In 1814 she produced her best novel, "O'Donnell". She was at her best in her descriptions of the poorer classes, of whom she had a thorough knowledge. Her elaborate study (1817) of France under the Bourbon Restoration was attacked with outrageous fury by John Wilson Croker in the "Quarterly Review", the author being accused of Jacobinism, falsehood, licentiousness, and impiety. She took her revenge indirectly in the novel "Florence Macarthy" (1818) —translated into French by Jacques-Théodore Parisot—, in which a "Quarterly" reviewer, Con Crawley, is insulted with supreme feminine ingenuity.