Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Afra Behn
Afra Behn,
Dramatist and Novelist,
Was the daughter of John Johnson, a barber at Wye, where she was baptized 10th July, 1640, though a reference to her in the "Gentleman's Magazine" (Vol. 87, part 2. p. 322) says she was born at Canterbury in 1642. When quite young she went out to Surinam with a relative (whom she called her father), who was appointed Governor. Here she became acquainted with the Chief, Oroonoko, whose history she subsequently moulded into a novel on which Southern founded his tragedy bearing that title. On her return she married Mr. Behn, an English merchant, of Dutch descent. This marriage introduced her to Court, and she was employed by Charles II. on a private embassy. On her return she devoted the remainder of her life to "pleasure and poetry." She published three volumes of poems in 1684, 1685, and 1688 respectively. She wrote seventeen plays and several histories and novels, in addition to "Oroonoko" before alluded to. The paraphrase of Ænone's Epistle to Paris in the English translation of Ovid's Epistles, commended by Dryden, is hers. Her writings are lively and humorous, but marked by an obscenity rebuked by Pope, in the lines:—
The stage how loosely does Astræa tread.
Who fairly puts all characters to bed!
She died April 16th, 1689, and was buried in the Cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
[See "Biographia Britannica" "Biographia Dramatica," and "Langbaine's Dramatic Poets."]