)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004]
Retrieved 24 September 2015
/ref>
Little else is known of Elizabeth Bonhôte's appearance or personality. After her death at Bungay on 11 June 1818, her will disposed of several dwelling houses and a bakery and shop in the town, as well as £3500 in cash and annuities. She also founded still extant almshouses for elderly women and the widows of poor traders. A cul-de-sac near the centre of Bungay has been named Elizabeth Bonhote Close.
Work
Elizabeth Mapes wrote several elegies and poems in praise of the monarchy, and a first anonymous novel, ''Hortensia, or, The Distressed Wife'' in 1769. She is said to have been a royalist "perfectly satisfied with our laws and constitution".[''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present Day'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 113.] In the year of her marriage she had her second novel published, ''The Rambles of Mr Frankly, Published by his Sister'' in 1772. This is a moralistic work thought to have been influenced in its form by Laurence Sterne's ''A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy'' (1768). Frankly learns from observing people during his walks in Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
. The book became highly popular and was translated into German.
Illness after the birth of her children contributed to a break in her writing career, which was resumed with the novel ''Olivia, or, The Deserted Bride'' in 1787. Next came a conduct book
Conduct books or conduct literature is a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms and ideals. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as ''The Maxims of Ptahhotep'' (c. 2350 BC) a ...
containing moral essays "for her children's guidance", called the ''Parental Monitor''. These appeared in two volumes in 1788 by subscription, one applying to girls and one to boys. The verdict of a modern critic: "Intended as a guide to her children in the event of her death, it advocated acceptance of one's lot and dependence on adults." Two further novels, ''Darnley Vale, or, Emelia Fitzroy'' (1789) and ''Ellen Woodley'' (1790) were both reviewed in the ''Monthly Review
The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States.
History Establishment
Following ...
''. In 1796 there were two reprints of her ''Parental Monitor'', one in London and one in Dublin.
Bonhôte's most successful novel was inspired by her husband's purchase of the site and ruins of Bungay Castle in 1791. Its grandeur gave rise to '' Bungay Castle'', a Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
romance which appeared in 1796 with the popular publisher Minerva Press
Minerva Press was a publishing house, noted for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Leadenhall Street, Lon ...
and was dedicated to the Duke of Norfolk. It was reissued as recently as 2006.[''Bungay Castle: A Novel'', (Lake Arrowhead, CA: Zittaw Press, 2006). ]
Bonhôte wrote occasional verse throughout her life. Her final publication was one such piece: ''Feeling, or, Sketches from Life: a Desultory Poem'' (1810).
Bibliography
References
;Attribution
Further reading
*Christopher Reeve
‘Bonhôte , Elizabeth (1744–1818)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 13 November 2006
*
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonhote, Elizabeth
1744 births
1818 deaths
People from Bungay
18th-century English women writers
18th-century English writers
19th-century English women writers
19th-century English writers
18th-century English novelists
19th-century English poets
English women novelists
British women essayists
18th-century essayists
19th-century essayists
Writers of Gothic fiction