Judith Drake
English writer, active between 1696 and 1707, now generally accepted as the author of An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (1696). The book appeared unsigned — the title page said only 'written by a lady' — and for over two centuries was attributed to Mary Astell. The reattribution, begun by Alfred Upham in 1912, rests on the poem her husband, the physician and pamphleteer James Drake, dedicated to the author in the second edition, and on the bookseller Edmund Curll's catalogue, which already gave it to 'Mrs. Drake'. Very little of her life is known: neither her birth nor her death is on record.
What are Judith Drake's main ideas?What is Judith Drake's most important work?How would you summarize Judith Drake's thought?