My Lady Rachells booke

Abstract

Lady Rachel Fane (1613–1680) (Figure 7.1), later Countess of Bath, was born into a theatrical family. One of the fourteen children of Sir Francis Fane (1581/2–1640) and Mary Mildmay (d. 1649), Rachel’s eldest brother was the poet and playwright Mildmay Fane (1602–1666).¹ Her parents were keen participants in the Jacobean culture of performance. They entertained James I at their home, Apethorpe Hall in Northamptonshire, numerous times during Rachel’s childhood: James I is said to have met one of his favorites, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, on one of his visits.² The library at Apethorpe contained many dramatic volumes, including Ben Jonson’s Works (1616) and plays by Davenant, and Beaumont and Fletcher.³ The Fanes made various additions to the house to make it more suitable for dramatic entertainments, including decorating their Long Gallery with images of musical instruments.⁴ Lady Rachel Fane’s writings, which include dramatic scenes or sketches, some poems, and a complete entertainment known as May Masque (1627), are the product of a childhood that encouraged dramatic and literary expression, and they reflect her family’s investment in the theatrical tastes of the Jacobean court.⁵ Negotiating the traditions of the public theatre and the private court masque, Rachel’s May Masque transforms her own reading, knowledge, and experiences into a dramatic work that reflects and affirms her own world and its values: the bonds of family and friends, strengthened by a shared love of reading, writing, and theatre.