Wilson (and others)

In a detailed review of my edition of Ephelia's work, Katharina Wilson (University of Georgia), a senior specialist on early women writers, observed that "the rocky tradition of Ephelia's fortunes begs comparison with those of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, whose writings were long considered clever forgeries by male German humanists; and, for a time, her canon was nearly cut in half. The authenticity of Hrotsvit's texts was conclusively established in this century by the discovery of new manuscript evidence [by Wilson]. Mulvihill's findings and cautiously tendered 'formulations' have now put elusive Ephelia on a similar track" (American Notes & Queries, Winter '97: 50).

In addition to my contribution to the Ephelia debate, readers may be interested in other reconstructive commentary, listed in Works Cited (below), by Gwen John, Elaine Hobby, Judith Page, and Marilyn Williamson. For responsible commentary by reviewers of my edition, see citations in Works Cited, below, to Georges Lamoine, Beverly Schneller, Elizabeth Penley Skerpan, and Janet Ruth Heller, who contributed an illustrated, two-page feature-review to the magazine, Belles Lettres.

Samuel J. Hardman (Commerce, Georgia), a student of Van Dyck's English portraits, speculates that the courtesan, "Betty" Felton might have been Ephelia. In a solicited two-page assessment of his hypothesis (14 March 1996), I demonstrated to Hardman that his unpublished notes on Lady Betty, while interesting and original, did not align with Ephelia's writings, nor with recorded facts. (See "Phillida," Appendix A.) For Hardman's contribution to my Villiers attribution, see Section III of this essay.