1 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: The first published volume of work from Margaret Cavendish, Poems 2 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: and Fancies in sixteen fifty three, introduced readers to an 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: author who didn't settle for one subject or style. The 4 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: volume features poems about atoms, arguments for the existence of fairies, 5 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 1: and conversations between man and nature. Amongst these varied pieces, 6 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: one can also find a short essay titled to All 7 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: Writing Ladies. In that essay, Cavendish argues that history is 8 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: composed of ages defined by men's changing desires. There are 9 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: ages of peace, ages of war, ages of many gods, 10 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: ages of atheism, ages of learning, ages of ignorance. Throughout 11 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: these ages, Margaret explains, there are times when women rise 12 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: to prominence, whether they be heroines, prophets, rulers, or scholars. 13 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: For brief periods of time. Then women, she argues, can 14 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: define an era, and if it be an age when 15 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: the effeminate spirits rule, Cavendish rites, let us take the 16 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: advantage and make the best of our time, for fear 17 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: their reign should not last long. To that same effect, 18 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: Cavendish rites, let us strive to build us tombs while 19 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: we live, followed by a couplet that, though our bodies 20 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: die our names may live to after memory. Sixteen fifty 21 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: three's Poems and Fancies would be the first of many 22 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: tombs Margaret built herself while she was living. If you 23 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: recall the ending of our last episode, readers of Poems 24 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: were met with a title page loudly declaring that the 25 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: book was written by the right Honorable the Lady Margaret, 26 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,679 Speaker 1: Countess of Newcastle. Some editions even featured a bold etching 27 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: of Margaret as a classical statue, standing in between Apollo 28 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: and Athena. Margaret's writing would never be so groundbreaking as 29 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,559 Speaker 1: to define an era or earn a spot among the classics, 30 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: but simply by putting her own name on a work 31 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: of fiction, Margaret Cavendish solidified her place in history as 32 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: a trailblazer. A quote from a friend is included in 33 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: the introduction to poems, quote, you are not only the 34 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: first English poet of your sex, but the first that 35 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: ever wrote this way. When the then Countess released Poems 36 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: and Fancies, only an estimated one point three percent of 37 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: total English publications were openly written by women, and naturally 38 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: we don't even have the statistics for women who may 39 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: have been writing anonymously. Although some certainly did one point 40 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: three percent, then is small and mostly made up of 41 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: works offering religious and maternal advice. From sixteen fifty to 42 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty, religious texts made up around sixty one percent 43 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: of all published writing by women. Literature, including poetry and plays, 44 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: made up only zero point zero one six percent. Trailblazers are, 45 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: as we know, not always well regarded in their time. 46 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: There's a quote from one of Margaret's contemporaries, Dorothy Osborne, 47 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: known posthumously for her collection of letters. In one such correspondence, 48 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: Osborne wrote, they say poems and fancies 'tis ten times 49 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: more extravagant than her dress. And once Osborne got her 50 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: hands on a copy, she declared that I have seen 51 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: it and am satisfied that there are many soberer people 52 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: in Bedlam. Osborne was not alone in her perception of Cavendish. 53 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: After all, her nickname of the crazy Duchess persists to 54 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: this day, immortalized by Virginia Woolf in a Room of 55 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: One Zone. Was Cavendish truly as crazy as they say? 56 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: In her own view? At least it's a bit more complex. 57 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,119 Speaker 1: I am not covetous, but as ambitious as ever any 58 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: of my sex was, is or can be. Which is 59 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: the cause though that I cannot be Henry the fifth 60 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: or Charles the second. Yet I will endeavor to be 61 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: Margaret the first. I'm Danish Schwartz, and this is noble blood. 62 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: When we last left Margaret, she had discovered her passion 63 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: for writing under the tutelage of her husband William and 64 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: her brother in law Charles. Before she could publish poems, however, 65 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: she would have to make an unexpected trip back to 66 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: her home country following years abroad. In November sixteen fifty one, 67 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: she locked her writings up in a trunk as though 68 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: they had been buried in a grave, and left them 69 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: behind in Antwerp with her husband William. That fall, the 70 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: Cavendishes had learned that Charles's estates were sequestered by Parliament, 71 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: while William's previously seized estates were being sold to fund 72 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: war in Ireland. In order to regain possession or entitlement, 73 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: the deemed delinquent had to appear in front of the 74 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: newly established rump Parliament, more specif, there a literally named 75 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: committee for compounding. The Cavendishes at this point were so 76 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: broke that William recognized the necessity of the journey, but 77 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: he himself could not join his brother, as setting foot 78 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: on English soil would have been a death sentence for him. 79 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: Thus it was up to Charles and Margaret to travel 80 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 1: home in frugal style to try to reclaim what they could. Margaret, 81 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: with her debilitating separation and social anxiety, certainly would not 82 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: have left her husband's side if she didn't think the 83 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: situation was so dire. After all, she had an important 84 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: role to play. As William's wife. She was entitled to 85 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: one fifth of the proceeds from his sold estates, which 86 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: would have aided considerably in relieving the family's debt. Unfortunately 87 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: for the couple, they would never see the promised payout. 88 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: Margaret was so anxious to appear in court that her 89 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: only living brother, John Lucas, had to speak to the 90 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: committee on her behalf. Margaret listened quietly while they ruled 91 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: that because she had married William, since he became a delinquent, 92 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: she was owed nothing. For Charles's part, he managed to 93 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: regain some of his estates, but he paid such hefty 94 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: fines in the process that he had to sell some 95 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: of the land that he had just won back. While 96 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: Margaret's mission was ultimately unsuccessful, there were still bright spots 97 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: to be found in London. For one thing, she was 98 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: reunited with her family for the first time in many years. 99 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: They were smaller in number by this point. Margaret's brothers, 100 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: Charles and Thomas, her mother, and one of her sisters 101 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: had all died while Margaret was abroad, but her brother 102 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: John and her beloved sister Catherine were alive and well 103 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: in London. If you recall, it was Catherine whom Margaret 104 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: intensely feared losing, so to see her again must have 105 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: felt like a miracle. Margaret was also able to meet 106 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: some of Williams's sons and daughters for the first time, 107 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: who all remained in London after their father's self imposed exile. 108 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: This was also the period in which Margaret was introduced 109 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: to London's royalist intellectual circles. She frequented the salons of 110 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: composer Henry Laws, who welcomed the contributions of women, including 111 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: Margaret's contemporary, the poet Katherine Phillips. In these groups, work 112 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: was typically circulated as unpublished manuscripts, which would later sometimes 113 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: be published posthumously. Margaret was one of the select few 114 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: who chose to officially publish her work in her lifetime. 115 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: Her publication was also notably not an independent venture. She 116 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: worked with Martin and Alstree, a small but not unimportant 117 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: press who would go on to become the official booksellers 118 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: to the Royal Society. What drove her to take this 119 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: step that few others, let alone women often took, we 120 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,959 Speaker 1: don't quite know. In the introduction to Poems and Fancies, 121 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: Margaret explained the driving force behind her writing and defends 122 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: her right to publish said writing, but she doesn't detail 123 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: her thought process about the in between. As we discussed 124 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: last time, Margaret found the practice of writing eased her 125 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: anxiety and her sadness like nothing else, and indeed she 126 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: was living in a specifically un settling time. Though she 127 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: reunited with some of her family in London, she was 128 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: without her husband in a country that did not look 129 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: the same after eight years abroad. I was from my Lord, 130 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: she writes in the preface to Poems, meaning she was 131 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: away from her husband and knowing him to be in 132 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: great wants, and myself in the same condition to divert them. 133 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: I wrote to turn the stream. When she says once 134 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: she could be referring to their longing for each other, 135 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: but also their financial struggles. In that way, that line 136 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: could be suggesting that publishing her work was an economic venture. 137 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: Margaret certainly couldn't have hoped to make a living off 138 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: her writing, after all, men of the era capable of 139 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: such were few and far between. But even a small 140 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: prophet could have helped to turn the stream, if not 141 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: the tides, when it came to defending herself. Margaret dedicated 142 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: poems in part quote to all noble and worthy ladies. 143 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: In this short letter, she shares her fears. I imagine 144 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: I shall be censored by my own sex, and men 145 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: will cast a smile of scorn upon my book because 146 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: they think thereby women encroach too. She implores her fellow 147 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: women to stand up for her, and knows them to 148 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: be capable of it, for I know women's tongues are 149 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:34,679 Speaker 1: as sharp as two edged swords, and wound as much 150 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: when they are angered. After all, in Margaret's mind, she 151 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: was doing no harm. Quote, the world may wonder at 152 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,079 Speaker 1: my confidence, how dare I put out a book, especially 153 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: in these censorious times? Why should I be ashamed or afraid? 154 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: Where no evil is her publication was not only audacious 155 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: in its very existence, but also in its content. Most 156 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: not the first poem, A World Made by Atoms, describes 157 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: exactly what its title implies, the creation of our world 158 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: as a scientific process with no mention of God. It 159 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: may seem counterintuitive coming from a woman who was a 160 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: royalist and believed in the divine right of kings, but 161 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: much of Margaret's early philosophy is considered epicurean atomism, which 162 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: was bold enough to garner accusations of atheism. In Margaret's 163 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: work The World's Olio, she goes so far as to say, quote, 164 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,839 Speaker 1: it is better to be an atheist than a superstitious man, 165 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: For in atheism there is humanity and civility towards man 166 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: to man, but superstition regards no humanity. Margaret would later 167 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 1: reassure readers, pray, account me not an atheist, but believe 168 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: as I do in God Almighty. In typical Margaret fashion, 169 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: her thoughts on her own work flip between shyly modest 170 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: and brazenly ambitious. Spare your severe censures, she calls on 171 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: the reader, I having not so many years of experience 172 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 1: as will make me a garland to crown my head. 173 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: Only I have had so much time as to gather 174 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 1: a little posey to stick upon my breast. In the 175 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: same introduction, she claims, my ambition is such as I 176 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: would either be a world or nothing. Margaret's journey to 177 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,640 Speaker 1: being a world would take some time, but her next 178 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: step would be to travel across our world once again. 179 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:52,439 Speaker 1: In February sixteen fifty three, just weeks after poem's publication, 180 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: she prepared to cross the Channel and return to her 181 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: husband Williams's side. While she had found prosperous Royalist circles, 182 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: her home country was still a hostile place for those 183 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: loyal to the dead King Charles. Her brother in law 184 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,320 Speaker 1: was meant to make the journey with her, but he 185 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 1: fell ill and was advised against traveling for the time being. 186 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: In order to leave England, Parliament was requiring travelers to 187 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: swear an oath of allegiance known as the Engagement. I 188 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: do declare and promise It read that I will be 189 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England as it 190 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: is now established, without a king or house of lords. 191 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: You can imagine this would have been a real indignity 192 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 1: for Margaret if she had to swear it. The catch 193 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: was that only men had to take this oath. Women were, 194 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: of course, assumed to be so politically ignorant that there 195 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: was no need for such declarations. On March second, the 196 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: Council issued permission for Lady Newcastle and servants to go 197 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: out of England without having taken of the engagement pressed 198 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: upon her, As William had done in the early days 199 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 1: of their courtship. William wrote Margaret many poems of longing 200 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: during those fifteen months spent apart, and many poems of passion. 201 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: Upon their reunion. Our tongues thought much when lips did touch, 202 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: they should not meet softly, reads one written after his 203 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: wife's return to Antwerp. The couple's childlessness then cannot be 204 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: attributed to a lack of trying. As for Margaret, she 205 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: continued working on her second prose collection, Philosophical Fancies, a 206 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: series of essays originally intended to be included in poems. 207 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: With soon to be two publications under her belt, now, 208 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 1: Margaret showed no signs of slowing down. Her next step 209 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: was to establish herself as a literary figure in Europe. 210 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: With William's help, Margaret sent out copies of poems and 211 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: Fancies and philosophical fancies to prominent courtiers and intellectuals. Many 212 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: of these celebrated figures sent messages of praise, but much 213 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,760 Speaker 1: of that praise comes across as too flattering, veering into 214 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: the insincere. She was, after all, still a noble woman, 215 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: As Margaret often referred to her writings as her children. 216 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: One royalist scholar played on her own idea, advising her 217 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: to go on, then, most honorable madam, bless the world 218 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: with these noble infants of your brain. Margaret's most honest 219 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: compliment may have come from a criticism. The English courtier 220 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: and author Sir Edward Hyde argued that since Margaret was 221 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: quote unskilled in any but our mother tongue, and lack 222 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: of one normal education, she could not have written a 223 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: book with so many terms of art and such expressions 224 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: proper to all science. In his denouncement, Hyde evidently put 225 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: forth the idea that Margaret's work was not only good, 226 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:20,959 Speaker 1: but too good. In response, the epilogue to Philosophical Fancies 227 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 1: includes a rebuttal, I hear that my first book was 228 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: thought to be none of mine own. Margaret argues, she 229 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 1: is too honest as not to steal another's work, nor 230 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,639 Speaker 1: so vainglorious as to strain to build up a fame 231 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: upon the ground of another man's wit. This would be 232 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: a recurring battle throughout Margaret's career. Anatomists, philosophers, and writers 233 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: of all kinds would accuse Margaret of lying about her 234 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: education level or passing off someone else's work as her own. 235 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: Margaret or William would write a defense in response, rinse, 236 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: and repeat. As Margaret began to work on her next publication, 237 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: the Words Olio, the Cavendish family faced a major loss. 238 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: The illness that had kept Charles in London turned out 239 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: to be deadly. He died in early sixteen fifty four, 240 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: never having made it back to Antwerp. Both Margaret and 241 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:29,479 Speaker 1: William were devastated. In her memoir, Margaret later wrote that 242 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: she would quote lament the loss so long as I live, 243 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: going on to describe her brother in law and tutor 244 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: as quote nobly generous, wisely valiant, naturally civil, honestly kind, 245 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: truly loving, virtuously temperate. Maybe now is a good time 246 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:54,439 Speaker 1: to mention the rumor that Charles and Margaret had an affair. 247 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: There's no concrete proof here, but a series of angry 248 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: poet written by William after the couple's reunion, with titles 249 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: like Love's Changeable Heart and Love's Perjury suggest a potential 250 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: discovery of infidelity. And then there are Margaret's own published 251 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:21,879 Speaker 1: words in poems. A letter dedicated to Charles reads, and 252 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: though I am your slave, being manicled with chains of obligation, 253 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,360 Speaker 1: yet my chains feels softer than silk, and my bondage 254 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: is pleasanter than freedom, because I am bound to yourself, 255 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: who are a person so full of generosity kinki. Margaret 256 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: often writes of marriage as a form of slavery for women, 257 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: so it's possible she was speaking of their legal bondage 258 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,640 Speaker 1: as brother and sister in law, or they were having 259 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: an affair. Will likely never know for certain. Somewhat ironically, 260 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,640 Speaker 1: the portion of Charles's states that he was able to 261 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: reclaim before his death had boosted the Cavendish fortune significantly. 262 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: They were not clear of their debts, but they no 263 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: longer had to pinch pennies on day to day expenses, 264 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:20,360 Speaker 1: and could even afford, albeit slightly irresponsibly, to spend on luxuries. 265 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: Margaret published three more works while they were in Antwerp, 266 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: the world's o Leo and the Philosophical and Physical Opinions 267 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: in sixteen fifty five and Nature's Pictures in sixteen fifty six. 268 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,680 Speaker 1: Four years later, after spending nearly her entire adulthood as 269 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: an expat, Margaret moved back to her home country. She 270 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 1: would reside in England for the rest of her life. 271 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,399 Speaker 1: Sixteen sixty was, of course, also the year Charles the 272 00:20:52,480 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 1: Second made his grand return home, re establishing the monarchy. William, 273 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: so thrilled at the prospect of returning to his homeland 274 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: and serving the king he had actually tutored when he 275 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,440 Speaker 1: was a boy, sailed for England even before the royal 276 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: entourage did. In Margaret's autobiography, she quotes his reaction upon 277 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 1: finally seeing the smoke of London on the horizon. I 278 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: have been sixteen years asleep and am not thoroughly awake yet. Margaret, however, 279 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: did not hear those words first hand. William's departure for 280 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 1: England was so rushed, in fact, that Margaret had to 281 00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: stay behind as a security for his debts. As margaret 282 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 1: biographer Francesca Peacock phrases it, this situation was another classic 283 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: Cavendish contradiction. It was a role that required independence. She 284 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: had to organize the transport of all their possessions to England, 285 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: deal with the magistrates of Antwerp, and secure another loan 286 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: to pay off those remaining bills. But at the same 287 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:06,199 Speaker 1: time Margaret was quite literally being used as collateral upon 288 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: for his debts. In her own words, Margaret expresses no 289 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: displeasure at this turn of events. Despite her repeated opinion 290 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,960 Speaker 1: of marriage as a financial deal for men and bondage 291 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 1: for women. For all of her historically overlooked positive qualities, 292 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: Margaret was also inherently contradictory and often myopic in her 293 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: otherwise progressive positions. We cannot forget, after all, the influence 294 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,120 Speaker 1: of her Royalist politics on her thinking. For example, in 295 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: Sociable Letters, she writes that the disturbance in this country, 296 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 1: referring pretty casually to the Civil War, hath made no 297 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 1: breach of friendship betwixt women. For though there hath been 298 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: a civil war in the Kingdom and a general war 299 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,399 Speaker 1: amongst the men, yet there have been no amongst the women. 300 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: Margaret naturally did not know any parliamentary women who might disagree. 301 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: It's a line of thinking that still echoes today when 302 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: feminist talking points failed to consider other social metrics. Margaret 303 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: was alone for about three months following William's departure for London. 304 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: With the couple's affairs sorted, the proud royalist boarded a 305 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: Dutch warship and set sail herself for England. Sea journeys 306 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: and their unpredictable, potentially destructive outcomes are a major recurring 307 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: motif in Margaret's work. In comparison to her near death 308 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: experience departing England by boat when she was a teenager, 309 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: her return trip was nothing but smooth sailing. Life in 310 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: London was not as easy. William, once again officially the 311 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: Marquise of Newcastle upon Tyne, expected a prestigious court appointment 312 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: for his service to the late Charles the First and 313 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: the young Charles the Second. By the time of Margaret's arrival, however, 314 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: no such appointment had come. William was eventually appointed to 315 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: some conciliatory but ultimately powerless positions. Fed Up, he respectfully 316 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: took his leave from court to retire to his country estate. 317 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: For the first time, Margaret was to see Wellbeck, where 318 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: once upon a time William and Charles curated their intellectual circle. 319 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: Later deemed the Wellbeck Academy. The estate was not the 320 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: jewel it had once been. In place of accommodations designed 321 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: for royalty and fame. Scholars were now, in Margaret's words, 322 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 1: but some few old feather beds, and all those spoiled 323 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: fit for no use. Much like the estate, the Cavendish 324 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: family situation was in disorder. Margaret was not quite given 325 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: the evil stepmother treatment, but some of William's children and 326 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: longtime employees considered her influence on him too powerful. While 327 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,679 Speaker 1: they may have been misplacing their frustrations, William was in 328 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: fact giving them a number of reasons to worry. Now 329 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: back in England, the Marquess finally settled the jointure, or 330 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: the portion of his estate that would be left to 331 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 1: Margaret in the event that he died before her, that 332 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: normally would have been finalized upon their marriage. Margaret was 333 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: set to have an annuity of one thousand, one hundred 334 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 1: and twenty five pounds, as well as possession of the 335 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: manors Chesterfield, Woodthorpe and William's favorite Bolsover Castle. In later 336 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: years he would add another home and more land to 337 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: that already generous arrangement. Henry William's youngest son and heir 338 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: following the deaths of his uncle and older brother, feared 339 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,160 Speaker 1: that there would be no land left for his own 340 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: children or for the continuation of the male line and 341 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 1: family name. Considering that William was thirty years his wife's senior, 342 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,880 Speaker 1: Henry understandably saw the jointure as a pretty sure thing. 343 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:28,119 Speaker 1: This wasn't the only concern. Margaret's dearest friend had married 344 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 1: a Dutch businessman named Francis Topp during their exile abroad. 345 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: William was evidently so impressed by Topp that he replaced 346 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,120 Speaker 1: Welbeck's long term steward Andrew Clayton, with that new acquaintance. 347 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,639 Speaker 1: Clayton blamed his displacement on Margaret and teamed up with 348 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: an unhappy tenant of Williams to turn the marquess against 349 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: his wife. They wrote an unsigned letter in which they 350 00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: blamed William's diminished respect at court on Margaret and went 351 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: even further as to accuse her of committing adultery with 352 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: top All of that sitcom esque scheming was ultimately for not. 353 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:18,199 Speaker 1: William saw through their ruse quite clearly. Margaret was but 354 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:22,880 Speaker 1: of course still publishing through the drama. Her first collection 355 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: of plays published with the mouthful of a title, Plays 356 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:32,159 Speaker 1: Written by the thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, was 357 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: printed in sixteen sixty two. Notably, it was also Margaret's 358 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: first book printed by a woman, the widow of the 359 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:46,440 Speaker 1: printer Thomas Warren. Alice took over her husband's business after 360 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:51,880 Speaker 1: he passed, and from sixteen sixty six onwards almost all 361 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: of Margaret's works were published by Anne Maxwell, the widow 362 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: of David Maxwell, who had inherited and managed to her 363 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: late husband's rather large business on her own. At this point, 364 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: Margaret was still a crazy Countess, but she was about 365 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 1: to become the crazy duchess history would remember her as. 366 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 1: In sixteen sixty four, William was finally rewarded by his 367 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: old pupil and friend. On June seventh, he received a 368 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: letter from Charles the Second reading, I'm resolved to grant 369 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 1: your request. Send me there for word what title you 370 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: desire to have, or whether you will choose to keep 371 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: your old and leave the rest to me. I am 372 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: glad you enjoy your health, for I love you very well. 373 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: William was to be made a duke, the highest rank 374 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: of English nobility below the monarch. It would take a 375 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: year to make things official, but in sixteen fifty five 376 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: Margaret and William traveled to London for a small ceremony 377 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: where they were official recognized as the Duke and Duchess 378 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: of Newcastle on Tyne. In sixteen sixty six, William sold 379 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: one of his country estates to buy back Newcastle House, 380 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: the family home in London. In sixteen sixty seven, the 381 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: couple moved in and found themselves in the heart of 382 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: the city's social scene. The King visited their home, and 383 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: the couple visited court to meet his queen for the 384 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: first time. They hosted fellow aristocrats and intellectuals, including many 385 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: of Margaret's philosophical correspondents. The writer John Evelyn visited Margaret 386 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: several times a week, delighted by her extraordinary, fanciful habit, garb, 387 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: and discourse. John Avelyn's wife did not share his good opinion. 388 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: Never did I see she wrote, a woman so full 389 00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: of herself, so amazingly vain and ambitious. Margaret's reputation, both 390 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: positive and negative, was growing by the day. Some of 391 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: her rising notoriety was of her own doing. Eveland's wife 392 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: goes on to say that Cavendish took occasion to cite 393 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: her own pieces, line and page in such a book, 394 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: and to tell the adventures of some of her nymphs. 395 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: Margaret wanted to be a serious philosopher, and beyond that, 396 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: she wanted to be a world. Accounts from the social 397 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: season of sixteen sixty seven make it clear she had 398 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: achieved something close to celebrity status and was recognizable enough 399 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: to be regularly surrounded on the street. Sixteen sixty six 400 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: saw the publication of her most famous work, The Blazing World, 401 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: which we discussed in the introduction of last week's episode. 402 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: Margaret's recognizability, however, did have a little bit more to 403 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: do with her fashion than with her writing. To get 404 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 1: an idea of what exactly was so daring about Margaret's clothing, 405 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: a letter from a young man who saw Margaret Cavendish 406 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: at the premiere of William's play The Humorous Lovers describes 407 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: her as having her breasts all laid out to view 408 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: and accessorized with scarlet trimmed nipples. Fashionable cleavage was not 409 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,200 Speaker 1: uncommon in the period, but Margaret was taking things further 410 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: than socially accepted. But her style was not without purpose, 411 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: Like her work, she was seeking to emulate the Greco 412 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: Roman classics. Margaret also had a strong preference for black 413 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: patches or mouchet, which were typically worn to cover blemishes 414 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: and make the complexion look lighter by contrast, and she 415 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: fancied accessories usually associated with the masculine, including certain styles 416 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: of hats and vests. Her rise in status culminated in 417 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:09,719 Speaker 1: a visit to the prestigious exclusive Royal Society, established in 418 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty. Margaret had actually originally been highly critical of 419 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: the society's approach to science, which she viewed as hubristic. 420 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: Though her visit was arranged by a friend, there is 421 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: no doubt a large portion of the society was unhappy 422 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,719 Speaker 1: with her presence there. Not only was she a woman, 423 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 1: the Royal Society would not elect a female fellow for 424 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: three more centuries, but she was the most gossiped about 425 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: woman in London, after all, the crazy Duchess. She arrived 426 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,400 Speaker 1: at the Royal Society late in a gilded carriage and 427 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: wearing a dress with a train which, as described by 428 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,479 Speaker 1: one spectator, took up half a road. At least, she 429 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: had to be literally carried inside by her maids of honor. 430 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: Like she was at the mecha. She was roughly a 431 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: decade ahead of her time with address of that style. 432 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: But even more unusual was her decision to pair the 433 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 1: gown with a masculine, wide brimmed hat. In all her extravagance, 434 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: Margaret walked the halls of the Royal Society, listening and 435 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: learning about their ongoing experiments. Margaret's presence in the Royal 436 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: Society was an experiment in its own way. As she 437 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: observed their work, the men observed her. The woman who 438 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: proudly called herself a philosopher wanted to be an empress 439 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: in fiction, at least, dressed like a performer, and was 440 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: also so shy that she hardly spoke through all her contradictions, 441 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: her greatest desire was to be amongst the greats, to 442 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: have her name on everyone's lips. She knew that she 443 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: was not the most talented or educated writer, but she 444 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: would reach for it nonetheless. As the character of the 445 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: Empress says in The Blazing World, she would rather die 446 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:11,320 Speaker 1: in the adventure of noble achievements than live in obscurity 447 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: and sluggish serenity. Margaret's time as a London socialite was grand, 448 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,880 Speaker 1: but I imagine given her social anxiety, she felt some 449 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:25,759 Speaker 1: relief when the couple returned to the country following that 450 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: busy summer. Her focus at this point became editing and 451 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: translating her older works for reissues. In sixteen sixty eight, 452 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,879 Speaker 1: she published what would be her final volume of her 453 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:44,759 Speaker 1: new work, plays, never before printed. In the early sixteen seventies, 454 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: Margaret returned to conducting her own scientific experiments, as she 455 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:56,400 Speaker 1: had once done with her brother in law, Charles, though 456 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,480 Speaker 1: she seemed a source of perpetual motion. Margaret Cavendish died 457 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:07,640 Speaker 1: suddenly on December fifteenth, sixteen seventy three, at fifty years old. 458 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,720 Speaker 1: She had already published more than a dozen original works. 459 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: We don't know how she died, but we do know 460 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,080 Speaker 1: William would constantly remind her to be mindful of her 461 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,400 Speaker 1: health and fought to pull her away from her writing 462 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: to exercise. In an absolutely delightful retort, she once wrote, 463 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 1: the motions of my mind hinders the active exercises of 464 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:35,320 Speaker 1: my body. For should I dance or run or walk apace? 465 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,319 Speaker 1: I should dance my thoughts out of measure, run my 466 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: fancies out of breath, and tread out the feet of 467 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: my numbers. William, who outlived his wife after all, assembled 468 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: a posthumous collection in his wife's honor, Letters and Poems 469 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: in Honor of the incomparable Princess Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, 470 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 1: which was published just months before he died in sixteen 471 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: seventy six. Margaret's greatest desire to be a world or 472 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:11,720 Speaker 1: nothing was born out of a fear of becoming obsolete. 473 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,399 Speaker 1: The desire for fame proceeds from a doubt of being 474 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:21,439 Speaker 1: an afterthought. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Margaret's work 475 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:26,760 Speaker 1: was not forgotten, but the subject of repeated criticism and mockery. 476 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty four's Memoirs of Eminent English Women, Louisa 477 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 1: Stuart Costello bitingly writes, in almost every age there has 478 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:42,319 Speaker 1: been some such self esteemed phoenix, whose harmless conceit does 479 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: but little injury, but is nevertheless a general annoyance, except 480 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,799 Speaker 1: to the tradesman she employs to print and bind the 481 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,600 Speaker 1: countless volumes with which she delights to adorn her own library. 482 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 1: Tell us how you really feel, Louisa cai had become 483 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: as wolf. Put it in a room of one's own, 484 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 1: a bogey to frighten clever young girls with a cautionary 485 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:13,359 Speaker 1: tale see girls, If you try to write, you might 486 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:18,760 Speaker 1: become like the crazy Duchess. In more recent years of scholarship, however, 487 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:24,879 Speaker 1: Margaret's contributions and natural philosophy and fiction have been canonically acknowledged. 488 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: She might be the giant cucumber. Wolf described her as 489 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: crushing her floral contemporaries in the Garden of Good Taste. 490 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,920 Speaker 1: But you can't deny that a cucumber takes up space. 491 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: Margaret was buried in the joint tomb William had purchased 492 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,520 Speaker 1: at Westminster Abbey. He could never have imagined his wife, 493 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:51,360 Speaker 1: thirty years his junior, would be laid to rest inside 494 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:55,600 Speaker 1: before he The monument in which the couple now lay 495 00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: side by side can still be seen at the abbey today. 496 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:04,920 Speaker 1: Visitors will see the couple, elaborately sculpted in ceremonial dress, 497 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,880 Speaker 1: lying peacefully next to each other. If they look closely, 498 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 1: they can see a book and an inkpot in Margaret's 499 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:16,160 Speaker 1: left hand. Look even closer, and they'll read the inscription 500 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: below telling them that here lies a wise, witty and 501 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 1: learned lady, which many of her books do well testify 502 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: decide for yourself. That's the story of Margaret Cavendish. But 503 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,400 Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a 504 00:38:43,440 --> 00:39:02,600 Speaker 1: little reminder about one of her forebears. In our earlier 505 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: episode on Lady Mary Roth, the first english woman to 506 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:10,279 Speaker 1: publish fiction under her own name, we mentioned that it 507 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:14,240 Speaker 1: would take forty years for another englishwoman to do the same. 508 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:20,279 Speaker 1: This woman was, of course, Margaret Cavendish. What Margaret had 509 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 1: feared had happened to Mary. Mary was shunned by society 510 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:30,680 Speaker 1: after her prose fiction Urania's sixteen twenty one release shocked 511 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 1: the English Court. One detractor, Edward Denny infamously called her 512 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:42,279 Speaker 1: a hermaphrodite in show, indeed a monster in a scathing poem. 513 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:47,760 Speaker 1: In the preface to sixteen sixty four's Sociable Letters, Margaret 514 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: Cavendish quotes the final couplet from Denny's poem to Mary work, Oh, 515 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 1: the works leave idle books alone, For wise and worthier 516 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: women have written none. Noble Blood is a production of 517 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble 518 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,840 Speaker 1: Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing 519 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 1: and research by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Courtney Sender, Amy 520 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: Hit and Julia Milani. The show is edited and produced 521 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 1: by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and 522 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:38,239 Speaker 1: executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For 523 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:43,880 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 524 00:40:44,000 --> 00:41:22,560 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.