Maria Graham in Chile, 1822-23

Maria Dundas, born in 1785 at Papcastle, near Cockermouth, was the daughter of a rear-admiral and grew up to be, as Sir Thomas Lawrence portrayed her, a vivacious blue-stocking. The most popular of her many publications was Little Arthur's History of England, which ended with a breathless euloev of the times of George III, in whose reign she made her earliest travels. The final paragraph is typical of Maria's enthusiasm for life, knowledge and progress:

'In his reign more things, useful to all men, were found out than in hundreds of years before. New countries were visited, new plants and new animals were brought to England. All the sciences received great encouragement. The arts that are needful in common life were improved. Steam engines were first made useful. The beautiful light given by gas was found out, and all sorts of machines to assist men in their labour were invented. Those arts called the fine arts... were encouraged... The science of medicine and the art of surgery were so improved... that the sufferings of mankind from pain and sickness are much lessened.'