ABSTRACT
This chapter explores several developments in rhetorical theory during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, first on the European Continent and then in Britain. The legacy of Renaissance Humanism's influence is still evident in transitional writers like Margaret Cavendish in England and Giovanni Battista Vico in Italy. The chapter considers Vico's innovative theory of the rhetorical evolution of the human mind, as well as his views on the role of narrative in shaping culture. We will also explore developments on the British Isles where various rhetorical theories addressed matters ranging from psychology and argument to preaching and style. Rhetorical writers during this time also explored such issues as the beneficial use of leisure time, and even how to correct a telltale Irish accent. Jane Donawerth concludes that "Edgeworth is not a passive consumer of eighteenth-century rhetorical standards, but a transgressive and ironic reader of them". Thus, the eighteenth century finds rhetoric again moved to the forefront of educational and scholarly concerns.
