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Author: Hunt, Eliza

Biography:

HUNT, Eliza (fl 1808)

“Eliza Hunt of North-Green, Norfolk” published her only known collection of verse in London by subscription in 1808. Internal evidence suggests that she was a lady with a base in London as well as her home in Norfolk. Most of the subscribers are given London addresses by street name; others are identified by their place of residence more generally (Canterbury, Winchester). There are no Hunts. The volume is dedicated to the Hon. Mrs. Windham, i.e. Cecilia (Forrest) Windham (1750-1824), who had married the eminent Norfolk politician William Windham (1750-1810) in 1798. The contents are mostly occasional, with a preponderance of laments for the deaths of various people—but not for children of her own, so perhaps she was unmarried. The poet expresses her own woes (“When awake I’m ever weeping”) and apologises, in a prefatory note, for delays in publication due to difficulties “as unavoidable as unpleasant.” The British Library copy includes a song by Hunt, “The Snowdrop’s Farewell,” set to music by I. (or J.) Carter of Canterbury. Genealogical records show too many possible Norfolk candidates, none of them associated particularly with North Green. (ancestry.com 8 Mar. 2023; findmypast.com 8 Mar. 2023; “Windham, William,” ODNB 8 Mar. 2023) 

 

Books written (1):

North-Green: printed for the author by W. Stevens, 1808