THE POLEMIC CHARACTER 1640-1661 A Chapler in English Literary History BENJAMIN BOYCE 1969 Fram a rade in te Bish Asem {60410690 The txt OCTAGON BOOKS the brome reprinted inthe Append of the present votume neecnr 1985 ‘by the Unierty af Nebraska Pros Reprinted 1969 ae arangcmet with The Univery of Nebas Pret OCTAGON BOOKS: ‘A Divnow oF Fannan, Srmats & Gino, Inc 19 Union Square West New York, N.Y. 10003, te DMGPREFACE. Ty ue sotoving pgs 1 are rome the hier of the Character a the pont where Ill it ina previous lume Ik the point a which the Character ceed to be merely ‘elle lee andor pa, nok wibout dt heat, in-the-atiggle. and public resentments of the ‘Because the Characier & frm of writing Was popula in the seveneenth century buts not often. prac Tied today, U have again examined technique and syle rather that ers and alo because of the scarcity nowadays of surviving ‘copies of these pieces, T have hasarded 2 retracing of the ‘round in Part Two with atention chely to subjec-mater. Fart Two is of course not oflered as new, ambitious survey fof English history fom 1640 to the Restoration; rather, presents a cursory view of two extraordinary decades as seen by the writers of Characters and portraits. Needles to sy, ‘oe all aspects of the period are covered and fone i rated cxhaustvely. Tf some repetition has resulted ffom the two- fold division, sch annoyance as it may cause will perhaps oan Sry eet erent Mass, 1947). 7