Table of Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

A Note on Texts, Dates, and Money xvii

Chapter 1 Canonical and Noncanonical Satire, 1658-1770: Some Questions of Definition, Aims, and Method 1

I The "Definition" Quagmire and the Problem of Descriptive Terminology 2

II Genre versus Mode 5

III The Modern Critical Canon and Its Implications 8

IV The Total Satire Canon and Its Economic Context 14

The Production of Satire in England, 1658-1770 14

Price, Format, Dissemination, and Implied Audiences 20

V Some Issues of Coverage and Organization 26

VI The Uses of a Taxonomic Methodology 30

The Varieties of Satire 31

Forecasting Some Conclusions 33

The Nature of the Enterprise 37

Chapter 2 Contemporary Views on Satire, 1658-1770 39

I Concepts of Satire 40

"Satire": Etymology and Terminology 40

Definition by Contrast 42

II The Business of Satire 43

The Opposition to Satire 44

The Case for Satire 48

III The Practice and Province of Satire 53

Acceptable and Problematical Satiric Methods 54

Appropriate and Inappropriate Satiric Targets 57

IV Characterizing the Satirist 62

V Perceptions of Eighteenth-Century Satire Then and Now 65

Chapter 3 Satire in the Carolean Period 70

I Some Preliminary Considerations: Realities versus Assumptions 72

II Dryden, Rochester, Buckingham 74

Carolean Dryden: Lampoonist, Social Commentator, Propagandist 75

Rochester: Skeptical, Provocative, Negative 79

Buckingham's Purposive Satire 82

III Marvell, Ayloffe, Oldham 86

Marvell as Polemical Satirist 86

Ayloffe's Antimonarchical Diatribes 88

Oldham's Juvenalian Performances 89

IV Hudibras and Other Camouflage Satires 92

V Personal and Social Satire: From Lampoons to Otway and Lee 97

VI Chronological Change, 1658-1685 101

VII Issues: Satiric Intensity Tone, Positives-and the Problem of Application 104

Intensity 104

Tone 105

Presentation of Positives 108

The Problem of Application 110

VIII The Discontinuous World of Carolean Satire 111

Chapter 4 Beyond Carolean: Satire at the End of the Seventeenth Century 113

I Altered Circumstances 115

II Dryden as Satirist, 1685-1700 119

III Poetic Satire 126

Tutchin, Defoe, and Political Satire 127

Gould and Defamatory Satire 130

Garth and Blackmore 133

Brown, Ward, and Commercial Satire 136

IV Dramatic Satire 139

Shadwell and Exemplary Comedy 140

Mitigated Satire: Cibber, Vanbrugh, Farquhar 143

Harsh Social Satire: Congreve and Southerne 145

V The State of Satire ca. 1700 148

Chapter 5 Defoe, Swift, and New Varieties of Satire, 1700-1725 150

I Defoe as Satirist 153

Attack and Defense 154

Instruction and Direct Warning (Aimed at the Audience) 155

Indirect Exposure and Discomfiture 156

II Religious and Political Satire 158

Topical Controversy 158

Monitory Satire in the Manner of Defoe 161

Ideological Argumentation: Dun ton, Defoe, and Others 165

III Social and Moral Satire 168

Generalized Satire 168

Didactic Satire in the Manner of Steele 169

Particularized and Topical Satire 171

Argument and Inquiry: Mandeville and Prior 172

IV The Alleged "Scriblerians" 174

V Swift before Gulliver 180

Jokiness and Play 181

Destruction and Negativity 182

Purposive Defamation and Defense 183

Indirection and Difficult Satire 186

VI Characterizing the Early Eighteenth Century 191

Chapter 6 Harsh and Sympathetic Satire, 1726-1745 194

I Pope and Swift among Their Contemporaries 196

Political Commentary and Combat 197

The Culture Wars 201

Social Satire 205

II Pope, Swift, Gay 209

Pope 209

Swift 211

Gay 214

III The Problem of Meaning in Gulliver's Travels 220

IV Fielding and the Move toward Sympathetic Satire 226

Playful Satire and Entertainment 227

Provocation and Preachment 227

Distributive Justice: Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones 229

Fielding's Concept of Satire 231

Sympathetic Satire 234

V Alive and Well: The State of Satire at Midcentury 237

Chapter 7 Churchill, Foote, Macklin, Garrick, Smollett, Sterne, and Others, 1745-1770 239

I The Rise of "Poetic" Satire 241

Frivolity and Entertainment 242

Moral Preachment 243

Particularized Attack 244

Poeticized Satire 246

Churchill's Nonpolitical Satire 248

II Wilkes, Churchill, and Political Controversy in the 1760s 250

The North Briton 250

Churchill's Political Satire 251

Visual Satire 253

Wilkes's Essay on Woman 254

III Satire in the Commercial Theater 255

Social Comedy 256

Lightweight Afterpiece Entertainment 259

Samuel Foote 261

Charles Macklin 265

David Garrick 269

IV Satire in the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Novel 273

Smollett's Dark Satire 274

The Late Career of Fielding 276

Tristram Shandy and the Singularity of Sterne 278

Charlotte Lennox, Oliver Goldsmith, Sarah Fielding: Satire and Sentiment 283

V Satire for a Stable Era 286

Epilogue: Toward a New History of English Satire, 1658-1770

I Motives and Modes 290

II Remapping English Satire, 1658-1770 298

Appendix: Standard Price Categories and Sample Titles 305

Notes 313

Bibliography 355

Index 411