through Bevil Higgons, was probably the channel of her acquaintance with
Congreve and Dryden.

Throughout her life she was fond of writing letters to celebrated
people; she now certainly wrote to Congreve and doubtless to Dryden. A
freedom in correspondence ran in the family. Her poor mother is revealed
to us as always "renewing her application" to somebody or other. We next
find the youthful poet in relation with the Earl of Dorset, from whom
she must have concealed her Jacobite propensities. Dorset was the great
public patron of poetry under William III., and Catharine Trotter, aged
sixteen, having composed a tragedy, appealed to him for support. It was
very graciously granted, and _Agnes de Castro_, in five acts and in
blank verse, "written by a young lady," was produced at the Theatre
Royal in 1695, under the "protection" of Charles Earl of Dorset and
Middlesex, Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's Household. The event caused
a considerable commotion. No woman had written for the English stage
since the death of Mrs. Behn, and curiosity was much excited. Mrs.
Verbruggen, that enchanting actress, but in male attire, recited a
clever, ranting epilogue at the close of the performance, in which she
said:--

"'tis whispered here
Our Poetess is virtuous, young and fair,"

but the secret was an open one. Wycherley, who contributed verses, knew
all about it, and so did Mrs. Manley, while Powell and Colley Cibber
were among the actors. We may be sure that little Mistress Trotter's
surprising talents were the subjects of much discussion at Will's Coffee
House, and that the question of securing her for the rival theatre was
anxiously debated at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Her success in Agnes de