Martineau, Harriet, English authoress, born at Norwich; a lady with little or no genius but with considerable intellectual ability, and not without an honest zeal for the “progress of the species”; she was what is called an “advanced” thinker, and was a disciple of Auguste Comte; wrote a number of stories bearing on social questions, and had that courage of her opinions which commanded respect; it was she who persuaded Carlyle to try lecturing when his finances were low, and she had a real pride at the success of the scheme (1802‒1876).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Martin, Sir Theodore * Martineau, James