"A Devoted Heart Attones for a Worthless Offering": Mary Pix's Dedication of The Inhumane Cardinal (1696) to Princess Anne

Abstract

Mary Pix (c. 1666–1709) published eight plays between 1696 and 1709, together with a novel, The Inhumane Cardinal, the verse-novelette Violenta, and two poetic works. Five additional plays have been attributed to Pix. Thirteen of Pix's seventeen works included dedications, which she used to derive additional profits and enhance her prestige as an author. The practice of writing dedications was widespread in seventeenth-century England, a state of affairs unsurprising given the precarious situation of professional writers, amongst whom Pix was no exception. This article focuses on Pix's dedication of The Inhumane Cardinal (1696) to Princess Anne, analyzing its use of a strategy common in such writings, the divinization of the dedicatee. I contend that Pix took advantage of the popularity she had earned through her first two plays, Ibrahim and The Spanish Wives (both staged in 1696 and printed that year with dedications to members of the gentry), to request Anne's permission to offer the princess her novel. In the epistle, Pix adapted conventions which had been developed predominantly in playtexts to legitimize her work of fiction, and Anne herself and the virtues that she exemplifies validate The Inhumane Cardinal as suitable reading, while bringing renown to the writer. Moreover, Pix's panegyric intersects with the political climate by insisting upon Anne's worthiness as the rightful successor to the throne. Therefore, I argue, paratexts should not be disregarded when studying novels, nor, indeed, plays, given that professional writers like Pix involved themselves in various genres throughout their careers.