Elizabeth Ryves

Elizabeth "Eliza" Ryves (175029 April 1797) was an Irish author, poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and translator. Biography Eliza Ryves came from an old wealthy Irish family connected with Bruno Ryves. Her father was a long-serving Irish army officer and when he died she was swindled out of her inheritance "by the chicanery of the law." Poverty stricken, Ryves travelled to London in 1775 to petition the government, unsuccessfully, for her inheritance, as well as to try to make a living as a writer. She produced work in an assortment of genres including plays, poetry, political journalism, and a novel entitled The Hermit of Snowden (1789), which is thought to be autobiographical. Ryves commonly wrote for magazines without payment. The poetry of her later years displays her Whig politics and was directed toward public figures. In addition to being an author, Ryves learned French in order to translate several works into English including The Social Contract (Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Raynal's Letter to the National Assembly, and Review of the Constitutions of the Principal States of Europe by Jean-François Delacroix. She had begun to translate Jean Froissart's work, but gave up when it proved to be too difficult. In 1777, Ryves had published a volume of poems entitled Poems on Several Occasions which was originally subscription based. Ryves was given £100 as payment for two of her dramatic plays, but neither were produced: a comedic opera in three parts, The Prude (1777), and The Debt of Honour. According to Isaac D'Israeli, with whom she was acquainted, Ryves had written all of the historical and political sections of The Annual Register for some time.