MATEY, CRYSTAL LEE, Ph.D. The Speculative Mode: Intersections of Literature and the New Science in Restoration England. (2018) Directed by Dr. Jennifer Keith. 277 pp. Within the field of Restoration and eighteenth-century studies, critics have investigated the relationship between literature and science for almost a century. Even among specialists, however, there has been insufficient enquiry into epistemological tensions between categories for what now might be called “pre-science” and what was then known as “natural philosophy.” Even less attention has been paid to the relation between natural philosophy and the category of speculation, in which speculation is understood scientifically and literarily. I explore how what I define as speculative writing about natural philosophy assisted in publicizing and spreading new epistemologies during the Restoration and early eighteenth century. In analyzing speculative writing, I investigate the cultural reception of natural philosophy, tracing responses to such changes. I argue that the speculative mode emphasizes a more integrated vision of knowledge formation at that time, a vision that is now divided by the categories of art and science. Emphasizing the contemporary reactions to these various models of knowledge, my methods require a deeply historical approach. To focus this approach, I consider writings in the Restoration that respond to the formation and practices of the early Royal Society: its institutional presence and public mission made it an especially attractive target of speculative writing that would challenge the Society’s official promotion of the experimental method and rejection of the speculative method. I take as evidence both literary and nonliterary documents, representative of a range of genres: these include dictionaries printed at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, Thomas Sprat’s The History of the Royal Society and Abraham Cowley’s opening ode, Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis and Margaret Cavendish’s Observations upon Experimental Philosophy and Blazing World, as well as Thomas Shadwell’s The Virtuoso and Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon. My argument considers the mixed and conflicting strands that informed the broader category of natural philosophy and recognizes the many ways in which the texts concerned with natural philosophy are by no means easily separated into so-called scientific or literary ones. I conclude the study by looking forward, linking the beginnings of the speculative mode in the Restoration period to a popular eighteenth-century text – Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. I end with a call to understand the cultural moment of the Restoration better by joining together works of science and art as both valid and necessary avenues toward knowledge and literary history. THE SPECULATIVE MODE: INTERSECTIONS OF LITERATURE AND THE NEW SCIENCE IN RESTORATION ENGLAND by Crystal Lee Matey A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 2018 Approved by _________________________________ Committee Chair © 2018 Crystal Lee Matey To my family: Your love, encouragement, and patience made completion of this project possible. In memory of my Aunt “Lo-Lo,” who taught me that words have power and my grandfather, who might have been an English major in another time and place. ii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation written by Crystal Lee Matey has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Committee Chair __________________________________________ Committee Members __________________________________________ __________________________________________ ___________________________ Date of Acceptance by Committee _________________________ Date of Final Oral Examination iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to offer my immense gratitude to my committee members – Dr. Jennifer Keith, Dr. Michelle Dowd, and Dr. Jennifer Feather. Their support and guidance during this process often fueled me when I needed inspiration. Their feedback has been instrumental in my growth and in the development of this project. For that I am truly grateful. I am especially appreciative of Dr. Keith for her mentorship and unwavering support. She pushed me further than I thought myself capable of, but her reassurance also encouraged me during the times I needed it most. I would not be the scholar I am today without her. I appreciate the enthusiasm Dr. Dowd and Dr. Feather consistently showed toward my project. Their thoughtful and honest critiques challenged me and strengthened my writing. Much appreciation goes to Dr. Karen Gevirtz for providing me with an early suggestion that turned into a rabbit-hole of research and, ultimately, my second chapter. Finally, I give special thanks to my fellow scholars and friends, Kristine Lee and Dusty Ross, who both read portions of this project and supplied me with invaluable feedback. More importantly, they sustained me through this process, offering me the conversation and laughter I needed to get me through. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 II. “INTERPRETING ALL SUCH HARD WORDS”: DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS AS INSTRUCTION AND POPULARIZATION OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY FOR GENERAL READERS .................... 26 Defining Natural Philosophy .................................................................. 33 Empiricism and Experimental Philosophy .............................................. 48 Speculative Philosophy .......................................................................... 56 Hypothesis, Speculation, and the Imagination......................................... 61 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 73 III. “MEN OF HOT, EARNEST, AND HASTY MINDS” VERSUS “THE SOLID SUBSTANCE OF SCIENCE ITSELF”: THE ROYAL SOCIETY’S PUBLIC ATTEMPT TO EXALT EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY ............................................................. 78 Forming the Society ............................................................................... 82 Experimental Philosophy and the Royal Society ..................................... 87 Sprat’s History ....................................................................................... 93 Cowley’s Ode....................................................................................... 111 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 122 IV. “NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IS THE HARDEST OF ALL HUMAN LEARNING”: THE SPECULATIVE MODE AS AN EXAMPLE OF BALANCED AND PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN FRANCIS BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS AND MARGARET CAVENDISH’S BLAZING WORLD ........................ 130 Francis Bacon and New Atlantis ........................................................... 135 Cavendish and Her Observations .......................................................... 146 Blazing World ..................................................................................... 163 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 173 v V. DISORDERED INDIVIDUALS AND DISORDERED HOUSEHOLDS: SPECULATIONS ON THE EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHER CHARACTER-TYPE...................... 177 The Experimental Philosopher: Man versus Speculations ..................... 182 Samuel Butler’s Speculations on the Experimental Philosopher ............ 188 Speculation on the Restoration Stage .................................................... 195 The Virtuoso ......................................................................................... 199 The Emperor of the Moon ..................................................................... 207 The Afterlives of Gimcrack and Baliardo ............................................. 220 VI. CONCLUSION: “TWO WORLDS AT THE END OF THEIR POLES”: THE NEED FOR “SCIENCE” AND ART ................................ 232 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 245 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Definitions of Physics and Natural Philosophy ............................................................. 42 Table 2. Definitions of Speculation ........................................................................................... 63 Table 3. Definitions Related to the Imagination ............................................................ 67 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Everything must have a beginning, […] and that beginning must be linked to something that went before.1 Mary Shelley Within the field of Restoration and eighteenth-century studies, critics have investigated the relationship between literature and science for almost a century.2 Much of this work has included efforts to define “science” in that era, acknowledging that the word “science” has a different denotation in the Restoration and eighteenth century and that what precedes the modern term “science” is better labeled as “natural philosophy.” Even among specialists, however, there has been insufficient enquiry into tensions between categories for what now might be called “pre-science” and what was then known as “natural