Charlotte Turner Smith
Charlotte's sister (Mrs Dorset) includes the following about Charlotte in her youth in her contribution to Sir Walter Scott's 'Lives of the Novelists':
Of her progress at this time I am tempted to give the following account from the pen of a lady who was her schoolfellow:—
"In answer to your enquiry, whether Mrs. Smith was during our intimacy at school superior to other young persons of her age, my recollection enables me to tell you, that she excelled most of us in writing and drawing. She was reckoned by far the finest dancer, and was always brought forward for exhibition whenever company was assembled to see our performances; and she would have excelled all her competitors had her application borne any proportion to her talents; but she was always thought 'too great a genius to study.' She had a great taste for music, and a correct ear, but never applied to it with sufficient steadiness to ensure success. But however she might be inferior to others in some points, she was far above them in intellect, and the general improvement of the mind. She had read more than any one in the school, and was continually composing verses; she was considered romantic; and though I was not of that turn myself; I neither loved nor admired her the less for it. In my opinion, her ideas were always original, full of wit and imagination, and her conversation singularly pleasing; and so I have continued to think, since a greater intercourse with society, and a more perfect knowledge of the world, has better qualified me to estimate her character."