ABSTRACT
Philip Sidney's most loyal imitator was his talented niece, Lady Mary Wroth. Matching Astrophel and Stella, she compiled a sonnet sequence, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, and a pastoral drama, 'Love's Victory', which surpassed Philip's The Lady of May in range and dramatic substance. Just as Philip is now best remembered for his prose romance, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, so Wroth completed her own printed romance (and an unpublished manuscript supplement), called The Countess of Montgomery's Urania, in honour of her erstwhile masquing partner, Susan Vere Herbert. The Urania was entered in the Stationers' Register by John Marriott and John Grismand on 13 July 1621 and copies were on sale by the end of the year. Philip's Arcadia had been a steady bestseller since its original publication in 1590 and 1593, with subsequent editions in 1598 (almost a 'Complete Works'), 1599 (a pirated Edinburgh edition), and in 1605 and 1613 (both authorized). The Arcadia was so popular that in 1617 it was republished in London with a 'supplement' by Sir William Alexander, and with this extra material again in Dublin in 1621. Wroth, now in perennial financial difficulties, may have seen the publication of her work as a potential route to some much needed income. As it turned out, however, the publication of the Urania proved a highly problematic venture for her and immediate family.
