Catherine Trotter Cockburn
Encyclopedia
Catharine Trotter Cockburn (16 August 1679 – 11 May 1749) was a novelist, dramatist, and philosopher.
parents living in London
,Trotter was raised Protestant but converted to Roman Catholicism at an early age. She finally returned to the Church of England
in 1707, after what she terms much “free and impartial Enquiries.” After an illustrious career, her father, navy captain David Trotter, died of the plague
in 1684, leaving his family in financial jeopardy.
Catharine was a precocious, physically attractive, and largely self-educated young woman, who had her first novel (The Adventures of a Young Lady, later retitled Olinda’s Adventures) published anonymously in 1693, when she was but 14 years old. Her first published play, Agnes de Castro (a verse dramatization of Aphra Behn
's story of the same title), was staged two years later. In 1696, she was famously satirized alongside Delarivier Manley
and Mary Pix
in the anonymous play, The Female Wits. In it, Trotter was lampooned in the figure of “Calista, a lady who pretends to the learned languages and assumes to herself the name of critic.” Her second and arguably best-liked play The Fatal Friendship was staged in 1698. Trotter’s dramatic works generally met with modest public success and qualified praise from critics. Playwright William Congreve
encouraged and guided her dramatic writing.
In 1702, at the age of 23, Trotter published her first major philosophical work, A Defence of Mr. Lock's [sic.] An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
. John Locke
was so pleased with this defence that he made gifts of money and books to his young apologist. Trotter went on to write two more works on moral philosophy, two theological tracts, and a voluminous correspondence.
In 1708, she married Reverend Patrick Cockburn, and all but ceased to write until 1726, when she began another philosophical treatise. Her new family suffered financially and socially because Rev. Cockburn would not take the Oath of Abjuration
upon the ascension of George I
. The Reverend finally overcame his scruples in 1726, and he was appointed to St. Paul's Chapel in Aberdeen
.
Catharine's work attracted the attention of William Warburton
, who prefaced her last philosophical work. She also had a request from the biographer Thomas Birch
to aid him in compiling a collection of her works. She agreed to the project but died before the work could be printed. Birch posthumously published a two-volume collection entitled The Works of Mrs. Catharine Cockburn, Theological, Moral, Dramatic, and Poetical in 1751. It is largely through this text that readers and history have come to know her.
Much of the scholarly interest in Trotter’s dramatic writing now centres on gender studies
. Indeed, Trotter herself was cognisant of the limitations her gender placed upon her and often voiced her protest in writing. In the dedication to Fatal Friendship (1698), for example, she remarks that “when a Woman appears in the World under any distinguishing Character, she must expect to be the mark of ill Nature,” especially if she enters into “what the other Sex think their peculiar Prerogative.” Both Trotter’s literary works, in which women dominate the action, and her personal life provide rich subject matter for feminist criticism.
Life
Born to ScottishScottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
parents living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
,Trotter was raised Protestant but converted to Roman Catholicism at an early age. She finally returned to the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in 1707, after what she terms much “free and impartial Enquiries.” After an illustrious career, her father, navy captain David Trotter, died of the plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
in 1684, leaving his family in financial jeopardy.
Catharine was a precocious, physically attractive, and largely self-educated young woman, who had her first novel (The Adventures of a Young Lady, later retitled Olinda’s Adventures) published anonymously in 1693, when she was but 14 years old. Her first published play, Agnes de Castro (a verse dramatization of Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
's story of the same title), was staged two years later. In 1696, she was famously satirized alongside Delarivier Manley
Delarivier Manley
Delarivier Manley was an English novelist of amatory fiction, playwright, and political pamphleteer...
and Mary Pix
Mary Pix
Mary Pix was an English novelist and playwright. Church records indicate that she lived in London, marrying George Pix, a merchant tailor from Hawkhurst, Kent in 1684. Baptismal records reveal that she had two sons, George and William...
in the anonymous play, The Female Wits. In it, Trotter was lampooned in the figure of “Calista, a lady who pretends to the learned languages and assumes to herself the name of critic.” Her second and arguably best-liked play The Fatal Friendship was staged in 1698. Trotter’s dramatic works generally met with modest public success and qualified praise from critics. Playwright William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
encouraged and guided her dramatic writing.
In 1702, at the age of 23, Trotter published her first major philosophical work, A Defence of Mr. Lock's [sic.] An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
First appearing in 1690 with the printed title An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke concerns the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate filled later through experience...
. John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
was so pleased with this defence that he made gifts of money and books to his young apologist. Trotter went on to write two more works on moral philosophy, two theological tracts, and a voluminous correspondence.
In 1708, she married Reverend Patrick Cockburn, and all but ceased to write until 1726, when she began another philosophical treatise. Her new family suffered financially and socially because Rev. Cockburn would not take the Oath of Abjuration
Abjuration
Abjuration is the solemn repudiation, abandonment, or renunciation by or upon oath, often the renunciation of citizenship or some other right or privilege. .-Abjuration of the realm:...
upon the ascension of George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
. The Reverend finally overcame his scruples in 1726, and he was appointed to St. Paul's Chapel in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
.
Catharine's work attracted the attention of William Warburton
William Warburton
William Warburton was an English critic and churchman, Bishop of Gloucester from 1759.-Life:He was born at Newark, where his father, who belonged to an old Cheshire family, was town clerk. William was educated at Oakham and Newark grammar schools, and in 1714 he was articled to Mr Kirke, an...
, who prefaced her last philosophical work. She also had a request from the biographer Thomas Birch
Thomas Birch
Thomas Birch was an English historian.-Life:He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell....
to aid him in compiling a collection of her works. She agreed to the project but died before the work could be printed. Birch posthumously published a two-volume collection entitled The Works of Mrs. Catharine Cockburn, Theological, Moral, Dramatic, and Poetical in 1751. It is largely through this text that readers and history have come to know her.
Legacy
Despite her one-time renown, Trotter’s reputation has steadily waned over the last three centuries and has only been rescued from near obscurity by the efforts of feminist critics, such as Anne Kelley, in the last two decades. Arguably, the predicament of her reputation is attributable to her having written a large amount of work very early in her life and less in her mature years. In other words, her career was extremely front-loaded, and the literati of her period (especially the men) tended to focus on her youth and beauty at the expense of her work. Some literary historians attribute her relative obscurity to a persistent emphasis being placed upon her philosophical work at the expense of her creative writing (especially by her biographer Thomas Birch, who included only one play in his two volume collection of her work and did not mention Olinda’s Adventures at all). Though skilful, her philosophical writings were sometimes dismissed as derivative, especially her defence of Locke’s Essay—a judgment that could hardly help her reputation.Much of the scholarly interest in Trotter’s dramatic writing now centres on gender studies
Gender studies
Gender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...
. Indeed, Trotter herself was cognisant of the limitations her gender placed upon her and often voiced her protest in writing. In the dedication to Fatal Friendship (1698), for example, she remarks that “when a Woman appears in the World under any distinguishing Character, she must expect to be the mark of ill Nature,” especially if she enters into “what the other Sex think their peculiar Prerogative.” Both Trotter’s literary works, in which women dominate the action, and her personal life provide rich subject matter for feminist criticism.
Play Productions
- Agnes de Castro, London, Theatre Royal in Drury LaneDrury LaneDrury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
, December 1695 or 27-31 1696. - Fatal Friendship, London, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, circa late May or early June 1698.
- Love at a Loss, or, Most Votes Carry It (later rewritten as The Honourable Deceiver; or, All Right at the Last), London, Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, 23 November 1700.
- The Unhappy Penitent, London, Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, 4 February 1701.
- The Revolution of Sweden, London, Queen’s Theatre, 11 February 1706.
Books (short titles)
- Agnes de Castro, A Tragedy. (London: Printed for H. Rhodes, R. Parker & S. Briscoe, 1696).
- Fatal Friendship. A Tragedy. (London: Printed for Francis Saunders, 1698).
- Love at a Loss, or, Most Votes Carry It. A Comedy. (London: Printed for William Turner, 1701).
- The Unhappy Penitent, A Tragedy. (London: Printed for William Turner & John Nutt, 1701).
- A Defence of Mr. Lock’s [sic.] Essay of Human Understanding. (London: Printed for Will. Turner & John Nutt, 1702).
- The Revolution of Sweden. A Tragedy. (London: Printed for James Knapton & George Strahan, 1706).
- A Discourse concerning a Guide in Controversies, in Two Letters. (London: Printed for A. & J. Churchill, 1707).
- A Letter to Dr. Holdsworth, Occasioned by His Sermon Preached before the University of Oxford. (London: Printed for Benjamin MotteBenjamin MotteBenjamin Motte was a London publisher and son of Benjamin Motte, Sr. Motte published many works and is well known for his publishing of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.-Background:...
, 1726). - Remarks Upon the Principles and Reasonings of Dr. Rutherforth’s Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue. (London: Printed for J. & P. Knapton, 1747). Against Thomas RutherforthThomas RutherforthThomas Rutherforth was an English churchman and academic, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge from 1745, and Archdeacon of Essex from 1752.-Life:...
. - The Works of Mrs. Catharine Cockburn, Theological, Moral, Dramatic, and Poetical. 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. & P. Knapton, 1751).
Other publications
- Olinda’s Adventures; or, The Amours of a Young Lady, in volume 1 of Letters of Love and Gallantry and Several Other Subjects. (London: Printed for Samuel Briscoe, 1693).
- Epilogue, in Queen Catharine or, The Ruines[sic.] of Love, by Mary Pix. (London: Printed for William Turner & Richard Basset, 1698).
- “Calliope: The Heroick [sic.] Muse: On the Death of John Dryden, Esq.; By Mrs. C. T.” in The Nine MusesThe Nine MusesThe Nine Muses, Or, Poems Written by Nine severall Ladies Upon the death of the late Famous John Dryden, Esq. was an elegiac volume of poetry published pseudonymously. The contributors were English women writers, each of whom signed their poems with the names of Muses...
. Or, Poems Written by Nine severall [sic.] Ladies Upon the Death of the late Famous John DrydenJohn DrydenJohn Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
, Esq. (London: Printed for Richard Basset, 1700). - “Poetical Essays; May 1737: Verses, occasion’d by the Busts in the Queen’s Hermitage.” Gentleman’s Magazine, 7 (1737): 308.
Works in Print
- Catharine Trotter Cockburn: Philosophical Writings. Ed. Patricia Sheridan. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2006. ISBN 1-55111-302-3. $24.95 CDN.
- “Love at a Loss: or, Most Votes Carry It.” Ed. Roxanne M. Kent-Drury. The Broadview Anthology of Restoration & Early Eighteenth-Century Drama. Ed. J. Douglas Canfield. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2003. 857-902. ISBN 1-55111-581-6. $54.95 CDN.
- Olinda’s Adventures, Or, the Amours of a Young Lady. New York: AMS Press Inc., 2004. ISBN 0-404-70138-8. $22.59 CDN.
Sources
- Blaydes, Sophia B. “Catharine Trotter.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Dramatists, Second Series. Ed. Paula R. Backsheider. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. 317-33.
- Buck, Claire, ed. The Bloomsbury Guide to Women’s Literature. New York: Prentice Hall, 1992.
- Kelley, Anne. Catharine Trotter: An Early Modern Writer in the Vanguard of Feminism. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, 2002.
- Kelley, Anne. “Trotter, Catharine (1674?—1749).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. October 4, 2006.
- Sheridan, Patricia. “Catharine Trotter Cockburn.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 2005. October 10, 2006.
- Uzgalis, Bill. “Timeline.” University of Oregon. 1995. October 12, 2006.