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Never one to leave a fertile image or a speculative fancy undeveloped, Cavendish filled her last original works, the 1668 edition of Plays and Grounds of Natural Philosophy (1668), with elaborate themes and images from her earlier work. But the last two differ from the earlier treatises (and fancies) in tone. By this time in her career, having fully developed her own natural philosophy and delivered her scathing critiques of other philosophies—and having lampooned the experimenters in print and person—Cavendish was ready for a good laugh at the expense of her peers, and even herself. These works show a willingness to explore the often bizarre implications of her vitalistic materialism without fear of any kind of authority, either philosophic or religious. Grounds of Natural Philosophy features speculations about other worlds, other places, and other kinds of humanity and questions Christian doctrines of the soul and resurrection. But these speculations display humor and even whimsy, largely absent from her earlier philosophic texts, recalling Poems, and Fancies or Natures Pictures, her more lighthearted works of the 1650s. The works of 1668, which include a new set of plays as well as her last philosophic treatise, share a preoccupation with gendered themes. Cavendish’s most famous play, “The Convent of Pleasure,” pictures a kind of heavenly female retreat where women can enjoy good food, sweet smells, and each other’s companionship without the disturbing presence of men. Such a life is even better than the imagined power of an absolute queen. One character remarks, “I had rather be one in the Convent of Pleasure, then Emperess of the whole World.”1 The heroine of this play is Lady Happy, whose vision of a perfectly pleasurable world echoes the description of a happy world in Grounds of Natural Philosophy—where the material parts are regular, know each other perfectly, and do not fear the dissolution of death because they know their parts will be united with other parts. Indeed, “all Human Creatures of that World, are so pleasant and delightful to each other, as to c h a p t e r e i g h t Material Regenerations BA 174 t h e n a t u r a l p h i l o s o p h y o f M a r g a r e t c av e n d i s h cause a general Happiness.”2 The happiness in the continuation of species pales, however, in comparison with the restoration of individual beings to life, which Cavendish suggests could be achieved with a sort of restoring bed or womb. Thus, as in her earlier works, different genres comment upon each other. They are intertwined, like Cavendish’s material principles. The Grounds of Natural Philosophy and the 1668 edition of Plays are also more humorous.3 Instead of tales of adventure and female empowerment, such as in the 1662 edition of Plays, most of these plays fit into the genre of Restoration comedy, with the dominant theme being the search of dissolute young men for rich wives (or easy conquests) and women’s quests for rich husbands. They are similar to the plays written by her husband, who even contributed scenes to “The Presence.”4 These later plays display a continued sensitivity on Cavendish’s part to her image in society, but they also mock some of her own poetic and philosophic conceits. Cavendish appropriates the newly popular form of the comedy of manners as yet another way of presenting herself, but in this case she is implicitly arguing that the laughter is with her, not against her. The year 1668 also saw the publication of a new edition of Blazing World in a stand-alone form, unattached to Observations.5 This is Cavendish’s only work, besides Poems, and Fancies, dedicated to women. Both are inscribed “To all Noble and Worthy Ladies,” and both note that most women are not interested in the serious contemplation of nature. “For I have observ’d,” writes Cavendish in 1653, “that their Braines work usually in a Fantasticall motion,” while in 1668 Cavendish comments, “Most Ladies take no delight in Philosophical Arguments.” Cavendish here seems to be responding to the general lack of enthusiasm her works had received. But since women—because of lack of education—are more inclined to enjoy fancies, she will once again try to engage them in her natural philosophy by way of fantasy. And so, she adds, “And if (Noble Ladies) you should...

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