Ephelia

Ephelia (1678-1681 fl.) was the pseudonym of an English poet who published in the late 17th century.

Life
Nothing is known of Ephelia beyond her published work: one collection of poetry (Female Poems on Several Occasions, 1679) plus 4 other poems, political broadsheets and a manuscript elegy. She also wrote a play, The Pair-royal of Coxcombs, of which only fragments survive. Ephelia,

Identity
Ephelia's identity is still unknown.

Maureen Mulvihill identifies her as March 1622 Mary Villiers (later Mary Stuart, Duchess of Lennox and Richmond) (1622-1685). The Orlando Project of Cambridge University states that "In more than a dozen years since Maureen E. Mulvihill identified Ephelia with Mary Villiers Stuart, Duchess of Richmond, the attribution has been accepted by all standard reference sources and has had no serious printed counter-identification."