Anita Pacheco is a Lecturer in the English Department at the Open University. She has written extensively on Aphra Behn and early modern drama and is the author of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (2007) in the Writers and their Work series. She is the editor of Early Women Writers 1600–1720 (1998) and joint editor (with John Stachniewski) of John Bunyan: Grace Abounding with Other Spiritual Autobiographies (1998).

• Notes on Contributors xIntroduction xivPART ONE Contexts 11 Women and Education 3Kenneth Charlton2 Religion and the Construction of the Feminine 22Diane Willen3 Women, Property and Law 40Tim Stretton4 Women and Work 58Sara H. Mendelson5 Women and Writing 77Margaret J. M. EzellPART TWO Readings 956 Isabella Whitney, A Sweet Nosegay 97Patricia Brace7 Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Psalmes 110Debra K. Rienstra8 Aemilia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum 125Susanne Woods9 Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam and History 136Elaine Beilin10 Mary Wroth, The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania 150Naomi J. Miller11 Margaret Cavendish, A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding and Life 165Gweno Williams12 Anna Trapnel, Anna Trapnel’s Report and Plea 177Hilary Hinds13 Katherine Philips, Poems 189Elizabeth H. Hageman14 Aphra Behn, The Rover, Part One 203Anita Pacheco15 Mary Astell, Critic of the Marriage Contract/Social Contract Analogue 216Patricia SpringborgPART THREE Genres 22916 Autobiography 231Sheila Ottway17 Defences of Women 248Frances Teague and Rebecca De Haas18 Prophecy 264Elaine Hobby19 Women’s Poetry 1550–1700: ‘Not Unfit to be Read’ 282Bronwen Price20 Prose Fiction 303Paul Salzman21 Drama 317Sophie TomlinsonPART FOUR Issues and Debates 33722 The Work of Women in the Age of Electronic Reproduction: The Canon, Early Modern Women Writers and the Postmodern Reader 339Melinda Alliker Rabb23 Feminist Historiography 361Margo HendricksIndex 377

"Pacheco (humanities, Univ. of Hertfordshire) has produced a much-needed collection that puts into historical and literary perspective the study of early modern women and their writings. [...] In scholarship and critical depth, this volume compares favourably to the many recent publications on early modern women; what makes it particularly useful is its accessibility to students just becoming acquainted with the field." Choice "This is a worthwhile and well-produced volume ... [it] would make an excellent core text for students on courses on early modern women's writing or gender studies[.]"English Historical Review