A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Jewsbury, Maria Jane
JEWSBURY, MARIA JANE.
We choose to retain the name by which this gifted woman was known as an authoress, although she had changed it before her decease; but we can never think of her as Mrs. Fletcher. Miss Jewsbury was born about 1800, in Warwickshire. In early youth she lost her mother, and was thenceforth called to take her place at the head of a large family. Her father, soon after her mother's death, removed to Manchester; and here, in the midst of a busy population, oppressed with ill health, and the grave cares of life, the promptings of genius still triumphed, and the young lady found time to dream dreams of literary distinction, which the energy of her mind, in a few years, converted into realities.
It was at this period that she addressed a letter to Wordsworth, full of the enthusiasm of an ardent imagination: this led to a correspondence with the bard of "the Excursion," which soon ripened into permanent friendship. She was materially assisted in the developement of her talents, and the circulation of her literary efforts, by the advice and active kindness of Mr. Alaric Watts, at that time a resident in Manchester: these obligations she always gratefully acknowledged.
Her first work was entitled "Phantasmagoria; or. Essays of Life and Literature,"—which was well received by the public. This was followed by "Letters to the Young," written soon after a severe illness: then appeared "Lays for Leisure Hours." Her last work was her "Three Histories," which she allows displays much of her own character and feelings. But her best writings are to be found in the periodicals and annuals, to which she was a large and most popular contributor.
In 1833, she married Mr. Fletcher, a gentleman who held an office under the London East India Company—and soon after her marriage left England with her husband for Bombay. She anticipated with eager pleasure the riches of nature and antiquity, which the gorgeous East would open before her—but the buoyant and active spirit was soon to be called to another and higher existence. She died a short time after reaching India, and sleeps in that "clime of the sun," a fit resting-place for her warm and ardent heart