The Works of Aphra Behn: v. 3: Fair Jill and Other Stories

Janet Todd

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781851960149
• eBook ISBN: 9781351259262
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was one of the most successful dramatists of the Restoration theatre and a popular poet. This is the third volume in a set of seven which comprises a complete edition of all her works.

OROONOKO

Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave: A True History was first published separately in 1688. Later in the same year it was reissued as The Three Histories, bound with The Fair Jilt and Agnes de Castro. In the second edition of A Congratulatory Poem to the King’s Most Sacred Majesty on the Happy Birth of the Prince of Wales, which probably came out in June, a prefatory note advertizes that ‘On Wednesday next will be Published the Most Ingenious and long Expected History of Oroonoko: or the Royal Slave. By Mrs. Behn.’ Both Mary Ann O’Donnell and Gerald Duchovnay find evidence that Oroonoko was printed hastily and that possibly two print shops were involved in the production of the text since types and numbers of words on a page vary, as well as pagination and habits of orthography and italicization. The second edition corrected mistakes in pagination and normalized spelling. A stop-press variant in which Behn praises Lord Maitland’s Catholicism in her dedicatory preface can be found in the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the one reproduced here. Like The Fair Jilt, Oroonoko was printed for William Canning.

The narrator of Oroonoko, identified within the text as Aphra Behn the playwright, claims to have visited Surinam. ‘The Life and Memoirs of Mrs Behn’ (1696), included in The Histories and Novels Of the Late Ingenious Mrs Behn which reprinted Oroonoko, echoes Behn’s claim to have travelled to Surinam:

she accompany’d her Parents in their long Voyage to Surinam … that Paradise which she so admirably describes in Oroonoko; where you may also find what Adventures happen’d to her in that Country.

This echo may suggest that Behn had indeed been to Surinam or that the author of the ‘Memoirs’ had read Oroonoko. Behn’s assertion and the ‘Memoirs’ may be supported by the occasional similarities between her accounts of Surinam and George Warren’s Impartial Description of Surinam (1667). Or, as seems less likely, she may have used Warren for her writing.

Richard Maitland (1653–95), to whom Behn dedicated Oroonoko, was the son of Charles, third Earl of Lauderdale, and was known as Lord Maitland after his father succeeded to the title. In 1678, Maitland joined the Privy Council and was appointed General of the Mint, a position he shared with his father. In 1681 he became appointed Lord Justice General but in 1684 he was stripped of this office because it was suspected that he had been in contact with the Duke of Argyll, his wife’s father and, potentially, a threat to the nation. After the revolution in 1688, Maitland went into exile and joined the court of James II at St Germain. But it was reported that he was never at ease in that circle and, perhaps because of his wife’s Protestantism, he was banished from the exiled court. He settled in Paris where he devoted his time to a translation of Virgil.

Despite Lord Maitland’s exile at the beginning of the reign of William and Mary, Behn’s dedication to him was retained as a general dedication in the 1696 editions of The Histories and Novels but was dropped by Charles Gildon in the 1698 All the Histories and Novels. Gildon gave as his reason a wish to protect ‘these Admirable and Diverting Histories from being prostituted to a Person unworthy of the Honour’.

TO THE

Right Honourable

THE

Lord MAITLAND,

My Lord,

Since the World is grown so Nice and Critical upon Dedications, and will Needs be Judging the Book by the Wit of the Patron; we ought, with a great deal of Circumspection, to chuse a Person against whom there can be no Exception; and whose Wit and Worth truly Merits all that one is capable of saying upon that Occasion.

The most part of Dedications are charg’d with Flattery; and if the World knows a Man has some Vices, they will not allow one to speak of his Virtues. This, my Lord, is for want of thinking Rightly; if Men wou’d consider with Reason, they wou’d have another sort of Opinion, and Esteem of Dedications; and wou’d believe almost every Great Man has enough to make him Worthy of all that can be said of him there. My Lord, a Picture-drawer, when he intends to make a good Picture, essays the Face many Ways, and in many Lights, before he begins; that he may chuse, from the several turns of it, which is most Agreeable, and gives it the best Grace; and if there be a Scar, an ungrateful Mole, or any little Defect, they leave it out; and yet make the Picture extreamly like: But he who has the good Fortune to draw a Face that is exactly Charming in all its Parts and Features, what Colours or Agreements can be added to make it Finer? All that he can give it but its due; and Glories in a Piece whose Original alone gives it its Perfection. An ill Hand may diminish, but a good Hand cannot augment its Beauty. A Poet is a Painter in his way; he draws to the Life, but in another kind, we draw the Nobler part, the Soul and Mind; the Pictures of the Pen shall out-last those of the Pencil, and even Worlds themselves. ‘Tis a Short Chronicle of those Lives that possibly wou’d be forgotten by other Historians, or lye neglected there, however deserving an immortal Fame; for Men of eminent Parts are as Exemplary as even Monarchs themselves; and Virtue is a noble Lesson to be learn’d, and ‘tis by Comparison we can Judge and Chuse. ‘Tis by such illustrious Presidents as your Lordship the World can be Better’d and Refin’d; when a great part of the lazy Nobility shall, with Shame, behold the admirable Accomplishments of a Man so Great, and so Young.

Your Lordship has Read innumerable Volumes of Men, and Books, not Vainly for the gust¹ of Novelty, but Knowledge, excellent Knowledge: Like the industrious Bee, from every Flower you return Laden with the precious Dew, which you are sure to turn to the Publick Good. You hoard no one Perfection, but lay it all out in the Glorious Service of your Religion and Country; to both which you are a useful and necessary Honour: They both want such Supporters; and ‘tis only Men of so elevated Parts, and fine Knowledge; such noble Principles of Loyalty and Religion this Nation Sighs for. Where is it amongst all our Nobility we shall find so great a Champion for the Catholick Church?² With what Divine Knowledge have you writ in Defence of the Faith! How unanswerably have you clear’d all these Intricacies in Religion, which even the Gownmen³ have left Dark and Difficult! With what unbeaten Arguments you convince, the Faithless, and instruct the Ignorant! Where shall we find a Man so Young, like St Augustine,⁴ in the midst of all his Youth and Gaiety, Teaching the World divine Precepts, true Notions of Faith, and Excellent Morality, and, at the same time, be also a perfect Pattern of all that accomplish a Great Man? You have, my Lord, all that refin’d Wit that Charms, and the Affability that Obliges; a Generosity that gives a Lustre to your Nobility; that Hospitality, and Greatness of Mind, that ingages the World; and that admirable Conduct, that so well Instructs it. Our Nation ought to regret and bemoan their Misfortunes, for not being able to claim the Honour of the Birth of a Man who is so fit to serve his Majesty, and his Kingdoms, in all Great and Publick Affairs: And to the Glory of your Nation⁵ be it spoken, it produces more considerable Men, for all fine Sence, Wit, Wisdom, Breeding, and Generosity (for the generality of the Nobility) than all other Nations can Boast; and the Fruitfulness of your Virtues sufficiently make amends for the Barrenness of your Soil: Which however cannot be incommode⁶ to your Lordship; since your Quality, and the Veneration that the Commonalty naturally pay their Lords, creates a flowing Plenty there – that makes you Happy. And to compleat your Happiness, my Lord, Heaven has blest you with a Lady, to whom it has given all the Graces, Beauties, and Virtues of her Sex;⁷ all the Youth, Sweetness of Nature; of a most illustrious Family; and who is a most rare Example to all Wives of Quality, for her eminent Piety, Easiness, and Condescention; and as absolutely merits Respect from all the World, as she does that Passion and Resignation she receives from your Lordship; and which is, on her part, with so much Tenderness return’d. Methinks your tranquil Lives are an Image of the New Made and Beautiful Pair in Paradise: And ‘tis the Prayers and Wishes of all, who have the Honour to know you, that it may Eternally so continue, with Additions of all the Blessings this World can give you.

My Lord, the Obligations I have to some of the Great Men of your Nation, particularly to your Lordship, gives me an Ambition of making my Acknowledgments, by all the Opportunities I can; and such humble Fruits, as my Industry produces, I lay at your Lordships Feet. This is a true Story, of a Man Gallant enough to merit your Protection; and, had he always been so Fortunate, he had not made so Inglorious an end: The Royal Slave I had the Honour to know in my Travels to the other World; and though I had none above me in that Country, yet I wanted power to preserve this Great Man. If there be any thing that seems Romantick, I beseech your Lordship to consider, these Countries do, in all things, so far differ from ours, that they produce unconceivable Wonders; at least, they appear so to us, because New and Strange. What I have mention’d I have taken care shou’d be Truth, let the Critical Reader judge as he pleases. ‘Twill be no Commendation to the book, to assure your Lordship I writ it in a few Hours, though it may serve to Excuse some of its Faults of Connexion; for I never rested my Pen a Moment for Thought: ‘Tis purely the Merit of my Slave that must render it worthy of the Honour it begs; and the Author of that of Subscribing herself,

My Lord,

Your Lordship’s most obliged

and obedient Servant,

A. BEHN.

THE

HISTORY

OF THE

Royal Slave.

I do not pretend, in giving you the History of this Royal Slave, to entertain my Reader with the Adventures of a feign’d Hero, whose Life and Fortunes Fancy may manage at the Poets Pleasure; not in relating the Truth, design to adorn it with any Accidents, but such as arriv’d in earnest to him: And it shall come simply into the World, recommended by its own proper Merits, and natural Intrigues; there being enough of Reality to support it, and to render it diverting, without the Addition of Invention.

I was my self an Eye-Witness to a great part, of what you will find here set down; and what I cou’d not be Witness of, I receiv’d from the Mouth of the chief Actor in this History, the Hero himself, who gave us the whole Transactions of his Youth;⁸ and though I shall omit, for Brevity’s sake, a thousand little Accidents of his Life, which, however pleasant to us, where History was scarce, and Adventures very rare; yet might prove tedious and heavy to my Reader, in a World where he finds Diversions for every Minute, new and strange: But we who were perfectly charm’d with the Character of this great Man, were curious to gather every Circumstance of his Life.

The scene of the last part of his Adventures lies in a Colony in America, called Surinam, in the West Indies.⁹

But before I give you the Story of this Gallant Slave, ‘tis fit I tell you the manner of bringing them to these new Colonies; for those they make use of there, are not Natives of the place;¹⁰ for those we live with in perfect Amity, without daring to command ‘em; but on the contrary, caress ‘em with all the brotherly and friendly Affection in the World; trading with ‘em for their Fish, Venison, Buffilo’s, Skins, and little Rarities; as Marmosets, a sort of Monkey as big as a Rat or Weesel, but of a marvellous and delicate shape, and has Face and Hands like an Humane Creature: and Cousheries,¹¹ a little Beast in the form and fashion of a Lion, as big as Kitten; but so exactly made in all parts like that noble Beast, that it is it in Minature. Then for little Para-keetoes, great Parrots, Muckaws,¹² and a thousand other Birds and Beasts of wonderful and surprizing Forms, Shapes, and Colours. For Skins of prodigious Snakes, of which there are some threescore Yards in length; as is the Skin of one that may be seen at His Majesty’s Antiquaries:¹³ Where are also some rare Flies, of amazing Forms and Colours, presented to ‘em by my self; some as big as my Fist, some less; and all of various Excellencies, such as Art cannot imitate.¹⁴ Then we trade for Feathers, which they order into all Shapes, make themselves little short Habits of ‘em, and glorious Wreaths for their Heads, Necks, Arms and Legs, whose Tinctures are unconceivable. I had a Set of these presented to me, and I gave ‘em to the King’s Theatre, and it was the Dress of the Indian Queen,¹⁵ infinitely admir’d by Persons of Quality; and were unimitable. Besides these, a thousand little Knacks, and Rarities in Nature, and some of Art; as their Baskets, Weapons, Aprons, &c. We dealt with ‘em with Beads of all Colours, Knives, Axes, Pins and Needles; which they us’d only as Tools to drill Holes with in their Ears, Noses and Lips, where they hang a great many little things; as long Beads, bits of Tin, Brass, or Silver, beat thin; and any shining Trincket. The Beads they weave into Aprons about a quarter of an Ell¹⁶ long, and of the same breadth; working them very prettily in Flowers of several Colours of Beads; which Apron they wear just before ‘em, as Adam and Eve did the Fig-leaves; the Men wearing a long Stripe of Linen, which they deal with us for. They thread these Beads also on long Cotton-threads, and make Girdles to tie their Aprons to, which come twenty times, or more, about the Waste; and then cross, like a Shoulder-belt, both ways, and round their Necks, Arms and Legs. This Adornment, with their long black Hair, and the Face painted in little Specks or Flowers here and there, makes ‘em a wonderful Figure to behold. Some of the Beauties which indeed are finely shap’d, as almost all are, and who have pretty Features, are very charming and novel; for they have all that is called Beauty, except the Colour, which is a reddish Yellow; or after a new Oiling, which they often use to themselves, they are of the colour of a new Brick, but smooth, soft and sleek. They are extream modest and bashful, very shy, and nice¹⁷ of being touch’d. And though they are all thus naked, if one lives for ever among ‘em, there is not to be seen an indecent Action, or Glance; and being continually us’d to see one another so unadorn’d, so like our first Parents before the Fall,¹⁸ it seems as if they had no Wishes; there being nothing to heighten Curiosity, but all you can see, you see at once, and every Moment see; and where there is no Novelty, there can be no Curiosity. Not but I have seen a handsom young Indian, dying for Love of a very beautiful young Indian Maid; but all his Courtship was, to fold his Arms, pursue her with his Eyes, and Sighs were all his Language: While she, as if no such Lover were present; or rather, as if she desired none such, carefully guarded her Eyes from beholding him; and never approach’d him, but she look’d down with all the blushing Modesty I have seen in the most severe and cautious of our World. And these People represented to me an absolute Idea of the first State of Innocence, before Man knew how to sin: And ‘tis most evident and plain, that simple Nature is the most harmless, inoffensive and vertuous Mistress. ‘Tis she alone, if she were permitted, that better instructs the World, than all the Inventions of Man: Religion wou’d here but destroy that Tranquillity, they possess by Ignorance; and Laws wou’d but teach ‘em to know, Offence, of which now they have no Notion. They once made Mourning and Fasting for the Death of the English Governor, who had given his Hand to come on such a Day to ‘em, and neither came, nor sent; believing, when once a Man’s Word was past, nothing but Death cou’d or shou’d prevent his keeping it: And when they saw he was not dead, they ask’d him, what Name they had for a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Copy Texts used
• Textual Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• The Fair Jilt
• Oroonoko
• Agnes de Castro
• The Lucky Mistake
• The History of the Nun
• ‘Love-Letters’
• ‘Memoirs of the Court of the King of Bantam’
• ‘The Nun’
• ‘The Adventure of the Black Lady’
• ‘The Unfortunate Bride’
• ‘The Dumb Virgin’
• ‘The Unfortunate Happy Lady’
• ‘The Wandring Beauty’
• ‘The Unhappy Mistake’
• Notes
• Emendations