A Political Biography of Delarivier Manley (Eighteenth-Century Political Biographies)

This is the first full-length biography of Delarivier Manley (c.1670-1724). A Tory pamphleteer, playwright, and satirical historian, Manley was regarded by her contemporaries Jonathan Swift and Robert Harley as a key member of the Tory propaganda team. Her best-selling political scandal chronicle ''The New Atalantis'' (1709) helped to bring down the Whig ministry in 1710. Her reputation was tarnished, however, in subsequent generations and twentieth-century scholars often misread her works as under-developed novels rather than as complex works of political satire. Carnell argues that Manley's quasi-autobiographical writings ''Letters Writen [sic] by Mrs. Manley'' (1696) and ''The Adventures of Rivella'' (1714) are coyly political self-portraits which must be read in their historical context.This is the first book to take account of all known information about Manley's life and work. It corrects many oft-repeated errors in extant scholarship, and uncovers previously unknown details about her life, including evidence about three illegitimate children by John Tilly, Governor of Fleet Prison. Carnell explores the delicate verbal negotiations required for a woman to enter the partisan hotbed of the early eighteenth-century political debate, thus offering an important historical perspective on women's continuing efforts today to be taken seriously in the political public sphere. "This is the first full-length biography of Delarivier Manley (c. 1670-1724). A Tory pamphleteer, playwright and satirical historian, Manley was regarded by her contemporaries Jonathan Swift and Robert Harley as a key member of the Tory propaganda team. Her best-selling, political scandal chronicle The New Atalantis (1709) helped to bring down the Whig ministry in 1710. Her reputation was tarnished, however, in subsequent generations and twentieth-century scholars often misread her works as under-developed novels rather than as complex works of political satire. Carnell argues that Manley's quasi-autobiographical writings Letters Writen by Mrs. Manley (1696) and The Adventures of Rivella (1714) are coyly political self-portraits which must be read in their historical context." This is the first book to take account of all known information about Manley's life and work. It corrects many oft-repeated errors in extant scholarship, and uncovers previously unknown details about her life, including evidence about three illegitimate children by John Tilly, Governor of Fleet Prison. Carnell explores the delicate verbal negotiations required for a woman to enter the partisan hotbed of the early eighteenth-century political debate, thus offering an important historical perspective on women's continuing efforts today to be taken seriously in the political public sphere. The Author......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 A Note on Dates......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1. 'A Long Untainted Descent'......Page 20 2. Roger Manley......Page 36 3. A 'Liberal Education'......Page 64 4. A 'Female Wit'......Page 96 5. 'Some More [and Less] Profitable Employ'......Page 126 6. Not Yet a Propaganda Writer......Page 150 7. '[T]hrowing the First Stone'......Page 172 8. Writing Under a Tory Ministry......Page 204 9. A Celebrated 'Muse'......Page 232 Notes......Page 252 Works Cited......Page 298 Index......Page 310 A Tory pamphleteer, playwright and satirical historian, Delarivier Manley was regarded by her contemporaries Jonathan Swift and Robert Harley as a key member of the Tory propaganda team. This biography offers details about her life, including evidence about three illegitimate children by John Tilly, Governor of Fleet Prison. This is the first full-length biography the Tory pamphleteer, playwright and satirical historian, Delarivier Manley (c.1670-1724). The book takes account of all known information about Manley's life and work. It corrects many oft-repeated errors in extant scholarship and uncovers previously unknown details about her life