Helen Maria Williams, an English authoress, born in the north of England in 1762, died in Paris in December, 1827. She went to London at the age of 18, and in 1782 published "Edwin and Elfrida," a poem. This was followed by an "Ode on the Peace" (London, 1783), "Peru, a Poem" (1784), "Poem on the Slave Trade" (1788), and "Julia, a Novel" (1790). She settled in Paris in 1790, and published "Letters from France" (2 series, 1790'92). She advocated the doctrines of the Girondists, and was imprisoned, but released on the death of Robespierre. Her subsequent works are: " Letters containing a Sketch of the Politics of France, and of Scenes in the Prisons of Paris" (4 vols., 1795-'6); "Tour in Switzerland" (2 vols., 1798); "Sketches of Manners and Opinions in the French Republic " (2 vols., 1801); " Correspondence of Louis XVI., with Observations" (3 vols., 1803); "Narrative of Events in France" (1815); and "Letters on Events in France since the Restoration in 1815 " (1819). Collective editions of her poems appeared in 1786 and 1823. She wrote the hymn " While thee I seek, protecting Power".