![]() Hester Pulter was, of course, not the only seventeenth-century woman interested in the science of her day, but she was one of a tiny few. For the little we know about women’s education suggests knowledge of astronomy was not high on the traditional female educational agenda – certainly not new fangled ideas, like Galileo’s. That a woman should be conversant with the most modern and most coherent cosmological theory of the time is especially intriguing. More intriguing still are the clear pointers that her poems give of an up-to-date knowledge of contemporary science. Although there is no evidence of Hester having any contact with Milton, the link between Milton and her sister is one of several intriguing links to literary contemporaries: several of her poems show acquaintance with writers of her day – e.g. Her royalism sets her apart from her sister, Margaret Ley, who was the addressee of a sonnet by John Milton, which celebrates her father 5. These dated poems give important points of connection to the circumstances of her life and times, not least the fact that she was a royalist. A good number of her poems are occasional pieces, written to mark events of significance to her in both public and private life: public events like the execution of the king, private experience, like the birth or death of her children, and her own illness 4. ![]() ![]() Beyond the fact that she was the sixth daughter of James Ley, first Earl of Marlborough, and that she married Arthur Pulter in 1623, much of what is known about her derives from the poems themselves 3. Lucas who were shott to Death at Colcheste (.)ģ Very little is known about the author. 9 "On those two unparalleld friends, Sr G.8 On Mary Evelyn, see Frances Harris, "Living in the Neighbourhood of Science", in Hunter and Hutton, (.).7 On Margaret Cavendish and science see especially, A Princely Brave Woman: Essays on Margaret Cavend (.).6 See for example, "The Garden or The Contention of Flowers to my Deare Daughter Mris A r (.).5 Milton, Sonnet X, "To the Lady Margaret Ley" celebrates her father as "that good Earl", claiming he (.). ![]() "Made when I was sick 1647" Brotherton MS 48r, "Made when I was not well, April, 20, 1655", ib (.)
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