B rackley, E lizabeth

Abstract

Elizabeth Brackley (1626–63), born Elizabeth Cavendish, was an author and dramatist. The daughter of William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle (1593–1676), stepdaughter of Margaret Cavendish (1623–73), and great‐granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick (Elizabeth Talbot, countess of Shrewsbury, ?1527–1608), Elizabeth grew up in a literary family that supported her literary and dramatic efforts. She is best known for her play The concealed fancyes (c.1644–45), which she co‐authored with her sister, Lady Jane Cavendish (1621–69), and which survives, along with a pastoral masque and their poems, in manuscripts at the Bodleian and Beineke Libraries (Beinecke Library, Osborn MS b. 223; Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. Poet. 16). She is also the author of a substantial number of writings on the Bible, prayers, and other meditations held at the British Library and the Huntington Library (British Library, MS Egerton 607; Huntington Library, MS EL 8374, 8376, 8377).