Roxana: or, The Fortunate Mistress

420 Pages·2009·5.404 MB·English

by  Daniel Defoe, Melissa Mowry

Roxana.qxd:Layout 1 3/16/09 3:30 PM Page 1
This electronic material is under
copyright protection and is
b r o a d v i e w p r e s s
provided to a single recipient
D
for review purposes only.
e
f
o
e
( Roxana
e
d
broadview editions . Daniel Defoe
M
o
w
r
“Rare is that edition that gives us a fresh interpretation of a primary y edited by
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work, but that is precisely what Melissa Mowry has accomplished in this Melissa Mowry
excellent edition.The introduction details Roxana’s place in Defoe’s
career and the ways the novel evokes his Dissenter politics, while also
shedding new light on the novel’s imbrication in debates about political
sovereignty, feminism, and prostitution.The supplementary materials
are all artfully chosen to produce fresh readings of the novel. Finally,
the inclusion of some of the alternate endings written for Roxana, along
R
with a brief reception history of Defoe’s work, invites speculation about
o
changes in the representation of gender and sexuality over the course
x
of the long eighteenth century in Britain.”
a
ScarletBowen,UniversityofColorado
n
a
Almostthreehundredyearsafteritsfirstpublication,Roxanacontinuesto
challengereaders,who,thoughcompelledbyRoxana’sstory,areoftenbaffled
byhercomplexrelationshipstoherchildren,herfortune,andhervices.As
oneofDanielDefoe’sfourmajorfictions,Roxanahaslongbeenunderstood
ascentraltothehistoryofthenovel,andprovidesreaderswithDefoe’s
sharpestandmostspecificcommentaryonthecomplexitiesoflifein
Roxana seventeenth­centuryLondon.
Daniel Defoe
Thiseditionoffersacriticalintroductionandarangeofcontemporarydocuments
onwomen’swork,prostitutionasasocialproblem,poverty,andcityandcourt
edited by culturethatwillhelpreaderstounderstandRoxana’sstrugglesandchoicesin
Melissa Mowry thecontextofhertime.
MelissaMowryisAssociateProfessorofEnglish
atSt.John’sUniversity.
Cover:“TheHandofMadameHugo,”1850.Photograph
b
attributedtoVictorHugoandAugusteVacquerie. r
o
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www.broadviewpress.com
Roxana.qxd:Layout 1 3/16/09 3:30 PM Page 1
b r o a d v i e w p r e s s
D
e
f
o
e
( Roxana
e
d
broadview editions . Daniel Defoe
M
o
w

r
“Rare is that edition that gives us a fresh interpretation of a primary y edited by
)

work, but that is precisely what Melissa Mowry has accomplished in this Melissa Mowry

excellent edition.The introduction details Roxana’s place in Defoe’s

career and the ways the novel evokes his Dissenter politics, while also

shedding new light on the novel’s imbrication in debates about political

sovereignty, feminism, and prostitution.The supplementary materials

are all artfully chosen to produce fresh readings of the novel. Finally,

the inclusion of some of the alternate endings written for Roxana, along
R

with a brief reception history of Defoe’s work, invites speculation about

o
changes in the representation of gender and sexuality over the course

x
of the long eighteenth century in Britain.”
a

ScarletBowen,UniversityofColorado
n
a

Almostthreehundredyearsafteritsfirstpublication,Roxanacontinuesto

challengereaders,who,thoughcompelledbyRoxana’sstory,areoftenbaffled

byhercomplexrelationshipstoherchildren,herfortune,andhervices.As

oneofDanielDefoe’sfourmajorfictions,Roxanahaslongbeenunderstood

ascentraltothehistoryofthenovel,andprovidesreaderswithDefoe’s

sharpestandmostspecificcommentaryonthecomplexitiesoflifein

Roxana seventeenth­centuryLondon.
Daniel Defoe

Thiseditionoffersacriticalintroductionandarangeofcontemporarydocuments

onwomen’swork,prostitutionasasocialproblem,poverty,andcityandcourt
edited by culture that will help readers to understand Roxana’s struggles and choices in
Melissa Mowry the context of her time.

MelissaMowryisAssociateProfessorofEnglish

atSt.John’sUniversity.

Cover:“TheHandofMadameHugo,”1850.Photograph
b
attributedtoVictorHugoandAugusteVacquerie. r
o
a
www.broadviewpress.com d
v
i
e
w
www.broadviewpress.com
a-front.qxd 16/03/2009 10:50 AM Page 1
Review Copy
ROXANA
A First Modern English Edition of
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
broadview editions
series editor: L.W. Conolly
THEDISTAFFGOSPELS 1
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Miles Franklin,2 April 1898.Used by permission of the Mitchell
2 THEDISTAFFGOSPELS
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ROXANA
Daniel Defoe
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
translated by Thomas K.Abbott
with revisions by Lara Denis
edited by Melissa Mowry
broadview editions
THEDISTAFFGOSPELS 3
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©2009 Melissa Mowry
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in
any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or other-
wise,or stored in a retrieval system,without prior written consent of the publisher—
or in the case of photocopying,a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency),One Yonge Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5—is an
infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Defoe,Daniel,1661?-1731
Roxana / Daniel Defoe ;edited by Melissa Mowry.
(Broadview editions)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55111-807-9
I.Mowry,Melissa M.,1963- II. Title.
PR3404.R6 2009 823′.5 C2009-900201-9
Broadview Editions
The Broadview Editions series represents the ever-changing canon of literature in
English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable lesser-
known works.
Advisory editor for this volume:Betsy Struthers
Broadview Press is an independent,international publishing house,incorporated in
1985.Broadview believes in shared ownership,both with its employees and with the
general public;since the year 2000 Broadview shares have traded publicly on the
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We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications—
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Contents
Acknowledgements • 7
Introduction • 9
Daniel Defoe:A Brief Chronology • 29
Defoe’s Times:A Brief Chronology • 33
A Note on the Text • 37
Roxana • 39
Appendix A:Roxana’s Shifting Identity and the Tradition of
Whore Biography • 327
1. From The Lawyer’s Clarke Trappan’d by the Crafty
Whore of Canterbury(1663) • 327
2. From The London Jilt (1683) • 329
3. From The Whores Rhetorick(1683) • 334
Appendix B:Women’s Work • 341
1. A True Copie of the Petition of the Gentlewomen,and
Tradesmens-Wives (1641) • 341
2. Mary Collier,The Woman’s Labour:An Epistle to
Mr.Stephen Duck(1739) • 346
Appendix C:Court Culture • 355
1. Poor-Whores Petition(1668) • 355
2. The Gracious ANSWER...To the Poor-Whores Petition
(1668) • 357
3. John Dunton,The Night-Walker(1696) • 361
Appendix D:City Culture • 369
1. The Character of a Town-Miss(1680) • 369
2. Auction of Whores (1691) • 372
Appendix E:The Great Debate on the Poor • 377
1. From Matthew Hale,A Discourse Touching Provision
for the Poor (1683) • 377
2. From Thomas Firman,Some Proposals for the
imployment of the Poor(1681) • 384
3. From Daniel Defoe,The Poor Man’s Plea (1698) • 386
4. From Daniel Defoe,Every-Body’s Business is No-
Body’s Business(1725) • 388
5. From Bernard Mandeville,Modest Defense of the
Publick Stews(1724) • 389
6. From Daniel Defoe,Some Considerations Upon Street-
Walkers(1726) • 391
THEROMANCEOFASHOP 5
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Appendix F:Women and Marriage • 395
1. From Mary Astell,Some Considerations on Marriage
(1700/1706) • 395
2. From Daniel Defoe,Conjugal Lewdness (1727) • 397
Appendix G:Alternate Endings of Roxana • 399
1. Daniel Defoe,The fortunate mistress(1740) • 399
2. Daniel Defoe,The history of Mademoiselle de Beleau
(1775) • 402
Appendix H:Defoe,Roxana,and Posterity • 405
1. From Charles Gildon,The Life and Strange Surprizing
Adventures of Mr.Daniel Defoe(1719) • 405
2. From The History of Mademoiselle de Beleau;or,The New
Roxana (1775) • 405
3. John Howlett,The Insufficiency of the Causes to which the
Increase of the Poor’s Rates Have Been Commonly Ascribed
(1788) • 407
4. George Chalmers,The Life of Daniel Defoe (1790) • 407
5. Thomas Ruggles,The History of the Poor(1797) • 407
6. The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of
Useful Knowledge(1833) • 408
Select Bibliography • 413
6 CONTENTS
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank St.John’s University for a generous summer grant
that allowed me to begin work on this project. In particular, I
wish to thank the English Department for providing me with
graduate assistants at crucial points in the process.As always,the
library staff at St. John’s met my requests for sometimes arcane
and remote materials with both good cheer and good speed.
Thanks too to numerous colleagues who have offered important
insights and stimulating conversations during the process of
editing this volume.I wish to thank Frances Dolan for encourag-
ing me to pursue an edition of Roxanawith Broadview.This book
is for my children Helen and Alex in the hope that they too will
come to know the pleasures of reading and inquiry.
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8 INTRODUCTION