'Escott's study is virtually the only recent book that exists on a dramatist whose influence on the shape of theatre during the 1770s and 1780s was immense ... valuable in helping scholars understand better both Cowley's position within the late eighteenth-century English literary world and her subsequent influence over it.' Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 'an excellent work that will greatly add to recent interest in Hannah Cowley.' The Year's Work in English Studies 'Escott has written an estimable and thoroughly researched book which should prove invaluable to those with an interest in eighteenth-century theatre and its surrounding socio-political contexts.' Women's Writing

• Acknowledgements, Note on Sources, List of Abbreviations, List of Figures, Introduction, 1 ‘Few Better Comedies than Hers’, 2 ‘The Thwarted Passions and Loft y Grandeur of Tragedy’: Cowley’s Gothic Drama, Albina, 3 Civic Virtue, Despotism and the Fall of Empires in Cowley’s Tragedy, The Fate of Sparta, 4 Afterpiece Experiments: Oratory, Pedantry and Politeness, 5 The Imperial Project: Resistance and Revolution in Cowley’s Oriental Musical Comedy, 6 A Female Sculptor and Connoisseur: Artistic Self-Fashioning and the Exposure of Connoisseurship, Collecting and Concupiscence, Appendix: Chronology of Plays by Hannah Cowley, Notes, Works Cited, Index

'Escott's study is virtually the only recent book that exists on a dramatist whose influence on the shape of theatre during the 1770s and 1780s was immense ... valuable in helping scholars understand better both Cowley's position within the late eighteenth-century English literary world and her subsequent influence over it.' Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 'an excellent work that will greatly add to recent interest in Hannah Cowley.' The Year's Work in English Studies 'Escott has written an estimable and thoroughly researched book which should prove invaluable to those with an interest in eighteenth-century theatre and its surrounding socio-political contexts.' Women's Writing

• Acknowledgements, Note on Sources, List of Abbreviations, List of Figures, Introduction, 1 ‘Few Better Comedies than Hers’, 2 ‘The Thwarted Passions and Loft y Grandeur of Tragedy’: Cowley’s Gothic Drama, Albina, 3 Civic Virtue, Despotism and the Fall of Empires in Cowley’s Tragedy, The Fate of Sparta, 4 Afterpiece Experiments: Oratory, Pedantry and Politeness, 5 The Imperial Project: Resistance and Revolution in Cowley’s Oriental Musical Comedy, 6 A Female Sculptor and Connoisseur: Artistic Self-Fashioning and the Exposure of Connoisseurship, Collecting and Concupiscence, Appendix: Chronology of Plays by Hannah Cowley, Notes, Works Cited, Index