Repeated headings were removed to avoid redundancy for the reader. More detail can be found at the end of the book. Vassar Semi-Centennial Series ELIZABETHAN TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ITALIAN. By MARY AUGUSTA SCOTT, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1876), Professor of English Literature in Smith College. SOCIAL STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. By LAURA J. WYLIE, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1877), Professor of English in Vassar College. THE LEARNED LADY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By MYRA REYNOLDS, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1880), Professor of English Literature in Chicago University. [_In preparation._] THE CUSTOM OF DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. By ORIE J. HATCHER, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1888), Formerly Associate Professor of Comparative Literature in Bryn Mawr College. [_In preparation._] INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF VARIABLE STARS. By CAROLINE E. FURNESS, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1891), Professor of Astronomy in Vassar College. MOVEMENT AND MENTAL IMAGERY. By MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1891), Professor of Psychology in Vassar College. BRISSOT DE WARVILLE: A STUDY IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By ELOISE ELLERY, Ph.D. (A.B. Vassar, 1897), Associate Professor of History in Vassar College. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK THE LEARNED LADY IN ENGLAND 1650-1760 [Illustration: LADY JANE GREY From an engraving in Edmund Lodge's _Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain_ London, 1823, Vol. II] Vassar Semi-Centennial Series THE LEARNED LADY IN ENGLAND 1650-1760 BY MYRA REYNOLDS _Professor of English Literature in the University of Chicago_ WITH PORTRAITS [Illustration: (Publisher's colophon)] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1920 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY MYRA REYNOLDS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLISHED IN HONOR OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF VASSAR COLLEGE 1865-1915 TO E. E. L. CONTENTS I. LEARNED LADIES IN ENGLAND BEFORE 1650 1 1. Prefatory Statement 1 2. Period of Henry VIII and Elizabeth 4 3. Period from 1603 to 1650 23 4. Schools for Girls before 1660 37 II. LEARNED LADIES IN ENGLAND FROM 1650 TO 1760 46 1. An Introductory Group in the Years 1650-1675 46 2. The Century following the Restoration 81 Actresses 81 Artists 84 Authors 88 Writers on Practical Subjects 89 Writers on Religion and Theology 92 Writers on Practical Beneficence 118 Dramatic Writers 127 General Learning and Literary Work 137 III. EDUCATION 258 1. Boarding-Schools for Girls 258 2. Charity Schools 268 3. Higher Education 271 IV. MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS ON WOMEN IN SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE 316 V. SATIRIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE LEARNED LADY IN COMEDY 372 SUMMARY 420 BIBLIOGRAPHY 457 INDEX 477 ILLUSTRATIONS LADY JANE GREY _Frontispiece_ THE FAMILY OF SIR THOMAS MORE 10 MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE 22 ANNE CLIFFORD, COUNTESS OF DORSET, PEMBROKE, AND MONTGOMERY 32 MARY WARD 38 MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 46 From Horace Walpole's _Royal and Noble Authors_ MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 52 From _The Lives of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, and of his Wife, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle_ MRS. KATHERINE PHILIPS 56 MRS. LUCY HUTCHINSON AND HER SON 70 LADY FANSHAWE 74 MRS. ANNE KILLIGREW 86 MRS. APHRA BEHN 130 ELIZABETH ELSTOB 170 THE SUPPOSED EDITORS OF _THE FEMALE SPECTATOR_, BY MRS. ELIZA HAYWOOD 216 MISS ELIZABETH CARTER 256 MRS. BATHSUA MAKIN 276 THE LEARNED LADY IN ENGLAND CHAPTER I LEARNED LADIES IN ENGLAND BEFORE 1650 1. PREFATORY STATEMENT The theme to which this volume is specifically limited is the position and achievements of learned women in England in the period between 1650 and 1760. But before entering upon this detailed study it seems desirable to give a preliminary sketch of the work of learned women in England before 1650. In such a sketch it is, indeed, a temptation to...