Ideas of the Restoration in English Literature, 1660–71

220 Pages·1984·19.609 MB·English

by  Nicholas Jose (auth.)

IDEAS OF THE RESTORATION IN
ENGLISH LITERATURE, 1660-71
By the same author
THE POSSESSION OF AMBER (short stories)
IDEAS OF THE RESTORATION
IN ENGLISH LITERATURE,
1660-71
Nicholas Jose
© Nicholas Jose 1984
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1984 978-0-333-34604-4
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1984 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06637-7 ISBN 978-1-349-06635-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06635-3
For my parents
Contents
Abbreviations Vlll
Preface XI
The State Chaos
2 New Order 17
3 Ideas of Restoration I : The Panegyric Task 31
4 Ideas of Restoration II : Looking Back and Looking Forward 44
5 Ideal Restoration and the Case of Cowley 67
6 The Poetry of the Second Dutch War 97
7 Theatrical Restoration 120
8 Samson Agonistes: The Play Turned Upside Down 142
9 Conclusion : Artifice and Scrutiny 164
Notes 175
Index 200
Vll
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations have been used for works frequently
cited. Unless otherwise stated, the place of publication is London.
The original spelling and punctuation of the editions cited have
been followed in all cases, except for some slight alteration of
capitalisation of minor words in seventeenth-century titles.
Carey and Fowler
The Poems of}ohn Milton, ed. John Carey and Alastair Fowler
( 1968). All quotations from Milton's poems are from this
edition.
Cowley, Essays
Abraham Cowley, Essays, Plays and Sundry Verses, ed. A.R.
Waller (Cambridge, 1906).
Cowley, Poems
Abraham Cowley, Poems: Miscellanies, The Mistress, Pindarique
Odes, Davideis, Verses Written Upon Several Occasions, ed. A.R.
Waller (Cambridge, 1905). All quotations from Cowley, unless
otherwise stated, are from Waller's editions.
CSPD
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series.
Davies
Godfrey Davies, The Restoration of Charles II, 1658-1660 (San
Marino, 1955).
DNB
Dictionary of National Biography.
Evelyn
The Diary of}ohn Evelyn, ed. E.S. de Beer (6vols, Oxford, 1955).
Vlll
Abbreviations lX
Kinsley
The Poems of John Dryden, ed. James Kinsley (4 vols, Oxford,
1958). All quotations from Dryden's poems are from this edition
unless otherwise stated.
Margoliouth
The Poems and Letters of Andrew Marvell, ed. H.M. Margoliouth,
revised by Pierre Legouis with the collaboration of
E.E. Duncan-Jones (2 vols, Oxford, 1971). All quotations from
Marvell are from this edition unless otherwise stated.
Masson
David Masson, The Life ofJ ohn Milton: Narrated in Connexion with
the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time (6 vols,
and index, 1880-94).
Milton, Complete Prose
Complete Prose Worksof]ohn Milton, general ed., Don M. Wolfe (7
vols, New Haven and London, 1953-74).
Ogg
David Ogg, England in the Reign of Charles II (2 vols, Oxford,
1934).
Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Robert Latham and William
Matthews ( ll vols, 1970- ).
POAS
Poems on Affairs of State: Augustan Satirical Verse, 1660-1714,
general ed., George de F. Lord (7 vols, New Haven and London,
1963-75).
STC
Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland,
Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other
Countries, 1641-1700, compiled by Donald Wing (3 vols, New
York, 1945-51 ).
Preface
At several key places in his poetry Alexander Pope refers to the
Restoration. The references, though judicious, are unflattering.
Pope found it hard to admire the reign of the merry monarch. The
Restoration was a classic example of Pope's perception that artistic
and social decadence were reflected in each other.
In Days of Ease, when now the weary Sword
Was sheath'd, and Luxury with Charles restor'd;
In every Taste of foreign Courts improv'd,
'All by the King's Example, liv'd and lov'd.'
Then Peers grew proud in Horsemanship t'excell,
New-market's Glory rose, as Britain's fell;
The Soldier breath'd the Gallantries of France,
And ev'ry flow'ry Courtier writ Romance.
Then Marble soften'd into life grew warm,
And yielding Metal flow'd to human form:
Lely on animated Canvas stole
The sleepy Eye, that spoke the melting soul.
No wonder then, when all was Love and Sport,
The willing Muses were debauch'd at Court;
On each enervate string they taught the Note
To pant, or tremble thro' an Eunuch's throat.
But Britain, changeful as a Child at play,
Now calls in Princes, and now turns away.
Now Whig, now Tory, what we lov'd we hate;
Now all for Pleasure, now for Church and State;
Now for Prerogative, and now for Laws;
Effects unhappy! from a Noble Cause.
(Imitations of Horace, Ep.II i, 139-60)1
XI