Which real-life writer partly inspired the character Diana Warwick in Diana of the Crossways?

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George Meredith George Meredith, detail of an oil painting by G.F. Watts, 1893; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The character Diana Warwick in George Meredith's novel Diana of the Crossways was loosely based on the life of Caroline Norton.1

Norton, who was the granddaughter of the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, became the subject of public speculation after she was suspected of revealing a significant political secret she had obtained from a lover. While Meredith was required to include a disclaimer regarding the connection, the novel focuses primarily on the protagonist's inner motivations rather than the political scandal itself.1