Elizabeth Singer Rowe: Dissent, Influence, and Writing Religion, 1690-1740 Jessica Haldeman Clement PhD University of York English and Related Literature September 2017 Abstract This thesis addresses the religious poetry of Elizabeth Singer Rowe, arguing that her Dissenting identity provides an important foundation on which to which to critically consider her works. Although Rowe enjoyed a successful career, with the majority of her writing seeing multiple editions throughout her lifetime and following her death, her posthumous reputation persists as an overly pious and reclusive religious poet. Moving past these stereotypes, my thesis explores Rowe’s engagement with poetry as a means to convey various aspects of Dissent and her wider religious community. This thesis also contributes to the wider understanding of Dissenting creative writing and influence in the years following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, using Rowe’s work as a platform to demonstrate complexities and cultural shifts within the work of her contemporaries. My argument challenges the notion that Rowe’s religious poetry was a mere exercise in piety or a display of religious sentimentalism, demonstrating powerful evolutions in contemporary discussions of philosophy, religious tolerance, and the relationship between the church and state. A popular figure that appealed to a heterodox reading public, Rowe addresses many aspects of Dissent throughout her work. Combining close readings of Rowe’s poetry and religious writings with the popular works of her contemporaries, this study explores latitudinarian shifts and discussions of depravity within her religious poetry, the impact of the Clarendon Code and subsequent toleration on her conceptualisation of suffering and imprisonment, as well as her use of ecumenical language throughout her writings. Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Author’s Declaration 9 Introduction 11 Challenges for Research 17 Methodology and Structure 28 Chapter One: The World of Dissent and Locating Rowe 33 The Clarendon Code and Family Connections 35 Poetry, Toleration, and the Glorious Revolution 39 Writing Religion 42 The Bible and the Epic 55 Rowe and Augustan Poetry 60 Rowe, Pope, and Virgilian Progression 68 Chapter Two: Depravity, Cambridge Platonism, and the Calvinist Influence 75 Rowe and Reformed Theology 84 Rowe and the Cambridge Platonists 93 Delineating the Body and Soul 101 Darkness and Light, Reason and Understanding 115 Rowe’s Canticles 125 Chapter Three: Dissenting Suffering, Narrative, and Devotion 135 Dissent and Persecution 140 Job’s Model and Example 151 Joseph, Prison, and Innocence 165 Chapter Four: Providence, Epic, and Devotional Writing 177 Representations of William III and Providence 181 Providence and Rowe’s History of Joseph 183 Paradise Lost and Providence 186 Providence and Contemporary Accounts of Joseph 195 Providence and Devotional Meditation 205 Providence and the Physical Body 210 Providence and the Act of Salvation 217 Conclusion 223 Abbreviations 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY (List of Works Consulted) 229 6 Acknowledgments First and foremost, this PhD would not have been possible without the expertise of my supervisors, Harriet Guest and Emma Major. It is to them that I owe the largest and most profound thanks. Both have spent countless hours editing, advising, and coaxing this work from vague notion of an idea in my head to the tangible form that you now hold in your hands. Their patience and kindness is beyond measure. Additionally, I would like to thank Mark Jenner and Jon Mee for sitting on my advisory panel and reading my work. I was also a very happy recipient of the 2013 CECS Annual Student Bursary and a University of York Overseas Continuation Scholarship, which eased my finances considerably. Generous travel bursaries from the English Department at the University of York also allowed me to speak at conferences in Venice, London, and Oxford. When I first came to the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies as an international Master’s student, I had no idea that the colleagues and friends that I would make here would go on to have such a profound impact on my personal and academic life. Many thanks go to Clare Bond, Joanna Wharton, Sophie Coulombeau, Sarah Burdett, Alexander Hardie-Forsyth, Lotta Schneidemesser, Anna Mercer, Marissa Bolin, Anna Svendsen, David Barrow, Kaylee Peelin, Megan Miller-Roulston, and countless others for the parts they have played during my time in York. Also, sincere thanks go to the executive committee of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. I am grateful for all for your encouragement, advice, and care during my PhD. It has been an absolute privilege to be a Postgraduate Representative and to represent this scholarly community. I would like to particularly recognise Neil and Leah Hulse, Alistair and Faith Jakeman, Pete and Ruth Jarrett, Simon Jarrett, and Tim Rozday. Thank you 8 all for your hospitality and friendship. I would also like to acknowledge my Welsh family members, specifically the Clement and Perkins families. To my parents, I would like to thank them for their financial and emotional sacrifices that allowed me to complete my many years of schooling and their willingness to let me pursue my education across the country and the Atlantic. In many ways, this is as much your achievement as it is mine. And to my siblings and siblings- in-law, John, Emily, Ann, Jacob, and Rachel: thank you all for keeping me laughing and for your constant encouragement. I also want to thank my dog, Milo, for keeping me company during the long days and nights of writing and being the laziest research assistant of all time. Above all, this thesis would not exist without my husband, Steve. From late night chats about my ideas, drawing up chapter plans on our whiteboard, believing in my abilities, and taking me on random trips to Frome, he has been integral to the completion of this document. I have spent the last three months of writing up amidst the throes of first-trimester pregnancy-related illness and he has been an unshakable rock of support. In life, as in my postgraduate study, he has made all difficulties bearable and every triumph sweeter. Steve, you have made all the difference and I dedicate this thesis to you in complete gratitude. Thank you for your partnership, affection, and unwavering encouragement. Author’s Declaration I declare that this thesis is a presentation of original work and I am the sole author. This work has not previously been presented for an award at this, or any other University. All sources are acknowledged as references. Parts of my introduction and first chapter have been published as a biography of Elizabeth Singer Rowe in the online database The Literary Encyclopedia (October 2016). Part of Chapter Two is currently under peer review and accepted to be published under the revised title of “My Bright Love shall all this blackness chase”: The Theological Poetry of Elizabeth Singer Rowe” in the Summer 2018 Special Edition of The Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Introduction In a meditation entitled “A Covenant with God”, Elizabeth Singer Rowe reflects on a solemn commitment to the Divine and the ensuing implications for both her actions and words. Citing the “Articles” of faith entered into between herself and an “Almighty God”, Rowe sets a very particular and vivid picture for her intended reader, one of divine contract and devoted worshipper: Incomprehensible Being, who searchest the Heart, and tries the Reins of the Children of Men, thou knows my Sincerity, and my Thoughts are all unveiled to thee: I am surrounded with thine Immensity; thou are a present, tho’ invisible Witness of the solemn Affair I am now engaged in. I am now taking hold of thy Strength, that I may make peace with thee, and entering into Articles with the Almighty God […] And now let the surrounding Angels witness for me, that I solemnly devote all the Powers and Faculties of my Soul to thy Service; and when I presumptuously employ any of the Advantages thou hast given me to thy Dishonour, let them testify against me, and let my own Words condemn me.1 At first glance, Rowe’s idea of a covenant with God may appear to be straightforward, an indication of her religious fervour and a marker of personal piety. In committing herself to a “sacred and everlasting Obligation”, Rowe gives the impression of renewing the bonds between herself and the Divine. However, a deeper understanding of both Rowe’s particular religious beliefs and the Dissenting world in which she inhabited colours this meditation with a new hue. Offering the modern reader a fresh insight into the complexities and subtleties of political and religious life during Rowe’s lifetime, “A Covenant with God” invokes a flood of differing theological readings. This meditation presents Rowe’s acknowledgement of the Articles of the Christian Faith, otherwise 1 Elizabeth Rowe, “A Covenant with God” in Devout Exercises of the Heart in Meditation and Soliloquy, Prayer and Praise, ed. Isaac Watts (London: Printed for R. Hett, 1738), 25-27. 12 known as the Apostle’s Creed, as a marker of heterodox liturgy and a defining factor in her own private religious practice. Rowe’s allusion to the Apostle’s Creed is profound, pointing to a writer acutely aware of an evolving theological landscape and sensitive to readers with varying doctrinal backgrounds. In making the reference to the Apostle’s Creed, Rowe is not only acknowledging foundational elements of the Christian faith, but also putting herself