An Arrow Against All Tyrants (eBook)

Richard Overton (fl. 1640–1664) was an English pamphleteer and Leveller during the Civil War and Interregnum (England). He wrote An Arrow Against All Tyrants while incarcerated in Newgate Gaol.  Ian Gadd is Professor in English Literature at Bath Spa University, where he is academic director of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts. He is a member of the board of directors of the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution and an external member of the curators of the University Libraries at the Bodeleian Libraries at the University of Oxford. He specialises in the literature and history of the 16th, 17th and early 18th Centuries.     

INTRODUCTION. Ian Gadd, Professor of English Literature at Bath Spa University, introduces An Arrow Against All Tyrants by Richard Overton, which calls for universal human rights, written by an imprisoned radical in 1640s London. Parliament and the Stationers' Company tried to ban such pamphlets.
FURTHER READING. Professor Ian Gadd suggests further reading: The Secret Printing and Publishing Career of Richard Overton the Leveller, 1644–46 by David R. Adams; The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture: Cheap Print in Britain and Ireland to 1660 edited by Joad Raymond (2011)
A PAMPHLET IN FOUR PARTS. Explaining that the work comprises four parts: 1. A letter from Richard Overton to radical MP Henry Marten; 2. A petition to the House of Lords protesting Overton's arrest; 3. A House of Lords report of the arrest; 4. A postscript, again from Overton to Henry Marten
FRONTISPIECE. Summary of the book by Richard Overton: 'An arrow against all tyrants and tyranny, shot from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords, and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever'
LETTER FROM RICHARD OVERTON TO HENRY MARTEN MP. 'Prerogative archer to the arbitrary House of Lords, their prisoner in Newgate, for the just and legal properties, rights and freedoms of the Commons of England. Sent by way of a letter from him, to Mr Henry Marten, a member of the House of Commons'
PETITION BY RICHARD OVERTON TO HOUSE OF COMMONS. Richard Overton argues his arrest was 'illegal, and contrary to the natural rights, freedoms and properties of the free commoners of England (confirmed to them by Magna Carta, the Petition of Right and the Act for the abolishment of the Star Chamber'
HOUSE OF LORDS REPORT OF RICHARD OVERTON'S ARREST. 'It is this day ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled, that Overton, brought before a committee of this House for printing scandalous things against this House, is hereby committed to the prison of Newgate for his high contempt...'
POSTSCRIPT: LETTER TO HENRY MARTEN MP. 'Let not the greatest peers in the land be more respected with you than so many old bellows-menders, broom-men, cobblers, tinkers, or chimney sweepers, who are all equally freeborn...'
NOTE ON THIS EDITION. This edition was specially conceived and printed to accompany the publication of How To Be A Liberal by Ian Dunt. It reproduces the text of Richard Overton's An Arrow Against All Tyrants in its entirety from a copy at the British Library (shelfmark E.356[14])...