In 1863 a play of hers was staged, and in the same year she published an account of her travels up the Nile with her son. This poked fun at writing by lady travellers; the title "Lispings from Low Latitudes, or, Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington" echoed Frederick's book "Letters From High Latitudes". The purpose of the play was to satire travel literature, specifically that of women, during the time period. Her play, "Finesse, or, A Busy Day in Messina", produced at the Haymarket Theatre with John Baldwin Buckstone as one of the actors, was a success, but the writer did not go to any of the performances, nor acknowledge her authorship. Dufferin's poetry, often set to music by herself or others, reflects important concerns traceable throughout the early and middle periods of Victorian literature: a biting criticism of social class, a spotlight on Irish poverty and emigration, and a despair over loss and separation. While Dufferin infused her early and later writing with an arch wit (particularly in her social satires), the songs and poems written during the middle of her life are marked by sentimentality and often a profound sadness.