ABSTRACT
Mrs Botta (1815-91), whose parents were Irish, was a poetess, translator, and compiler. For years she presided over a noted literary salon in Boston. In a general history of literature she characterised the reign ofJames I as a time when 'English writing began to be infected with pedantic affectations' and spoke of Donne as one of the chief offenders (A Handbook of Universal Literature (1860), Boston, 1885, pp. 452-3, 476, and 483).
