WEBVTT - Who's Afraid of the Duchess of Newcastle (Part Two) 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:11.000 The first published volume of work from Margaret Cavendish, Poems 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:15.920 and Fancies in sixteen fifty three, introduced readers to an 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:20.479 author who didn't settle for one subject or style. The 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:26.520 volume features poems about atoms, arguments for the existence of fairies, 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:33.520 and conversations between man and nature. Amongst these varied pieces, 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.560 one can also find a short essay titled to All 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:42.640 Writing Ladies. In that essay, Cavendish argues that history is 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:48.440 composed of ages defined by men's changing desires. There are 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:53.159 ages of peace, ages of war, ages of many gods, 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:59.440 ages of atheism, ages of learning, ages of ignorance. Throughout 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:04.280 these ages, Margaret explains, there are times when women rise 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:09.199 to prominence, whether they be heroines, prophets, rulers, or scholars. 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.920 For brief periods of time. Then women, she argues, can 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.800 define an era, and if it be an age when 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.360 the effeminate spirits rule, Cavendish rites, let us take the 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.000 advantage and make the best of our time, for fear 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.640 their reign should not last long. To that same effect, 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:35.040 Cavendish rites, let us strive to build us tombs while 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.760 we live, followed by a couplet that, though our bodies 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:45.600 die our names may live to after memory. Sixteen fifty 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.560 three's Poems and Fancies would be the first of many 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:55.240 tombs Margaret built herself while she was living. If you 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.640 recall the ending of our last episode, readers of Poems 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.160 were met with a title page loudly declaring that the 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:07.320 book was written by the right Honorable the Lady Margaret, 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:12.679 Countess of Newcastle. Some editions even featured a bold etching 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:17.440 of Margaret as a classical statue, standing in between Apollo 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:22.680 and Athena. Margaret's writing would never be so groundbreaking as 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.559 to define an era or earn a spot among the classics, 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.160 but simply by putting her own name on a work 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.600 of fiction, Margaret Cavendish solidified her place in history as 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.520 a trailblazer. A quote from a friend is included in 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.880 the introduction to poems, quote, you are not only the 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.080 first English poet of your sex, but the first that 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:52.040 ever wrote this way. When the then Countess released Poems 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.800 and Fancies, only an estimated one point three percent of 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:01.840 total English publications were openly written by women, and naturally 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.600 we don't even have the statistics for women who may 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:09.720 have been writing anonymously. Although some certainly did one point 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.040 three percent, then is small and mostly made up of 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:18.840 works offering religious and maternal advice. From sixteen fifty to 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:24.280 sixteen sixty, religious texts made up around sixty one percent 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:29.760 of all published writing by women. Literature, including poetry and plays, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:36.840 made up only zero point zero one six percent. Trailblazers are, 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.800 as we know, not always well regarded in their time. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:46.400 There's a quote from one of Margaret's contemporaries, Dorothy Osborne, 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:51.680 known posthumously for her collection of letters. In one such correspondence, 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:56.800 Osborne wrote, they say poems and fancies 'tis ten times 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:01.760 more extravagant than her dress. And once Osborne got her 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.400 hands on a copy, she declared that I have seen 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.320 it and am satisfied that there are many soberer people 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:14.720 in Bedlam. Osborne was not alone in her perception of Cavendish. 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.440 After all, her nickname of the crazy Duchess persists to 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.320 this day, immortalized by Virginia Woolf in a Room of 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:30.240 One Zone. Was Cavendish truly as crazy as they say? 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.360 In her own view? At least it's a bit more complex. 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.119 I am not covetous, but as ambitious as ever any 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.719 of my sex was, is or can be. Which is 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.240 the cause though that I cannot be Henry the fifth 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.000 or Charles the second. Yet I will endeavor to be 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:56.640 Margaret the first. I'm Danish Schwartz, and this is noble blood. 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.200 When we last left Margaret, she had discovered her passion 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.960 for writing under the tutelage of her husband William and 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:15.080 her brother in law Charles. Before she could publish poems, however, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.240 she would have to make an unexpected trip back to 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:24.320 her home country following years abroad. In November sixteen fifty one, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.640 she locked her writings up in a trunk as though 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.480 they had been buried in a grave, and left them 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.800 behind in Antwerp with her husband William. That fall, the 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:41.520 Cavendishes had learned that Charles's estates were sequestered by Parliament, 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.800 while William's previously seized estates were being sold to fund 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:52.240 war in Ireland. In order to regain possession or entitlement, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.400 the deemed delinquent had to appear in front of the 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:02.040 newly established rump Parliament, more specif, there a literally named 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:07.320 committee for compounding. The Cavendishes at this point were so 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.919 broke that William recognized the necessity of the journey, but 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.159 he himself could not join his brother, as setting foot 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.200 on English soil would have been a death sentence for him. 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.520 Thus it was up to Charles and Margaret to travel 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:30.840 home in frugal style to try to reclaim what they could. Margaret, 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:35.960 with her debilitating separation and social anxiety, certainly would not 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.279 have left her husband's side if she didn't think the 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:43.960 situation was so dire. After all, she had an important 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:48.039 role to play. As William's wife. She was entitled to 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.839 one fifth of the proceeds from his sold estates, which 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:58.800 would have aided considerably in relieving the family's debt. Unfortunately 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.360 for the couple, they would never see the promised payout. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.000 Margaret was so anxious to appear in court that her 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.680 only living brother, John Lucas, had to speak to the 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:16.000 committee on her behalf. Margaret listened quietly while they ruled 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:21.080 that because she had married William, since he became a delinquent, 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:26.680 she was owed nothing. For Charles's part, he managed to 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.600 regain some of his estates, but he paid such hefty 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.680 fines in the process that he had to sell some 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.520 of the land that he had just won back. While 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:42.520 Margaret's mission was ultimately unsuccessful, there were still bright spots 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.000 to be found in London. For one thing, she was 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.560 reunited with her family for the first time in many years. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.440 They were smaller in number by this point. Margaret's brothers, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.120 Charles and Thomas, her mother, and one of her sisters 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.320 had all died while Margaret was abroad, but her brother 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.040 John and her beloved sister Catherine were alive and well 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:10.320 in London. If you recall, it was Catherine whom Margaret 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:14.600 intensely feared losing, so to see her again must have 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:19.000 felt like a miracle. Margaret was also able to meet 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.640 some of Williams's sons and daughters for the first time, 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.400 who all remained in London after their father's self imposed exile. 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.920 This was also the period in which Margaret was introduced 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:40.760 to London's royalist intellectual circles. She frequented the salons of 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.840 composer Henry Laws, who welcomed the contributions of women, including 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:51.240 Margaret's contemporary, the poet Katherine Phillips. In these groups, work 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:57.120 was typically circulated as unpublished manuscripts, which would later sometimes 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:02.200 be published posthumously. Margaret was one of the select few 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.200 who chose to officially publish her work in her lifetime. 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:12.480 Her publication was also notably not an independent venture. She 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:17.240 worked with Martin and Alstree, a small but not unimportant 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.319 press who would go on to become the official booksellers 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.600 to the Royal Society. What drove her to take this 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:30.360 step that few others, let alone women often took, we 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.959 don't quite know. In the introduction to Poems and Fancies, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:40.160 Margaret explained the driving force behind her writing and defends 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:44.240 her right to publish said writing, but she doesn't detail 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.800 her thought process about the in between. As we discussed 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:53.200 last time, Margaret found the practice of writing eased her 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:57.760 anxiety and her sadness like nothing else, and indeed she 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:02.360 was living in a specifically un settling time. Though she 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.760 reunited with some of her family in London, she was 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.200 without her husband in a country that did not look 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:13.920 the same after eight years abroad. I was from my Lord, 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.240 she writes in the preface to Poems, meaning she was 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:20.320 away from her husband and knowing him to be in 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.800 great wants, and myself in the same condition to divert them. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:29.000 I wrote to turn the stream. When she says once 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.600 she could be referring to their longing for each other, 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:37.320 but also their financial struggles. In that way, that line 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:41.600 could be suggesting that publishing her work was an economic venture. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:45.560 Margaret certainly couldn't have hoped to make a living off 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.040 her writing, after all, men of the era capable of 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.560 such were few and far between. But even a small 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.240 prophet could have helped to turn the stream, if not 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:01.640 the tides, when it came to defending herself. Margaret dedicated 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.280 poems in part quote to all noble and worthy ladies. 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:11.320 In this short letter, she shares her fears. I imagine 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.000 I shall be censored by my own sex, and men 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.040 will cast a smile of scorn upon my book because 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:24.480 they think thereby women encroach too. She implores her fellow 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.160 women to stand up for her, and knows them to 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.600 be capable of it, for I know women's tongues are 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.679 as sharp as two edged swords, and wound as much 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.520 when they are angered. After all, in Margaret's mind, she 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.480 was doing no harm. Quote, the world may wonder at 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.079 my confidence, how dare I put out a book, especially 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.240 in these censorious times? Why should I be ashamed or afraid? 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:55.439 Where no evil is her publication was not only audacious 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.600 in its very existence, but also in its content. Most 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:04.880 not the first poem, A World Made by Atoms, describes 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.840 exactly what its title implies, the creation of our world 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:13.679 as a scientific process with no mention of God. It 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.280 may seem counterintuitive coming from a woman who was a 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:21.120 royalist and believed in the divine right of kings, but 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:27.600 much of Margaret's early philosophy is considered epicurean atomism, which 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:32.640 was bold enough to garner accusations of atheism. In Margaret's 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:37.000 work The World's Olio, she goes so far as to say, quote, 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.839 it is better to be an atheist than a superstitious man, 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.920 For in atheism there is humanity and civility towards man 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:52.000 to man, but superstition regards no humanity. Margaret would later 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:56.199 reassure readers, pray, account me not an atheist, but believe 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.720 as I do in God Almighty. In typical Margaret fashion, 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:05.080 her thoughts on her own work flip between shyly modest 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:10.920 and brazenly ambitious. Spare your severe censures, she calls on 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.720 the reader, I having not so many years of experience 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:18.079 as will make me a garland to crown my head. 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.320 Only I have had so much time as to gather 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.920 a little posey to stick upon my breast. In the 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.440 same introduction, she claims, my ambition is such as I 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:38.160 would either be a world or nothing. Margaret's journey to 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.640 being a world would take some time, but her next 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.840 step would be to travel across our world once again. 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:52.439 In February sixteen fifty three, just weeks after poem's publication, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.920 she prepared to cross the Channel and return to her 0:13:56.000 --> 0:14:01.400 husband Williams's side. While she had found prosperous Royalist circles, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.080 her home country was still a hostile place for those 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.480 loyal to the dead King Charles. Her brother in law 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.320 was meant to make the journey with her, but he 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.959 fell ill and was advised against traveling for the time being. 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.400 In order to leave England, Parliament was requiring travelers to 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:26.160 swear an oath of allegiance known as the Engagement. I 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.320 do declare and promise It read that I will be 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.400 true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England as it 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.960 is now established, without a king or house of lords. 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.640 You can imagine this would have been a real indignity 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:44.040 for Margaret if she had to swear it. The catch 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.240 was that only men had to take this oath. Women were, 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.800 of course, assumed to be so politically ignorant that there 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:56.360 was no need for such declarations. On March second, the 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:01.280 Council issued permission for Lady Newcastle and servants to go 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:05.000 out of England without having taken of the engagement pressed 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:09.560 upon her, As William had done in the early days 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.760 of their courtship. William wrote Margaret many poems of longing 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.800 during those fifteen months spent apart, and many poems of passion. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:24.600 Upon their reunion. Our tongues thought much when lips did touch, 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.960 they should not meet softly, reads one written after his 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:34.600 wife's return to Antwerp. The couple's childlessness then cannot be 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:39.400 attributed to a lack of trying. As for Margaret, she 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:45.080 continued working on her second prose collection, Philosophical Fancies, a 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.320 series of essays originally intended to be included in poems. 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.360 With soon to be two publications under her belt, now, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.520 Margaret showed no signs of slowing down. Her next step 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:04.520 was to establish herself as a literary figure in Europe. 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.560 With William's help, Margaret sent out copies of poems and 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:15.120 Fancies and philosophical fancies to prominent courtiers and intellectuals. Many 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:19.440 of these celebrated figures sent messages of praise, but much 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.760 of that praise comes across as too flattering, veering into 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.480 the insincere. She was, after all, still a noble woman, 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.720 As Margaret often referred to her writings as her children. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.600 One royalist scholar played on her own idea, advising her 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.840 to go on, then, most honorable madam, bless the world 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:45.960 with these noble infants of your brain. Margaret's most honest 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.600 compliment may have come from a criticism. The English courtier 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.000 and author Sir Edward Hyde argued that since Margaret was 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.680 quote unskilled in any but our mother tongue, and lack 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.760 of one normal education, she could not have written a 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.119 book with so many terms of art and such expressions 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:12.000 proper to all science. In his denouncement, Hyde evidently put 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.280 forth the idea that Margaret's work was not only good, 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:20.959 but too good. In response, the epilogue to Philosophical Fancies 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.879 includes a rebuttal, I hear that my first book was 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.560 thought to be none of mine own. Margaret argues, she 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.800 is too honest as not to steal another's work, nor 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.639 so vainglorious as to strain to build up a fame 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:41.840 upon the ground of another man's wit. This would be 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:48.000 a recurring battle throughout Margaret's career. Anatomists, philosophers, and writers 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.040 of all kinds would accuse Margaret of lying about her 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.920 education level or passing off someone else's work as her own. 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.720 Margaret or William would write a defense in response, rinse, 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:05.920 and repeat. As Margaret began to work on her next publication, 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.800 the Words Olio, the Cavendish family faced a major loss. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.160 The illness that had kept Charles in London turned out 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:19.760 to be deadly. He died in early sixteen fifty four, 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.440 never having made it back to Antwerp. Both Margaret and 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:29.479 William were devastated. In her memoir, Margaret later wrote that 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.440 she would quote lament the loss so long as I live, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.000 going on to describe her brother in law and tutor 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:43.720 as quote nobly generous, wisely valiant, naturally civil, honestly kind, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:49.480 truly loving, virtuously temperate. Maybe now is a good time 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:54.439 to mention the rumor that Charles and Margaret had an affair. 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.680 There's no concrete proof here, but a series of angry 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:04.080 poet written by William after the couple's reunion, with titles 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:10.160 like Love's Changeable Heart and Love's Perjury suggest a potential 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:15.480 discovery of infidelity. And then there are Margaret's own published 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:21.879 words in poems. A letter dedicated to Charles reads, and 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:26.000 though I am your slave, being manicled with chains of obligation, 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.360 yet my chains feels softer than silk, and my bondage 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.080 is pleasanter than freedom, because I am bound to yourself, 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:40.560 who are a person so full of generosity kinki. Margaret 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.560 often writes of marriage as a form of slavery for women, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.760 so it's possible she was speaking of their legal bondage 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.640 as brother and sister in law, or they were having 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:58.200 an affair. Will likely never know for certain. Somewhat ironically, 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.640 the portion of Charles's states that he was able to 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:06.800 reclaim before his death had boosted the Cavendish fortune significantly. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.439 They were not clear of their debts, but they no 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.080 longer had to pinch pennies on day to day expenses, 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:20.360 and could even afford, albeit slightly irresponsibly, to spend on luxuries. 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.600 Margaret published three more works while they were in Antwerp, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:31.040 the world's o Leo and the Philosophical and Physical Opinions 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:35.920 in sixteen fifty five and Nature's Pictures in sixteen fifty six. 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.680 Four years later, after spending nearly her entire adulthood as 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:45.080 an expat, Margaret moved back to her home country. She 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.800 would reside in England for the rest of her life. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.399 Sixteen sixty was, of course, also the year Charles the 0:20:52.480 --> 0:21:02.120 Second made his grand return home, re establishing the monarchy. William, 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.320 so thrilled at the prospect of returning to his homeland 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.280 and serving the king he had actually tutored when he 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:11.440 was a boy, sailed for England even before the royal 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:16.880 entourage did. In Margaret's autobiography, she quotes his reaction upon 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.679 finally seeing the smoke of London on the horizon. I 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:26.840 have been sixteen years asleep and am not thoroughly awake yet. Margaret, however, 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.960 did not hear those words first hand. William's departure for 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.080 England was so rushed, in fact, that Margaret had to 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:38.800 stay behind as a security for his debts. As margaret 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:45.119 biographer Francesca Peacock phrases it, this situation was another classic 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:50.199 Cavendish contradiction. It was a role that required independence. She 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.680 had to organize the transport of all their possessions to England, 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.600 deal with the magistrates of Antwerp, and secure another loan 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.000 to pay off those remaining bills. But at the same 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:06.199 time Margaret was quite literally being used as collateral upon 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:11.040 for his debts. In her own words, Margaret expresses no 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:15.160 displeasure at this turn of events. Despite her repeated opinion 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.960 of marriage as a financial deal for men and bondage 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:24.120 for women. For all of her historically overlooked positive qualities, 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:29.880 Margaret was also inherently contradictory and often myopic in her 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:35.600 otherwise progressive positions. We cannot forget, after all, the influence 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:40.120 of her Royalist politics on her thinking. For example, in 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:44.920 Sociable Letters, she writes that the disturbance in this country, 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:49.640 referring pretty casually to the Civil War, hath made no 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:54.159 breach of friendship betwixt women. For though there hath been 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.200 a civil war in the Kingdom and a general war 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:01.399 amongst the men, yet there have been no amongst the women. 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:07.080 Margaret naturally did not know any parliamentary women who might disagree. 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:11.280 It's a line of thinking that still echoes today when 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:16.760 feminist talking points failed to consider other social metrics. Margaret 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.080 was alone for about three months following William's departure for London. 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:25.280 With the couple's affairs sorted, the proud royalist boarded a 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:30.360 Dutch warship and set sail herself for England. Sea journeys 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:35.760 and their unpredictable, potentially destructive outcomes are a major recurring 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:40.200 motif in Margaret's work. In comparison to her near death 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.680 experience departing England by boat when she was a teenager, 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:50.919 her return trip was nothing but smooth sailing. Life in 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:55.560 London was not as easy. William, once again officially the 0:23:55.600 --> 0:24:00.840 Marquise of Newcastle upon Tyne, expected a prestigious court appointment 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:03.560 for his service to the late Charles the First and 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:08.240 the young Charles the Second. By the time of Margaret's arrival, however, 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:12.879 no such appointment had come. William was eventually appointed to 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:19.320 some conciliatory but ultimately powerless positions. Fed Up, he respectfully 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:22.679 took his leave from court to retire to his country estate. 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:27.240 For the first time, Margaret was to see Wellbeck, where 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:32.760 once upon a time William and Charles curated their intellectual circle. 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:37.720 Later deemed the Wellbeck Academy. The estate was not the 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:42.560 jewel it had once been. In place of accommodations designed 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:47.240 for royalty and fame. Scholars were now, in Margaret's words, 0:24:47.760 --> 0:24:51.800 but some few old feather beds, and all those spoiled 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:57.600 fit for no use. Much like the estate, the Cavendish 0:24:57.600 --> 0:25:03.240 family situation was in disorder. Margaret was not quite given 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:07.520 the evil stepmother treatment, but some of William's children and 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:13.040 longtime employees considered her influence on him too powerful. While 0:25:13.080 --> 0:25:17.679 they may have been misplacing their frustrations, William was in 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:21.240 fact giving them a number of reasons to worry. Now 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:25.600 back in England, the Marquess finally settled the jointure, or 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:28.760 the portion of his estate that would be left to 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:32.159 Margaret in the event that he died before her, that 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:36.560 normally would have been finalized upon their marriage. Margaret was 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.960 set to have an annuity of one thousand, one hundred 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:43.679 and twenty five pounds, as well as possession of the 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:49.960 manors Chesterfield, Woodthorpe and William's favorite Bolsover Castle. In later 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:53.560 years he would add another home and more land to 0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:59.840 that already generous arrangement. Henry William's youngest son and heir 0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:04.399 following the deaths of his uncle and older brother, feared 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:07.160 that there would be no land left for his own 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:11.560 children or for the continuation of the male line and 0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:17.200 family name. Considering that William was thirty years his wife's senior, 0:26:17.800 --> 0:26:21.880 Henry understandably saw the jointure as a pretty sure thing. 0:26:23.240 --> 0:26:28.119 This wasn't the only concern. Margaret's dearest friend had married 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:33.040 a Dutch businessman named Francis Topp during their exile abroad. 0:26:33.600 --> 0:26:38.000 William was evidently so impressed by Topp that he replaced 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:43.120 Welbeck's long term steward Andrew Clayton, with that new acquaintance. 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:48.639 Clayton blamed his displacement on Margaret and teamed up with 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:52.560 an unhappy tenant of Williams to turn the marquess against 0:26:52.560 --> 0:26:56.080 his wife. They wrote an unsigned letter in which they 0:26:56.119 --> 0:27:00.960 blamed William's diminished respect at court on Margaret and went 0:27:01.040 --> 0:27:04.560 even further as to accuse her of committing adultery with 0:27:04.800 --> 0:27:11.280 top All of that sitcom esque scheming was ultimately for not. 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:18.199 William saw through their ruse quite clearly. Margaret was but 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:22.880 of course still publishing through the drama. Her first collection 0:27:23.080 --> 0:27:27.320 of plays published with the mouthful of a title, Plays 0:27:27.440 --> 0:27:32.159 Written by the thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, was 0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:37.240 printed in sixteen sixty two. Notably, it was also Margaret's 0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:41.399 first book printed by a woman, the widow of the 0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:46.440 printer Thomas Warren. Alice took over her husband's business after 0:27:46.520 --> 0:27:51.880 he passed, and from sixteen sixty six onwards almost all 0:27:51.960 --> 0:27:56.520 of Margaret's works were published by Anne Maxwell, the widow 0:27:56.560 --> 0:28:00.399 of David Maxwell, who had inherited and managed to her 0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:05.560 late husband's rather large business on her own. At this point, 0:28:05.600 --> 0:28:09.879 Margaret was still a crazy Countess, but she was about 0:28:09.960 --> 0:28:14.359 to become the crazy duchess history would remember her as. 0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:20.199 In sixteen sixty four, William was finally rewarded by his 0:28:20.280 --> 0:28:24.600 old pupil and friend. On June seventh, he received a 0:28:24.720 --> 0:28:28.840 letter from Charles the Second reading, I'm resolved to grant 0:28:28.960 --> 0:28:33.199 your request. Send me there for word what title you 0:28:33.280 --> 0:28:35.920 desire to have, or whether you will choose to keep 0:28:35.960 --> 0:28:38.720 your old and leave the rest to me. I am 0:28:38.760 --> 0:28:42.240 glad you enjoy your health, for I love you very well. 0:28:43.360 --> 0:28:46.880 William was to be made a duke, the highest rank 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:50.360 of English nobility below the monarch. It would take a 0:28:50.440 --> 0:28:53.920 year to make things official, but in sixteen fifty five 0:28:54.200 --> 0:28:58.600 Margaret and William traveled to London for a small ceremony 0:28:58.800 --> 0:29:03.040 where they were official recognized as the Duke and Duchess 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:11.040 of Newcastle on Tyne. In sixteen sixty six, William sold 0:29:11.080 --> 0:29:14.600 one of his country estates to buy back Newcastle House, 0:29:15.120 --> 0:29:19.040 the family home in London. In sixteen sixty seven, the 0:29:19.080 --> 0:29:22.120 couple moved in and found themselves in the heart of 0:29:22.160 --> 0:29:26.600 the city's social scene. The King visited their home, and 0:29:26.640 --> 0:29:29.280 the couple visited court to meet his queen for the 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:35.040 first time. They hosted fellow aristocrats and intellectuals, including many 0:29:35.080 --> 0:29:40.720 of Margaret's philosophical correspondents. The writer John Evelyn visited Margaret 0:29:40.800 --> 0:29:46.360 several times a week, delighted by her extraordinary, fanciful habit, garb, 0:29:46.440 --> 0:29:51.680 and discourse. John Avelyn's wife did not share his good opinion. 0:29:52.640 --> 0:29:55.840 Never did I see she wrote, a woman so full 0:29:55.880 --> 0:30:02.120 of herself, so amazingly vain and ambitious. Margaret's reputation, both 0:30:02.160 --> 0:30:06.920 positive and negative, was growing by the day. Some of 0:30:06.960 --> 0:30:11.400 her rising notoriety was of her own doing. Eveland's wife 0:30:11.440 --> 0:30:15.000 goes on to say that Cavendish took occasion to cite 0:30:15.000 --> 0:30:18.160 her own pieces, line and page in such a book, 0:30:18.480 --> 0:30:21.320 and to tell the adventures of some of her nymphs. 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:26.640 Margaret wanted to be a serious philosopher, and beyond that, 0:30:26.880 --> 0:30:31.840 she wanted to be a world. Accounts from the social 0:30:31.920 --> 0:30:35.400 season of sixteen sixty seven make it clear she had 0:30:35.440 --> 0:30:40.680 achieved something close to celebrity status and was recognizable enough 0:30:40.880 --> 0:30:45.640 to be regularly surrounded on the street. Sixteen sixty six 0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:50.600 saw the publication of her most famous work, The Blazing World, 0:30:51.040 --> 0:30:55.320