The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Prose
  • Publication Date: March 21, 2001
  • ISBN: 9781551114637 / 1551114631
  • 808 pages; 7¾" x 9¼"

Price for your region

Broadview eBooks are available on a variety of platforms. To learn more, please visit our eBook information page.

Note on pricing.

Request Exam Copy

Examination copy policy

Availability: Worldwide

The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Prose

  • Publication Date: March 21, 2001
  • ISBN: 9781551114637 / 1551114631
  • 808 pages; 7¾" x 9¼"

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

  • To the Virtuous Reader

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

  • Diary (excerpts)

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)
    • 1603
      1616
      1617

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)
    • The Catalogue of Errors

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

  • To My Dear Children

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
    • To the Two Universities
  • Nature’s Pictures Drawn by Fancy’s Pencil to the Life
    • The Loving Cuckold
  • 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)
    • Of Enthusiasm

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)
    • The Fire of London

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.