Derek Hirst, Richard Strier, ed.. Writing and Political Engagement in Seventeenth- Century England. : Cambridge University Press, 1999. vii + 236 pp. $59.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-521-66175-1.

D. R. Woolf. Reading History in Early Modern England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. xvi + 360 pp. $69.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-521-78046-9.

Reviewed by Malcolm Smuts

Published on H-Albion (November, 2001)

The History of the Book, the Study of Texts, within the history of print culture. He is not con‐ and the Pursuit of Interdisciplinary Cultural His‐ cerned with the evolution of historical methodolo‐ tory gy but rather with questions about how history Although very diferent in approach, these books "were distributed and marketed; who was books are both historically oriented studies of ear‐ collecting them and for what reasons; where and ly modern texts. As such they belong to an in‐ how they were stored, retrieved and shared; and creasingly fashionable genre that straddles the how readers made sense of them" (p. 6). The real terrain where literary analysis overlaps with in‐ historical revolution of this period, he argues, did tellectual history and newer areas of specializa‐ not involve a change in methods of research so tion, such as the histories of the book, the library, much as an expansion of the audience for histori‐ the manuscript, and the activities of reading and cal works from small coteries of scholars in the writing. Reviewing them together provides an op‐ sixteenth-century to a wide cross section of the portunity to refect on the current state of this in‐ educated public by the early eighteenth. The frst terdisciplinary feld. chapter, tracing the rise and decline of the chroni‐ cle, has as its core a statistical analysis of 79 sets out to situate historical chronicle texts, which together accounted for a writing in England between 1475 and about 1725 H-Net Reviews further 141 re-editions between 1475 and 1699. whole, convincing study, although in places Woolf Publication of chronicles peaked between 1550 is hampered by the paucity of his evidence, which and 1579 but then fell of markedly by 1600 main‐ simply does not lend itself to the kind of systemat‐ ly, Woolf argues, because of competition from a ic methodology, borrowed from previous studies variety of newer and more specialized types of of print culture, that he is determined to use. His historical writing. "The chronicle did not so much focus on history books, to the exclusion of other decay as dissolve into a variety of genres" (p. 26), texts and artefacts, also occasionally seems to get including humanist histories, antiquarian treatis‐ in the way of analyses that might have beneftted es, newsletters, diaries, autobiographies, history from being pursued through a wider array of evi‐ plays, and ballads. dence. Some of the most interesting sections of Woolf next deals with "the contexts and pur‐ the book, dealing with topics like the pre-history poses of history reading." Although his evidence is of the lending library or the nature of relation‐ too sporadic to permit truly systematic conclu‐ ships between gentry readers and the stationers sions, he does succeed in demonstrating that peo‐ from whom they purchased books, deal with all ple read histories for many diferent reasons and forms of print culture rather than history in isola‐ in a large variety of ways. Some of his examples tion. I regretted the omission of any extended dis‐ provide useful correctives to studies by scholars cussion of visual media, such as history paintings, like Lisa Jardine, Anthony Grafton, William Sher‐ commemorative medallions, and engravings of fa‐ man, and Kevin Sharpe, which have examined the mous historical personalities, which might have reading habits of extraordinarily diligent readers, supplemented the book's conclusions about the such as Gabriel Harvey and John Dee, who left be‐ broadening range of historical interests of educat‐ hind copious bodies of annotation. The purpose‐ ed English readers toward the end of the period ful methods and strong political interests of these under study. fgures contrast with the far more casual attitude Even in surveying the variety of history texts of the Restoration vicar John Ward, who read his‐ produced in the period, Woolf arguably omits im‐ tories for recreation, as well as the motives of portant categories. He has little to say about the Dudley Ryder, an awkwardly shy law student of role of histories as political polemics and he ig‐ the early eighteenth century who studied history nores the genre of published collections of histori‐ to garner a stock of amusing stories to amuse and cal documents, such as Rushworth's massive as‐ impress young women. semblage of materials relating to the Civil War. Further chapters survey information about Omitting these genres tends to bias the analysis the proportion of books devoted to history in ear‐ toward forms of history associated with leisured ly modern libraries (generally below 15% but ris‐ cultivation rather than political engagement. It ing by the early eighteenth century), practices of also allows Woolf to avoid issues concerning rela‐ borrowing and lending, and the processes tionships between print culture, scribal publica‐ through which history books were published and tion, and wider currents of political interest. How marketed. Woolf provides information on the size did the thriving manuscript culture of the early of print runs, the uses of illustrations, and the Stuart period--involving newsletters, manuscript costs and proft margins of publishers, as well as "separates" documenting newsworthy events and marketing strategies, the roles played by provin‐ libels masquerading as histories, such as Anthony cial booksellers, the methods by which gentry col‐ Welden's Court and Character of King James--help lectors procured books, and the advent of serial give rise to the explosion of politically oriented publications. This is a very useful and, on the print during the Civil War? How did printed col‐ lections of historical documents refect earlier hu‐

2 H-Net Reviews manist habits of information gathering and analy‐ but of intellectual activities and habits of mind sis revealed by manuscript sources? While read‐ that can tell us how the things that people did in ing Woolf, I also happened to be working through the study and the library were related to the ways the seven volumes of papers assembled by they made sense of other experiences, including Thomas Murray, secretary to Charles Prince of unsettling events like the Bohemian crisis of 1618 Wales in the 1610s (Lambeth Palace Archives MSS. or the outbreak of civil war in 1642. A study like 664-70). These items relating to war and diploma‐ Woolf's can make a valuable contribution to this cy on the European continent between 1614 and enterprise, provided we appreciate its limitations 1619 now read very much like a documentary his‐ as well as its strengths, and seek to integrate its tory of the origins of the Thirty Years War. Of fndings within wider contexts. course Murray did not assemble his papers with Writing and Political Engagement is in some this purpose in mind but they raise intriguing ways a more conventional book, part of a large questions about the extent to which certain gen‐ and growing list of interdisciplinary collections of res of printed history of the late-seventeenth and essays by literary scholars and historians. Its spe‐ eighteenth-century may have derived from an cifc purpose is to commemorate the work of John earlier culture of humanist diplomats and secre‐ Wallace, especially Destiny his Choice: the Loyal‐ taries, as well as pedagogical methods used to ism of Andrew Marvell (1968) which the introduc‐ train young gentlemen for careers in the Crown's tion describes as "an interdisciplinary work service. ahead of its time" (p. 1). The individual contribu‐ These criticisms are not intended to detract tions do not refect any common methodology or from the substantial merits of Woolf's book, theme, apart from "a shared concern for the rela‐ which succeeds admirably in illuminating prob‐ tionship between ideas and events" and, more es‐ lems on which its author does choose to concen‐ pecially, "the relationship of virtue and principle trate. Yet precisely because it is such a careful and to public life" during the seventeenth century (p. systematic study, Reading History raises the ques‐ 1). They are, however, of a consistently high quali‐ tion of how far histories of the book--and more es‐ ty. Stanley Fish's chapter on "the struggle for in‐ pecially of particular kinds of books--can by them‐ sincerity in Herbert's prose and poetry" is a tradi‐ selves resolve the broader questions that cultural tional exercise in close reading that manages to historians need to answer. After all that we have shed signifcant light on a facet of Jacobean reli‐ learned in recent years about the continuing vital‐ gious culture. It amply justifes the editors' claim ity of manuscript culture well into the eighteenth that old-fashioned formalistic analysis can still century, the importance of oral communication provide a valuable tool of historical research. among elite as well as popular groups and the Jackson Cope provides an interesting analysis of roles played by visual media and ritual in early the allegorical autobiography of the courtier Sir modern societies, we need to be wary of overstat‐ Kenelm Digby, which he situates in relationship to ing the importance of fndings based on print me‐ both Hellenistic romance traditions and contem‐ dia alone. What ultimately matters most is the na‐ porary Catholic literature. Barbara Donagan's ex‐ ture of relationships between print and other cul‐ ploration of "casuistry and allegiance in the Eng‐ tural artefacts, and between habits of reading in lish Civil War" also explores the period's religious the narrow sense, as something we do with books, culture, while at the same time addressing the his‐ and the manner in which people responded to toriography of the Civil War. She argues that his‐ other media and to the challenge of making sense torians have paid too little attention to the pro‐ of their historical surroundings. Put diferently, cesses through which contemporaries justifed we need a history not just of texts and marginalia their decisions to take an active role in that con‐

3 H-Net Reviews fict. The most important "popular" publicists who cial, imperfect and therefore in need of continu‐ sought to justify active commitment were clergy, ous adjustment in response to experiences, and who wrote within the framework of Protestant ca‐ any attempt to pretend otherwise amounts to suistical traditions shared by both sides. What dif‐ both an abdication of responsibility and a retreat ferentiated royalist from parliamentarian clerical into irrationality. Sidney's critique of Filmer is apologists was less their theology than divergent therefore grounded in an Aristotelian concept of treatments of secular political theories. Whereas virtue, involving the application of reason to pub‐ royalist clergy preached an uncompromising doc‐ lic life. trine of absolute obedience, their parliamentarian All these essays reach signifcant and original rivals developed a more nuanced position that re‐ conclusions by employing essentially traditional pudiated resistance theory, which had become too methodologies of the literary critic or the intellec‐ identifed with Jesuit writers, but sought to en‐ tual. Derek Hirst's contribution is somewhat more large the range of exceptions to the normal obli‐ innovative in the way it crosses traditional bound‐ gation to submit to rulers. This meant pressing aries separating diferent forms of seventeenth into service arguments about contractual and le‐ century discourse, although it too seems primarily gal limitations on royal power. Donagan's essay indebted to older forms of rigorous scholarship qualifes and complicates, even if it does not en‐ than recent historicist ideas. Through an analysis tirely refute, the argument advanced by histori‐ of Marvell's Rehearsal Transpos'd and several re‐ ans like John Morrill that the parliamentary lated tracts of the period 1667-73, Hirst shows movement was much more radical in its religious how arguments over religious toleration, pro‐ attitudes than its secular political outlook, by duced by dissenters as well as defenders of Angli‐ showing how fully these two categories of thought canism, became thoroughly intertwined with were in practice interdependent. fashionable concerns over literary issues like the Quentin Skinner's masterful "Thomas Hobbes development of the heroic style, the respectability and Renaissance Studia humanitatis" provides a of Thomas Hobbes and the current state of the detailed demonstration of the degree to which theater. "Only a broad reading across the texts of Hobbes's work before 1640 was thoroughly rooted these years," he concludes, "will open the full sig‐ in a traditional humanistic curriculum, involving nifcance of the phrase 'political culture' for a pe‐ the study of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, riod when the audiences for broadside, playbill and moral philosophy, rather than in the scientifc and sermon often had ...much in common" (p. interests that became predominant in the philoso‐ 164). pher's later work. Yet during this early humanist Two essays in the collection lead us back to is‐ phase, Hobbes had already worked out most of sues also raised by Woolf's study. John Pocock's the central conclusions later expounded by his lat‐ investigation of "Thomas May and the narrative er scientifc method in De Cive. Victoria Silver ov Civil War" is, in some ways, precisely the kind provides a second study of political thought fo‐ of study of historical methodology that Woolf es‐ cused on Algernon Sidney's analysis of what she chews at the start of his book. But it also shows calls the "imagoes" of royalist political culture. how May's eforts to grapple with the historio‐ This term refers to cultural images of central insti‐ graphical problem of writing about a civil war in tutions, above all personal monarchy. Sidney's which he was an active participant dovetailed disagreement with royalists like Filmer stemmed into the wider problem of making sense of events from his conviction that political forms can never that appeared to him, as to most of his contempo‐ enjoy a fxed ontological status as refections of an raries, as political and moral catastrophes. May immutable natural order. They are always artif‐

4 H-Net Reviews traced the causes of this calamity to the Stuarts' of western colonialism. Prospero's position on the abandonment of "the European Protestant inter‐ island, Strier argues, embodies a European fanta‐ est," to which the majority of their subjects were sy of total omnipotence, rooted in the experience committed. This "opened the door, frst to fa‐ of domination over subject non-European popula‐ vorites and counselors indiferent to the king's tions, illustrated through a remark by the South unity with his subjects" (p. 122); secondly to the Carolina planter George Ogilvie, in 1774, about assertiveness of non-puritan clergy and fnally to the agreeable experience of being the only free the King's decision to use force against his own man in a land of slaves, with a power "like the people. Yet to explain the war May needed to not tyrant of some Asiatick Isle" (p. 20). Shakespeare only to trace this downward spiral into authori‐ intuitively associated this illusion of total control, tarianism but to account for the fact that Charles I Strier argues, with fantasies of magic. His reading was able to gather an army from among the very of The Tempest is skillful and often convincing but subjects he was trying to oppress. Pocock ac‐ it also raises questions about the extent to which knowledges that much of this analysis is rooted in eighteenth century diaries and post-colonial liter‐ earlier puritan and parliamentarian arguments ature can truly provide an adequate context for but does not point out that it also seems strikingly analysis of early seventeenth century perceptions reminiscent of some very recent work, especially of colonial rule. Although he would have known Jonathan Scott's thesis in England's Troubles about slavery in Spanish America and the very re‐ (Cambridge, 2000) [reviewed H-Albion, March cent English attempt to colonize Virginia, he could 2001, http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/ not have anticipated the plantation economies of showrev.cgi?path=11625985221987 ^Ö ed.] that the eighteenth century or Britain's later expan‐ the Civil War derived from the Stuarts' failure to sion into Africa and Asia. The most immediate respond adequately to the challenges posed by colonial context for an Englishman of his genera‐ European Catholicism, and the revisionist argu‐ tion would have been Ireland. In addition ideas ment that one of the key developments leading to about colonization and imperial rule would have the outbreak of armed confict was Charles's suc‐ been shaped by histories of recent European ex‐ cess in gaining a party during the summer and periences in America and Asia, and probably even autumn of 1641. If Pocock is correct then his anal‐ more of Roman eforts to subjugate uncivilized ar‐ ysis should challenge us to refect on the degree to eas of Europe, including Britain itself. If The Tem‐ which twenty-frst century interpretations of the pest is really a play about colonial domination, as Civil War continue to recapitulate ideas already Strier and other critics have insisted, then it needs present in the political culture of the seventeenth to be situated in relationship to this body of his‐ century. At the same time his essay shows why the torical literature. We also need to learn more production of history books in this period often about how concepts of imperialism deriving from cannot be separated from a broader efort by con‐ books were adapted and refashioned in response temporaries to make sense of their political situa‐ to colonial experiences and concepts of racial dif‐ tion and justify their own political conduct. ference rooted in European, as well as Asian, Richard Strier's chapter appears, at frst African, and the American settings. glance, to have nothing to do with historiography, In short, not only does the cultural historian since its central concern is to explore Shake‐ need to read across diferent categories of texts, speare's portrayal of "the extent and possibilities as Hirst argues; he or she also needs to be pre‐ of human power" in The Tempest. Strier acknowl‐ pared to integrate textual analyses with other edged a debt to appropriations of this play in the forms of historical enquiry. This is an extremely Caribbean and Africa to explore the phenomenon difcult thing to do well, which partly explains

5 H-Net Reviews why so much work in this feld has taken the form of volumes of essays in which contributions from scholars trained in diferent disciplines are juxta‐ posed to each other in ways that create a kind of symbiosis, without requiring anyone to integrate all the relevant perspectives and methodologies in a single discussion. Studies of interdisciplinary problems have become increasingly common in recent years, but individual--as opposed to collab‐ orative--work that achieves a truly seamless inte‐ gration of methods and perspectives drawn from diferent disciplinary traditions remains compar‐ atively rare. The two books reviewed here refect this state of afairs. Both are of high quality and make signifcant contributions to scholarship. Be‐ tween them they also display something of the re‐ markable range of traditional and innovative methodologies now being used to explore the cul‐ tural history of the seventeenth century. But they also illustrate the degree to which intellectual his‐ tory, literary analysis, and newer felds like the history of the book have tended to remain sepa‐ rate areas of research rather than coordinated as‐ pects of a single holistic approach: a fully integrat‐ ed cultural history.

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Citation: Malcolm Smuts. Review of Hirst, Derek; Strier, Richard, ed. Writing and Political Engagement in Seventeenth-Century England. ; Woolf, D. R. Reading History in Early Modern England. H-Albion, H-Net Reviews. November, 2001.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5628

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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