SOURCE: Setzer, Sharon M. “Romancing the Reign of Terror: Sexual Politics in Mary Robinson's Natural Daughter.” Criticism 39, no. 4 (fall 1997): 531-55.

In the following essay, Setzer examines Mary Robinson's novel The Natural Daughter for its representation of the influence of revolutionary ideals. In the novel, Robinson uses her heroine Martha Morley to defend her own professional acting and writing careers and to enter into the philosophical debate over women's rights.

Given Mary Robinson's widely publicized affairs with the Prince of Wales and other members of fashionable society, it is not surprising that the public appetite for scandal shaped her career and reputation as a novelist. According to Janet Todd, Robinson's first novel, Vancenza; or, the Dangers of Credulity, “sold out on its day of publication [February 2, 1792] primarily because it was suspected to be a roman à clef about her liaison with the Prince.”¹ By February 15 the second edition was exhausted...