Born: 1623, United Kingdom
Died: 15 December 1673
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Margaret Lucas
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was a renowned English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer, and playwright. Cavendish’s prolific contributions included six published books on natural philosophy, although she was not truly appreciated during her lifetime.
In an era when it was seen as inappropriate for a woman to be publically intellectual, she could study in private and converse with two trusted men – her brother John and her husband William, both philosophers and scholars.
Even for a person with substantial wealth and connections, she struggled to be taken seriously by publishers or philosophers of the time.
In her time, opinions about her varied widely, from eccentric, mad, and pretentious to fascinating and genius. Her long-awaited recognition came in 1667 with an invitation to the Royal Society, though she still remained an unusual spectacle to many in attendance.
Throughout her life, she produced several important works in philosophy. These include Worlds Olio (1655), Philosophical and Physical Opinions (1656), Philosophical Letters (1664), Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy (1666), The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World (1666), and Grounds of Natural Philosophy (1668).
The Blazing World is a work of fiction forerunner of science-fiction and could be considered a utopian story. In her books, women are portrayed as capable and discuss matters of Nature with many – something Cavendish was denied in her own life. She is often considered a protofeminist, expressing wishes for women to control their lives and finances and be respected for their abilities.
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, an English writer. She became maid of honor to Queen Henrietta Maria in 1863, and two years later married William Cavendish, afterward Duke of Newcastle.
Her writings, consisting of plays, poems, sketches, letters, an autobiography, and a memoir of her husband, are very interesting.
She died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The famous inscription on her tomb declares that she belonged to a family of which “all the brothers were valiant and all the sisters virtuous.”
The following is excerpted from The Learned Lady in England 1650-1760 by Myra Reynolds, published in 1920.
The Duchess of Newcastle (cir. 1625-1673)
The Duchess of Newcastle wrote numerous plays. Twenty-one were published in 1662, and in 1668 five more appeared. They are described as hardly more than allegorical dialogues arranged in successive scenes, but without plot, and showing no power of dramatic portrayal, The Duchess herself is evidently the original of several of the characters. In her plays as in her scientific studies the particular boast of the Duchess is that whatever she writes is spun out of her own fancy:
But noble readers, do not think my plays
Are such as have been writ in former days;
As Johnson, Shakespear, Beaumont, Fletcher writ,
Mine want their learning, reading, language, wit.
The Latin phrases, I could never tell,
But Johnson could, which made him write so well.
Greek, Latin poets I could never read,
Not their historians, but our English Speed:
I could not steal their wit, nor plots out-take;
All my plays plots, my own poor brain did make.
From Plutarch’s story, I ne’er took a plot,
Nor from romances, nor from Don Quixote.189
It goes without saying that these plays were not suited for stage presentation, and, in point of fact, very few of them were ever put into rehearsal. One of the plays that did appear drew a great crowd, but the motive was curiosity to see the Duchess rather than any interest in the play. Pepys, who went to hear this play March 30, 1667, wrote concerning it, and its author:
The whole story of this lady is a romance and all she does is romantic. Her footmen in velvet coats, and herself in antique dress, as they say; and was the other day at her own play, “The Humorous Lovers”; the most ridiculous thing that ever was wrote, but she and her Lord mightily pleased with it: and she at the end, made her respects to the players, and did give them thanks. There is as much expectation of her coming to Court, that so people may come to see her, as if it were the Queen of Sheba.