History and Development
of
PROSE STYLE

A Reader

Prepared and Compiled

by

JOHN F. TINKLER

[What's New] [Old English] [Middle English] [Renaissance] [Early 17th cent.]
[Late 17th cent.] [Early 18th cent.] [Late 18th cent.] [19th cent.] [20th cent.]

This is a listing of links to electronic texts, for use in Towson University's graduate course in History and Development of Prose Style. All but one of the readings are short excerpts that I have transcribed myself. I make absolutely no claim for their accuracy. It is a work in progress, intended as an ad hoc teaching resource, and prepared in the absence of an adequate published anthology. It is currently supplemented in my course by the Oxford Book of Essays and by library resources. As a result, many obvious selections are not included here, and in general there are fewer selections from later periods that are more adequately covered elsewhere. If you have suggestions or recommendations, please e-mail me at jtinkler@towson.edu.

Note: Class readings for each period are assembled together in packets, and are also listed separately. Separately listed readings that are not (yet) in the packet are marked by an asterisk.

Old English [preformat ASCI]
- Complete Packet of Old English Readings (ASCI:5pp.)
  - c.890: KING ALFRED from Preface to St. Gregory's Pastoral Care.
  - c.900: from ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
  - c.1000: from AELFRIC's Colloquy
  - c.1000: AELFRIC. from Lives of the Saints.
  - 1014: WULFSTAN. from Sermon of "Wolf" to the English
Middle English
- Complete Packet of Medieval Readings (HTML)
  - c.1200: from THE LIFE OF SAINT JULIANA
  - 1340s: RICHARD ROLLE. from The Nature of the Bee.
  - c.1360: SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE. from The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Mandeville.
  - 1370s: JOHN WICLIF. from On the Translation of the Bible. (Pastoral Duty, chapter 15.)
  - 1390s: DAME JULIAN OF NORWICH. from A Book of Showings.
  - 1390s: GEOFFREY CHAUCER. from Treatise on the Astrolabe.
  - 1436: MARGERY KEMPE. from The Book of Margery Kempe.
  - 1400s: TWO FIFTEENTH-CENTURY RECIPES.
  - 1449?: THE PASTON LETTERS: Margaret Paston to John Paston.
  - 1450s: JOHN CAPGRAVE. from The Chronicle of England
  - 1460s: SIR JOHN FORTESCUE. from The Governance of England.
  - c.1470: SIR THOMAS MALORY. Le Morte Arthur.
Renaissance: 16th Century
- Complete Packet of Renaissance Readings (HTML)
  - 1513: Sir/St. THOMAS MORE. from The History of Richard III.
  - 1531: Sir THOMAS ELYOT. from The Book Named the Governour.
  - 1545: ROGER ASCHAM. from Toxophilus.
  - 1547: from THE BOOK OF HOMILIES.
  - 1547: [THOMAS CRAMNER]. from Book of Common Prayer.
  - 1548: EDWARD HALL. from The Union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and York.
  - 1548: HUGH LATIMER. from Sermon on the Plowers.
  - 1553: THOMAS WILSON. from The Art of Rhetoric.
  - 1579: JOHN LYLY. from Euphues.
  - 1588: QUEEN ELIZABETH. Speech to the Troops at Tilbury.
  - 1592: THOMAS NASHE. from Pierce Penniless His Supplication to the Devil.
  - 1594-: RICHARD HOOKER. from Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.
17th Century--early:
- Complete Packet of Early Seventeenth-Century Readings (HTML)
- British:
  - 1605: FRANCIS BACON. from The Proficience and Advancement of Learning.
  - 1614: Sir WALTER RALEIGH. from The History of the World.
  - 1621-: ROBERT BURTON. from The Anatomy of Melancholy.
  - 1624: JOHN DONNE. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: Meditation 17.
  - 1640: BEN JONSON. from Timber: or Discoveries.
  - 1641: JOHN MILTON. from Of Reformation.
  - 1644: JOHN MILTON. from Of Education.
  - 1649: ABEIZER COPPE. from A Fiery Flying Roll.
  - 1653: IZAAC WALTON. from The Compleat Angler.
- American:
  - 1624: [Captain] JOHN SMITH. from The General History of Virginia.
  - 1630-46: WILLIAM BRADFORD. from The History of Plimmoth Plantation.
17th Century--late
- Complete Packet of Late Seventeenth-Century Readings (HTML)
- British:
  - 1651: THOMAS HOBBES. Leviathan.
  - 1653: DOROTHY OSBORNE. from Letters to Sir William Temple.
  - 1660s: THOMAS TRAHERNE. Centuries of Meditations.
  - 1661: JOHN TILLOTSON. from a sermon, "On the Rule of Equity to be observed among men."
  - 1662: MARGARET CAVENDISH, Duchess of Newcastle. from Female Orations.
  - 1665: SAMUEL PEPYS. Diary. (Sept. 2)
  - 1665: JOHN EVELYN. Diary. (Sept 7)
  - 1667: THOMAS SPRAT. from History of the Royal-Society of London, For the Improving of Natural Knowledge.
  - 1667: ROBERT HOOK. An Account of a Dog dissected.
  - 1668: ROBERT SOUTH. from Sermon preached on the 30th of April, 1668.
  - 1640s-70s: Edward Hyde, Earl of CLARENDON. from The History of the Rebellion.
  - 1671: Sir ISAAC NEWTON. from A Letter . . . containing his New Theory about Light and Colours.
  - 1678: JOHN BUNYAN. from The Pilgrim's Progress.
  - 1680-97: JOHN AUBREY. from Brief Lives.
  - 1698: APHRA BEHN. from Oroonoko.
- American:
  - 1664: ANNE BRADSTREET. Meditations divine and Morall.
  - 1682: MARY ROWLANDSON. The Captive.
18th Century--early
- Complete Packet of Early Eighteenth- Century Readings (HTML)
- British:
  - 1700: MARY ASTELL. From Some Reflections upon Marriage.
  - 1719: JONATHAN SWIFT. From a sermon "On the Poor Man's Contentment."
  - 1724: DANIEL DEFOE. from Roxana.
  - 1726: DANIEL DEFOE. from The Complete English Tradesman.
  - 1729: JONATHAN SWIFT. from A Modest Proposal.
  - 1749: HENRY FIELDING. from Tom Jones.
- American:
  - 1702: COTTON MATHER. from Magnalia Christi Americana: or The Ecclesiastical History of New England.
  - 1704: SARAH KEMBLE KNIGHT. from The Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York, in the Year 1704.
  - 1728: WILLIAM BYRD II. History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina Run in the Year of our Lord 1728.
  - 1741: JONATHAN EDWARDS. From Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.
- (*Swift: A Modest Proposal)
18th century--late
- Complete Packet of Late Eighteenth-Century Readings
- British:
  - 1740: DAVID HUME. From A Treatise of Human Nature.
  - 1751: DAVID HUME. From An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.
  - 1754: DAVID HUME. from The History of Great Britain.
  - 1759: EDWARD YOUNG. From Conjectures on Original Composition.
  - 1759-: LAURENCE STERNE. From The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy.
  - 1765: HORACE WALPOLE. From The Castle of Otranto.
  - [1760s?]: JOHN WESLEY. From a sermon, "The Use of Money."
  - 1776: JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air. 2nd ed.
  - 1776: ADAM SMITH. from The Wealth of Nations.
  - 1776-: EDWARD GIBBON. from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
  - 1791/84: JAMES BOSWELL/SAMUEL JOHNSON. From Life of Johnson. 1791.
  - 1790: EDMUND BURKE. From Reflections on the Revolution in France.
  - 1792: MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT. From A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
- American:
  - 1787-88: ALEXANDER HAMILTON and JAMES MADISON. from The Federalist.
  - 1787: THOMAS JEFFERSON. from Notes on the State of Virginia.
  - 1792: THOMAS PAINE. From The Rights of Man.
19th century
- Complete Packet of Nineteenth-Century British Readings
- British:
  - 1795: SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834). from The Plot Discovered; or An Address to the People, Against Ministerial Treason.
  - 1821: WILLIAM HAZLITT. from Table Talk.
  - 1825: HARRIETTE WILSON. from Memoirs of herself and Others.
  - 1837: THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881). from The French Revolution.
  - 1853: JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900). from The Stones of Venice. 1853.
  - 1859: CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882). from The Origin of Species.
  - [1863]: THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (). from Darwiniana (pub. 1893).
  - 1869: JOHN STUART MILL. from The Subjection of Women.
- American:
  - 1845: FREDERICK DOUGLASS. from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
  - 1873: SUSAN B. ANTHONY. from On Women's right to Suffrage.
  - 1899: THORSTEIN VEBLEN. from The Theory of the Leisure Class.
20th century
- Complete Packet of Twentieth-Century Readings
  - 1911: FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR. from The Principles of Scientific Management.
  - 1913: EMMELINE PANKHURST. from "Militant Suffragists."
  - 1984: U.S. SUPREME COURT. Quarles v New York (narrative selections).

History and Development of PROSE STYLE

A Reader

Prepared and Compiled by

JOHN F. TINKLER

Contents

History and Development
of
PROSE STYLE

Prepared and Compiled

by