BEHN, Aphara, a celebrated authoress, descended [7:4:540]from a good family in the city of Canterbury, was born in the reign of Charles L, but in what year is uncertain. Her father’s name was Johnson; and he having through the interest of Lord Willoughby, to whom he was related, received the appointment of lieutenant-general of Surinam, proceeded to the West Indies, taking with him his whole family, including our poetess, at that time very young. Mr Johnson died on the voyage; but his family reached Surinam, and settled there for some years. Here it was that she learned the history, and acquired a personal knowledge, of the American prince Oroonoco and his beloved Imoinda, whose adventures she has related in her novel of that name, and which Mr Southerne afterwards made use of, adopting them as the groundwork of one of his tragedies.

On her return to London she became the wife of one Mr Behn, a merchant residing in that city, but of Dutch extraction. How long the husband lived after this marriage is not known, nor indeed is it material to inquire. The wit and abilities of the lady, however, having brought her into high estimation at court, King Charles II. fixed on her as a proper person to transact some affairs of importance abroad during the Dutch war. For this purpose she went over to Antwerp, where, by her intrigues and gallantries, she so far penetrated into the secrets of state, as to accomplish the objects proposed by her mission; and in the latter end of 1666, by means of the influence she had gained over one Vander Albert, a Dutchman of eminence, she wormed out of him the design formed by De Ruyter, in conjunction with the family of the De Wits, of sailing up the Thames and burning the English ships in their harbours; which they afterwards put in execution at Rochester. This she immediately communicated to the English court; but although the event proved her intelligence to have been well founded, it was at this time only laughed at ;—a circumstance which, with the disinclination shown to reward her for her services, determined the lady to drop all further thoughts of political affairs, and, during the remainder of her stay at Antwerp, to give herself up entirely to the gaiety and gallantries of the place. Vander Albert, however, continued his addresses, and after making several unsuccessful attempts to obtain the possession of her person on easier terms than matrimony, at length consented to make her his wife; but whilst lie was preparing for a journey to England with the intention of fulfilling his promise, a fever carried him off, and left the lady free to pursue her inclinations. In her voyage home to England she was very near being lost, the vessel on board of which she had taken her passage having been driven on the coast by a storm; but happening to founder within sight of land, the passengers were fortunately preserved by the timely assistance of boats from the shore.

From this period she devoted her life entirely to pleasure and the muses. Her works are extremely numerous, and all of them have a lively, licentious, amatory turn. In fact, her wit gained her the esteem of Dryden, Southerne, and other men of genius, as her beauty, of which in her younger days she had a great share, had done the love of the men of gallantry. She published three volumes of miscellaneous poems, and two volumes of histories and novels; translated Fontenelle’s Plurality of Worlds, with a criticism annexed; and gave to the world four volumes of plays. In the dramatic line the bent of her genius was chiefly to comedy. Her plots are full of business and ingenuity, and her dialogue sparkles with wit. But her comedies are interlarded with the most indecent scenes, and she gives indulgence to her wit in the most licentious expressions. This, however, was as much the fault of the age as of the individual. She wrote for a livelihood, and was obliged to comply with the corrupt taste of the times. This singular woman, after a life of disappointment, died on the 16th of April 1689, and was interred in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.