Table Of Content‘‘Lactilla Tends
her Fav’rite Cow’’
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TheBucknellStudiesinEighteenth-Century
LiteratureandCulture
GeneralEditor: GregClingham,BucknellUniversity
AdvisoryBoard: PaulK.Alkon,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia
ChloeChard,IndependentScholar
ClementHawes,ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversity
RobertMarkley,UniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-Champaign
JessicaMunns,UniversityofDenver
CedricD.ReverandII,UniversityofWyoming
JanetTodd,UniversityofAberdeen
TheBucknellStudiesinEighteenth-CenturyLiteratureandCultureaimstopublishchalleng-
ing,neweighteenth-centuryscholarship.Ofparticularinterestiscritical,historical,and
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all theoretical perspectives and different kinds of scholarship. While the focus of the
series is the literature, history, arts, and culture (including art, architecture, music,
travel,andhistoryofscience,medicine,andlaw)ofthelongeighteenthcenturyinBrit-
ainandEurope,theseriesisalsointerestedinscholarshipthatestablishesrelationships
withothergeographies,literature,andculturesfortheperiod1660–1830.
RecentTitlesinThisSeries
RolandRacevskis,TimeandWaysofKnowingUnderLouisXIV:Molie`re,Se´vigne´,Lafayette
LauraRosenthalandMitaChoudhury,eds.,MonstrousDreamsofReason
KatherineWestScheil,TheTasteoftheTown:ShakespearianComedy
andtheEarlyEighteenth-CenturyTheater
PhilipSmallwood,ed.,JohnsonRe-Visioned:LookingBeforeandAfter
PeterWalmsley,Locke’sEssayandtheRhetoricofScience
LisaWood,ModesofDiscipline:Women,Conservatism,and
theNovelaftertheFrenchRevolution
MarkBlackwell,ed.,TheSecretLifeofThings:Animals,Objects,andIt-Narrativesin
Eighteenth-CenturyEngland
ChrisMounseyandCarolineGonda,eds.,QueerPeople:NegotiationsandExpressionsof
Homosexuality,1700–1800
SusanManningandPeterFrance,EnlightenmentandEmancipation
EvanGottlieb,FeelingBritish:SympathyandNationalIdentityinScottishand
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RonBroglio,TechnologiesofthePicturesque:BritishArt,Poetry,andInstruments,1750–1830
WillPritchard,OutwardAppearances:TheFemaleExteriorinRestorationLondon
DavidDuffandCatherineJones,eds.,Scotland,Ireland,andtheRomanticAesthetic
AnneMilne,‘‘LactillaTendsherFav’riteCow’’:EcocriticalReadingsofAnimalsandWomenin
Eighteenth-CenturyBritishLaboring-ClassWoman’sPoetry
http://www.bucknell.edu/universitypress/
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‘‘Lactilla Tends
her Fav’rite Cow’’
Ecocritical Readings
of Animals and Women
in Eighteenth-Century
British Labouring-Class
Women’s Poetry
Anne Milne
Lewisburg
BucknellUniversityPress
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(cid:2)2008byRosemontPublishing&PrintingCorp.
All rights reserved. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or
theinternalorpersonaluseofspecificclients,isgrantedbythecopyrightowner,pro-
videdthatabasefeeof$10.00,pluseightcentsperpage,percopyispaid directlyto
theCopyrightClearanceCenter,222RosewoodDrive,Danvers,Massachusetts01923.
[978-0-8387-5692-8/08$10.00(cid:3)8¢pp,pc.]
AssociatedUniversityPresses
2010EastparkBoulevard
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ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstherequirementsoftheAmerican
NationalStandardforPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials
Z39.48-1984.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Milne,Anne.
‘‘Lactillatendsherfav’ritecow’’:ecocriticalreadingsofanimalsandwomenin
eighteenth-centuryBritishlabouring-classwomen’spoetry/AnneMilne.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8387-5692-8(alk.paper)
1.Englishpoetry—Womenauthors—Historyandcriticism. 2.English
poetry—18thcentury—Historyandcriticism. 3.Workingclasswritings,
English—Historyandcriticism. 4.Animalsinliterature. 5.Animals—Symbolic
aspects. 6.Workingclasswomeninliterature. 7.Human-animalrelationshipsin
literature. 8.Ecofeminisminliterature. 9.Ecocriticism. I.Title.
PR508.W6M56 2008
821(cid:2).509362 2007038283
PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA
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Withrespectand love
Tothememoryof
SylviaBowerbank
1947–2005
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Canwe,likeshepherd’s,tellamerrytale?
Thevoiceislost,drown’dbythenoisyflail?
—StephenDuck,TheThresher’sLabour(1736)
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Contents
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction:‘‘TheCaptiveLinnet’’andthe F(l)ightof
the‘‘naturalGenius’’ 13
1. Ideologies ofDomesticationinMaryLeapor’s‘‘Manthe
Monarch’’ 33
2. Gender,Class,andtheBeehive:MaryCollier’s‘‘The
Woman’s Labour’’asNature Poem 50
3. ‘‘We sawan heiferstray’’:EcologicalInterconnectionand
IdentificationinElizabethHands’s‘‘Written,originally
extempore,onseeingaMadHeiferrunthroughtheVillage
where theAuthorLives’’ 68
4. TheSilence oftheLamb:RaptureandReleaseinAnn
Yearsley’s‘‘WrittenonaVisit’’ 88
5. Dogsandthe ‘‘Talking AnimalSyndrome’’inJanetLittle’s
‘‘From Snipe,aFavouriteDog,ToHisMaster’’ 110
Conclusion:TowardsanEighteenth-CenturyEcocentrism 129
Appendix 134
Notes 142
Bibliography 163
Index 174
7
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Acknowledgments
T
HISBOOKHADITSBEGINNINGSINGRADUATEWORKISTARTEDINTHE
1990satMcMasterUniversity.Itsconceptionandshapeareinnosmall
partduetothenurturingsupportofthreepeople:PeterWalmsley,Rich-
ard Morton, and Sylvia Bowerbank. Peter, Richard, and I continue to
meetandshareourenthusiasmforearly-modernandeighteenth-century
studies.Theyarebothwonderful people and my thankstothem here is
only a small bit of what I owe them. Sylvia was also part of this but,
tragically, she passed away in 2005. I have dedicated this book to her.
Itreallyisn’tenough.MybestSylviastory(relatedtothisbook)comes
outofthedaythatItoldherthatIwaschangingmydissertationproject
fromonewhichfocusedjustontheworkoflaboring-classwomenpoets
(and I think, primarily, Ann Yearsley, at that time) to an ecofeminist
project that would highlight representations of animals and laboring-
class women poets. We were in her office with the famous round table
andhercollectionofpoliticallyincorrect‘‘Indian’’toys.Therewasamo-
ment of silence. She looked at me and she jumped up in the air. She
actually jumped for joy. I knew that this was the right project for me
andshethoughtsotooandshegottoworkgivingmeareallyhardtime
forthenextfouryearstohelpmetoproduceworkthatIcouldbeproud
ofdoing.I still likedoing thisworkand every onceina while Ihappen
upon a piece of a draft or a note that Sylvia wrote to me. ‘‘Sing!’’ she’d
say or ‘‘fly!’’ She always wanted her students to ‘‘just do it,’’ ‘‘just, get
overyourself andgetonwithit.’’IhopeIhaveatleastdonethat.
Beyond Peter, Richard, and Sylvia, there are many others who have
contributed to this project in various ways and I would like to thank
all of my many friends and colleagues at McMaster University in the
Department of English and Cultural Studies. I especially highlight my
professors,TonyBrennan,DavidClark,JefferyDonaldson,DonGoell-
nicht, Mary O’Connor, Mary Silcox, and just a few friends, Daniel
Coleman,AndrewGriffin,CathyGrise´,JulietteMerritt,SusieO’Brien,
Andrew Pendakis, Anne Savage, and Imre Szeman, as well as Dennis
Desroches, Mike Lutz, Nanette Morton, Ken Paradis, Julie Rak, and
9
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10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
LisaStefaniak.The supportofallthe staffinthedepartment,especially
AntoinetteSomo(whoreallyisdazzling),CloverNixon,andJacqueline
Langille, the managing editor of Eighteenth-Century Fiction, was indis-
pensable. My colleagues in the eighteenth-century and environmental
studies communities have offered me valuable support and feedback
overthe years,andIhighlighttheencouragementthat PamelaBanting,
JohnGoodridge,CherylLousley,CateMortimer-Sandilands,andBar-
baraSeeberhavegivenme.Mystudentshavealwaysbeeninspiringbut
never so much as in our 2002–3 Women and Nature course, and I would
like to especially thank Sasha Adler, Ian Anderson, Erin Andrews,
CrystaBalis,MelissaGabriele,AlexLeitch,MarkMunshaw,LilPaiva,
BrianneRogelstad,RossRyan,TamaraStojakovic,andHaydenThom-
son for teaching me so much about my own field. I would also like to
thank all my colleagues and friends in the Centre for Leadership in
LearningwhereIhavebeenteachingforthelastthreeyears.Ihavehad
the privilege to work on an undergraduate course that is truly revolu-
tionary, and I have been profoundly affected by this teaching experi-
ence.ThestaffattheWilliamReadyDivisionofArchivesandResearch
Collections, Mills Memorial Library, has been enormously helpful over
theyears.Ihavespentalotof timeinthatbasementandImakespecial
mention of CarlSpadoniwhoalwaysgoesthe extradistance. Similarly,
the staffat the BritishLibrary, BodleianLibrary, andthe University of
Glasgow Library offered me their professional support during the re-
searchstageofthis project. I also benefited fromthe support of an On-
tario Graduate Scholarship as well as the Edna Elizabeth Ross Reeves
Travel Scholarship and the Yates Travel Scholarship, which made re-
search during these early years possible. Greg Clingham at Bucknell
UniversityPresshasbeenenergeticandsupportive,andtheanonymous
readercomments werethorough,thoughtful,andveryhelpful.
Someportionsofthisworkhavebeenpublishedinjournals—anear-
lier version of chapter 2 appeared in ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in
Literature and Environment) and a much abridged version of chapter 5
appeared in the Scottish Studies Review. The editors and publishers of
thesejournalshavekindlypermittedmetoreproducethatworkhere.
Finally, none of this would have been possible without the love and
support of my brother and my parents, especially my late father, Bob
Milne, and my own family Peter, Iris, Karen, Ami Karuna, and ‘‘the
boys.’’ I would also like to thank my many friends and colleagues in
the visual arts and dance communities in Hamilton who have all been
incrediblysupportive, stimulating,andfunover theyears.
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