December 15

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, died on the 15th in 1673. Really now, just what is the story with rich, aristocratic, British writers anyway? Margaret’s writing aroused a great deal of controversy in her day. She wrote and published using her own name, at a time when women’s work was generally published anonymously or pseudonyms were used. That fact alone was enough to raise eyebrows as well as objections. Professional busybody Samuel Pepys referred to Cavendish as ‘mad, conceited and ridiculous.’ More than a century later, Lady Caroline Lamb would describe George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron as being ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know.’ Weren’t there any members of the ruling class who wrote and were merely ordinary and boring? It would seem not.