A Pastorall by Jane and Elizabeth Cavendish

A Pastorall by Jane and Elizabeth CavendishTHE text of A Pastorall is a romantic masque written by Jane and Elizabeth Cavendish, the young daughters of William Cavendish and step daughters of Margaret Cavendish. A Pastorall has remained unprinted but is preserved in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University under MS. Osborn b. 233, which bears the following title: "Poems, songs, and a pastorall, by the Rt honble the Lady Jane Cavendish and Lady Elizabeth Brackley."

THE text of A Pastorall is a romantic masque written by Jane and Elizabeth Cavendish, the young daughters of William Cavendish and step-daughters of Margaret Cavendish. A Pastorall has remained unprinted but is preserved in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University under MS. Osborn b.233, which bears the following title: "Poems, songs, and a pastorall, by the Rt honble the Lady Jane Cavendish and Lady Elizabeth Brackley." Though the play was listed in the works written by these two early English women playwrights, students of the drama have displayed very little curiosity regarding it, favoring the dramatic work Concealed Fancies. For those intersted in Seventeenth Century women's writing, this work contributes to the understanding of the Cavendish Circle.