ABSTRACT
Elizabeth Russell was particularly admired for her education which, according to one later biographer, had "gained her the applause of the most learned men of that age and since". One of the men was Thomas Lodge who dubbed her the "English Sappho", in allusion to the greatest poetess in classical Greek culture. When Elizabeth Russell staged her own resistance to the men who opposed her will during the Donnington disputes, those who witnessed her "revenge by her tounge" in the Star Chamber evaluated her behavior in the context of her reputation as a learned woman. Cooke's speedy return to England after Elizabeth's coronation was an essential expedient. Elizabeth Russell and her fellow female co-activists sought to influence the civic and pedagogical institutions through which the national character was itself defined. The domestic culture of learning which Elizabeth Russell cultivated so diligently would provide her with further opportunities to support the Cartwrightian agenda.
