ABSTRACT
Alice King (1839-94) was the daughter of a clergyman. She became blind at the age of 7 and was educated by her mother. She learned by ear seven languages and contributed to the Argosy and the Quiver, both journals largely devoted to fiction and associated with Mrs Henry Wood. She also wrote eleven three-decker novels, published between 1861 and 1887. Her account of Donne in a journal article was sentimental and showed little awareness of the facts of his life, but conveyed enthusiasm for his poetry (‘John Donne’, Argosy, 32 (1881), 300 and 304-5).
