A Perfect Stranger: The Development of Margaret Cavendish's Natural Philosophy Marianne Lynch A Thesis in the Humanities Program Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 2008 © Marianne Lynch, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45671-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45671-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada iii ABSTRACT A Perfect Stranger: The Development of Margaret Cavendish's Natural Philosophy Marianne Lynch, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2008 The natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish is a fragmented collection of texts and ideas. In this thesis, the multiple lenses of learning theory, writing theory, history and philosophy of science, and literary studies are employed to show the ultimate coherence of Cavendish's science. The mechanism of a taxonomy of cognitive processes is applied to explore the gradual evolution of her understanding of her material and ideas. Writing process theories further illuminate both the ways that her thinking develops as she composes and the ways that she comes to manipulate her texts in view of her changing relationship with her reading audience. Exploring the social and political influences affecting the development of early modern science further adds to an understanding of the opinions that Cavendish comes to hold. Finally, the literary and linguistic elements of her text, including their genre, structure, rhetorical devices and figurative language, contribute significantly to a full recognition of Cavendish's evolving scientific and epistemic beliefs. By examining her eight texts most concerned with natural philosophy as revelatory parts of a process rather than discrete meaning-entities, it is clear that Cavendish was responding to complex internal and external forces that simultaneously shaped her writing, her thinking, her social vision, her science, and her larger conception of nature and knowledge. IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to my advisory committee, Dr. Andrew Wayne, Dr. Anthony Pare, but most especially Dr. Judith Herz, whose guidance and support has been invaluable over these many, many years. Also thanks to Dr. Katie Russell and Dr. Harold Entwistle, and to Teresa Fay for her careful reading and editing. Also thanks to my mother, Rita Lynch, for her endless support of all my intellectual and academic endeavours and for countless hours of granddaughter-sitting. This work was completed in memory of my father, Jack Lynch, who taught me that learning is play, and play is learning. Greatest thanks to Miles, for encouragement, understanding, and oceans of patience. V For Ellie VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations vii Notes on the Text viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: "let Fancy have the upper place" 25 Chapter 2: "Writ according to my own Natural Cogitations" 54 Chapter 3: "my Brain was like an University" 94 Chapter 4: "For in her self so many Creatures be" 136 Works Cited and Consulted 172 Appendix A: Taxonomies of Educational Objectives 182 Appendix B: Cross-Referenced Content 184 Appendix C: An Example of Cavendish's Editing Processes 201 Vll ABBREVIATIONS (Full bibliographical information is available in the list of Works Cited.) BW: The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World. GNP: Grounds of Natural Philosophy. LP: Letters and Poems in Honour of the Incomparable Princess, Margaret, Dutchess of Newcastle. OEP: Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. Orations: Orations of Divers Sorts, Accomodated to Divers Places. PF: Philosophicall Fancies. P&F: Poems, and Fancies. PL: Philosophical Letters. PP055: Philosophical and Physical Opinions. Is ed. PP063: Philosophical and Physical Opinions. 2" ed. SL: Sociable Letters TR: A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding, and Life. WO: The Worlds Olio vni NOTES ON THE TEXT In the original published versions of Margaret Cavendish's work, there is no consistent pagination of prefatory material. In this thesis, I have provided the titles of dedicatory verses, epistles to readers, and prefaces parenthetically in the text. In those works where a modern edition is used, I have provided both page numbers and the titles of prefatory material. In addition, page numbers in the original publications are sometimes incorrect and I have indicated where errors were made. In the original publications, words are sometimes printed in capital letters or in italics for emphasis. However, as this is done with little consistency, I have standardized the appearance and used italics only when emphasis is clearly needed. 1 INTRODUCTION In 1611, John Donne used the phrase "all coherence gone*' in "The First Anniversary: An Anatomy of the World" to reflect the sense that the physical world was no longer as it had long been imagined (276). Scientific discovery and technological advances had put into question the geocentric conception of the universe, and all seemed to be confusion and chaos. By the 1650s, when Margaret Cavendish, then Marchioness of Newcastle, began to publish her work, the chaos was of an entirely different kind: the monarchy had been overthrown, the king was in exile, and traditional social order had been destroyed. Cavendish responded to this upheaval by writing—prolifically: philosophical poems, short essays, and narratives; letters, biography, and autobiography; plays, dialogues, and orations. The topics she broached were varied, but, like Donne, indicated a concern with making sense of the chaotic and disorderly universe in which she lived. To this end, several of her published works are overtly concerned with natural philosophy, matter and motion, and experimental science. Yet for the most part, none of her philosophical works strikes readers as especially orderly; within a twenty-page span, she is capable of discussing matter, motion, infinity, war, life, the senses, knowledge, creation, light, and the planets. In the early stages of her philosophical writing, when her world was in an uproar and she found herself in exile, Cavendish envisions a world of atoms as chaotic as her own. She offers no ultimate solution to this chaos; in fact, her early verse embraces the idea of willful, anarchic atoms. Later texts proclaim the ever- present possibility of disorder in the natural world: we are but a step away from chaos, confusion, and ignorance. But her texts are more than a simple reflection of her world at 2 war; over time, she develops a natural system in which chaos is as essential as order, and hierarchy is as present as individualism. The concept of development is central here. Critical readings of Cavendish's science often focus on individual works, most notably the early atomic poems or her "science fiction," Blazing World. However, recent scholarship has shown increasing interest in the organization and language of her natural philosophy.1 I propose to examine the evolution of the entire body of her major philosophical texts, from the earliest verses of Poems, and Fancies to the final statement of her natural philosophy in Grounds of Natural Philosophy. In her introduction to Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy, Eileen O'Neill hints at how these works are best approached; she states that "Cavendish's books of natural philosophy may appropriately be viewed as published notebooks, in which the features of her system of nature unfold at the same time as she develops as a philosopher" (xxxv). Judith Moore is more direct, declaring that "if Cavendish's publications are read sequentially and at length rather than in isolated excerpts, a considerable development does eventually emerge" (4). This suggests that these works are best examined as work-in-progress: a fifteen-year process of building an original scientific philosophy