Margaret, Lady Hoby

Margaret, Lady Hoby

1571–1633

Introduction

Margaret, Lady Hoby (née Dakins), whose three successive husbands included brothers of Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, and of Sir Philip Sidney, is known for a single extant diary, covering six years during the time of her third marriage, to Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby. It is, as commentators have noted, perhaps the earliest known diary by an Englishwoman and throws notable light on the strictly disciplined domestic life of a deeply pious Puritan aristocrat of the period.

Miscellaneous

Diary

First published as Diary of Lady Margaret Hoby 1599-1605, ed. Dorothy M. Meads (London, 1930).

*HoM 1

Autograph

A diary, covering the period from 9 August 1599 to 21 July 1605, in a single somewhat ungainly, largely italic hand, presumably autograph. 118 small quarto leaves, imperfect at the beginning and end.

1599-1605

Acquired from the Rev. C.St.B. Sydenham 10 November 1883.

Edited from this MS in Meads's edition (1930), with a facsimile of f. 16r facing p. 85. Facsimile of f. 16r also in English Women's Voices 1540-1700, ed. Charlotte F. Otten (Miami, 1992), p. 187.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2614)

Introduction

Miscellaneous

Contents