1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: are going to talk about Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: Newcastle upon Tyne, who was a prolific poet and playwright 6 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: and natural philosopher. She published multiple works under her own 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: name at a time when more women were starting to 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: publish their own work, but they were almost always doing 9 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:41,160 Speaker 1: that anonymously. She also published at least five major works 10 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: on natural philosophy, and that makes her the most prolific 11 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: woman publishing on that subject in the seventeenth century. She 12 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: wrote so much on such a range of subjects that 13 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: you can find just dramatically different reads on her depending 14 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: on where you look. Like If some but he's focuses 15 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: mostly on literature, she's described like as a poet in 16 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: a playwright, but if somebody's focuses mostly on science, she's 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: described as a scientist. She also lived through a really 18 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: tumultuous period, including the English Civil Wars, the Interregnum, and 19 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: the Restoration, and then all of that was happening during 20 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: the Scientific Revolution, just two levels set. We're not going 21 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: to talk as much about her work in philosophy specifically 22 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: in this episode, because even though there are most certainly 23 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: people who think that is the absolute most important part, 24 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: there is just so much of it, and it evolves 25 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: so much over time, and so much of it is 26 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: discussed in relation to the work of other philosophers. It 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: just was like nested side trips of definitions to make 28 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: things even understandable if you don't already have a background 29 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: in it um. If that's what you're into, though, the 30 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an entry on her that 31 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: is almost twenty five thousand words long, so you can 32 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: run at that. That'll keep you busy for a bit 33 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: and then you will be fully, fully up to date 34 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: on her philosophy. But the Future Duchess was born Margaret 35 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: Lucas in Colchester, Essex, probably around six three. The records 36 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: that would have documented that were destroyed during the Civil Wars. 37 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: She was the youngest of eight children of Thomas and 38 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Lucas. The family was wealthy, but Thomas did not 39 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: have title. He had enough money that he could have 40 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: purchased a title if you wanted to, but he thought 41 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: that titles should be earned. According to Margaret's autobiography, her 42 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: oldest brother, Thomas, was born before their parents were married 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: because her father had been banished for killing a Mr. 44 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: Brooks in a duel. This seems to have been a 45 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: typical duel over a matter of honor, but Brooks had 46 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: been a favorite of one of Elizabeth the First courtiers, 47 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: so Thomas was forced to leave, was allowed to return 48 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: only after Queen Elizabeth had died, and King James the 49 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: First allowed him to come back. I feel like we've 50 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: had a few of those where it's like Elizabeth did 51 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: not like a person. They went away, James the First, 52 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: It's cool, comeback. Charles First, who edited an eight eight 53 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: six edition of a book containing this autobiography, speculates that 54 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,279 Speaker 1: this may really have been George Brooke, who was executed 55 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: for his role in the by Plot in sixteen o three. 56 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: But if that's the case, none of this makes sense. 57 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: The by plot was a plot against King James in 58 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: the first year of his reign, but George Brooke was executed, 59 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: not killed in a duel, and all that happened after 60 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth had already died. Whatever the exact circumstances were, though. 61 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: The younger Thomas was born in about fifteen ninety seven, 62 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: so he would have been six years older so by 63 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: the time his father was able to return and marry 64 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: his mother, at which point everyone seems to have treated 65 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: him as a full member of the family and one 66 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: of his father's heirs. The elder Thomas Lucas died when 67 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: Margaret was only about two, and his estate was divided 68 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: up among her mother and her three surviving brothers, who 69 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: were Thomas, John, and Charles. Elizabeth Lucas never remarried, and 70 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: her inheritance from her late husband included a portion that 71 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: was meant for Margaret and for each of her sisters. 72 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: They would be given that portion either when they got 73 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: married or when they came of age. They had enough 74 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: money that they all lived pretty comfortably. Margaret described her 75 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,799 Speaker 1: mother as always living within their means, but still bringing 76 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: them lots of honest pleasures and harmless delights. Margaret and 77 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: her sisters also received a very basic education through private tutors. 78 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: In addition to subjects like reading and writing, they were 79 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: taught things like needlework and dancing. Margaret did not really 80 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: like her studies, but she did love to read and write, 81 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: and to design her own clothes. She was far more 82 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: interested in fashion of her own design than enclosed designed 83 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: by anyone else. As an adult, she gained a reputation 84 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: for having a lavish and unusual style of dress, which 85 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: incorporated elements that were thought of as men's fashion. People 86 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: described her wearing things like knee length coats and breeches, or, 87 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: in the words of Sir Charles Littleton in sixteen sixty five, 88 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: during a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York, 89 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: she was quote dressed in a vest and instead of 90 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: courtesies made legs and bows. Yeah. That's uh, that's got 91 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,799 Speaker 1: some commentary. I had a hard time finding any portraits 92 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 1: of her that showed really what this would have looked like. Um. 93 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: The Lucas family, though, divided their time between London and Colchester, 94 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: and they seem to have been really very close and 95 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: loving with each other, even to the point where Margaret's 96 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: married sisters often lived with their mother when she was 97 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: in the country, But they also seem to have kept 98 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: most other people outside the family at arms length. They 99 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: were staunch royalists, and as the Civil Wars began, most 100 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: of their neighbors, especially in the country were parliamentarians. For 101 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: a super quick recap on that the English Civil Wars 102 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: grew out of long standing grievances between Charles the first 103 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: in Parliament, along with issues involving religious freedom, tensions between 104 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: Protestants and Catholics, and disagreements on how England, Ireland and 105 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: Scotland should all be governed. These wars were interconnected with 106 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which involved all three 107 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: nations and are sometimes described as the British Civil Wars. 108 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: As we said earlier, Margaret's family were staunch Royalists. Her brothers, 109 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: Thomas and Charles, both became officers in the Royalist Army. 110 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: After her brother John tried to rally supporters and horses 111 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: to to the king in August of sixteen forty two, 112 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: a mob attacked his home, which is where their mother 113 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: and sister also were. This mob ransacked the house, killed 114 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: deer on the property, destroyed crops, desecrated the family tomb, 115 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: and stole the horses. John was briefly imprisoned after this, 116 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: but ultimately fled and became a colonel of horse in 117 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: the Royalist Army. As all of this was brewing, Margaret 118 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: went to Oxford to join the court of Queen Henrietta Maria, 119 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: wife of Charles the First. She doesn't spell out her 120 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: reasons for doing this, just that she'd heard that the 121 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: queen didn't have as many maids of honor as she 122 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: used to. Some sources have interpreted this as Margaret wanting 123 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: some independence from her family or thinking that she might 124 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: be safer with the queen, but the family also had 125 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: some concerns about it because of what Margaret described as 126 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: her bashfulness. Here is her own description quote, I am 127 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: naturally bashful, not that I am ashamed of my mind 128 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: or body, my birth or breeding. My actions are fortunes. 129 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: For my bashfulness is my nature, not for any crime. 130 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: And though I have strived and reasoned with myself, yet 131 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: that which is inbred I find is difficult to root out. 132 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: But I do not find that my bashfulness is concerned 133 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: with the qualities of the persons. But the number. For 134 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: were I to enter into a company of Lazarus, is 135 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: I should be as much out of countenance as if 136 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: they were all Caesar's or Alexander's, Cleopatra's or Queen Dido's. 137 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: Neither do I find my bashfulness rise it so often 138 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: in blushes, as it contracts my spirits to a chill paleness. 139 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: She also says the best remedy she ever found for 140 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,559 Speaker 1: this was to believe that everyone she meets is wise 141 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:59,479 Speaker 1: and virtuous, because the wise and virtuous quote sense your least, excuse, 142 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: most praise, best esteem, Rightly, judge justly, behave themselves civilly, 143 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: demean themselves respectfully, and speak modestly when fools or unworthy 144 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: persons are apt to commit absurdities, as to be bold, rude, uncivil, 145 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: both in words and actions, forgetting or not well understanding 146 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: themselves or the company they are with. Her family's concerns 147 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: about whether she was going to be okay leaving home, 148 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: they were not entirely unfounded. She also wrote this quote 149 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: in truth, my bashfulness and fears made me repent my 150 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: going from home to see the world abroad, and much 151 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: I did desire to return to my mother again, or 152 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: to my sister Pie, with whom I have often lived 153 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: when she was in London and loved with a supernatural affection. 154 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: So when Margaret told her family that she wanted to 155 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: come home, her mother convinced her that it was going 156 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: to reflect poorly on everyone if she left the Jean's 157 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: service so soon, and in the end Margaret wound up 158 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: staying there until after she married, and we're going to 159 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that after we have a 160 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. In sixteen forty four, the English Civil 161 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: Wars escalated and Queen Henrietta Maria fled to France. She 162 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: left her newborn daughter, Henrietta behind. Henrietta's birth had been 163 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: really difficult. It wasn't clear whether she would survive, but 164 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: she did. She was reunited with her mother after about 165 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: two years. Margaret Lucas, though went with the queen when 166 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: the queen fled. She described herself as not being good 167 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: at learning languages beyond English, and it doesn't appear that 168 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: she learned French, even while living in France and serving 169 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: a queen who had been born in Paris. But there 170 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 1: also would have been other people connected to the court 171 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: in exile who spoke English. One of these was William Cavendish, 172 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: Marquess of Newcastle upon Tyne. He had been in command 173 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: of some of the forces at the Battle of Marston Moore, 174 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: where the Royalists were badly defeated on July second, sixteen 175 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: forty four. After this defeat, Cavendish had fled first to 176 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: Hamburg and then to Paris. In addition to his military 177 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: career and six years in the House of Commons, Cavendish 178 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 1: was an expert horseman and a horse trainer, and a 179 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: poet and a playwright, and a patrons of people like 180 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,200 Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, John Dryden, Thomas Hobbs, and reneed de cart. 181 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: His first wife, Elizabeth, had died in April of sixteen 182 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: forty three, and while most of their children were grown 183 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: up and married by the time she died, they also 184 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: don't really seem to have approved of his second wife, 185 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: which was Margaret Lucas they got married in sixteen forty five. 186 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: Various accounts described Margaret's family and Queen Henrietta Maria as 187 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: being opposed to this match as well, among other things, 188 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: William was thirty years older than Margaret, but from Margaret's 189 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: point of view, he was a good fit for her. 190 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: She wrote, quote, my Lord, the Marquess of Newcastle did 191 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: approve of those bashful fears which many condemned, and would 192 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: choose such a wife as he might bring to his 193 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: own humors, and not such a one as was wedded 194 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,599 Speaker 1: to self conceit, or one that had been tempered to 195 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: the humors of another, for which he wooed me for 196 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 1: his wife. And though I did dread marriage and shunned 197 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: man's company as often as I could, yet I could not, 198 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: nor had the power to refuse him. By reason, my 199 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: affections were fixed on him, and he was the only 200 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: person I was ever in love with. She went on 201 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: to say, quote, for it was not amorous love. I 202 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: was never infected therewith it is a disease or a passion, 203 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,439 Speaker 1: or both. I only know by relation, not by experience. 204 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: Neither would title, wealth, power, or person enticed me to love. 205 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: But my love was honest and honor, bole being placed 206 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: upon merit, which affection joyed the fame of his worth, 207 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 1: pleased with the light in his wit, proud of the 208 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: respects he used me, and triumphing in the affections he 209 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: professed for me. William seems to have really loved Margaret 210 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 1: and encouraged her pursuits, buying books for her, tutoring her, 211 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: and generally just supporting her interests and ambitions. William and 212 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: his brother, Sir Charles Cavendish also organized a salone that 213 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: came to be known as the Cavendish Circle in the 214 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: sixteen forties, holding gatherings with people like Thomas Hobbes Renee 215 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: des Cartes, philosopher and mathematician, Pierre guss In, d and 216 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:45,479 Speaker 1: intellectual and Polly math Marin Marsin. Margaret met some influential 217 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: philosophers and scientists at these gatherings, but she maintained that 218 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: she didn't speak directly to them about anything of consequence, 219 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 1: since many of them spoke French. She also would not 220 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: have been able to speak with them without someone there 221 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: to translate. Margaret hoped to have children, and as time 222 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: passed without her becoming pregnant, she and William consulted with 223 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: at least two doctors, Richard Ferrer and Sortor Maren. Maren 224 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: seems to have recommended treatments for both her physical and 225 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:20,520 Speaker 1: her mental health, including what was described as melancholy. Eventually, Mayren, 226 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: who was the court physician, advised her to discontinue treatments 227 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: for infertility. Margaret seems to have tried to treat herself 228 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: as well, with things like fasting and blood letting, based 229 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: on her own readings on science and medicine. Some of 230 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: her writing about this came across to me as maybe 231 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: having some food disorder, uh, some disordered eating, like connected 232 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,359 Speaker 1: to all of her anxieties and bashfulness that she described. Eventually, 233 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: Margaret and William left Paris and moved to Antwerp, where 234 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: they lived in a house that they rented from Peter 235 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: Paul Rubens's widow, and over the next few years Margaret 236 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: experienced a string of losses while separated the rest of 237 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: her family. Her mother died in sixteen forty seven, and 238 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: her brother Thomas was wounded in battle and died in 239 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: sixteen forty eight or sixteen forty nine. Her brother Charles 240 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: was in Colchester when it was besieged by Parliamentarian forces 241 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: in sixteen forty eight. This siege lasted for more than 242 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: a month, and, as is often the case, conditions became 243 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: truly horrific. This was complicated by the fact that for 244 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: the most part, the people of Colchester were on the 245 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: Parliamentarian side, but they were trapped with the Royalist army, 246 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: which put its own needs ahead of everyone else's. Meanwhile, 247 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: the parliamentarians besieging the town refused to allow provisions to enter. 248 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: This siege only ended after the Royalists were defeated at 249 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: the Battle of Preston in sixteen forty eight. Afterward, a 250 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: Parliamentarian war Council found Charles Lucas guilty of treason and 251 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: sentenced him to death. He was executed by firing squad 252 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: and was immediately seen as a Royal List murder. King 253 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: Charles the First was executed in January of sixteen forty nine, 254 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: and later that year Parliament declared England to be a commonwealth. 255 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: The New Model Army, which was led by Oliver Cromwell, 256 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: embarked on a violent reconquest of Ireland. The Scottish Parliament 257 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: had declared Charles's son, Charles the Second, to be king, 258 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: and Cromwell led an invasion of Scotland as well. Fighting 259 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: continued with all of this until Cromwell's victory at the 260 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: Battle of Worcester on September three, sixteen fifty one. This 261 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: was the final battle of the Civil Wars, and afterward 262 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,480 Speaker 1: Charles the Second fled to France. During the Civil Wars, 263 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: Parliament had established committees to deal with the estates seized 264 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: from Royalists and others who had opposed Parliament, known as delinquents. 265 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: In sixteen fifty one, Margaret returned to England because she 266 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: had heard that her husband's estates were being sold, and 267 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: there were provisions for delinquents wives to be granted an 268 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: allowance from the sale. William could not go with her. 269 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: If he did, he would have to renounce his loyalty 270 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,159 Speaker 1: to the Crown and swear fealty to the Commonwealth, and 271 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: he was not willing to do that. But Margaret didn't 272 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 1: have to do that because as a woman, she wasn't 273 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,679 Speaker 1: even considered capable of doing it. So she traveled with 274 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: William's brother, Charles, who had been ordered to return to 275 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: England and occupy his estates there or else they would 276 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: be confiscated. Margaret's efforts to get this allowance from the 277 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: sale of William's estates was both lengthy and unsuccessful. The 278 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: committee told her that William was quote the greatest traitor 279 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: to the state, and that since she had married him 280 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:41,959 Speaker 1: after he had already been made it alinquent, she was 281 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 1: entitled to nothing. She was in England for about eighteen 282 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: months working on this, and during that time she wrote 283 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: and arranged for the publication of her first two books, 284 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: Poems and Fancies and Philosophical Fancies. Both of those were 285 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: published in sixteen fifty three. She had meant for all 286 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:04,480 Speaker 1: of that writing to be published as one volume, but 287 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: Philosophical Fancies just was not ready in time. Later on, 288 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,720 Speaker 1: William would help Margaret arranged for the publication of some 289 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: of her books, but she handled these two on her own, 290 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: and we noted at the top of the show that 291 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: she published these works under her own name at a 292 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: time when most women who published were doing so anonymously. 293 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: But beyond that, she chose a highly respected publisher for 294 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: her work. It was Martin and Alice Styre, who later 295 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: became the publisher for the Royal Society. And while most 296 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: women who published in seventeenth century Britain were publishing smaller 297 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: pamphlets meant to be circulated mostly among people they knew, 298 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: Margaret was publishing books that wouldn't be out of place 299 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: in a fine library. They were full size books, beautifully bound, 300 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 1: and for some of them she also commissioned artwork by 301 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: Abraham von Diepenbeck for the frontispiece. This was unusual not 302 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,119 Speaker 1: only because of her gender, but also because of the 303 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:08,399 Speaker 1: content of the books. While Poems and Fancy sounds like 304 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: a lighthearted collection of verse, it was really a work 305 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: in which She used two hundred eighty poems arranged into 306 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: five parts, to explore subjects like physics, medicine, philosophy and ethics, 307 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,959 Speaker 1: and her own scientific theories on vital matter, which rested 308 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: on the idea that all matter was intelligent and capable 309 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: of organizing itself. These were not considered appropriate topics for 310 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,880 Speaker 1: women to publish on. It's true that she had more 311 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: power than most women to do something like this. Her 312 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: husband was in exile and their finances were a mess, 313 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: but she was still a marchioness who had her husband's 314 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: full support. But even with that in mind, she was 315 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: breaking ground with this work. Margaret returns to Antwerp in 316 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: sixteen fifty three, and she and William remained in exile 317 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: until after the restoration of Charles the Second in sixteen sixty. 318 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: During that time that they were still in exile, Margaret 319 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 1: continued to learn and to write. She published her brief 320 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: autobiography which was a True Relation of My Birth Breeding 321 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: in Life, that was published in sixteen fifty six as 322 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: part of Nature's Pictures Drawn by Fancy's Pencil to the Life. 323 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: This autobiography was something that she wrote in part to 324 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: counter claims that her husband had written all of her 325 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,680 Speaker 1: work for her, while also crediting him and his brother 326 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 1: for their encouragement and mentoring and what she had learned. 327 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: We are going to get to Margaret's life after they 328 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 1: returned to England after we have a sponsor break. In 329 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty after the restoration of Charles the Second, Margaret 330 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: and William Cavendish, Marquess and Marchioness of Newcastle upon time, 331 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: were able to return to England. Some of William's lands 332 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,520 Speaker 1: were returned to him, including Bolsover Castle, which the couple 333 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: rebuilt and refurbished, including building a writing house there. For 334 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: a while they lived in London, but they didn't really 335 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,159 Speaker 1: enjoy life at court, so they retired to Williams estates 336 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: at Wellbeck Abbey, which was not far away from Bolsover Castle. 337 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: William also bought Nottingham Castle in sixteen sixty three or 338 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty four and built a mansion there. Margaret was 339 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: increasingly involved in managing these and other estates while also 340 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 1: writing and publishing her work. The book Orations came out 341 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,400 Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty two. She published her first volume of plays, 342 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 1: just called Plays that same year. These have been written 343 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: earlier but the original manuscript had been lost at sea. 344 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: In sixteen sixty four she published Sociable Letters, a set 345 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: of fictional letters on a range of topics including science, medicine, 346 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:59,479 Speaker 1: and literature. Philosophical Letters followed that same year. In sixteen 347 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: sixty five, I've William was made a duke, so Margaret 348 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: became a duchess, and in sixteen sixty six she published 349 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: Observations on Experimental Philosophy. In addition to her other work, 350 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: in the previous few years, she had studied Greek and 351 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,919 Speaker 1: Roman philosophy, relying heavily on Thomas Stanley's The History of 352 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,479 Speaker 1: Philosophy for that since it was in English. She had 353 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 1: also explored the work of her contemporaries and philosophy and science, 354 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,639 Speaker 1: including Thomas Hobbes, reneed A. Cart, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hook. 355 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: Observations on Experimental Philosophy drew on all of that knowledge 356 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,160 Speaker 1: to outline her thoughts on things like perception, art, various 357 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: plants and animals, colors, the nature of heat and cold, 358 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: Adams telescopes, medicine, chemistry, anatomy, and more. It is a 359 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: very long and wide ranging book. Although this was a 360 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: work of nonfiction, she included an appendix called the Description 361 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: of a new world called the Blazing World. The Blazing 362 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: World was also published as a standalone volume two years later, 363 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 1: and this was a work of utopian fiction, sometimes described 364 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: as an early work of science fiction that is also 365 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: a commentary on her thoughts on science, philosophy, and society. 366 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: And Blazing World, a merchant falls in love with a 367 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 1: woman and steals her away quote. But Heaven, frowning at 368 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: his theft, raised such a tempest as they knew not 369 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: what to do. The ship is blown off course to 370 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: the north Pole, and all the men on board freeze 371 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: to death. But this lady is saved by the light 372 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,560 Speaker 1: of her beauty, the heat of her youth, and the 373 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: protection of the gods. It turns out that Earth's north 374 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 1: pole is conjoined to the pole of another world, and 375 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,879 Speaker 1: when the ship approaches our own north pole, it is 376 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: forced into the other one, which is a world populated 377 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: by sort of human animal hybrids or anthropomorphized animals. Quote. 378 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: Some were bear men, some worm men, some fish or 379 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: mirror men, otherwise called sirens, some birdmen, some fly men, 380 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: some antmen, some geesemen, some spiderman, some lifemen, some foxman, 381 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: some apemen, some Jackdawmond, some magpie men, some parrotmen, some satyrs, 382 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: some giants, and many more which I cannot all remember. 383 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: She's eventually brought before the Emperor of this world, who 384 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: takes her as his wife and gives her quote an 385 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: absolute power to rule and govern all that world as 386 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: she pleased. Then what follows as an account of the 387 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: Empress's rule, and it works as a commentary, as we said, 388 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 1: as on science, philosophy, and social issues, including the idea 389 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 1: that a strong, stable monarchy is crucial to a peaceful society. 390 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 1: The year after she published Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, Cavendish 391 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,120 Speaker 1: was invited to a meeting of the Royal Society, which 392 00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: had been established in sixteen sixty. Some accounts read as 393 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 1: though people were so impressed with her work that they 394 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: invited her right over, But this work was really controversial, 395 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,399 Speaker 1: and the invitation was one that she sought out, in 396 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: which her friend Walter Charlton lobbied for. Charlton was one 397 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: of the Royal Society's original members, along with Margaret's brother John, 398 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,439 Speaker 1: who was another person who had tutored and mentored her 399 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 1: in subjects like science and philosophy. Some of the controversy 400 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: was because of Cavendish's gender. She was the first known 401 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: woman to be invited to a Royal Society meeting. She 402 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,200 Speaker 1: really may have been the only woman to attend one 403 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century. Women weren't allowed to become fellows 404 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: of the Royal Society until nineteen forty five. But the 405 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: content of this work was also controversial. In addition to 406 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: it being highly unusual and almost scandalous for a woman 407 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 1: to be publishing this kind of scientific and philosophical work, 408 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,919 Speaker 1: she also directly criticized the work of some of the 409 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: Royal Society's most prominent fellows, including, for example, Robert Hook's 410 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: work on microscopes. As we said earlier, Cavendish was living 411 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: during the Scientific Revolution and science was becoming its own discipline, 412 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: which had a focus on experimentation and measurement, and Cavendish 413 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: really questioned that very idea. These criticisms were in both 414 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: the main body of the book and in the Blazing World. 415 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: In the main body, she discusses how flawed lenses or 416 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: bad lighting can distort the image seen through a microscope, 417 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: and that that can lead to incorrect conclusions. She also 418 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: expresses her belief that microscopes can represent only exterior shapes 419 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: and movement, not the interior workings or motions. She compares 420 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: men looking through microscopes to boys playing with bubbles. In 421 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: Blazing World, the bear men use microscopes to show the 422 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: Empress the head of a fly and various licen mites, 423 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: but she questions their conclusions about the fly. Maybe what 424 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: they're seeing are actually tiny pearls and not the insects eyes. 425 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: She questions the purpose of the study of lice and mtes, 426 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: What uses it if they're observations don't lead to a 427 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: way to keep people from being bitten. Overall, cavendish Is 428 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: criticisms of people like Robert Hook were dismissed by many 429 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,919 Speaker 1: of her contemporaries, and some people in much more recent 430 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: eras kind of wrote it off as the silly nonsense 431 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:33,919 Speaker 1: of a dilettante who did not know what she was 432 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: talking about. But Cavendish was knowledgeable about microscopes. Her husband 433 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: had a whole collection of them, she had one of 434 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 1: her own, and she had read the latest writings on 435 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: the subject, including having read Hook's entire Micrographia, which was 436 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 1: published in sixteen sixty five. Her observations on the problems 437 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: that could come from badly made lenses and poor lighting 438 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: were well founded, and even her observations that seemed wildly incorrect, 439 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: like suggesting that the lenses of a flies compound I 440 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: might really be pearls that had nothing to do with vision, 441 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: those are based on her sense that a person's own 442 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: biases and knowledge can lead them to draw the wrong 443 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: conclusion from a simple observation. All that said, Kevindish was 444 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,400 Speaker 1: well known at this point, with a reputation for idiosyncratic 445 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: behavior and distinctive dress, and now this highly controversial book. 446 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 1: So her visit to the Royal Society on May sixteen 447 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: sixty seven was something of a spectacle. Samuel Peeps wrote 448 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: about it in his diary quote, I find very much 449 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: company in expectation of the Duchess of Newcastle, who had 450 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: desired to be invited to the Society, and was after 451 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: much debate pro and con it seems many being against it, 452 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: and we do believe the town will be full of 453 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: ballads of it. Anon comes the Duchess with her women 454 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: attending her, among others, the Farrobosco, of whom so much 455 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: talk is that her lady would bid her show her 456 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: face and kill the gallants. She is indeed black, and 457 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: hath good black little eyes, but otherwise but a very 458 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: ordinary woman, I do think, But they say sings, well, 459 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: the Duchess hath been a good, comely woman. But her 460 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: dress so antic and her deportment so ordinary, that I 461 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: do not like her at all. Nor did I hear 462 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: her say anything that was worth hearing, but that she 463 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: was full of admiration, all admiration. Several fine experiments were 464 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: shown her of colors, loadstones, microscopes, and of liquors, among others, 465 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: of one that did while she was there turn a 466 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: piece of roasted mutton into pure blood, which was very rare. 467 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: So we talked in our episode about Samuel peeps Uh 468 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: about he could be kind of a creeper. We read 469 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: a passage from his own diary where we talked about 470 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: creeping on this woman in church until she stabbed him 471 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: with a pin. His diary details multiple instances of him 472 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,720 Speaker 1: going around London trying to get a glimpse of her, 473 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: saying at one point that quote all the town talk 474 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: is nowadays of her extravagancies. On May tenth of sixteen 475 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: sixty seven, he saw her coach, but he couldn't get 476 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: close to it because they were quote a hundred boys 477 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: and girls running looking upon her. Later on, he also 478 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: talks about reading her sixteen sixty seven biography of her husband, 479 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: saying it quote shows her to be a mad, conceited, 480 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: ridiculous woman, and he unasked to suffer her to write 481 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: what she writes to him and of him. I have 482 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: thoughts they are unkind. He didn't have anything to say 483 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: about the substance of anything that she wrote it all, 484 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: except for that one sentence. The rest of it is 485 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: mostly about what he thinks of her demeanor and her clothes, 486 00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: and her appearance and etcetera. M Mostly the things that 487 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: I have to say about him that are in kind 488 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 1: are also not fit for this podcast. Controversies and judgments 489 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: continued to swirl around Margaret Lucas Cavendish and her work 490 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: until the end of her life. A few years later. 491 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: She died on December fifteen, sixteen seventy three, at the 492 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: age of about fifty. Her death has described as sudden, 493 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: but sources don't name a specific cause. She was entombed 494 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: at Westminster Abbey on January seventh, sixteen seventy four. The 495 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: inscription at the base of the tomb reads in part 496 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: this Duchess was a wise, witty and learned lady, which 497 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 1: her many books do well testify. She was a most 498 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: virtuous and a loving and careful wife, and was with 499 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,959 Speaker 1: her lord all the time of banishment and misery, and 500 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: when he came home, never parted from him. In his 501 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: solitary retirements. Her husband was too unwell to make the journey, 502 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: but he did collect and publish letters and poems in 503 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: honor of the incomparable Princess Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle in 504 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: sixteen seventy six. He died on January two of that 505 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: year and was entombed at Westminster next to her Margaret Lucas. 506 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,959 Speaker 1: Cavendish's gender and her eccentricity, and the fact that she 507 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: argued against some of the most prominent and respected philosophers 508 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: and scientists of her lifetime meant that overall people did 509 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: not take her work seriously or seriously study it. For 510 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: centuries after her death, she was written off as mad 511 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,240 Speaker 1: Madge of Newcastle, although that nickname seems to have been 512 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: coined after her lifetime, and that continues well into the 513 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: twentieth century. Virginia Wolfe gave this a very mixed description 514 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 1: of Cavendish in her n Common Reader writing quote. Nevertheless, 515 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: though her philosophies are feudal, and her plays intolerable, and 516 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: her verses mainly dull, the vast bulk of the Duchess 517 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 1: is levined by a vein of authentic fire. One cannot 518 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: help following the lure of her erratic and lovable personality 519 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: as it meanders and twinkles through page after page. There 520 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 1: is something notable and quixotic and high spirited, as well 521 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: as crack brained and bird witted about her. Her simplicity 522 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: is so open, her intelligence so active, her sympathy with 523 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: fairies and animals so true and tender. She has the 524 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:25,800 Speaker 1: freakishness of an elf, the irresponsibility of some non human creature, 525 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: it's heartlessness and its charm. And although they those terrible 526 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: critics who had sneered and jeered at her ever since 527 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: as a shy girl she had not dared look her 528 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: tormentors in the face at court, continued to mock. Few 529 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,360 Speaker 1: of her critics, after all, had the wit to trouble 530 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: about the nature of the universe, or cared a straw 531 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: for the sufferings of the hunted hair or longed as 532 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: she did to talk to someone of Shakespeare's fools. Now, 533 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,480 Speaker 1: at any rate, the laugh is not all on their side. 534 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: It's really only been in the last few decades that 535 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: more people have started to study Cavendish's work as anything 536 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: other than just the rambling or dabbling of an eccentric aristocrat. 537 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:15,360 Speaker 1: The International Margaret Cavendish Society was established in and several 538 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,560 Speaker 1: scholarly critical editions of her writing are either newly published 539 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: or are still in the works. Scholars approaching her life 540 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: and work today, often working through the lens of feminist 541 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: or queer theory, have reinterpreted her plays as original and 542 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 1: transgressive closet dramas meant to be read instead of performed, 543 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:39,719 Speaker 1: rather than earlier interpretations, which just dismissed them as scattered 544 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,880 Speaker 1: works that were unstageable because she was bad at writing plays. 545 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: More recent scholarship has also approached her philosophy as important 546 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: and compelling on its own, rather than being simply derivative 547 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,440 Speaker 1: of other people's work. At the same time, some aspects 548 00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: of her work continue to be contradictory. Sometimes Cavendish is 549 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: described as an early feminist. She definitely carved out a 550 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: place for herself and lived outside the bounds of what 551 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 1: was expected of her gender, and some of her writing 552 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: is focused on women in roles of power or leadership, 553 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: or women creating communities with each other. She also criticizes 554 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,160 Speaker 1: men's treatment of women and the restrictions on women's place 555 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: in society, but at the same time, there are various 556 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: places where she describes feminine traits as inferior or describes 557 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,400 Speaker 1: women as superior because they can use their beauty to 558 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:38,760 Speaker 1: control men. And to some extent, she was herself contradictory. 559 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: She talks so much about this profound bashfulness to use 560 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,319 Speaker 1: her word, and that really affected her whole life. But 561 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,320 Speaker 1: she simultaneously made it clear that she had an ambition 562 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: to become famous, and yet in the work that was 563 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: part of that fame, there's also this thread of self deprecation. 564 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: A lot of the time, it's almost like she's apologizing 565 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: for even existing. Some of this is because she was 566 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 1: aware that her lack of access to a formal education 567 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: meant that her work was different and would be judged differently. 568 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:15,359 Speaker 1: So we will end on a poem that reflects all 569 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: of that, which was part of the conclusion of poems 570 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 1: and fancies. I language want to dress my fancies in 571 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:27,799 Speaker 1: the hairs uncurled, the garments loose and thin. Had they 572 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: but silver lace to make them gay, they'd be more 573 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: accorded than in poor array. Or had they an art, 574 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: they would make a better show. But they are plain 575 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,359 Speaker 1: yet cleanly. Do they go the world in bravery doth 576 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: take delight? And glistening shows do more attract the site. 577 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: And everyone doth honor a rich hood, as if outside 578 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,799 Speaker 1: made the inside good. And everyone doth bow and give 579 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,400 Speaker 1: the place, not for the man's sake, but the silver lace. 580 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 1: Let me entreat in my horror books, behalf that all 581 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: will not adore the golden calf, consider pray gold half 582 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: no life therein, and life in nature is the richest thing. 583 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: Be just let fancy have the upper place, and then 584 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: my verses may perchance find grace, a flattering language, all 585 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: the passions ruled. Then, since I fear will be a 586 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:30,640 Speaker 1: mere dull fool, she's a fun one. She is uh. 587 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: Sometimes that that verse is printed with the title of 588 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: like I think an apology for the poems in this 589 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:44,839 Speaker 1: book are something broadly apologetic, like that I have some 590 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: listener mail to take us out. It is from Corine. 591 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: Corine said, hello Tracy and Holly. On your behind the 592 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 1: scenes episode about pies and the gallut at eleven, you 593 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 1: were wondering if motion sickness got worse with age, and 594 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,359 Speaker 1: the words of my dance teacher popped into my head. 595 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 1: I'm in my mid forties and have started taking an 596 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,840 Speaker 1: adult tap class. It's been close to twenty five years 597 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: since I have taken a dance class, and I've been 598 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,880 Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised at what my feet remember. Goodness knows, my 599 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 1: brain hasn't retained very much. In this week's class, we 600 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: were adding several steps to our routine and they required 601 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,960 Speaker 1: multiple turns in a row. Since most of us are 602 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,919 Speaker 1: over thirty, we were having trouble practicing the steps over 603 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: and over. Not only was the world spinning, it took 604 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,240 Speaker 1: longer than I remember to get back to normal. Before 605 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: teaching slash, reminding us to spot, the teacher said our 606 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:42,200 Speaker 1: ability to spend decreases as we get older, and that 607 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 1: us old, You've had to be careful. I wanted to 608 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 1: take offense, but it proved to be true. I understand 609 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: this feeling. Anyway, Thanks for all you do. Your podcast 610 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,280 Speaker 1: is when I can usually have on while I'm chufferring 611 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 1: my kids to all their activities. They roll their eyes 612 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:01,720 Speaker 1: when I put on a podcast, but they get sucked 613 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: in and learn something too. I'm attaching pictures of my dog, Buckeye. 614 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,759 Speaker 1: We adopted him at the beginning of the pandemic and 615 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: we're not sure how old he is. He's incredibly stubborn 616 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,839 Speaker 1: and have decided that I am his person. But guy 617 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: has gotten so ridiculous that sometimes when my kids take 618 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,439 Speaker 1: him for a walk, he decides he's done. You'll lie 619 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 1: down and refuse to move. My kids have to call 620 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 1: me so I can talk to him on the phone, 621 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,400 Speaker 1: only after hearing me tell him that he has to 622 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,960 Speaker 1: keep walking when he get his seventy pound booty up 623 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:35,720 Speaker 1: and keep going. Corine, thank you so much. Okay, Holly 624 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: is laughing with the most delighted la for such a 625 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:43,400 Speaker 1: dog crush on Buckeye. Like I love an obstinate, slightly 626 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:50,239 Speaker 1: spoiled dog. I love it. Um. Yeah. I have a 627 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: friend who has started dog walking um as a job 628 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,440 Speaker 1: and has lots of stories about various dogs who were 629 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,239 Speaker 1: at some point like nope, done, I'm done with my 630 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: walk home yet. But I'm finished. Uh, if you want, 631 00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 1: I'll tell a very funny version of one of those 632 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,439 Speaker 1: in the behind the scenes this week. Okay, So thank 633 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,640 Speaker 1: you for these pictures and this story. Uh yeah, I 634 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:19,000 Speaker 1: I had trouble spotting even when I was a young person. 635 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 1: Uh so, yeah, it just seems it seems totally reasonable 636 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: to me that as we would get older, that would 637 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:30,560 Speaker 1: get more difficult and our bodies would have a harder 638 00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: time with it. We've got a number of emails on 639 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,120 Speaker 1: that base, same basic topic of saying, yes, yes, many 640 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 1: of us as we get older have more trouble with 641 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:45,680 Speaker 1: things like getting dizzy and being motion sick and etcetera. 642 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,880 Speaker 1: So if you would like to send us an email, 643 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,640 Speaker 1: we're a history podcast at i heart radio dot com 644 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:54,399 Speaker 1: and we're all over social media. Missed in History. That's 645 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 1: where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Interest, and Instagram, and 646 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,560 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on the I heart 647 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: Radio app or wherever else you like to get podcasts. 648 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 649 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 650 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 651 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.