Abiezer Coppe was born in 1619 to an artisan working in Warwick. At the age of thirteen Coppe began to show signs of religious zealotry “much abasement before God,” “most secret” fasting, and keeping a daily register of his sins. … Continued
Pierre Du Moulin was born in 1568 to Joachim Du Moulin and Françoise Gabet in the Château de Buhy in north-east Normandy, France. Joachim was a protestant minister whose family disinherited him after he converted. Because of his father’s religious … Continued
The State of Innocence is an opera by John Dryden (1631-1700) about the fall of man, based on Milton’s Paradise Lost. Composed in 1674, it was originally intended to be staged at the newly-built Theatre Royal in Drury Lane: fire … Continued
Samuel Pordge, the eldest son of clergyman John Pordage and his first wife Mary Lane, was born and baptized in London in 1633. Little is known of his early life. At the age of 11, he was admitted to the … Continued
Thomas Shadwell was born in 1640, one of eleven children, to royalists John and Sarah Shadwell of Norfolk and had the breeding, if not the fortune as he would later say, of a gentleman. He was educated at home until … Continued
John Dryden, poet, playwright, translator, and critic, was perhaps the leading literary voice of Restoration England and Poet Laureate from 1668 to 1688. He achieved distinction as the first verse satirist, the “father of English criticism,” and author of one … Continued
Philosophical Letters or Modest Reflections Upon Some Opinions in Natural Philosophy, referred to simply as Philosophical Letters, published in 1664, is a series of critiques authored by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in which she examines the writings of other … Continued
The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World, or known simply as The Blazing World was published in 1666 and created by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. A second edition was published in 1688 along with Observations upon Experimental … Continued
Richard Baxter was a religious pamphleteer born in Shropshire in 1615. Baxter’s father was known in his community for “for reading Scripture … and for praying … in his House, and for reproving Drunkards and Swearers, and for talking sometimes … Continued
Henry Carey was born on March 4, 1526 in Suffolk to William Carey, son of Thomas Carey, and his wife Mary Carey, née Mary Boleyn and the future Mary Stafford.[1] As Mary’s affair with Henry VIII was ending around the … Continued