Ann (Ward) Radcliffe

Ann (Ward) Radcliffe 1764-1823, English novelist, b. London. The daughter of a successful tradesman, she married William Radcliffe, a law student who later became editor of the English Chronicle. Her best works, The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1797), give her a prominent place in the tradition of the Gothic romance . Her excellent use of landscape to create mood and her sense of mystery and suspense had an enormous influence on later writers, particularly Walter Scott.

Bibliography: See studies by C. F. McIntyre (1920, repr. 1970) and E. B. Murray (1972).

Radcliffe, Mrs Ann (1764–1823) (née Ward), a novelist who published five novels, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1797), and various travel works. She was the leading exponent of the Gothic novel. Her portrayals of the raptures and terrors of her characters' imagination in solitude are compelling, and she was one of the first novelists to include vivid descriptions of landscape, weather, and effects of light.

Ward, Nathaniel (c.1578–1652), English‐born Congregational clergyman, emigrated to Massachusetts (1634), where he served as minister (1634–36) at Aggawam (now Ipswich). Upon retiring from the ministry, he formulated the colony's first code of laws, “The Body of Liberties” (1641), which is considered fundamental in American constitutional history. His best‐known work, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam (1647), is a crotchety and amusing satirical blast against religious toleration and other matters of annoyance to him. Ward also wrote commendatory verse prefixed to the poems of Anne Bradstreet, and published some poetry in his own book. He returned to England as a clergyman (1647) and several later political and ecclesiastical tracts have been attributed to him.