Mammon's Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of MiltonYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 336 pages The commercial revolution of the seventeenth century deeply changed English culture. In this ambitious book, Blair Hoxby explores what that economic transformation meant to the century’s greatest poet, John Milton, and to the broader literary tradition in which he worked. Hoxby places Milton’s work—as well as the writings of contemporary reformers like the Levellers, poets like John Dryden, and political economists like Sir William Petty—within the framework of England’s economic history between 1601 and 1724. Literary history swerved in this period, Hoxby demonstrates, as a burgeoning economic discourse pressed authors to reimagine ideas about self, community, and empire. Hoxby shows that, contrary to commonly held views, Milton was a sophisticated economic thinker. Close readings of Milton’s prose and verse reveal the importance of economic ideas in a wide range of his most famous writings, from Areopagitica to Samson Agonistes to Paradise Lost. |
From inside the book
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Page 3
... commonwealth , Misselden argued that currency exchange was just a kind of " Commerce exercised in money , " one that gave mer- chants , not princes , the ultimate power to set the value of coins . He also denied Malynes's traditional ...
... commonwealth , Misselden argued that currency exchange was just a kind of " Commerce exercised in money , " one that gave mer- chants , not princes , the ultimate power to set the value of coins . He also denied Malynes's traditional ...
Page 4
... Commonwealth ( 1640 ) , hearkened back to arguments that had been advanced by Malynes as early as 1601 . But others , like Sir Thomas Roe His Speech in Parliament ( 1640 ) and Henry Robinson's England's Safety , in Trade's Encrease ...
... Commonwealth ( 1640 ) , hearkened back to arguments that had been advanced by Malynes as early as 1601 . But others , like Sir Thomas Roe His Speech in Parliament ( 1640 ) and Henry Robinson's England's Safety , in Trade's Encrease ...
Page 6
... Commonwealth's Council of Trade , might even anticipate “ the break- ing forth , very shortly ” of God's " Glorie ” before proceeding , in rather more mundane terms , to advise the English to learn from the commer- cial practices of the ...
... Commonwealth's Council of Trade , might even anticipate “ the break- ing forth , very shortly ” of God's " Glorie ” before proceeding , in rather more mundane terms , to advise the English to learn from the commer- cial practices of the ...
Page 25
... Commonwealth ( 1649–53 ) ; it has prevented us from fully understanding the very pleadings for expanded liberties amid which Areopagitica is usually situated . For , as we shall see , Milton's pamphlet is the crowning example of a ...
... Commonwealth ( 1649–53 ) ; it has prevented us from fully understanding the very pleadings for expanded liberties amid which Areopagitica is usually situated . For , as we shall see , Milton's pamphlet is the crowning example of a ...
Page 28
... the native liberties of English subjects.15 It therefore had to be shown that such char- ters did not benefit but harmed the commonwealth . Invoking the traditional charge that monopolists were bloodsuck- ers — 28 VIRTUE , COMMERCE , TRUTH.
... the native liberties of English subjects.15 It therefore had to be shown that such char- ters did not benefit but harmed the commonwealth . Invoking the traditional charge that monopolists were bloodsuck- ers — 28 VIRTUE , COMMERCE , TRUTH.
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
57 | |
Part Three Force Commerce and Empire | 125 |
Part Four The Meaning of Work | 201 |
Conclusion | 233 |
Abbreviations | 253 |
Notes | 255 |
Index | 311 |
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Amboyna Amsterdam Annus Mirabilis arch Areopagitica argued arguments Benjamin Worsley Book Cambridge University Press century chap chapter Charles Davenant Charles II Charles II's City claim commercial common Commonwealth Comus Comus's contemporary Court Crown Davenant Davenant's discourse Dryden Dutch early Stuarts East India Company economic empire England English Englishmen entrepôt epic force and commerce free trade George Wither Gerbier ideal Indies industry interest James John king labor liberty lines London Lord Masque merchants Milton monarchy monopolists monopoly nation natural naval nomic Oxford pamphlet panegyrics Paradise Lost Parliament Philistines poem poem's poets policies political Princeton Puritan Readie and Easie reformers religious republicans Restoration Revolution royal entry Royalist Rump Rump's Samson Agonistes Satan Second Anglo-Dutch Second Anglo-Dutch War ships Sir William slavery slaves subjects suggest texts thir Third Anglo-Dutch War Thomas tion Towerson tracts tradition truth United Provinces verse vision vols Waller wealth