TEXTS

1. 1690 [Damaris Cudworth Masham]. A Discourse Concerning the Love of God

2. 1694 [Mary Astell]. A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest. By a Lover of her Sex

3. 1696 [Elizabeth Singer Rowe]. Poems on Several Occasions. By Philomela

4. 1696 [Judith Drake]. An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex… Written by a Lady

5. 1696 Delarivière Manley. The Royal Mischief. A Tragedy

6. 1697 Mary Astell. A Serious Proposal to the Ladies. Part II. Wherein a Method is offer'd for the Improvement of their Minds

7. 1698 Catharine Trotter. The Fatal Friendship. A Tragedy

8. 1700 Mary Astell. Some Reflections upon Marriage, Occasion'd by the Duke and Duchess of Mazarine's case; which is also consider'd

9. 1700 Mary Pix. The Beau Defeated; or, The Lucky Younger Brother. A Comedy

10. 1700 The Nine Muses; or, poems written by nine several ladies, upon the death of the famous John Dryden, Esq.

INTRODUCTION

During the reign of William and Mary (1689–1702) religious and pious people interested themselves in developing their own spiritual lives and in making common cause against skeptics about religion, libertines, and people they considered to be behaving immorally. As I noted in the previous chapter, women in the seventeenth century had composed devotional books that were occasionally published. In the reign of the Roman Catholic James II (1685–88), Catholic writers, freed from censorship, published devotional and apologetic literature. They claimed that Catholic devotional literature, including that written by the Catholic female saints, abbesses, and laywomen, was far superior to what Protestants had produced.