This volume brings together two of the earliest women writers. Elizabeth Cary's (1585-1639) "The Tragedie of Mariam" is one of the first in English known to be the work of a woman writer. Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645) came from a class of artisans and civil servants dependant on court and aristocratic patronage. She wrote professionally, though only the strongly feminist "Salve Deus Rex Judaorum" (1611) was published.