Notes

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623 – 15 December 1673) was an English aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright during the 17th century. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas, who owned the manor of St. John's Abbey in Colchester.[1] She became an attendant of Queen Henrietta Maria and traveled with her into exile in France, living for a time at the court of the young King Louis XIV. She became the second wife of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1645 when he was a marquess.[2]

Cavendish was a poet, philosopher, writer of prose romances, essayist, and playwright who published under her name at a time when most women writers published anonymously. Her writing addressed several topics, including gender, power, manners, scientific method, and philosophy. Her utopian romance, The Blazing World, is one of the earliest examples of science fiction.[3] She is singular in having published extensively in natural philosophy and early modern science.[4] She published over a dozen original works; inclusion of her revised works brings her total number of publications to twenty-one.[5]

Cavendish has been championed and criticized as a unique and groundbreaking woman writer. She rejected the Aristotelianism and mechanical philosophy of the seventeenth century, preferring a vitalist model instead.[5] She was the first woman to attend a meeting at the Royal Society of London, in 1667, and she criticized and engaged with members and philosophers Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, and Robert Boyle.[6] She has been claimed as an advocate for animals and as an early opponent of animal testing.[7]Childhood

Mary Lucas, the older sister of Margaret Cavendish
Cavendish's father, Thomas Lucas, was exiled after a duel that resulted in the death of "one Mr. Brooks"; he was pardoned by King James and returned to England in 1603.[8] As the youngest of eight children, Cavendish recorded that she spent a great deal of time with her siblings. She did not have a formal education but had access to scholarly libraries and tutors, although she intimated that the children paid little attention to the tutors, who were "rather for formality than benefit". At an early age, Cavendish was already putting her ideas and thoughts down on paper since during this time it was not common or acceptable for women to be publicly intelligent. She kept her intellectual endeavors within the privacy of her home.[9][10] The family was one of relatively significant means and Cavendish indicated that despite being a widow, her mother chose to keep her family in a condition "not much lower" than when her father was alive; the children had access to "honest pleasures and harmless delights."[11] Her mother had little to no male help.[12]

Lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria
When Queen Henrietta Maria was in Oxford, Cavendish successfully appealed to her mother for permission to become one of her Ladies-in-waiting. Cavendish accompanied the Queen upon her exile and moved to France. This took Cavendish away from her family for the first time. She notes that while she was very confident in the company of her siblings, amongst strangers she became extremely bashful. Cavendish explains that she was afraid she might speak or act inappropriately without her siblings' guidance, which would go against her ambition to be well received and well-liked. She spoke only when necessary and, consequently, she came to be regarded as a fool. Cavendish excused her behavior by stating that she preferred to be received as a fool rather than as wanton or rude. Regretting that she had left home to be a lady-in-waiting, Cavendish informed her mother she wanted to leave the court. Her mother, however, persuaded Cavendish to stay rather than disgrace herself by leaving and provided her with funds that, as Cavendish notes, quite exceeded the normal means of a courtier. Cavendish remained a lady-in-waiting for two more years until she was married to William Cavendish who was, at the time, Marquis of Newcastle (he was later made Duke).

Marriage to William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle
Cavendish noted that her husband liked her bashfulness. She also stated that he was the only man she was ever in love with, loving him not for title, wealth or power, but merit, justice, gratitude, duty, and fidelity. She believed these to be attributes that would hold people together, even through misfortune. She further credited such qualities as assisting her husband and her family to endure the suffering they experienced as a result of their political allegiance.[10] Cavendish never had any children, despite efforts made by her physician to help her inability to conceive.[13] Her husband had five children from a previous marriage to survive infancy, and two of them, Jane and Elizabeth, wrote a comic play The Concealed Fancies.[13] Cavendish later went on to write a biography on her husband, entitled The Life of the Thrice Noble, High, and Puissant Prince William Cavendish. In her dedication to her husband, Cavendish recounts a time when rumors were surrounding the authorship of her works (specifically that her husband wrote them). Cavendish notes that her husband defended her amidst these accusations. But, she does admit to a creative relationship with her husband. Cavendish even gives him credit as her writing tutor. Her own writing "fashions an image of a husband and wife who rely on each other in the public realm of print." [14]

Financial problems
A few years after her marriage, Cavendish and her husband's brother, Sir Charles Cavendish, returned to England. Cavendish had heard that her husband's estate (sequestrated due to his being a royalist delinquent) was to be sold and that she, as his wife, could hope to benefit from the sale. Cavendish, however, received no benefit. She pointedly noted that while many women petitioned for funds, she only petitioned once and, being denied, decided such efforts were not worth the trouble. After a year and a half, she left England to be with her husband again.

Character and health
Cavendish asserted in A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding, and Life that her bashful nature, what she described as "melancholia", made her "repent my going from home to see the World abroad." This melancholic nature manifested itself in a reluctance to talk about her work in public spheres, but it was something she satirized and reconceptualized in her writing[15] Cavendish both defined and administered self-cures for the physical manifestations of her melancholia, which included "chill paleness," an inability to speak, and erratic gestures.[16]

Fashion and fame
In her memoir, Cavendish explained her enjoyment in reinventing herself through fashion. She said that she aimed for uniqueness in her dress, thoughts, and behavior and that she disliked wearing the same fashions as other women. She also made her desire to achieve fame public. Several passages of her memoir remarked upon her virtuous character, and that while she acknowledged the goodness in others, she thought it acceptable that she should hope to be better than them. Cavendish said her ambition was to have everlasting fame. She also expected to be criticized for her decision to write a memoir. She responded by stating that she wrote the memoir for herself, not for delight, but so that later generations would have a true account of her lineage and life. She said that she felt justified in writing her memoirs since it had been done by others, such as Caesar and Ovid.

Poems and Fancies (1653)
Poems and Fancies is a collection of poems, epistles, and some prose, written by Cavendish on a variety of themes. Topics included natural philosophy, atoms, nature personified, macro/microcosms, other worlds, death, battle, hunting, love, honor, and fame. Her poems at times take the form of dialogues between such things as earth and darkness, an oak and a man cutting it down, melancholy and mirth, and peace and war. As noted by Mistress Toppe (see below), formerly Elizabeth Chaplain and Cavendish's maid,[17] Cavendish's writings took the form of poetical fiction, moral instruction, philosophical opinion, dialogue, discourses, and poetical romances. Poems and Fancies also included The Animal Parliament, a prose piece consisting largely of speeches and letters. The collection concludes with Cavendish's thoughts on her writing and an advertisement promoting one of her future publications.

Cavendish's authorial intent
Cavendish concluded the collection by stating that she was aware that she did not write elegantly and that her phrasing and placement of words could be criticized. She said she had difficulty creating rhymes that could communicate her intended meaning. In short, Cavendish stated that she strove to keep meaning at the expense of elegance, as she aimed to successfully communicate her ideas. She also noted that she expected her work to be criticized for not being useful. In response, she stated that she wrote not to instruct her readers in the arts, sciences or divinity, but to pass her time, asserting that she made better use of her time than many others. Cavendish returned to these assertions throughout her epistles and poems.

Epistle dedicatory
As authors such as Aphra Behn and William Wordsworth, Cavendish revealed much about her intended audience, writing purpose and philosophy in her prefaces, prologues, epilogues, and epistles to the reader. Cavendish wrote several epistle dedications for Poems and Fancies. The epistles were most often justifications of her writing both in terms of her decision to write at a time when women writers were not encouraged and in terms of her subject choice. Cavendish used the epistles to instruct readers how they ought to read and respond to her poetry, most often by inviting praise from supporters and requesting silence from those who did not like her work. Cavendish commonly used the epistles to call attention to and excuse potential weaknesses in her writing. The epistles were directed to specific audiences and varied accordingly.

The following is an account of several of Cavendish's epistles from Poems and Fancies.

Mental spinning
In her epistle dedication to Sir Charles Cavendish, her brother in law, Cavendish compared writing poetry to spin and described poetry as mental spinning. She noted that while it was commonly thought to be more appropriate for women to spin than to write, she was better at writing. This is one of several occasions where Cavendish calls attention to stereotypical gender roles, such as the belief that women should spin and not write, and then expands upon her reasons for not adhering to them. As in this epistle, Cavendish often employed metaphors to describe her writing in terms of stereotypical feminine tasks or interests, such as spinning, fashion, and motherhood. While Cavendish criticized her work, she asserted that it would seem better if Sir Charles Cavendish looked favorably upon it. Cavendish often appealed to the reader to applaud her work, asserting that if it was well-received it would be somewhat improved. She concludes by complimenting Charles' charity and generosity.

The pursuit of fame
In her epistle to noble and worthy ladies, as in many of her epistles, Cavendish straightforwardly expressed her desire for fame. Cavendish stated that she was not concerned that the best people like her writing, as long as many people did. She justified this by linking fame to noise and noise to great numbers of people. Cavendish often assumed a defensive position in her epistles, here justified by her assertion that she expected critiques from males and females not only on her writing but on her practice of writing itself, as women writers were not encouraged. To this Cavendish argued that women who busy themselves writing will not act inappropriately or gossip. Though she anticipated criticism from females, she calls for female support so that she might gain honor and reputation. She closed by stating that if she should fail, she would see herself as being martyred for the cause of women.

Defense of writing and fame
In her epistle to Mistress Toppe, Cavendish stated that her main reason for writing was her desire for fame. Again, Cavendish acknowledged her writing as a digression from accepted gender norms and asked for acceptance. While Cavendish often spoke of her writing in metaphors of domestic or stereotypically feminine activities, here she attempted to excuse her desire for fame by distancing her ambition from the feminine. She described her ambition as a quest for glory, perfection, and praise, which, she stated, was not effeminate. Further, she pointed out that even while writing and pursuing fame she had remained modest and honorable and noted that she had done nothing to dishonor her family. Cavendish attributed her confidence, in what she describes as a time of censor, to her belief that there was no evil, only innocence in her desire for fame. As to her writing without permission, Cavendish excused herself by stating that it was easier to get a pardon after the fact than to obtain permission before. She privileged writing over gossiping, which she treated as a common and negative female activity. She considered writing to be a comparatively harmless pastime. She credited her books as tangible examples of her contemplation and contrasted her self-proclaimed harmless ideas with wild thoughts which, she stated, led to indiscreet actions.

Cavendish explored writing closet dramas during her exile and became one of the most well-known women playwrights due to her interest in philosophical nature.

A response from Mistress Toppe follows this epistle in Poems and Fancies, in which Toppe praised Cavendish and her skill in poetical fiction, moral instruction, philosophical opinion, dialogue, discourses, and poetical romances.

Language, knowledge, and error
Cavendish also included a prefatory letter to natural philosophers. Cavendish stated that she did not know any languages except English and that even her knowledge of English was somewhat limited since she was familiar only with "that which is most usually spoke." In other words, she downplayed her knowledge of the technical vocabulary used by natural philosophers. Thus, she said, she lacked knowledge of the opinions and discourses which precede her own. She then dismissed any errors she might make as trivial, asserting that she did not mean her text to be taken as truth. Rather, she wrote simply to pass time and expected that her work would be read for the same purpose. This epistle also contained her explanation for writing in verse. She stated that poets were thought to write fiction and that fiction was aligned with pastime, not truth. Verse, then, was expected to contain errors. Cavendish lamented that her work was not more entertaining and advised readers to skip any part of the book that they did not like.

Writing to pass the time
In her epistle to the reader, Cavendish stated that with no children and, at that time, no estate, she had a lot of spare time. She, therefore, did not engage in housewifery but filled her time with writing. She stated that good husbandry in poetry was well-ordered fancy composed of fine language, proper phrases, and significant words. Cavendish excused any errors that might be found in her work as due to her youth and inexperience and explained that she wrote only to distract herself from thoughts of her husband's and her hardships. Comparing her book to a child, she said that the book/child was innocent, young, well-behaved, bashful and sensitive, and requested that the reader blame her, the author/mother, not the book, if they did not like it. If, however, the book was well-liked, she made it clear that she expected fame.

Instruction on comprehension and judgment
In her epistle to the poets, Cavendish noted that since women seldom wrote, her act of writing might be ridiculed, as the strange and unusual seem fantastical, the fantastical seems odd, and the odd seems ridiculous. She requested that her work be judged by reason, not prejudice. She then excused any weaknesses in her poetry by stating that she wrote only to get away from melancholy thoughts and to fill idle time. She employed a food/feasting metaphor and stated that her poems are not ripe, but that applause and praise would make them pass as a 'general feast' to those of vulgar taste who take quantity over quality. As was typical in her writing, the applause was welcomed and criticism censored, as she advises those who did not like her poetry to keep silent. She also stated that hers are poems of fancy and thereby required study. She recommended that as one with a troubled conscience ought to look to a minister for guidance, so should the reader ask a poet for help in understanding her poems. Attempting once again to guide the reader to a positive reception of her book, Cavendish distinguished poets (able judges of poetry) and rhymers (faulty judges of poetry) and advised people not to say that her book was nonsense or poorly constructed out of their ignorance and malice. Returning to her desire for fame, Cavendish noted that if an honest poet, who was not envious, judged her work, it would receive applause.

Cavendish asked the reader to read her fancies (poems) slowly, paying attention to every word, because every word was a fancy itself. She warned that if readers lost their place or missed lines, they would miss the meaning of the entire work.