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2009 University of Oxford undergraduate history thesis
Citation preview
Nonconformist female poets in the late seventeenth
century: a study of Mary Mollineux, Julia Palmer
and Katherine Sutton.
Hannah Smith
Word count: 12,474
1
Contents
List of abbreviations 3
Introduction 4
Chapter 1: ‘The secrets of God are sometime with pore weak 8ones that fear him’1: the politics of authorship.
Chapter 2: ‘Believe, and stand thou tall’2: politics, persecution 18and patience.
Chapter 3: ‘I’de burn, in flames of love to thee’3: sexuality, 32death and empowerment.
Conclusion 45
Bibliography 47
Abbreviations1 Experiences, p. 40.2 Fruits, p. 42.3 ‘Centuries’, p. 17.
2
‘Centuries’ Victoria Burke and Elizabeth Clarke (eds.), The ‘Centuries’ of Julia Palmer (Nottingham, 2001).
Experiences Katherine Sutton, A Christian Womans Experiences of the glorious workings of Gods free Grace (Rotterdam, 1663).
Fruits Mary Mollineux, Fruits of Retirement: Or Miscellaneous Poems, Moral and Divine (London, 1702).
Introduction
3
An understanding of the experiences and literary activities of nonconformists is
crucial if a historian is to comprehend the impact of the religious policies of the
Restoration.1 The literary contributions of female nonconformists have, however,
been largely neglected. In his 1984 book The Experience of Defeat: Milton and Some
Contemporaries, Christopher Hill wrote that he was
disappointed not to be able to find any woman who left adequate evidence of her experience of defeat. Women played an important part in the religious sects, so this is a comment on the survival of evidence about women in the seventeenth century. Lucy Hutchinson should have been a candidate, but in her Memoirs of her husband she is far too concerned to cover up the Colonel’s weaknesses to allow her own views to come through… Margaret Fell was another possibility, but her main contribution was in the sphere of Quaker organisation rather than of ideas. Mary Cary and Anna Trapnell both fell silent after defeat… Who else?2
A failure to revise Hill’s view on the invisibility of nonconformist women after the
Restoration is apparent in some more recent works. In their 1998 book, Patricia
Crawford and Sarah Mendelson claimed that ‘the repressive legislation of the 1660s
muted both dissent and female voices.’3 Although this view is later qualified, the
statement itself is untenable. This thesis will demonstrate that female nonconformists
were not silenced by legislation, or by any other constraints that they faced. Put
simply, this thesis will respond to Hill’s challenge: ‘Who else?’ by exploring the works
of Julia Palmer, Mary Mollineux and Katherine Sutton.
Calls to recover seventeenth century women’s voices started to be made with
conviction in the late 1980s.4 In her introduction to Kissing the Rod: An Anthology of
17th Century Women’s Verse, published in 1988, Germaine Greer stated that this
ground-breaking anthology could not be considered ‘comprehensive’ because ‘we
1 See, for example, N. H. Keeble, The Literary Culture of Nonconformity in Later Seventeenth-Century England (Leicester, 1987); S. Achinstein, Literature and Dissent in Milton’s England (Cambridge, 2003).2 C. Hill, The Experience of Defeat, Milton and Some Contemporaries (London, 1984), p. 21.3 S. Mendelson and P. Crawford, Women in early modern England 1550-1720 (Oxford, 1998), p. 420.4 R. Wray, Women writers of the seventeenth century, (Tavistock, 2004) p. 23.
4
are at the beginning of the long process of literary archaeology.’5 The challenge was
taken up by subsequent literary historians, and a compelling array of seventeenth-
century women’s literature has been published and analysed.6 The literary activities
of nonconformists after the Restoration have also received greater attention since the
1980s. Two works have been particularly influential in highlighting nonconformists’
literary importance. Sharon Achinstein’s Literature and Dissent in Milton’s England
aimed to ‘bring Dissent to the fore’ by showing that nonconformists’ ‘vibrant literary
culture’ constituted ‘significant social action.’7 Neil Keeble took a slightly different
approach in his book The Literary Culture of Nonconformity in Seventeenth-century
England: he elected to draw attention to the more introspective aspects of dissenting
literature.8 However, in spite of these advances, the contribution made by
nonconformist female poetry to dissenting culture and politics in the Restoration
remains relatively overlooked.
In Kissing the Rod, Greer mentions that one of the poets that ‘we have not found’ is
‘Julia Palmer’.9 Palmer, a Westminster-based Presbyterian whose poetry was written
between 1671 and 1673, is one of the three poets whose works will be examined in
this thesis.10 In order to reflect the heterogeneity of nonconformity in the late
seventeenth century, the works of two other poets who belonged to different
nonconformist movements will be explored. Mary Mollineux’s poetry constitutes an
important insight into the experiences of the Quakers in the Restoration. Her work
was printed posthumously in 1702, but it circulated in manuscript form amongst her
5 G. Greer, J. Medoff, M. Sansone and S. Hastings (eds.) Kissing the Rod: An Anthology of 17th Century Women’s Verse (London, 1988), p. 31.6 See, for example, S. Wiseman (ed.), Women, Writing, History 1640-1740 (London, 1992); P. Salzman, Reading Early Modern Women’s Writing (Oxford, 2006); S. Prescott and D. Shuttleton (eds.), Women and Poetry 1660-1750 (Basingstoke, 2003). 7 Achinstein, Literature and Dissent, p. 3.8 Keeble, Literary Culture.9 Greer, Medoff, Sansone and Hastings, Kissing the Rod, p. 31.10 Palmer’s work was edited by Elizabeth Clarke and Victoria Burke and published in 2001. See ‘Centuries’, pp. i-ii.
5
close friends and family members during her lifetime.11 The third writer is Katherine
Sutton, a Baptist who published a spiritual autobiography containing verse
prophecies in 1663. Presbyterians, Quakers and Baptists differed in terms of their
modes of political engagement and constructions of gender; this thesis will explore
the ways in which such differences are reflected in the writings of these female
authors.
Although they belonged to different movements and should not be homogenised, it is
important to identify similarities between the authors in order to illuminate shared
aspects of nonconformist culture. The writers constructed their works within different
political situations; however, a shared nonconformist experience of exclusion and
persecution is evident. The similarities in the ways in which the authors responded to
constructions of gender are also instructive. Chapter 1 will show that the poets
adopted comparable methods to validate their authorship, while Chapter 3 will
highlight similarities in the poets’ discussions of death and sexuality. A further
similarity between the writers is that they all engaged with politics. The political
activities of nonconformist women in the Restoration are rarely fully acknowledged,
despite the fact that the importance of women to nonconformist movements in the
civil war period has long been recognised.12 This thesis will show that nonconformist
women engaged with politics both explicitly and in their more introspective writings.
Moreover, their attempts to legitimise their authorial voices had subversive, and
therefore political, undertones. None of these women would have recognised their
work as ‘evidence of her experience of defeat:’13 rather, the works are symbols of
resistance. The poets were politically aware and deeply concerned with their
communities, and were certainly not quietists who fell ‘silent after defeat’.14
11 Prescott and Shuttleton, Women and Poetry, pp. 142-143.12 See K. V. Thomas, ‘Women and the Civil War Sects’, Past and Present 13 (1958).13 Hill, Experience of Defeat, p. 21. A comparable argument is made by G. Southcombe in ‘The Responses of Nonconformists to the Restoration in England’ (Oxford D. Phil thesis, 2005), see particularly p. 3.14 Hill, Experience of Defeat, p. 21.
6
1. ‘The secrets of God are sometime with pore weak ones that fear him’:1 the politics of authorship.
1 Experiences, p. 40.
7
When God was pleased to poure out his Spirit upon some of his faithful servants in our Generation, he had also some of his Handmaides, who gathered up the Crumes of the spiritual Bread… this holy Matron was one.2
The opening sentence of Hanserd Knollys’ preface to Katherine Sutton’s A Christian
Womans Experiences of the glorious workings of Gods free grace is an illuminating
insight into the status of women Baptists. As ‘Handmaides’, they were of secondary
importance to ‘servants’; women were both an afterthought and a novelty. As a
woman Baptist, Sutton had to negotiate the patriarchal construction of gender
present within her movement in order to write for publication. The frameworks within
which Mary Mollineux and Julia Palmer constructed their works were, inevitably,
different, owing to the variations between nonconformist movements. Nonetheless,
they, too, employed effective strategies to create autonomous authorial voices. The
ways in which female prophets in the 1640s and 1650s negotiated constructions of
gender in order to preach and publish have already been explored, relatively
extensively, by historians.3 Phyllis Mack has argued that a woman in the 1650s could
‘justify her authority’ by assuming ‘the literal embodiment of a feminine archetype:
God’s… handmaid.’4 Elaine Hobby, meanwhile, claims that in the 1640s and 1650s,
prophets could ‘publish the fruits of their divine inspiration’ because they identified ‘as
“weak vessels”’, but by ‘the late 1660s, such behaviour had become unacceptable as
part of feminine identity.’5 This chapter will demonstrate, to the contrary, that the
methods used in earlier decades were adopted and extended by nonconformist
women poets in the Restoration. K.V. Thomas remarks that the ‘challenge’ which
these women posed to ‘traditional ideas of the passive and subordinate role of
women in the Church and in society is obvious.’6 It is the contention of this chapter
that the political challenge embodied in nonconformist women’s mode of authorship
2 Ibid, p. i.3 Wray, Women writers, p. 2. 4 P. Mack, Visionary Women: ecstatic prophecy in seventeenth-century England (Oxford, 1992), p.23.5 E. Hobby, Virtue of Necessity: English women’s writing, 1649-1688 (London, 1988), p. 48.6 Thomas, ‘Civil War Sects’, p. 48.
8
is not obvious, and deliberately so. Female stereotypes of passivity and
subordination were not overthrown; rather, they were appropriated in order to
legitimise authorship. Modesty, therefore, had a powerful political purpose.
Prejudices against women writing and speaking in public were widespread in
seventeenth century English society.7 Writing for publication was regarded by many
as an immodest act, and such immodesty was linked to sexual impropriety.8 Silence
was widely held to be a feminine ideal, and hostility to the idea of women assuming
public religious roles was common. The Bible was the primary authority upon which
such beliefs were based: St Paul, for instance, instructed: ‘let your women keep
silence in the churches.’9 Baptists, amongst others, regarded the New Testament
texts which prohibited women from teaching in churches as authoritative.10 In reality,
of course, expectations of silence and humility did not deter all women from writing
for a public audience.11 Importantly, there were tensions within patriarchal
constructions of gender and expectations of women which each poet could take
advantage of to validate her authorship.
The stereotype of a modest woman could be exploited to legitimise female
authorship. Hanserd Knollys, an influential Baptist divine, was keen to construct an
image of Sutton as a modest figure in his preface to her work. Knollys describes
Sutton’s ‘little book’ as merely a ‘Basket full of fragments’, and asks the reader not to
‘judge her’.12 Sutton is depicted as a ‘poor gracious humble soul’13 and located firmly
within the private sphere of the family. Her good work was contained, Knollys writes,
7 Wray, Women writers, p. 55.8 W. Wall, The Imprint of Gender: Authorship and Publication in the English Renaissance (London, 1993), p. 280. 9 Cor xiv. 34.10 B.R. White, The English Baptists of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1983), p. 136.11 P. Crawford, ‘Women’s published writings 1600-1700’ in M. Prior, Women in English Society 1500-1800 (London 1985), p. 231.12 Experiences, p. i.13 Ibid., p. iii.
9
‘both in her own family especially, and also in some other families.’14 Although it
appears to be patronising in tone, Knollys’ preface should not be regarded as a self-
contained work. In reality, it served to increase the acceptability of Sutton’s spiritual
journal within the framework of the Baptist movement. Baptist authorities broadly
believed that the influence of women should be confined to a familial setting: Thomas
Grantham, a leader of the General Baptists, held that women should exercise their
gifts for teaching ‘in a private way’,15 preferably in the company only of women.16 The
ideal Baptist woman was one who spoke in, but did not attempt to lead, church
meetings, and who paid visits to errant members in order to advise or reprimand
them.17 Thus, by claiming that Sutton was primarily a ‘Prophetess in her family’, one
whose most useful function was chastising ‘young children’ and instructing ‘elder
maidens’,18 Knollys strengthened her claim to be considered a virtuous Baptist
woman. This, in turn, afforded her authorship gravity and authority.
Sutton reinforces Knollys’ account of her as a modest woman. That she should do so
is unsurprising: as Danielle Clarke points out, ‘women writers were in a dialogue with
their male contemporaries, and often the reverse is also true.’19 Sutton variously
describes herself as a ‘knotty piece… to work upon’20 and a ‘poor weak worthless
worm’.21 She believes that her ‘understanding is so dull, that I am (and was at the
best) a poor empty one’.’22 Sutton’s self-deprecating reflections substantiate Knollys’
implicit claim that her modesty and piety are such that it is acceptable for her to
publish as a Baptist woman.
14 Ibid., p. ii. 15 White, English Baptists, p. 15516 Ibid.17 R.L. Greaves, Triumph over silence: women in Protestant history (London, 1985), p. 7.18 Experiences, p. ii. 19 D. Clarke and E. Clarke (eds.) This double voice: gendered writing in early modern England (Basingstoke, 2000), p.13.20 Experiences, p. 4.21 Ibid, p. 21.22 Experiences, p. 21.
10
Claims to modesty are not peculiar to Sutton. Palmer makes much of her ‘humble
suit’,23 while Mollineux describes her own ‘true meekness and Humility’ in bowing
‘down before the Glorious Majesty’.24 All three writers refer to themselves as
‘worms’25 and disclaim a desire to publish. Sutton claims to have been troubled by
the idea of publishing her thoughts during her lifetime, stating that she was ‘not
willing they should be published whilst I am living: my reason was, because I am a
poor weak worthless worm.’26 Palmer’s insights into her character also lead her to
claim a reluctance to expose her thoughts to public scrutiny. Addressing her soul,
she says:
Sometimes thou fearst hipocrisieWhen cecreet prid, thou dost espyAnd so to speak art lothrevolving wroungto hold thy toungeAnd silent, be hencforth27
In this verse, Palmer demonstrates her awareness of contemporaries’ inclination to
judge women who elect to speak publicly about their faith: she is afraid of being
considered an impious hypocrite. Indeed, Jacqueline Eales has shown that in the
mid-seventeenth century, Presbyterian women, like Baptist women, were expected to
exhibit holiness primarily within a familial setting: ‘they are commonly portrayed as
pious… the centre of religious life within their homes.’28 Seeking to justify her
decision to break her silence, and thus defy convention, Palmer diverts all
responsibility for her actions towards God:
Not unto me, not unto meebut to thy holy nameLet all the praise, & glory beto thee belongs the same29
23 ‘Centuries’, p. 61, Fruits, p. 88, Experiences p. 21. 24 Fruits, p. 41.25 See, for example, ‘Centuries’, p. 81.26 Experiences, p. 21.27 ‘Centuries’, p. 157. 28 J. Eales, ‘Samuel Clarke and the ‘Lives’ of Godly Women in Seventeenth-Century England’, in W. Sheils and D. Wood (eds.) Women in the Church (Oxford, 1990) p.369.29 ‘Centuries’, p. 81.
11
Sutton’s concern about the adverse judgement of others also leads her to claim a
lack of agency:
if it was not out of obedience to God, it should not have com’d to your view, neither would I have put my name to it, if I could have avoided it, for fear of the rash judgement of some, least it should be thought, I did it out of pride. 30
Indeed, Sutton repeatedly justifies her work by insisting on its status as a product of
her submissiveness. She claims that she experienced ‘sickness of agues and
feavours’ throughout her life because she had not shared her prophesies: ‘I did
deaclare something, but not so fully as I should.’31 Although she does eventually
record her experiences, they are ‘lost’ when her ship is ‘cast away’ on a voyage to
Holland because ‘God was displeased with mee, for not putting them in print.’32 This
particular incident features more than once in the manuscript; indeed, it was common
for authors of spiritual journals to highlight particularly significant events in this way.33
Sutton therefore claims that she published her work not voluntarily, but because she
was compelled to make account of what God had gifted to her remembrance.
Unlike Sutton, Mollineux elected not to publish her work during her lifetime. Tyrall
Ryder, writing the second preface to Mollineux’s work, attributes her decision to her
modest character:
She did not strive, nor glory, to appearIn gifts or Parts, but still to live in Fear34
Mollineux rejected Ryder’s attempts to convince her to publish her poetry, claiming
that ‘she was not then free, that her Name should be exposed; she not seeking
Praise amongst Men.’35 In her own poetry, she argues that
Liberty
30 Experiences, p. 40.31 I. Mallard, ‘The Hymns of Katherine Sutton’, The Baptist Quarterly, xx (1963), p. 28. 32 Experiences, p. 22.33 E. Clarke, ‘Elizabeth Jekyll’s Spiritual Diary: Private Manuscript or Political Document?’, English Manuscript Studies, 9 (2000), p. 222.34 Fruits, p. xiii. 35 Ibid.
12
That’s inconsistent with true Modesty, Is not desir’d36
Mollineux’s stress on modesty may, at first, seem surprising, given that Quaker
women are widely believed to have enjoyed greater public prominence than other
nonconformist women. The impact of early Quaker women was certainly
considerable: they were active as ministers and missionaries, and they wrote
numerous political tracts.37 However, Mollineux, born in 1651, belonged to a later
generation of Quaker women whose status within the movement was more
problematic. In the 1670s, the Quakers began to adopt a more rigid structure to
ensure their survival. Prophetic elements in the movement were increasingly frowned
upon, and overtly inflammatory manuscripts were censored from 1673 onwards by
the Second-Day’s Morning Meeting.38 These developments certainly affected radical
women within the Quaker movement.39 Moreover, the rights of Quaker women to
witness and preach in mixed meetings declined after the establishment of fortnightly
Women’s Meetings in 1671.40 Such constraints may have been part of the reason
why Henry Mollineux stated that his wife ‘was not free to commit’ her poems ‘to
Publick view in her life-time.’41
However, although the constraining effects of expectations about modesty were, in
all likelihood, deeply felt by Mollineux, she also had a more strategic purpose in
invoking claims to humility. Mollineux points in her poetry to the defensive power of
modesty, stating that it can act as a ‘strong Fortress’, a ‘sure Defence’: the ‘Virgin’s
Ornament’.42 Thus, modesty could strengthen the authorial voice, leaving it less
36 Ibid, p. 77.37 K. Peters, Print culture and the early Quakers (Cambridge, 2005), p.125.38 J. Cope, ‘Seventeenth-Century Quaker Style’, Publications of the Modern Language Association, lxxi (1956), p. 753. 39 E. Clarke, ‘The legacy of mothers and others: women’s theological writing, 1640-60’ in Durston, C. and Maltby, J. (eds.) Religion in Revolutionary England (Manchester, 2006), p. 85.40 P. Crawford, Women and Religion in England 1500-1720 (London, 1993), p. 197. 41 Fruits, p. xvii. 42 Fruits., p. 78.
13
vulnerable to slanderous challenges. Mollineux was acutely aware of the ways in
which a convincing display of modesty could affect a reader:
Modesty doth many ways expressTo all Observers, innate Comeliness, Modest Attire, and Meekness, signify,A Mind compos’d of Native Purity. 43
In this verse, Mollineux explicitly associates modesty, both in behaviour and attire,
with piety. Henry Mollineux’s preface further suggests that this was a deliberately
cultivated persona: ‘learning to be lowly in Heart, she chose to appear little to Men’.44
Mollineux, it is clear, was not willing to compromise her modest image during her
lifetime because of the protection that it afforded her. However, she was willing for
her poetry to be published after her death, because this would remove any
suggestion that her work was motivated by vanity or a desire for self-
aggrandisement.45 Thus, her death enhanced the legitimacy of Mollineux’s authorial
voice.46 It is this, rather than Jean E. Mortimer’s contention that ‘she was not among
the fiery souls who could not rest until they had convinced the world of the truth of
Quaker beliefs’, 47 which helps to explain why Mollineux refused to see her work
published in her lifetime.
Another important way in which the poets negotiated patriarchal constructions of
gender was by drawing attention to their status as the ‘weaker vessels.’48 Notions of
female weakness were developed and perpetuated by lawyers, physicians,
philosophers and theologians, amongst others, and owed much to the biblical
emphasis on the secondary status of women.49 However, their alleged moral,
physical and intellectual weaknesses paradoxically meant that women were believed
43 Ibid., p. 77.44 Ibid., p. xv.45 E. Clarke, ‘Elizabeth Jekyll’, p. 233.46 E. Clarke, ‘Legacy of mothers’ p. 85.47 J.E. Mortimer, ‘An Early Quaker Poet: Mary (Southworth) Mollineux, d. 1696’, Journal of the Friends’ Historical Society, 53 (1973), p. 135.48 1 Peter iii.749 Mendelson and Crawford, Women in early modern England, p. 16.
14
to be more naturally receptive to the influence of God.50 That is, their physical frailty
and ‘irrational’ natures were taken to be conducive to piety.51 The Baptist Edward
Drapes believed that women were capable of receiving ‘an immediate gift from
heaven’ and was prepared to allow women to prophesise on this basis.52 Quakers,
meanwhile, believed that the Inner Light, God’s guiding presence, could exist in
women as well as men.53 Richard Farnworth proclaimed: ‘let the Spirit speak for that
is permitted either in Son or Daughter… your Daughters shall prophecy as well as
sons,’54 while George Fox agreed: ‘the light is the same in the male, and in the
female which commeth from Christ… every one, receiving the light which comes from
Christ, shall receive the spirit of prophesie, whether they be male or female.’55
Nonconformist female prophets in the 1640s and 1650s had already exploited
notions of the mutability of their sex. For example, Mary Cary, a Fifth Monarchist who
wrote on various political subjects, protested that she was a ‘very weak, and
unworthy instrument’ who had not done ‘this work by any strength of my own.’56 This
model of authorship was harnessed and extended by the later poets, who are at
pains to emphasise their suitability for receiving and articulating God’s messages.
Palmer highlights her malleability in a succinct and effective metaphor, declaring:
‘Thou art the potter, I thy clay’.57 Similarly, Sutton claims to be a ‘changeable
creature’ whose work is ‘not of or from myself, but the Spirit of Gods working in and
upon a poor weak creature.’58 Lyndal Roper has convincingly shown that the fact that
50 M. Margo, ‘Spiritual Autobiography and Radical Sectarian Women’s Discourse: Anna Trapnel and the Bad Girls of the English Revolution’, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 34 (2004), p. 414.51 C. Peters, Women in Early Modern Britain 1450-1640 (Basingstoke, 2004), pp. 1, 132.52 White, English Baptists, p. 145.53 J. Tual, ‘Sexual Equality and Conjugal Harmony: The Way to Celestial Bliss. A View of Early Quaker Matrimony’, The Journal of the Friends’ Historical Society, 55 (1988), pp. 162-163.54 R. Farnworth, A Woman Forbidden to Speak in the Church (London, 1654), pp. 4, 7. 55 G. Fox, The Woman Learning in Silence, (London, 1656), pp. 5-6.56 M. Cary, The Little Horns Doom and Downfall (London, 1651), quoted in Thomas, ‘Civil War Sects’, p. 56.57 ‘Centuries’, p. 17. 58 Experiences, p. 26.
15
early modern witches’ narratives ‘came from the Devil’ did ‘not rob women of agency’
because it was the women themselves who ‘listened to the Devil’s voice.’59 A similar
claim can be made for these poets. By insisting that they were moulded by God, they
were not denying their own agency; to the contrary, they were the ones who were
sufficiently weak to listen to and convey the voice of God.60 Far from eradicating
female agency, these authors actually reinforced it, because the validity of their
authorship was based in part upon their ability to channel God’s spirit, which in itself
depended upon the alleged weakness of their sex.61 Sutton makes explicit the
correlation between the weakness of the individual and the holiness of their work: ‘if
thou beest acted by the Spirit of God, weak means often times becomes effectual to
accomplish great things.’ 62 Similarly, Mollineux claims that ‘Humble-Hearted’ will be
‘Exalted’, while Palmer states:
The weaker, is the instrumentOn which thou workst, the more twill tendTo thy free graces, praiseWhen thou from it, shalt raiseglory, it willShew forth thy skill63
Thus, these poets drew attention to their perceived inadequacies in similar ways,
describing themselves modestly as ‘worthless worm’64 and ‘worthless bride’.65 All
three writers endeavoured to counter prejudices against women writing and validate
their authorship by demonstrating both their piety and their weakness. Such
manipulations of constructions of gender were highly subversive and therefore
political. However, although these writers employed relatively similar methods to
legitimise their writings, the subtleties in their works should not be lost sight of. In
59 L. Roper, Oedipus and the Devil: witchcraft, sexuality and religion in early modern Europe (London, 1994), p. 20. 60 Wray, Women writers, p. 55.61 H. Hinds, God’s Englishwomen: seventeenth century radical sectarian writing and feminist criticism (Manchester, 1996), p. 107. 62 Experiences, p. 31.63 ‘Centuries’, p. 207.64 Experiences, p. 21.65 ‘Centuries’, p. 268.
16
particular, this Chapter has shown that each writer responded to particular concerns
about gender roles within her movement. Nonetheless, Sutton neatly summarises the
broad purpose of the writers’ identification with ideal of the weak and feeble woman:
‘the secrets of God are sometime with pore weak ones that fears him.’66
2. ‘Believe, and stand thou tall’:1 politics, persecution and patience.
I am a stranger in this worldThis world, seems strang to me2
The frequent denunciations of the world contained in the works of Palmer, Sutton and
Mollineux appear, at first, to support the widely-held view that nonconformists were
detached from politics in the Restoration period.3 Elaine Hobby argues that ‘sectaries
were gradually reduced to silence and inertia’ after 1660,4 while Keeble rather
66 Experiences, p. 31.1 Fruits, p. 42.2 ‘Centuries’, p. 29. 3 Hill, The Experience of Defeat.4 Hobby, Virtue of Necessity, p. 26.
17
overstates the extent to which nonconformist writing was ‘private in an age which
was going public.’5 These works were ‘public’ ones which attempted to sustain and
defend particular nonconformist communities. In light of the persecutory legislation
directed against nonconformists in the 1660s, such efforts were inherently political.
However, the poets’ modes of political engagement varied, and these variations
largely reflect the differences between the movements to which they belonged.
Presbyterians found themselves excluded from the state church for the first time after
the 1662 Act of Uniformity.6 Responses to ejection varied amongst Presbyterians,
which rendered the political conditions within which Palmer wrote her poetry
particularly complex. Although it is coded, a reading of Palmer’s poetry in context
shows that she did respond to political events in her writings. Quakers and Baptists,
unlike some Presbyterians, declined to seek comprehension within the state church.
Mollineux’s attacks upon those whose policies were designed to oppress Quakers
are therefore explicit, while Sutton engages with politics by denouncing prescribed
forms of worship as unholy. Thus, their expressions of despair do not signal their
detachment from politics: rather, they underscore their engagement with it.
The works of all three authors were intended for public audiences. Katherine Sutton
published her work in 1663 in Rotterdam, where there was a prominent Baptist
community.7 Sutton clearly wished for her work to be an example to ‘people of God’
at the ‘present time’: she urges her ‘dear Christian friends’ to ‘take notice of that great
love and wonderful grace of God’.8 Palmer, similarly, demonstrates her desire to be
an inspiring figure for the aspirant godly. She asks that she may be
Enlightened by, thy rays devineThat I to others, still may beA light, to lead them unto thee9
5 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 211.6 G. Nuttall and O. Chadwick (eds.), From Uniformity to Unity 1662-1962 (London, 1962), p. 93.7 Mallard, ‘Katherine Sutton’, p. 24.8 Experiences, p. 21.9 ‘Centuries’, p. 171.
18
Indeed, the fact that Palmer bequeathed her work to two wealthy, influential
apothecaries shows that she intended to inspire an influential Presbyterian circle
after her death.10 Mary Mollineux’s poetry was not published until the eighteenth
century, after her death; however, it circulated in manuscript form during her
lifetime.11 Her work evidently had an impact upon her fellow Quakers while she was
still alive: Tyrall Ryder recalls feeling a ‘Unity of Spirit’ with the ‘Verses’ that Mollineux
gave him, and he alludes to the way in which she ‘communicate[d] the Exercise of
peculiar Gifts amongst her near Friends and Acquaintance.’12 All three writers sought
to engage with their communities: their poems should, accordingly, be regarded as
tools of political intervention.
The presumption that nonconformists retreated to ‘silence and inertia’13 is
understandable to some degree given the volume and severity of the measures
passed against them in the Restoration. The Clarendon Code of the 1660s was
designed to silence nonconformists. In 1662, nonconformists were expelled from the
Church of England under the Act of Uniformity, which required ministers to assent to
a revised prayer book.14 A Licensing Act was passed in the same year which forbade
books that contained opinions or doctrines in opposition to the discipline or doctrine
of the Church of England.15 The First Conventicle Act, passed in 1664, forbade
religious meetings of five or more people that were not conducted in accordance with
the established church’s liturgy. The 1665 Five Mile Act banned ministers who
refused to take an oath of non-resistance from coming within five miles of ‘any city,
corporation, parliamentary borough or any place they had ministered.’16 The Second
10 Ibid., p. vii.11 Achinstein, ‘Romance of the Spirit: Female Sexuality and Religious Desire in Early Modern England’, English Literary History, 69 (2002), p. 431.12 Fruits, p. xvii. 13 Hobby, Virtue of Necessity, p. 26.14 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 30. 15 Southcombe, ‘Responses of Nonconformists’, p. 11.16 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 46.
19
Conventicle Act of 1670 heightened the power of individual Justices of the Peace to
act against nonconformists, and was labelled by Andrew Marvell as ‘the
quintessence of arbitrary malice.’17 In the 1670s, sympathy towards nonconformists
grew amongst Anglican laymen, but the Clarendon Code continued to be enforced.18
Proposals to change the status of nonconformists were made in 1680;19 however,
these proved unsuccessful and nonconformists’ suffering escalated during the ‘Tory
revenge’ of 1681-6.20 Nonetheless, nonconformists did not suffer in silence, as the
writings of these three poets clearly demonstrate.
Mary Mollineux’s work has frequently, and wrongly, been characterised as concerned
primarily with retirement.21 The political content of her work has been overlooked
partly because the prevailing view amongst historians holds that ‘indifference to
politics characterised Quakers after 1660.’22 The Quakers’ desire to secure toleration
after 1660, it is claimed, led them to adopt a broadly pacifist position and stand aloof
from politics and society.23 The supposed retreat of Quaker women from politics has
been particularly remarked upon. Certainly, by 1660 their more confrontational
activities, such as their tendency to interrupt worship services and preach in streets
and marketplaces,24 occasionally wearing sackcloth and “earth” upon their heads,25
had all but ceased. However, it is an overstatement to say, as Mack does, that
‘women as prophets retired behind the closed doors of the meeting house.’26 As a
17 Marvell to William Popple, 21 March 1670, quoted in Mark Goldie, The Entring Book of Roger Morrice, Volume 1, (Woodbridge, 2007), p. 17. 18 H. Horwitz, ‘Protestant Reconciliation in the Exclusion Crisis’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, xv (1964), p. 202.19 Horwitz, ‘Protestant Reconciliation’, p. 203.20 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 61.21 See, for example, ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Mary Mollineux’ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45818] (22 Feb, 2009).22 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 26.23 A. Cole, ‘The Quakers and the English Revolution’, Past and Present, x (1956) p. 39; see also Hinds, God’s Englishwomen, p. 9. 24 D. Ludlow, ‘Shaking Patriarchy’s Foundations: Sectarian Women in England 1641-1700’ in Greaves, Triumph over Silence, p. 94.25 K. Carroll, ‘Sackcloth and Ashes and other Signs and Wonders’, Journal of the Friends’ Historical Society, liii (1975), p. 314. 26 Mack, Visionary women, p. 2.
20
whole, the movement continued to engage in politics despite its change of strategy.27
The Quakers used various forms of writing, including poetry, to support prisoners,
scrutinise magistrates and criticise legislation.28 It is clear from her work that
Mollineux should be counted amongst those Quakers who used poetry for political
ends.
Mollineux makes her feelings about the authorities who persecute nonconformists
explicit in her poetry. She loathes those who ‘study Politickly to oppose’ God’s ‘Works
of Love and Wonder, in the Land’,29 and in one poem thunders:
What a Succession of Delusion’s here,Whilst Righteous Reason is dethron’d!Shall Darkness thus cover our Hemisphere?...
What, both in former and more modern Days,Should Vertue, as an heinous Crime,Be prosecuted! 30
Mollineux uses a variety of devices in these verses to emphasise her disdain for the
persecutory measures. Her alliteration, ‘Righteous Reason’, slows the pace of the
poem, adding gravity and vehemence. Her anger is reinforced by her use of defiant
rhetorical questions and exclamatory sentences, and her personification of ‘Vertue’
serves to highlight the injustice of the persecution. By deploring those who ‘count
Religion a meer Policy’31 and use ‘their Laws to hinder Righteousness’32 in her poetry,
Mollineux undermines Mack’s assertion that after 1660 the Quakers did not ‘present
themselves dramatically, as prophets holding up a mirror to a corrupt nation’, instead
choosing to ‘stand as high minded, public spirited citizens demonstrating… bourgeois
moral values’.33
27 A. Davies, The Quakers in English Society 1655-1725 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 71-72.28 R.L. Greaves, ‘Shattered Expectations? George Fox, the Quakers, and the Restoration State 1660-1685’, Albion, xxiv (1992), p. 241.29 Fruits, p. 132.30 Fruits, p. 167.31 Ibid., p. 15.32 Ibid., p. 87.33 Mack, Visionary women, p. 309.
21
The political context within which Julia Palmer wrote her poetry was, in important
ways, very different. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Presbyterians hoped
for comprehension within a modified Church of England. However, their hopes were
thwarted by the 1662 Act of Uniformity: a number of Presbyterians were excluded
from the state church because they felt unable, due to claims of conscience, to
assent to the new prayer book.34 By the mid-1660s, two distinct groups had begun to
emerge within Presbyterianism.35 Some Presbyterians continued to desire
comprehension, and endeavoured to make themselves as amenable as possible to
the national church.36 Others, however, accepted their separate status and focused
their attention on gaining toleration.37 In March 1672, Charles II issued a Declaration
of Indulgence which suspended the penal laws for Protestant nonconformists and
Catholics and allowed nonconformists to worship if they held a licence.38 This was
not an entirely positive event for a number of nonconformists, who were troubled by
the King’s disregard for parliament.39 Nonetheless, 939 Presbyterians took out
licences:40 evidently, a significant proportion of those who were critical of the way in
which the Indulgence had been given were prepared to admit that it was the best
option available.41
In all likelihood, Palmer came to accept the toleration offered by the Declaration of
Indulgence as justifiable: her husband received a licence to preach in June 1672.42
However, such acceptance did not prevent her from criticising the policies of the
34 C. Boalm, J. Goring, H. Short, R. Thomas, The English Presbyterians: from Elizabethan Puritanism to moderate Unitarianism (London, 1968), p.83.35 Nuttall and Chadwick, Uniformity to Unity, p.205.36 Nuttall and Chadwick, Uniformity to Unity, p. 205.37 Ibid. 38 J. Spurr, England in the 1670s: this masquerading age (Oxford, 2000), p. 29. 39 Nuttall and Chadwick, Uniformity to Unity, p. 209.40 Ibid., p. 90.41 G. Southcombe and E. Clarke, ‘The “Scarlet staine of Divinity” and the king’s worst subject: Dr Wild and Mr Jekyll’, unpublished paper, p. 13.42 ‘Centuries’, p.xi.
22
state, albeit in a rather coded fashion. Her work resembles a spiritual journal, a
popular form of devotion in the seventeenth century which required the author to
provide evidence of the ways in which they had experienced the work of God in their
life. The genre was assumed to be politically unthreatening, associated as it was with
private femininity and pious devotion.43 However, within this framework, Palmer
criticises the state’s religious policies. Elizabeth Clarke argues that Palmer’s poem
‘From a dark, and cloudy providences, upon the church, & people of God’, dated
June 1672, condemns the Dutch war.44 Indeed, it talks of ‘wicked men’ who ‘doe now
profane’ and ‘plot how they may doe their best/ For to destroy thine interest’;45 the
plotters, Clarke suggests, are ‘the Royalist government of Charles II who are seen as
in league with the French Catholics.’46 The fact that Palmer asks for forgiveness from
‘the guilt of sin’47 suggests that she was responding in this poem to the news that the
English and French fleet had won a victory at the cost of a vast number of lives:48
Yet (Lord) thy people ar thine ownAnd here, thou hast set up thy throneThey ar the deer bought price of bloud49
Issued at the beginning of the war against the Protestant Dutch, the Declaration of
Indulgence had been designed in part to placate nonconformists and to encourage
them not to show overt hostility to the state’s policies.50 Palmer’s poetry, however,
demonstrates that some Presbyterians remained engaged with politics and critical of
events even if they, or someone close to them, had directly benefited from the
Indulgence.51
43 Clarke, ‘Elizabeth Jekyll’, p. 234.44 E. Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory: the Use of Women’s Manuscripts in a Widening Political Arena’ in J. Daybell (ed.) Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450-1700 (London, 2004), p. 219. 45 ‘Centuries’, p. 179. 46 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’, p. 219. 47 ‘Centuries’, p. 179.48 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’, p. 21949 ‘Centuries’, p. 179.50 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’, p. 219.51 Ibid.
23
Katherine Sutton’s treatment of politics is less coded than Palmer’s; indeed, her
opposition to the established church is unmistakable. Sutton places great stress on
her personal holiness: she is dedicated to keeping ‘close to the best teaching
ministry’, marching ‘many miles’ through ‘all weathers’ to attend worthy sermons.52
Even her account of her marriage serves to reinforce Sutton’s piety. She expresses
satisfaction that her husband is dutiful and God-fearing, but there is ‘yet some
difference… in our judgements.’53 By highlighting her husband’s spiritual
shortcomings, Sutton enhances her own claim to godliness. This is intended to reflect
the piety of the Baptists who, in common with Quakers but unlike Presbyterians, were
not aggrieved by their status as nonconformists.54 Sutton underlines the Baptists’
holiness by juxtaposing their practices with the teachings of the established church.
She laments the inadequacies of the ‘prayer-book’,55 and details the ways in which
the Baptists disregarded set forms of worship. Specifically, her stress on her gift for
individual singing reflects the fact that set prayers and choirs were not part of Baptist
services.56 Sutton proceeds to describe her adult baptism and, unsurprisingly, argues
that one of the gravest offences of the state church is the practice of ‘the Christening
of a child’- qualified by contemptuous parentheses ‘(as they call it)’- which she
condemns for its ‘evil and falseness’.57 The Baptists’ insistence that the only true
baptism was through immersion was politically subversive because it implied that all
other Christians were ‘deficient in their obedience to Christ’s precepts.’58
Sutton lists what she perceives to be the ‘sins of the nation’: these are the country’s
‘sloathfulness’; its ‘unbelief’; ‘Idolatory’; dependence on ‘duty’; ‘covetousness’; and
52 Experiences, p. 3.53 Ibid.54 G. Southcombe and G. Tapsell, Restoration Politics, Religion and Culture: Britain and Ireland, 1660-1714 (Palgrave, forthcoming), p. 33. 55 Experiences, p. 1.56 N. Smith, Perfection Proclaimed: Language and Literature in English Radical Religion 1640-60 (Oxford, 1989), p. 6.57 Experiences, p. 7.58 J.F. McGregor and B. Reay (eds.) Radical Religion in the English Revolution (Oxford, 1984), p. 42.
24
‘pride’.59 Her perception of the ‘sins’, she adds, is supported by ‘a deep consideration
of many Scriptures.’60 Sutton expresses her fear that the ‘great wrath and sore
displeasure of God’ is ‘coming’61 in the form of a verse prophecy which aims to incite
her audience to action:
Awake therefore to righteousness,The Lord is near at hand:And will afflict now very soreBy sea and like by land.62
Ominously, Sutton warns in her spiritual journal that those who proceed in ‘the ways
of sin and wickedness’ will ‘have no peace.’63 The fact that Sutton, like Palmer, chose
to describe her subversive religious practices and warnings about the sinfulness of
the nation through a genre not usually associated with politics is highly significant: it
suggests that both authors were acutely aware of the political power of particular
forms of writing.
Thus, these three poets offered, in different ways, criticisms of the state’s religious
policies. However, they were also concerned for their works to resonate within their
particular communities. Sutton tells her fellow Baptists that they must be ‘watchful’
that ‘cares of the world’ are not elevated above consideration of ‘the coming of
Christ’; they must strive for moderation, patience, prayer, humiliation and good
deeds.64 Palmer’s mode of directing her community is, again, more coded. Her
introspective poems frequently have a dual purpose: they are addressed to her own
soul, but also serve as an example or lesson to others. For instance, she pleads with
her soul to remain active and faithful:
Thy work is great, thy time is shortgod will not for thee stayBee active then, I thee exhort
59 Experiences, p. 15.60 Ibid. 61 Ibid, p. 16.62 Experiences., p. 16.63 Experiences., p. 18.64 Ibid., p .17.
25
(‘my soull’) without delay. 65
Such a coded style drew on a particular tradition of women’s writing. During the first
part of the seventeenth century, theological works by women were usually disguised
as ‘mothers’ legacies’, apparently written for an author’s children just before her
death. The ostensibly private nature of these works paradoxically enabled their entry
into the public sphere, and Wall argues that such works ‘were often remarkably self-
conscious about their public audience.’66 It is clear from her opening poem that
Palmer was similarly conscious of her public audience:
Blessed spirit, doe thou enditeHelp me to speak thy praiseThat soe I may others enviteTo love thee, all there days.67
Mollineux identified with her community by making explicit references to the particular
challenges it faced. She was aware that individual Quakers faced the prospect of
being, at best, ‘a Fool and Gazing-stock’,68 and at worst ‘prosecuted’,69 and hoped
that some might be ‘Reclaim’d’ by her ‘Advice’.70 She counsels her fellow Quakers
not to ‘fear Confinement’ because
If thou be confin’d for Jesus sake,He will a Prison much more pleasant make,Than any spacious Palace71
This is a particularly relevant message for the Quaker community: approximately
15,000 Quakers were imprisoned in the Restoration period, with 450 dying in
prison.72 Mollineux was imprisoned in Lancaster Castle in 1684 alongside twenty-four
others ‘for being at an Evening Meeting’ at the house of James Wright in Warrington
65 ‘Centuries’, p. 62. 66 Wall, Imprint of Gender, p. 287.67 ‘Centuries’, p. 1. 68 Fruits, p. iv. 69 Ibid, p. 167.70 Ibid, p. 168.71 Ibid, p. 119.72 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 187.
26
and ‘not being willing to enter into Bonds’.73 In a poem concerning her imprisonment,
Mollineux rejects the view that her enemies have triumphed:
tho’ in Prisons outwardly they beConfin’d, the Son of Love doth set them free,And leads in verdant Plains of Liberty74
Imprisonment could ruin poorer Quaker families;75 however, Mollineux states that
those who are ‘from their Families remov’d’ can take comfort from the fact that their
‘Father’ will ‘fill their Hearts with Everlasting Joy’:
tho’ the Righteous be in BondsThey inwardly sweet Satisfaction find.76
Mollineux reflects on the practices which kept the community together in spite of
imprisonments:
There is by Mediums (if the place denyThem, viva voce, free Community) Reciptrocal Reflections of its BeamsUnto each other, couch’d in sable Streams’77
The alliteration in this verse- ‘Reciptrocal Reflections’, ‘sable Streams’- has a
reassuring, stabilising effect. As the poem is entitled ‘Of Friendship’, Mollineux’s
emphasis on reciprocity is entirely appropriate. Elsewhere, Mollineux demonstrates
the closeness of Quaker friendships by invoking Aristotle’s description of a friend as
a ‘second self’.78 By maintaining their friendships, Quakers believed that they could
sustain the fellowship. When members were imprisoned and friends could no longer
‘converse together Face to Face’,79 Quakers frequently passed letters and
transcriptions of sermons between prisoners and the outside world.80 In this way,
they hoped to overcome persecution and remain collectively strong.
73 Fruits, p. 5.74 Ibid., p. 123.75 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 75.76 Fruits, p. 124.77 Ibid., p. 153.78 Ibid., p. 6.79 Ibid., p. 153.80 Keeble, Literary Culture, p. 77.
27
Mollineux’s belief in the resilience of her community is clear from the way in which
she describes it. She uses the familiar biblical metaphor of the flock81 to portray the
Quaker community:
The couching Lamb, whose Shepherd never sleeps,But, as an Army, them securely keeps82
The imagery contained within these two lines is typical of nonconformist poetry. Like
Mollineux, who describes the Quakers as God’s ‘Army’, Julia Palmer employs military
images to demonstrate the vigour of her community. Describing Christ as ‘The
Captain of Salvation’ who ‘the sword doth weild’, she says:
Christ has wrought out, the victoryFor thee before-handFight on, for now thou canst not dyeif thou thy ground doe stand83
Her hopeful imperative ‘Fight on’ is unambiguous, and belies any suggestion that
nonconformists experienced the Restoration as a period of ‘defeat.’84 Mollineux’s
image of the Quakers as a flock was also a popular one: the Quaker John Whitehead
used it in a manuscript letter addressed to the ‘sheep of his pasture’.85 Like
Mollineux, he hoped to inspire feelings of solidarity in his Quaker community by
likening them to sheep that would be protected by God.86
Biblical examples of strength in the face of persecution are common in these works,
and thus constitute an important similarity between them. Sutton says that ‘we need
not study how God will deal with our enemies, for God will deal with them as he did
with Daniel, and the three children’,87 while Mollineux assures her reader that
‘Th’Eternal Arm’s the same’ as the one which protected Daniel.88 Indeed, Achinstein
81 See Psalm C.3.82 Fruits, p. 27.83 ‘Centuries’, p. 130. 84 Hill, Experience of Defeat.85 Letter from John Whitehead, c. 1660-62, p 176, quoted in Southcombe, 'Responses of Nonconformists’, p. 28.86 Southcombe, ‘Responses of Nonconformists’, p. 28. 87 Experiences, p. 39. 88 Fruits, p. 121.
28
has shown that the figure of Daniel was commonly invoked to instil optimism in the
persecuted.89 Images of God guiding His people through storms are also frequent,
and are derived largely from Psalm 107. Palmer reassures her fellow Presbyterians
in a poem dated July 11 1673:
Through great stroms, yet, we may endureThine interest, thou wilt cecure90
Mollineux assumes the voice of God by asking ‘Did I not guide you safely through the
Sea…?’.91 The sea and its associated storms symbolise the instability of the poets’
lives; however, following the Psalm, they believe that calmness and security await
them in heaven.92
As well as encouraging their communities to be strong by highlighting inspiring
biblical precedents, all three poets express a conviction that revenge will be taken on
those who hurt the faithful. Their search for inner fortitude, therefore, did not preclude
a desire for their enemies to experience violent retribution. Sutton tells of how a
minister ignored her warning about Altars and, as a result, ‘it pleased the Lord to
smite him with a sore languishing disease, that he went out no more’,93 while
Mollineux looks forward to the ‘Glorious Day’ when ‘Tyranizing Foes’ will receive ‘just
Punishment’ for the ‘Exile and Banishment’94 they have inflicted. In one poem,
Palmer’s anger is conveyed through grotesque, shocking language:
Thy word asures us, that thou wiltAvenge the bloud that has been spilt
By that sad generation Which doe delight, to feed upon
The flesh of thine, and drink ther bloud95
89 Achinstein, Literature and Dissent, p. 37.90 ‘Centuries’, p. 303. 91 Fruits, p. 18. 92 Psalm CVII.29-3093 Experiences, p. 7.94 Fruits, p. 22.95 ‘Centuries’, p. 303.
29
The presentation of the persecutors as merciless cannibals is a shocking one, and
underlines the passion with which these writers engaged with politics.
1689 saw the passing of the Toleration Act, which permitted nonconformist worship
in licensed meeting houses and exempted nonconformists from the penal laws on the
condition that they publicly refuted transubstantiation and took an oath of
allegiance.96 According to Craig Rose, the passage of this act ‘both delighted and
surprised nonconformists.’97 However, even within this changed context, Mollineux
was prepared to put into action what she had advocated in verse. With her husband
in prison over a failure to appear in court charged with non-payment of tithes,
Mollineux successfully challenged various authorities, including a lawyer and a
bishop, to a debate using Scripture.98 Both the actions and the poetry of these
writers, therefore, demonstrate that female nonconformists were deeply affected by,
and concerned with, religious policies and politics.
96 D.L. Smith, ‘A History of the Modern British Isles 1603-1707’ (Oxford, 1998), p. 290. 97 C. Rose, England in the 1690s: Revolution, Religion and War (Oxford, 1999), p. 165.98 ‘ODNB: Mary Mollineux’ [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45818]
30
3. ‘I’de burn, in flames of love to thee’:1 sexuality, death and empowerment
Let it be thy Concern, in holy Fear,To pass the time of thy Sojourning here
In pure Obedience to that Heav’nly Pow’r…Then, being call’d, we freely may lay down
This Transitory Life, to gain a CrownOf Life Eternal, with the Prince of Peace2
The claims of modesty and humility which legitimised the authorship of the three
poets were firmly confined to earthly experience.3 In heaven, Mollineux believes,
‘Immortality’ and a ‘Crown’ will replace ‘Obedience.’4 The expressions of desire for
death by the three poets may strike the modern reader as excessively morbid;
however, their longings, as well as being deeply felt, had an important political
purpose. These nonconformists all believed that if they resigned their will to God on
earth, they would be able to reign with Christ in heaven, elevated above those who
sought to exclude and persecute them. To argue, as J.C. Davis does, that ‘God
subdues, contains and even eliminates the self’ in seventeenth century spiritual
writings5 is to ignore the heightened sense of self achieved, paradoxically, as a
consequence of submission to God’s will on earth.6 Palmer and Mollineux expect not
only to reign as joint heirs with Christ in heaven: they express their belief that they
will enter into a mystical marriage with Him. Thus, their longings for death frequently
assume the form of sexual longings to consummate the marriage. The erotic
1 ‘Centuries’, p. 17.2 Fruits, p. 26.3 Hinds, God’s Englishwomen, p. 49.4 Fruits, p. 26.5 J.C. Davis, ‘Living with the living God: radical religion and the English Revolution’ in Durston and Maltby, Religion in Revolutionary England, p. 33.6 G. Southcombe, Review of Religion in Revolutionary England, Durston and Maltby (eds.), History 93 (2008), pp. 272-274.
31
language and metaphors employed by these writers are habitually drawn from the
Song of Songs; they demonstrate an allegorical interpretation of the biblical text
which was regarded as politically subversive by some contemporaries.7 The poets do
not, however, employ sexual language to the same degree. Palmer uses erotic
language extensively and effectively, but Sutton does not invoke sexual language at
all, talking only of longing to be in God’s permanent presence: ‘the more of his divine
presence [I] was afforded… the more still I would have, and still longed for, not only
in the day, but in the night also.’8 However, as nonconformist women, these poets did
share similar concerns and beliefs about death and sexuality, and these are
expressed in their more introspective poetry. Through such writings, the poets
empowered themselves in a way which posed a political challenge to those who
opposed nonconformists.
The total dependence of the writers on God when they are confined to their earthly
bodies is unmistakable. Sutton is overawed by God’s influence: ‘until he put forth his
mighty power I could not believe’,9 while, for Mollineux, God is:
the Solace of my Soul…my Sun and Shield, my Strength and Stay;My chiefest Counsellor, mine All10
Palmer also uses a listing technique to show the complementary nature of the roles
performed by God in her life: Christ is her
only blessed saviourmy husband & my headMy sweetest intersesourand constant, advocate11
The descriptions of God as ‘Counsellor’ and ‘advocate’ underline the intimacy of the
poets’ relationships with God. However, their dependence can lead to occasional
despair. Sutton, for instance, is ‘very sad’ and ‘perplexed in my spirit’ when ‘God…
7 ‘Centuries’, p. xii.8 Experiences, p. 26.9 Ibid., p. 4.10 Fruits., p. 93.11 ‘Centuries’, p. 216.
32
was pleased to withdraw and leave mee in deserted condition’.12 Images of mists and
clouds are commonly used to represent God’s withdrawal. Mollineux pleads:
Let not Earth’s interposing Mists controulThe earnest Breathing of my Heart, and vailThy Beauty over-long13
Palmer talks of being ‘made to dwell’ in ‘darknese’:
With, a cloud, thy self, thou coverestMy prayer cannot pase14
The cloud is impenetrable in moments of desolation and self-chastisement; however,
despair is usually short-lived:
Thou weeping may endure a nightwhen thou dost hide thy faceJoy shall come in, att morning lightsucceeding, sorrows place15
When faith is strong and the clouds have dispersed, the light which shines sustains
Palmer in all her endeavours in the same way that it helps ‘flowers’ to grow.16 The
comparison with flowers is an illuminating one: it reveals the inanimate, passive
status of the poet and demonstrates the asymmetrical nature of her relationship with
God.
The prevalence of submissive metaphors reinforces the sense of the poets’ passivity
on earth. Sutton wishes ‘that my heart might be made to submit to his will, whatever it
were.’17 She endeavours ‘to deny my self… and I look up to him that is perfect,’18
while Palmer is similarly insistent on the necessity of submission:
I would be silent, and submitIt is my duty, to be still.And throw my self, down at thy feet19
She asks:
12 Experiences, p. 6.13 Fruits, p. 45. 14 ‘Centuries’, p. 17.15 Ibid., p. 103.16 Ibid., p. 24.17 Experiences, p. 5.18 Ibid., p. 33.19 ‘Centuries’, p. 105.
33
Oh bring my will soe, fully ore to thineThat I no more may know a will of mine20
Palmer seems to desire for her own will to be rendered redundant on earth.
Mollineux, too, counsels self-denial, saying that she wishes for her cousin Frances
Owen’s ‘Heart and Mind’ to be ‘resign’d’ to the ‘Loyal Lover.’21 In another Epistle to
her cousin, Mollineux recommends the elimination of an earthly will which is not
conducive to godliness:
contend not in the Carnal Will,Tread Self-hood under foot, watch and be still22
The eradication of the ‘Carnall Will’ and the resignation to passivity had, for these
poets, a paradoxical effect of empowering the believer:
I never am so strong endeedAs when out of a sence of needAnd spirittuall povertyI run out of my self, & flyTo Christ aloneMy only one23
It is only through submission, it seems, that transcendence could be achieved.
Palmer’s image of flight is also indicative of the freedom which the poets thought
death would bring. Passivity and self denial were a means to an end: they believed
that their true lives would begin after their deaths. Situating it as the last of a string of
paradoxes, Sutton describes the liberty of death: ‘losse is the way to gain, troubled is
the way to peace, sorrow is the way to joy, and death is the way to life.’24 Palmer
expresses her desire to be ‘free’ of the sense of sin which renders her both passive
and perplexed on earth:
Life is a burden Unto meBecause from sinI cant be free.
20 ‘Centuries’. p. 292.21 Fruits, p. 47. 22 Ibid., p. 109.23 ‘Centuries’, p. 176.24 Experiences, p. 11.
34
Prefering death,Before a lifeThat is so fullof wofull, strife25
Such simplicity of vocabulary and stanzaic form serve to expose what Palmer
perceives to be the idiocy of people like ‘Mr H’ who fail to understand her desire for
death. Palmer rejects Mr H’s contention that ‘Tis good to live, here many a day’,
telling him defiantly that his ‘perswasions’ are ‘in vain.’26 Death is the ‘gate of hapy
nese’27 because here she will reign as ‘joint heir, with thy son.28 Mollineux notes that
in heaven, the faithful will ‘gain a Crown’ of ‘Life Eternal’.29 In this, she draws upon an
important biblical message: ‘Blessed are those who persevere under trial, because
when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has
promised to those who love him.’30 Palmer adopts the same image of the ‘Crown’ and
uses vertical imagery to demonstrate the change of political status that
nonconformists will enjoy after death:
The longest day, will have an endIn time, the prison walls will downAnd then the pris’nor shall ascendTo take posesion, of the Crown31
In heaven, the ‘sinfull failings’ of ‘wicked men’ will cease to ‘anoy’ the godly.32 Christ’s
love, Mollineux tells her cousin, will ‘set thee free’ from ‘the Oppresion of the
Enemy’.33 Thus, musings on death, far from being morbid, could serve to inspire both
the individual poet and the persecuted nonconformist community to which she
belonged.
25 ‘Centuries’, p. 6.26 Ibid., pp. 255-256.27 Ibid., p. 51.28 Ibid., p. 176.29 Fruits, p. 26.30 James i.1231 ‘Centuries’, p. 105.32 Ibid., p. 31.33 Fruits, p. 48.
35
Reigning with Christ in heaven meant, for nonconformists, dissolving the hierarchical
relationship of dependence with God experienced on earth. In heaven, Palmer
claims, there ‘is the grace reciprocall’.34 Sentiments of equality with Christ in heaven,
Achinstein has shown, constituted a protest against ‘the dominant relations of the
here-and-now… in an age fascinated by external marks of hierarchy, whether
gender, rank or nationality.’35 Gender hierarchy was challenged by Palmer and
Mollineux through their representations of marriage. Mollineux refers to God as her
‘Bridegroom’,36 while Palmer describes herself as God’s ‘bride’.37 Such descriptions
enhanced their claim to piety, because the true church was commonly referred to as
the bride of Christ.38 Moreover, the prevailing hierarchical model of marriage was
overthrown by the poets. Patricia Crawford has argued that the ‘good wife’ in early
modern English society was ‘obedient, subordinate and passive’,39 while Kathleen
Davies claims that seventeenth century Puritans followed their predecessors by
focusing overwhelmingly upon ‘the relationship which subordinated the wife to the
husband.’40 Palmer’s interpretation of the godly marriage departs from this widely-
held view, defined as it is by reciprocity and equality of status:
This blessed union, it is misticall Tis constant, firm, & alsoe mutuallChrist gives himself, wholly unto the soullThe soull again, gives itself, to him whole41
On earth, Palmer needs God to sustain her; however, in heaven, God needs her to
complete the union:
Oh that thou couldst, not chouse but comeTo perfect, and compleat, the sumAnd fetch thy bride, unto her home42
34 ‘Centuries’, p. 9.35 Achinstein, Literature and Dissent, p. 200.36 Fruits, p. 29.37 ‘Centuries’, p. 99.38 Peters, Women in Early Modern Britain, p. 13239 Crawford, Women and Religion, p.13.40 K.M. Davies, ‘Continuity and Change in Literary Advice on Marriage’ in R.B. Outhwaite (ed.) Marriage and Society (London, 1981), pp. 63-65.41 ‘Centuries’, p. 249.42 ‘Centuries’., p. 99.
36
Such an emphasis on reciprocity was not, of course, exclusive to nonconformist
female poetry: it featured elsewhere in contemporary godly discourse, and had
appeared in earlier writings. The Quaker Thomas Ellwood, for instance, represented
himself as a bride of Christ in a 1662 poem:
To be to Thee as chaste a wifeAs is the turtle-dove43
However, Palmer’s status as both a nonconformist and a woman made her attempts
to transcend earthly gender relations through her descriptions of a ‘mutuall’ godly
marriage politically important.
The idea of the godly marriage owed much to the biblical Song of Songs.
Nonconformists interpreted this text allegorically, much to the consternation of a
number of contemporaries who were, according to Achinstein, troubled ‘by its gender
translations and transpositions.’44 Metaphors of brides and weddings abound in this
biblical poetry, for example:
Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;milk and honey are under your tongue.45
In 1674, William Sherlock, a Church of England clergyman, vigorously rejected the
way in which nonconformists interpreted the Song of Songs. He insisted that a
physical relationship with Christ was inconceivable:46
When the Scripture calls Christ our Husband, and the Church his Spouse, it means no more, but that Christ is our Head and Governour, Who rules his Church with as great kindness, tenderness and compassion, as a Husband exerciseth towards his Wife, and that we are to pay the same love, duty and obedience to Christ, that Wives owe to their Husbands; and here we must have done with that Metaphor, unless we turn Religion into a Romance.’47
43 Thomas Ellwood, ‘Thee, Thee alone, O God I fear’, in Achinstein, ‘Romance of the Spirit’, p. 420.44 Achinstein, ‘Romance of the Spirit’, p. 417.45 Song of Songs iv.1746 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’, p. 221.47 W. Sherlock, A Discourse Concerning the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, and Our Union and Communion with Him (London, 1674), p. 287 in Clarke ‘Beyond Microhistory’ p. 221.
37
For Sherlock, Christ could be the spouse only of the church, not an individual. His
views were intended to counter the pre-eminence accorded to godly marriage in the
1657 spiritual treatises of John Owen, an Independent, and the Presbyterian John
Watson.48 Although they were following in a long tradition of writers relating to God in
sexual terms, therefore, as nonconformist women who attempted to bring ‘Romance’
into ‘Religion’, Palmer and Mollineux posed a particular challenge to men like
Sherlock.
The ‘Romance’ of the poetry of Palmer and Mollineux is largely contained within their
expressions of desire to consummate the godly marriage. The urgency of Palmer’s
desire for ‘communion with him’49 is clear:
speedylyShew me thy face
My hart doth akeI find no rest…
I want a hartEnflam’d with lovethat I maymay faster to thee move50
The short lines of this poem give it a rapid pace, conveying the relentlessness of
Palmer’s desire. In other poems, Palmer uses repetition to achieve a similar effect: ‘I
thurst, I thurst, I am of fire’.51 One poem underlines her physical desire for God by
using a repeated refrain to emphasise His sensory appeal:
‘Oh come and see, oh come, and see the beauty of the Lord…
Oh come, & tast, oh come, and tast How good and sweet he is…
Oh come, and hear, oh come, & hearAnd then your shoul shall live…
Oh come and smell, oh come and smell48 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’ p. 221.49 ‘Centuries’, p. 57.50 Ibid., p. 6.51 Ibid., p. 23.
38
The sweet perfumes of love’ 52
The poem is intensified by the breathless effect of the repetition. Palmer’s image of
tasting God is derived from the Song of Songs:
I delight to sit in his shade,and his fruit is sweet to my taste53
Palmer’s frustration at death eluding her is expressed in terms of sexual frustration:
on earth, her ‘Desires do swell, and find no vent’.54 Imagining the climax, she says
that she expects for her desire to reach its peak and expire as she is ‘Ingulph’d &
swalow’d, up in thee’.55 After the culmination, heaven will be a ‘bed’ of ‘queit ease, &
rest’.56
Elaborate, hyperbolic metaphors which express the intensity of desire are common in
Palmer’s poetry:
When shall the feavorish burning soullin ocean love be drench’dWhen shall the soull, that doth still proleto thee, have its thurst quench’d57
This poem uses dramatic images of fire and water, as well as the appetitive
reference to thirst, to convey the depth of Palmer’s sexual longing. Palmer uses fire
imagery in other poems to express her passion; she claims, for instance, that she
would ‘burn, in flames of love to thee’.58 This echoes the Song of Songs, in which
love ‘burns like blazing fire’.59 Benjamin Keach, a Particular Baptist, employed a
similar metaphor to evoke a sense of passion and relentless desire for God:
Know, Virgins, know that this Celestial FireThat’s kindled in my breast, comes from aboveAnd sets my Soul into this flame of Love. 60
52 ‘Centuries’., pp. 57-58.53 Song of Songs ii.3. 54 ‘Centuries’, p. 99.55 Ibid., p. 293.56 Ibid., p. 52.57 Ibid., p. 140.58 Ibid., p. 17.59 Song of Songs viii.660 Benjamin Keach, The Glorious Lover (London, 1679), p. 260, in Southcombe and Tapsell, ‘Restoration Politics’ p. 245.
39
The fire imagery employed by Keach and Palmer is explicitly sexual, and is intended
to induce stirrings of passion and longing in the reader.61
Mollineux, too, uses erotic, sensory language to express her desire for physical union
with God. She informs the reader that her soul ‘Dost long, to feell the rod’62 which, in
the Bible, symbolised both God’s ‘anger’63 and his capacity to ‘comfort’.64 In another
poem, Mollineux pleads:
How can I Live, except thy Quick’ning BreathBreathe on me65
Even Mollineux’s experiences of the workings of the Inner Light on earth are
expressed in erotic terms:
To Meditate therein both Day and Night,And feel its pure Enliv’ning Pow’r in meSurmount all Pleasure, that on Earth can beEnjoy’d by Mortals66
Through such language, these poets attempted to gain ownership of their sexuality,
sanctioning ‘female desire… without subordination to patriarchal norms.’67 That is,
they resisted ‘masculine control over female pleasure’ through their ‘imaginings of a
union with Christ.’68 The political importance of their use of sexual language is
heightened by the fact that the physical contact with God aspired to by
nonconformists unsettled conservative Anglicans. As Elizabeth Clarke notes, ‘it could
give a beggar-or indeed a woman- unmediated access to the divine, with alarming
consequences.’69 Most alarming of all was the possibility that the worldly authority of
Church and State would be rendered redundant by the believer’s own personal
61 Southcombe and Tapsell, Restoration Politics, p. 245.62 ‘Centuries’, p.59.63 Isiah x.564 Psalm xxiii.465 Fruits, p. 92. 66 Ibid., p. 41.67 Achinstein, ‘Romance of the Spirit’, p. 417.68 Ibid., p. 435.69 Clarke, ‘Beyond Microhistory’ p. 222.
40
contact with the divine.70 The poets’ desire for intimacy thus posed a threat to
contemporary hierarchies, making their sensory longings highly subversive.
However, the poets were not only interested in sanctioning ‘pleasure’ and asserting
control over ‘desire’:71 they were claiming control over their own bodies as mature
women capable of reproduction. Palmer associates barrenness with a lack of
godliness, as she discusses both her own ‘barren soyl‘72 and the world’s ‘sorry,
baren, fruitlese heath’.73 Infertility was presented in the Bible as disastrous for a
woman,74 and many women’s memoirs of the seventeenth century display an anxiety
about failing to conceive.75 Sutton describes herself as ‘an old fruitless branch’76 in a
moment of despair. However, she later argues that, through faith, she has the
potential to alter her own biology: ‘they who be planted in the house of the Lord like a
watered Gardin shall they grow and flourish and bring forth fruit in their old age.’77
Here, Sutton echoes the story of Elizabeth, who fell pregnant with John the Baptist
despite being ‘well advanced in years’ and previously infertile.78
Mollineux uses similar imagery to demonstrate God’s effects in her poem ‘On the
Fruitless Fig-Tree’:
Although we, of our selves, so Barren be,And oft more Fruitless than the Blooming Tree, Thou prun’st us, and with sweet refreshing Show’rsArt pleased oft to renew our weakened Pow’rs79
Palmer believes that she will only ‘ascend’ to heaven when she is ‘att a full growth’,80
and thus asks:
70 ‘Centuries’, p. xii.71 Achinstein, ‘Romance of the Spirit’, p. 421.72 ‘Centuries’, p. 221.73 Ibid p.83.74 See Luke i.25.75 Mendelson and Crawford, Women in Early Modern England, pp. 149-150.76 Experiences, p. 21.77 Ibid, p. 31.78 Luke i.779 Fruits, p. 16.80 ‘Centuries’, p. 177.
41
Lord ripen meeby thy warm rays, of graceThat I may always, thriving beand growing up apace. 81
Palmer’s plea to be ripened sounds like a plea for God to accelerate the development
of her sexual maturity; in this way, a parallel is drawn between sexual and spiritual
maturity. Palmer implicitly acknowledges that both forms of maturity are necessary if
the godly marriage is to be consummated. Thus, rather than negating their identity,
the love of God actually causes these poets to grow as women.
By demonstrating their acute sense of their female bodies through feminine imagery,
these poets resisted contemporary male attempts to define and control women’s
bodies. Medical theories about pregnancy and childbirth abounded in early modern
England; central to most of these was the idea that painful childbirth was a form of
divine punishment from God for Eve’s transgression.82 However, the views of
physicians were not invariably authoritative: on occasion, courts of law relied on
women’s experiences of and opinions on the female body when faced with issues
concerning pregnancy or virginity.83 In witchcraft trials, committees of women were
entrusted with the responsibility of searching the alleged witch’s body for signs of
association with the Devil.84 By writing about fertility, therefore, Palmer and Mollineux
contributed to the effort to negotiate a voice of authority for women in matters
concerning their female biology.
Thus, the more introspective writings of these authors are extremely significant. The
poets desired death because it was the means by which they could experience the
full consummation of union with God. Life on earth, and the submission that it
required, was transitory: the equality and reciprocal relationship with Christ in heaven
was eternal. The erotic language used by Palmer and Mollineux reinforced the 81 Ibid., p.141.82 Mendelson and Crawford, Women in early modern England, p. 31.83 Ibid., p. 18.84 C. Holmes, ‘Women: witnesses and witches’, Past and Present, 140 (1993), p. 46.
42
closeness of their relationships with Christ, and also allowed them to express a
sense of peculiarly feminine selfhood and self-ownership. The exclusivity of the
devotion to Christ put each poet in a powerful position by allowing them to eschew
dependence on convention and on men who might seduce with their ‘sweet smelling
Myrrh’ only to be revealed to have ‘pure Desires after himself’.85 Palmer’s claim to be
burning in love for God was therefore politically, as well as sexually, charged.
Conclusion
Faith can work by great contrarysIt picks life, out of deathJoy, out of great extremitysSap, out of barren heath1
85 Fruits, p. 42.1 ‘Centuries’, p. 54.
43
Irony, or ‘contrarys’, is central to this thesis.2 Chapter One demonstrated that
nonconformist women established credible authorial voices by adopting ostensibly
submissive roles. In Chapter Two, it was seen that the attempts of the Restoration
state to silence and subdue nonconformists actually encouraged them to produce
defiant poetry. The third Chapter analysed what was perhaps the greatest irony of all
for these women: death, instead of being something to be feared, would liberate
them. As Julia Palmer says, through ‘faith’, these poets believed they could acquire
‘life, out of death.’3
Femininity and politics have been two further, often overlapping, themes in this
thesis. The relationship between gender and authorship was seen, in Chapter One,
to be a complex one. Ultimately, however, it was shown that the mode of authorship
established by these writers was a peculiarly female one: in order to validate their
writings, the poets exploited tensions within constructions of gender. By subverting
societal conventions in order to establish their right to write, these women engaged in
a political act. Chapter Two demonstrated that nonconformist women were not
absent from the political sphere in the Restoration, for they played an active role in
sustaining and defending their communities. Finally, Chapter Three showed that the
authors’ gender was crucial to their understanding of their relationship with God, and
that they reclaimed ownership of their bodies by using specifically feminine imagery.
All three Chapters demonstrated that the gender of the authors accorded the
messages that they conveyed and their uses of language great political potency.
2 The importance of paradoxes to dissenting literature has been noted by Achinstein in Literature and Dissent, p 21, while Purkiss suggested that irony was a fundamental element of the female prophet’s construction of her identity in the seventeenth century in Wiseman, Women, Writing, History, p. 158.3 ‘Centuries’, p. 54.
44
Nonconformists were commonly homogenised by hostile contemporaries in the
seventeenth century: the same mistake should clearly not be made by historians.4
This thesis has shown that there were important similarities in the ways in which the
authors, as nonconformists and as women, experienced the Restoration. They were
subject to comparable constraints, and consequently used relatively similar methods
to validate their authorship. Nonetheless, differences in the authors’ experiences are
also reflected in their poetry. In particular, specific concerns about the roles of
women within different nonconformist movements are responded to by the poets.
Their works also reflect the different ways in which the movements engaged with
politics. These authors were not, however, simply products of their movements. They
were individual women with unique voices, and they produced works which were
coloured by their personal experiences of the Restoration. Mary Mollineux, in an
impassioned plea, asks her cousin: ‘With Heart and Pen, be thus bold’.5 All three
writers demonstrate the boldness that Mollineux so desires of ‘Cousin F.R.’ and, in
this way, each manages to ‘Express’ her ‘Truth’.6
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49