Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Damaris Masham
-
Standard Name: Masham, Damaris
Birth Name: Damaris Cudworth
Married Name: Damaris Masham
Pseudonym: Philoclea
Pseudonym: Clora
DM
, philosophical controversialist of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, was also a memorable writer of familiar letters and witty poetry (both pastoral and satire).
JL
, philosopher, scientist, and political and religious thinker, died at the home of Sir Francis
and Damaris Masham
: Oates, High Laver, Essex.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Literature. Clarendon Press, 1954.
307
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
12: 34
Eagle, Dorothy et al. The Oxford Literary Guide to Great Britain and Ireland. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1993.
437
Family and Intimate relationships
Elizabeth Walker
He then, however, on 21 September 1691, married again. His second wife, Margaret Masham
, was perhaps a sister-in-law of the writer Damaris Masham
. Anthony Walker died some time shortly before 18 April 1692.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Anthony Walker
Friends, Associates
John Locke
JL
corresponded on philosophical topics with several women interested in the subject: with Elizabeth Burnet
, the young Catharine Trotter
, and most importantly with Damaris Cudworth, later Lady Masham
. His friendship with Masham...
Perry, Ruth. The Celebrated Mary Astell: An Early English Feminist. University of Chicago Press, 1986.
243
Lady Betty was a wealthy woman celebrated for her piety, intellectual accomplishments, and benefactions...
Friends, Associates
John Norris
JN
conducted correspondences with a number of learned women: Mary, Lady Chudleigh
(who visited him at his home), Damaris, Lady Masham
(with whom his relationship ended in difference of opinion), and Elizabeth Thomas
, all...
Friends, Associates
Catharine Trotter
During her London years she was an ally of Damaris Masham
, but quarrelled with Delarivier Manley
. She found both a patron and a friend in Sarah, Lady Piers
(who wrote poetry herself). She...
Theosophical Transactions, the journal of Jane Lead
's Philadelphian Society
, warmly praised MA
's work and published extracts from it. Damaris Masham
, however (who was herself guessed by some to be the...
Literary responses
Catharine Trotter
Her defence brought praise from Locke
himself (of the strength and clarity of her reasoning), a gift of books, and the opening of an actual correspondence. It brought her, too, warm praise from John Toland
Author summary
Ephelia
The Restoration user of the name Ephelia
was a remarkably assured, forceful, and accomplished poet (as well as a playwright), although she left, outside her single printed collection (1679), only four poems extant: politicalbroadsheets and...
Residence
John Locke
Locke spent the latter part of the 1670s in France, and then, for the last couple of years of Charles II
's reign and for the whole of that of James II
, lived...
Textual Features
Rose Macaulay
This is her sole historical novel and the only one to reflect her long-standing interest in the seventeenth century. Set between October 1640 and May 1641, the period of the Long Parliament, the novel portrays...
Textual Production
Mary Astell
MA
dated her preface 17 July 1694, and published as the Author of the Serious Proposal to the Ladies—a mark of confidence in a book only just appearing. These letters had been, as the...
Textual Production
Anne Dacier
Readers of Marcus Aurelius in England of around AD
's age included the Dissenting prophet and pamphleteer Joan Whitrow
and the gentlewoman of letters Damaris Masham
. Other editions of this work appeared in this...
Textual Production
Ephelia
Her title is A Funerall Elegie on Sr Thomas Isham Barronet The manuscript of the 49-line elegy is at Nottingham University
, in a collection of papers of the Dukes of Portland. Its high-quality, watermarked...
Timeline
No timeline events available.
Texts
Masham, Damaris. A Discourse Concerning the Love of God. Awnsham and J. Churchil, 1696.
Masham, Damaris. Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian Life. A. and J. Churchill, 1705.