Prefaces to Four Seventeenth-Century Romances Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, preface to Parthenissa (1655) Sir George Mackenzie, "Apologie for romances," prefixed to Aretina, the serious romance (1660) Nathaniel Ingelo, preface to Bentivolio and Urania (1660) Robert Boyle, preface to Theodora and Didymus (1687)

This volume gathers four rare seventeenth‑century prefatory essays that early modern authors attached to their romance projects. Written between 1655 and 1687 by figures such as Roger Boyle, Sir George Mackenzie, Nathaniel Ingelo and Robert Boyle, the texts reveal a lively debate about how romance could acquire a serious, almost scholarly purpose. Readers will hear the writers wrestle with questions of style, plausibility, and moral function as they try to shape a new kind of narrative prose.

An insightful introduction by Charles Davies frames the essays within the broader crisis of seventeenth‑century rhetoric, showing how each author sought a common measure for narrative art. The scholarly editing team supplies careful notes and contextual material that make the dense argument accessible to modern listeners. Together the collection offers a glimpse into the intellectual atmosphere that preceded the rise of the eighteenth‑century novel, making it valuable for students of literary history and lovers of early modern ideas.