Frances Greville née Macartney (c

1724 Events January–March * January 15 – King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne in favour of his 16-year-old son Louis I. * January 18 – The Dutch East India Company cargo ship ''Fortuyn'', on its maiden voyage, dep ...

–

1789 Events January–March * January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet ''What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution. * January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election a ...

) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and celebrity in

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She was born in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the mid-1720s; one of four daughters of James Macartney and Catherine (née Coote), daughter of the eminent judge Thomas Coote and niece of

Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont (sometimes spelled Bellamont, 1636 – 5 March 1700/01In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on 25 March. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in us ...

. By the early 1740s, she was in London, accompanying

Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond (née Cadogan; 18 September 1705 – 25 August 1751), was Lady of the Bedchamber to Caroline of Ansbach, Queen Caroline from 1724 to 1737. She was the mother of the famous Lennox sisters. Early life She was bor ...

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

's poem ''The Beauties'' (1746) mentions her as "Fanny" among the most prominent women at court. Frances married

Fulke Greville Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, ''de jure'' 13th Baron Latimer and 5th Baron Willoughby de Broke KB PC (; 3 October 1554 – 30 September 1628), known before 1621 as Sir Fulke Greville, was an Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman wh ...

Wilbury House Wilbury House or Wilbury Park is an 18th-century Neo-Palladian country house in the parish of Newton Tony, Wiltshire in South West England, about northeast of Salisbury. It is a Grade I listed building, and the surrounding park and garden are Gr ...

(Wiltshire) in 1748 after an elopement. Greville was a gambler and a dandy, but that he loved his wife is witnessed by her presence (under the character of "Flora" in his ''Maxims, Characters, and Reflections'' (1756)). Frances is believed to have contributed to the volume herself. Frances Greville's own career as an amateur poet was marked by one resounding success: her poem, "Prayer for Indifference", first published in the ''Edinburgh Chronicle'', in 1759, offers an attack on the cult of

sensibility Sensibility refers to an acute perception of or responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another. This concept emerged in eighteenth-century Britain, and was closely associated with studies of sense perception as the means thro ...

. It was reprinted regularly in the following decades, often paired with a poem in praise of sensibility. Her output otherwise was light, and mostly within the confines of

vers de société ''Vers de société'', a term for social or familiar poetry, which was originally borrowed from the French, came to rank as an English expression.Fennell, ''The Stamford Dictionary of Anglicised Words'' History In France The use of the phrase ...

. She spent the 1760s and 1770s in travel. Her husband was named

envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an automobile brand used to sell Bri ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in 1764. She was a known conversationalist, befriending

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Frances Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...

, as well as

Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as ''The Rivals'', ''The Sc ...

, who dedicated his ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...

'' to her. Her daughter, Frances Anne Crewe, (1748–1818), became a prominent Whig hostess. Her three sons William (1751–1837),

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

(1760–1816) and Charles (1762–1832) had military careers. Henry later became a theatrical manager, with limited success. Mrs Crewe (Thomas Gainsborough)

Frances died in 1789 at

Hampton Court Green Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales * Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick * H ...

References

*Fuller, Joyce, ed. ''British Women Poets, 1660-1800''. Troy, New York: Whitson Publishing Company, 1990. *Lonsdale, Roger. ''Eighteenth Century Women Poets''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

External links

Frances Greville
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* Betty Rizzo, ‘Greville , Frances (1727?–1789)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', (Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008

accessed 15 Sept 2008. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greville, Frances 1724 births 1789 deaths English women poets Irish women poets People from County Longford

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the ...

18th-century English women writers 18th-century Irish women writers 18th-century English women 18th-century English people