Carter, Elizabeth

Carter's publications in GM jumpstarted her literary career. Her wide learning, praised by SJ, was uncommon for a woman of the day and balanced by her piety and domestic skills. She became a sensation with the public as a result of her youth, talent, and gender. With the help of her father and her many literary friends, she pursued a literary career in London. "She published riddles, odes, epigrams, and poems in the Augustan mode" (DNB). However, her best-known and most financially successful work was her translation of Epictetus. Because of her dislike of public exposure and fear of criticism, she was reticent to publish her work, and some poems circulated in manuscript. She led a very active social life, supporting women's education, as well as the literary pursuits of her friends. She never married, presumably to give her more freedom to write.