Bedford Cultural Editions

APHRA BEHN ; or, The Royal Slave

EDITED BY Catherine Gallagher University of California — Berkeley

WITH Simon Stern Yale Law School

BEDFORD/ST. MARTIN'S BOSTON • NEW YORK Contents

About the Series v About This Volume ix Illustrations xvii

PART ONE Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave: The Complete Text 1

Introduction: Cultural and Historical Background 3 Chronology of Behn's Life and Times 26 A Note on the Text 32 Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave 34

xiii xiv Contents

PART TWO Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave: Cultural Contexts 101

1. Adaptations of Oroonoko 103 Thomas Southerne, from Oroonoko, aTragedy 107 From Oroonoko, a Tragedy 132

2. Literary Contexts 141 Aphra Behn, The Golden Age. A Paraphrase on a Translation out of French 146 Aphra Behn, To the Fair Clarinda, Who Made Love to Me, Imagin'd More Than Woman 153 Aphra Behn, A Congratulatory Poem to the King's Most Sacred Majesty, on the Happy Birth of the Prince of Wales 154 Aphra Behn, The Unfortunate Bride: or, The Blind Lady a Beauty 156 Sir John Mandeville, from Dialogue between the Pagan and the Christian 166 Michel de Montaigne, from On Cannibals 168 Ben Jonson, from The Masque of Blacknesse 175 John Dryden, from The Indian Emperor 180 Richard Steele, On Inkle and Yarico (The Spectator, No. 11) 190 Joseph Addison, On a Slave Love-Triangle (The Spectator, No. 215) 196 , from Robinson Crusoe 199

3. West Africa in the Triangular Trade 208 Richard Jobson, from The Golden Trade 217 From Relation du voyage fait sur les costes d'Afrique, 1670-1671 223 John Carter and Joseph Blyth, Correspondence of Slave Traders in the Royal African Company 230 Contents

Thomas Phillips, from A Journal of a Voyage Made in the Hannibal 234 Willem Bosman, from A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea 244 William Snelgrave, from A New Account of Guinea, and the Slave Trade 253 Thomas Bluett, from Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon 259 Francis Moore, from Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa 273 From The Royal African: Or, Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe 278 Ottobah Cugoano, from Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the and Commerce of the Human Species 303 Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African 310

4. The Caribbean in the Triangular Trade 326 Sir Walter Raleigh, from The Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana 334 Colonial Life in Suriname 337 George Warren, from An Impartial Description of Surinam 351 Richard Ligon, from A True and Exact History of the Island of 355 Morgan Godwyn, from The Negro's and Indians Advocate, Suing for Their Admission into the Church 365 Thomas Tryon, from A Discourse in Way of Dialogue, between an Ethiopean or Negro-Slave and a Christian 368 Edward Littleton, from The Groans of the Plantations 375 John Gabriel Stedman, from Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam 377 Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African 391 xvi Contents

5. Britain in the Triangular Trade 393 Sir Thomas More, from Utopia 401 An Act for the Punishing of Vagabonds, and for the Reliefe of the Poore and Impotent Persons 405 Petitions Protesting the Enslavement of Political Prisoners 408 Legal Decisions Concerning Slavery in England 414 Edward Littleton, from The Groans of the Plantations 423 From A Discourse of the Duties on Merchandize, More Particularly of that on Sugars 428 Sir Dalby Thomas, from An Historical Account of the Rise and Growth of the West-India Collonies 433 Thomas Tryon, from Tryon's Letters upon Several Occasions 441 On an African Prince at a Performance of Oroonoko 445 Thomas Day, from The Dying Negro 447 , from Letters of Ignatius Sancho 451 Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African 458

Selected Bibliography 464