Ephelia' and the Duchess

The strongly promoted attribution of the verse of late-seventeenth century woman poet ‘Ephelia’ to Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, should be rejected. Maureen E. Mulvihill's arguments for it are vitiated by circular reasoning and uncritical use of evidence. They also require explaining away much apparently autobiographical reference in the works as fraudulent or part of an elaborate private code. Taking these references at their face value is more likely to bring about a satisfactory identification

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