A Tory pamphleteer, playwright and satirical historian, Delarivier Manley was regarded by her contemporaries Jonathan Swift and Robert Harley as a key member of the Tory propaganda team. This biography offers details about her life, including evidence about three illegitimate children by John Tilly, Governor of Fleet Prison.

Rachel Carnell

Introduction; Chapter 1 'A Long Untainted Descent': Her Father's Daughter?; Chapter 2 Roger Manley: 'A Scholar in the Midst of a Camp'; Chapter 3 A 'Liberal Education': Youth and Early Life in London; Chapter 4 A 'Female Wit': 1694-6; Chapter 5 'Some More, and Less] Profitable Employ': 1697-1705; Chapter 6 Not Yet a Propaganda Writer: 1705-8; Chapter 7 '[T]hrowing the First Stone': 1709; Chapter 8 Writing Under a Tory Ministry: 1710-14; Chapter 9 A Celebrated 'Muse': 1714-24;