THE POEMS OF ISABELLA WHITNEY: A CRITICAL EDITION by ...

or not Whitney was being paid for her work may never be
known, but she clearly considered herself a poet, a member
of literary society, at the time. Her letter "To her Sister
Misteris A. B." states, "I know you huswyfery intend, /
though I to writing fall" (11. 33-34), and then adds, "But
til some houshold cares mee tye, / My bookes and Pen I wyll
apply" (11. 41-42). Her letter to "T. B." ("A Replye to the
same") promises, "thy Fame, for euer florish shall, / If IS.
her Pen, may promise ought at all" (11. 54-55), a clear
indication that she believed her poetry would survive. Her
"Wyll" asks her friends to buy her books and others from her
publisher, Richard Jones (11. 244-251). Both her dedicatory
letter to George Mainwaring (11. 4 6-50) and "T. B. in
commendation of the Authour" (11. 48-4 9) promise that she
will write another, longer work than that of A sweet Nosgay
if this collection is well-received. Indeed, her entire
letter to George Mainwaring is similar to letters written by
other poets in search of patronage, or letters written
thanking someone who had given the poet patronage. The
book, Whitney writes, is meant as "recompence for the least
of a great number of benefits" she had received from
Mainwaring (11. 6-9), a way to "gratifye [his] Guifts" (1.
13) . She asks him to respect her labor and to be a
protector of her work (11. 33-35). The commendatory poem by
"T. B." states that Whitney had written this second work
because she felt the "loftie stile" of the first might not
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