Public Voices, Private Closets, and Naked Truth: The Pamphlet Wars, 1640-1660 Georgia Lee Wilder A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Enylish University of Toronto @ Copyright by Georgia Lee Wilder ZOO0 Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rw WemW Ottawa ON K1A ON1 WONKlAW Canada CaMda The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, disttibuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/6ilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othewise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. To my partner. Anna and to my parents. Jim and Barbara McBride Georgia Lee Wilder ZOO0 Public Voices. Private Closets, and Naked Truth: The Pamphlet Wars. 1 640- 1 660 Doctoral Thesis. 2000 Graduate Department of English by Georgia Lee Wilder Abstract In 1640. George A. Thornason. perceiving that he lived in interesting times. attempted to colIect every pamphlet which the presses produced. Censorship collapsed the following year. In an unprecedented printculture revolution. women and nien îkom a wide range of social backgrounds and ideologicd perspectives entered into a war of words. As this pamphlet warfare is fimdamentally dialogic, my thesis investigates a wide range of printed ephemera with emphasis on texts which occasioned an extended series of responses. To its participants. the levelling of the press engendered anarchy and babble. In Bak ht i nian terms. this pamphlet warfare constitutes heteroglossia. The tendency of respondents to utilize each other's rhetoric. however, created a dependency on shared tropes and images. with the human body. ofien feminized or transgendered, being a common figure for the timcs. 1 argue that the body becomes the dominant literary iopos of this factioned state. My Introduction notes that the pamphlet wars are tiequently dismissed as a literary aberration, and reconsiders the value of the aberrant. Chapter 1 addresses the perception that civil war pamphlets are anti-literary products of a unified 'Puritan' agenda. and acknowledges the critical repositioning of civil war literature within this past decade. This chapter outlines some rhetorical innovations of the pamphlet wars. discussing tigurations of the body in the pamphlet genre. Chapter 2 focuses on images of the transgendered body. and traces the politicization of gendering from Jacobean fashion debates through 10 interregnum satires. Chapter 3 investigates the politics of early modem cooking manuals. Using the titular conceit of a 'closet opened' or 'cabinet unlocked.' cookbooks promise to expose the female body and its private space to the public gaze. Chapter 4. by contrast. discusses vying masculinities. In debates regarding monarchy versus constitutional govemment. the body politic becomes an ailegory featuring a (male) ruling head and its (female) govemed body In Chapter 5.1 argue that Milton's Presbyterian detracton equate his divorce tracts with a 'domestic violence' which creates faction and schism in the body poiitic. Under the aegis of Crornweil's tolerationism. Utopian socialists levelled the body politic, refusing to subordinate to any head that was determined either by gender or estate. My Conclusion points to Restoration imperatives to re-embody masculine. monarchical authonty, and reinvent the boundaries of female space. Acknowledgements 1 would first Iike to thank Professor A. H. de Quehen. who has been a superb supervisor. Professors Michael Dixon and Mary Nyquist. who formed my advisory cornmittee, have also been enomously attentive throughout every stage of this project. 1 am doubly indebted to Professor Dixon, who has supported my endeavoun as both a member of my cornmittee. and as the Director of Graduate Studies in English. As well. 1 would like to extend a very special Thank You to Professor Nyquist for entrusting me with her unpublished work. and for her friendship and support while we were in Wales. Working with this committee has ken both a privilege and a pleasure. 1 would also Iike to thank Professor Heather Campbell, my extemal examiner, for responding to my work with such interest, enthusiasm. and attention to detail. Throughout my studies at the University of Toronto, 1 have also been guided by the wisdom and thoughtfihess of Professor Emeritus F.T. Flahiff. 1 am extremely gratetùl to a11 those who shared their expertise, and expressed their confidence in my abilities and ideas. 1 hope that in- the cornpletion of this project 1 have fûlfilled their expectations. Funding for my graduate studies has ken provided by Ontario Graduate Scholarships, the University of Toronto English Department. and the School of Graduate Studies. 1 would especially like to thank Sharon Walton and Cecilia Martino. who have frequently gone beyond the cd1 of duty to organize and expedite the enormous flow of papework which has made this endeavour possible. In the process of researching my topic. Professor Joseph Black at the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies. Toronto. the librarians at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the micro-text staff at Robarts Library. were extremely helpful. A11 images which 1 have reproduced in this dissertation are fiom micro-text. and 1 am very grateful to University Microfilms international for having the opportunity to utilize their resources. Throughout my years as a student at the University of Toronto. 1 have had many outstanding mentors, fiends. and colleagues. 1 would like to express rny admiration of Dn. Mark McDayter, Chantel Lavoie, Susan Glover. Tanya Wood. and David Tortell. who have been my role models in graduate studies. and who have been extrernely generous with their time and ideas. Joan Rawlins and Ned Djordjevic deserve outstanding thanks for editing and proof-reading rny thesis, and for providing me with their expert advice. Any emors which remain are, of course. my own. Finaliy, and most importantly. 1 would Iike to thank Anna Gutmanis for her love, patience, intelligent insights, and constant encouragement - and for tenaciously enduring some difficult times x, that we cmnow ceiebrate together. Preface My primary resource for printed ephemera is the Thomason Tracts ( 1640- 166 1), available through microtext facsimiles. AI1 citations from the Thomason coIIection are followed by the catalogue number. Where texts cited predate the Thomason Tracts. 1 have viewed the works catalogued by Pollard and Redgrave, and have prefaced the short-title catalogue number with STC. For works which Thomason omitted, or texts published after 166 1. 1 have cited the second edition of the Donald Wing shon-title catalogue. and indicated the Wing number. In cases where more than one copy of a text exists, 1 have attempted to cite the copy which is most complete and legible. Frontispiece illustrations and title pages. for example. tend not to be available on al1 extant copies. Where possible, 1 have exarnined original texts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, or at the Fisher Rare Book Library and the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, Toronto. 1 have noted the location of these holdings in my bibliography. I have preserved original spellings. but replaced the -long s' with "S." and "Wwith "W." 1 have retained capitaiization and italics within quotations. but amended titles to conform to MLA style. 1 have also altered the Lady Day dating to represent the year as begiming January 1. As pamphleteers frequently use anomalous spellings- improper ternis. and colloquid language in wordplay, 1 have inserted 'sic' only in instances where a typographical error interferes with the sense of the text. In cases where the text provides a putative author. 1 have listed the text under that name, even if it pseudonymous. Where Thomason provides an anribution, 1 have followed his attribution, and cross-indexed it with any corresponding pseudonyms. 1 have not followed Donald Wing's attributions unless an entry in the Stationer's Register or modem scholarly evidence confins the attribution. Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements Preface vi Table of Contents vii List of Illustrations viii List of Abbreviations i x Introduction: Aberrant Literature, 1640-1660 1 Chapter 1. The Pamphlet Wars: Heteroglossia and Critical Utopian Socialism 8 Chapter 2. This Body is Not a Lovesong: Public Voices and Uncivil Wars 53 Chapter 3. Private Closets, Secret Recipes. and Monstrous Appetites 100 Chapter 4. Masculine Constitutions: The Naked Truth 148 Chapter 5. Divorce and the Levelled Body 183 Conclusion: Response Texts and Restoration 23 1 Appendix 1. John Taylor and The Parlament of Women ( 1640): An Attribution 236 Bibliography 243 vii List of Illustrations Figure 1 "The Rebellion of the Hands and Feet" ( 165 1) Figure 2 A Deciaration of a Strange and Wondertul 1 ,Monster ( 1 646) Figure 3 The Ranters Monster ( 1652) Figure 4 John Taylor. Mad Fashions (1 642)