ABSTRACT
The apprentice s an d other s wh o supporte d Parliamen t i n 164 1 turne d awa y from their earlier position t o call for the return of Charles II in 1660 ; ironically - bu t predictabl y - th e Restoratio n o f th e monarch y le d t o a notabl e curtailment o f political activity by subaltern groups, including both apprentice s and women . Fo r on e thing , a 166 1 proclamatio n explicitl y prohibited "Tumults, an d Disorders , upo n pretenc e o f preparin g o r presentin g publik e Petitions, o r othe r Addresse s t o th e Majesty , o r th e Parliament. " I t i s fitting , then, that a comedy performed by apprentice s themselves, Th e Knavery i n All Trades, exemplifie s the effor t t o place bot h apprentice s an d wive s unde r th e control o f the master an d husband, while expressing anxiety about the fragilit y of suc h containment . Ye t apprentice s foun d othe r outlet s fo r political protest , returning t o th e kin d o f riotin g i n which the y engage d durin g th e 1590s . N o longer abl e t o petition , apprentices ' signatur e attac k o n brothel s too k o n political significance: thes e disorders expressed protests against Whitehall, and were interpreted an d punished as such. The pamphlets that satirically level the king's mistres s wit h th e "whores " wh o see k protectio n fro m he r ar e symptomatic o f th e genderin g o f politica l discours e durin g th e Restoration , making use o f tropes o f female disorder fro m mid-century. Attacks agains t the king throug h hi s mistresse s similarl y characteriz e th e Poems o n Affairs o f State, circulate d i n manuscrip t b y mal e aristocrats . Th e middle-clas s satiri c pamphlets an d th e aristocrati c manuscrip t poem s articulat e equivalence s against th e monarch , throug h a commo n gendere d politica l discours e tha t criticizes Charles through his debased mistresses. The putatively Tory Thomas Otway's Venice Preserv'd make s us e o f thi s gendere d discourse , whic h delegitimizes women' s politica l participation in order to affir m th e commons ' place i n th e politica l nation ; Otwa y nevertheles s acknowledges , howeve r ambivalently, th e legac y o f petitionin g wive s fro m th e Englis h Revolution . Jonathan Scott , Richar d Ashcraft , an d Tim Harri s hav e emphasize d th e link s between oppositio n to the restored monarch y i n the 1670 s an d the 1680 s an d the Englis h Revolution; the politica l activity of apprentices an d th e gendere d
political discours e concernin g women' s plac e i n the political orde r durin g th e Restoration als o exhibi t continuitie s wit h th e politica l cultur e o f th e Englis h Revolution.
