The publication of The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse and Prose is a literary event; this comprehensive volume is the first anthology of the period to reflect the breadth of seventeenth-century studies in recent decades. Over one hundred writers are included, from John Chamberlain at the beginning of the century to Elisabeth Singer Rowe at its end. There are generous selections from the work of all major writers, and a representation of the work of virtually every writer of significance. The work of women writers figures prominently, with extensive selections not only from canonical writers such as Behn and Bradstreet, but also from other writers (such as Katherine Philips and Margaret Cavendish) who have been receiving considerable scholarly attention in recent years.
The anthology is broadly inclusive, with writing from America as well as from the British Isles. Memoirs, letters, political texts, travel writing, prophetic literature, street ballads, and pamphlet literature are all here, as is a full representation of the literary poetry and prose of the period, including the poetry of Jonson; the prose of Bacon; the metaphysical poetry of Donne, Herbert, Marvell, and others; the lyric verse of Herrick; and substantial selections from the poetry and prose of Milton and Dryden. (While Samson Agonistes is included in its entirety, Milton’s epic poems have been excluded, in order to allow space for other works not so readily accessible elsewhere.)
The editors have included complete works wherever possible. A headnote by the editors introduces each author, and each selection has been newly annotated.
Comments
Praise for The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse and Prose:
“There are many good things to be said about The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse and Prose—not least that it comes to help relieve a quarter-of-a-century’s dearth of decent anthologies, that it covers the whole century, and that it includes a number of women writers…This ambitious and thoughtful anthology deserves a large audience.” — Tom Clayton, Regents Professor of English, University of Minnesota
JOHN CHAMBERLAIN
- Letters
-
The Death of Queen Elizabeth (1603)
The Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (1613)
LANCELOT ANDREWES
- A Sermon Preached Before the King’s Majesty at Whitehall (1609)
NICHOLAS BRETON
- The Good and the Bad (excerpts) (1616)
- An Atheist or Most Bad Man
A Wanton Woman
A Quiet Woman
An Unworthy Lawyer
FRANCIS BACON
- Essays (excerpts)
- Of Truth
Of Simulation and Dissimulation
Of Marriage and Single Life
Of Love
Of Seditions and Troubles
Of Travel
Of Empire
Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates
Of Plantations
Of Masques and Triumphs
Of Studies
Of Studies
- Aphorisms (excerpts)
- The Idols
Idols of the Tribe
Idols of the Cave
Idols of the Market-place
Idols of the Theatre
Application of the Method
KING JAMES VI/I
- A Speech to the Lords and Commons (1610)
AEMILIA LANYER
LADY MARGARET HOBY
- The Diary of Lady Margaret Hoby 1599-1605 (excerpts)
JOHN DONNE
- Devotions: Upon Emergent Occasions (excerpts)
- IV. Expostulation
V. Meditation
XVII. Meditation
XXI. Meditation
- The second of my Prebend Sermons (January 29, 1626)
WILLIAM LAUD
ELIZABETH CLINTON, COUNTESS OF LINCOLN
- The Countess of Lincoln’s Nursery (excerpts)
ROBERT BURTON
- The Anatomy of Melancholy (excerpts)
- Democritus Junior To the Reader
Love of Learning, or Overmuch Study
THE OVERBURIAN CHARACTER
- A Good Woman
A Fair and Happy Milkmaid
A Waterman
A Prisoner
THOMAS HOBBES
- Leviathan, or The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth
- (excerpts)
The Introduction
Chapter XIII
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XLVII
A Review, and Conclusion
LADY ELEANOR DAVIES
- The Lady Eleanor Her Appeal (excerpts) (1646)
SIR ROBERT FILMER
- Patriarcha (excerpts)
Directions for Obedience to Government in Dangerous or Doubtful Times
WILLIAM BRADFORD
- History of Plymouth Plantation (excerpts)
- Book I, Chapter 9
Book II, Chapter 19
ANNE CLIFFORD
- The Knole Diary (1603-1619) (excerpts)
BENJAMIN LANEY
- The Study of Quiet, in Two Sermons
A Sermon Preached Before His Majesty at Whitehall, March 12, 1665
A Sermon Preached before the King At Whitehall, March 18, 1666
WILLIAM CAVENDISH, DUKE OF NEWCASTLE
- Advice to Charles II (excerpts)
- For Trade
For Ceremony and Order
The Errors of State and Their Remedies
The Recreations for Your Majesty’s People
EDWARD WINSLOW
- Good News from New England (excerpt)
- The Religion and Customs of the Indians Near New Plymouth
RACHEL SPEGHT
- A Muzzle for Melastomus
- To Joseph Swetnam
Of Woman’s Excellency
THOMAS EDWARDS
- Gangraena (1646) (excerpt)
KING CHARLES I
- A Proclamation and Declaration to Inform Our Loving Subjects of Our Kingdom of England of the Seditious Practices of Some in Scotland (1639)
BATHSUA MAKIN
- An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen (excerpts)
- To her Highness the Lady Mary
Care ought to be taken by us to Educate Women in Learning
Postscript
WILLIAM WALWYN
- The Bloody Project (1649)
JOHN EARLE
- Microcosmography
- To the Reader
A Child
A Surgeon
Paul’s Walk
OWEN FELLTHAM
- Resolves
- Of Puritans
Of Poverty
Of Woman
Of Poets and Poetry
A Rule in Reading Authors
SIR THOMAS BROWNE
- Religio Medici
- To the Reader
The First Part (excerpts)
The Second Part (excerpts)
- Hydriotaphia, Urne-Burial
- Chapter 1 (excerpts)
Chapter 2 (excerpts)
Chapter 5
JOHN MILTON
- from The Reason of Church Government (1641)
Areopagitica (1644)
Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, and Toleration (1673)
QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA
- The Queen’s Letter
The Queen’s Letter Sent to the King’s most excellent Majesty from Holland
EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON
- The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon and The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (excerpts)
- The Character of William Laud
The Temper and Spirit of the Nation after 1660
The Plague and the Fire of London, 1665—6
GERRARD WINSTANLEY
- A Declaration from the Poor Oppressed People of England (1649)
The Diggers’ Song
ANNE BRADSTREET
JEREMY TAYLOR
- A Funeral Sermon, Preached at the Obsequies of the Right Honourable and Most Virtuous Lady The Lady Frances, Countess of Carbery
- The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (excerpt)
- Consideration of the general instruments, and means serving to a holy life: by way of introduction
- The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (excerpt)
- Three precepts preparatory to a holy death to be practised in our whole life
Of daily examination of our actions, in the whole course of our health, preparatory to our death-bed
Reasons for a daily examination
SAMUEL BUTLER
- A Romance-Writer
A Rabble
MARGARET FELL
- Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures
LAWRENCE CLARKSON (CLAXTON)
- The Lost Sheep Found (1660)
RICHARD OVERTON
- The Proceedings of the Council of State Against Richard Overton, now Prisoner in the Tower of London, 1649
SIR ROGER L’ESTRANGE
- Considerations and Proposals in Order to the Regulation of the Press (1663)
ABRAHAM COWLEY
- Extracts from the Preface to the Poems of 1656
Of Solitude
Of Obscurity
Of My Self
ABIEZER COPPE
- A Fiery Flying Roll and A Second Fiery Flying Roll (excerpts)
JOHN EVELYN
- The Diary of John Evelyn (extracts)
- The Restoration
The Fire of London
LUCY HUTCHINSON
- The Life of Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson Written by Herself, A Fragment
Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson (excerpts)
MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE
- The Philosophical and Physical Opinions
- Nature’s Pictures Drawn by Fancy’s Pencil to the Life
- Orations of Diverse Sorts, Accommodated to Diverse Places
- An Oration for Liberty of Conscience
An Oration against Liberty of Conscience
An Oration proposing a Mean betwixt the two former Opinions
- CCXI Sociable Letters (excerpts)
Philosophical Letters: or, Modest Reflections (excerpts)
MARY HOWGILL
- A Remarkable Letter of Mary Howgill to Oliver Cromwell, Called Protector
LADY ANNE HALKETT
- The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett (excerpts)
KATHARINE EVANS AND SARAH CHEVERS
- This is a Short Relation of Some of the Cruel Sufferings (For the Truth’s Sake) of Katharine Evans and Sarah Chevers, in the Inquisition in the Isle of Malta (excerpts)
JOHN AUBREY
- Brief Lives (excerpts)
- Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626)
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Venetia Digby (1600-33)
Thomas Fairfax (1612-71)
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Robert Hooke (1635-1703)
Andrew Marvell (1621-78)
Sir Robert Moray (d.1673)
John Milton (1608-74)
DOROTHY OSBORNE
- The Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54
- Saturday, January 8, 1653
Thursday–Saturday, June 2–4, 1653
October 1653
October 1653
Saturday, February 4, 1654
Saturday, February 11, 1654
March 18, 1654
JOHN BUNYAN
- Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (excerpt)
The Pilgrim’s Progress (excerpt)
- Christian and Faithful visit Vanity Fair
KING CHARLES II
- The Declaration of Breda (1660)
ANTHONY À WOOD
- The Life and Times of Anthony à Wood (extracts)
- Notes on Oxford during the Interregnum
The Restoration
- Athenae Oxoniensis (excerpts)
- Robert Burton
Jeremy Taylor
JOHN LOCKE
- An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (excerpt)
GEORGE SAVILE, MARQUIS OF HALIFAX
- A Character of King Charles II (excerpts)
- Of his Religion
His Amours, Mistresses, &c
His Conduct to his Ministers
Of his Wit and Conversation
His Talents, Temper, Habits, &c
Conclusion
SAMUEL PEPYS
- The Diary of Samuel Pepys (excerpt)
ROBERT SOUTH
- Ecclesiastical Policy the Best Policy: or Religion the Best Reason of State
MARY ROWLANDSON
- The Sovereignty and Goodness of God Together, with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (excerpts)
- The First Remove
The Second Remove
The Third Remove
The Fourth Remove
The Eighth Remove
The Twentieth Remove
THOMAS SPRAT
- The History of The Royal Society of London (excerpts)
- A Proposal for Erecting an English Academy
Their Manner of Discourse
THOMAS TRAHERNE
- The Third Century (excerpt)
APHRA BEHN
- Love Letters by Mrs A. Behn
The Dumb Virgin: Or, The Force of Imagination
PIERRE-ESPRIT RADISSON
- Travel Journal: Lake Superior, 1659—60 (excerpts)
BISHOP GILBERT BURNET
- History of My Own Time
- The Restoration
Reign of King Charles II
ELINOR JAMES
- Mrs. James’s Vindication of the Church of England, in an answer to a pamphlet entitled A New Test of the Church of England’s Loyalty (excerpts)
COTTON MATHER
- Diary of Cotton Mather (excerpts)
ELIZABETH JOHNSON
- Preface to the Reader, Poems on Several Occasions.
Written by Philomela
A MISCELLANY
LETTERS
- Oliver Cromwell to Colonel Valentine Walton
Charles I to Prince Rupert
Eleanor Gwynne to Laurence Hyde
John Evelyn to Sir Christopher Wren
INFORMATION FROM THE SCOTTISH NATION
- to all the True English, Concerning the Present Expedition (1640)
THE PUTNEY DEBATES
- The Putney Debates: The Debate on the Franchise
THE TRIAL OF KING CHARLES I
- The King’s Reasons for Declining the Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice
The Sentence of the High Court of Justice Upon the King
A TRUE RELATION,
- of the Inhumane and Unparallel’d Actions and Barbarous Murders of Negroes or Moors: Committed on three English-men in Old Calabar in Guinny (1672)
THE GENTLEWOMAN’S COMPANION (1673)
- The Introduction
- What Qualifications Best Become and are Most Suitable to a Gentlewoman
Of the Government of the Eye
Of Speech and Complement
Of Wanton Songs, and Idle Ballads
What Recreations and Pleasures are Most Fitting and Proper for Young Gentlewomen
THE JUDGMENT AND DECREE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
- Passed in Their Convocation, July 21, 1683, against Certain Pernicious Books and Damnable Doctrines, Destructive to the
Sacred Persons of Princes, Their State and Government, and of All Humane Society (1683)
INDEXES
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND TITLES
Alan Rudrum, a Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Simon Fraser University and the anthology’s senior editor, has published extensively on seventeenth-century British literature.
Joseph Black, a Professor in the English Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has published articles on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British literature and book history.
Holly Faith Nelson, who obtained her doctorate from Simon Fraser University, is a Lecturer at Trinity Western University.
