Elizabeth Sican was an Irish literary critic. She was part of

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

's "triumfeminate," along with Mary Barber and Constantia Grierson.

Life

Most of what is known about Sican comes via her connection to Swift. She was "a prosperous grocer's wife from Essex St." Sican was her married name, and she had at least one child, named John after his father, who was in turn a sometime author. In a letter to

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...

in 1729, Swift describes her as "the wife of a Surly rich husband who checks her oeticvein."cit. Barry, 2019.''Correspondence'', Feb. 6, 1729, Vol. 3
p. 369

Swift's circles

Swift was part of the

Scriblerus Club The Scriblerus Club was an informal association of authors, based in London, that came together in the early 18th century. They were prominent figures in the Augustan Age of English letters. The nucleus of the club included the satirists Jonathan ...

, a famous literary circle in London along with other celebrated writers, notably Pope,

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peach ...

John Arbuthnot John Arbuthnot FRS (''baptised'' 29 April 1667 – 27 February 1735), often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membership ...

, Henry St. John and

Thomas Parnell Thomas Parnell may refer to: * Thomas Parnell (scientist) * Thomas Parnell (poet) See also

* J. Parnell Thomas, American stockbroker and politician {{hndis, Parnell, Thomas ...

. But he also became part of a smaller circle in Dublin, composed of local literary women. Mary Barber, Constantia Grierson,

Laetitia Pilkington Laetitia Pilkington (born Laetitia van Lewen; ''c.'' 1709 – 29 July 1750) was an Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant ...

and Elizabeth Sican were all members, and this group of "self-made women" was well-established before Swift met the Barbers in 1728. Of Sican, he wrote to Pope: "She has a very good tast of Poetry, hath read much, and as I hear hath writ one or two things with applause, which I never saw, except about six lines she sent me unknown, with a piece of Sturgeon, some Years ago on my birth day." In another letter in 1735, again to Pope, Swift writes that Sican "hath more sense, wit & Knowledge than the whole sex here could make up among them." Swift wrote " On Psyche" about her:

AT two afternoon for our Psyche inquire,
Her teakettle's on, and her smock at the fire:
So loitering, so active; so busy, so idle;
Which has she most need of, a spur or a bridle?
Thus a greyhound outruns the whole pack in a race,
Yet would rather be hang'd than he'd leave a warm place.
She gives you such plenty, it puts you in pain;
But ever with prudence takes care of the main.
To please you, she knows how to choose a nice bit;
For her taste is almost as refin'd as her wit.
To oblige a good friend, she will trace every market,
It would do your heart good, to see how she will cark it.
Yet beware of her arts; for, it plainly appears,
She saves half her victuals, by feeding your ears.Swift, Jonathan. "On Psyche." ''The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8: Poems, Polite Conversation''. Edited by Thomas Sheridan, et al. London, c. 1733, rpt. 1808, p. 204

Sican's response, if it was recorded, has not survived. None of her writings are extant.

Notes

References

*Backscheider, Paula. "Inverting the Image of Swift's 'Triumfeminate'." ''Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies'' Vol. 4, No. 1, Women Writers of the Eighteenth Century (Spring/Summer 2004), pp. 37-71. JSTOR. Accessed 9 Sep. 2022. *Barry, C. M.
Mary Delany, the Triumfeminate and other Dublin Women: Swift’s 'Female Senate'
"
Irish Philosophy
'. April 7, 2019. Accessed 9 September 2022. *Budd, Adam.
Merit in distress': The Troubled Success of Mary Barber
" ''The Review of English Studies'' 53.210 (2002):204-227. *Coleborne, Bryan. �
Barber, Mary (c.1685–1755)
” ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 1 Apr. 2007. *Doody, Margaret Anne. "Swift Among the Women." ''The Yearbook of English Studies'' 18 (1998): 68—92. * Pilkington, Laetitia. ''Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington''. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
Etext
Internet Archive). * Swift, Jonathan. ''The correspondence of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Vol III''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Etext
Internet Archive) * Swift, Jonathan. ''The correspondence of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Vol IV''. New York: P. Lang, 1999.
Etext
Internet Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sican, Elizabeth 18th-century Irish writers Irish literary critics Irish women literary critics 18th-century Irish women writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Literary circles