Laetitia Matilda Hawkins


Laetitia Matilda Hawkins was an English novelist, associated with Twickenham. She was the daughter of Sir John Hawkins, an acquaintance of Samuel Johnson.
Hawkins was an outspoken yet highly conservative British woman author. In 1793, she published the inflammatory Letters on the Female Mind, Its Powers and Pursuits. Addressed to Miss H.M. Williams, with particular reference to Her Letters from France, a two-volume attack on Helen Maria Williams's Continental political writings, which asserted that 'every female politician is a hearsay politician'. The Analytical Review described Letters as a 'rant written with much ill temper'.
She wrote at least four novels, including The Countess and Gertrude, and she also acted as an amanuensis for her father. Her work was published anonymously until after Sir John's death in 1789.
She is a character in Beryl Bainbridge's novel According to Queeney.

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