During her early and beginning years of writing, she had a natural inclination to write and to copy texts and use the vocabulary she learned in her own works. Cotterill mentions that from an early age, Elizabeth ``constantly read, copied down, studied, memorized, and repeated prayers, psalms, chapters of the Bible, excerpts from collections of biblical ``places,'' literary texts, and sermons.'' She resorted to writing as an outlet from her depression due to the deaths of her mother and sister and debates with her father over her marriage.
Cotterill
Elizabeth