SUSANNA ROWSON, born in Portsmouth, England, in 1762, died in Boston,
Mass., March 2, 1824. She was an only daughter of Lieutenant William
Haswell, of the British Navy, who was, at the beginning of the
Revolution, attached to the revenue service, and resided at
Nantucket, near Boston. His property was confiscated by the
Continental authorities; and himself and family removed on parole to
Hingham in 1775, and in 1777 to Abington. A cartel was finally
arranged by which Lieutenant Haswell was exchanged and sent back to
England with his family. Miss Haswell took employment as a governess
in early life, and was greatly devoted to literature. She married
William Rowson, a musician in one of the bands of the household
troops. About the time of her marriage she wrote and published a
novel entitled _Victoria_, which she dedicated to the Duchess of
Devonshire, who introduced her to the Prince of Wales. She was
enabled, by this acquaintance, to obtain a pension for her father. On
account of the financial embarrassment of her husband, they went on
the stage in 1792, in Edinburgh. In 1793 they came to America, and
first appeared in Annapolis, Maryland. Thence they went to the
theatre in Philadelphia, and, after a season there, became members of
the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. Mrs. Rowson, who had, in 1790,
published in England the celebrated novel _Charlotte Temple_, had
continued writing, and the extraordinary popularity of her story of
the unfortunate English girl made it easy for her to follow the
cultivation of letters. She retired from the stage in 1797, and
established a school for young ladies, which remained, during her
life-time, the most select and popular in New England. Her last
appearance was in May, 1797, in her own comedy, _Americans in
England_. Her _Poems_ were published in Boston in 1804, and _Lucy
Temple_, a sequel to _Charlotte Temple_, appeared in 1828.
* * * * *
SLAVES IN ALGIERS;
OR, A
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM:
A PLAY,
INTERSPERSED WITH SONGS,
IN THREE ACTS.
BY MRS. ROWSON,
AS PERFORMED
AT THE
NEW THEATRES,
IN
PHILADELPHIA AND BALTIMORE.
_PHILADELPHIA:_
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY WRIGLEY AND
BERRIMAN, No. 149, CHESNUT-STREET.