âHudibrasâ and the Puritan Mindset
If matrimony and hanging go By destâny, why not whipping too? (Samuel Butler, Hudibras. The Second Part, London, 1664), p. 60; 2.1, ll. 839â40). âMarriagesâ, Lyly says, âare made in heauen, though consumated in earthâ (John Lyly, Euphues and his England, London, 1580, p. 129), and Eliot renders the French proverb, âQui doibt pendre ne…
Ignatius Loyola
Dominique Bouhours (The Life of St. Ignatius, London, 1686, pp. 64â5) recounts how Ignatius, wandering between the French and Spanish armies, is suspected of being a spy and apprehended by some Spanish soldiers: They stript him, and carried him in his shirt to their Captain. The Remembrance of Jesus Christ, exposâd naked to the Eyes…
Loving oneâs enemies
Despite institutionalized punishments that most people today would consider to be cruel, emphasis on compassion - a heartfelt assertion that âtrue Christians haue compassion towards their enemiesâ (Thomas Wilson, Saints by Calling: or Called to be Saints, London, 1620, p. 386) - is one of the salient features of seventeenth-century Protestant disco…
The "Pleasant Spectacle" of Suffering
Montaigne, describing a public execution he witnessed while in Rome, expresses his horror at the cruelty of those who invent vnused tortures and vnheard-off torments; to devise new and vnknowne deathes, and that in colde blood, without any former enmitie or quarrel, or without any gaine or profit; and onely to this end, that they…
Preview the book
Please note that, while Pain, Pleasure and Perversity: Discourses of Suffering in Seventeenth-Century England is not actually published until Monday, April 28, you can read the introduction, the contents and the index to the book free in PDF form. Download and...well, enjoy may not be quite the right word, perhaps, but I hope you will…
