he himself hunted out of the country. Ruin
simultaneously fell on all the fine friends of our infant prodigy, and
we can but guess how it affected her. Yet there were plenty of other
Jacobites left in London, and Catharine's first public appearance shows
that she cultivated their friendship. She published in 1693 a copy of
verses addressed to Mr. Bevil Higgons on the occasion of his recovery
from the smallpox; she was then fourteen years of age. Higgons was a
young man of twenty-three, who had lately returned from the exiled court
in France, where he had distinguished himself by his agreeable manners,
and who had just made a name for himself by poems addressed to Dryden
and by a prologue to Congreve's _Old Batchelor_. He was afterwards to
become famous for a little while as a political historian. Catharine
Trotter's verses are bad, but she addresses Higgons as "lovely youth,"
and claims his gratitude for her tribute in terms which are almost
boisterous. This poem was not only her introduction to the public, but,
through Bevil Higgons, was probably the channel of her acquaintance with
Congreve and Dryden.

Throughout her life she was fond of writing letters to celebrated
people; she now certainly wrote to Congreve and doubtless to Dryden. A
freedom in correspondence ran in the family. Her poor mother is revealed
to us as always "renewing her application" to somebody or other. We next
find the youthful poet in relation with the Earl of Dorset, from whom
she must have concealed her Jacobite propensities. Dorset was the great
public patron of poetry under William III., and Catharine Trotter, aged
sixteen, having composed a tragedy, appealed to him for support. It was
very graciously granted, and _Agnes de Castro_, in five acts and in
blank verse, "written by a young lady," was produced at the Theatre
Royal in 1695, under the "protection" of Charles Earl of Dorset and
Middlesex, Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's Household. The event caused
a considerable commotion. No woman had written for the English stage
since the death of Mrs. Behn, and curiosity was much excited. Mrs.
Verbruggen, that enchanting actress, but in male attire, recited a
clever, ranting epilogue at the close of the performance, in which she
said:--

"'tis whispered here
Our Poetess is virtuous, young and fair,"

but the secret was an open one. Wycherley, who contributed verses, knew
all about it, and so did Mrs. Manley, while