Mary Anne Burges (6 December 1763 – 10 August 1813) was a Scottish writer who wrote a successful sequel to ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

''.

Life

Burges was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1763 to George and Anne Burges. Her father had distinguished himself at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

by capturing the standard of

Charles Edward Stewart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

and was later deputy paymaster in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

; he was in charge of the customs when she was born. Burges was a gifted linguist familiar with five to seven European languages. Her particular interests were geology and botany. Her group of friends included Anne Elliot,

Jean-André Deluc Jean-André Deluc or de Luc (8 February 1727 – 7 November 1817) was a Swiss geologist, natural philosopher and meteorologist. He also devised measuring instruments. Biography Jean-André Deluc was born in Geneva. His family had come to the ...

and the diarist

Elizabeth Simcoe Dame Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe (22 September 1762 – 17 January 1850) was an English artist and diarist in colonial Canada. Her husband, John Graves Simcoe, was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Her diary gives an effective accou ...

. She is said to have been a major contributor to Deluc's last book and she sketched her friend Elizabeth Simcoe, as well as illustrating her own botanical descriptions.

Sequel

She is known for anonymously publishing a sequel to

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

's renowned allegorical work ''

''. Her book, ''The Progress of the Pilgrim Good-Intent, in Jacobinical Times'', has as its hero "Good-Intent", who according to the book's introduction he is the great, great grandson of John Bunyan's hero, "Christian". The book went through seven editions in English, two in Ireland and three in America by 1802, and established Burges as a professional and independent woman. She died in 1813 at her house in Ashfield in 1813. An introduction by her elder brother,

Sir James Lamb, 1st Baronet Sir James Bland Lamb, 1st Baronet (8 June 1752 – 13 October 1824), born James Burges and known as Sir James Burges, Bt, between 1795 and 1821, was a British author, barrister and Member of Parliament. Background and education Born James Bu ...

(born James Burges), to a later edition of her book revealed the identity of the book's author.Jennett Humphreys, ‘Burges, Mary Anne (1763–1813)’, rev. Rebecca Mills, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 4 Aug 2014
/ref> In 1814 the book was reissued with John Bowdler for another edition.The Progress of Good Intent
Mary Anne Burges, John Bowdler, 1814

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burges, Mary Anne 1763 births 1813 deaths Writers from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish women writers Scottish women novelists 19th-century Scottish novelists