Alice Vaughan, Countess of Carbery (''née'' Lady Alice Egerton; 1619-1689) was an English musician and performer who acted in two notable

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...

Aurelian Townshend Aurelian Townshend (sometimes Townsend; c. 1583 – c. 1649) was a seventeenth-century English poet and playwright. Family Aurelian Townshend was the son of John Townshend of Dereham Abbey, Norfolk. Both Aurelian and his sister, Frances, were ...

's ''

Tempe Restored ''Tempe Restored'' was a Caroline-era masque written by Aurelian Townshend and designed by Inigo Jones, and performed at Whitehall Palace on Shrove Tuesday, 14 February 1632. It was significant as an early instance in which a woman appeared in ...

'' (1632), and

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

's '' Maske Performed at Ludlow Castle'' (1634). Lady Alice was the youngest of eleven daughters born to

John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, KB, PC (1579 – 4 December 1649), was an English peer and politician from the Egerton family. The son of Sir Thomas Egerton and Elizabeth Ravenscroft, he matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxfor ...

and Lady Frances Stanley. She starred in the singing role of The Lady in Milton's ''Mask''e when it was performed at

Ludlow Castle Ludlow Castle is a ruined medieval fortification in the Ludlow, town of the same name in the English county of Shropshire, standing on a promontory overlooking the River Teme. The castle was probably founded by Walter de Lacy (died 1085), Wal ...

in 1634, in honor of her father's appointment as

Lord President of Wales The Council of Wales and the Marches () or the Council of the Marches, officially the Court of the Council in the Dominion and Principality of Wales, and the Marches of the same was a regional administrative body founded in Shrewsbury. ...

. Her younger brothers,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Thomas, appeared as The Lady's Brothers.

Henry Lawes Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes. Life Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Mu ...

, who wrote the music for the ''

Maske ''Maske'' (German for "Mask") is the debut album by German rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, a ...

'', was Alice Egerton's music teacher. She was participating in a family tradition: her grandmother,

Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby (4 May 1559 – 23 January 1637) was an English noblewoman from the Spencer family and noted patron of the arts. Poet Edmund Spenser represented her as "Amaryllis" in his eclogue '' Colin Clouts Come Home Again ...

, a well-known patron of the arts, had herself appeared in

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

's ''

The Masque of Queens ''The Masque of Queens, Celebrated From the House of Fame'' is one of the earlier works in the series of masques that Ben Jonson composed for the House of Stuart in the early 17th century. Performed at Whitehall Palace on 2 February 1609, it mar ...

'' in 1609 and was the honoree of Milton's masque '' Arcades''. Lady Alice married

Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery KB, PC ( 1600 – 1686), styled The Honourable from 1621 to 1628 and then Lord Vaughan until 1634, was a Welsh soldier, peer and politician. Born the son of a Welsh nobleman with an Irish peerage, Vaughan ...

in 1652, when she was aged about 33 and he was approximately twenty years older; they had no children. The earl succeeded Alice's father as

following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, but he was later removed from the post.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Alice, Countess of Carbery 1619 births 1689 deaths English actresses Carbery Daughters of British earls