Warton's literary ambitions were encouraged within the family, and while she published anonymously, her identity was not hidden.

By the age of eighteen, Warton contracted what was likely rheumatic fever, with life-long consequences to her health.

[3][4][1] She and her brothers maintained an active correspondence throughout their lives in which they frequently discussed literary topics.

[6] Her novel, Peggy and Patty, or, The Sisters of Ashdale (James Dodsley, 1783), explores the sexual double standard by following the fates of the two protagonists, country girls who are seduced and abandoned after travelling to the city.

"This novel both makes clear her identification with the Wollstonecraftian feminism of her own time and, in its sympathy for the fallen woman, anticipates the preoccupations of Victorian feminists.