Literatura científica selecionada sobre o tema "1660-1669"

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar e analisar as formas de construção de um discurso espacial colonialista realizado no Estreito de Magalhães por Sir John Narborough entre 1669 e 1671, sob ordens diretas de Carlos II da Inglaterra. A cartografia no século XVII era muito mais que apenas uma forma de representação pictórica de espaços geográficos, era uma linguagem com poder intrínseco de possessão e legitimação territorial dentro da política dos impérios ultramarinos europeus. Narborough deixou mapas e um diário sobre sua expedição, além de mapas subsequentes feitos por outros cartógrafos terem sido baseados nos seus; compreendê-los ante termos humanos revela-nos outras formas de competição e colonialismo encontrados pelas potências marítimas da Europa para justificar suas navegações. Na discussão apresentada neste artigo, a política externa e as competições mercantis do final do século XVII serão compreendidas pela metodologia da cartografia crítica. Os contextos restauracionistas de 1640 de Portugal e 1660 da Inglaterra cruzaram-se em 1662 com o casamento de D. Catarina de Bragança com Carlos II, e o ápice do processo inglês de legitimação colonial ultramarina nessa época ocorreria com a expedição de 1669, parcialmente impulsionada pela recente aliança anglo-lusitana.

The article touches upon the Early Modern practices of reading, which are subject of much debate in contemporary scholarship. The traditional image of man’s reading before the 18th century implied serious approach to books and the use of information found there for self-education, self-edification, and acquisition of social prestige. The analysis of the diary by Samuel Papys (1660-1669), a Navy Office clerk, demonstrates that this ideal model did not have considerable effect on representations of the experience of reading in texts that constructed a “story of self”. Not only the practices of reading varied greatly, but the category chosen by Pepys to define this experience was the category of pleasure directly linked to the “self-image” under construction.

The present article studies the linear order of main and temporal adverbial clauses in theDiary of Samuel Pepys (1660–1669). In the development of a framework that combines cognitive and historical data, processing principles identified for Present-day English (e.g. Prideaux 1989; Diessel 2008) are tested for this ego-document from the seventeenth century. The factors investigated are the iconic temporal order of both clauses, the length of the adverbial clause and the implied meaning of the clauses. Moreover, the discourse function of the respective clauses will be discussed. On the basis of the Uniformitarian Principle, the present study assumes that processing principles that are valid for Present-day English predict the position of the clause in past language stages to a similar extent.

In introducing the concept of self–fashioning, Stephen Greenblatt appealed to the idea of fashion and costume being able to turn the aristocrats of Renaissance England into a work of art. It is easy enough to draw parallels between fashion and self–fashioning when by "fashionable" we mean a type of costume and lifestyle that can become prestigious and popular for some period of time, which can be adopted and then abandoned in favour of a new one, thereby creating a certain public image for oneself. Early modern fashion is associated primarily with the court society. How could an official be fashionable when year after year he was dressed in a plain dark, usually black suit, which was appropriate for a townsman in the second half of the 17th century? This article explores how fashion and men's costume are represented in the diary of Samuel Pepys, a Navy official, who is called a man of fashion, and how, for him, costume could be a tool for shaping his identity.

An interest in prophecy is a continuing theme of the writings of the Cambridge Platonist, Henry More (1614–87). In his earlier writings, the focus is on prophecy in general, particularly in relation to religious enthusiasm. He did not turn his attention to millenarianism until relatively late in his career, after he had established himself as a philosopher. From 1660 onwards, his writings are characterized by a deepening interest in biblical prophecy generally and in the Book of Revelation in particular. More first discusses biblical prophecy in print in his An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness (1660). His first systematic treatment of the topic appears in his Synopsis Propheticon which was appended to his Mystery of Iniquity (1664). Aspects of this discussion are elaborated in the fourth and fifth dialogues of his Divine Dialogues (1668), and in his An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches (1669). He continued to defend his position in other works to the end of his life. As a millenarian, Henry More belongs within the general Protestant tradition which identifies Antichrist as the Pope, the Apocalypse being an ‘aenigmaticall, prefiguration and prediction of the Apostasy thereof [the church] into Antichristianism by the misguidance of the Church-men’. Furthermore, as Jan van den Berg has shown, Henry More was a disciple of the great English millenarian, Joseph Mede. He followed Mede’s synchronic reading of events described in the Apocalypse, that is he interpreted them not as one linear sequence but as a series of concurrent events. In large part More accepted Mede’s collation of the seals, trumpets, and vials with other events described. None the less, More did not agree with Mede on all points. Although the points on which he differed were small, he defended his view with tenacity, as can be seen from his discussion of prophecy with his life-long correspondent and erstwhile pupil, Lady Anne Conway (1630?–79).

Pas marrjes së Ulqinit e Tivarit nga osmanët në vitet 1570, tashmë kufiri detar osman në Adriatik shtyhet më në veri duke përfshirë të gjitha trojet bregdetare shqiptare. Kështu fillon ngritja e Ulqinit si qendër detare dhe njëfarë rënie graduale e Vlorës edhe pse pa një lidhje shkakore mes tyre. Duke filluar prej 1571, Ulqini do të shërbejë si një bazë e mirë e detarisë osmane me lidhje të rregullta jo vetëm me Stambollin, por edhe me shtetet detare të Afrikës së Veriut dhe si një bazë ushtarake kundër venecianëve.1 Ulqinakët përdornin barka të ndryshme, kryesisht të dimensioneve të vogla e mesatare, por të shpejta si fusta, brigantinë e fregata dhe i përdornin qoftë për të bërë tregti, qoftë për të bërë korsari.2 Gjeografia e veprimtarisë së detarëve ulqinakë që në këto raste veprojnë si korsarë, në shekullin XVII shkon duke u zgjeruar vazhdimisht. Më 1624 sulmojnë zonën e Perastit, më 1638 krejt bregun dalmat, më 1654 zonën e Vishit, Korçulës dhe Lastovës, më 1655 zonën e Bokës dhe të Hvarit, më 1659 rrethinat e Zadarit, më 1660 brigjet e Istrias, më 1672 Rijekën dhe Bakrën. Megjithë flotën e organizuar dhe përpjekjet e vazhdueshme për t’i bërë ballë këtij hovi të detarisë ulqinake, Venediku nuk pati rezultate. Mbas përfundimit të luftës së Kretës më 1669, Venediku i shtoi përpjekjet dhe gjithashtu edhe kërkesat ndaj Portës, në mënyrë që të zbuste hovin e madh që kishte marrë korsaria shqiptare. Si rezultat i kësaj, pashait të Shkodrës iu dogjën 10 anije ulqinake si paralajmërim për të mos mbështetur dhe urdhëruar korsarët shqiptarë të sulmonin zotërimet dhe anijet venedikase...

Pas marrjes së Ulqinit e Tivarit nga osmanët në vitet 1570, tashmë kufiri detar osman në Adriatik shtyhet më në veri duke përfshirë të gjitha trojet bregdetare shqiptare. Kështu fillon ngritja e Ulqinit si qendër detare dhe njëfarë rënie graduale e Vlorës edhe pse pa një lidhje shkakore mes tyre. Duke filluar prej 1571, Ulqini do të shërbejë si një bazë e mirë e detarisë osmane me lidhje të rregullta jo vetëm me Stambollin, por edhe me shtetet detare të Afrikës së Veriut dhe si një bazë ushtarake kundër venecianëve.1 Ulqinakët përdornin barka të ndryshme, kryesisht të dimensioneve të vogla e mesatare, por të shpejta si fusta, brigantinë e fregata dhe i përdornin qoftë për të bërë tregti, qoftë për të bërë korsari.2 Gjeografia e veprimtarisë së detarëve ulqinakë që në këto raste veprojnë si korsarë, në shekullin XVII shkon duke u zgjeruar vazhdimisht. Më 1624 sulmojnë zonën e Perastit, më 1638 krejt bregun dalmat, më 1654 zonën e Vishit, Korçulës dhe Lastovës, më 1655 zonën e Bokës dhe të Hvarit, më 1659 rrethinat e Zadarit, më 1660 brigjet e Istrias, më 1672 Rijekën dhe Bakrën. Megjithë flotën e organizuar dhe përpjekjet e vazhdueshme për t’i bërë ballë këtij hovi të detarisë ulqinake, Venediku nuk pati rezultate. Mbas përfundimit të luftës së Kretës më 1669, Venediku i shtoi përpjekjet dhe gjithashtu edhe kërkesat ndaj Portës, në mënyrë që të zbuste hovin e madh që kishte marrë korsaria shqiptare. Si rezultat i kësaj, pashait të Shkodrës iu dogjën 10 anije ulqinake si paralajmërim për të mos mbështetur dhe urdhëruar korsarët shqiptarë të sulmonin zotërimet dhe anijet venedikase...

The proposed paper will present the long and rich life span of a city map of Buenos Aires and its changing settings, by following the many editions of a map first drawn by a French military engineer, Barthelemy de Massiac, that stayed as a prisoner in the city between 1660 and 1662. This example helps to further questions referring to the problem of stability / instability of maps. How do copies and adaptation to different supports or media affect their alleged unicity? How do they travel and what are the effects of their journeys? The problem may be addressed on the basis of the works on sociology of culture and science by Pierre Bourdieu, and on the history of the book and print culture by Roger Chartier. Although they don´t specifically study maps, their views add to the social and cultural approach to maps of the now classical critical studies in history of cartography by John B. Harley and David Woodward, among others. In this respect, Bourdieu stressed that ideas, books especially (as well as, it can be added, images and maps), travel without their context of production, through appropriations, translations and editions that sustain their circulation in space and, I also add, in time. The work of Roger Chartier also offers ground for this claim, as do his more recent work about images and their life in manuscripts, print and digital records and production. On a more epistemological perspective, attention to these changing supports, media and audiences contributes to rethink Bruno Latour’s definition of maps as immutable mobiles that sustained the making of modern science. I intend to address these issues presenting an example of the many copies, versions, printing of a map and its consequent storing, selling, circulating, archiving and studying, that show both the persistence and mutability of maps in shifting scenarios and readership. Briefly, the map drawn in 1669 by de Massiac lived a broad and long life, travelling from drawing desk to shelves, from print to books, from geography to antiquarianism and tourism, from urbanism to history, along at least 15 different versions and supports made until 1981, always surrounded by doubts about its trustworthiness yet at the same time used as a virtual logotype for the earlier stages of the city of which no other plans survive. Much later, pursue in French archives helped restore its original status as part of a military plan. The significance of recovering its original condition is more fully grasped when we put it into the perspective of its changing appropriations and journeys in time, place and varying scholarship.

AbstractThe two unsigned and undated lifesize portraits of the merchant Jacob Trip and his wife Margaretha de Geer in the Szépmüvészeti Muscum in Budapest (figs. i and 2) are generally regarded in the art-historical literature as authentic works painted by Nicolaes Maes in about 1660. However, opinion differs as to the connection between the man and another portrait of Jacob Trip, also painted by Maes, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague (fig. 3). In view of the inscription denoting the sitter's age this portrait is dated in 1659 or 1660 and hence frequently regarded as the model for the Budapest painting. Stylistic comparison clearly shows that the portrait in The Hague is inconsistent with Maes' work of around 1660 but entirely in keeping with the portraits he painted between 1665 and 1669 (figs. 4 and 5). It must therefore postdate Jacob Trip's death in 1661, and was probably a pendant to the portrait of Margaretha dc Geer (fig. 6) which was destroyed in 1944/1945 and bore the date 1665.

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was a late seventeenth-century diarist with a deep love of music, which he often compared to his love of women, as expressed in the previous quotation. Even though this quotation specifically refers to wind music, it also directly expresses Pepys' love of music as a whole. His diary stretches over a period of approximately nine years, 1660 until 1669. Among the discussions on a number of topics, in his diary Pepys expresses his views on music in various forms and from a range of perspectives. In this study Pepys' views on music from the point of view of a listener or audience member will be illustrated. The nature of Pepys' views on music and his reception thereof can be said to be ahead of his time. 'Theories of reception move historical enquiry away from questions of production and composition and towards issues related to response, audience, and what Carl Dahlhaus, following Walter Benjamin, called the 'after-life' of musical works.' The 'after-life' of a musical work is described by Mark Everist as a feeling that is evoked by the experience of it. This feeling that one gets during and after listening to a musical work could be seen as reception of the work. However, the term 'reception' is more readily referred to as critical responses to music in the form of public reviews that appear in written sources such as books, journals, newspapers, letters and diaries. Albert Roussel, a musician and French composer, believes that music is a language that composers and performers use to communicate with an audience. Music brings an audience to a deeper understanding, one that cannot be expressed in words, only felt, as Felix Mendelssohn states: '[Music] fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. The thoughts that are expressed to me by music I love are not too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.' It is necessary to address music reception from the audience's perspective because Samuel Pepys was a 17th century music lover and formed part of the audience at the time. He emphatically expressed his overwhelming love of music in his diary. The audiences are there to listen and experience, which is the inspiration behind this study.

Tese de doutoramento, Belas-Artes (Pintura), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Belas-Artes, 2010
Um resumo deste estudo deve, em primeiro lugar, justificar o seu título: Invisualidade da Pintura: História de uma Obsessão (de Caravaggio a Bruce Nauman). Pretende-se uma definição da pintura que permita ou revele um seu denominador comum à videosfera (mas também à escultura ao cinema e ao teatro, áreas abordadas nesta investigação). Esse denominador comum define ou redefine a natureza, ou a marca e a existência, das duas disciplinas em causa (vídeo e pintura, em primeiro lugar, com sucessivos alargamentos pertinentes – que nos poderão levar do cinema à música): essa marca está no conceito de INVISUALIDADE, algo que não pertence nem à ordem do visível nem do invisível. Dito de outra forma, a “coisa mental” com que historicamente se costuma definir a pintura não pode ser visível, como também não será invisível. Nestes termos, o INVISUAL é o par da VERDADE, sendo a VERDADE aquilo que emana da pintura. A VERDADE será considerada tal como definida por Platão e, sobretudo, posteriormente por Alain Badiou. É a partir da filosofia de Badiou que se procurará falar e estudar a arte de modo a ultrapassar contingências como as do juízo de valor e a pulverização das interpretações. Para isso, na primeira parte deste estudo, trabalhar-se-á o conceito de VERDADE; na segunda, a INVISUALIDADE, na terceira, a superação da interpretação, como consequência da VERDADE e INVISUALIDADE da pintura. Diz-se nesta última parte (onde, em particular, se tratam dos casos de Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Vito Acconci e Bruce Nauman) que uma obra de arte pictórica é INTERPRETÁVEL quando a sua leitura/recepção não se confunde com a interpretação (trata-se da dissociação fulcral interpretação ≠ INTERPRETABILIDADE: é INTERPRETÁVEL o que não se “fechou” numa interpretação nem tal permitiu iniciar-se). Procedeu-se previamente a uma profunda análise da obra filosófica de Alain Badiou. Daqui emergiu o conceito de VERDADE como o lugar central da arte neste statement: a arte é um procedimento da VERDADE; duplamente: porque permanentemente produz VERDADES e, depois, porque tem nos seus momentos de ruptura os seus picos clarificadores (chamemos-lhes autodefinição da arte) também considerados VERDADES. Caso a caso, dir-se-ia, que Caravaggio, Rembrandt ou Velázquez são (cada um a seu modo) os expoentes da VERDADE barroca, Vito Acconci e Bruce Nauman exponenciam (também porque a inventaram) a videosfera. O barroco pressupõe a existência de uma luz na pintura que é sobretudo uma autoemanação arbitrária formal – daí a sua hipotética relação com a autoreflexividade da forma em Greenberg, por exemplo. Ora, se a forma é uma auto-emanação, ela diverge da realidade observável. Daí o estudo de ampla bibliografia que pondera a suspeição do paradigma ocular como centro do conhecimento: de Santo Agostinho a Guy Debord. Considerar-se-á seguidamente, com esta definição da natureza da pintura, a possibilidade de a alargar, e às suas conclusões, a uma natureza genérica das artes, desenvolvimento que os conceitos centrais propostos – VERDADE, INVISUALIDADE, INTERPRETABILIDADE – requerem e parecem permitir. É aliás intrínseco a esta concatenação conceptual uma necessária transversalidade (ou mesmo indiferença) disciplinar. Teremos uma reflexão sobre a natureza da pintura e da arte (e literatura ou música serão aqui pontualmente, ou sempre que necessário, convocadas), inevitavelmente alicerçada na teoria e na crítica, na estética e na filosofia. A arte e a filosofia serão relacionadas. O que se deduz da natureza da arte tal como aqui é proposta, e na forma como é proposto, logo desde o momento em que se considera que a determinante da arte é o conceito de VERDADE. A arte manifesta-se e procede de acordo com a natureza da VERDADE – é, como se disse, um procedimento da VERDADE. Por isso este estudo necessita de uma disciplina que reflicta sobre essa partilha ou compossibilidade entre as VERDADES e os seus procedimentos. Compossibilidade que, ao mesmo tempo que é analisada nos seus territórios particulares (arte, ciência ou política), retroactivamente contribui para a redefinição da VERDADE. Esta é a determinante da arte, mas a forma como a arte afirma em si a relevância da VERDADE repercute-se na própria definição da VERDADE, numa circularidade com múltiplos sentidos: VERDADE → arte; arte → VERDADE; VERDADE → indiscernibilidade; indiscernibilidade → INVISUALIDADE; INVISUALIDADE → INTERPRETABILIDADE (ausência da interpretação). A ligação entre arte e VERDADE é decisiva na medida em que a proposição e a abertura de um conceito devem gerar outros: a VERDADE manifesta-se na arte, e esta, enquanto seu procedimento, esclarece-a exemplarmente. A VERDADE é uma escolha sem alicerces, que se apoia antes de tudo num vazio sem motivações, interesses ou justificações (excluindo-se, portanto, da experiência verificável). As suas determinantes são oriundas de um lugar do ser sem apoio e fundado numa intuição pura, «forte», onde a dedução e a indução não têm lugar.
An introduction to this thesis should, in the first place, justify its title: The Invisuality of Painting: History of an Obsession (from Caravaggio to Bruce Nauman). The purpose is a definition of painting that permits or reveals (extending) a common denominator to the videosphere (but likewise to sculpture and to cinema). This common denominator defines or redefines the nature, or the trace and the existence, of the subjects considered (video and painting, firstly, followed by successive relevant expansions – which can take us from cinema to music and theatre): that trace is in the concept of INVISUALITY, something that does not belong either to the order of the visible or to that of the invisible. Put another way, the cosa mentale by which painting is historically defined cannot be visible, as it also cannot be invisible. Put in these terms, INVISUAL is the partner of TRUTH, being TRUTH that which emanates from painting. TRUTH shall be considered as defined by Plato, and especially as later defined by Alain Badiou. The philosophy of Badiou is the point of departure from which art will be considered, so as to overstep contingencies such as value judgements and the pulverization of interpretations. Thus, the first part of this thesis shall deal with the concept of TRUTH; the second, INVISUALITY; the third, the surpassing of interpretation as a consequence of the TRUTH and INVISUALITY of painting. It is stated in this last section (with analysis of artists like Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman) that a pictorial work of art is INTERPRETABLE when its reading/reception is not confused with its interpretation (what is dealt with here is the crucial dissociation of interpretation and INTERPRETABILITY: that is INTERPRETABLE which has not closed itself off in an interpretation or permitted the inception of such a process). From a profound analysis of the philosophical work of Alain Badiou emerged the concept of TRUTH as the central location of art in this statement: art is a procedure of TRUTH; doubly so: because it permanently produces TRUTHS, and then because in its moments of rupture emerge its clarifying peaks (let’s call them self-definition of art), also considered to be TRUTHS. For instance Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Velázquez are the paragon of baroque TRUTH, Vito Acconci and Bruce Nauman created the videosphere. The baroque implies the existence of a light in painting that is above all an arbitrary formal self-emanation (a pictorial statement) – which allows for its hypothetical relation with self-reflexivity of form in Greenberg, for example. Now, if form is a self-emanation, it diverges from observable reality. Hence the perusal of ample bibliography on the suspiciousness of the ocular paradigm as centre of knowledge: a study of the antiocularcentric discourse from Saint Augustin to Guy Debord. With this definition of the nature of painting, the possibility shall subsequently be considered of enlarging it, and its conclusions, to a generic nature of the arts, a development that the central concepts proposed – TRUTH, INVISUALITY, INTERPRETABILITY – require and seem to permit. A necessary disciplinary transversality (or even indifference) is, furthermore, intrinsic to this conceptual concatenation. There will be a reflection on the nature of painting and art (and literature and music shall sporadically, or whenever necessary, be summoned), inevitably grounded in theory and critique, in aesthetics and philosophy. Art and philosophy shall be connected. Which can be deduced from the nature of art as here proposed, and from the way it is proposed, right from the moment in which it is considered that the determinant of art is the concept of TRUTH. Art manifests and proceeds according to the nature of TRUTH – it is, as said, a procedure of TRUTH. That is why this thesis demands a subject that reflects on the partnership or compossibilization between TRUTHS and their procedures. This compossibilization is simultaneously analysed in its particular territories (art, science or politics) and retroactively contributes to the redefinition of TRUTH. This is the determinant of art, but the way in which art asserts in itself the relevance of TRUTH reverberates in the very definition of TRUTH, in a circularity possessed of multiple meanings: TRUTH → art; art → TRUTH; TRUTH → indiscernibility; indiscernibility → INVISUALITY; INVISUALITY → INTERPRETABILITY (impossibility of interpretation). The connection between art and TRUTH is decisive in the sense that the presentation and the openness of a concept should generate others: TRUTH manifests in art, and art, as procedure of TRUTH, clarifies it remarkably. TRUTH is an unfounded choice, supported primarily by a void empty of motivations, interests or justifications (excluded, therefore, from verifiable experience). Its determinants arise from a corner of the self that is unsupported and founded on pure intuition, “strong”, where deduction and induction have no place.

In June 2016, four large atlases comprising two hundred and fifty anatomical drawings which were made around 1654-1660 in Leiden (Netherlands) were identified at the Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de santé. Made by the painter Marten Sagemolen (ca. 1620-1669) under the direction of the anatomist Johannes van Horne (1621-1670), they systematically describe the muscles of man. This extensive collection had been lost since the mid-18th century. The albums entered the collections of the Ecole de santé in 1796, along with the magnificent drawings by the painter Gerard de Lairesse (1641-1711) for the anatomy of Govard Bidloo (1649-1713), and they have remained in the medical library at 12, rue de l'Ecole-de-médecine, today called BIU Santé médecine, which now belongs to Université Paris Cité. Purchased as an anonymous lot accompanying Lairesse's masterpiece, the albums had not been successfully examined until 2016. The great rarity of this collection and the surprise of its identification aroused curiosity. After initial documentation and digitisation work by the BIU Santé's Health History Department, a restoration and study project was carried out with the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France. It was followed by an international conference on 18 and 19 June 2021, of which this volume provides the proceedings, and an exhibition of the atlases at the Musée d'histoire de la médecine d'Université Paris Cité, from 15 November 2021 to Saturday 15 January 2022.

Abstract Nor are these false measures of Honor more opposite to Religion, then Prudence; The glosses the Sword-men have put upon the one fundamental Law of Not bearing an Injury, have introduced such a multitude of ridiculous Punctillo’s, that the next Age will be in danger of receiving the Fable of Don Quixot for Authentique History; and I see not with what justice this can laugh at them in him and his squire Sancho, and yet think them serious enough to govern men in their most real and weighty concernments.

Abstract The object of this chapter, and of the remainder of this book, is to investigate closely and chronologically the directions taken by English playwrights. My concern is basically with the kinds of new plays written at each stage in the half-century under consideration. Even a somewhat selective consideration involves about five hundred plays: necessarily then, theatre history and the productions of earlier English drama can receive only peripheral attention. For theatre history, one must turn to The London Stage; for an account of the fortunes of Renaissance drama in this period we have Sorelius’s excellent study. My focus will be on the way generic types appear, change, and interact—that is, on fad and fashion in the new plays. Where possible, the springs and motives of change will be sought, though we may have far greater confidence in the possibility of determining what happened than why it did so.

Abstract ALHOUGH Milton had printed nothing in the six years between 1660 and 1667, during the final six years of his life he published one or more books every year. But this burst of activity was not, for the most part, the product of any new urge to composition. Two factors seem to have been responsible’. First, half a dozen London booksellers were making the discovery that writings by John Milton had commercial value, and they persuaded the blind author to go through his papers with a view to their quite unsuspected needs. They were interested in the manuscripts of his Latin grammar, his little handbook of logic, his unfinished history of Britain, his short history of Russia, his official letters of state, his private letters, even his academic exercises done as a student at Cambridge. They were interested in a possible new edition of his minor poetry (that totally unsuccessful bid for recognition!), and Simmons, of course, was interested in a possible revision of the highly successful epic. Milton himself, aged sixty in 1669, evidently welcomed the inquiries of publishers as a means of setting his literary house in order.

Abstract The writings of Charles de Saint-Evremond (1613-1703)1 who has been called the most civilized man of his century, enjoyed a great popularity in the early 1700s, undergoing several editions, all of them posthumous. His famous letter on operas (addressed to the second Duke of Buckingham and here given in the English version of 1728) summarizes most of the opinions on the subject current in Paris before the rise of Lully’s tragedies en musique. Saint Evremond himself had been obliged to flee Paris in 16611 having compromised himself politically, and spent the rest of his long life in London. His letter therefore, which may have been drafted as early as 1661 and was probably written mostly in 1669-70, can only have reflected a limited personal experience of Italian opera. The works he almost certainly saw performed in Paris were those promoted by Cardinal Mazarin: Sacrati’s La finta pazza (1645), Cavalli’s Egisto (1646), Orfeo (1647) by Luigi Rossi (the composer referred to below as Luigi), Le nozze di Peleo e di Teti (1654) by Carlo Caproli, and Cavalli’s Xerse (1660). He also probably knew the Pastorate d’lssy (1659), an early precursor of opera in French, with music by Robert Cambert (who was later to join him in exile in England).