Introduction: Lucy Hutchinson (1620–1681) and Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673)

Abstract

T he motivation for this collection of essays lies in a line from Lucy Hutchinson’s Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, in which she notes that William Cavendish was “a beloved man in the country” (that is, the county of Nottinghamshire, in which both families resided) until “a foolish ambition of glorious slavery carried him to court.” I recognized in this statement a familiar republican critique of centralized and overweening monarchy, an indictment of the erosion of county and regional governance, and a note of mourning of and resistance to the decline of the nobility into courtiers at best, and flatterers at worst. But I also recognized its surprising resonance with similar critiques made byWilliam Cavendish’s wifeMargaret Cavendish, a writer on the (supposedly) opposite side of the political spectrum from LucyHutchinson. Throughout her work, and not least in her Life of her husband—in many ways as much a companion as an opposition volume to Hutchinson’s Memoirs—Cavendish also plays up local governance, particularly the role of Lord Lieutenancies, and criticizes courtly obeisance and flattery. Both writers offer particularly harsh accounts of what they call “favorites,” and defend the rights of local governance as well as their share in the governance of the nation. If there were such political similarities between the two writers despite their commitment to opposing parties, it seemed to me that there must be far more crossover in the myriad intellectual interests that they shared. This volume is addressed to exploring those connections.