The Early Quakers,the Peace Testimony and Masculinity in England, 1660–1720

As Karen Harvey and Alexandra Shepard have asserted, most research into the history of masculinity has concentrated on dominant groups, while more work is needed on the range of codes of behaviour available to other men. Arguably, no aspect of seventeenth‐century Quaker behaviour ran more contrary to dominant norms than the insistence on pacifism and rejection of violence. This article considers Friends’ pacifism and its relation to masculinity, including its implications for local society, showing how it related to Quaker rejections of domestic violence and to the violent masculinity of the alehouse. However, non‐violent forms of control were used to uphold patriarchal norms and to control women and those whose behaviour was considered to be inappropriate. Developing the insights of the social scientist Kenneth Boulding and philosopher Steve Smith, this article explores how Quaker practices of exclusion and ostracism can be seen as highly effective forms of coercion, even if they did not involve physical force, and in doing so highlight how seventeenth‐ and twentieth‐century interpretations of pacifism differ. Quaker identity and discipline were maintained in strikingly effective ways which often mirrored patriarchal norms, and indeed Friends’ self‐perception is shown to have been highly controlled in order to maintain a collective reputation for sobriety, honesty and restraint.     

Carnival and Literature in Early Modern England

A FOLKLORE SAMPLER FROM THE MARITIMES: WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY ON THE FOLKTALE IN ENGLISH. Ed. by HERBERT HALPERT. Mount Allison University and Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1982. 273 pp., appendices and bibliography. Reviewed by Georgina Boyes.

THE DRUNKEN KING, OR, THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE. By LUC DE HEUSCH, translated and annotated by Roy Willis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Pp. xv + 50 (£16.50). Reviewed by Loreto Todd.

RITES AND RELIGIONS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. By GALE R. OWEN. David and Charles, London, and Barnes and Noble Books, New Jersey, 1981. Pp. 216, 24 plates, 40 figs. £12.50. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.

SIJOBANG: SUNG NARRATIVE POETRY OF WESTERN SUMATRA. By NIGEL PHILLIPS. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture, Cambridge University Press, 1981. Pp. 255. 2 maps. 8 plates. £22.50. Reviewed by H. R. Ellis Davidson.

THE CULT OF THE SERPENT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SURVEY OF ITS MANIFESTATIONS AND ORIGINS. By BALAJIMUNDKUR. State University o f New York Press, Albany, 1983 ISBN 0-87395-631-1. 363 pp., 107 ills. Cloth $39.50, paper $12.95. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

BRÜDER GRIMM KINDER-UND HAUSMÄRCHEN. Textkritisch revidiert und mit einem Nachwort herausgegeben von HEINZ RÖLLEKE. Cologne (Eugen Diederichs Verlag), 1982. 2 volumes, pp. 592; with 4 illustrations by Ludwig Emil Grimm. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

LEGENDS OF THE WORLD. Ed. by RICHARD CAVENDISH. Orbis Publishing, London, 1982. Pp. 433, ill. £12.50. Reviewed by Alicia C. Percival.

THE RIVER'S IN MY BLOOD: RIVERBOAT PILOTS TELL THEIR STORIES. By JANE CURRY. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1983. Pp. 288. £10.00. Reviewed by Ruth Glass.

PERFORMED LITERATURE: WORDS AND MUSIC BY BOB DYLAN. By BETSY BOWDEN. Indiana University Press, 1982. Pp. 239. $18.95. 0 253 34347 X. Reviewed by Brian Hinton.

LEYENDAS, TRADICIONES, CUENTOS FABULOSOS, Y OTROS RELATOS FANTASTICOS DE LAS ISLAS CABRERA, FORMENTERA, EIVISSA, MENORCA Y MALLORCA. By GABRIEL SABRAFIN. Archivo de Tradiciones Populares, vol. 35. Apartado 296, Palma. 1982. 8vo. Pp. 237 + 3 folding maps. ISBN 84-85354-87-6. 1100 pesetas. Reviewed by Leslie Grinsell.

MYSTERIOUS WALES. By CHRIS BARBER. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon. Pp. 243, 143 illus. and map. Hardback. 1982. £8.95. Paperback, 1983 (Paladin), £2.50. Reviewed by L. V. Grinsell.

OURS ONCE MORE: FOLKLORE, IDEOLOGY, AND THE MAKING OF MODERN GREECE. By MICHAEL HERZFELD. Austin: University of Texas Press 1982. x, 197 pp. Reviewed by Charles Stewart.