STRICKLAND, AGNES, an English authoress, the daughter of Thomas Strickland, esq., was b. at her father's seat, Reydou hall, near Southwold, iu Suffolk, in the year 1806. She was the third daughter of a family of six daughters and two sous, nearly all of whom have contributed something to the literature of our time. Her first composi tions were mostly in the poetical vein, and consisted of anonymous contributions to periodicals. About the year 1825, however, she published, in conjunction with her sister Susanna (afterward Mrs. Moodie), a volume of Patriotic Songs; which was fol lowed, iu 1826, by a little volume bearing her own name exclusively, and entitled Worcester Field, or the Cavalier; a Poem, in Four Cantos, with Historical Notes, which was favorably received by some of the reviews. Worcester Field was followed by The Seven Ages of Woman, and other Poems (Lond. 1827); and this by Demetrius, a Tale of Greece, in Three Cantos (Loud. 1833), written in the meter of Byron's Corsair. In 1836 she published a little volume entitled Floral Sketches, Fables, and other Poems; repub lished in 1861. With this the list of Miss Agnes Strickland's poetical works ends. Among her prose works are The Rival Crusoes, published without date; the Pilgrims of Witis-Ingham, or Tales of the Middle Ages, an Historical Romance (2 vols., 1835); Tales and Stories from History (1836); Alda, the British Captive (1841); Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children (1847; new ed., 1858); Historic Scenes and Poetic Fancies (1850); Old Friends and New Acquaintances (2 series, 1860-61). All these, however, are but of small
Import in comparison with her well-known work, Lires of the Queens of England from the _Yorman Conquest, with Anecdotes of their Courts, in 12 vols. (Loud. 1840-48; new ed , 8 vols., 1851-52). In this work, the materials for which she discovered by diligently ran• sacking among the treasures of the British museum and other great public repositories of historic dochments, Miss Strickland was largely assisted by her sister Elizabeth, an assistance which she gratefully acknowledges in her preface. • It was dedicated to queen and as each volume successively appeared, its picturesque style and anecdoti cal character made it a general favorite, especially among that class of readers whose object in reading history is rather amusement than philosophical instruction. At the same time it must he owned that in these Lives she has added materially to our stock of historical information. Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England, concluding with the biogi aphy of queen Anne, have been followed by the Lives of the Queens of Se"ot land, and English Princesoes connected with the Regal Succession of Great Britain, in S vols. (Edin. and Lond. 1850-59); and these by her Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England (Loud. 1861), containing the lives of William Rufus, Edward V., and Edward VI. Miss